not have saved him without his reading and much lesse would his reading have saved him without that favourable Law yet his life is a thousand fold more worth then his reading of two or three lines and therefore he owes a thousand times more thanks to his Prince for giving him his life upon such a condition then to himself for reading supposing his reading to have been the purchase of his life If a man sell a farme to his friend for five hundred for which another would have given him a thousand what more common then to say He hath given his friend five hundred in the buying 3. But in sober sadnesse doth Mr. Eyre think the welch man speaks §. 25. properly in his God blesse her father c That were a jest indeed How comes it then to be a ridiculous object if there be not some h pleasing deformity in it that flatters the fancie and surprizeth k See Sie râ—de la Câ—ambre Charact. of the Passions ch 4. of laughter p. 210. the soule so moving laughter And what can that deformity be except the welch idiome but the fallacy of non causa pro causa putting that for the cause which is not the cause as we are wont out of Cicero when we see a little man girt with a great sword to transplace the Subject and the Adjunct and say who tied that man to that sword Had the welch man cried as he was bid God blesse the King and the Judge the propriety of the speech had spoiled the jest and deprived it of that facetiousnesse and lepidity which now causeth us to make merry with it A certain discovery that the speech is not proper nor the condition of reading the cause of his pardon the speech becoming ridiculous upon no other account but because it would insinuate that to be the cause which was no more then a condition But the serious judgement of all offendors who escape death by this means and the wisdome of our statâ— determining it to be an act of royal grace and favour to pardon a man on this condition might one would think be of as much authority as one welch mans word It is true indeed the Law nor the Judge could save him unlesse he read nor will God save us unleâ—â—â— we believe Heb. 3. 19. They could not enter in because of unâ—eliâ—f Not through defect of power or mercy in God which are both inâ—inâ—te but because he hath confined himself in the dispensation of pardon and salvation that he will bestow it upon none but them that believe Is it therefore not of grace because not without faith Whereas the Apostle sayes It is of faith that it might be of grace Rom. 4. 16. In that which followes I finde nothing which is not answered already §. 26. or must not be answered in due place for whereas Mr. Eyre sayes that the performance of the condition makes the conditional grant to become absolute the words are ambiguous If he mean it makes it absolute as that without which it had never been absolute I grant it if he mean it makes it absolute by contributing any direct causality I deny it for upon performance of the condition the conditional grant doth indeed become absolute not by the worth or efficacy of the condition but by the will of the Promiser that upon the existence of such a thing or action will be obliged and not without it We have already given several instances of conditions which have nothing of worth in them to engage the Donour and therefore cannot be the cause of the gift for nothing can produce an effect more noble and excellent then it selfe Nor doth it receive any addition of intrinsecal worth by being made the condition otherwise we might work as rare feats by the influence of our wills as l Magnet cure of wounds Van Helmont thinks may be wrought by the magick of the fancie 'T is but willing a pin to be worth a pound and it shall be done And when he addes in the next place that if faith be the condition of the New Covenant in such a sense as perfect obedience was the condition of the old man must needs be his own Justifier if he mean such in the matter and particular nature of the condition It is true if he mean such in the common nature of a condition it is false for we have shewed before both from Reason and Scripture Divines and Lawyers that some kinde of conditions are so far from being inconsistent with grace as that they advance it rather As suppose some benefit of very great value be bestowed on a worthlesse person upon condition that he acknowledge the rich superlative grace and love of the Donour to be the only cause of it Finally thus he speaks As in the old Covenant it was not Gods threat that brought death upon the world just so in the New if it be a conditional Promise it is not the Promise that justifies a beleever but the beleever himself The answer is ready Death came into the world by sin as the culpable meritorious cause but sin could not have slain us but by the Law 1 Cor. 15. 56. Rom. 5. 13 14. Ergo. It is not warily said that Gods threat did not bring death upon the world 2. And when Mr. Eyre hath proved that our performance of the Gospel-conditions hath the same proportion to our salvation as sin hath to our destruction the Papists shall thank him Rom. 6. last The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Mens not-accepting of the grace of God may make that grace without effect as to themselves 2 Cor. 6. 1. Rom. 3. 3. But that therefore their acceptance is the cause of Gods being gracious to them is wilde reasoning And as to worthy Dr. Kendal out of whom Mr. Eyre quotes these passages he hath publickly enough and in Mr. Eyres hearing for one declared himself to be no enemy against conditions of Justification or salvation That he that is pardoned upon his reading doth not pardon himself §. 27. I proved thus because then he must concurre either to the making of the Law which gives pardon upon such a condition or to the pronouncing of the sentence of absolution upon himself according to that Law This Mr. Eyre saith is an impertinent answer because the question is not whether a man did concur in making the Law and Rule of his Justification but whether he had any causal influxe in producing the effect thereof Rep. My answer if he will call it so was very pertinent as to the case of an offendor saved by his Clergy whose pardon is perfected by a Law which gives the remote right and sentence passed according to that Law which produceth his immunity it selfe If then the said offendor cause his own pardon it must be by concurring some way or other to the production of one of these The case is altogether
hath been transacted between God and Christ And doth not Mr. Eyre see that if he yield it to have the nature and operation of a Law in discharging sinners he contradicts himself in his next answer wherein he denies that Justification is the discharge of a sinner by a declared act that is by a Law Indeed such a Gospel as he here speaks of may declare the sinner to be discharged by some former act but it selfe cannot be his discharge and therefore the answer is nothing to the purpose 2. The atonement made by Christ may be said to be perfect two wayes 1. In respect of it self and so it was most perfect as wanting nothing that was requisite to constitute or make it a compleat cause of our peace 2. In reference to its effects and so it is yet imperfect and shall continue so till the Saints be glorified because till then they shall not have the full effect or perfection of peace purchased in the death of Christ If Mr Eyre mean this latter sense when he sayes the Gospel declares a full and perfect atonement made by Christ he begs the question In the former I grant it 3. And so that the Elect were cleansed from their sins in the death of Christ quoad impetrationem because he obtained eternal redemption and cleansing for them but not quoad applicationem till they do beleeve because the remission purchased in the death of Christ is not applied or given to us till we believe 4. Though the Priest made an atonement for all the sins of Israel upon the day of expiation Lev. 16. 30. yet did God require the concurrence of their afflicting themselves and humbling their soules on that day ver 23. otherwise they should have no benefit by that atonement Lev. 23. 29. Whatsoever soule shall not be afflicted on that same day he shall be cut off from among his people Is not this to teach us that without faith and repentance we shall not have remission by the death of Christ Secondly Mr. Eyre denies the Proposition which stands upon §. 2. this ground That Justification is the discharge of a sinner by a published declared act Where note Reader that by a declared act I mean not an act of God declaring and manifesting to a sinner that he is justified as Mr. Eyre doth willingly mistake me and thereupon patcheth a non-sequitur upon me which I intend not to unstitch but such a declaration of his will as is essential to make it a Law for the very essence of a Law consisteth in this that it is the declared will of the Law-giver Deut. 29. 29. and 30. 11 12 13 14 15 16 c. which is the only rule that determines both de debito officii of what shall be our duty to do and de debito poenae praemii of what rewards or penalties shall become due to us Accordingly the thing I maintain is that our discharge from punishment due by Law must be by the revealed will that is by some contrary Law or Constitution of God And I very well remember that in private conference with Mr. Eyre about nine or ten yeares since I told him my judgement was so then and that our Divines were generally dark in opening the nature of Justification for want of taking notice of it to which he then consented But Tempora mutantur c. the thing it self I thus proved Sin is not imputed where there is no Law Rom. 5. 13. Ergo neither is righteousnesse imputed without Law Mr. Eyre answers 1. Though men will not impute or charge sin upon themselves where there is not a Law to convince them of it yet God may for his hating of a person is his imputing of sin The scope of Rom. 5. 13. is not to shew when God begins to impute sin to a person but that sin in being supposeth a Law and consequently that there was a Law before the Law of Moses Rep. Doth Mr. Eyre indeed think that when it is said Sin is not imputed where there is no Law the meaning should be men will not impute sin to themselves where there is no Law To impute sin hath but two senses in Scripture 1. To punish it 2 Sam. 19. 19. 2 Tim. 4. 16. and then the meaning is that men will not punish themselves where there is no Law and because the punishment which the Apostle doth here instance in is death therefore the full sense will be this that men will not kill themselves where there is no Law a very probable glosse Or 2. To accuse or charge the guilt of sin upon a person But the use of the Word will not allow us to understand it of a mans imputing or charging sin upon himself a Vid Guil. Esthi in loc For it is never used in all the Scriptures to signifie the act of a man upon himself but perpetually the act of another as Paul to Philemon ver 18. If he owe thee any thing impute it to me especially when it is put passively as here it is sin is not imputed See Rom. 4. throughout 3. And I do heartily wish Mr. Eyre would have given us a short paraphrase upon the thirteenth and fourteenth verses that we might have seen what tolerable sense could have been made of them according to his Exposition and whether the Apostle do affirme or deny that men did impute sin to themselves before the Law especially if the Apostles scope be what Mr. Eyre sayes it is namely to shew that sin in being supposeth a Law how can it be conducible to that scope to speak of mens not imputing sin to themselves without a Law 4. The grand designe of the Apostle is plainly to illustrate our salvation by Christ by comparison of contraries and the similitude in its full explication stands thus As by the disobedience of Adam sin and death entred upon all his children so by the obedience of Christ life and righteousnesse betides all his The Proposition is set down ver 12. Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned This is proved ver 13 14. and the summe of the proof as I take it is this Sin was imputed and that unto death from the beginning of the world Ergo there must be some Law in being according to which sin was imputed for it cannot be imputed where there is no Law ver 13. This Law must be either the Law of Moses or the Law given to Adam The former it cannot be for sin and death were in the world long before that Law was given even as long as from Adam to Moses ver 14. Ergo it must be the Law given to Adam And so hath the Apostle his purpose That it was by the disobedience of one namely Adam that sin entred into the world and death by sin From whence it is manifest that God doth never impute sin without a Law that is doth
as the righteous But I will puzzle my selfe no longer with these ambiguous Oracles SECT VII THe third objection succeeds and that is this If justification be §. 22. an immanent act in God it is antecedent not only to faith but to the merits of Christ which is contrary to many Scriptures that do ascribe our Justification unto his blood as the meritorious cause Mr. Eyre answers That although Gods Will not to punish be antecedent to the death of Christ yet for all we may be said to be justified in him because the whole effect of that Will is by and for the sake of Christ As though electing love precede the consideration of Christ John 3. 16. yet are we said to be chosen in him Eph. 1. 4. because all the effects of that love are given by and through and for him Reply Here again I must complain of Mr. Eyres mincing Had he said the Act of Justification goes before the death of Christ but the effects follow he had spoken plainly But when we are disputing that Gods Will is not our Justification because our Justification according to Scripture is a fruit of Christs merit which an immanent act of Gods Will cannot be to tell us now that indeed Gods Will is antecedent to Christs merits is to yield the Argument that therefore it is not our Justification for nothing more certain from Scripture then that our Justification is the fruit of the merits and blood of Christ Rom. 3. 24 25. and 5. 8 9. and 4. 25. and 8. 3 4. 2 Cor. 5. 19 21. Gal. 3. 13 14. Eph. 1. 7. Col. 2. 13 14. Heb. 9. 12 22. and 10. 14 18. and sundry other places 2. It is also unworthy of the precious blood of the Sonne of God to ascribe no more to it then that it merits the effects of our Justification seeing it is a farre lesse matter to purchase the effects then to purchase the act which is the cause of them as I have before observed from the Apostles manner of arguing Rom. 5. If while we were sinners Christ died for us much more then being now justified shall we be saved from wrath 3. It is also no little undervaluing of the glorious blessing of Justification to suppose it so impotent as that it cannot produce its own effects nor do the sinner any good at all unlesse the Son of God interpose by his death to make it effectual I desire to speak of spiritual things with feare and trembling But I am not afraid to say such a Justification as this is not worth grammercy If it be objected that I may say as much of Gods electing love for neither doth that produce its effects without the death of Christ I answer no such matter for the death of Christ it selfe and all other particular causes of our salvation are the effects of election which it selfe produceth in their respective subordinations But Justification is a particular cause determined precisely to a non-punition which yet it cannot effect Nor doth Mr. Eyre himself make the death of Christ an effect of Justification and if he did he must reade the Scriptures backward but of this more by and by 4. I deny that the effects of Justification can be merited without the act for this eternal Justification according to Mr. Eyres theologie is an actual and real discharge from all sin and condemnation a compleat non-imputation of sin and imputation of righteousnesse Therefore it is impossible but that by this act the Elect must have a right given them to deliverance from wrath which is so evident that himselfe contendeth that the Elect even whiles they are in actual rebellion against God have a right to salvation grounded in the Purpose of God page 122. And what then did Christ merit for them Not a right to deliverance from wrath for that they have already and o Vid. Aquiâ— 1. q. 62. 4. â— 12. q. 1 â—4 5. â— 3. q. 19. 3. â— Nullus meretur quod jam habet what one hath already that cannot be afterwards merited Christ is dead in vain as to the purchasing of this right if they had it before Upon this ground do our p Jun. Animad in Bell. l. 5. c. 10. Divines deny that Christ merited any thing for himselfe because there was no advancement of soule or body but was due to him upon an antecedent title Nor yet doth Christ merit the continuance of this right for it is impossible it should be forfeited for a man can forfeit nothing with God but by sin and sin if it be pardoned as here it is supposed to be even all sins and that from eternity hath no strength to work such a forfeiture no more then if it never had been committed Nor doth he merit the possession of that which they have a right to for the effect of merit is properly acquisitio juris the acquiring or obtaining of the right it selfe q Duranâ— â— 2. dist 5 q 3. 8. Nullus meretur id quod est suum sed per meritum facit quilibet ut aliquid efficiatur ei debitum per consequens suum quod ei prius non erat debitum nec suum Indeed men may by violence be kept out of the possession of that which is their own But God is not wont to deny possession where himself hath given a right and if sinners have from eternity a firme and valid right to life and salvation Christ should not need to have put himself to the expence of his blood to have purchased possession Wherefore the effects of Justification being inseparable from the act Christ merited the act as well as the effect or else he merited neither The comparison brought in for illustration makes the matter worse §. 23. then it was before For 1. It is utterly false that all the effects of Gods electing love are given for the merits of Christ for the giving of Christ to death is an effect of Gods electing love and yet Christ did not merit his own sending into the world 2. That the parallel may consist it must be first supposed that the intention of particular meanes have particular names as so many particular acts or causes and then determined that Christ merited not those acts but their effects As for example That Gods intention to make us his children is our Adoption and Christ merited not our Adoption but the effects thereof His intention to sanctifie us is our sanctification and Christ merited not our sanctification but the effects of it His intention to glorifie us is our glorification and Christ merits its effects even as his intent to pardon us is our Justification and Christ doth afterward merit the effects but not the act Thus must the comparison run or it leaves the matter darker then it found it If Mr. Eyre will not allow of this let him acknowledge his doctrine to be without parallel 3. The effects of Christs merits are also the effects of Gods electing love
the words of Mark arguing manifestly from the right and authority which he had received to the lawful exercise of it in making and ordering to be published that Law or Act of Pardon whereof he doth then and there appoint his disciples to be Ambassadours I confesse I cannot imagine what can here be said unlesse it be one of these two things Either 1. That remission of sin is not contained in that salvation which is here promised to them that believe But this me thinks should be too harsh for any Christians eares to endure seeing it must contain all that good which is opposed to condemnation and therefore primarily remission of sins which is also expresly mentioned by the other Evangelists Luke 24. 47. John 20. 23. and by the Apostles in the execution of this their commission as a prime part of that salvation which they preached in the Name of Christ Acts 2. 38. and 3. 19 c. Or 2. That those words He that believes shall be saved are a meer description of the persons that shall be saved which I think is the sense that Mr. Eyre somewhere doth put upon them but this to me is more intolerable then the former partly for the reasons mentioned before chap. 5. and to be mentioned hereafter partly because according to such an interpretation the words will be no more then a simple affirmation or relation of what shall come to passe whereas by their dependance upon the foregoing All power is given to me in heaven and in earth it is manifest that they are an authoritative Sanction of the Lord Christ's an act of that jurisdiction and legislative power which he hath received from the Father and so the standing rule of remission of sins 2. If it be by the Promise of the Gospel He that believes shall not perish §. 19. but shall have everlasting life If I say it be by this Promise that God gives sinners a right to impunity and eternal life then by this Promise he justifies them But by the foresaid promise doth God give sinners a right to impunity and eternal life Ergo. The Proposition I passe as manifest by its own light The Assumption is delivered in several Scriptures Thus Paul Gal. 3. 18. God gave the inheritance to Abraham by Promise Ergo it is by Promise also that a right to life is given to all that have it This Promise is either particular or general The former it is not for God doth not now make any particular Promises to particular men such as was his Promise to believing Abraham Ergo it must be the general Promise wherein the same blessings as were given to Abraham are proposed to all men to be obtained by the same faith that Abraham had and by the same Promise given them when they believe which Promise is that before mentioned of life and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ the Apostle himself being Interpreter ver 22. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the Promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe The same doth he assert at large Rom. 4. 13 14 16 23 24. 3. The Lord Jesus sayes expressely John 12. 48. That the §. 20. Word which he spake shall judge unbelievers at the last day If a judgment of condemnation be ascribed to the Word in reference to unbelievers how can it be denied a judgement of Justification in reference to believers Non potuit magis splendido elogio extolli Evangelii authoritas quà m dum illi judiciâ— potestas defertur Conscendet quidem ipse Christus Tribunal sed sententiam ex verbo quod nunc praedicatur laturum se asserit saith Calvin upon the place Yea the Lord ascribes to the same Word a judgement of Justification ver 50. And I know that his Commandment is life everlasting that is the cause of it as Moses also speaks Deut. 32. 47. i See also Deuâ— â—â— v 15 â—â— It is your life though God be the principal cause and the Word but the k Vid. Synops pâ—r theol disp â—3 §. 10 Down of Jâ—stif c. â— â— 5. â—libi passim instrumental and therefore the power which it hath of judgement it hath from hence that it is the Word of God ver 49. For I have not spoken of my selfe but the Father which sent me he gave me a Commandment what I should say as the instrumental cause works not but in the vertue of the principal To this plain testimony let me adde an Argument as plainly deduced from it If judgement shall passe at the last day according to the Word then the Word is that Law which is the rule of judgement and by consequence to one is given by the Word a right to life and another is obliged to condemnation by the same Word But the antecedent is most true Ergo so is the consequent It is the work of judgement to give unto eâ—ery one according to what is due to him by Law if then a judgement of Justification passe upon any some Law of grace must be supposed according to which it becomes due for such a gracious sentence to passe upon him 4. And this is that which the Apostle James saith chap. 4. 12. §. 21. There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy Beza observes that in foure ancient Greek Copies l As also in the Kings MS. See Dâ— Hammond Annot. in loc as also in the Syriack and the Latine Interpreter the word Judge is extant There is one Lawgiver and Judge who is able to save and destroy that is to whom pertaines the soveraign right and power of saving and destroying But whether the word be expressed or no it is surely implied for the Apostles scope is to disswade us from judging one another ver 11. because there is one Lawgiver to whom the power of judgment and so of absolving and condemning of saving and destroying doth appertain Now he that saves as a Lawgiver saves by absolution and he that absolves as a Lawgiver absolves by Law Ergo God absolves men that is pardons and justifies them by Law And when he shall judge all men at the last day his judgement whether of salvation or destruction shall proceed according to Law 5. Adde to this that the Apostle commends the excellency and glory §. 22. of the Gospel that God doth thereby justifie 2 Cor 3. 9. For if the ministration of condemnation he glory much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glory The ministration of condemnation is that which ver 7. he calls the ministration of death written and engraven in stones His scope is to shew the excellency of that Gospel which himself and other Apostles did preach and publish to the world above the ministration of the Law committed to Moses As then the ministration of death and condemnation was the ministration of that Law which did condemn unto death the effect being put for the cause so the
why Because it was the Will of God that none of the elect should perish or be condemned Answ True not executively But Mr. Eyre knows we put a difference between perishing and condemnation in this debate and that by condemnation we mean not the execution of punishment or wrath but a legal obligation to the suffering of it And though God did purpose that the elect should not perish or be condemned executively quoad eventum yet should Mr. Eyre prove that he purposed that the elect should not stand obliged equally with other sinners for some time to the suffering of wrath This if he prove I will yield the cause The purpose of God in it selfe makes no difference between men whose cause is the same before the just and impartial Judge Do we not know that a Prince may purpose to save the life of a Malefactour against whom notwithstanding the Law is in force and judgement proceeds and sentence passeth and the man thereby as much obnoxious to death as any other Melefactours till some other act of the Prince besides his meer purpose interpose and prevent his death But of this we have spoken largely already The Assumption namely that all the world is under condemnation §. 4. before faith I proved from the expresse testimony of the Lord Jesus John 3. 18. He that beleeveth not is condemned already That is saith Mr. Eyre He that never believeth as chap. 8. 24. If you beleeve not i. e. not at all you shall die in your sins Our Saviour had no intent at all to shew the state of the elect before believing but the certain and inevitable misery of them that beleeve not by reason of the sentence of the Law that had passed upon them All the rest of the answer consents well enough with that Explication of the text which I gave in my Sermon Rep. First for that which is pretended to be our Lords intent in these words let me intreat thee Reader to peruse and ponder the text for I think thou shalt hardly meet with the like abuse of the Oracles of God in any Authour that acknowledgeth the Divinity of Scriptures ver 14. As Moses lift up the Serpent in the wildernesse so must the Son of man be lifted up ver 15. That whosoever beleeveth on him should not perish but should have everlasting life ver 16. for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but should have everlasting life ver 17. for God sent not his Sonne into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved ver 18. He that beleeveth is not condemned he that beleeveth not is condemned already c. Thou seest Reader that the words contain a most serious and faithful testimony to a sinful world that though they had brought upon themselves eternal miseries yet God had sent his Sonne into the world not to condemn the world but to save them and if any man perish 't is not for want of a sufficient remedy provided in the death of Christ but for their own wilful refusal to embrace and make use of it as himselfe tells us ver 19. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men have loved darknesse rather then light Now what sayes Mr. Eyre why he will have us beleeve that the Lords intention is quite against his expression and that he is come to testifie to the world that their misery is certain and inevitable by reason of the sentence of the Law that had passed upon them It is time to burne our Bibles if such glosses as these must be received for truth 2. If the misery of those that beleeve not be inevitable by reason of the sentence of the Law how is this to be understood either that the Law passed sentence upon them as unbelievers but this I suppose is too unreasonable to be affirmed or that the same men who afterwards prove unbelievers were before sentenced by the Law to certain and unavoidable misery But then their unbeliefe contributed nothing to make their misery unavoidable whereas our Lord chargeth the unavoidablenesse of misery upon wilful unbelief ver 19. This is the condemnation not that men are in darknesse but that light is come into the world and men have loved darknesse rather then light Were it not for this men might do well enough notwithstanding all that the Law had done against them Ergo misery is not made certain and inevitable to any by the Law before unbelief be added 3. Mr. Eyre told us but now that the Law condemned all men equally that 's the sense of his words if there be any sense in them The Law saith he doth not consider men as elect or reprobate I know not how it should for the Law is neither God nor man nor Angel as believers or unbelievers c. how comes it then to passe that misery should be made unavoidable to one and not to another by the same Law Next we shall enquire into Mr. Eyres Exposition of ver 18. §. 5. He that beleeveth not is condemned already that is saith he he that never beleeveth which is not only gratis dictum spoken without so much as a pretence of Reason but is manifestly inconsistent with the text Indeed condemnation is executed upon none but final unbelievers but unbelievers in the text are to be understood generally of all unbelievers whatsoever and not to be confined to final unbelievers 1. Such unbelievers are here meant who are part of that world into which Christ is sent for after the Lord had said ver 17. God sent not his Sonne into the world to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved He distributes this world into two parts Beleevers and Unbeleevers ver 18. He that beleeveth is not condemned he that believeth not is condemned already But final unbeleevers as such are no part of that world into which Christ is sent for a final unbeleever is he that dies in unbelief if he beleeve but one minute before his death he is not a final unbeleever And Christ is not sent to the dead but to the living 2. Such unbelievers are here meant whom Christ was sent to save ver 16 17. But Christ was not sent to save final unbelievers as such Ergo such unbelievers are not here meant 3. We have also mention of a double condemnation in the text one which Christ findes men under when he comes into the world and which he comes to deliver them from ver 17 18. The other which men are left under for final unbelief and rejecting of Christ the light of life ver 19. This is the condemnation c. for Christ could not finde men condemned for a final rejecting of him till he had been preached and tendered to them Ergo they that beleeve not ver 18. are unbeleevers in general 4. The condemnation here spoken of is
sufficient cause of condemnation though he be not actually condemned for want of the concurrence of some other cause but what that actuall condemnation is which is hereby intended to be excluded we must farther enquire Condemnation which we are forced often to observe signifies either the sinners obligation to punishment or the execution of punishment in the former sense he is condemned who by the Law is guilty of death in the latter sense he who is actually damned and suffers the punishment threatned In distinction from one or both of these it is that a man is said to be damnable in himself If from the former the meaning is this That all the world the elect and all have wrought that evill which were most sufficient to work the forfeiture of their right to life and make them lyable to eternal death if there were any Law in force against them If this be the sense Mr. Eyre will have the Apostle speak in when he sayes all the world is become guilty before God marke what follows 1. Then the Law neither doth nor ever did condemn any man living for men are supposed to be damnable and but damnable not actually condemned for want of a Law in sorce to condemn them that is to hold them under an obligation to punishment The Law doth but shew its teeth pardon the expression reader but it neither doth nor ever did bite any man no not the most presumptuous transgressours of it though transgressours be as fit objects as can be for the Law to take hold of if it had power so to do Hence secondly I would ask whether ever God did condemn any man If he did by what Act not by the Law that shews indeed who are damnable in themselves not who are condemned of God I suppose it will be said that some are condemned by the eternall Act of Reprobation â—ut I leave it to Mr. Eyre to prove that the name or nature of condemnation can agree to that Act according to Scripture which if he cannot prove as sure enough he cannot nor all the men on earth it must needs follow that there is no such thing as the condemnation of any man according to Scripture Against this sense of the text I could adde much more if I could perswade my self to think that it were needful for the help of any man But it may be this damnability is opposed to damnation executed §. 19. and then the meaning is That the Law doth not shew whom God damneth that is punisheth with damnation but who are damnable or punishable in themselves if God should try and judge them according to the Law But 1. This is nothing to the purpose It is no part of my undertaking to prove that every one who at present is an unbeliever is damned as that word notes the execution of damnation or wrath actually inflicted but that he is condemned that is under a legal obligation to punishment till some gracious act of God discharge him When therefore Mr. Eyre opposeth that men are not condemned by the Law but damnable he fights with a shadow for he that is damnable executively is condemned legally which is that I am proving for it is the work of judgement to execute Laws and to give to every man according to what is due to him by Law if then upon supposition that men were to be tried and judged by the Law of works they would be found damnable it must be also supposed that they were before obliged by Law to the suffering of damnation 2. Otherwise the Law is but the carcasse of a Law and called a Law equivocally as we call a dead man a man for example There was a Law in Israel that whosoever should not humble himself upon the day of expiation should be cut off Lev. 16. which Law is now abrogated Neverthelesse it may be truly said that if a Jew who now keeps not that day were to be tried and judged by that Law he would be found punishable If it be said that Law is now abrogated and so no man incurres the penalty upon the non-observance of it It is most true yet may he be said to be punishable by it in sensu diviso in the very same sense in which Mr. Eyre allows sinners to be damnable by the Law of works namely upon supposition it were in force to make the penalty due and sinners were to be tried and judged by it 3. And was it not worth the while for the Lord Jesus to come down from heaven to redeem sinners from the curse of the Law and that at no easier a rate then by being made a curse for them when the Law never cursed or condemned any man but only shews who are damnable in themselves if they should be judged by the Law From which way of judgement the Elect are supposed to be secured by an antecedent act of God SECT V. MY second Argument to prove that the condemnation mentioned §. 19. John 3. 18. cannot be meant meerly of condemnation in conscience was this The condemnation of an unbelievers conscience is either true or false If true then it is according to the judgement of God and speaks as the thing is and so God condemns as well as the conscience If false c. Mr. Eyre answers There is a threefold act of conscience about sin 1. When it witnesseth to us about the desart of sin 2. When it witnesseth to us concerning the act of sin 3. When it witnesseth to us concerning our final state and condition before God Now if conscience bear witnesse to a man concerning what he hath done and what is his desart in so doing it doth but its duty But if it tell a man that for the sins which he hath done he is a damned creature and must perish everlastingly such a conscience is both penally and sinfully evil Rep. The Argument is wholly untouched For the question is not whether an unbelievers conscience condemn him truly in reference to his final estate but whether it condemn him truly in reference to his present state If it tell him that at present he is in a state of condemnation doth it speak true or false Herein Mr. Eyre will not answer me but saith only that if it tell him his case is desperate and without hope it speaks false I need not tell Mr. Eyre that his answer is impertinent I am perswaded he knows it well enough conscience may tell an unbeliever that he is condemned and herein it speaketh true though it do not tell him that there is no way of coming out of this state of condemnation which were false 2. The two former answers also are not much to purpose for to witnesse concerning the act and desart of sin is as proper to the conscience of a believer as of an unbeliever whereas our question is only concerning the unbelievers conscience And if this be the whole of what conscience can justly charge upon an unbeliever then is the
brazen Serpent else they could not have seen it so they that look upon Jesus Christ i e. beleeve in him are spiritually alive or else they could not put forth such a vital act Rep. But wherein doth this make against me The most that follows from hence is either that the habit of faith is before the act as the faculty of sight before the operation of it which is no part of the Question between Mr. Eyre and me or that a man is quickened internally by faith before he is quickened morally by Justification and pardon even as they put forth the vital act of seeing before they received that healing which prevented their approaching death which is the very thing I am proving 2. But in every similitude there is some dissimilitude and if Mr. Eyre will instance in things that do not come into the comparison he may as well inferre that faith is an act of natural power because their looking to the brazen Serpent which represented faith was so I say therefore that they that were stung with the fiery Serpents though they were not dead as to the utmost and last act of death which consists in the separation of the soule from the body yet they were dead in effect and as much as the nature of the type and the scope of the comparison requires as having received their deaths wound which would soon have prevailed over the remainders of their life if it had not been prevented by looking up to the brazen Serpent And therefore of him that looked on the Serpent of brasse 't is said that he lived Numb 21. 9. That is saith Mr. Eyre he had ease from his anguish And §. 4. so by looking up to Christ by faith we finde ease and rest to our wearied soules A man is said to live when he lives comfortably and happily Rep. Which is neither true in the Proposition nor Reddition of the comparison Not in the first for in the type the opposition is not between ease and paine but between life and death Numb 21. 6. The fiery Serpents bit the people and much people of Israel died and ver 9. It came to passe that if a Serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the Serpent of brasse he lived as Hezekiah is said to live Isa 38. 21. when he recovered of a mortal disease not only from the pain and anguish of it but principally from the mortality of it Nor in the second for though life in Scripture may sometimes signifie a happy prosperous and comfortable life yet in our Saviours use of it it hath not that sense precisely though that may very well be included consequently partly because the life obtained by looking up to Christ is opposed not to pain and sickness precisely but to the death and destruction of the whole person John 3. 15. The Sonne of man must be lifted up that whosoever beleeveth on him should not perish but have everlasting life partly because the same life is called salvation ver 17. God sent not his Sonne into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him should be saved Now though a man may be said to live when he lives comfortably yet he is never said to be saved in Scripture precisely because he lives comfortably When Paul sayes Now we live if ye stand fast 1 Thes 3. 8. I think he is to be understood of a joyful comfortable life But it had been very uncouth to expresse the same life thus Now we are saved if ye stand fast But Mr. Eyre hath a sad quarrel against me for reading that §. 5. text John 6. 40. thus It is the Will of God that he that seeth and beleeveth the Sonne shall be justified whereas the words are That whosoever seeth the Sonne and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life Herein he saith I have corrupted and falsified the text Rep. What you please Sir provided you take in all manner of Commentators as well as my selfe for I know no man but you that excludes Justification from being there contained in eternal life As when the Law sayes Do this and thou shalt live the life promised includes Justification primarily so when it is said He that believes shall have eternal life life includes Justification in like manner And though there be many more blessings included then that single one of Justification yet that only being to my purpose I thought I might mention it only without being guilty o◠corrupting or falsifying the text I had thought also the believer may be said to have eternal life in right as well as in possession as the Lord speaks a little below ver 47. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life And to have right to life or life in right is to be justified and therefore is our Justification called Justification of life Rom. 5. 18. And grace reignes through reghteousnesse unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord ver 21. SECT II. THe next comparison I made use of for illustration and proof §. 6. of this matter was out of John 6. 51 52 53 54. where faith is compared to eating and Justification to the nourishment we receive by our meat As then we are not first nourished and then eat the meat that nourisheth us but we eat our meat that we may be nourished by it so neither are we first justified and then beleeve on Christ that hath justified us but we beleeve in Christ that we may be justified Mr. Eyre answers That this is a mistake like the former for it is Christ himself who throughout that Chapter is compared to bread and food whom by faith we receive for our refreshment consolation and spiritual nourishment Rep. As if Justification were none of that nourishment which we receive by faith because Christ himself is the meat on whom we feed This answer is a plain yielding of the Argument unlesse Mr. Eyre intend that it is only comfort and refreshment and not Justification and pardon which is the nourishment we receive by feeding on Christ which if he doth intend we oppose from the text 1. That Christ invites us to eat of his flesh that we may live not simply that we may be refreshed and comforted it s in vain to talk of refreshing and comforting him that is dead ver 33. The bread of God giveth life to the world the very substance and being of life not only the well-being which consists in refreshment and consolation And though life may now and then though very rarely signifie precisely a comfortable life yet here surely it signifies more as being opposed to eternal death under which the world is supposed to be till Christ give them life ver 50. to be I mean in respect of guilt and that very life in the losse of which consists the whole misery of unbelievers ver 53. Except you eat the flesh of the Sonne of man and drink his blood you have no life in you 2. And that Justification or
pardon of sin is so far from being excluded as that indeed it is the principal blessing included in the life here promised is manifest from the Lords own words almost the very same with those used throughout this chapter in administration of his Supper This is my body which is broken for you as Paul hath it 1 Cor. 11. 24. This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Matth. 26. 28. Ergo remission of sins is that life which the flesh and blood of Christ gives to the world 3. The life mentioned throughout the chapter containes all the blessings which Christ hath purchased for believers Ergo it containes Justification and pardon of sins or else Christ never purchased that for them If it be said that Christ purchased not the act of pardon but that consolation and refreshment which is the effect of it we have already shewed that neither is that act worthy the name of pardon which cannot of it self produce the effects of pardon nor was it needful that where pardon is so great a price should be paid for the effects of it What can hinder good things from us but sin and sin if it be pardoned can no more hinder then if it never had been committed that there would be no need for Christ to die to purchase any good things for us if he do not purchase the very act of pardon 4. The life which the flesh and blood of Christ gives to the world is not life simply but salvation from perishing as appears by comparing ver 40. with John 3. 16 17. therefore surely containes more then a life of comfort and refreshment precisely as was before observed 5. And I leave it with Mr. Eyre to consider whether there be not some greater malignity against the grace of God and salvation by Christ in his opinion then in the doctrine of those whom he opposeth pretendedly as enemies to grace when for the maintaining of it he is forced to bear us in hand that God sent not Christ nor did Christ come to quicken a dead world but to give ease to a sick world or healing to a wounded world not to give life to them that were dead but comfort and refreshment to them that were alive or not to restore them unto life but to continue and perfect them in the life they had before Eph. 2. 5. You that were dead in sins hath he quickened namely by remission Col. 2. 13. If one died for all then were all dead 2 Cor. 5. 15. Ergo a lesser matter then the death of Christ woâ—ld have served turne for our Redemption if our death had been any thing lesse then a total privation of life and the flesh and blood of Christ which so often in the Chapter is said to give life to the world is Christ dying or Christ crucified SECT III. MY fourth general Argument proving faith to go before Justification §. 7. was this What place and order works had to Justification in the Covenant of works the same place and order faith hath to our Justification in the Covenant of grace But works were to go before Justification in the Covenant of works Ergo faith is to go before our Justification in the Covenant of grace Mr. Eyre declames most tragically against the Proposition as no lesse unsound then the worst point in Popery or Arminianisme Thus do wise mens passions sometimes out-run the Constable and so they may overtake their adversary care not how many innocent persons they over-run in the way This very Proposition which Mr. Eyre disclaims as a piece of Popery and Arminianism have I received from as worthy opposers of both as the world hath any Bellarmine arguing against Justification by faith only saith That it did not please God to give Justification upon the condition of faith alone b Bell enerv l. 5. c 4. p. 3â—3 in 12. Dr. Ames answers Vel maximè hoc placuit Deo It pleased him altogether and addes Apostolus eâ—iam Gal. 3. 11 12. clarè testatur sidem in Evangelio ita se habere ut fac hoc in lege which I cannot better English then in the words of my Proposition denied Thus c Com. iâ— Eph. p. 243. 244. Bayne Look as in the Covenant of the Law Do this and live no deed no life so in this Covenant of the Gospel wherein the Lord promiseth for Christ to pardon sin to justifie to accept to eternal life here it may be said No saith no portion in the Prâ—mises of God in the grace of God in Christ Jesus for look as plaisters unapplied so is Christ unbelieved Nay more hast thou not saith whiles thus thou art God will not justifie thee nor accept thee to life for to pronounce thee just that doest not beleeve on Christ were to pronounce the guilty innocent which is an abomination with God For hence it is that Gods mercy and justice kisse offering no violence to each other because God doth so of grace save us sinners in our selves that first he maketh through Christ applied righteous c. Thus d De recoâ—cil â—ar 1. l. 2 c. 1â— p 101. Wotton Fides igitur est conditio quidem talis conditio ad Justificationem per Christum in foedere gratâ—itâ— qualis â—rant opera ad Justificationem ex operibus legis The sense of which is altogether the same with Dr. Ames Thus Calvin e In Rom. 10. 8 there quoted Colligimus sicut lex opera exigit Evangelium nihil aliud postulare nisi ut fidem afferant homines ad recipiendam Dei gratiam Thus f Of the Covenâ—nt part â— ch 6. p. 360. Mr. Bulkley almost verbatim though I did not know so much till a Minister that had read the book told me of it and were it worth the while to transcribe testimonies in so known a case I could confirme the same from the testimonies of Dr. Twisse Pemble Downham Ball Beza and I think all the Protestant Authours I have most of whose names are mentioned chap. 1. and that according to the constant language of the g Vid Gasp Laurent Conseâ—s Orthoâ— vâ—t Art 5. â— â— per â—â—â— Ancients And because I foresaw that an adversary might be ready to misrepresent me as if I had compared faith and works in every respect as the same for use and effect in their respective Covenants I therefore said not that they had the same place meerly in the two Covenants but the same place and order putting in the latter word purposely as an Explication of the former for preventing that very mistake which Mr. Eyre is here run into of which latter word notwithstanding Mr. Eyre takes no notice in all he sayes against me My meaning therefore in the Proposition is this That as by the Covenant of works it was required that men should fulfil the Law that they might be justified so by the Gospel it is required that men beleeve that they
Gentiles through faith but how it should follow from hence that the Gentiles or any sinners else were reconciled to God immediately upon the deâ—th of Christ is beyond my comprehension And yet if I may speak my own judgement I see no reason why the words may not be understood metonymically and that be said to be done in the death of Christ whereof the death of Christ is the cause that it is done though it be not done presently but sometimes after for the death of Christ did indeed give the ceremonies their deaths wound but they did not totally and perfectly expire till sometime e Vide Scot in Sent. l 4. d 3. qu 4 n. 7. 8 9 12 c. See also D Godwin in Rom. 8. 34. sect 5. p 171 after the Gospel had been preached for surely some yeares after the death of Christ if the Jewes at least multitudes of them who lived farthest from the sound of the Gospel were not bound to observe the Laws of Moses yet they might observe them without sin which after the Gospel was fully preached they could not do But if Mr. Eyre himself or any man else shall think fit hereafter to engage in this Argument I shall desire him to forme his Reasons from these and the like texts into some Logical shape that we may be assured of what it is they ground upon otherwise men may accumulate texts of Scripture in insinitum and an Answerer be left uncertain what he opposeth The last text mentioned by Mr. Eyre is 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was §. 15. in Christ reconciling the world unto himself which words Mr. Eyre confesseth I thus glossed That God was in Christ acting towards the reconciliation of the world to himself but this glosse Mr. Eyre confuteth How Why he tells his Reader It is not so Is not this a gallant confutation But I am out of doubt that it is so and that the Apostles meaning is plainly not that sinners were reconciled immediately and presently by the death of Christ but that God appointed and accepted his death as a most sufficient meanes and cause by which they should be reconciled when they believed and not before the death of Christ effecting this immediatly That notwithstanding all their sins yet there lies not on them a remediles necessity of perishing but that if they shall beleeve on him that died for them they shall be justified and saved Even as if we should say of a Physician that hath found out a Catholicon that would cure all diseases Here 's a man that hath cured all diseases not that his remedy had actually cured them for there may be many thousands to whom it was never applied but that it cures all who will suffer it to be applied f Aquin. 3 â—â—q 49. art 1. ad 3 m. Christus in suâ passione nos liberavit causaliter id est instituens causam nostrae liberationis ex qua possent quaecunque pâ—ocata quandoque remitti vel praeterita vel praesentia vel futura Siout si medicus faciat medicinam ex quâ pâ—ssent quâ—â—unque morbi sanari etiam in futurum Of which more by and by That the place is thus to be interpreted is manifest from the context For after the Apostle had said God was in Christ or by Christ reconciling the world unto himself He addes And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation Now then we are Ambassadours for Christ aâ— though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God If we were reconciled in the death of Christ quoad effectum to what purpose are Ambassadours sent abroad into the world most earnestly and importunately to beseech sinners that they would be reconciled unto God It will be said the meaning of that exhortation is that sinners would â—ay aside the enmity of their hearts against God and returne to him by faith in his Sonne Jesus Christ Answ Most truly if one word more be added namely that we exhort men to beleeve on Christ that they may partake in the reconciliation prepared and purchased in his blood for all that come unto him for surely the reconciliation which the Apostle exhorts to is not only active in our â—aying aside our enmity against God but also passive in Gods being reconciled to us 1. That is the proper importance of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the passive voice though we cannot so happily render it in English as to expresse its significancy It denotes properly not our act of reconciling our selves to God for the word being of the passive voice notes that we also are passive in the reconciliation spoken of but our doing of that upon which another namely God is reconciled with us As when the same word is used in the same sense 1 Cor. 7. 11. But if she depart let her remain â—â—married or be reconciled to her hâ—sband 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is not meant of her laying aside of enmity against her husband but of her â—sing meanes to obtain the favour and affection of her hâ—sband that he may be reconciled to her So Matth 5. 24. Be reconciled to thy Brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is not meant properly of a mans reconciling himself to his brother but of doing what he can to gain his brothers good affection to him In the like sense doth Peter use another word Acts 2. 40. Save your selves from this untoward generation In the Greek the verbe is passive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be you saved from this untoward generation that is convert unto God that you may be saved from the destruction which is coming on this generation In like manner when the Apostle sayes here Be ye reconciled unto God he exhorts us indeed unto faith not as that by which we reconcile our selves to God but as that by which we partake in Gods reconciliation with us If then we be perfectly reconciled before what needs this exhortation 2. Or that other in the next verse but one namely chap. 6 1. We then as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain This grace of God is that which before he called the Ministery of reconciliation even the Gospel inviting us through faith to a reconciliation with God And what is the receiving of this grace in vain but a not believing of Christ and his Gospel through which unbelief the reconciliation begun in the blood of Christ and preached in his Gospel becomes of none effect to us If we were perfectly reconciled immediately upon his death our unbelief could not hinder our reconciliation As to Mr. Perkins testimony which Mr. Eyre in the words following §. 16. opposeth against me namely that the actual blotting out of sin doth inseparably depend upon satisfaction for sin if Mr. Eyre will square it to his own rule he must shew us that to depend insâ—parably and to depend immediately are all one
his dealing with other Infants who are the children of his servants and of such as believe on him after the example of Abraham Their father Abrahams faith was the condition of their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt Deut. 10. 15. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them and he chose their seed after them And because he would keep the oath which he had sworne unto your fathers hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen chap. 7 8. Neverthelesse after they had been farther instructed in and known the Will of God he required of them that they should feare him and walk in all his wayes and love him and serve him with all their heart and soule Deut 10. 12 16. Otherwise they were liable to a returne to the same or a worse bondage then that out of which they had been redeemed chap. 28. 65 68. And it is also observable that the Infants in Israel continued their right to the promised land while their Parents were cut off for rebellion Numb 14 30 31. As to the second exception That we may as well assert works §. 19. of supererogation as that one is justified by anothers faith I had thought Mr. Eyre had better understood what works of supererogation are then to trouble us with such an impertinency But to the two texts of Scripture in the margine to which he refers us Ezek. 18. 20. and Hab. 2. 4. to prove that a mans faith or righteousnesse is available only to his own salvation they are both to be understood pro subject â materiâ He that is furnished with meanes and abilities for the exercise of a faith of his owne or for performing works of righteousnesse cannot expect salvation by the faith or righteousnesse of his Parents while himself lives in unbelief and unrighteousnesse The eighth Argument is the old postulatum that faith cannot be §. 20. the condition of our reconciliation but it will then needs share with Christ in the glory of this effect which we have shewed already at large to be contrary to the judgment of Scriptures Reason Lawyers Divines I may adde of all sorts of persons All men will acknowledge that the freest Promise imaginable becomes not obligatory but upon supposition of acceptance by him to whom the Promise is made e Vide D Marta Neapol Digest Noviss Tom 3. Tit. Donatarius and the freest donation becomes invalid if he to whom it is given will have none of it And faith being no more then an acceptance of Christ John 1. 12. Rev. 22. 17. one would think it might be made the condition of the gift of righteousnesse and life without danger of sharing in the glory of Christ More of the unreasonablenesse of Mr. Eyres crude assertion though it be more then needs and more then once I intended the Reader shall finde below in answer to Mr. Eyres nineteenth chapter Enter the ninth Argument If it were the Will of God that §. 21. his people should have strong consolation and that their joy should be full then it was his Will that their peace and reconciliation should not depend upon conditions performed by themselves for it is impossible that any soul should enjoy a firme and setled peace whose confidence towards God is grounded upon conditional Promises and says the Apostle our salvation is by grace to the end that the Promise may be sure to all the seed Rom. 4. 16. Answ We expect other manner of proof of the consequence then what is here presented us It is most true that Gods Will is that his people should have strong consolation not without faith but through faith as is most expresse in that very place which Mr. Eyre quotes Heb. 6. 18. That we might have a strong consâ—lation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Also the Apostle John 1 Ep. 1. 4. gives the reason of his writing the doctrine of the Gospel namely that through the faith thereof our joy may be full But it is the wildest reasoning that ever I met with to inferre that if the gift of peace and reconciliation be suspended upon believing then he that believes cannot have strong consolation just as if I should inferre because the Lord sayes John 16. 24. Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full Ergo He that asketh can never attain to fulnesse of joy The strength of our joy and consolation depends upon the immutability and faithfulnesse of the Promise which we beleeve and by how much the more stedfastly we beleeve by so much the more do we partake in the comfort of the Promise But that is above all that Mr. Eyre should quote Rom. 4. 16. to prove that if our salvation depended never so little upon our works we could not be sure thereof Amongst which works he includes faith absurdly enough but suitable to his dealing with the Authours whom he quotes here and elsewhere applying to faith what they speak against works when the very words of the text are expresly and purposely against the inference which he makes from them Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the seed Since man was borne upon the earth was it ever thought possible that these words should yield this inference Ergo if salvation depend on faith we can never be sure of it Though neither doth the text speak of the certainty of the subject or of our being sure of salvation but of the certainty of the object or of salvation's being sure to us Let us hear the tenth Argument If it were the Will of God that §. 22. the death of Christ should be available for the reconciliation of the elect whiles they live in this world then it was his Will that it should procure for them immediate and actual reconciliation without the intervention of those conditions supposed to be required of them The reason is because they cannot perform all the conditions required of them till their last breath this being one that they must persevere to the end Answ This Argument with many of the rest if it prove that sinners are reconciled without any condition performed on their part yet it doth not prove what it should do that they are reconciled immediately in the death of Christ or before they beleeve If we contended for no more then that faith were antecedent to Justification not the condition thereof this Argument would not hurt us and therefore is not like to be very serviceable to Mr. Eyre 2. Nor doth it so much as pretend to disprove Justification upon any condition as suppose upon the first act of faith and therefore is yet farther impertinent 3. But that which it would disprove if it had strength enough is the conditionality of final perseverance unto Justification But neither do we make final perseverance the condition
5. with Rom. 8. 1 34. And to the same sense doth Mr. Eyre himself expound it in his maine answer which is this By nature or in reference to their state in the first Adam they were children of wrath they could expect nothing but wrath and fiery indignation from God Yet this hindred not but that by grace they might be the children of his love for so all the elect are while they are in their blood and pollution Ezek. 16. 4 8. The Lord calls them his sonnes and children before conversion Isa 43. 6. and 53. 11. and 8. 18. Heb. 2. 9. For it is not any inherent qualification but the good pleasure of God that makes them his children Eph. 1. 5. Rom. 8. 29. Joh. 17. 6. Elect children have the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to them though they know it not and I know no reason saith he why it should not be imputed to the rest of the elect before conversion Rep. Two things I have here to do 1. To shew what the Apostles §. 9. sense is in these words 2. What is Mr. Eyres sense and how inconsistent with the Apostles 1. When the Apostle saies we were by nature children of wrath by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nature I understand their whole naturall condition from their very first originall wherein they began to be the children of Adam unto the time of their conversion unto Christ And so his meaning is that during the whole time of their naturall unregenerate estate they were under an obligation to eternal punishment for the sinfulnesse of their nature and b per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc in loco intelligi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ait Suidas in verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad finem lives That this is his meaning is manifest not only from this verse Amongst whom we all had our conversatiou in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others and from the words following v. 4 5. But God when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ but also from that other place altogether parallel to this Colos 2. 13. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses c Vide Esthium Davenanâ— Bâ—zam Dâ—odat Hemming alios Expositors are agreed that by the uncircumcisâ—on of the flesh is meant the sinfulnesse and corruption of nature and therefore by comparing the places together it is manifest that for the sinfulnesse of their nature and conversation the two parts of the naturall man the Apostle pronounceth these Ephesians to have been in times past children of wrath and damnation no lesse then any other Now for Mr. Eyre we must a little enquire what is his meaning §. 10. when he says that beleevers were children of wrath namely by nature or in reference to their state in the first Adam and againe that considered in themselves and as they come from the loynes of Adam they are sinful and cursed creatures Which being to be understood in a diminutive sense only secundum quid for Mr. Eyre will not allow us to inferre that because they are under wrath by nature Ergo they are under wrath simply nor because they are cursed in themselves Ergo they are cursed simply must therefore be extended no farther then may consist with a state of blessednesse and freedom from wrath which the same persons are in at the same time And so the meaning is that there is in every man even the elect themselves naturally and as they are the children of Adam sufficient ground and matter of condemnation though they never stand actually condemned either in respect of their obligation to or the execution of punishment because of the grace of God preventing and hindring it Even as he said before that the Law condemned the elect whom yet he denies to be ever condemned simply by the word condemneth a verbe of active signification expressing not the effect which the Law produceth for it is impossible men should be condemned and not condemned both at once but the faculty power and virtue that is in the Law to condemne sinners if the Act of it were not hindred and bound up by grace Thus do we often speak in ordinary discourse as when we say Rhubarbe purgeth Choler not relating to the actual operation of it though the verb be of active signification but to the virtue of it for such an operation and light makes all things manifest relating still to the faculty and property of it not to the Act or exercise for the words may be spoken at midnight And as in these and the like expressions the verbe active signifieth not the Act or present influx of the cause but the power and virtue of it so when it is said that a man is accursed condemned in himself or by nature or the like the verbs passive do not note the effect wrought and existing but the morall capacity of a person to be the object of condemnation nothing on his part hindring it but rather preparing and disposing him for it This if any thing being Mr. Eyres sense we are next to shew §. 11. that it is altogether inconsistent with the Apostles meaning in this text And that appears 1. From that the Apostle doth not say we are the children of wrath by nature but we were the children of wrath by nature namely in times past as he doth twice expresse himselfe v. 2 3. plainly opposing the time present to the time past wherein they were children of wrath but now were ceased to be so Whereas according to the sense which Mr. Eyre puts upon the words it is impossible that a sinner should be delivered from being a child of wrath either in this world or in the world to come Even glorified Saints considered according to what they are by nature or in themselves or in reference to their state in the first Adam are children of wrath and so they remaine to all eternity 2. The phrase here used as Beza well observes children of wrath is borrowed from the Hebrews who are wont to call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sonne of death who is designed or adjudged to die or hath contracted upon himself an obligation unto death without any present actuall reversion as he that is found guilty of stripes and adjudged to be beaten is called a sonne of stripes Deut. 25. 2. see also 1 Sam. 20. 31. and 2 Sam. 12. 5. Psal 102. 20. Therefore the same phrase applied here to the elect in their unbelief notes that they were then under such an ordination to death as did exclude their present d C ram Deo damnati Calvin pardon and absolution They that were pardoned were children of life not of death 3. We were also children of wrath saith the Apostle even as others Will it
be said that all the world are children of wrath by nature but by grace justified and children of life at the same time If not it must be yeelded that the elect and reprobate are both equally under the same condemnation both equally obnoxious to eternall punishment so long as they continue equally in a natural unregenerate condition 4. The parallel place before-mentioned Colâ—s 2. 13. confirmes all I have said And you being dead in your sinnes and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all your trespasses Beleevers then themselves were sometimes dead that is under condemnation and so under it as that they were then without remission of sins for their quickning is by remission and nothing is quickned except it be dead That the elect though children of wrath by nature may yet at the §. 12. same time be the objects of love is nothing to the purpose till that love be proved to be their justification which we have before disproved 2. That the elect are called the children of God before conversion I cannot conceive how it is proved from any or all the texts mentioned if Mr. Eyre had formed any Argument from them it should have had an answer Neverthelesse I acknowledge that elsewhere in Scripture they are so called but metonymically not because they are children properly for the relation of father and children supposeth the existence of the terms on both sides related take away one and the other also is taken away but because they were designed and predestinated to be children according to that of the Apostle Eph. 1. 5. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself Even as the Lord tells Paul Act. 18. 10. That he had much people in Corinth that is many who were to be made his people by Pauls ministery though before they were not his people 1 Pet. 2. 10. And as God calls Cyrus his shepherd Isa 44. 28. Two hundred years before he was borne because he was designed to such an employment and so he is called not from what he was but from what he was to be as on the contrary others sometimes are named not from what they are but from what they had been in times past Matth. 21. 31. Publicans and harlots enter into the Kingdom of God before you that is such as had been so 3. That it is the good pleasure of God and not any inherent qualiâ—â—cation in us which makes us his children if it be meant of children by Adoption and of that good pleasure of God which is a temporal transient Act is true But it should have been proved that the said good pleasure of God makes us his children without any inherent qualifications in us The Scriptures tell us that we are the children of God by faith Joh. 1. 12. Gal. 3. 26. and 4. 5. c. 4. I also yeeld that the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed to infants though they know it not and that so it is also to multitudes of grown Christians But it should be proved that such infants are uncapable of the habit of faith or that their parents faith doth not supply their incapacity as to their justification of which more hereafter SECT III. IN the next place Mr. Eyre gives us an account in what sense the elect though freed from wrath and condemnation may yet §. 13. be said to be under it namely in regard the Law doth terrifie and affright their consciences Rom. 4. 15. In which respect it is called a ministration of wrath and death 2 Cor. 3. 7 9. Answ Whether Mr. Eyres intent in this undertaking be to give another exposition of the elects being children of wrath I cannot tell If it be he must quit the former for this will not consist with that There he told us the elect were children of wrath that is by nature or in themselves or in reference to their state in the first Adam abstracting or rather prescinding from any effect of wrath that ever was or was to be upon them But here they are children of wrath in reference to the effects of wrath in their consciences 2. When he sayes the Law is called a ministration of death and condemnation 2 Cor. 3. 7 9. because it did terrifie and affright the conscience if he mean that this is the only reason why it is so called as if it did not condemn persons as well as their consciences I deny it altogether Death and condemnation when they expound one another as there they do signifie that of the person and not of the conscience only Rom. 5. 16 17. 3. In like manner when the Law is said to work wrath Rom. 4. 15. I deny it to be meant meerly of horrour of conscience but principally of that wrath which excludes them from a right to the heavenly inheritance which right is given by the promise v. 14. Gal. 3. 10. As many as are of the wâ—rkes of the Law are under the curse Mr. Eyre proceeds The wrath of God haâ—h a threesold acception §. 14. in Scripture 1. It signifies the most just and immutable will of God to inflict upon men the punishment which their sins shall deserve 2. It notes the threatnings of the Law Rom. 1. 18. Psal 6. 1. Hos 11. 9. Jon. 3. 9. 3. The execution of those threatnings Eph. 5. 6. Luk. 21. 23. Matth. 3. 7. The elect are under wrath in the second sense only Answ If the first sense be a Scripture-sense why have we not one word of Scripture to justifie it The reason 's ready because that will of God which we are wont to call Reprobation is neither wrath nor an Act of wrath in Scripture language 2. When Mr. Eyre grants that the elect are subject to the threatnings and comminations of the Law he explaines himself thus The threatnings of the Law do seize upon and arrest their consciences as well as others the Law as a rigid Schoole-master doth never leave to whip and lash them untill they fly unto Christ I asked then 1. Whether that paine and anguish of Spirit which the elect whiles unbeleevers feele be any part of the evil threatned in the Law If it be as most undoubtedly it is then Mr. Eyre contradicts himself in saying the elect are under the threatnings of the Law but not under the execution of them If it be not he contradicts himself againe in saying the Law doth whip and lash them It is not the Law that torments them but somewhat else what it is I cannot tell if their torment be none of that evil which the Law threatneth 2. I would ask also what power there is in these arrests of the Law to make them fly to Christ If by representing to them that they are under condemnation till they lay hold on Christ by faith then they are under condemnation till they believe which Mr. Eyre will not heare of If only that they are damnable in themselves as he