for a season yea and that upon his irregular walking and not according to the rule of Christ he may by the Authority of such a Church be rejected from its communion for his amendment and recovery into the right way of which before But that a true Believer can voluntarily desert the communion of the Saints and become an Antichrist that this text denyes and we from it and the many other witnesses of the same truth that have been produced Notwithstanding then all Mr Goodwin exceptions there is nothing presumed in the inference we make from these words but what is either expressly contained or evidently included in them But Mr Goodwin will not thus give over §. 35. he prefers his exceptions to this Testimony in another whole Section which because the Demonstration of the truth in hand from this place though here handled by the by is of great importance and such as by its single strength is sufficient utterly to cast to the ground the figment set up in opposition to it I shall present entirely to the Reader that our Authour may be heard out and nothing omitted that he pleads for the waving of the force of the Argument in hand that whole Section Thus then he proceeds Suppose that these two suppositions be granted to the Inference makers §. 36. First That this phrase to goe out from us signifies voluntarily to forsake the society and communion of Christians And Secondly That this expression to be of us signifies true and inward communion with those from whom they went out yet will not these contributions suffice for the firme building of the said Inference The Reason is Because the Apostle expressely saith that they would have continued with us not that they would have continued such as they were in respect of the Truth or Essence of their Faith and if the Apostles scope in this place were to prove or affirme that they who are once true Christians or Believers alwaies continue such then when he saith they would have continued with us he must of necessity meane either that they would have continued Faithfull as we continue Faithfull or else that they would have continued alwaies in our society or in the profession of Christianity But that neither of these sences are of any tolerable consistency is evident by the light of this Consideration viz. That the Apostle then must have known that the persons hee speakes of and who went out from them neither were nor ever had been true Christian Believers when they went thus from them Now if he had this knowledge of them it must be supposed either that he had it by extraordinary Revelation but this is very improbable and howsoever cannot be proved or else that he gain'd and obtain'd it by their departure or going out from them but that this could be no sufficient Argument or ground to beget any such knowledge in the Apostle concerning them is evident from hence Because it may very easily and doth very frequently come to passe That they who are true Christians doe not alwaies continue in the society to which they have joyned themselves no nor yet in the externall profession of Christianity it selfe yea our opposers themselves frequently and without scruple teach that even true believers themselves may through Feare or shame or extremity of sufferings be brought to deny Christ and without any danger of being ship-wrack't of their Faith forbeare making a profession of the name of Christ afterwards Ans. § 37. First What is meant and Intended by those expressions went out from us and to be of us hath been declared We are not to teach the Holy Ghost to speake What ever conceit we may have of our own abilities when we deale with Wormes of the Earth like our selves to his will to his expressions we must vaile and submit He is pleased to phrase their continuance in the Faith their continuance with us that is with the Saints in the fellowship and communion of the Gospell which they had with God in Christ The expression is cleare and evident to the purpose in hand and there is no contending against it Secondly we doe not say that 't is the direct scope and intent of the Apostle in this place to prove that those who are true Believers cannot fall away and depart from the Faith which he afterwards doth to the purpose Cap. 3. 9 but his mind and intendment was to manifest that those who forsake the Society of Christians and become Anti-Christs and seducers were indeed never true Believers useing the other Hypothesis as a medium for the confirmation of this Assertion Thirdly By that phrase they would have continued with us the Apostle intends their continuance in the society and fellowship of the Faithfull by the profession of Jesus Christ whom now they opposed denying him to be come in the flesh that is they would not have so fallen off as they have done upon the account of the Estate and Condition of true Believers and reall Saints who are kept by the power of God to salvation Fourthly The Apostle did know and professed himselfe to know that they were not nor ever had been true Believers when they were once so gone out from them as they went as our Saviour Christ profest them not to have been true believers who followed him for a while were called and accounted his Disciples when they fell in an houre of Temptation Neither have we the least reason to suppose that the Apostle had this knowledge by Revelation seeing the thing it selfe in reference and proportion to the principles he laies downe of the continuance of Believers did openly proclaime it Fiftly That true Christians or Believers can so fall away from the society of the Saints as these here mentioned did is denied and a grant of it ought not to be begged at our hands 't is true that as was before granted a true believer may for a season desert the communion or fellowship of a Church wherein he hath walk'd and that causelesly yea he may be surprized through Infirmity to deny under mighty temptations in words for a moment the Lord Christ whom yet his Heart loves and honours as in the case of Peter was too evident But that such an one may forsake the externall profession of Christianity or cease profession making and betake himselfe to a contrary interest opposing Christ and his wayes as those here insisted on did that 's denied and not the least attempt of proofe made to the contrary Whilst I was upon the consideration of these exceptions of Mr Goodwin's §. 38. to our Testimony from this Text of Scripture by us insisted on there came to my hands his Exposition on the 9. Chapter to the Romans In the Epistle whereof to the Reader he is pleased Sect. 6. Studiously to wave the imputation of having borrowed this Exposition from Arminius and his followers An Apology perhaps unworthy his prudence and great abilityes which Testimony yet I feare by
whatever Mr Goodwin is pleased to think or say to the contrary nor is their apprehension weakened by Nathans charging upon David his despising of the commandement of the Lord. in doing evill which as it is virtually done in every sinne and in great sinnes in an eminent manner so that it did amount indeed not only to a consequentiall but a formall voluntary contempt of God Mr Goodwin shall never prove A Father often and severely chargeth upon his sonnes a despising of his command when he hath been carryed out to transgresse it when yet he kowes his sonne honoureth and reverenceth him in his heart and is exceedingly remote from any resolved contempt of him The close of all is a concession of the Contra-Remonstrants at the Hague Conference §. 38. That Believers might fall into such sinnes as that the Church according to the Commandement of Christ must pronounce that they shall no longer abide in her communion and that they shall have no part in the Kingdome of Christ which being usually made an argument for the Apostacy of the Saints I shall consider how it is here improved by M. Goodwin Certainly saith he their sence was That true believers may sinne above the rate of those who sinne out of infirmity in so much as there is no commandement of Christ that any Church of his should eject such persons out of their Communion who sinne out of infirmity only so that by the confession of our Adversaries themselves even true Believers may perpetrate such sinnes which are of a deeper demerit than to be numbred amongst sinnes of infirmity yea such sinnes for which the Church of Christ according to the Commandement of Christ stands bound to judge them for ever excluded from the Kingdome of God without repentance from whence it undeniably followes that they may commit such sinnes whereby their Faith in Christ will be totally lost because there is no condemnation unto those that are by Faith in Jesus Christ whether they repent or not and therefore they that stand in need of Repentance to give them a right and title to the kingdome of God are no sonnes of God by Faith for were they sonnes they would be heires also and consequently have right and title to the inheritance so that to pretend that howsoever the Saints may fall into great and grievous sinnes yet they shall certainly be renewed againe by Repentance before they dye though this be an assertion without any bottome on Reason or Truth yet doth it no wayes oppose but suppose rather a possibility of the totall defection of Faith in true Believers Ans. First That true Believers may sinne above the rate of sinnes of Infirmity because they may so sinne as that according to the appointment of Jesus Christ they may be cast out of a particular Church is not attempted to be proved M. Goodwin think none may be excommunicated but such as have sinned themselves out of the state of Grace That a man may through infirmity fall into some such sinne as for it to be amoved from a Church society that a motion being an ordinance of Christ for his recovery from that sinne I know not that it can be reasonably questioned So that by our confession that true Believers may so sinne as to be righteously cast out of the externall visible society of a particular Church doth no way inforce us to acknowledge that they may sinne above the rate of them who are overtaken with or surprized in sinne upon the account of their weaknesse or infirmity Secondly The Church of Christ in rejecting of one from its society according to the appointment of Jesus Christ is so farre from being obliged to judge any one for ever excluded from the Kingdome of God that they doe so reject a man that he may never be excluded from that Kingdome It is true he may be Ecclesiastically and Declaratively excluded from the visible Kingdome of God and his right and title to the outward Administration of the good things thereof but that such an one is and must be thought to be properly and really excluded from his interest in the Love of God and grace of the Convenant being still by the appointment of God and command of Christ left under the power of an ordinance annexed by him to the Administration of that Covenant it doth not follow Thirdly The non-restauration of persons cast out of communion by the Church to their place in the Kingdome of God but upon Repentance holds proportion with what was spoken before upon exclusion The Repentance intended is such as is necessary for the satisfaction of the Church as to its expressenesse and being known yet we grant withall that all sinnes whatever without Repentance in that kind and degree that is appointed and accepted of God are exclusive of the Kingdome of God and we doe much wonder that M. Goodwin to the Text Rom. 8. 1. should adde whether they repent or not which is not only beyond the sence of what went before but directly contrary to that which followes after that walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit not to repent of sin is doubtlesse to walke after the flesh and no one of them who are freed from condemnation in Christ doth good and sinneth not The words we confesse are not the condition in the intention of God on which their non-condemnation is suspended but yet they are a description infallible of them who through Grace are made partakers of it We say then that Believers may so fall as that being on that account rejected from the communion of the Church so as not to be restored but upon the evidence of their Repentance and we say that Repentance is required for all sinnes or men cannot be saved wondring what Mr Goodwin according to his principles intends by the addition to the Text of Rom. 8. 1. unlesse it be that no man stands in need of Repentance unlesse he have cast off all Faith and interest in God a most Anti-evangelicall assertion and yet not commit such sins as whereby their Faith must needs be wholly lost Fourthly There 's a twofold Right and Title to the Kingdome of God a Right and Title by the profession of a true Faith to the externall Kingdome of God in regard of its outward Administration and a Right and Title to the Eternall Kingdome of God by the possession of a true Faith in Christ The former as it is taken for jus in re believers may loose for a season though they may not in respect of a remote originall fundamentall Root which abides the latter they never loose nor forfeite We say also that repentance for sinne being a thing promised of God for those that come to him in Christ upon the account of the ingagement of his Grace for the Perseverance of Believers All such fallers into sinne shall certainly return to the Lord by Repentance who heales their back-slidings which Mr Goodwin hath not been able to disprove Of whose Arguments
in these words he is speaking to them describing them by their former and present condition with the causes of it he tells them that though they abode with them for a season yet they were never of them as to the Communion and fellowship they had with the Father and Sonne and so were never true Members of the Church The only reason M. Goodwin gives to Invalidate this sence of the Words is that he is able to give another meaning of them in his own judgement more proper to the words and more commodious to the scope of the place which whether it have any more efficacy to take in the force and evidence of the Interpretation given lying plaine and cleare in the first view of the words and Context than it hath to evade the eduction of any Truth whatever from any place of Scripture whatever seeing some or other suppose themselves able to give another sence of the words let the Reader judge But he adds Secondly §. 30. That this Expression they were of us signifies that they were true Believers is presumed of the uncertainty of this supposition we shall saith he give the like account Ans. When we come to take M. Goodwin's farther Account we shall be able I make no doubt to reckon with him and to discharge his Bill In the meane time we say that supposition if they had been of us whence our Inference is made evidently includes a fellowship and communion with the Apostle true Believers in their fellowship with God which is asserted as a certain Foundation of mens abiding in the communion of the Saints But saies he Thirdly §. 31. t is supposed that these words they went out from us signifie their finall defection or abdication of the Apostles communion or their totall and finall renunciation of Christ his Church and Gospell This supposition hath no bottome at all or colour for it Ans. Divide not the words from their coherence and the intendment of the place and the signification denyed is too evident and cleare for any one with the least colour of Reason to rise up against it They went out so out from the communion of the Church as to become Anti-Christs opposers of Christ and seducers from him and certainly in so doing did totally desert the Communion of the Apostle renounce the Lord Christ as by him Preacht and forsooke utterly both Church and Gospell as to any fellowship with the one or the other And we know full well what is the bottome of this and the like Assertions that such and such things have no bottome at all which never yet failed M. Goodwin at his need Fourthly saith he §. 32. 'T is supposed that this clause they would no doubt have continued with us signifies they would have continued in the same Faith wherein we Persevere and continue nor is there saith he any competent Reason to inforce this sence of those words because neither doth the Grammaticall tenour of them require it and much lesse the scope of the passage Ans. The Fellowship John invited Believers unto and to continue in as hath been often observed with him and the Saints with him was that which they held with the Father and the Sonne to continue with them therein in the Litterall Grammaticall sence of the words is to continue in the Faith It being Faith whereby they have that fellowship or Communion this also is evident from the scope of the whole passage and is here only impotently denied But saith he Fiftly The said Inference supposeth that John certainly knew that all those who for the present remained in his communion were true Believers for if they were not true believers they that were gone out from them in the sence contended for might be said to be of them that is persons of the same condition with them But how improbable this is I meane that John should infallibly know that all those who as yet continued with them were true Believers I referre to consideration Ans. Had M. Goodwin a little poised this passage before he took it up perhaps he would have cast it away as an uselesse trifle But his masters having insisted on it perhaps he thought it not meet to question their judgements in least for feare of being at liberty to deale so with them in matters of greater importance I say then that there is not the least coulour for any such supposall from the inference we make from the text nor is there any thing of that nature intimated or suggested in the words or Argument from them the body of them whom the Apostates forsooke were true Believers and their abiding in the fellowship of the Saints was a manifestation of it sufficient for them to be owned as such which the others manifested themselves never to have been by their Apostacy But saith he Sixtly §. 33. The inference under contest yet farther supposeth that John certainely knew that they who were now gon out from them neither were now nor ever before true Believers yea and that he certainely knew this by their departure or going out from them Ans. This is the very thing that the Apostle affirmes that he certainely knew those Apostates never to have been true Believers and that by their Apostacy or falling totally from the Gospell becomming seducers and opposers of Christ Let him argue it out with the Holy Ghost if he can whose plaine and cleare expression this is and that confirmed by the insuing Argument of the Perseverance of them who were true Believers and whose fellowship is with the Saints in their communion with the Father and the Sonne Wherefore saith he Lastly it presumeth yet farther that all true Believers do alwayes abide in the externall communion of the Church §. 34. and that when men do not so abide they plainly declare herein that they never were true Believers which is not only a manifest untruth but expressly contrary to the Doctrine it selfe of those men who assert the inference for they teach as we heard before that a true Believer may fall so foulely and so farre that the Church according to the command of Christ may be constrained to testify that shee cannot tolerate them in her externall communion nor that ever they shall have any part or portion in the Kingdome of Christ unlesse they repent Doubtlesse to be cast out of the Church according to the institution and command of Christ who commands no such thing but upon very heinous and high unchristian misdemeanours is of every whit as sad importance as a voluntary desertion of the Churches communion can be for a season Ans. It supposeth that no true Believers fall so off from the Church as to become Antichrist's opposers of Christ and the Church so as to deny that Christ is come in the flesh which was the great busines of the Antichrists in those dayes T is true and granted by us that a true Believer may forsake the outward communion of some particular Church
man excercised in the Ministry should once surmise that they are true Believers of whom he here treates Taking the words in the sence wherein they are commonly received And in the utmost extent who sees them not dayly exemplyfyed in and upon them who are yet far enough from the Faith of Gods Elect. By the dispensation of the Word especially when mannaged by a skilfull Master of assemblyes men are every day so brought under the power of their convictions and the light communicated to them as to acknowledge the truth and power of the Word and in obedience thereunto to leave off avoid and abhor the wayes and courses wherein the men of the world either not hearing the Word at all or not so wrought upon by it do pollute themselves and wallow with all manner of sensuality and yet are not changed in their natures so as to become new creatures but continue indeed and in the sight of God doggs and swine oftentimes returning to their vonit and mire though some of them hold out in the professions to the end And these are they whom commonly our Divines have deciphered under the name of formalists having a forme of Godlinesse but denying the power of it who are here all at once by Mr Goodwin interested in Christ and the inheritance of the Saints in light To make good his enterprise he argues from the Remonstrants Sect. 40. pag. 297. 1. If the said expressions import nothing §. 46. but what Hypocrites and that in sensu composito i. e. whilest Hypocrites are capable of then may those be Hypocrites who are separated from men that live in errour and from the pollutions of the World and that through the knowledge of Jesus Christ and on the other hand those may be Saints and sound Believers who wallow in all manner of filthinesse and defile themselves daily with the pollutions of the World This consequence according to the principles and known Tenets of our Adversaries is legitimate and true in as much as they hold that true Believers may fall so foule and so far that the Church according to Christs institution may be constrained to testify that they cannot beare them in their outward communion and that they shall have no part in the kingdome of Christ except they repent c. But whether this be wholesome and sound Divinity or no to teach that they who are separate from sinners and live holily and blamelessly in this present world and this by meanes of the knowledge of Jesus Christ may be Hypocrites and children of perdition and they on the other hand who are companions with Theeves Murtherers Adulterers c. Saints and sound Believers I leave to men whose judgements are not turned upside down with prejudice to determine 1. Sundry things might be observed from the Text to render this discourse altogether uselesse as to the end for which it is produced as 1. That sundry copies v. 13. instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who almost or a little way or measure so escaped as is said 2. That it is not said that those who are so escaped may Apostatize it is said indeed that the false Prophets and teachers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do lay baites for them as the Fisher doth for the fish that he would take by proposing unto them a liberty as to all manner of impurity and uncleanesse but that in so doing they prevaile over them is not affirmed 3. The conditionall expression v. 20. may be used in reference to the false Prophets and not to them that are said to escape the pollutions of the World and if to them that nothing can be argued from thence hath plentifully upon severall occasions been already demonstrated but to suffer M. G. to leap over all these blots in his entrance and to take the words in his own sence and connexion I say 1. In what large and improper sence such performs as we treat of are termed Hypocrites hath been declared Those who pretend to be Godward what they know themselves not to be making a pretence of Religion to colour and countenance them in vice and vicious practises or sensuall courses wherein they allow and blesse themselves we intend not But such as in some sincerity under the enjoyment and improvement of gifts and priviledges do or may walke conscientiously as Paul before his conversion and yet are not united to Christ. 2. Of these we say that they may so escape c. but that sound Believers may wallow in all manner of sinfulnesse and defile themselves with all manner of pollutions we say not nor will any instance given amount to the height and intendment of those expressions they being all alleviated by sundry considerations necessarily to be taken in with that of their sinning 3. If we may compare the worst of a Saint with the best of a formall Professor and make an estimate of the states and conditions of them both we may cast the ballance on the wrong side 4. We do say that Simon Peter was a believer when he denyed Christ Simon Magus an Hypocrite and in the bond of iniquity when it was said he believed We do say that a man may be alive notwithstanding many wounds and much filth upon him and a man may be dead without either the one or the other in that eminently visible manner He addes 2. The Persons here spoken of §. 41. are said to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly and really escaped from those who live in errour Doubtlesse an Hypocrite cannot be said truly or really but in shew or appearance at most to have made such an escape I meane from men who live in errour considering that for matter of reality and truth remaining in Hypocrisy he lives in one of the greatest and foulest errours that is The whole force of this second exception lyes upon the ambiguity of the terme Hypocrite though such as pretend Religion and the worship of God to be a colour and pretext for the free and uncontrouled practising of vile abominations may not be said so to escape it yet such as these we have before described with their convictions light guiftes dutyes good conscience c. may truly and really escape from them and their wayes who pollute themselves with the errours of Idolatry false-worship superstition and the pollutions of practises against the light of nature and their owne convictions It is added that 3. An Hypocrite whose foot is already in the snare of Death cannot upon any tolerable account either of reason or common sence be said to be allured i.e. by allurements to be deceived or overcome by the pollutions of the world no more than a fish that is already in the nett or fast upon the hooke can be said to be allured by a baite held to her Ans. But he that hath been so farre prevailed upon by the preaching of the Word as to relinquish and renounce the practises of uncleanenesse wherein he sometime
these persons and their Judgment in the point under debate more afterwards For the thing it selfe last proposed on what foot of account it is placed and on what foundation asserted The Treatise it selfe will discover That the thing aymed at is not to be straightned or restrained to any one peculiar Act of grace will easily appear The main foundation of that which we plead for is The Eternal purpose of God which his owne nature requireth to be absolutely immutable and irreversible The Eternal Act of the will of God designing some to salvation by Christ infallibly to be obtained for the Prayse of the glory of hu grace is The Bottome of the whole Even that foundation which standeth for ever having this seale The Lord knoweth who are his For the Accomplishment of this eternal purpose and for the procurement of all the good things that lye within the compass of it 's in tendment are The Oblation and Intercession the whole mediatory undertaking of Chist taking away sinne bringing in Life and immortality interposed giving further causal influence into the truth contended for In him and for his sake as God graciously powerfully and freely gives his Holy Spirt faith with all the things that accompany salvation unto all them whom he accepts and pardons by his being made sinne â—or them and Righteousness unto them so he takes them therby into an everlasting Covenant that shall not be broken and hath therein given them innumerable promises that he will continue to be their God for ever and preserve them to be and in bâ—ing his people to this end because the principle of Grace and living to him as in them inherent is a thing in i'ts own nature changable and lyable to failing he doth according to his promise and for the Acccomplishment of his purpose dayly make out to them by his Holy Spirit from the great treasury and store-house thereof the Lord Jesus Christ helps and supplies encreasing of faith Love and Holiness recovering them from falls healing their back-slidings strengthening them with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness so preserving them by his power through faith unto salvation And in this way of delivering the doctrine contended about it is clearly made out that the disputes mentioned are as needless as groundless so that we shall not need to take them into the state of the controversy in hand though I shall have occasion once more to reflect upon them when I come to the consideration of the doctrine of the School-men in reference to the opinion proposed to debate The mayne of our enquiry is after the Purpose Covenant and promises of God the undertaking of Christ the supplies of Grace promised and bestowed in him on which accounts we doe assert and maintaine That all true Believers who are in being so interested in all those causes of preservation shall infallibly be preserved unto the end in the favour of God and such a course of Gospel obedience as he will accept in Jesus Christ. That as was formerly sayd which at present I ayme at in Reference to this Truth is to declare it's Rise and Progress it 's course and opposition which it hath found in several Ages of the Church with it's state and condition at this day in respect of Acceptance with the people of God It 's rise with all other divine truths it owes only to Revelation from God manifested in the Scriptures of the Old and new Testament some of the most eminent places wherein it is delivered in the old Testament are Gen 3. 17. chap 17. 1. Deut 33. 3. Josh 1. 5. 1 Saw 12. 22. Psal 1. 3. Psal 23. 4 6. Psal 37. 39 40. Psal 52. 8 9. Psal 89. 31 32 33 34 35. Psal 33. 9 10 11. Psal 92. 13. c. Is 27. 3 4. Is 46. 4. Is 59. 21. Is 54 9. 10. Is 4. 4 5. Is 40. 27 28 26 30. Is 43. 1 2. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Jer 3 3 31 32 33 34. Jer 32. 38 39. 40. Ezek 36. 25 26 27. Hosea 2. 19 20. Zach 10. 12. Mal 3. 6 with innumerable other places In the new Testament God hath not left this truth and work of his Grace without witness as in sundry other places so it is testified unto Math 6. 13. Mat 7. 24 25 Mat. 12. 20. Mat 16. 18. Mat 24. 24. Luk 1. 70 71 72 73 74 75. Luk 8. 5 8. Luk 22. 32. Joh 3. 36. Joh. 4. 13 14 16. Joh. 5. 24. Joh 6. 35 36 37 38 39 57. Joh 7. 38. Joh 8. 35 Joh 10. 27 28 29 30. Joh 13. 1. Joh 14 15 16 17. Joh 16. 27 Joh 17. throughout Act 2. 47. Act 13 48. Ro 6. 14. Rom 8. 1 16 17 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 c. 1 Cor 1. 8 9. 1 Cor 10. 13 14. 1 Cor 15. 49 58. 2 Cor 1. 21. Eph 1. 13 14. Eph. 3. 17. Eph 4 30. Eph. 5. 23. Gal 2. 20 Phil 1. 6. Phil 2. 13. 1 Thes 5 24. 2 Tim 4. 17 18. Tit 1.1 Heb 6. 19. Heb 10. 38 39. Heb 12. Heb 9. 14. Heb 13. 5 21. 1 Pet. 1. 2 3 4 5. 1 Joh. 2. 19 24. 1 Joh 3. 9,19 1 Joh. 5. 14 18. Jude 1 Rev 20. 6. So plentifully hath the Lord secured this sacred Truth wherein he hath enwrapped so much if not as in the meanes of conveyance the whole of that peace consolation and Joy which he is willing the heires of promise should receive Whether the faith hereof thus plentifully delivered to the Saints found Acceptance with the primitive Christians to the most of whom it was given not only to believe but also to suffer for Christ to me is unquestionable And I know no better proof of what those first Churches did believe than by shewing what they ought to believe which I shall unquestionably be perswaded they did believe unless most pregnant Testimony be given of their Apostacy That Paul believed it for himselfe and concerning others is evident Ro. 8. 38 39. 1 Cor. 1. 8 9. Phil 1. 6. Heb. 6. 9 10 are sufficient proof of his faith herein That he built up others in the same perswasion to the enjoyment of the same peace and Assurance with himselfe is undenyable And if there be any demonstration to be made of the beliefe of the first Christians of any evidence comparable unto this I shall not deny but that it ought to be attended unto But that we may not seem willing to decline the Consideration of what those who went before us in the several Ages and Generations past apprehended and have by any means communicated unto us of their thoughts about the businesse of our contest having no reason so to be I shall after a little preparation made to that work present the Reader with something of my Observations to that end and purpose Of the Authority of the Ancients in matters of Religion and worship of God of the Right use and
Emperour so I am certaine it is most remote from the likeness of any thing that in this affaire we are instructed in from the Scripture Plainly this language is the same with that of the false Impostor Pseudo-Clemens in his pretended Apostolical Constitutions At this rate or somewhat beyond it have you him ranting Lib. 2 cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Popes with all sorts of Persons whatever Priests Kings and Princes Fathers and Children all under the feet of this Exemplar of God and Ruler over men A passage which doubtless eminently interprets and illustrates that place of Peter's Epistle ch 5. v. 1. 2. 3. The Elders that are among you I exhort who also am an Elder and a witness of the sufferingâ— of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over God's heritage but â—eing Examples to the flock But yet as if the man were starke mad with wordldy pride and pompe He afterwards in the name of the Holy Apostles of Jesus Christ commands all the Laity forsooth to honour love and feare the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 2. Cap 20. And that you may see whither the man drives and what he aimes at after he hath set out his Bishop like an Emperour or an Estern-King in all pompe and glory He addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The paying of tribute to them as Kings is the Issue of these descriptions that they may have wherewithal to maintaine their pompe and greatness according to the institution of our Lord Jesus Christ and his blessed Apostles But I shall not rake farther into this dunghil nor shall I adde any more instances of this kind out of Ignatius but close into one insisted on by our Doctour for the proof of his Episcopacy Dissert 2. Cap. 25. 7. Saith he Quartò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Episcopo attendite ut vobis Deus attendat ego animammeam libenter eorum loco substitui cuperem quod Anglicè optimè dicimus my soul for theirs qui Episcopo Presbyteris Diaconis obsequuntur I hope I may without great difficulty obtaine the Doctours pardon that I dare not be so bold with my soule as to jeopard it in that manner especially being not mine owne to dispose of Upon these and many more the like accounts do the Epistles seeme to me to be like the Children that the Jewes had by their strange Wives Neh 13 who spake part the language of Ashdod and part the language of the Jewes That there are in them many footsteps of a gracious Spirit every way worthy of and becoming the great and holy personage whose they are esteemed so there is evidently a mixture of the working of that worldly and carnal Spirit which in his dayes was not so let loose as in after times For what is there in the Scripture what is in the genuine Epistle of Clêmen's that gives countenance to those descriptions of Episcopacy Bishops and the subjection to them that are in those Epistles as now we have them So insisted on What titles are given to Bishops What Soveraignty Power Rule Dominion is ascribed to them Is there any thing of the like Nature in the writings of the Apostles In Clemens the Epistle of Polycarpus c. Or any unquestionable legitimate off-spring of any of the first Worthies of Christianity Whence have they their three orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons upon the distinct observation of which so much weight is laid Is there any one word iota title or syllable in the whole book of God giving countenance to any such distinctions Eph. 4. 8. We have Pastors and Teachers Rom 12. 7.8 Him that teacheth him that exhorteth him that ruleth and him that sheweth mercy Philip. 1. 1. We have Bishops and Deacons and their Institutions with the order of it we have at large expressed 1 Tim 3. 1. 2. Bishops and Deacons without the Interposition of any other order whatever Deacons we have appointed Acts the 7. And Elders Acts 14. 23. Those who are Bishops we find called Presbyters Titus 1. 5. 7. And those who are Presbyters we find termed Bishops Acts 20. 28. So that Deacons we know and Bishops who are Presbyters or Presbyters who are Bishops we know but Bishops Presbyters and Deacons as three distinct orders in the Church from the Scripture we know not Neither did Clemens in his Epistle to the Corinthians know of any more then we do which a few instances will manifâ—st saith he speaking of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Bishops and Deacons as in the Church at Philippi this man knowes but the third order he is utterly unacquainted withal And that the Difference of this man's expressions concerning Church Rulers from those in the Epistle under consideration may the better appear and his asserting of Bishops and Presbyters to be one and the same may the more clearly be evidenced I shall transcribe one other Passage from him whose length I hope will be execused from the usefulness of it to the Parpose in hand Pag. 57. 58. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so it seemes was the manner of the Church in his dayes that their officers were appointed by the consent of the whole Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Bishops of whom he was speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And sundry other discoveries are there in that Epistle of the like nature It is not my designe nor purpose to insist upon the parity of Bishops and Presbyters or rather the Identity of office denoted by sundry Appellations from these and the like places this work is done to the full by Blondellus that our labour in this kind were that the purpose in hand is prevented He that thinkes the Arguments of that Learned man to this purpose are indeed answered throughly and removed by D. H. in his fourth dissertation where he proposes them to Consideration may one day thinke it needful to be Able to distinguish between words and things That Clemens ownes in a Church but two sorts of Officers the first whereof he calls sometimes Bishops sometimes Presbyters the other Deacons the Doctour himselfe doth not deny That in the Judgment of Clemens no more were instituted in the Church is no less evident And this carries the conviction of it's truth so clearely with it that Lombard himselfe confesseth hos solos ministrorum duos ordines Ecclesiam primitvam habuisse de his solis praeceptum Apostoli nos habere Lib. 4. Sen. D. 24. Lib. 3. ext It seemes moreover that those Bishops and Deacons in those dayes as was observed were appointed to the office by and with the consent of the People or whole body of the Church no less do those words import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Doctour indeed renders these words applaudente aus
the multitude or the people were not such poore inconsiderable things as they are reported to be when he advises them to stop and stay the sedition by yeelding obedience to the things by them appointed and commanded If it were in it selfe evill disorderly and not according to the mind of Christ that the people should order and appoint things in the Church it had been simply evill for Clemens to have advised any to yeeld obedience unto things by them so appointed Where is now Ignatius his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Even those who are contending about Rule and Goverment in the Church are advised to stand to the determination of the people and to cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is also insisted on by Blondellus who thence argues potestatem plebis Circa Sacra Disser 5. Cap. 8. Sect. 4. Ad verba haec saith our Doctor prodigii instar est quod notandum duxit Dav Blondellus potestatem Plebis Circa Sacra de quâ tandem integram dissertationem elucubravit artificiis quibuscunque asserturus Hic inquit nos monet Clemens fideles etiam de Episcopatu aut Presbyterio contendentes non ab Episcopi singulari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nutu sed à multitudinis praeceptis pependisse But let not our Doctour be angry nor cry out so fast of Prodigies a little time will manifest that many things may not be prodigious which yet are contrary to sundry of his conceptions and Apprehensions I cannot but acknowledge him to be provoked but with all must say that I have found very commonly that reasons ushered in by such loud Clamours have in examination proved to have stood in need of some such noyses as might fright men from the consideration of them What is in the next Sections set up to sheild the Children of Episcopacy from being afrighted with this prodigy may perhaps be of more efficacy thereunto then the exclamations before mentioned He therefore proceedes Sect 5. Certè saith he si serio rem ageret Da◠Blondellus de Presbyteris suis non de Episcopis nostris actum planè triumphatum erit nec enim ab universo aliquo Presbyterorum Collegie quod ille tam afflictim ardet sed a multitudinis solius Arbitrio tum contendentes de Episcopo tum fideles omnes Corinthios pependisse aequè concludendum erit If any man in the world hath manifested more desperate Affection towards Presbyterie then this Doctour hath done toward Episcopacy for my part solus habeto But though neither Clemens nor Blondellus speak any one word about the ordering of things multitudinis solius arbitrio yet here is that said by them both as is sufficiently destructive not only to the Episcopacy the Doctour contends for as a thing wholly inconsistent with the power and liberty here granted the people but of any such Presbyterie also as shall undertake the ordering and disposing of things in the Church of God without the consent and Concurrent suffrage of the People Such a Presbytery it seemes Blondellus does not defend But yet neither the Doctours Out-cry as at a Prodigy nor this retortion upon Presbytery is any answer to the testimony of Clemens nor indeed is there the least possible reflection upon an orderly Gospel Presbytery in any Church and Over it by what Clemens here professeth to be the power of the People all the appearance of any such things is from the terme Solius foysted into the discourse of Blondellus by the Doctour in his taking of it up to retortat Clemens in the very next words secures us from any thought that all things depended à multitudinis solius arbitrio His very next words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Doctours and Masters having stuft their imaginations with the shape and lineament of that Hierarchichal fabrick which the Craft Pollicy Subtilty Avarice Pride Ambition of many ages successively had formed and framed according to the Paterne they saw in the Mount of the World and the goverments therin upon the first hearing of a Church a flock of Christ walking in orderly subjection to their own Elders concurring with them and consenting to them in their Rule and Goverment instantly as men amazed cry out a Prodigy It is not imaginable into what ridiculous contemptible miscarriages pride prejudice and selfulness do often-times betray men otherwise of good abilities in their waies and very commendable Industry But Section the sixth the Doctour comes closer and gives his Reason why this Testimony of Clement is not of any efficacy to the purpose in hand saith He At quis sodes à fidelibus de Episcopatu ut vis contra ipsos ab Apostolis constitutos Episcopos contendentibus quis à populo contra principem suum tumultus ciente quis verbis ad retundendum seditionem ad plebem factis argumenta ad Authoritatem populo adjudicandum principi derogandum duci posse existimavit Though many words follow in the next Section yet this is all of Answer that is given to this signal Testimony of Clement's I know the Doctour for the most part meets not only with favorable Readers but also partial Admirers or else certainly his Exclamation would scarce pass for an invincible Argument nor such Rhetorical diversions as this be esteemed solid Answers There is not by Blondellus any Argument taken from the faithful's tumultuating against the Bishops that if appointed by the Apostles which is thrust in taken for the persons of those Bishops is against the express Testimony of Clemens in this Epistle nor from the peoples seditiously rebelling against their Prince nor from any word spoken to the People to represse their sedition neither was any thing of this nature urged in the least by Blondellus nor is there any colour given to such a collection from any thing in the words cited from the Epistle or the context of them It is the advise of the Church of Rome to the persons whether already in office or aspiring thereunto about whom the contention and division was in the Church of Corinth that is insisted on It is not the words nor plea of them who were in disorder there is not any reprehension given to the body of the Church the multitude or people who are supposed to tumultuate to quiet them but a direction given as was said by the Church of Rome to the persons that occasioned the difference how to behave themselves so that a timely issue might be put to the division of the Church To this end are they advised to observe the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the orders precepts decrees or appointments of the multitude as from Acts the fifteenth the body of the Church is called It is not that they should yeild to their tumultuating but to yeild obedience to their orderly precepts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are by him approved had it not been lawful for them with the Presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Affaires of the Church Clemens writing
this Epistle to the whole Church could not possibly have led them into a greater snare It is a sad thing to consider the pittiful entanglements and snares that some men runne into who will undertake to make good what they have once engaged for let what will come against them To returne then It is evident that in the time of Clement there were but two sorts of Officers in the Church Bishops and Deacons whereas the Epistles of Ignatius do precisely in every place where any mention is made of them as there is upon occasions and upon none at all insist on three Orders distinct in name and things With Clement it is not so Those whom he calls Bishops in one place the very same persons he immediatly calls Presbyters after the Example of Paul Act 20. 28. And Titus 1. 5. 7. And plainly asserts Episcopacy to be the office of Presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz Because they were in no danger to be cast from their Episcopacy And whereas the fault which he reproves in the Church of Corinth is their division and want of due subjection to their spiritual Governours according to the order which Christ hath appointed in all the Churches of the Saints he affirms plainly that those Governours were the Presbyters of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in all places throughout the whole Epistle writing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to that particular Church of Corinth the Saints dwelling there walking in the order fellowship of the Ghospel where he treates of those things he still intimates a plurality of Presbyters in the Church as there may nay there ought to be in every single congregation Act 20. 28. without the least intimation of any singular Person promoted upon any account whatever above his fellowes So in the Advice given to the persons who occasioned the division before mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Had there been a singular Bishop at Corinth much more a Metropolitan such as our Doctour speakes him to have been it had been impossible that he should be thus passed by in silence But the Doctour gives you a double answer to this observation with the several parts whereof I doubt not but that he makes himselfe merry if he can suppose that any men are so wedded to his dictates as to give them entertainment for indeed they are plainly iocular But learned men must have leave sometimes to exercise their fancies and to sport themselves with their own imaginations 1 Then for the mention that is made of many Presbyters in the Church of Corinth to whom Clement in the name of the Church of Rome exhorts to give all due respect honour obedience He tells you that by the Church of Corinth all the Churches of Achaia are meant and intended The Epistle is directed only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the least intimation of any other Church or Churches The difference it is written about was occasioned by one or two persons in that Church only it is that Church alone that is exhorted to order and due subjection to their Elders From the beginning to the end of the Epistle there is not one word apex or tittle to intimate the designation of it to any Church or Churches beyond the single Church of Corinth or that they had any concernment in the difference spoken to The Fabrick of after Ages lies so close to the Doctour's imagination that there is no entrance for the true frame of the Primitive Church of Christ and therefore every thing must be wrested and apportioned to the conceit of such an Episcopacy as he hath entertained Whereas he ought to crop off both head heeles of his own imagination and the Episcopacy of the latter dayes which he too dearly affects he chooseth rather to stretch torture the antient goverment of the Church that it may seem to answer the frame presently contended for But let us a little attend to the Doctor 's learned arguments whereby he endeavours to make good his assertion 1 He tels you that Corinth was the chief Citty of Achaia the Metropolis in a political sense and Acceptation of the word of Greece where the Pro-Consul had his Residence Diss 5 cap 2. Sect. 3. Let us grant this to our learned Doctour least we should find nothing to gratify him with all what then will follow hence saith he it will follow Sect 4 that this Epistle which was sent Ecclesiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non ad unius civitatis Ecclesiam sed ad omues totius Achaiae Christianos per singulas civitates regiones sub Episcopis aut praefectis suis ubique callocatas missa existimetur But pray Doctour why so We poor creatures who are not so sharp sighted as to discerne a Metropolitan Arch-Bishop at Corinth of whom all the Bishops in Greece were dependant nor can find any instituted Church in the Scripture or in Clement of one denomination beyond a single Congregation cannot but think that all the strength of this Consectary from the insinuation of such a state of things in the Church of God is nothing but a pure begging of the thing in Question which will never be granted upon such tearmes Yea but he adds Sect 5 That Paul wrote his Epistle not only to the Church of Corinth but also to all the Churches of Achaia therefore Clement did so also At first view this Argument seemes not very conclusive yea appeares indeed very ridiculous the inforcement of it which ensues may perhaps give new life and vigour to it How then is it proved that Paul wrote not only to the Church of Corinth but to all them in Achaia also why saith he in the 2 Epistle 1. chap 1. v it is so exprest he writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Very good It is indisputably evident that Paul wrot his second Epistle to the Church at Corinth and all the rest of Achaia for he expresly affirmes himselfe so to do and for the first Epistle it is directed not only to the Church of Corinth 1 cap 2. verse but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is saith our Doctour in the whole Region of Achaia So indeed saies the Doctor 's great friend Grotius to whom he is beholding for more then one rare notion I say it not in any way of any reproach to the Doctour only I cannot but think his careful warding of himselfe against the thoughts of men that he should be beholding to Grotius doth exceedingly unbecome the Doctour's gravity and selfe denyal This is complained of by some who have tryed it in reference to his late comment on the Revelation And in this dissertation he is put by his own thoughts I will not say guilty to an Apology cap. 1. Sect. 24 Quâ in resuffragi msuum tulisse Hugonem Grotium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex annotationibus posthumis nuper editis postquam haec omnia Typographo transcripta essent cursim
perlectis edoctum gratulor Let not the Reader think that Doctour Ham had transmitted his papers full of rare conjectures to the Printer before Grotius Annotations upon the Revelations were published but only before he had read them The Doctour little thinks what a fly this is in his pot of Ointment nor how undecent with all impartial men such Apologies subservient to a frame of spirit in bondage to a man 's own Esteem and Reputation appear to be but let this pass and let the Saints that call upon the name of Jesus Christ in every place be the Saints in every part of Achaia though the Epistle it selfe written indeed upon occasion taken from the Church of Coâ—nth yet was given by inspiration from God for the use not only of all the Saints in the whole world at that time wherein it was written but of all those who were to believe in any part or place of the world to the end thereof although the assertion of it be not built on any tolerable conjecture but may be rejected with the same facility wherewith it is tendred what now will hence ensue Why hence it followes that Clement also wrote his Epistle to all the Churches in Achaia Very good Paul writing an Epistle entituled cheifly to the Corinthians expresly and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 directs it to the Saints or Churches of Achaia yea to all that call upon the name of God in every place so that his Epistle being of Catholick concernment is not to be confined to the Church of Corinth only although most of the particular things mentioned in that Epistle related only to that particular Church Therefore Clement directing his Epistle to the Church of Corinth only not once mentioning nor insinuating an intention of extending it to any other handling in it only the peculiar concernment of that Church a difference about one or two persons therein must be supposed to have written to all the Churches of Achaia And if such Arguments as these will not prove Episcopacy to be of Apostolical constitution what will prevaile with men so to esteem it Si Pergama dextra defendi possent etiam hâc defensa fuissent And this is the cause of naming many Elders or Presbyters in one Church For my part I suppose the Doctour might more probably have adhered to a former conjecture of his Dissert 4 tâ cap. 10. Sect 9. Concerning two sundry different Churches where were distinct officers in the same Citty primo saith he respondeo non usque quaque verum est quod pro concesso sumitur quamvis enim in una Ecclesia aut caetu plures simul Episcopi nunquam fuerint pray except them mentioned Act 20 28 and those Act 14 23 nihil tamen obstare quin in eadem civitate due aliquando caetus disterminati fuerint He might I say with more shew of probability have abode by this observation then to have rambled over all Greece to relieve himselfe against his Adversaries But yet neither would this suffice What use may or will be made of this concession shall else where be manifested But the Doctour hath yet another Answer to this multiplication of Elders and the mention of them with Deacons with the eminent identity that is between them and Bishops through the whole Epistle the same persons being unquestionably intended in respect of the same office by both these appellations Now this second Answer is founded upon the supposition of the former a goodly foundation namely that the Epistle under consideration was written and sent not to the Church of Corinth only but to all the Churches of Achaia of which Corinth was the Metropolitan Now this second answer is that the Elders or Presbyters here mentioned were properly those whom he calls Bishops Diocesans men of a third rank and order above Deacons and Presbyters in the Church-Administrations and goverment And for those who are properly called Presbyters there were then none in the Church to give colour to this miserable evasion Disser 4. chap. 10 11 He discourseth about the goverment and ordering of Church affaires by Bishops and Deacons In some Churches that were small not yet formed or compleated nor come to perfection at the first planting of them how well this is accomodated to the Church of Corinth which Clement calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which himselfe would have to be a Metropolitical Church being confessedly great numerous furnished with great and large gifts abilties is seen with halfe an eye How ill also this shift is accommodated to helpe in the case for whose service it was first invented is no less evident It was to save the sword of Phil 1. 1. From the throat of the Episcopacy he contendeth for That Epistle is directed to the Saints or Church at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons Two things do here trouble our Doctor 1 The mention of move Bishops then one at Philippi 2 The knitting together of Bishops and Deacons as the only two orders in the Church bringing down Episcopacy one degree at least from that height whereto he would exalt it For the first of these he tells you that Philippi was the Metropolitan Church of the Province of Macedonia that the rest of the Churches which had every one their several Bishops Diocesan we must suppose were all comprised in the mentioning of Philippi so that though the Epistle be precisely directed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the Bishops that were with them must be supposed to be Bishops of the whole Province of Macedonia because the Church of Philippi was the Metropolitan The whole country must have been supposed to be converted and who thaâ— knowes any thing of Antiquity will dispute that and so divided with Diocesan's as England of late was the Arch-Bishops so beeing at Philippi but how came it then to pass that here is mention made of Bishops and Deacons only without any one word of a third order or ranke of men distinct from them called Presbyters or Elders To this he Answers 2ly That when the Church was first planted before any great number were converted or any fit to be made Presbyters there was only those two orders instituted Bishops and Deacons so that this Church at Philippi seemes to have been a Metropolitical Infant The truth is if ever the Doctour be put upon reconciling the Contradictions of his answers one to another not only in this but almost in every particular he deales withall an entanglement which he is thrown into by his bold and groundless conjectures he will find it to be as endless as fruitless but it is not my present business to interpose in his quarrels either with himselfe or Presbytery As to the matter under consideration I desire only to be resolved in these few Queries 1 If there were in the times of Clement no Presbyters in the Churches not in so great and flourishing a Church as that of Corinth and if all the places in the Scripture where there is mention
of Elders do precisely intend Bishops in a distinction from them who are only Deacons and not Bishops also as he asserts when by whom by what Authority were Elders who are only so inferior to Bishops peculiarly so termed instituted and appointed in the Churches And how it comes to pass that there is such express mention made of the Office of Deacons and the continuance of it none at all of Elders who are acknowledged to be superiour to them and on whole shoulders in all their own Churches lies the great weight and burden of all Ecclesiastical Administration As we say of their Bishops so shall we of any Presbyter not instituted and oppointed by the Authority of Jesus Christ in the Church let them go to the place from whence they came 2 I desire the Doctour to informe me in what sense he would have me to understand him Disser 2. cap. 29. 21 22 where he disputes that those words of Hierom. Antequà m studia in Religione fierent diceretur in populis Ego sum Pauli ego Cephae communi Presbyterorum consensu ecclesiae gubernabantur are to be understood of the times of the Apostles when the first Schisme was in the Church of Corinth when it seemes that neither then nor a good while after there was any such thing as Presbyters in the Church of Corinth nor in any other Church as we can hear of As also to tell us whether all those Presbyters were Bishops properly so called distinct from Elders who are only so out of whom one man is chosen to be a Bishop properly so called To these enquiries I shall only adde 3ly That whereas in the Scripture we find clearly but of two sorts of Church-Officers mentioned as also in this Epistle of Clement the third that was afterward introduced be it what it will or fall on whom it will that we oppose This saith the Doctour is that of Presbytery give us the Churches instituted according to the word of Christ give us in every Church Bishops and Deacons rather then we will quarrel give us a Bishop and Deacons let those Bishops attend the particular flock over which they are appointed preaching the word and administring the holy ordinances of the Gospel in and to their own flock And I dare undertake for all the Contenders for Presbytery in this nation and much more for the independents that there shall be an end of this quarrel that they will not strive with the Doctour no◠any living for the introduction of any third sort of persons though they should be called Presbyters into Church Office and goverment Only this I must adde that the Scripture more frequently termes this second sort of men Elders and Presbyters then it doth Bishops and that word having been appropriated to a third sort peculiarly we desire leave of the Doctour and his associates if we also most frequently call them so no waies declining the other Appellation of Bishops so that it be applyed to signify the second and not third ranke of men But of this whole business with the nature constitution and frame of the first Churches and the sad mistakes that men have by their own prejudices been ingaged into in this delineation of them a fuller opportunity if God will may eare long be afforded To returne then to our Ignatius even upon this consideration of the difference that is between the Epistles ascribed to him and the writings of one of the same time with him or not long before him as to their language and expression about Church order and Officers it is evident that there hath been ill-favour'd tampering with them by them who thought to prevaile themselves of his Authority for the asserting of that which never came into his mind As I intimated before I have not insisted on any of those things nor do on them altogether with the like that may be added as a sufficient foundation for the total rejection of those Epistles which go under the name of sgnatius There is in some of them a sweet gratious spirit of Faith Love Holiness zeale for God becomming so excellent holy a witness of Christ as he was evidently breathing and working Neither is there any need at all that for the defence of our Hypothesis concerning the non-institution of any Church officer what ever relating to more Churches in his Office or any other Church then a single particular Congregation that we should so reject them For although many passages usually insisted on and carefully collected by D. H for the proof of such an Episcopacy to have been received by them of old as is now contended for are exceedingly remote from the way and manner of the Expressions of those things used by the Divine Writers with them also that followed after both before as hath been manifested and some while after the dayes of Ignatius as might be further clearly evinced and are thrust into the series of the discourse with such an incoherent Impertinency as proclaimes an Interpolation being some of them also very ridiculous so foolishly Hyperbolical that they fall very little short of Blasphemies yet there are Expressions in all or most of them that will abundantly manifest that He who was their Authour who ever he was never dreamt of any such fabrick of Church-Order as in after ages was insensibly received Men who are ful of their own apprehensions begotten in the◠by such representations of things as either their desirable presence hath exhibited to their mind or any after prejudicate presumption hath possessed them with are apt upon the least appearance of any likness unto that Church they fancy to imagine that they see the face all the lineaments thereof when upon due examination it will be easily discovered that there is not indeed the least resemblance between what they find in and what they bring to the Authors in and of whom they make their enquiry The Papists having hatched owned by several degrees that monstrous figment of Transubstantiation to instance among many in that Abomination a folly destructive to whatever is in us as being living Creatures Men or Christians or what ever by sense Reason or Religion we are furnished with all offering violence to us in what we heare in what we see with our eyes and look upon in what our hands do handle and our palats tast breaking in upon our understandings with vagrant flying formes selfe subsisting Accidents with as many express contradictions on sundry accounts as the nature of things is capable of Relation unto attended with more gross Idolatry then that of the poor naked Indians who fall down and worship a peice of red Cloth or of those who first adore their gods and then correct them do yet upon the discovery of any Expressions among the Antients which they now make use of quite to another End and purpose then they did who first ventured upon them having minds filled with their own Abominations do presently cry out and triumph
as if they had found the whole far dell of the mass in it's perfect dress and their breaden God in the middest of it It is no otherwise in the case of Episcopacy men of these latter Generations from what they saw in present being and that usefulness of it to all their desires and interests having entertained thoughts of love to it and delight in it searching Antiquity not to instruct them in the truth but to establish their prejudicate Opinion received by Tradition from their Fathers and to consult them with whom they have to do what ever Expressions they find or can heare of that fall in as to the sound of words with what is now insisted upon instantly they cry out Vicimus Io Paean â— what a simple generation of Presbyters and Independents have we that are ignorant of all Antiquity or do not understand what they read and look upon Hence if we will not believe that in Ignatius his dayes there were many Parish Churches with their single Preists in subordination to a Diocesan Bishop either immediatly or by the interposed power of a Choreâ— Episcopus and the like and those Diocesans againe in the precincts of provinces laid in a due subjection to their Metropolitans who took care of them as they of their Parish Priests every individual Church having no Officer but a Presbyter every Diocesan Church having no Presbyter but a Bishop and every Metropolitan Church having neither Presbyter nor Bishop properly related unto it as such but an Arch-Bishop we are worse then Infidels truly I cannot but wonder whether it doth not sometimes enter into these men's thoughts to apprehend how contemtible they are in their proofes for the fathering of such â—n Ecclesiastical distribution of Governours and Goverment as indeniably lacquied after the civil divisions and constitutions of the times and places wherein it was introduced upon those holy persons whose soules never once entered into the secrets thereof Thus fares it with our Doctour and his Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall only crave leave to say to him as Augustus of Quintilius Varus upon the loss of his Legions in Germany under his command Quintili Vare reade legiones Domine Doctor redde Ecclestas give us the Churches of Christ such as they were in the dayes of the Apostles and down to Ignatius though before that time if Hegesippus may be believed somewhat deflowred and our contest about Church-Officers Goverment will be nearer at an end then perhaps you will readily imagine Give us a Church all whose members are holy called sanctified justified living-stones Temples for the Holy Ghost Saints Believers united to Christ the head by the Spirit that is given to them and dwelleth in them a Church whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that doth nothing by it's members apart that appertaines to Church-order but when it is gathered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Church that being so gathered together in one place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acting in Church things in it's whole body under the Rule and presidence of it's Officers A Church walking in order and not as some who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of whom saith Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as calling the Bishops to the Assemblies yet do all things without him the manner of some in our dayes he supposeth noâ— to keep the Assemblies according to the command of Christ give us I say such a Church and let us come to them when they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as the Churches in the dayes of Ignatius appeare to have been and are so rendred in the Quotations taken from his Epistles by the Learned Doctour for the Confirmation of Episcopacy as I said before the contest of this present digression will quickly draw to an Issue Being unwilling to go too far out of my way I shall not 1 Consider the severalls instanced in for the proof of Episcopacy by the Doctour Seeing indeniably the Interpretation must follow and be proportioned by the General Issue of that state of the Church in the dayes wherein those Epistles were writ or are pretended so to be if that appeare to be such as I have mentioned I presume the Doctour himselfe will confess that his witnesses speak not one word to his business for whose confirmation he doth produce them Nor 2ly Shall I insist upon the degeneration of the Institutions and Appointments of Jesus Christ concerning Church Administrations in the mannagement of the succeeding Churches as principled and spirited by the operative and efficacious Mystery of Iniquity occasioned and advantaged by the Accommodation of Ecclesiastical affayres to the civil distributions and Alotments of the political state of things in those dayes nor 3 Insist much farther on the exceeding dissimilitude and inconformity that is between the Expressions concerning Church-Officers and aâ—â—aires in these Epistles whence ever they come and those in the writings of unquestionable credit immediatly before and after them as also the uâ—â—er silence of the Scripture in those things wherewith they so abound The Epistle of Clemens of which mention was made before was written for the composing and quieting of a division and distemper that was fallen out in the Church of Corinth Of the cause of that distention that then miserably rent that congregation he informs us in that complaint that some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were wrongfully cast from the ministry by the multitude he tells you that these were good honest men faithful in the discharge of their duty for saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though they were unblamable both in their conversation ministry yet they removed them from their office To reprove this evill to convince them of the sinfulness of it to reduce them to a right understanding of their duty order walking in the fellowship of the gospel what course doth he proceed in what arguments doth he use He minds them of one God one Christ one body one faith tells them that Wicked men alone use such waies practises bids them read the Epistle of Paul formerly written to them upon occasion of another division and to be subject to their own Elders all of them leave off contending quietly doing the things which the people or the body of the Church delivered commanded Now had this Person writing on this occasion using all sorts of Arguments Artificial or inartificial for his purpose been baptized into the opinion esteem of a single Episcopacy superintendent whose Exaltation seemes to be the design of much which is said in the Epistles of Ignatius in the sense wherin his words are usually taken would yet never once so much as bid them be subject to the Bishop that Resemblance of God the Father supplying of the place of Christ nor told them how terrible a thing it was to disobey him nor pawned
not incumbent on him to prove those with whom he hath to do are of another mind although by this time some Alteration might be attempted yea there was as else where shall be shewed and so much for Ignatius his Archi-Episcopacy The example of Alexandria is urged in the next place in these words idem de Alexandriâ de quâ Eusebius Marcum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesias in plurali primum in Alexandriâ instituisse Has omnes ab eo sub nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 administrandas suscepisse Annianum Neronis anno octavo idem Eusebius affirmat quibus patet primariam Alexandriae Patriarchalem cathedram fixam esse ad quam reliquae provinciae illius ecclesiae à Marco plantatae ut ad metropoliticam suam pertinebant doubtless for 1 There is not any passage in any ancient Author more clearly discovering the uncertainty of many things in Antiquity then this pointed to by the Doctour in Eusebius For first the sending of Mark the Evangelist into Egypt and his preaching there at Alexandria what he had written in the Gospel is but a report Men said so but what ground they had for their saying so he relates not And yet we know what a foundation of many Assertions by following Writers this Rumor or report is made to be 2 In the very next words the Authour affirmes and insists long upon it in the next Chapter that Philo's book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was written concerning the Christians converted by Mark 's preaching at Alexandria when it is notoriously known that it treateth of the Essens a Sect among the Jewes amongst whole observances many things were vaine superstitious and foolish unworthy to be once applauded as the practise of any Christian in those dayes that same Philo as far as can be gathred living and dying in the Jewish Religion having been employed by them with an Apology to Rome in the daies of Caligula But 3. Suppose that Marke were at Alexandria and preached the Gospel there which is not improbable and planted sundry Churches in that great and populous City of Jewes and Gentiles and that as an Evangelist the care of those Churches was upon him in a peculiar manner nay and adde farther that after his death as Hierome assures us the Elders and Presbyters of those Churches chose out one among themselves to Praeside in their convocations meetings If I say all this be supposed what will ensue why then it is manifest that there was fixed at Alexandria a Patriarchal Chaire a Metro-political Church according to the Appointment of Jesus Chirst by his Apostles Si hoc non sit probationum satis nescio quid sit satis If some few congregations live together in love and communion and the fellowship of the Gospel in a City he is stark blind that sees not that to be an Arch-Bishops See The reason is as cleare as his in the Comedian for the freedome of his Wife Sy utinam Phrygiam uxorem meam unâ mecum videam liberam Dem Optimam mulierem quidem Sy Et quidem nepoti tuo hujus filio hodiè primam mammam dedit haec Dem herclè verô serio siquidem primam dedit hand dubium quin emitti Aequam siet Mic ob eam rem Dem ob eam and there is an end of the contest The Doctour indeed hath sundry other Sections added to these foregoing which as they concerne times more remote from those who first received the Apostolical institutions so I must ingeniously profess that I cannot see any thing wheron to fasten a suspition of a proof so far as to call it into examination and therefore I shall absolve the Reader from the penalty of this Digression The truth is when I first named Ignatius for a witness in the cause I am pleading for I little thought of that excursion which I have occasionally been drawn out unto When first I cast an eye some few months since upon the Dissertation of the Learned Doctor in defence of Episcopacy saw it so Cheker'd with Greek and Latine so full of quotations divine humane I began to think that he dealt with his Adversaries hastisque clypeisque saxis grandibus that there would be no standing before his showre of arguments but after a little ferious perusal I must take leave to say that I was quickly of another mind with the reason of which change of thoughts could I once obtaine the leasure of a few dayes or howres I should quickly God willing acquaint them who are concerned in Affaires of this nature In the meane time if the Reader will pardon me this digression having given him an account of my thoughts concerning the Epistles of Ignatius I shall in a procedure upon my first intention bring forth some Testimonies from him valeant quantùm valere possunt He seemes in the first place to speak sufficiently clearly to the death of Christ for his Church for Believers in a peculiar manner which is one considerable bottome and foundation of the truth we plead for Epist ad Trall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and againe Epistolâ ad Philad by Christ saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with many the like expressions His confidence also of the Saints perseverance for whom Christ thus dyed he doth often profess Speaking of the faith of the Gospel he addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And againe more clearly and fully to the same purpose Epist ad Smyrn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And this confirmation and establishment in believing he ascribes not to their manly considerations but to the grace of Christ exclusively to any of their own strength Epist ad Smyrn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he of him selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the same purpose and with the same confident perswasion he speakes Epist ad Ephes. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And againe in the same Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in his last Epistle he gives us that noble Expression of his own assurance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where we leave the holy soule until the same God gather us to him the rest of the spirits of just men made perfect And this was the language these were the Expressions of this holy man which what they discover of his judgment to the case under consideration is left to the learned Reader to consider This I am certaine our Adversaries have very little cause to boast of the consent of the Primitive Christians with them in the doctrine of Apostacy there being in these most antient writers after the Apostles about the things of our Religion not the least shadow cast upon it for it's refreshment Adde in the next place the most Antient of the Latines Tertullian that great store-house of all manner of learning and knowledge saith he Quemadmodùm nobis arrhabonem spiritus reliquit ita à nobis arrhabonem carnis accepit vexit in Coelum pignus totius summae illuc redigendae Tertullian de Resur
Learned men in every Age of the communion of the Church of Rome crying out for the Papal definitive Sentence against the Pelagian errours crept into their Church especially hath this out-cry with supplication been renewed by the Dominican Fryars ever since the Jesuites have so cunningly guilded over that Pelagian Poyson set it out as the best most wholsome food for the Holy Mother and her children Yea with such earnestnes hath this been in the last Age pursued by Agents in the Court of Rome that a Congregation de Auxiliis being purposely appointed it was generally supposed one while that they would have prevailed in their suit and have obtained a definitive Sentence on their side against their Adversaries But through the just Vengeance of God upon a pack of bloudy persecuting Idolaters giving them up more and more to the Beliefe of Lyes contrary almost to the expectation of all men This very yeare 1653 Pope Innocent the tenth who now weares the Triple Crowne conjured by the subtilty and dreadful interest of the Jesuites in all nations that as yet wonder after him by a Solemne Bull or Papal Consistorian Determination in the Case of Jansenius Bishop of Ypress hath turned the Scales upon his first Suppliants and Cast the Cause on the Pelagian Side But of that whole business elsewhere I shall not perplex the Reader with the Horrid names of Trombet Holcot Bricot Sychet Tartaret Brulifer nor with their more Horrid termes and expressions Let the one Angelical Doctor answer for the rest of his Companions That this man then one of the great Masters of the Crew abode by the Principles of him before insisted on may quickly be made evident by some few instances clearing his judgment herein This in the first place he every where insists on that no Habitual grace received no improvment that can be made of it by the utmost ability diligence and the most rays'd Considerations of the best of men will cause any one certainly to Persevere without the peculiar preservation of God Of this he gives his Reason Lib. 3. Contrà Gent Ca 155. Illud quod Naturâ sua est Variabile ad hoc quod figatur in uno indiget Auxilio alicujus moventis immobilis sed liberum arbitrium etiam existentis in gratiâ Habituali adhuc manet variabile flexibile à bono in Malum ergo ad hoc quod figatur in bono perseveret in illo usque ad Finem indiget Speciali Dei Auxilio An Argument of the same importance with that mentioned out of Bradwardine which howsoever at first appearance it may seem to lye at the Out-skirts of the Controversy in hand yet indeed is such as being granted hath an influence into the whole as hath been manifested And this the same Authour further Confirmes saith he p p Q 109. A 9. Cùm nullum agens secundum agat nisi in Virtute primi sitque care spiritui perpetuò rebellis non potest Homo licet jam gratiam consecutus per seipsum operari Bonum vitare Peccatum absque novo Auxili◠Dei ipsum moventis dirigentis protegentis quamvis alia Habitualis gratia ad hoc ei necessaria non sit And the Reasons he gives of this conclusion in the body of the Article are considerable This saith he must be so primò quidem ratione generali propter hoc quòd nulla Res creata potest in quemcunque Actum prodire nisi virtute motionis divinae The Pelagian selfe-sufficiency and exemption from dependance in Solidum upon God both providentially and Physically as to operation was not so freely received in the Schooles as afterward Secundò saith he ratione speciali propter Conditionem statûs Humanae Naturae quae quidem licèt per Gratiam sanetur quantum ad mentem remanet tamen in eo Corruptio Infectio quantum ad carnem per quam servit legi peccati ut dicitur Ro 7 Remanet etiam quaedam Ignorantiae obscuritas in intellectu secundùm quam ut etiam dicitur Rom 8. quid eremus sicut oportet nescimus ideo necesse est nobis ut à Deo dirigamur protegamur qui omnia novit omnia Potest And will not this man think you who in his gropings after Light when darkness covered the Face of the Earth and thick darkness was upon the Inhabitants thereof with this his discovery of the impotency of the best of the Saints for Perseverance upon the Account of any Grace received because of the perpetual powerful rebellion of indwelling Lust and Corruption and that all that do persevere are preserved by the power of God unto salvation rise in Judgment against Those who in our Dayes wherin the Sun of Righteousness is risen with healing under his wings do ascribe a sufficiency unto men in themselves upon the bottome of their Rational Considerations to abide with God or Persevere to the end And this assertion of the Angelical Doctour is notably confirmed by Didacus Alvarez in his Vindication of it from the exception of Medina that we make use of habits when we will if men will make use of their Habitual Grace they may persevere without relation to any After Grace of God saith he Respondetur Habitibus quidem Nos uticùm volumus sed ut velimus illis uti praerequiritur Motio Dei efficax praemovens Liberum Arbitrium ut utatur Habitu ad operandum operetur bonum praesertim quando Habitus sunt supernaturales quia cùm pertineant ad superiorem Ordinem habent specialem Rationem propter quam potentia merè naturalis non utitur eisdem Habitibus nisi speciali Dei Auxilio moveatur Alvar de Aux Lib. 10. Disput. 100. Though received Graces are reckoned by him as supernatural Habits yet such as we act not by nor with but from new supplies from God Having layd down this Principle Thomas proceeds to manifest that there is a special Grace of Perseverance bestowed by God on some and that on whomsoever it is bestowed they certainly and infallibly persevere to the end p p Quaest 109 A 10 C and contrà Gent Lib. 3 he proves this Assertion from P 6. 1 Pet 5 10. Psal 16. But to spare the Reader I shall give you this man's judgment together with one of his Followers who hath had the happiness to cleare his Masters minde above any that have undertaken the maintenance of his Doctrine in that part now controverted in the Church of Rome therein I shall manifest what I formerly proposed what Beamings and Irradiations of this Truth do yet glide through that gross darkness which is spread upon the face of the Romish Synagogue referring what I have further to adde on this head to the account which God assisting I shall ere long give of the present Jansenian Controversies in my Considerations on Mr. Biddles Catechismes a taske by authority lately imposed on me This is Didacus Alvarez whose 10th Book de Auxiliis treats peculiarly of
whole Booke of God 2. That it is a case surmised by him suitable to his owne Hypotheses neither true in its selfe nor any way Analogous to that wherewith 't is yoked being indeed a new way and tone of begging the thing in question For instance It supposeth without the least Attempt of proofe 1. Conditionall Decrees or a disjunctive intendment of Events in God it shall come to passe or otherwise 2. A middle science conditionall as the foundation of those disjunctive Decrees with 3. A futurition of things Antecedent to any determining Act of the Will of God and 4. A possibility of frustrating as to Event the Designes and purposes of God and 5. That all medium's of the Accoplishment of any thing are conditions of Gods intentions as to the end he aymes at 6. That God appoints a series of mediums for the compassing of an End and designes them thereunto without any determinate Resolution to bring about that End 7. That the Acts of Gods Grace in their Concatenation mentioned in this place of Rom. 8. are severally Conditionall because he hath invented or faigned some Decrees of God which he sayes are so All which with the inferences from them Mr Goodwin knowes will not advance his Reasonings at all as to our Understandings being fully perswaded that they are all Abominations of no lesse base alloy then the Errour it selfe in whose defence and Patronage they are produced To our Argument then before mentioned §. 35. prooving an equall indissolveablenesse in all the linkes of the Chaine of Divine Graces drawne forth and insisted on from the equall dependance of the designe Purpose of God on the mutuall dependance of each of them on the other for the fullfillng of that Purpose of his and obtaining the End which he professes himselfe to intend this is the summe of Mr Goodwins Answer If I can invent a series of Decrees and a Concatenation of Divine Acts though indeed there be no such thing neither can I give any colour to it without laying downe and taking for granted many false and absurd supposalls and though it be not of the same nature with that here proposed by the Apostle nor any where held out in the Scripture for any such End Purpose as this is neither can I assigne any absolute determinate end in this Series of mine whose Accomplshment God ingages himselfe to bring about as the Case stands in the place of Scripture under Consideration then it is meet and equitable that laying aside all inforcements from the Text Context Nature of God the thing treated on all compelling us to close with another sence and Interpretation that we regulate the minde of the Holy Ghost herein to the Rule proportion and Analogie of the case as formerly proposed This being the summe of that which Mr Goodwin calls his Answer made naked I presume to its shame valeat quantum valere potest I shall only adde that 1. when Mr Goodwin shall make good that order and Series of Decrees here by him mentioned from the Scripture or with solid Reason from the nature of the things themselves suitably to the Properties of him whose they are And 2. Proove that any eternall Decree of God either as to its primitive enacting or temporall Execution is suspended on any thing not only really contingent in it selfe and its owne nature in respect of the immediate fountaine from whence it flowes and nature of its immediate cause but also as to its Event in respect of any Act of the will of God that it may otherwise be and so the accomplishment of that Decree left thereupon uncertaine and God himselfe dubiously conjecturing at the Event for instance whether Christ should Dye or no or any one be saved by him and 3. Clearely evince this notion of the Decrees and Purposes of God that he intends to Create Man and then to give him such advantages which if he will it shall be so with him if otherwise it shall be so To send Christ if men doe so or so or not to send him if they doe otherwise so of the residue of the Decrees mentioned by him and 4. That all events of things whatsoever Spirituall and Temporall have a Conditionall futurition antecedent to any act of the Will of God When I say he shall have proved these and some like things to these we shall further consider what is offered by him yea we will confesse that Hostis habet muros c. Of the many other Testimonies to the purpose in hand §. 36. bearing witnesse to the same Truth some few may yet be singled out and in the next place that of Jeremiah 31. 3. presents it selfe unto tryall and Examination Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindnesse have I drawn thee It is the whole Elec◠Church of the seed of Iacob of whom he speaks the foundation of whose blessednesse is laid in the Eternall Love of God Who the persons are thus beloved and of whom we are to interpret these expressions of Gods good will the Apostle manifests Rom 11. as shall afterwards be more fully discoursed and cleared He tells you it is the Election whom God intends of whom he saies that they obtained the Righteousnesse that is by faith according to the purport of Gods good will towards them though the rest were hardned God who adds daily to his Church such as shall be saved Acts 13. 48. drawing them thereunto upon the account of their being so Elected He calls them also the Remnant according to the Election of Grace and the People whom God did foreknow v 1 2. or from Eternity designed to the participation of the Grace there spoken of as the use of the word hath been evinced to be These are the Thee here designed the portion of Israel after the flesh which the Lord in his Free Grace hath eternally appointed to be his peculiar inheritance which in their severall Generations he drawes to himselfe with Loving Kindnesse And this everlasting Love is not only the fountaine whence actuall Loving Kindnesse in drawing to God or bestowing Faith doth flow as they Believe who are ordained to eternall life but also the sole Cause and Reason upon the account whereof in contra-distinction to the Consideration of any thing in themselves God will exercise Loving Kindnesse towards them for ever That which is everlasting or eternall is also unchangeable Gods everlasting Love is no more liable to mutability then himselfe And it is an alwaies equall Ground and Motive for Kindnesse On what account should God alter in his actuall Kindnesse or favour towards any if that on the account whereof he exercises it will not admit of the least Alteration He that shall give a Condition on which this everlasting Love of God should be suspended and according to the influence whereof upon it it should goe forth in Kindnesse or be interrupted may be allowed to boast of his discovery That of
the Apostlâ—e 2 Tim. 2. 19. §. 37. is important to the businesse in hand Neverthelesse the foundation of God stands sure having this seale the Lord knoweth them that are his Some persons of eminency and note in the Church yea Starres it seemes of a considerable magnitude in the visible Firmament thereof having fallen away from the Truth and faith of the Gospell and drawne many after them into waies of destruction a great Offence and Scandall among Believers thereon as in such cases it will fall out insued withall a Temptation of a not to be despised prevalency and sad consequence which we formerly granted to attend such eminent Apostasie seems to have laid hold on many weake Saints they feared least they also might be overthrowne and after all their labouring and suffering in the Work of Faith and Patience of the Saints come short of the marke of the high calling set before them considering their own weaknesse and instability with that powerfull opposition whereunto in those daies especially they were exposed Upon the contemplation of such Apostasies or defections they were opportune and obnoxious sufficiently to this Temptation Yea their thoughts upon the Case under consideration might lead them to feare a more generall defection for seeing it is this with some why may not this be the Condition of all Believers and so the whole Church may cease and come to nothing notwithstanding all the Promises of building it on a Rock and of the presence of Christ with it to the end of the World Nay may not his whole Kingdome on earth on this account possibly fall to utter ruine and himselfe be left a Head without members a King without Subjects This by Mr Goodwins own confession is the Objection which the Apostle answereth and removes in and by the words under Consideration Cap. 14. pag. 359. 360. Seeing these fall away are not wee likewise in danger of falling away and so of loosing all that we have done and suffered in our Christian profession To this Objection or Scruple the Apostle Answereth in the Words in hand So he Thus farre then are we agreed About the sence of the words themselves and their Accommodation to the removall of the Objection or Scruple mentioned is our difference I know not how M. Goodwin comes to call it an Objection or Scruple which is the expression of thoughts or words arising against that which is in the truth of it seeing it is their very State and Condition indeed and that which they feare is that which they are really exposed unto and which they ought to believe that they are exposed to In his Apprehension they who make the Objection or whose Scruple it was were as liable unto in his judgement and in the same danger of falling away or greater their Temptations being increased and heightned by the Apostasie of others then them that fell the day and hour before neither could that falling away of any be said to raise a Scruple in them that they might do so to if this were one part of their Creed that all and every man in the world might so doe The Answer given by the Apostle §. 38. is no doubt suited to the Objection and fitted to the removeall of the Scruple mentioned which was alone to be accomplished by an effectuall removing away the solicitious fears and cares about the preservation of them in whose behalfe this is produced This therefore the Apostle doth by an exception to the inference which they made or through temptation might make upon the former considerations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are exceptive particles and an Induction into the exemption of some from the condition of being in danger of falling wherein they were concluded in the Objection proposed The intendment I say of the Apostle in that exceptive plea he puts in neverthelesse is evidently to exempt some from the state of falling away which might be argued against them from the defection of others Neither doth he speake to the thing in hand nor are the particulars mentioned exceptive to the former Intimation if his speech looke any other way Moreover he gives yet further the account of this Exception he makes including a radicall discrimination of professours or men esteemed to be Believers expressing also the Principle and ground of that difference The differing Principle he mentioneth is the Foundation of God that stands sure or the firme Foundation of God that is established or stands firme This is not worth contending about An Expression parallell to that of the same Apostle Rom. 9. 11. That the Purpose of God according to Election might stand Both this and that hold out some Eternall Act of God differencing betweene persons as to their Everlasting condition As if the Apostle had said you see indeed that Hymenaeus and Philetus are fallen away and that others with whom you sometimes walked in the Communion and outward fellowship of the Gospell and tooke sweet Counsell together in the House of God with them are gone after them yet be you true Believers of good Comfort God hath layd a Foundation which must be some Eternall Act of his concerning them of whom he is about to speake or the solemne Assertion of the Apostle then which you shall not easily meet with one more weighty is neither to the Case nor matter in hand which is firme and abiding being the good pleasure of his Will accompanied with an Act of his Wisdome and Understanding appointing some as is the case of all True Believers to be his who shall be exempted on that account from the Apostasie and desertion that you feare This saith the Apostle is the fountaine and spring of the difference which is among them that professe the Gospell Concerning some of them is the Purpose of God for their preservation They are ordained to Eternall Life And herein as was said lyes the Concernement of all that are True Believers who are all his chosen of him given to his Sonne and Called according to his Purpose with others t is not so they are not built on that bottome they have no such foundation of their Profession and it is not therefore marvelous if they fall The words then containe an Exception of True Believers from the danger of totall Apostasie §. 39. upon the account of the stable fixed Eternall Purpose of God concerning their Salvation answerable to that of Rom. 8. 28 29 30. the place last considered The Foundation here mentioned is the good Pleasure of the Will of God which he had Purposed in him himselse or determined to exert towards them for the praise of the Glory of his Grace Eph. 1. 9. According to which Purpose we are Predestinated v. 11. And he calls this Purpose the Foundation of God as being a groundworke and bottome of the thing whereof the Apostle is treating namely the Preservation and Perseverance of True Believers those who are indeed planted into Christ notwithstanding the Apostasie of the most Glorious Professours
only this but all other Promises uttered by Christ to his Apostles as we had thought not for their own behoofe alone but also for the use of the Church in all ages are tyed up in their tendency and use to the men of that Generation and to the employment to which they to whom he spoke were designed But let us see whether these things are so or no. I say 2. There is not any necessary cause of that disjunctive proposition The Promise of the perpetuall residence of the Spirit is made either to the Apostles personally or to the whole body of the Church By the Rule formerly given for the Interpretation of these Promises of Christ it appears that what in this kind was made to the one was also given to the other and how Mr Goodwin will inforce any necessary conclusion from this distinction framed by himselfe for his own purpose I know not The Promise was made both to these and those the Apostles and all other Believers because to the Apostles as Believers 3. The making of the Promise to the Apostles personally doth not argue that it was made to them as Apostles but only that it was made to their Persons or to them though under another qualification viz. of Believing 'T is given to them personally as Believers and so to all Believers whatever This also sets at liberty and plainly cashiers the comparison instituted between the Apostles Infallibility as Apostles and their sanctifying grace as Believers by the Spirit of Grace given for that end The Apostles Infallibility we confesse was from the Spirit for they as other Holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of God 2 Pet. 1. 21. but that this was a distinct guift bestowed on them as Apostles and not the teaching of the Spirit of Grace which is given to all Believers 1 Ioh. 2. 22. we need not contend to prove Besides to what end doth he contend that it was made to the Apostles in the sence urged and by us insisted on seeing he denies it in the close of this Section and chooseth rather to venture upon an opposition unto that common received perswasion that the Apostles of Christ the sonne of perdition only excepted had an absolute promise of Perseverance then to acknowledge that which would prove so prejudiciall and ruinous to his cause as he knowes the confession of such a Promise made to them would inevitably be He contends not I say about the sence of the Promise but would faine divert it from other Believers at the entrance of the Section by limiting it to the Apostles but considering afterward better of the matter and remembring that the concession of an absolute Promise of Perseverance to any one Saint whatever would evidently root up and cast to the ground the goodliest engine that he hath set up against the Truth he opposeth he suits it in the close of the Section to an evasion holding better Correspondency with its associates in this undertaking 4. I wonder what Chimericall Church he hath found out to which Promises are made and Priviledges granted otherwise then upon the account of the Persons whereof'tis constituted suppose I pray that Promises of the Residence of the Spirit for ever with it be made to the Church which is made up of so many members and that all these members every one should loose their interest in it what subject of that Promise would remaine What Vniversall is this that hath a reall existence of it selfe and by it selfe in abstraction from its particulars in which alone it hath its being Or what whole is that which is preserved in the destruction and dissolution of all its essentially constituent parts The Promises then that are made to the Church are of two sorts 1. Of such Grace and Mercies as whether inherent or relative have their residence in and respect unto particular persons as such of this sort are all the Promises of the Grace of Sanctification as also of Justification c. which are all things of mens personall spirituall interest The Promises made to the Church of this nature are made unto it meerely as consisting of so many and those Elected Redeemed persons whose right and interest as those individuall persons they are 2. Of all such good things as are the exurgency of the collected state of the Saints in reference to their spirituall invisible Communion or visible gathering into a Church constituted according to the mind of Christ and his Appointment in the Gospell and these also are all of them founded in the former and depend wholly upon them and are resolved into them All Promises then whatever made to the Church the Body of Christ doe not respect it primarily as a Corporation which is the second notion of it but as consisting of those particular Believers much lesse as a Chimericall universall having a subsistence in and by it selfe abstracted from its particulars This evasion then not withstanding this Promise of our Saviour doth still continue to presse its Testimony concerning the perpetuall residence of this Holy Spirit with Believers The scope of the place inforces that exception of these words §. 28. which we insist upon Our Blessed Saviour observing the trouble and disconsolation of his followers upon the apprehension of his departure from them stirres them up to a better hope and confidence by many Gracious Promises and ingagements of what would and should be the Issue of his being taken away v. 1. He bids them to free their hearts from trouble and in the next words tells them that the way whereby it was to be done was by acting Faith on the Promises of his Father and those which in his Fathers name he had made and was to make unto them Of these he mentions many in the following verses whereof the Fountaine Head and Spring is that of giving them the Comforter not to abide with them for a season as he had done with his bodily presence but to continue with them as a Comforter and consequently to the discharging of his whole dispensation towards Believers for ever He speakes to them as Believers as disconsolate dejected Believrs quickning their Faith by Exhortations and gives them this Promise as a solid Foundation of peace and composednesse of Sprit which he exhorted them unto And if our Saviour intendeth any thing but what the words import viz. that he will give his Holy Spirit as a Comforter to abide with them for ever the Promise hath not the least sutablenesse to relieve them in their distresse nor to accomplish the end for which it was given them But against this it is excepted Cap. 11. Sect. 13. Pag. 233 1. Evident it is that our Saviour doth not in this place oppose the abiding or remaining of the Holy Ghost to his owne departure from the hearts or soules of men into which he is framed or come but to his departure out of the world by death which was now at hand Ans. 1. This
thing beautifull in its season 4. They know that all the workings of the Spirit of God as they are good so also they tend unto a good end Doth that stirre them up to close walking with God It is that God may be glorified his Graces exercised in them their soules strengthened in obedience and their progresse in Sanctification furthered Doth it assure them of the love of God It is that they may be more humble thankefull watchfull When all the compliances and combinations of Sathan and mens corrupt hearts even when they compell to good duties are for false evill and corrupt ends Duty is prest to pacify Conscience Peace is given to make men secure Gifts are stirred up to tempt to Pride and indeed it may easily be observed that the Divell never doth any work but he will quickly come for his Wages By the help I say of these and such like Considerations the Saints of God in whom this Spirit doth dwell are inabled to discerne and know the voyce of their Leader and Guide from the neerest resemblance of it that the Spirit which is in the World doth or at any time can make shew of And this Indwelling of the Spirit yeelds a considerable contribution of strength toward the confirmation of the maine Theses undertaken to be proved Our Adversaries dispute about the removall of acquired habits but how infused habits may be cast out or expelled they have not any tolerable measure been able to declare If moreover it shall be evinced as it hath been by plentifull Testimonies of Scripture that the Holy Ghost himselfe dwelles in Believers what way can be fixed on for his Expulsion That he cannot be removed but by his own will the will of him that sends him I suppose will easily be granted Whilest he abides with them they are accepted with God and in Covenant with him That God whilest his Children are in such a state and condition doth take away his Spirit from them and give them up to the power of the Divell is incumbent on our Adversaries to prove But to returne at length from this digression Thus farre have wee proceeded in manifesting upholding and vindicating that influence which the Oblation of Christ hath into the preservation of the Saints in the Love and Favour of God unto the end His Intercession being Eminently effectuall also to the same end and purpose comes in the next place to be considered CAP. IX 1. The Intercession of Christ. 2. The nature of it It s ayme not only that Believers continuing so may be saved but that they may be preserved in Believing 3. This farther proved from the Typicall Intercession of the Judaicall High Priest 4. The Tenor of Christs Intercession as manifested loh 17. v. 11. opened and v. 12. 13. 14. 15. 5. The result of the Argument from thence The Saints Perseverance fully confirmed 6. Rom. 8. 33 34. at large explained 7. 8. M. G's Interpretation of the place in all the parts of it confuted Vaine supposalls groundlessely interserted into the Apostles discourse What Christ Intercedes for for Believers farther manifested The summe of what is assigned to the Intercession of Christ by M. G. How farre it is all from yeelding the least consolation to the Saints manifested 9. The Reasons of the foregoing Interpretation proposed and answered 10. The end assigned of the Intercession of Christ Answered God works persevere actually a supply of mercies that may not be effectuall not to be ascribed thereunto 11. Farther objections Answered Christ not the minister of sinne by this Doctrine 12. Supposalls and Instances upon the former Interpretation disproved and rejected 13. A briefe account of our Doctrine concerning the Intercession of Christ for Believers and of the true end of the Act of his Mediation 14. The close of the Argument and of the first Part of this Treatise OF the Intercession of Christ §. 1. both as to the nature of its typicall Representation by the high Priests entring into the Holy of Holyes every yeare with blood Heb. 9. 7. and its effectuall influence into the perfect compleate Salvation of Believers so much hath been spoken by others and the whole of the Doctrine delivered with so much clearnesse spirituallnesse and strength that I shall not need to adde any thing thereunto That Christ intercedes for the preservation of Believers in the Love and Favour of his Father to the end is that which I intend to manifest and which may as I suppose be very easily undeniably evinced Some few Considerations will make way for the demonstration of the Truth which is under Consideration or Confirmation of the Perseverance of Saints from the Intercession of Christ. First the Intercession of Christ being his Appearance for us in the presence of God Heb. 9. 24. He is gon into Heaven §. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make a legall Appearance for our defence before the Judgment seat of God by being there is our Advocate I John 2 1. he is said to save us to the utmost Heb 7. 25. There is certainely some thing or other that he puts in for in the behalfe of them in whose Cause he appeares and sues that so he may save them to the utmost Now this must be either that being and continuing Believers they may be Saved or that they may believe and continue Believers unto Salvation That the first is not the sole import and aime of the Intercession of Christ may be manifested from this double Consideration 1. From the nature of the thing it selfe There is nothing but the establishment of the very Law of the Gospell He that believeth shall be Saved wrapt up in this interpretation of the Intercession of Christ. But this neither hath Christ any need to intercede for it being ratified confirmed and declared from the beginning neither is there or can there any Opposition be made against it to shake weaken or disturbe it in the least it depending solely on the Truth and Unchangeablenesse of God not being vested by any Condition whatsoever in any other subject nor would this be availing to his Militant Church whose preservation he aimes at and intends in his Intercession For the whole of his desires may be granted him to the uttermost and yet his whole Church at any time militant perish for ever Though not one soule should continue believing to the end though the gates of Hell should prevail against every one that names the name of Christ in the world yet that Truth He that believeth shall be Saved taken in the sence of our Adversaries for a Promise to Perseverance in believing and not a promise to actuall true Believers might stand firme for ever To say then that this is the whole Intercession of Christ for his Church is to say that in his whole Intercession he Interceded not at all for his Church Ioh. 11. 44. He is heard in his Intercession and he may be heard to the uttermost in this and yet his
Glorified with his Father according to his Promise Heb. 12. 2. and yet upon the account of that Glory which he was so assured of being set before him he addressed himselfe to the sharpest and difficultest passage to it that ever any one entred on He indured the Crosse despised the shame for the Gloryes sake whereof he had assurance Heb. 12 And why may not this be the state of them to whom in his so doing he was a Captaine of Salvation Why may not the Glory and Reward set before them though injoyed in a full Assurance of Faith in the excellency of it when possessed as promised stirre them up to the meanes leading thereunto 4. The truth is the more we are assured with the assurance of Faith not of Presumption that we shll certainly obtain enjoy the end whereunto the meanes we use do lead as is the Assurance that ariseth from the Promises of God the more eminently are we pressed in a Gospell way if we walke in the Spirit of the Gospell to give up our selves to Obedience to that God and Father who hath appointed so pretious and lovely meanes as are the pathes of Grace for the obtaining of so Glorious an end as that whereunto we are appointed And thus I doubt not but that it is manifest by these Considerations of Mr Goodwins Objections to the contrary that the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints asby us taught and delivered doth not only fall in a sweet Compliance withall the meanes of Grace especially those appointed by God to establish the Saints in Faith and Obedience that is to Worke Perseverance in them but also to be eminently usefull to give Life Vigour Power and Efficacy in a peculiar Gospell manner to all Exhortations Threatnings and Promises appointed and applyed by God to that end and purpose CAP. XIII 1. The maintainers and propagators of the severall Doctrines under contest taken into consideration 2. The necessity of so doing from M. G. undertaking to make the comparison This inquiry confined to those of our own Nation 3. The chiefe Assertors of this Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance in this Nation since it received any opposition what was their Ministry and what their Lives 4. M. G's plea in this case 5. The first Objection against his Doctrine by him proposed Second and Third 6. His Answers to these Objections considered Removed His own Word and Testimony offer'd against the experience of Thousands 7. The Persons pointed to by him and commanded considered 8. The principles of those Persons he opposeth vindicated 9. Of the Doctrine of the Primitive Christians as to this head of Religion Grounds of mistake in reference to their judgements 10. The first Reformers constant to themselves in their Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance 11. Of the influence of M. Perkins his judgement on the propagation of the Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance 12. Who the Persons were on whom his judgement is supposed to have such an influence 13. The consent of Forraine Churches making void this surmize 14. What influence the Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance had into the holinesse of its Professors 15. Of the unworthinesse of the Persons who in this Nation have Asserted the Doctrine of Apostasy the suitablenesse of this Doctrine to their practises 16. Mr G. attempt to take off this charge 17. How farre mens Doctrines may be judged by their lives 18. Mr G's Reasons why Episcopalise Arminianised the first 19. Considered and disproved 20. His discord c. 21. Generall Apostasy of men entertaine the Arminian tenents 22. The close AS to the matter in hand §. 1. about the usefulnesse of the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints in and unto the Ministry of the Gospell and the obstruction pretended to be laid unto it thereby It may be somewhat conducing and of Concernment to consider who the Persons are and were and what hath been and is the presence of God with them in their Ministry who have been Assertors and Zealous maintainers of this Doctrine And withall who they were and what they have been in their Ministry and the Dispensation of the Word committed unto them who have risen up in opposition thereunto How also those different Partyes have approved their Profession to the World and acquitted themselves in their Generation in their walking with God may be worth our Consideration doubtlesse if the Doctrine whose declaration and defence we have thus far ingaged in be of such a pernicious tendency as is pretended so destructive to Gospell Obedience and so evidently rendering that great Ordinance of the Ministry uselesse it may be traced to its product of these effects in some measure in the Lives Conversations and Ministry of those who have most zealously espoused it most earnestly contended for it and been most given up to the forme and mould thereof It were a thing every way miraculous if any Roote should for the most part bring forth fruite disagreeing to the nature of it A Taske this is §. 2. I confesse which were we not necessitated unto I could easily dispence with my selfe from ingaging therein But Mr Goodwin having voluntarily entred the list as to this particular and instated a comparison between the Abbettors of the severall Doctrines under Contest Chap. 9. of his Booke a matter we should not have expected from any other man it could not but be thought a grosse neglect of duty and high ingratitude towards those great Blessed Soules who in former and latter dayes with indefatigable pains and eminent successe watred the Vineyard of the Lord with the dew of this Doctrine to decline the Consideration of the comparison made and dressed up to our hand Now because it is a peculiar taske allotted to us to manifest the imbracement of this Truth by those who in the Primitive Church were of greatest note and Eminency for Piety Judgement and skill in dividing the Word aright with the Professed Opposition made unto it by such as those with whom they Lived and succeeding Ages have branded for men unsound in the Faith and leaving the good old Paths wherein the Saints of old found peace to their Soules As also to manifest the receiving propagation of it by all not any one of name excepted those Great Famous Persons whom the Lord was pleased to imploy in the Reformation of his Church walking in this as in sundry other particulars closer up to the Truth of the Gospell than some of their Brethren that at the same time fell off from that Church which was long before fallen off from the Truth I shall in my present inquiry confine my selfe to those of our owne Nation who have been of Renowne in their Generation for their Labour in the Lord and of name among the Saints for their worke in the service of the Gospell For the one halfe of that small space of time §. 3. which is passed since the breaking forth of the light of the Gospell in this Nation
sinne of infirmity and the least a sinne of Presumption It is possible a Believer may be overtaken or rather surprised with any sinne so he be overtaken or surprised A surprisall into sinne through the power of Temptation subtilty of Sathan strength of indewlling sinne contrary to the habituall standing frame of the heart not alwayes neither through a defect of watchfullnesse is all that we grant a Believer may be lyable to and fo upon Mr Goodwins confession he sins only out of infirmity such sins being not exclusive of the Love and Favour of God And therefore Fourthly we say that true Believers cannot be said to walke according to the flesh to do the workes of the flesh to do the Lusts and desires of the flesh which the Holy Ghost so cautions them against which as Mr Goodwin observes are none of them charged upon true Believers but only such persons as are enemyes of God and Children of wrath so that those expressions hold out to Believers only what they ought to avoid in the use of the meanes which God graciously affords them and do not discover any thing of the will of God that he will suffer them contrary to his many Faithfull Promises to fall into them And so the close of this Discourse is contrary to the beginning M. Goodwin granting that true Believers cannot fall into these sinnes but only such as are enemies to God and yet he hath no way to prove that true Believers may cease to be so but because they may fall into these sinnes which that they may do he here eminently denyes Wherefore he adds If by sinning out of malice they meane sinning with deliberation with plotting §. 37. and contriving the methods and meanes of their sinning sinning against Judgement against the dictates of conscience and what they should meane by sining out of malice but sinning upon such tearmes as these I understand not certaine it is that true Believers may so sinne out of malice or at least such as were true Believers before such sining and this our Adversaries them selves confesse Ans. All this falles heavy on the shoulders as it is supposed of poore David and yet we think it evident that God tooke not his holy Spirit from him but that his Covenant continued with him ordered in all things and sure and that sinne had not dominion over him The reasons of this perswasion of ours concerning him shall farther be insisted on when we come to the consideration of his case in particular in the meane time I confesse the dreadfnll falls of some of the Saints of God are rather to be bewailed than aggravated and the riches of Gods Grace in their recovery to be admired than searcht into yet we say First That no one Believer whatever in the world upon any temptation whatever did fall into any sinne of malice that is accompayned with any hatred of God or despite of his Grace or whole delight of his will in the sin whereunto he was by temptation for a season captivated though they may fall into sin against their judgements dictates of their consciences as every sin whatever that they have or may possibly have knowledge of or acquaintance with in their owne hearts and wayes is Yet this doth not make them to sinne out of malice for that would leave no distinction between sinnes of infirmity whereinto men are surprised by Temptation and of Malice Even sinnes of infirmity being in generall and particular directly contrary to the dictates of their inlightned sanctifyed judgements consciences Secondly for sinning with deliberation plotting and contriving the methods and meanes of sinning the proofe whereof that so they may do will ly as was before obseved on the instance of David I say it being the will of God for ends and purposes knowne to his infinite Wisdome to give us as to his fall his darke side and his sinne to the full with the Temptations wherewith he was at first surprised and afterward violently hurryed upon carnall reasonings and considerations of the state whereinto he had cast himselfe having lost his old friend and counsellour as to any shines of his countenance for a season not acquainting us at all with the frame and working and striving of his Spirit in and under that fall I shall not dare to draw his case into a Rule that what he then did a Believer now may do judgeing of his frame in doing of it only by what is exprest That Believers may have morosam cogitationem or deliberation upon some sinnes whereunto they are tempted upon the strength of indwelling sinne which may possibly so over come and prevaile against the workings of Grace for a season as to set the flesh at liberty to make contrivances to fulfill the lusts thereof I say many have granted and I shall not for the sake of poore returning soules whose backslidings God hath promised to heale deny but yet I say all their actings in this kinde are but like the desperate actings of a man in a feaver who may have some kind of contrivance with himselfe to do mischiefe as I have known some my selfe and aime at opportunityes for the accomplishment of it all the facultyes of their foules being discomposed and rendered unserviceable to them through their distemper Through the violence of temptation the tumultuating of lusts the whole new man may be for a season so shattered his parts laid out of the way as to such a due Answering to another that the whole may be serviceable to the worke of Faith as a disordered army wherein is all its fundamentall strength as well as when it is rallied in battalia is altogether unserviceable 'till it be reduced to order that sinne taking the opportunity to fill their corrupt part as farre as it is corrupt with its pleasure and desireablenesse and so to set the thoughts of it on worke to continue meanes for its accomplishment Now as through the goodnesse of their Father and supplyes of Grace which through the Covenant thereof they do receive this distemper seiseth not Believers but rarely extraordinarily so it doth no way prove them to sinne with malice or without hatred of and opposition secret opposition which may be as secret as some inclinations to sinne are not known to our selves to the things they do in and under that condition That which followes in this Section being suited to the apprehension of some particular men though of great name and esteeme according to their worth and desert in the Church of God as Vrsin Paraeus and the rest about reigning sinne wherein as I have declared my thoughts fall not in with them I shall not need to insist any longer upon it Paraeus after all his aggravations of the sinnes of Believers yet adds that they sinne not nor did David ex contemptu Dei but through a preoccupation or surprisall of sinne which I believe to be the perswasion of far the greatest number of Saints in the world