as does appear in particular by the Ninevites as also by the Sacrifices for the Atonement of the Deity which have been in use in all Nations Not but all the World is under the same Law as Adam was the Law that was for our Nature cannot be altered but we are not under it on the same terms We are under it as a Rule of Life but we are not under it as a Rule of Judgment We are under it so as we are bound to live according to it but we are not under it so that if we do not we shall be justified or condemned by it There is one Religion therefore Law or Rule for all Mankind to obtain Life by which being the Law of our Lapsed Nature or Remedying Law containing God's Grace administred to all the Earth in a threefold State of such as were or are without the Law or before it and under the Law and under the Gospel as this Administration is threefold so hath the Faith which is the Condition thereof been diversified But now is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith The Righteousness of God is the Righteousness of this Law which hath ever been afoot in the World And though a Heathen hath not that Faith as is required of the Christian under the Third Edition of it or that which was required of the Jew under the Second yet hath he such a Faith as belongs to the First such as the Antients before Abraham had and so long as that Faith he hath does work by Love or by Sincere Obedience to God according to his Light it will justifie him as well as that which is now further required of us under the Gospel It follows that this Law being that which is given for Life and so the one only true Measure of Religion to all the World must belong to the Government of God which is Vniversal and that is the Natural Government of God The Government of God which is Conventional is that Government which He hath taken over some certain Persons as they are gather'd or joyned together into Societies unto which they are called out of the World for the Glorifying his Name in that Worship and Service of Him which He hath Instituted by his Positive Law Precepts or Ordinances I mean such as He hath any way revealed to be his Will whether they be such as belong to the Law of Nature also or such as do not in order to the taking owning and acknowledging Him for their God in a peculiar manner that is in opposition to the Worship of any other God or Idols and the serving Him the true God in any other way but what He hath appointed and their becoming thereby a peculiar People to Him and so being under his Favour and Blessing in regard to all the good things of this Life and that which is to come I do observe here the Government of God which is Natural is over all the World this Government which is Conventional is over some Persons only called out of the World into a peculiar Relation to God That the One is over All but consider'd as Single Persons taking in every Individual in the World the Other is over some and so over Singulars also but consider'd as Incorporated for the Publick Service of God That the One Government is by the Law of Nature I mean both of Lapsed and Innocent Nature the Other is by his Positive or Revealed Laws That these Laws and Ordinances of God therefore which He hath revealed as they are more and as they are revealed otherwise or farther than by the Light of Nature or Natural Reason only are a high Priviledge to such as they are vouchsafed to What Advantage thâ—n bath the Jew above the Gentile Much every way chiefly because that unto them was committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.1 2. That this giving to a People his Oracles or Positive Institutions are advantageous upon this Account that they are Means for obtaining his blessing or else there could be no such Advantage in them That this Blessing of God must not be look'd on only to concern Temporal Things but Spiritual and Eternal For seeing Man consists of a Body and a Soul and that Soul is Immortal he cannot be happy but in Both. That the great and principal Advantage therefore that we have by these Ordinances or Government of God which is Conventional must and does lie in being Means for the bringing Men up to the Performance of the Terms of that Law which God by his Government which is Natural and Vniversal hath made to be the Rule of Judgment to all Men for Everlasting Life or Condemnation There are some Learned Men that will not have Adam nor any in the World to have been in Covenant with God before Abraham understanding it of a Covenant of Life But so long as God had a Government in the World before Abraham and that Government must be by a Law and that Law to Adam fallen to Seth Enoch Melchisedeck must be a Law of Grace or else no Man of them could have been saved it is but a Matter of Words whether they call this Law of Grace and Life a Covenant or not This we must have a Care of that we distinguish this Law of Grace or Law for Life and Salvation which is contained in these Words Walk before Me and be Vpright belonging out of question to Adam Seth Enoch as much as to Abraham and the Covenant which God made with Abraham hereupon being such an upright Person in regard to himself and Posterity I will make my Covenant between Me and Thee and I will multiply thee exceedingly I I will establish my Covenant between Me and Thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations to be a God to Thee and thy Seed after Thee This is my Covenant Every Man-child among you shall be Circumcised There is the Covenant of Life therefore and Covenant of Advantage The Covenant of Life I scruple not to call it Law or Covenant was made with faln Adam and in him with all the World and is all one with the Law of Grace I say that belongs to God's Natural Government which is Vniversal and according to this Law or Covenant must every Man be judged at the last Day The Covenant of Advantage is the Covenant which God made with Abraham and with the Israelites for his sake beginning it with him by Circumcision unto which were added other Rites and Ordinances by Moses together with the Declaration of the Moral Law and in regard hereunto that People are said to be a holy People a peculiar People and preferred before all the Nations in the World Among all the Multitude of People Thou hast gotten Thee one People and unto this People whom Thou lovedst Thou gavest a Law that is approved of all says Esdras 2 Esd 5.27 Ye stand this Day all of you before the Lord to enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God Deut. 29. Thou art
a holy People unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special People unto Himself above all the People that are upon the Face of the Earth Deut. 7.6 So again Chap. 14. Vers 2. A Special People a Peculiar People from whence this Covenant we speak of is called by some the Covenant of Peculiarity as by me the Covenant of Advantage from the Words before of the Apostle What Advantage then hath the Jew He hath shewed His Mind unto Jacob his Statutes and Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any other Nation Psal 147.19 20. To whom pertaineth the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving the Law and the Service of God and the Promises Rom. 19.4 By the Adoption I understand that Sonship only which they had by their Admission into this outward Relation of being God's peculiar People By the Covenants I understand nothing but this same Covenant of Advantage given at first to Abraham and renewed after by Moses and so called Two Covenants the Covenant of Circumcision and the Covenant which God made with the Jews when He took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt Act. 7.8 Heb. 8.9 By the Promises likewise we must understand either those that were made only to that People or if the great Promise of Salvation by Christ be included also we must understand that they belonged to the Israelites in regard to the Revelation that is they only had the Revelation of them but the Matter revealed belong'd alike to all the World It is true that Abraham was the first Man with whom God entred Covenant understanding it of this Covenant of Advantage or Peculiarity and he is the first Elect therefore we read of in Scripture Thou art the Lord the God who didst choose Abraham and broughtst him out of Vr of the Châ—ldees Nehem. 9.7 It is an Election into this peculiar State or relation to God in regard to his Conventional Government we are speaking of and as all the Israelites are said to be his Chosen People It is not to be understood of that Decree of Election which Divines dispute of from other Texts but is equivalent with his Call Get thee out of thy Countrey unto a Land that I will shew thee Gen. 12.1 God's choosing Abraham and calling him into this peculiar Relation is but the same thing but it is One thing to be Chosen in regard to that Election which is unto Everlasting Life and Another to be only Called Many are called says Christ and few chosen This is indeed here very certain and to be observed that it was in Abraham and his Family God was pleased to lay the First Foundation of any Corporation formed under distinguishing Laws or Institutions for his Solemn Service or Worship which is properly to be a Church A Church from the Word in the Greek is a Number of the Called that is called out of the World as it is Idolatrous or given to false Worship unto the owning the true God and his Government according to his own Institutions which was begun in the Commonwealth and Polity of Israel Circumcision being preliminary to it and is now and shall be continued in the Congregations of Christians to the end of the World This Covenant then which God made with the Jews when He brought them out of Egypt appears to be no other than such a Covenant as passes between a Prince and his Subjects that is a Political Covenant God undertaking to be their Ruler and they promising him Allegiance so that the Common-wealth of Israel was indeed a Theocracy insomuch as when the People chose Saul for their Prince they are said to reject God for the Lord their God was their King 1 Sam. 12.12 Not but He continued this Conventional-Government of His for all that allowing of their Kings as his Vicegerents having his House or Temple to dwell amongst them where he kept also his Servants or Houshold the Priests and Levites receiving their Offerings as Rents for maintaining his Attendants This Kingdom was not to cease untill Christ his Son the Messiah should come into the World and then indeed he broke up House and delivered up the same to him The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his Feet untill Shiloh come and to Him shall the gathering of the People be Gen. 49.10 We read therefore when Christ had finished the Work of Man's Redemption and Rose from the Dead He takes upon Him the Administration of this Government All Power is given me in Heaven and Earth Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel Matth. 28.18 Mar. 16.15 What is that but Go and gather all those that will come in and Incorporate as the People who are to be gathered to Me that is that will embody as Christians who then are to be Baptized and so to continue in Doctrine in Fellowship breaking Bread and Prayer which are Laws and Institutions of his Government I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion Ask of Me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the utmost Parts of the Earth for thy Possession That Kingdom which God had over the â—ews in regard to this voluntary Government He hath now given to his Son and all the World that will are to be brought into it Upon this account is the State of the Church under the Gospel that is the Christian Church so often called the Kingdom of God And Jesus began to Preach Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of the Messiah fore-told in the Prophets and the Terms were not strange to the Jews They thought indeed the Messiah would come for the Restauration of the Kingdom to Israel by Conquering the Romans and subjecting all the Nations and so reigning in outward Glory but they were deceived not in the Matter it self nor in the Greatness and Extent of his Dominions but they were deceived in the Manner of it which was not to be of this World that is not from it or to be set up by Worldly Means by Armies or the Sword but by the Word yet is it a Kingdom in the World and as other Kingdoms comprehends the Bodies as well as Souls of Men and Women living under Subjection to his Government in that External way of Worship and Discipline as by his own Officers and Ordinances He hath appointed in the Gospel It is therefore a mistaken Notion which our Divines have ordinarily taken up of the Church accounting it to be the Number only of the Regenerate and Elect which in the first Apprehension is the Number of the Called and the Called are ex intentione vocantis more than the Chosen It is true that the Church in some Scriptures speaking of it to other Purposes is to be understood of the Elect only So we read of the Church of the
First-Born which are enrolled in Heaven Heb. 12.23 the Church that is so washed in Christ's Blood as to be without Spot or Wrinkle which none are but those that enter into Glory Ephes 5.27 So we read of that Chain of the Apostle Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called and whom he Called them he also Justified and whom he Justified them he also Glorified Rom. 8.30 Nevertheless when the Scripture speaks of the Church to the Purpose which concerns us which is as it is that Corporation of Christians unto which the World is to be brought in by Preaching of the Gospel it must consist of Regenerate and Vnregenerate that is of Multitudes whereof the Elect are but few only The whole Body of the Israelites brought out of Egypt are expresly called the Church The Church in the Wilderness Act. 7.38 The whole Body of them Man Woman and Child enter into that Covenant which denominated them God's peculiar People Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. It is yet more significant with me that it was the Outward Jew and not the Inward only unto whom belong'd that Advantage which the Jew is accounted to have above the Gentile Rom. 3.1 that is the Advantage of the Oracles of God and consequently those Ordinances whereby that People were distinguished as by Tokens from other People There is the Mystical Church then and Congregate Church or Church Political It is not the Regenerate and Elect but the Congregate Church which according to the Contexture of this Discourse is and must be the immediate Recipient of the Outward Ordinances It is in regard to his Voluntary Government which I call Conventional that God did institute any or give any Laws at all but what are of Nature And those Persons who are the Subjects of that Government must be the Recipients of these Appointments Neither is it a Man's being Born again but his Willingness to come under this Government that is a Willingness to come in and joine with the Church that gives him title to the Institutions thereof This Priviledge of the Congregate Church is One thing and the Priviledge of the Regenerate or the Church Mystical is Another The External Ordinances are the Privilege of all Christians as they were of all the Jews the Outward Jew and Christian as well as the Inward unto whom they belong in opposition to the Gentile and Heathen But the Privilege of the Inward Christian and Mystical Church is not the Ordinances being common to them with the Vnregenerate but the saving Benefits of the Ordinances which I say is another Matter There is the General and Special Grace of the Gospel The Church of Christians in the first Notion of it should not be defined by the Participation of the Special but the General Grace of the Gospel And it is the Number of the Called into Christ's Kingdom or under the Conventional Government of God to the Participation of those Ordinances which He hath appointed as Means of Grace and Exercises of Piety by way of Advantage above others as the Jew is said to have above the Gentile in order to their obtaining or farthering their Eternal Salvation That there is the General Grace of God and of the Gospel as well as Special is received by Eminent Divines But how this General Grace accordingly is also to be defined I find not many that can tell That Christ died for All as for his Sheep and that God would have All to be saved as well as his Elect is express in Scripture But is this General Grace What if a Man Repent not and Believe not will God have such to be saved Not so certainly There is thus much more therefore must come into the Definition if they Repent if they Believe Christ hath died and God would have Christ to die for All so that if they Believe and Repent they shall be Saved Well! Is this the Definition then of General Grace No it is not this is not yet enough Dr. Twisse indeed and all Men grant This but it is short by Two Steps For as God is said to will all Men's Salvation so is He said that He would have all Men to Repent and come to the Knowledge of the Truth This then is also to be taken in But hath He given Christ to die for All that they may Repent By no means This would bring in Origen's Vniversal Grace that All at last must be Saved When God then is said to Will that any should Repent it must be understood without doubt as to the Means which He offers them for Repentance And thus does the Lord expostulate with his People What could I have done more for my Vineyard than I have done There is one Mr. Cottier a French Protestant seems to have studied this Point of General Grace more accurately than others who thus defines it Gratia Vniversalis est nobis actus liberrimus quo eligendo eos quos praecognovit simul alios respexit uti Creaturas suas Sathanae malignitate seductas quousque fas jura tulêre pari jure seu invitandos seu vocandos ad Dei cultum consequentiâ cultus Here is One Step farther then towards the Definition of Vniversal Grace That God does not only Will the Salvation of All in giving Christ to die for them upon condition but that He does also vouchsafe the Means to All so far as is meet for their Performance of that Condition The Other Step is To lay down the Specifical Difference it self wherein this Vniversal Grace does consist as it is distinguished from Special for without the Specifical Difference of any thing there can be no exact Definition I will therefore humbly offer this full Definition The Vniversal Grace of God is that free Act Love or Favour of his whereby together with his Elâ—cting some to be infallibly saved by Him He does respect all others as his Creatures with the Vouchsafement of the same Means of Salvation so far as Right and Equity requires Quousque fas jura tulère says that cautious Divine which I must therefore six and establish as that alone which is wanting to compleat the Definition and that is so far as they will Behold When there are no Means of Salvation which God does vouchsafe his Elect but He vouchsafes the same to the Non-Elect and so to All according to the State they are in if or as they will who can deny this Grace to be indeed Vniversal If Christ hath Died for all Men if God would have all Mâ—n Return and Live and if according to the State they are in they have their Means of Return and if any Know and Desire more they are not Refused who can deny I say this Grace to be Vniversal And when this Grace is adjusted according to Men's Will who does not see the true Difference between that Grace which is Special and This Vniversal Grace is God's vouchsafing the same Means to All Hâ—ct and Reprobaâ—â— so far as they Will Special Grace is
his vouchsafing that Operation with the Means as makes some Willing when else they World not This is what is agreeable to God's Goodness what is Meet and Equitable Quousque fas jura rulêre according to his Nature That He should not with-hold those Means which are necessary to Salvation from any That He should be before-hand with every Body and so long as they are Willing He should never Refuse them any thing to save them who waits to be Gracious and his loving Kindness endureth for ever But if they first Refuse Him and Will not then it is meet indeed He be free and that He should not Force them to any thing whether they will or no or Proceed farther with them unless He please It is true if He please He may He may do what He will with his own Free Grace and when He loves all Thus far He may love some More When He Wills that All be saved He may Will Some Men's Salvation yet Above others What hinders but God may Majùs minùs velle amare When He Wills that All should if they Will He may Will that Some should though they Will not But when He Acts thus it must be confessed to be not according to those Ways of his which are said in Scripture to be Equal but out of a Benevolence which is Singular O Jerusalem Jerusalem How often says our Lord would I have gathered you as an Hen gathers her Chickens under her Wings but ye would not He would have gather'd them if They would He would have gather'd them but they Would not If any Means would save the Reprobate which he would but God will not then shall the fault lie on God or on the want of his Grace and not upon Himself which is direct contrary to the Scripture O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in Me is thy Help There are many Texts we have of this Nature God will have All to be Saved He will have All to Repent He hath given Christ to Die for All He gives his Outward Ordinances He gives his Spirit in the Use of those Ordinances There is no Means of Salvation but He offers them to the Elect and Non-Elect without Exception to every one so far as they Will even so far as no Man shall be able to complain on God's Part no nor plead indeed a want of Power but of Will only if he be not Saved From what is said it appears that forasmuch as God who Saith not to the Seed of Jacob Seek ye my Face in vain hath appointed his Ordinances whether of Worship or Discipline even in Societies which are Christian to be the External Means of Men's Repentance and Salvation in the Use of which He hath also promised his Spirit there are no Persons who are by Him made Willing to come in to partake of them but they have a Warrant from the Vniversal Grace of God for their Admission If there be any Means of Man's Salvation with-held by God from the Reprobate that is vouchsafed to the Elect which he would have so that Man would and God will not the General Grace of God is overthrown Not but when Christ Commissionated his Apostles to Preach the Gospel to the World for calling People into a Church-State which is his Kingdom and so to the Means He intended to Call them also to Vertue and Glory Yet seeing the next and immediate End of that Gospel-Commission was this that is The setting up the Conventional Government of God which was before Peculiar to the Jews but now Enlarged to take in all Nations and so committed into Christ's Hands it is even manifest in the thing it self that nothing but the Receiving the Gospel Preached so far as to be Willing to come under that Government and submit to the Institutions thereof which requires that first we be Baptized could be necessary to the giving a Man right to be Admitted to the same The Church I must say over again is the Number of the Called From What now are they called They are called out of the World But how Out of the World The whole World is under the Natural Government of God and the Laws thereof are the Rule we must live up to in Sincerity in order to Life We are not called out of the World upon this Account but out of the World as it is Idolatrous and sets up its own Inventions and Institutions without God about Religion And unto what then are we Called in opposition hereunto Why unto those Institutions and Ordinances which God by another Voluntary Government over some Persons superadded to that which is Natural hath Himself appointed for Worshipping Him aright and also in the making them Means of his Grace for the Attaining the End of his Natural Government in the Salvation of those among them that are Elect. And if here then be the true Description of the Church we see also who do belong to it I perceive indeed where the Difficulty lies when we speak of the State of Christians and Jews in opposition to the Heathen and Gentiles and distinguish God's Government into Natural and Conventional and the Covenant into that of Life and that of Advantage Our Divines do ordinarily confound them as likewise do the Scriptures We are therefore to know that this Covenant of Advantage and Conventional Government may be taken Complexly so as to include God's Natural Government and Covenant of Life together with Them or Precisely with Contra-Distinction thereunto If they be taken Complexly there is no Man without doubt can enter this Covenant or give up himself to this Government but his Faith must be saving and his Obedience universal consisting in the Preference of God's Interest above the Flesh and the World for upon this Account there can be no less required of the Persons that are admitted into the Church and unto the Sacraments than is required unto their Salvation But if that Government and Covenant be taken Precisely as when we stand upon the Point they may be we have concluded all along how such a Faith as receives the Doctrine of Christ in opposition to all other Religions and subjection to the Ordinances as he that consents to the Terms of any sort of Covenant does enter it thereby and has the Priviledges of it is all that is of Necessity to a Man's Admission I distinguish therefore Here between what is required of Persons that Come into the Church or To the Sacraments and what is required to their Coming so as else they may not come No more is necessary to a Man's Coming so as without it he may not come but what is necessary only to the Conventional Government of God and Covenant of Peculiarity considered Precisely in Contra-Distinction to the Natural Government of God and Covenant for Salvation Though that is necessary to the Persons that come which is required also in their Complex Consideration And upon this account it appears how no Man can be put upon a
Profession of such a Faith and Repentance as is saving in order to his Admittance to the Church or Sacraments though he on his own part be required to examine himself and to see that his Grace be sound when he comes to them The Reason being because if his Faith be but true so far as makes him Willing to Come in and Joyn with us it gives him title to the Ordinances when unless his Faith be so True also as to be Saving he is like to reap no other Fruit by it but the Outward Enjoyment And this is the very Vse we are to make of this Doctrine That no Person be discouraged in his attending on the Means seeing Regenerate and Vnregenerate may have Title and yet none be Secure but Piously sollicitous how they Come as knowing that it is One thing that gives a Man title to the Ordinances and Another to the Effectual Benefits which can be attain'd by the Sincere only It may be askt by the way But what then is That I count Necessary to the Government and Covenant which I press taken Precisely I mean what is the Terms or Conditions thereof If the Covenant for Life and This Covenant be distinguished the Terms of them must be diverse Now the Terms of this Covenant may be discovered by knowing what That was chiefly which God accounted the Breach thereof And this we find very frequent both in regard to the Single Jew and the Whole Body If there be found within thy Gates a Man or Woman that hath wrought Wickedness in the Sight of the Lord in transgressing his Covenant and hath gone and served other Gods then let that Person be stoned Deut. 17.2 7. You see what God calls Transgressing his Covenant He was their King and the serving Another God was Crimen laesae Majestatis and therefore Capital Let us look into 2 King 17. and we shall find there the whole Ten Tribes at once carried away and given up of God for being any longer his People And what is the matter They Rejected it is said his Statutes and his Covenant and followed Vanity What Vanity Why they Went after the Heathen concerning whom they were charged not to do like them and they made them molten Images and worshipped Baal c. and therefore God was angry with them and removed them out of his Sight Vers 10 12 15 16 18. They did many other things which was Against their Covenant and He bare with them but Idolatry and False-Worship was such Breaking of it as Whoredom and caused their Divorce and his writing Loammi upon them And this Event we find Prophesied of even so long before as Moses who tells of the Nations asking why God dealt thus with his People Then Men shall say Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord which he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt Here we have Our Covenant and Government And what was the Forsaking of it Why they Served other Gods and worshipped them Vers 24 25. So again Chap. 31. Vers 20. Jer. 22.19 with other Places Well now if going after other Gods and False-Worship was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Breaking this Covenant then must the Terms of this Covenant be mainly the Owning the True God and his Worship in opposition to all False Gods and False Religion and consequently a Subjection to the Ordinances of that Worship Himself hath appointed unto which they were admitted under the Old-Testament by Circumcision and Now by Baptism Upon what is already said I know the Way I go is not the Road when yet there are Some that go the Road do seem to me to seek Mine but Miss it The Church with them is the Company of the Faithful and the understand by the Faithful such only whose Faith is Saving that engrasis them in Christ makes them his Members or Members of his Mystical Body For Others whom they call Members of the Church Visible if they be Visible Members only are Christians but in Appearance not Members of Christ indeed and so no Church-Members with them but in Shew or the Account of Men. And the Result of this Divinity which goes for the Orthodox comes to This That nothing less than such a Faith that is Saving gives a Man Right as to his Own Part to come and the Profession of no less than of a Faith and Repentance which is Such gives a Man Right of Reception on the Part of the Admitter into the Church and unto Baptism I have several Arguments to add therefore to what I have said already against this Opinion Only I will yet say a little more to the Explaining my Own before I give them The Church according to the common Opinion must be taken for a Corporation of Regenerate Persons that is of such Believers only as are already all Sincere Converts But I would have it rather in my Opinion be lookt on as a School wherein such Persons as are Wrought upon by the Gospel to Believe so far only as to be Willing to Come into it and be Baptized may There by the Use of the Ordinances as the Means of Grace be brought up to that Sincerity of Heart and Life which yet they have not and which God hath made the Condition of their Salvation There is a Conversion from Heathenisme to Christianity that brings Men into the Church must be One thing and a Conversion unto the Life and Power of Grace called Effectual Conversion is Another That the Latter of these Conversions is wrought in the Church ordinarily though not Confined to it is to be doubted of no Body Let the Commission of our Lord which ordinarily I think is overlookt be consulted Go ye and disciple all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you I pray mark it They are here to Call by their Preaching all them that will Come in and make them Disciples by Baptism and then after they are Discipled they are to be Instructed in the Things that Christ hath Commanded that is they are to Learn in his School when they are there their farther Duty which is the walking up Fully to the Precepts of the Gospel And in the first sixt sound Act of Resolution thereof I mean of doing so in Sincerity whensover a Man is wrought up to it does lie the Essence of that Work which we call Effectual Conversion If the School of all Christ's Disciples the Church of all Believers the Kingdom of all God's People were so narrow as to hold the Regenerate only how comes there to be a Proclamation for all the World to come into it even all that Will for it is not a Kingdom of such as are brought in by Force but of a Willing People Psal 110.3 over whom the Word prevails from one end of the Earth to the other If any Man will have Christ this is certain God offers Him Whosoever Will May have Him
and to Build wisely nay if he seem'd Remiss in Self-Examination I should be like to Advise him to Forbear a while yet till he were better Fitted for his Baptism But if I should find that by this means he were like to go Away and mind his being Baptized no more and perhaps to fall in with some Sect that is against Water-Baptism or to a Regardlesness of his Duty of Walking with any in Christian Communion being not capable of it till This is done nay if I should but be Convinced that I should do him more Hurt than Good by Putting him off I should beware of Refusing him supposing he hath a Competent Vnderstanding of the Creed and no Scandal lies upon him for want of Signs of Regeneration I cannot but think the Bringing Men into the Church rather than their Abiding out to be the Means of Saving Conversion In the Last place It does appear that the Lord Jesus since the Jews Partition-Wall is Broken down and the Gentiles Called hath given his Ordinances to the World as God gave his Statutes to Israel Go Preach the Gospel to all Nations to Every Creature Baptizing them Here is the Gospel and Baptism which are Two of his chief Ordinances and which consequently draws on the rest vouchsafed unto the whole Earth and whosoever will Receive them the Apostles are commissionated to Administer them without any Exception their Actual Interest depending only upon That Under the Old Testament we know how God's Institutions were so much the Priviledge and Peculiarity of the Jews that the Apostles were at first very doubtful whether they might Preach to Any but that Nation But now is that Difference decided the Gentiles Engrafted into their Olive and the Ordinances of the Kingdom made common by Christ's own Charter This is the Fruit of General Grace bringing Salvation to every Man's Door and leaving it upon their own Will It is true indeed before a Man Believes he cannot be Willing but a Willingness to Come in after the Gospel Heard supposes a Belief of it so far at least as That reaches and if it reaches no farther than to produce a Willingness to Be of the Church and to Joyn in the Ordinances so Far as he Will according to God's General Grace he must be Admitted We do read accordingly of John the Baptist when Jerusalem and all Judaea and the Region round about Jordan came to Him for Baptism He Baptizes all Comers It is said indeed They confessed their Sins but I read not of any He Refused whatsoever Confession they Made Nor do I read what Confession it was that served It may be this Confession is recorded in regard only of the Notoriety of some Sinners that came in to Him We read certainly that He Admonished them after Baptism to Bring forth the Fruits of Repentance as the Vse of that Ordinance I conceive it and consonantly we read not that it is said They Repented unto Baptism but They were Baptized unto Repentance And I do apprehend truly that his Ministry is called a Ministry of Repentance in this Sense to wit as intended to lead Men to Repentance and not to Gather the Penitent alone into a Corporation I think the same of the Apostles afterward in their Discipling all Nations who when they are Discipled and Baptized were to be taught to Do what Christ commanded as I before noted And what are Those things think we I have thought sometimes that those Commands sure must be or were some peculiar Ordinances after Baptism belonging only to the Regenerate but it was a narrow Apprehension The Commands of Christ in this Text are but the same likely with Those where He says If you love Me keep my Commandments and those are the Vniversal Precepts of God which according to the Law of Nature and Christ's Law are obligatory both to the Disciples and all the World Let us look forward into the Acts and we find Peter Preaching a Sermon and Exhorting them to Baptism and Three thousand receive the Word gladly at one Time and are Baptized I observe here that it is this Glad Receiving the Word which so far as comes to Human Sight can be only their being so Wrought upon by it as to be Willing to come in was the Ground of their Admission If there were such a Profession necessary to Baptism as the Congregationalists stand upon a solemn examined Profession how could so many be Admitted into the Church in one Day after Sermon How could the Jaylor and his House be Baptized in one and the Same Hour We have yet an Instance in Philip that exceeds This who Preaching to those in Samaria it is said They All who had gave heed before to Simon that is even the whole City Believed and were Baptized both Men and Women And what was this Faith now of Simon and his Followers as I have also before enquired Why it is expressed They believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of the Lord Jesus That is they believed Him and These things so as to be made Willing to come in upon his Preaching and this Willingness upon such a Belief as Simon 's was or as this Whole City had at once is that which gives them Title to Baptism As for the Words of the same Philip to the Eunuch at the End of the Chapter If thou believest with all thy Heart which is as much as to say If thou believest in Earnest so as Indeed to be Willing to be Baptized Thou mayst They must be conceived as spoken in reference to the Receiver or the Eunuch's own Part unto whom the Belief of so much as he Declared to wit That Christ was the Son of God must indeed be necessary seeing it is into His Name we are Baptized When as to the Part of the Admitter or Philip himself it is the Eunuch's Willingness upon his Preaching Christ to him which would suppose such a Belief as This if he had not proposed the Question which came to occasion that Profession as it was before with them of Samaria that would warrant his Administring the Ordinance Neither may the questioning of a Person in the Case of this Æthiopian whether he be In Earnest and Believes Indeed or of some Notorious Sinner in the Case of such as came to the Baptist whether they do Repent or no be any Obstacle to this Conclusion but that notwithstanding so much as This the Willingness of a Person after Christ is Preached to him which supposes his Belief of what is Preached and that the Minister knows not of any open Sin he lives in which would cast him out of the Church again if he were in is to be maintained upon the Account of God's General Grace at first defined to be the â—round of Church-Admission Before I conclude these Arguments or Considerations of mine which I bring against the common Doctrine choosing hitherto such mainly as have arose in my Thoughts de Proprio and aiming at
Live but were Dead Rev. 3.1 Some that had Defiled their Garments Vers 4. Some Luke-warm and so to be Spewed out of God's Mouth Vers 16. Some that Minded earthly things Phil. 3.19 Some Carnal 1 Cor. 3.4 One that was Incestuous 1 Cor. 5.1 Many if the Apostle's Fear was not vain who had Sinned and not Repented of their Vncleanness Fornication and Lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12.31 Such finally whose God was their Belly and whose End was Destruction Phil. 3.19 And if This be the Complexion of the Primitive Christian Churches who does not see but this Matter is Mixt Matter these Churches even under the Gospel Mixt Churches Who is there I say unless he cannot see Wood for Trees but must see it It is true when the Scripture stiles them Elect Sanctified Justified and the like that which is Divinitùs dictum must be So and some of them must be Such But when the same Scripture says these things of them likewise both must be true and some of them must also be otherwise The Church of Christ while 't is on Earth is must and will be Mixt and the Objection shall be Answered farther in its place And again yet look I pray where do we find any such thing as imports Regeneration to be required of God to the Admittance of Persons unto Membership in the Old Testament so that for want of that Qualification they were not Admitted Nay where do we find any one Man put off on that Account in the New 'T is true that Repentance and Faith and such as is Sound is required of those that come and that as necessary to Remission of their Sins by Baptism But is it of Necessity to Baptism If it be then must the Baptism of those Persons whose Faith and Repentance is unsound be invalid null and no Baptism If a due Subject be not of the Essence of Baptism what is But is there any of our Divines think such Baptism void Is there any will re-Baptize such if they come after to be Savingly Converted And if there be none then let no Man I say until he can prove that Wood is more than Trees or Trees are less than Wood go to impose upon me That which they have Devised but acknowledge that what Christ only hath Appointed must be the Rule of Church-Admission The Truth is That the Matter of Christ's Church or Kingdom upon Earth is made up of Good and Bad is so open in the Scripture so even under Sight and pronounced to be so by the Blessed Mouth of our Lord in several Parallels on purpose that I should not need to write a Book to tell any This but only for the Difficulties that attend it And they are either in respect to the Nature of the Church as called out of the World to a Peculiarity in God which hath caused my chief Labour therefore in the Stating and Explication of our CAUSE in the First Section Or in respect to the Darkness and Sophisticated Notions that are on our Vnderstandings about the same which I have endeavoured to Obviate and Heal in the Second Section now Finished Or in respect to the many Scruples and Objections that are raised and agitated concerning it which are to be Answered and Satisfied and that brings me to the Last Part of my Work which remains now on my Hands in the Section ensuing SECT III. THUS much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating our CAUSE and Confirming it I descend now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Answering Objections But how can an Vnregenerat Man be Admitted Into the Church that is not Of it How can he that is not In Christ be Received as a Member or into his Body How can he that is Out of Covenant be Admitted to Enter Covenant How can a Sealed Pardon be delivered to him whose Faith is not sound and Repentance sincere How can one be a Christian that hath no Grace These Objections and the like which are multiplied do receive their Solution by the Preceding Thread of this Discourse If the Government and Covenant we have been speaking of be understood aright and that the Church is the Number of those directly that be brought under That Government and into That Covenant we see all the way how the Vnregenerate as well as the Regenerate may be of it and that they who say That Such are only In the Church and not Of it do but mistakingly allude to St. John's Words in this Case We see how the Vnregenerate may be In Christ as they are of his Political Body and as Christ himself says expresly That there are Branches in Him that bring forth no Fruit. We see how the Vnregenerate may Enter into the Covenant of Peculiarity when yet he hath not brought his Soul to a Full Decree and Purpose of Constant and Entire Obedience which is required of him also in the Covenant of Life We see how he may Enter it in the Precise though he does not as he ought to do also in the Complex Consideration thereof We may understand also how that Vniversal Conditional Pardon which God hath passed in the Gospel may be Delivered or Sealed to a Man though a Simon or a Judas as well as to a Philip himself or to a John We see likewise how that a Man who hath not one Spark of that Grace that is Saving may have his Share in the General Grace of God or of the Gospel as well as others The Acute and Profound Mr. Baxter in one of his Books hath these Words You must first believe that Common Grace and Love mentioned Joh. 3.16 2 Cor. 5.19 20 14 15. 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 And you must believe your Interest in this that is that God hath by Christ made to All and to You an Act of Oblivion and free Deed of Gift that you shall have Christ and Pardon and Eternal Life if you will believingly accept the Gift and not finally â—â—ject it And the Belief of This even of this Common Love and Grace must first perswade your Hearts accordingly to accept the Offer and then you have a Special Interest Life of Faith pag. 152. Mark here There is the General Grace of God and a Particular Interest in that General Grace the Belief whereof is the orderly way to a Special Interest that is to the putting a Man upon the Performance of the Condition that he may have Interest in the Benefit Let me ask then Whether the Confirming and stirring up this Belief of a Man's Particular Interest in God's General Grace is not to be endeavoured in order to this End the getting the Special Interest And if it be how shall the Word Baptism and the Lord's Supper which are Ordinances that do indeed directly and immediately nothing else howsoever People may mistake but Declare Seal and Confirm the Particular Interest of every Man in this General Grace of the New-Testament and so are delivered to all alike
that Distinction I do not I say distribute One Thing into its Two Parts or Adjuncts but I distribute One Word or Homonymous Term into Two Things signified by it To be Vnited to Christ by his Spirit so as to Have Him a Head of Influences to me for Spiritual Life and Salvation is One Thing and to be of the number of Those who are brought under his Positive Institutions and Subject themselves to his Officers for the proper End and so Have Him as a Political Head only for External Government though it be in order to bring them on to Saving Grace and into the Mystical Church also is Another If I speak of the Seed of Abraham To be his Seed by Birth is One Thing and to be his Seed by Faith is Another It is One Thing to be an Outward Jew or a Jew by Nature and Circumcision in the Flesh and it is Another to be an Inward Jew by Circumcision in the Spirit by Grace and Keeping the Commandments of God And what a Distribution then is this Why It is Distributio Homonymi sive Equivocantis in Equivocata And the Distribution of a Genus into its Species of a Whole into its Parts of a Subject into its Adjuncts being as I count Distributiones Vnivoci This can be none of those Three Here is Idem Nomen the same Word or Term CHVRCH but Nominis Ratio Diversa the Reason of the Denomination the Conceptus Objectivus not the Same When there is One Name then there are Two Things The Things are diverse and disparate but not Two Species of One Genus or Two Parts of One Integrum or Two Accidents of One Subject there is no need of That The Political Body is One Society and the Mystical Body is One Society Both are headed by One Christ Both are Catholick and Both are One and One Person may be a Member of Both but Both are not the Same It is not a Distribution of an Integrum into its diverse Sorts of Members as I have been formerly apt to think because the Coetus then must be One when That Coetus which consists of the Regenerate and Vnregenerate and That which consists of the Regenerate Only cannot be One and the Same Coetus but Two Especially when there may be Some who are Members of the Church Mystical as being already in a State of Salvation and not yet Admitted into the Congregate or Political Body either Vniversal or Particular for so I use these Terms Act. 10.4 22 35. Rom. 2.26 27. as well as Many who are Members of a Christian Congregation but Foreigners to the Assembly of Heaven It is not a Distribution of a Subject into its Adjuncts for the same Reason which yet our Divines intend by their Terms Visible and Invisible already noted The Church which is Christ's Church is that One Mystical Body of the Elect and Regenerate only according to them distinguished into a double Respect or Consideration thereof as Invisibly or Visibly such that is as Men be Indeed or in Appearance Members of it A goodly Distribution As if we should divide Man in Specie into its Singulars Plato Socrates Paul John and the Pictures of Men when the Picture of a Man is No Man and a Visible Member No Member that is a dividing a Church-Member or Church into one that is One and into one that is None Besides that this is a Conception as before intimated that makes the Apostle understand by the Outward Jew when he distinguishes them Rom. 2. to be the Inward One according to Appearance one that appears to be an Inward One or a Jew only Putativè secundum apparentiam as they speak when nothing is more contrary to his Mind who means undoubtedly a Jew by Nature as Gal. 2. one of Abraham's Seed according to the Flesh Born a Jew and thereby having a Right to Circumcision and the Consequences of it The Formal Reason giving Being and Relation to One Church is distinct and different quite from That which Constituteth and giveth Relation to the Other I am nevertheless afraid to say likewise That it is a Distribution of a Genus into its Species because the making Two Churches specifically distinct under One Vnivocum Vnivocans will be Absonant I doubt to the General Ear though if any will make the Coetus Vocatorum the Number of the Called in Genere to be divided into the Number of the Called Effectually and of the Externally Called and then divide these as the Species into their Singulars Peter Paul Regenerate Judas Simon Unregenerate I shall be far from falling out with them who must rather declare That if they can make it good they have won our CAVSE For my part I am only pretty sure methinks of This that the term CHVRCH is Homonymous and so long as I go no farther than I do I seem to my self the more safe For thus much appears The Inward Jew hath another Relation to God than the Outward in regard to which the Outward Jew is said to be No Jew that is None as so meant when in regard to that Relation which is common to Both he was a Jew the true proper Jew and the Other but Metaphorically so having the same Priviledges thereof equal with the Other It is One thing to have One of these Relations and to have the Other is Another and the Societies to which they relate therefore are not the Same To be Called is One thing to be Elected Another The Mystical Church is the Number of the Spiritual Seed Inward Jew or Christian or of the Elect The Political Church is the Number of the Called To speak yet more exactly There is the Kingdom of Christ and there are Some Persons among them whom He Chooses to give his Special Grace and Spirit unto and thereby to make them One with Himself in another or stricter manner than the rest These Select or Elect Persons are sometimes called the Church and sometimes this whole Kingdom is called the Church This Kingdom is Vniversal or Catholick because it is over the World These Elect are Catholick because scattered here and there every where in it This Kingdom is One because they are All under One Head and Government and have One Faith and One Baptism Ephes 4.5 These Elect are One because united into a Mystical Body even so as to be said One Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 If Divines had used to distinguish these Two Things by Two Words and called the One Christ's Kingdom and the Other the Church the Matter would have been more easie But when they are Both called the Church I am forced to distinguish the word Church and tell That I understand by it Christ's Kingdom that which is called the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Heaven in the Gospel Matth. 13.44 Mar. 4.26 Act. 20.25 And if it appear that Vnregenerate Men are of This Kingdom Matth. 8.12 it is all one to me as to say They are of the Church Unto Christ's Kingdom certainly
de Fide Operibus The Case was This There were Persons who while they were Heathens had put Away their Wives and Married Others and some had Concubines They are Loth to part with this Custom and yet Willing to be Baptized Augustine gives his Judgment That if they Would not they are not to be Admitted Concluding in the Main That it is not enough for a Man's Admission to the Church to Own the True Faith if his Life be not sutable to God's Commandments I remember likewise that Eminent Passage of Justin Martyr in his Second Apology who having told of the Christian Assemblies and what they did There as to their whole Exercises he adds That they did Admit none to this Fellowship with them more particularly in the Eucharist but such as Lived as they ought to do like Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a Life therefore or such Sins which are not consistent with a State of Grace or not consistent with the State of Membership or the State of that Society into which we Enter I will suppose with these Fathers that such a Life or such Sins that will not consist with the State of Membership or the Common Good of the Society when it will Leven and Destroy it may keep a Person from Admission but not such a Life or Sins only which are not consistent with Regeneration The Truth is the Church looks not into the Heart or to Effectual Grace which is known only to God that tryeth it and consequently is not to require such a Profession as is requisite to a Judgement Thereof which the Congregationalists yet therefore do But the Church is to look indeed that her Society be kept Pure from Scandal or that That be Purged out which would Defame and Leven it so far as stands most to her Preservation This I take to be sufficient as to the Mind of these Fathers St. Augustine especially who is One we know every where that is open for Tolerating the Evil rather than Disturb the Churches Peace as in good earnest for the Casting them Out when it will do the Church good The Church even the Catholick Church as One is with him still as I remember the Field in the Gospel which does consist of Tares and Wheat even such Tares as are Discerned among the Wheat and yet are to stand unto Judgment And there is one Argument I must not let pass before I have done but produce out of him in respect to our Congregational Brethren for I know no kind of thing almost more Vnanswerable and Convincing It is the express Command of our Lord to his Servants That they Pull not the Tares up when it will Endanger the Wheat to be Rooted up with them From whence that Judicious and most Temperate Father lays down this Rule which will serve for deciding many Difficulties and Scruples That when we can Root out any Tare without hurt to the Wheat we are to be careful of Discipline and all those Texts which speak of keeping no Company with Such and the like are to be pressed But when we cannot Pull up the Tares without Endangering the Corn we must for the Churches Advantage and Peace be content to Suffer them and be satisfied with such Texts as these which say Let them alone till the Harvest Now there are none of the Moderate Pious and Learned of any of our Sects who Do who Dare deny but that there are some true Christians and Members of Christ in our Mixt Churches But to Vn-Church a whole Nation and all our Parishes at once by this Congregational Practice and Opinion is certainly to Eradicate the Wheat with the Tares beyond all Possibility of Answer If the Servant may not Pluck up the Tares if it will but Endanger any of the Single Wheat how shall he dare to Root up the Whole Wheat on purpose for the Tares sake When the Lord does say Let it stand who art thou my Independent Brother that goest to meddle with it There is indeed a Separate Church as a Mixt Church But the Mixt Church remains in This Life and the Separate Church is not be expected till a Future State The Church is the House wherein are Vessels of Silver and Vessels of Wood Those of Wood are for use as those of Silver and the Master intends both shall be There The Church is the Net that takes the Fish little and great and it is intended all should be Taken which are within its reach The Church is the Feast unto Which all are Called and the Lord of it intends that Whosoever Will should come to it The Church is the Field whereof I am speaking And it is objected The Field is said to be the World and the Enemy is said to Sow the Tares therefore it was not God's Intention they should be In it I Answer Here are Two Objections and One confounds the Other If the Field be the World you cannot object God would not have the Tares There for God will have Good and Bad in the World out of question The Field therefore must be the Church as the Feast is and it is God's Will that All should be Called to come In to it It is his Will that they should Come also as they ought to Come This is the Intention of their Call and Both are his Will It is true now Of Those that Come some are Tares and it is of the Devil that they are Tares Some have not the Wedding Garment and it is of the Devil they Come without it But if they Come for all that they must be Let in The Rule is this Whosoever will let him come and though Tares they must Stand. Parables our Divines say well are like Knives whereof the Edge and not the Back is for use and the Main Scope take the Parables together appears plainly to be this That the Church in This World for That is the Meaning of Christ's saying The Field is the World is Mixt and the Separation is not to be as I said even now till the Life to come Thus do the Fathers speak against the Donatists And whereas in the Discipling of Nations the Refusing one Person or some few Persons as Tares might hinder the Coming in of a Country I perceive in such a Case according to the Judgement of this Discreet Father it were but a Shallow Conceit to think that when they Are In they may Stand but may not be Admitted upon the same Terms as they are let Stand Though in the common Case of others I have provided against the main Objection upon my Hands in the Stating my Matâ—er who say That when a Man believes the Gospel and is Willing to Come in if he live in any open notorious Sin as would Excommunicate one that Is a Member he may be required to declare his Repentance or be Refused upon the same Account It is but one Exercise of the Keys to Keep a Man Out as to Turn him Out when there is the same
the Promise of Life annexed to it Seek ye Me and ye shall Live Amos 5.4 5 6.2 Chron. 15.2 Exod. 20.24 Matth. 18.20 That the Ordinances therefore in general and one with another are appointed to be the Means of Grace I think a Man should believe as his Creed And why any good Men that will consider should be moved at our Inviting All and Letting in the Willing having first heard and received the Gospel unto the Participation of these External Appointments so long as we press upon them the Necessity of the same Faith and Repentance that the most strictest Ministers do for the obtaining the Spiritual Benefits thereof I apprehend no such Cause as they For here is Holiness and here is Peace joyned together Neither am I taken off with that worn-out Arguing That because the Sacraments are not Administred as the Word without the Church unto Heathens to convert such to the Faith therefore they cannot tend within the Church to any Vnregen rate Member's Edification Joh. 3.14 15. Joh. 4.22 It is a more Generous Spirit methinks St. Paul shews when the Corinthians seem to value themselves upon their External Christianity without Care of a Holy Life I would not have you ignorant says he that all our Fathers were Baptized in the Cloud and passed through the Sea and eat of the same Spiritual Meat and drank of the same Spiritual Drink But with many of them God was not well pleased The Apostle appears here to make but very little of the admitting Men unto Baptism and the Supper when he makes no more of their Coming to it than the Israelites passing through the Sea and eating of the Mannah and drinking of the Rock which things yet he declares to be Symbolical or Types even of the Blood of Christ as our Sacraments He could hardly have had a Heart to have spoken thus if his Thoughts had been cast in the Mould as many of our good Men's now are I will add Had the Apostles been so strict about admitting Persons to Baptism in their Days as they were after when they kept Men so long upon Tryal as Catechumens upon peculiar Reasons then and had look't on Baptism as so great and chief Work of the Ministry and Exercise of the Keys wherein so singular Care was to be taken I wonder that this Zealous Doctor of the Gentiles should profess himself to be no more concern'd about it when he tells us how few some Three or Four or so were all that he ever Baptized and that God sent him Not to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel Not but I fear God and reverence his Institutions and the Panting and Breathings of the Hearts of good Men after more pure Communion even on Earth hath been to me of deep Consideration But we must not for all that make the same Conditions unto Coming into the Church as unto the Getting into Heaven In actione Coenae Dominicae non debemus says Cyprian attendere quid aliqui ante nos faciendum putaverint sed quid ille qui ante omnes est prior fecerit faciendum mandaverit In these Actions of Baptism and the Lord's Supper we are not to attend what some before us have thought fit to be dome but what He who is before all hath Himself first done and commanded us to do The Author THE Cause of our Mixt Churches AGAINST SEPARATION SECT I. IT is in vain to write Books for the Satisfaction of People concerning the Lawfulness of the Liturgy and Ceremonies and coming to Church To think of Terms for Von and Concord or to endeavour any the like good things which many Considerate Ministers about London have lately done if the Churches unto which We Go and would Bring Others cannot be maintained to be True Churches or Churches agreeable to the Institution of Christ It is This is the First Stone to be Laid It is This is the Cause must be made Good For the doing hereof I shall offer some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating or Building it Vp some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Confirming it some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Refutation of Objections And the Discourse shall contain Three Sections To begin with the First The Building Vp our Cause in This and to fetch the Matter from the Bottom I must lay my Thoughts together in these Theses and Method following As God made all things so is He universal Governour of his Creatures The Government of God over his Creatures that are Reasonable must be a Moral Government requiring Obedience from them upon Motives of Reward and Punishment The Insirument of this Government must be his Law The Law of God is either the Law of Nature or his Revealed and Positive Laws The Government of God is likewise double Natural or Conventional The Natural Government of God over Men and Women which He hath by Right of Creation is over all the World as they are particular Persons giving them the Law of Nature to live by that they may please Him and be saved This Law of Nature is either the Law of Innocent or Lapsed Nature The Law of Innocent Nature is that perfect Rule of Righteousness that was writ in Adam's Heart when created requiring him to preserve his Innocency and Integraty upon Pain of Death and it is called the Law of Works The Law of Lapsed Nature is the same Law with mitigation requiring the same Duty but not as the Condition of Life accepting of the imperfect Service of Man according to his present State so long as it is performed in Sincerity of Heart towards God and this is called the Law of Grace As Man in Innocency had the Notices of the most Holy God and his Duty writ in his Heart or could gather it from the Light of his Reason being to live perfectly in that State So must the World after Man's Fall and the Loss of his Innocency have some the like Notices implanted there or arising naturally from the Exercise of his Faculties That God is Good and Merciful and will not punish him if he Repent but consider him according to his frail Condition and consequently that he must now have no Government at all over him for Life and Salvation or else that he must be under another Law than that of Innocency or under other Conditions in obeying it for else must every Man on the Earth everlastingly perish Upon what Account or upon what Ground or Foundation the Righteousness of God could stand in dealing with Man when faln by another Law than that at first implanted in him in Innocency was a Mystery hidden from the Foundation of the World and not revealed but darkly till the Times of the Gospel But the Belief that God was Good and would pardon the Sinner upon his Repentance though they could not tell how or upon what ground it was the way of Reconciliation through Christ being beyond the Ken of all Human Understanding was general in the World
he shall deserve to be cast out again 〈◊〉 their Society and will submit to the Cenâ—â—re of the Church if he do This is the â—ll which is contained in that Consent which â—â—ts a Man into External Covenant Relation â—â—d suffices to Church-Communion In the Tenth place There is one thing â—ore will go to the Root of the Matter It â—â—d be granted that He who consents to be 〈◊〉 Christian upon the Term of the Covenant must received into the Church Now there are â—wo Parts the Promissory and Comminatory Part of the Covenant No Man Consents with Understanding to the Covenant but he doâ—s and must Consent to Both Parts of it I assume then that he that Consents but to thâ— Covenant so as to be dealt with by God according to Either Part of it as he shall 〈◊〉 shall not perfâ—â—m the Condition is one thâ— Consents to be a Christian upon the Terms the Covenant I add moreover So long 〈◊〉 it is not a Consenting Absolutely but a Câ—â—senting thus in the Way of Covenant or â—â—on Terms which is I say to be dealt wâ—â— by God according to his Performance thâ—â— needs no more Sweat to be spent in shâ—â—ing how the Vnâ—â—generate as well as the â—â—generate may Enter Covenant though it 〈◊〉 One of them only that Keep Covenant wiâ—â— Him In the Eleventh place I am a little sâ—â—sible how in these Two latter Argumentâ— speak rather after Others than my Own pâ—per Terms and Sentiments When Perâ—â—â— come to Baptism or to the Sacrament 〈◊〉 Divines do still press upon them the Duty Entring or Renewing thâ—ir Covenant with Gâ—â— and though they understand by it the Câ—â—â—nant of Life which belongs to God's Nâ—â—â—ral Government which is Vniversal and thâ— Duty consequently which they press is 〈◊〉 Peculiar therefore to the Church or Saâ—â—â—ments but belongs to all the World to every Man and to all Times whether he ever Enter into any church-Church-Society or be Baptized or not for upon this Act does depend the Saving or Perishing of every Man's Soul for ever and upon this Account that it is incumbent upon All and at all Times they do well to press it upon the Baptized and on the Communicant they having at such times so apt an Occasion for it Yet if they press it so far as if no Person but such as have actually Performed that Duty or do actually Perform it at present and Testifie it must be held Admittable into the Church or to be Baptized it is time for me to mind them that when a Person comes to Enter into the Church or a Church-State whether that of the Jew formerly and now the Christian he Did he Does not come directly to give up himself to be a Subject unto God's Natural Government under which every Man in the Earth is Born and ought to devote himself to his Governor from the Beginning of his Life to the End of it But to be a Subject of his Conventional Government which he was not till now or a Subject of that Kingdom which Christ hath set up by the Gospel since his Coming over the whole World being till He came Peculiar to the Jews as I have described the same before So that to be consonant to my Premisses I must say If it were the Covenant of Life that Men were immediately Entred into by their Recâ—ption into the Church understand me if it were so ex prima intentione Instituti Reason would that they should bear with the Minister if he required of them a Saving Faith a Sound Repentance and the Testimony of a Holy Life to admit them to the intended Benefits But when it is into the Covenant of Peculiarity that he directly Enters them or Church-State in order to Life when they come in and are Baptized the Matter is othâ—rwise and the Difficulties which others make about the Covenant in Their Sense which I obviate do blow off without other Help I know till Camero wrote de Triplici Foedere our Divines usually speak only of a Twofold Covenant and besides that of Works acknowledge but One of Grace and no more though Diversly Administred to Adam fallen North Abraham the Israelites and Vs under the Gospel And if any shall choose to speak after Them they may and yet not differ with Me in the Matter so long as they distinguish of the Internal and External Oeconomy thereof which I have purposely dropt before for they may say the same things of the External Oeconomy of the Covenant of Grace as I say of the Covenant of Advantage Only they must beware that by External Covenanting they understand not with some a Covenanting by Profession conceiving that a Man making the same Profession as the Regenerate make or professing the same Faith Repentance as the Regenerate have he is from this Profession to be Reputed in Covenant as the Regenerate is which bâ—ing not made from the Heaâ—t but in Toâ—gue they call External Covenantiâ—g by which Sense thâ—y pervert the Diffâ—â—â—â—â—â— and deprive us of the Vse of it Whereas by the External Administration or Oeconomy of the Covenant I mean the Ordinances wherein it is Administred and I do suppose a real Consent to it so far as to come under that Oeconomy or that a Man Really is Willing to come into the Church and joyn Orderly in God's Publick Worship though he be short otherwise in his Obedience to God And this Consent to the Covenant in the External Oeconomy I have before defined and must add This to it That if the Church or Minister should indeed require such a Declaration as That of every Man whom he admitâ— to Church-Society I think it were proper and warrantable provided it be not Imposed but only in the Matter leaving Men Free to their own Expressions Not that when I signifie this for Peace-sake I do any ways Desert the thing I am doing that is the Opening and Distinguishing the Covenant and Government of God which is so necessary to the Clearing our Cause and so evident in Scripture and Reason For how shall that Government of God which is Vniversal and Covenant appertaining to it be the Same with That which was Peculiar only to the Jews It cannot be How shall the Covenant of Grace in reference whereunto it is said All shall know God from the least to the greatest as belonging to all Mankind be made Another Covenant from That which God struck with the Israelites if they were both the Same How shall it be said Not according to that Covenant if they were but One And how shall all the Jews be said now to be Broken off from their Covenant or from their own Olive which is their Church-State or God's Peculiar Kingdom over them if it were meant of that Covenant or Kingdom of God which is Vniversal or out of which Government none can be Nay how shall we say That any Israelite once in the Covenant of Life can be again Broken off This cannot be said I know without Dispute But
the Denomination of Saints Sanctified Believers Justified and multitude of things are attributed to It which none but the Regenerate really are capable of And Therefore it must be upon a Profession which amounts to that Importance Wherefore the Vnregenerate are so Reckoned and Received This Objection is multiplied and Scriptures abundantly Vrged and Improved accordingly I will Answer therefore very plainly The whole Church is thus Denominated or such things are attributed to It from the Better Part or from the Regenerate Part only which our Divines do commonly say who are Such where I need not stand I think after them to shew how the Scriptures abound with frequent Passages where Something is attributed to All that belongs properly to a Part only of Those to Whom or of Whom it is spoken but assume streight That forasmuch as it is for the sake of Those to whom the Vnregenerate Christian is Joyned that such Titles or Things are attributed to him it does appear that it is his Coming in to the Church or Willingness to be one of their Society that gives him that Advantage and not his telling a Lie in an Hypocritical Profession Yes sure you will say it must be a Man's Professing himself to be Thus makes the Church Repute him thus But I say No for it is not We only Repute him Thus but the Scripture The Holy Ghost calls all the Members such and the Holy Ghost and Scripture cannot Repute them So but upon a Ground of Truth and not upon the Foundation of a Lie or what is Visible only Now that Truth is this that Some are indeed Such and the Rest are of their Society which in the Whole is so denominated on their Account I will yet say That which does yield my self most Satisfaction The Vnregenerate Christian who comes in to the Church is under the Means and in the Way to attain That himself which yet he is Reputed to Be for the sake of Them with whom he is Joyned As we are said to be Justified by Faith according to Austin when Faith in its self distinct from Repentance and Good Works is the Initium only or Entrance of a Christian towards it there being a particular Interest in the General Grace of God upon Belief of That only which is First and in the Way to a Special Interest as One before hath told us and as the Apostle intimates when he says We have Believed as a first thing that we might be Justified So do I judge that an Vnregenerate Man may be said to be a Disciple Saint Sanctified Justified Saved as this Coming into the Church is his beginning the Course to obtain it The Children of the Koathites are said From a Month old to keep the Charge of the Sanctuary Num. 3.27 28. because they were so designed or devoted thereunto Neither is this unusual in our common Speech For let a Man go out of London but Yesterday towards Cornwal we say He is gone to Cornwal when it will be many Days before he reaches Thither As we say then This Man is Gone to Cornwal so is the Vnregenerate Member Sanctified Justified that is he is In the Way to get to it I will clear this farther The Apostle speaking of the Person whom he would have Excommunicated bids us yet Not to count him as an Enemy but admonish him as a Brother 2 Thess 3.15 It may be demanded How this can be when he is cast out from the Society and so is actually a Brother no longer I Answer That forasmuch as he is Cast out to this End only that he may Return and so be a Brother again he is still to be Had and in this respect to be Dealt with as a Brother If then a Person shall be held a Brother in respect to his Repentance and Return as being under the Means the Churches Censure and Admonition to bring him to it we see how the Vnregenerate may have the like Denominations as This on that Account which is indeed the Same only But what if a Man shall say I Believe the Articles of the Creed but I will not leave my Sins I would have Christ to save me but I Renounce his Government Shall such a Man be Admitted I Answer These are Tragical kinds of Exaggerations of the same Objection which stands on a mistaken Supposition If it be proved that it is Christ's Will that every Man must come with such a Profession as to tell what he Is before he is Baptized it were but Reason he should tell all and say the Worst as well as the Best of himself and I know not what then you would do with him But if it be a Man's Offering Himself only is his Profession there is no footing for any Words of this Nature I say moreover As you will receive the Hypocrite under the Name of a Professor so will I receive the Willing under the Notion of a Comer to get Grace or more Grace in the Use of the Ordinances as the Means thereof by God's Appointment Baptism is for Remission of Sins and so is the Lord's Supper and how shall any Man whose Faith and Repentance is not Sound be Baptized or Communicate seeing his Sins be not Forgiven I Answer Baptism and the Supper are for Remission and they are for something Else too They are For the Owning and Acknowledging God and Christ according to his Institutions Jesus Christ was Baptized and Partook of his own Supper but He had no Sins to be Remitted He did it He tells us for Fulfilling of Righteousness These Acts in the Vnregenerate are Acts of External Righteousness and so far as he can Do it his Duty must be Done When there are More Ends than One of an Ordinance or of an Action and some Other of those Ends may be Attained the Ordinance or Action must not be omitted because That One Cannot Neither indeed is it the Advantage of Man but the Will and Glory of God that is the Ground of our Duty Neque enim quia bonum est idcircò auscultare debemus sed quia Deus praecepit Prior est Authoritas imperantis quà m utilitas servientis Tertul. de Poen Lib. But I have Answered this Objection before also Otherwise and because it may be urged with as much Strength and Importunity as Any else whatsoever I will repeat that Answer and Enlarge it That God hath granted Pardon and Life upon our Faith and Repentance is the Substance of the Gospel That this Grant is ordinarily called The Covenant by Divines is not to be denyed That this Covenant is Conditional and Vniversal appears in the Proposal and consequently that All Persons and Every Person in the World hath a Share in it so that if he Repents and Believes he shall be Pardoned and Saved Every Person that comes into the Church and is Baptized does take Possession I must say of that Share or Interest which he hath in this Vniversal Conditional Remission and Salvation whatsoever else he does farther