that more and worse is feared which what it should be we cannot imagine unless it be that they fear we will at last renounce Christ and Christianity But to this we will say with David 2 Sam. 16.12 it may be the Lord will look upon our case and requite us good for this reviling Dr. let p. 12. Downame Bishop of Derry whom our Authour also commends in his Letter shall next come in for a Witness on our behalf who in his Book of the Covenant of Grace saith The promises of the Gospel cannot be applyed to any aright but only to those who have the condition of the promise page 134 135. which is the justifying Faith For the Gospel doth not promise Justification and Salvation to all but to those only who have a justifying Faith Therefore a Man must be endued with justifying Faith before he can or ought to apply the promises of the Gospel to himself For as Salvation is promised to them that believe so damnation is denounced to them that believe not Mark 16.16 John 3.16 18. Again No man ought to apply the promise of the Gospel to himself who hath not the condition of the promise ibid. page 153. unless he will perniciously deceive himself For as he that believeth shall be saved so he that believeth not shall be condemned page 154. Again As we daily sin so we must daily ask forgiveness Prayer being the means that God hath ordained to that end Object Yea But saith the Papist ye forsooth have already full assurance of the remission of all your sins not only past but also to come Answ It is absurd to imagine that sins be remitted before they be committed and much more that we be assured they are remitted before they be either remitted or committed That indeed were a Doctrine to animate and to encourage Men to sin But howsoever the Pope sometimes forgiveth sins to come yet God doth not When God justifyeth a man he giveth him remission of sins past Rom. 3.25 As for time to come we teach that although Christ hath merited and God hath promised remission of sins of all the faithful unto the end of the World notwithstanding remission of sins is not actually obtained and much less by special Faith believed until Men do actually believe and repent and by humble and faithful Prayer renew their Faith and Repentance For as God hath promised to the faithful all good things But how Matt. 7.7 8. To them that ask Luke 18.13 14. that seek that knock So also remission of sins Neither is it to be doubted but that remission of sin though merited by Christ though promised by God though sealed unto us in the Sacrament of Baptisme is obtained by the effectual Prayer of those who believe and repent for whom Christ hath merited it and to whom God hath promised it in his Word and sealed it by the Sacrament even as the obtaining of the rain which God had promised 1 Kings 18. ver 1 41. and the Prophet Elias had foretold is ascribed to the effectual Prayer of Elias James 5.16 18. To Bishop Downames we add the very Learned and Pious Gatakers Testimony When â—altâ—arsh the Antinomian had objected and said either place Salvation on a free bottom or else you make the New Covenant but an old Covenant in new terms Do this and live believe this and live repent and live obey and live Gataker replies This is frivolous because as hath been shewed Gatakers shadows without Substance page 49. Salvations free bottom is no way impeached by such conditions as these required and scandalous because therein the Apostles Doctrine is not covertly but directly challenged as overthrowing and razing the foundation of free Grace For what is believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved but believe and live Or what is repent that your sins may be done away but repent and live Or what is He is the Authour of Salvation to all that obey him but obey and live And I demand again what this amounts unto whether it be any other than blasphemy to say that the Apostles by such their Doctrine did not place Salvation upon a free bottom but brought in the old Covenant again in new terms Sir Dare you say in your new revealed Mystery believe not and yet live repent not and yet live obey not and yet live Again We may truly say that you and yours are they that either cannot or will not see the Wood for Trees Ibid. page 57. the conditions on which Salvation by Christ is propounded though in the Gospel they do every where occur and offer themselves will ye nill ye to your eyes With Gataker we joyn Mr. Ball who in his Treatise of Faith recommended by a Preface of Dr. Sibbes saith Balls Treatise of Faith part 1. page 86. The promise of remission of sins is conditional and becometh not absolute until the condition be fulfilled This is the word of Grace Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved When doth this conditional proposition become absolute When we believe what That our sins are pardoned No but when we believe in Christ to obtain pardon which is the thing promised upon condition of belief Again The priviledge of Grace and Comfort which comes to the Soul by believing must be distinguished from the Condition of the Covenant Ibid. page 89. which is required on our parts before we can obtain pardon Again We can teach no Faith to Salvation but according to the rule of Christ Repent and believe the Gospel no remission of sin Ibid. page 136. but according to the like Rule Luke 24.47 Acts 2.37 38. But Faith seeketh and receiveth pardon as it is proffered in the word of Grace Repentance is necessary to the pardon of sin as a condition without which it cannot be obtained not as a cause why it is given Luke 13.3 1 John 1.9 Acts 11.18 If Mercy should be vouchsafed to all indifferently the Grace of God should be a boulster to mans sin c. Lastly We conclude this head of our defence with the Testimony of the Synod of Dort We have already shewed that the Geneva Divines in that Synod gave it in under their hands and were therein approved by the Synod That the Covenant of Grace is conditional We might be large in shewing the like of many others but we will confine our selves for brevities sake to the Embdan Bremen and English Divines their Suffrages recorded in the Acts of the Synod First The Embdane Divines in the Synod said That God required the same conditions from those that were in Covenant with him under the Old and New Testament to wit Faith and the obedience of Faith Act. Synodi Dord part 2. page 93. Gen. 12. Abraham believed God and the Apostle â—in Rom. 4. Teaches that we are saved by the same Faith Gen. 17. Abraham is commanded to walk before God and be perfect The same is every where
without just reason we think to satisfie them we may well say what is a great truth that the habitual Seminal Principle of Faith is a qualification of the Person to be justified and that the actual Exercise of Faith is the receptive applicative Condition of Justification This is our first Reason 2. Reason The seminal abiding Principle of Faith is a holy disposition of the Soul whereby it is inclined and fitted to elicit and produce the Acts of Faith This is clear because it is in a special manner the gift of a Holy God and the fruit of his Holy Spirit who cannot be the Authour of any Seed Disposition Inclination or Habit in the Soul of Man but what is good and Holy But now that Seminal abiding Principle of Faith is before Justification This is clear as the Sun because it is before the Act of that Faith whereby alone we are said to be justified and that it is before the justifying act of faith we thus demonstrate That which concurs to the producing of the Act is before the act since it is in part the cause of the act and the cause as such must always be in order of Nature at least before the effect and it implies a contradiction that it should be otherwise But the Seminal abiding Principle of Faith concurs to the producing of the Act of justifying Faith for it is given unto us for that end that it may fit us for inclines us to and help us in acting Therefore it is before the Act of justifying Faith and consequently before Justification it self Here then we have found a Holy Seed and Principle put by God into the Soul before Justification And therefore it is utterly false which the Letter saith that there neither is nor can be any good or holy thing in the Soul or any real change wrought on the Soul before Justification 3. Reason The Act of Justifying Faith is a good and holy thing since it is the effect of God's Holy Spirit and the first Fruit of the foresaid Holy Seed of Faith in the Soul But so it is that even according to our Authours own Principles the Act of Faith is before Justification For as was observed before he says out of Gal. 2.16 We believe that we may be justified and if so then it is evident that our believing is in order of Nature at least before we be justified 2. He holds that Faith is the Instrumental cause of Justification and lays great stress upon that Notion as if it were the great fundamental of his Religion he likewise finds great fault with us for not holding with him that Faith is the Instrumental cause of Justification Now according to this Opinion of his he cannot avoid the placing of the Act of Faith before Justification because it is the Act of Faith that receives Christ and his Righteousness and that is the instrumental cause of Justification But all the World knows that every proper cause as an instrumental cause is in its kind is in order of Nature before its effect Either then some holy good thing is in us before Justification or Actual Faith is no holy good thing and his instrument wherewith he makes such a noise is good for nothing but to blow the Coals of Strife and Contention 4. Reason Before a Man can be justified by Faith there must be a real and holy change in him because of an Unbeliever he must become a Believer and that cannot be without a real change and a holy one too Now that a Man from being an Unbeliever must come to be a Believer in Christ before he can be justified by Faith in Christ is self-evident for how can a Man be justified by Faith in Christ who yet hath no Faith in Christ he must then have Faith before he can be justified by Faith But how shall he get this Faith Can he get Faith whilst he still remains in Unbelief that is impossible For Unbelief either signifies not believing or it signifies positive disbelieving and 1. If it signifie not believing it stands in a contradictory opposition to believing and contradictions are utterly inconsistent Can a Man believe in Christ and not at all believe in Christ at the same time We hope our Authour will not be so ridiculous as to go about to reconcile contradictions 2. If Unbelief signifie positive disbelieving disbelieving in power and prevalency then it stands in a contrary opposition to believing and two contraries in power and prevalency are likewise utterly inconsistent in the same subject at the same time A Man that is in the very Act of positive disbelief and under the power and prevalency of it cannot possibly have an actual Faith in Christ at that time Therefore that an Unbeliever may get actual Faith in Christ and be justified by that Faith he must of necessity be changed really and effectually changed he must be changed from being an Unbeliever to be a Believer he must come off from his sin of not believing or of disbelieving unto the practice of his Duty of believing in Christ that he may be justified by Faith But this cannot possibly be without a real change nay this coming off from the sin of Unbelief to the Duty of Believing is a real change and a holy change too therefore there is and must be a real holy change in Man in order of Nature at least before his Justification by Faith in Christ This is as certain and evident as that Two and Two make Four Yet our Authour finds fault with us for making it a part of our new Scheme that there must be a real change in a man let page 30. that he must be changed from his Unbelief that he may come to Christ by Faith for Justification And elsewhere he says That it is the experience of every Believer that every one who believeth on Jesus Christ page 11. acts that Faith as the chief of Sinners And if so then it follows by necessary consequence that every one who believes on Christ acts that Faith as an Unbeliever for according to him unbelief is the chiefest sin so he writes expresly That Vnbelief is the most provoking to God page 15 16. and the most damning to man of all sins Unbelief then is the chiefest sin and if so certainly the Unbeliever must be the chiefest Sinner and the Believer who acts his Faith as the chief of Sinners must act his Faith as an Unbeliever And that is a very odd way of acting Faith to believe as an Unbeliever Yet no man can help it for if our Authors Doctrine be true it must be so and cannot be otherwise because it is that which the experience of all Believers witnesseth unto and as he writes page 24. The Believer or Accepter of Christ in the very act of believing or accepting of Christ expresly disclaims all things in himself but sinfulness and misery And if he do so then he disclaims that is renounces his Faith it self in
AN APOLOGY FOR THE MINISTERS Who Subscribed only unto the Stating of The Truths and Errours IN Mr. WILLIAM's Book SHEWING That the Gospel which they Preach is the Old Everlasting Gospel of Christ AND Vindicating them from the Calumnies wherewith they especially the younger sort of them have been unjustly aspersed by the Letter from a Minister in the City to a Minister in the Countrey Nos quidem neque expavescimus neque pertimescimus ea quae ab ignorantibus patimur cùm ad hanc Sectam utique Susceptâ conditione ejus pacti venerimus ut etiam animas nostraas auctorati in has pugnas accedamus ea quae Deus repromittit consequi optantes ea quae Diversae vitae comminatur pati timentes Tertullianus ad Scapulam in ipso libri principio LONDON Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry MDCXCIV THE PREFACE TO THE READER IF a Profest Enemy or a Common and Known I yer had fallen foul upon us with his Tongue or Pen and called us Hereticks Arminian Pelagian Hereticks Corrupters of the Old and Preachers of a New Gospel we should have held our peace and in silence despised his Lies and Revilings But since a Brother who professeth seriousness in Religion and hath some credit amongst good People that fear God and love the Truth and Purity of Christ's Gospel has publickly in Print proclaimed us to be Hereticks and Preachers of a New Gospel our Consciences would not suffer us any longer to keep silence Because it might have been justly interpreted to be an Argument and Evidence of our guilt and good People might have thought that we could say nothing in our own defence and therefore that they had good reason upon the uncontrolled Testimony of a serious Brother to believe that we are Hereticks indeed Pelagian Arminian Hereticks Corrupters of the Old and Preachers of a New Gospel Wherefore to remedy this and to undeceive the Lords People and maintain the Truth and Purity of his Gospel with the credit of his Ministry we judged our selves obliged in Conscience to write and publish this Apology wherein our design is to do wrong to no Man no not to him who hath wronged us But to do right unto the Truth to clear up our own Innocency as to the things we are falsly charged with and to let good people see that the testimony of our accuser is not true and therefore can be no proof that we are Heretical Preachers of a New Gospel or Corrupters of the Old If we had still kept silence and suppressed this Apology all the World that should have heard how we were accused might have either suspected us of Heresie or have blamed us if guiltless for keeping silence and suffering our Ministry to remain aspersed with such a publick charge of Heresie unanswered But we are sure none can have just cause to be offended with us for our now publishing it Since if Men would suppose our case to be their own and that a reputed serious good Man had in a printed Lybel accused them of damnable Heresie they cannot but see That they should judge it their Duty to defend themselves and to clear up their own innocency as to that matter Now if Men would judge thus if it were their own case right reason will assure them that they should pass the like judgment in our case upon supposition that we know our selves not to be guilty of the Crime which we are charged with And the supposition is most certainly true for we know as certainly that we are not guilty of that crime as we know any other thing in the World we know as certainly that we do not preach a New Gospel as we know that there is an Old Gospel in the Church or World So then if we are to be blamed for any thing it is for not doing this work sooner but for that we could alledge more Reasons than we need here to mention It is enough to tell the World that there being more than one conâ—erned in this cause it was fit that we should know one anothers mind and proceed in it with one joint consent which it required some time to do Whereunto we add That the Collecting and Transcribing so many and large Testimonies out of the Writings of Ancient and Modern Divines required yet more time Moreover we profess our selves not to be of the number of those who make boast of their quick and hasty Births and boldly venture to publish unto the World any thing as it comes into their heads without taking time to consider whether it be such as will endure a strict Tryal by the Rule of Truth and Righteousness If our Accuser had taken more time to consider of the several particulars of his Letter of Information before he had printed it we are apt to think that if he be a good Man as we would hope he is he would have seen cause to have altered much of it or to have suppressed it altogether as well for his own particular good as for the common good of Christ's Church But it seems that since all the World almost is ingaged in War at this day he had an ambitious desire to be a Warriour likewise and that desire if he was not put on by others would not let him be quiet but he must sound the Trumpet and both proclaim an Ecclesiastical War and also himself make the first Attack But fâ—r us we are not of such a Spirit so far from it that we have a real aversion to such Ecclesiastical War and are not easily brought to it Indeed it is purely defensive on our side and we were necessitated to it In the managing of it we have endeavoured no farther to offend the first aggressour than was necessary to defend our selves We are not conscious to our selves of having given him just cause of offence unless our refuting his errours vindicating our selves from his Calumnies and exposing the weakness and sometimes the ridiculousness of his reasonings be matter of offence to him And if that be all it is offence taken not given for which he may blame himself For he having attackt us in such Hostile Rude Unbrotherly and Unchristian manner we could not repel his Attack so as to secure the Truth of God the Honour of Religion and our own good Names without answering him as we have done But if it shall be made appear to us that in any thing we have passed the limits of a just self-Defence and have done him any real injury which is more than we know we shall be sorry for it and willing to do him right For we do really wish him well and should be ready to do him any office of love and kindness that lyes in our power But we have no moral lawful power to suffer any Brother to throw Dirt on us the vile Dirt of Pelagian Heresie and to hold our hands and not endeavour to wipe it off again Certainly Pelagianisme is one of the things in
Justifying Faith cannot come from a Heart that is neither renewed nor unrenewed neither regenerate nor unregenerate for there is no such Heart in any Man nor indeed can there be any such Heart For renewed and not at all renewed regenerate and not at all regenerate are contradictions which admit of no medium Every Heart of Man then in the whole World must be one of these but cannot be both at once nor any third thing distinct from both for there is no middle between the two betweenrenewed and not at all renewed c. Since then every Heart of Man in the World cannot be both renewed and not at all renewed at the same time nor yet be any third thing but must be either one or other 2. We say in the second place That the first vital act of Justifying Faith cannot come from an Heart not at all renewed nor regenerate For a vital act of Justifying Faith is too good and precious Fruit to grow upon the corrupt Tree of a Heart wholly unrenewed and unregenerate Our Saviour in Matth. 7.16 17 18. give us to understand that we may with as much reason expect to gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles as that a vital act of precious justifying Faith should come from a Heart that is altogether unregenerate and unrenewed It remains then in the third place that since the first vital act of justifying Faith cannot come from a Heart that is altogether unrenewed and unregenerate that is all stony hard and obstinately bent unto evil It must of necessity come from a Heart that is at least partly renewed and regenerate partly Flesh or tender and pliable to the Will of God And from this it follows unavoidably that there must be a real holy change wrought in the Heart of Man before his Justification by faith for the Heart of Man cannot possibly be renewed and regenerated either in part or in whole without some real holy change wrought in it but it is renewed and regenerated in part at least in order of Nature before the first vital act of justifying faith as hath been proved and that first vital act of faith is in order of Nature before justification by faith therefore there is and must be some real holy change wrought in the Heart before justification by faith From all which it is evident that the Opinion of our Authour is erroneous and against the purity of our Christian faith to wit that there is no real change no holy disposition or qualification before Justification by faith And that on the contrary there is and must be a real change of the Heart there are and must be several holy dispositions and qualifications wrought in the Soul by the Word and Spirit of the Lord before we can be justified by faith and our sins can be actually and absolutely forgiven us This we have clearly proved both by Scripture and by Reason agreeable to Scripture Now in the Third and Last place we shall prove it by the Testimony of famous and orthodox Protestant Divines We begin with Calvin who as was shewn before in his Commentary on Ezek. 18. v. 23. saith Praecedit veniam poenitentia quemadmodum hîc dicitur That Repentance goes before pardon of sin as it is said to doe in this place of Scripture Whence we observe 1. That it is not a meer legal Repentance such as may be in an unconverted Man that he speaks of but it is an Evangelical saving Repentance for first it is a Repentance that consists in turning from sin v. 23. yea from all sin in Heart and Affection v. 21. Secondly in doing the whole known will of God that is doing it in desire and resolution v. 21. But a meer legal Repentance doth not consist in these things nor hath it so good an effect upon the Soul Thirdly It is a Repentance to which Pardon and Life is promised through Christ But no such thing is promised to a meer legal Repentance Therefore it is not a Legal but an Evangelical Repentance that Calvin there speaks of 2. We observe that if in Calvin's Judgment a true Evangelical Repentance goes before pardon of sin and Justification then a true justifying faith goes before it also For Calvin was clearly of the opinion that faith goes before a true Evangelical Repentance in so much that he saies Instit lib. 3. cap. 3. Sect. 1. Quibus videtur fidem potius praecedere poenitentia quà m ab ipsâ manare vel proferri tanquum fructus ab arbore nunquam vis ejus fuit cognita That they never knew the power of Repentance who think that it is rather before Faith than that it slows or proceeds from Faith as Fruit from a Tree These Words of Calvin manifestly shew that he held faith to be in order of nature before true Evangelical Repentance which we must thus understand as we said before that the seminal Principle of Faith with some of its Acts to wit the assenting Act is before any Act of true Evangelical Repentance and not that all the Acts of justifying faith are before any one Act of true Evangelical Repentance otherwise we shall make Calvin foully to contradict himself For as was proved before Calvin in the same Book fol. 210. and Chapter Sect. 19. lays down the right order of things exactly saying that the Lord Christ first declares that the Treasures of Gods Mercy are in him set open to us which Declaration of his calls for the faith of assent in us After that in the second place the Lord requires us to repent induced thereunto by the faith of the said Declaration And Thirdly and Lastly Exigit fiduciam erga Dei promissiones He requires our trust in the promises of God to us now truly repenting of our sins The Act of Faith then which Calvin held to be in order before Repentance and to be the root and spring of it is the Faith of the conditional Promise of God that he hath Mercy and Pardon for us if we truly repent And this seems to be his meaning by what he writes in the second Paragraph following For saith he whilst Christ and John preach thus Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Do not they derive the cause of Repentance from the very Grace and Promise of Salvation Therefore the import of their Words is as much as if they had said because the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand therefore repent And a little after he adds Quod etiam demonstrat illa Oseae exhortatio c. Which thing also that exhortation of Hosea demonstrates Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn Hos 6.1 and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up Quia spes veniae tanquam stimulus additur ne in suis peccatis torpeant Because the hope of pardon is given as a spur to Repentance least they should lie secure in their sins By this Passage we see that the Faith which goes
wherewith this man either maliciously or ignorantly asperses us especially when they may clearly see that his Calumnies do not hang together but are inconsistent and contradict one another which is a sure mark whereby to know a Calumniator and false witness Mark 14.56 We do not positively say that he doth thus calumniate us out of meer malice but we are sure it is and must be either out of malice or ignorance and we willingly incline to the more charitable which is the safer side that he doth it rather out of pure ignorance and blind zeal than out of meer malice and Cain-like hatred of his Brethren But whatever moved him to it the thing it self is unwarrantable and injurious for which he must give an account to that God who is an infinitely more judicious Observer than he or any of his party and who as he observes all our opinions and practices so he judges always aright according to the true merits of every cause and in this cause we can with a good conscience lift up our face to the Lord our God and say Lord thou whose understanding is infinite and from whom nothing can be hid and who hast infinite power and right to punish us with everlasting destruction if we now lye to thee and dissemble with thee thou knowest that our cause is not Coincident with the cause of Pelagius and that this man doth Calumniate us in saying that judicious Observers cannot but perceive that they are coincident To thee O God we appeal from this false Accuser of the Brethren and unto thee we referr our cause to judge between us and this man whether it be coincident or the same with that of Pelagius But it may be our Author will object and say That if our cause be not coincident with that of Pelagius yet it is at least coincident with that of Arminius We answer that neither is that true For 1. Our Author and those of his way commonly say that the cause of Arminius and Pelagius is all one and therefore if they say true in that and do not calumniate Arminius our cause cannot possibly be coincident with the cause of Arminius unless it be also coincident with that of Pelagius they being both one and the same 2. Our Author saith That we are for the middle-way between the Arminians and the Orthodox as he calls them If that be true our cause must lye in the mid-way between the two extremes and then it is impossible to be Coincident with the cause of Arminius for that is one of the extremes and it is evident by ocular demonstration that the middle cannot be the same with either of the sides and so cannot be coincident with either of the extremes If our Author say that we are come off from the middle-way and are come over to Arminius and so are now on the other extreme and wrong side in opposition to the Orthodox who are on the extreme right side We Answer 1. If that be true and he know it then he is guilty of a gross lye in saying that our cause is coincident with that of Arminius and so that we are Arminians and yet that we are for a middle-way between the Arminians and the Orthodox If he will have us to be Arminians he must not if he be a true honest man say that we are for a middle-way between the Arminians and the Orthodox 2. If we be come over from the middle-way unto the Arminian extreme we desire our Author to tell us when it was and how long it is since and how he knows that we are come over to the Arminian extreme for we profess sincerely that we know none of these things We neither know when it was nor how long it is since nor do we know that we are yet come over or ever shall come over to the Arminian extreme Indeed we dare not pretend to any certain Knowledge of Future Contingents that are not revealed to us yet we trust in our God through Jesus Christ that by the Grace of his Spirit he will keep us so firm and fixed in the Truth of his Word that we shall never go over to the Arminian extream And since we know certainly what we are for the present as to this matter we can safely and with a good Conscience call Heaven and Earth to Record this day against this standerer that we are not Arminians and that he doth very sinfully reproach and calumniate us in saying that we corrupt Christs pure Gospel and obtrude on People a new Arminian Gospel to the certain Peril of their Souls and that our Cause is Coincident with that of Arminius But 3. Though according to the Light which God hath given us by his Word and Spirit we believe that the Arminians erre from the Truth in many things and we do from our Hearts dissent from their Errours yet we hold our selves bound in Conscience as we must answer to God at Death and Judgment not to calumniate them nor any other Erroneous Brethren and therefore we cannot in Conscience say that whilest the Arminians keep within the compass of the five Articles wherein they differed from our Divines at the Synod of Dort their cause is coincident with the cause of Pelagius We do indeed think that something and too much of Pelagianism or Semipelagianism is implied in and by consequence follows from their Principles but that doth not make their cause to be Coincident with the cause of Pelagius Therefore our most Judicious and Consciencious Divines do not scruple to declare Pelagianism to be a Heresie against the very Foundation of Christian Religion But as for Arminianism keeping within the Compass of the five Articles their Consciences will not suffer them to say that it is one or more Fundamental Errors or Heresies this might be sufficiently proved by many Testimonies of our Divines but instead of all that might be alledged we shall Content our selves at present with the Testimony of that famous General Assembly of the Church of Scotland which in the Year 1638. at Glasgow deposed all their Bishops though that Assembly had accused many of their Bishops of Arminianism yet did they not say that Arminianism was as bad as and Coincident with Pelagianism and that it was a Fundamental Heresie They were so far from saying so that in the seventh Session November 28. the Moderator Mr. Henderson in the Face and with the Approbation of the Assembly gave this Moderate Answer unto a Politick Objection of Dr. Balcanquel who appeared there for the Bishops Controversias omnes c. That all the Controversies especially if they exceed not the limits of the five controverted Articles between the Arminians and Anti-Arminians or Calvinists neither were nor are about Fundamental Doctrines that indeed the Arminians erred grievously but that he and the Synod were not yet perswaded that all Heterodoxies that is that all Erroneous Doctrines Hist motuum in regno Scotiae Dantisci An. 1641. p. 100 101. are
of Practice is that we have much kindness for true Antinomians in practice This being matter of Fact and insinuating into the People that we do not walk according to the Rules of the Gospel it should have been proved by sufficient evidence before it had been thus charged publickly on Ministers or People But that is not our Authors way to bring evidence for the proof of his accusations but boldly to accuse without proof Whether the matter be true or false it seems is all one to him for he is well acquainted with that Calumniare audacter aliquid adhaerebit throw abundance of dirt and in all probability some of it will stick Well but what is become of Conscience in the mean time It seems little of that is to be expected from some men As for our having much kindness for true Antinomians in practice if he mean that we have much unlawful kindness for them it is more than we know of our selves and how he should know that of us which we do not know of our selves we cannot understand But there being many of us who are thus accused we freely acknowledge that it may be some of us have some Acquaintance and Hearers who are in some respect Antinomians in practice and that for such sinful Persons we have much civil kindness and Christian Compassion and by a kind and compassionate behaviour towards them we desire and endeavour to gain them to Christ and to Convert them from their sinful practices where is the evil of this what rule of the Gospel do we transgress by this We think we are obliged both by the Law of Nature and by the Law of God thus to be kind to them so long as there is any hope of gaining them But if our Author mean that we have much kindness for their Antinomian and Sinfull practices or that we encourage them in such practices and do not endeavour to turn them from them it is utterly false And the Lord knows that the contrary is true and that it is to some of us matter of much grief and sorrow of heart that they take such courses as are both dispeasing and dishonourable to God and destructive to their own Souls that we use means to reclaim them that we most frequently and earnestly seek God for them and as it were travel in Birth untill Christ be formed in them This is the greatest kindness that we shew unto any who are true Antinomians in practice And now let all who fear God Judge and even let our Authors own Conscience Judge whether for this we deserve to be thus reflected upon and Calumniated Seventh Calumny HIS Seventh Calumny is to be seen in page 27th of the Letter where he chages the younger Ministers with being for the new Rational Method of Divinity and with being despisers or neglecters of Luther Calvin Zanchy Twiss Ames and Perkins And to make the simple People believe that by this means they subvert the very ground and foundation of the Christian Religion he saith two things 1. That to be Rational is no fit commendation of a Minister but rather it is the commendation of a Philosopher 2. That to be Rational is yet more unfitly applyed to Divinity because first Divinity hath a higher and nobler Original than reason to wit Divine Revelation Secondly Because Divinity cannot be rightly learned without an higher principle than Reason to wit the Teaching of the Holy Ghost In which our Author manifestly insinuates That 1. We are for a new sort of Divinity and despise or neglect the old 2. That our new Divinity is not grounded upon Divine Revelation but upon our own reason or the invention of our own brains 3. That we pretend Divinity may be rightly learned by our own reason or natural understanding without the supernatural Teaching and assistance of the Holy Ghost Of which things not one is true but they are all abominably false 1. It is not true but false that the Brethren are for a new sort of Divinity and despise or neglect the Old The falshood of this hath been already fully and clearly demonstrated 2. As it is utterly false that our Divinity is new so it is as false that it is not grounded upon Divine Relation but upan our own reason or the invention of our own Brains On the contrary we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that the whole of our Divinity or Religion is grounded upon Divine Revelation And as Divinity or Religion is either natural or supernatural so Divine Revelation is either natural or supernatural and then as natural Religion is grounded upon Divine Revelation natural so supernatural Religion is grounded upon Divine Revelation supernatural That there is such a thing as Natural Religion and that it is grounded upon that Divine Revelation which God hath made of it by the Law and Light of nature within us and by his works of Creation and Common Providence without us we hope our Author is not so ignorant as not to know nor so perverse as to deny what in his Conscience he knows to be true and then for supernatural Divinity and Religion our Christian Religion considered as Christian and as Contradistinguished from all other Religion is of that kind it is properly supernatural and could never have been known unless it had been supernaturally revealed Therefore our Christian Religion as such hath its Original from supernatural Revelation and is grounded upon the same supernatural Revelation from which it had its Original We do not learn it per viam humanae inventionis sed duntaxat per viam coelest is disciplinae by the way of human invention but only by the way of heavenly discipline and instruction for saith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.14 17. The Word of God is the means by which God hath supernaturally revealed to us our Christian Divinity and Religion And that Word of God is fully and clearly contained in the Holy Scriptures of truth So that we own no Christian Divinity and Religion but what is revealed by and grounded upon the written Word of the Old and New Testament which is to us the entire compleat Rule of faith and holiness Therefore it is false that our Divinity or Religion is new and not grounded upon Divine Revelation 3dly It is false that we pretend Divinity may be rightly learned by our own reason or natural understanding without the supernatural teaching and assistance of the Holy Spirit We say the quite contrary to wit that Divinity can never be rightly learned that is it can never be learned in a Spiritual and saving manner without the Supernatural teaching and assistance of the Holy Spirit For the Holy Spirit is the Efficient cause of all right Knowledge that is of all Spirituaâ— saving knowledge of God and Christ and of the Spiritual things of God and Christ Yet we must add that as our Christian Religion cannot be rightly that is Spiritually and savingly learned known and