per impossibile that a Christian have a sincere Faith separated from sincere Obedience if nothing but a sincere Act of Faith be required of him as indispensably necessary to Salvation he is safe and runs no hazard of loosing Eternal Salvation though he lead a wicked life as aforesaid But this is false and absurd therefore that principle from whence this follows is false and absurd also that is it is false and absurd that nothing but an Act of Faith is required as indispensably necessary to Salvation And not only Logick allows us to argue thus sometimes from a supposed impossibility John 8.55 but even our blessed Saviour who is truth it self hath done it before us If I should say quoth our Saviour I know not the Father I should be a lyer like unto you but I know him c. In like manner S. Paul argues ab impossibili saying Though we or an angel from heaven Gal. 1.8 preach another Gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed 3. We Answer That when it is said that sincere Faith cannot be without sincere Obedience the meaning is that sincere Faith is of an Obediential Nature and is of it self apt to put us upon the several Acts of sincere Obedience and will certainly do it if it be rightly used and put forth into strong vigorous Acts if the Spirit of the Lord concur with it if it be not hindred by the flesh and by the prevalency of tentations But the meaning is not that sincere Faith always actually and infallibly produceth the imperat acts of sincere Obedience as necessarily as the Sun produces light and as the Fire produceth Heat For the Principle of sincere Faith doth not so necessarily produce its own formal elicit Acts much less doth it so necessarily produce the Acts of other gracious Principles and Habits whose Acts are not the formal elicit but the imperat Acts of Faith And it is but too well known by sad experience that the Principle of sincere Faith or even the languid weak Act of that Principle doth not necessarily and infallibly alwayes produce all those Acts of sincere Obedience to the Lord which are necessary towards the obtaining of Eternal Life and Glory For had not David and Solomon a Principle of sincere Faith and who can say and prove that they had not then some weak languid Acts of Faith And yet that Faith in them for some considerable time was separated from that sincere Repentance and Obedience which is required as indispensably necessary to the obtaining possession of Eternal Life and Glory This is too evident to be denyed And surely what hath been is possible to be though we heartily wish that it may never actually be any more and that none of God's People may ever fall so foully nor lye so long in Sin as David and Solomon did But we think our Authour or any for him will find it a hard Task to prove that sincere Faith both as to the Habit and some weak Act cannot be for some time actually separated from such imperat Acts of Repentance and sincere Obedience as are indispensably necessary to the obtaining possession of Eternal Life and Glory in Heaven and further he may find it a Task no less hard to determine precisely how long time they may be actually separated but not one Minute longer If he think that he can do either or both of these we do intrent him to do it for in truth it will be a kindness to us who do really find the difficulty so great that we are not able to master it without help 4. We Answer That though it were well proved that sincere Faith can in no case be separated for one Minute from the imperate Acts of that sincere Repentance and Obedience which is indispensably necessary to the obtaining possession of Eternal Life and Glory in Heaven yet it doth by no means follow that Faith onely and not sincere Obedience distinct from Faith is required of us as indispensably necessary to the obtaining possession of Eternal Life and Glory in Heaven for Faith and Obedience may both be required and we have already proved by plain Scripture that they are both required as indispensably necessary to the obtaining of Eternal Life and Glory and without our having both as the Lord hath required we cannot be out of danger of coming short of Eternal Life and Glory The clear evidence of this Truth hath made our ablest and most Judicious Divines acknowledge that upon supposition that the Saints fallen into gross sins against Knowledge and Conscience like those of David and Solomon should dye in them before they had through Grace returned unto their Obedience to the Lord renewed both their Faith and their Repentance and got both the Guilt and Filth of those Sins washed and purged away by the most pretious Blood and holy Spirit of Christ they would be damned and lost for ever This Mr. Rutherford in his Examen Arminianismi p. 620. acknowledges to be a Truth in these Words Nisi renati in atrecia peccata lapsi resipiscerent in aeternum ipsis pereundum esset juxta comminationes Evangelicas Vnless the Regenerate after they have fallen into atrocious sins did repent they must perish everlastingly according to the threatnings of the Gospel Of this Perswasion were our excellent Divines in the Synod of Dort so was Mr. Perkins Bishop Abbot Downham Mr. Burgess Pareus Turretin c. as shall be shewed hereafter by the express Words of most of them This same Truth hath also been acknowledged and maintained by the French Divines who Answered that pestilent Book of the Jansenians called the Renversement and corruption of the Morals of Jesus Christ by the Errors of the Calvinists in the point of Justification Jurieu and others in answer to that most virulent Book go upon our Principle aforesaid and thereby vindicate the Reformed Churches from the blasphemous Reproaches which the Jansenians cast upon us all upon pretence that we all hold the abominable Opinion aforesaid that we are safe as to our Eternal state if we have but a true Faith though we live in the love and practice of all manner of Villanies except Unbelief 5. One great Reason we do not say the onely but one great Reason on our part why a sincere Faith is of its own Nature obediential that is it inclines to obedience and is of it self naturally apt to produce in us sincere Obedience and will not fail to do it if it be rightly used and be not hindred It is this a sincere Faith firmly assents to the Truth of the foresaid Commands Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel whereby we have proved that sincere Obedience is by the Lord made indispensably necessary unto and the condition of obtaining Eternal Salvation and from the infallible Truth of God's Word it assures us that there is no obtaining of Eternal Salvation unless we be sincerely obedient unto the Lord that if
meruisse aut illa virtus gratiae quae sibi quos volicit subdidit convertere eos qui inconvertibiles permansere non potuit tales fuerunt qui sunt attracti quales bi qui in suâ duritiâ sunt relicti fed illis tribuit gratia stupenda quod voluit istis tribuit veritas justa quod debuit ut judicium Dei magis inscrutabile sit in Electione gratiae quam in retributione justitiae How much soever the Malignity of the Wicked which resists the Grace of God be accused can it ever be proved that they to whom special Grace is given have deserved or merited it Or that powerful Efficacy of Grace which hath subdued to it self whom it would could it not convert those who remained unconverted They who are drawn to the Lord were such as those are who are left in their hardness But wonderful astonishing Grace gave what it would to those that are converted and just Truth that is the True and Just God rendered what he owed unto the others who are unconverted So that the Judgment of God is more unsearchable in the election of Grace than in the Retribution of Justice That is it is more difficult to give a reason why God gives special effectual converting Grace to such and such particular persons who could never deserve to have it than why he with-holds it from other persons who have really deserved to want it This is the true meaning of the last clause of that excellent Writer whereby we see that the Father on the one hand assigns the just demerits of the ungodly Resisters of Gods Grace for the reason of their not being converted by special and victorious Grace but on the other hand he acknowledges that no reason can be given why the like resistance is overcome and taken away in the Elect and they are savingly converted by discriminating Grace but that it is Gods good will and pleasure to have it so of the same judgment are we in this matter and as we derive the reason on the part of Gods Select People why they rather than others are infallibly converted by special Grace from the meer will and pleasure of God because we know no other reason of it so we ascribe unto God all the Glory of it saying with our Blessed Saviour We thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent Mat. 11.25 26. and hast revealed them unto Babes Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Thus we have briefly declared what our opinion is concerning the Preparations and Dispositions which ordinarily go before saving Conversion in some more in others less in some for a longer in others for a shorter time but in all so as to enlighten convince and humble them Thirdly Now in the third and last place we shall show that our opinion concerning them is neither new nor singular but that what we believe in this matter we have learned and received from the most Eminent Pastors of the Reformed Churches whereof many lived and died in the true Faith before many of us were born And our first Witness is Calvin who writing against Pighius doth plainly confess that Sinners are disposed and prepared by the Grace of Gods Holy Spirit before they be savingly converted and justified His words are these Neque verò hoc medo praeparari hominem ad recipiendum justitiae donum negamus sed Spiritus Sancti directione Calvin contra Pighium de lib. arbit lib. 5. §. adducit tamen non suo ingenio c. But neither do we deny that man is thus prepared to receive the gift of Righteusness but it is by the direction of the Holy Spirit and not by his own natural understanding and strength Christ doth not call any to come unto him but such as labour and are heavy laden But yet it is he himself who makes us to feel our burden and to groan under it We confess that the common Proverb is most true that it is the only hopeful beginning of a cure where the sick Person is sensible of his Disease Therefore that Christ may become thy Physician it behoves thee to acknowledge and be sensible of thy Disease Again in his Institutions he expresly confesses that there are some common operations of the Spirit Idem Instit lib. 3. cap. 2. §. 11. whereof the Non-Elect are partakers in the visible Church Experientia inquit ostendit reprobos interdum fimili ferè sensu atque Electos affici ut ne suo quidem judicio quicquam ab electis differant c. Experience says Calvin shews that the Reprobate are sometimes affected with a sense and feeling to wit of Spiritual things almost like to that which is in the Elect in so much that in their own Judgment they differ not at all from the Elect. Wherefore there is no absurdity at all in this that by the Apostle a taste of Heavenly Gifts and by Christ a temporary Faith is ascribed unto them Thus Calvin who there shews that in the Elect after saving Conversion and Justification there is always something of a higher nature which differenceth them from the Non-elect and then adds Sed hoc minimè obstat quin illa inferior Spiritus operatio cursum suum habeat etiam in reprobis Yet this doth no ways hinder but that that inferiour operation of the Spirit hath its course even in the Reprobate And more he hath to this purpose whereby it evidently appears that in his Judgment there is such a thing as we call common Grace which oftentimes makes such a change upon the Unregenerate that it is hard to distinguish them from the truely Regenerate We might also alledge to this purpose the Testimonies of Chemnitius in his Examination of the Council of Trent of the Divines of Wittenberg in the Conference at Alâ—enburg of Pareus writing against Bellarmine about Justification of Paulus Ferrius in his Specimen of Ecclesiastical Orthodox Divinity and of others acknowledging and maintaining that there are such preparations and dispositions wrought in Sinners by the Grace of Gods Spirit before their Regeneration or Conversion and Justification but because we have been longer already than we first intended we will pass them and come to the Testimony of the Synod of Dort which ought to be of more weight with us than any other Testimonies of Protestant Divines that can be brought either for or against those previous dispositions we speak of And from amongst all that might make for our purpose in that famous Synod we will single out and content our selves with what our own British Divines have said for this opinion in their Collegiate suffrage approved by the Synod and Recorded in its Acts. And for the sake of our Countrey-Men who cannot have recourse to the Original to examine our Translation Act. Synodi Dordr part 2. p. 165.6 7 8. we will as we have done before make use of the old English
the very act of believing He doth not disclaim his Unbelief for that is sin nor doth he disclaim the conceit of meriting Justification by his Faith for that is a sinful conceit But he disclaims his Faith it self unless his Faith be either sinfulness or misery for he disclaims all things in himself but sinfulness and misery These two to wit Sinfulness and misery are the only things which he doth not disclaim Whence it follows necessarily that he disclaims his belief it self in the very act of believing and so by this means he is enabled to believe as an Unbeliever This is it may be one of our Authours deep Mysteries for which his Proselytes admire him and hug his Letter And we confess there is no such deep Mystery as the Mystery of contradictious Non-sense But if every one who believes doth believe as the chief of Sinners and so believes as an Unbeliever and as one that disclaims all true and saving Faith we would know how it comes to pass that all the Unbelievers in the World do not believe one would think that they might all easily believe with such a Faith as is acted by a Man under that reduplicating quatenus as an Unbeliever and which in the very act of believing renounceth all saving belief even every thing but Sin and Misery Of old no Man was received into the Christian Church and accounted a Christian unless he first disclaimed and renounced his sins but now it seems there is a great alteration in the state of Christianity for a man cannot at this day be a Christian unless he disclaim or which is all one renounce his Christian Faith and that too with an exception of not disclaiming his sins If this be the only way to be a Christian one would think that all the Jews Turks and Heathens in the World might easily be Christians for they can easily believe with a Faith that in the very act of it renounces and disclaims Faith but not sin But if our Authour say that every true Christian must believe in Christ with a sincere and saving Faith which Unbelievers have not and yet at the same time he must act his Faith as an Unbeliover and in the very act of Faith he must disclaim his Faith but not his Sin of Unbelief and that there must be no real change in him from Unbelief to Faith till he have Faith and have acted his Faith as aforesaid and be justified by such an Act of Faith and then a real change passes upon him in order of Nature after his Justification but not before We answer That this is contradictious Non-sense and at this rate no man can be a Christian till he hath made both ends of a contradiction meet and hath verified both parts of a contradiction in his own Person no man can be a Christian that is really changed from being an Unbeliever to be a Believer no he cannot be a Christian till he be both an Unbeliever and Believer in predominant degrees at the same time without any real change from what he was by Nature The plain English of this is that according to the Principles of our Authour laid down in his Letter no Man can ever be a good Christian at all for the thing is impossible because it implies a manifest contradiction Yet we must be so charitable as to think that our Authour hath indeed greatly mistaken in the expressing of his mind in his Letter but that really he doth not believe those things himself We hope he is of a more Orthodox Faith and are willing to impute it to some inadvertency and inconsiderateness in the hasty writing of his Letter We think he would or should have said that every one who believes on Jesus Christ acts that Faith as one who thinks himself to have been formerly before his Conversion and Faith a chief of Sinners or one of the first rank of great Sinners But doth not think himself to be still in the same state of Unregeneracy and Unbelief for if he think so of himself after that is converted and is actually believing on Christ most certainly he thinks amiss whatever our Authour say to the contrary for he thinks falsly of himself and sins in so thinking Our Authour talks confidently of that which he doth not know to wit the experience of every Believer for certainly he was never acquainted with the experiences of the thousandth part of Believers that are in the Christian Church at this day Can he then say in Faith that it is the experience of every Believer that he acts his Faith as one who in former times hath been as great a Sinner and hath done as much dishonour to God and as much mischief to the Church and to the World as the present King of France But whatever he say or think of Believers we are perswaded that true Believers are taught of God as to be humble so to be wise in acting their Faith wiser we are confident than that every one of them should think himself to be so great a Sinner as that he hath done as much dishonour to God and mischief to the Church of Christ as Lewis the Fourteenth has done and still continues to do Again when he says that a Believer and accepter of Christ in the very act of believing and accepting expresly disclaims all things in himself but Sin and Misery we think he should have said that he either expresly or implicitly formally or virtually in the very act of Believing disclaims all things in himself as being of and from himself but Sin and Misery which are indeed of and from himself and he takes the shame and blame thereof upon himself but as for his Faith or any good disposition or qualification that is in him he ascribes it all to the free Grace of God and gives God all the Glory of it And after the same manner in the very act of believing in order of Nature before he be justified he virtually acknowledges to God's Glory that by his Grace he hath wrought a real Holy Change in his Soul and of a blind proud Unbeliever hath made him an understanding humble Believer according to that 1 John 5.20 We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true Reason 5. Fifthly and lastly The Seminal vital principle of justifying Faith is seated in the heart and the first vital act of it comes from the heart Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believes unto Righteousness We demand then concerning the first vital act of justifying Faith either it comes from a renewed Heart or an unrenewed Heart a Regenerate Heart of an â—â—â—regenerate Heart a Heart of Flesh or an Heart of Stone or if it come not from either of these then it must come from a third that is from a Heart that is neither renewed nor unrenewed neither regenerate nor unregenerate neither of Flesh nor of Stone But now 1. The first vital act of
Scripture and Reason and the Testimony of the Synod of Dort that there can be no just ground to doubt of it And if it were otherwise and we were justified before we were sanctified in any Kind or Degree that is before there were any Holy Change wrought in us before we did begin to Convert and turn to God before we had any Holy Inclination to believe or any Holy Act of Faith and Repentance and any Holy purpose to lead a new Life then might we continue to be actually justified and pardoned without being in any Kind or Degree sanctified because by the same Reason that Justification might be begun without any Kind or Degree of Sanctification without any saving Faith and Repentance it might be continued without them But all true Protestants except Antinomians even our Author himself confess that Justification cannot be continued without any Sanctification without any true Faith and Repentance therefore Justification cannot be begun before and without them If any should say that this Argument may be retorted upon our selves for we confess that Sanctification begun in the Seed Principle and Disposition with Vital Acts of Faith and Repentance flowing from it cannot be continued without Justification therefore it follows by our own way of Reasoning that they cannot be begun before Justification at first We Answer by denying the Consequence because God hath expresly promised Justification through Christ to all that from a new Heart believe and repent and such Faith and Repentance are the Condition on which Justification is promised But God hath no where promifed either Initial or Progressive Sanctification on Condition of Justification This shows that our Argument cannot be justly retorted upon us because there is a peculiar Reason to the contrary a Reason from the Promise of God that shews Sanctification and Faith and Repentance cannot possibly be continued without Justification whereas if Justification might be begun without any Degree of Sanctification or Faith and Repentance there can no sufficient Reason be given we think why it might not be long continued without any Degree of Sanctification or any Act of Faith and Repentance As for the promise of the Spirit to sanctifie them who are justified it is made to and got by Faith by our Authors own Confession Let. p. 12. and so it presupposes Faith and Faith presupposes Effectual Calling and a Heart Renovation and Sanctification begun Now this makes for us and shews that if Sanctification begun in the first change of the Heart and first Acts of Faith and Repentance did not go before there would be no place for the Promise of the Spirit after Justification to carry on and perfect the begun Sanctification because there would be no such Person in the World as that Promise is made to for the Promise of the Spirit to sanctifie us throughly after Justification is made to true Believers which none can be till they be first initially sanctified by the Spirit of Christ not yet inhabiting but fitting up a Spiritual House for himself to inhabit which when he hath done and God hath thereupon justified us through the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us then according to his Promise he gives us his sanctifying Spirit to dwell in us and to carry on the work begun unto Perfection Thus we have made good what we undertook and have proved that there is some Preparation some Holy Disposition and Qualification some Holy Principle wrought in the Soul and some Holy Acts of Faith and Repentance produced by the Soul in order to and before Justification and that thereupon Justification follows necessarily and infallibly according to the Promise of God who cannot possibly lye and deceive But as we said at the beginning we hold this Priority of Initial Sanctification and of the first vital Acts of Faith and Repentance no farther than is necessary to verifie the expressions and fence of Holy Scripture concerning them and so we conclude this part of our Answer with that of the Learned Turretine Licet Poenitentiae c. Although Remission of Sins be Promised to Repentance Instit Theol. Elenct part 2. p. 744. because it ought to accompany Faith and to be in him who is justified as a certain Condition required of him because God cannot pardon Sin unto one who is Impenitent it doth not follow that it can be said to justifie with Faith because it Contributes nothing either Meritoriously or Instrumentally unto the Act of Justification That is because as we say Repentance is only a qualifying but not a Receptive Applicative Condition of Justification An Appendix of the third Section concerning Dispositions previous to Regeneration and through Conversion WE Remember that in our Preliminaries to the foresaid Discourse concerning the Preparations and Dispositions that are Antecedent to Justification we said that as there are some which have a necessary infallible Connection with Justification of which we have spoken already so there are others which have not such a necessary infallible Connection with it As to this last sort we do not say that they are Dispositions and Preparations with which Men are always and without which they are never nor ever can possibly be justified yet we think that ordinarily they do precede Justification and Effectual Vocation too in all that are Effectually Called and Justified All such Dispositions and Preparations our Author denies in the 12th Page of his Letter and pretends that Calvin the Church of England and Westminster Assembly of Divines do all concur with him therein We do not at all wonder that he denies all Preparations and Dispositions before Effectual Calling and the first saving Conversion since as we have seen he denies that there is any good wrought in us or done by us before Justification And as for Preparations and Dispositions before Conversion if he would or could assure us that he denies them in no other sense than all his Authors Calvin the Church of England and Assembly of Divines do deny them we should have no controversie with him about that matter but we think that he is of a different Judgment and either doth not understand in what sense it is that they deny them or if he understand them aright he doth not believe them or if he believe some part that he likes yet he doth not believe all that they say concerning those Dispositions previous to Regeneration and Conversion That it may be clearly known what our Judgment is concerning those Preparations that are ordinarily previous to Regeneration and Conversion we shall 1. Name them and shew what they are 2. Declare what our Opinion is concerning them 3. Shew that our Opinion concerning them is neither new nor singular but what we believe in this matter we have learned and received from the most eminent Pastors of the Reformed Churches whereof many lived and died in the true Faith before many of us were born First then to Name them there is 1. An Illumination of the Mind by the Word and
way of Preparation for Christ but they may and ought immediately to receive him into their Hearts by Faith and Confidently trust him with their Souls and Bodies with their whole Person to be saved by him in the way agreed upon between God and Him and may be firmly and fully perswaded that if they do so through Grace they cannot possibly miscarry under the hand of such a Saviour and Physitian of Souls Thus we Preach and we know none can have just cause to say that this is a new Gospel and we hope none will any more say so We are sure this used not to be accounted a new Gospel heretofore in England nor is it so accounted at Geneva * Turret Instit Theolog. Elenct part 2. Loc 15. quest 5. p. 592. for Turretin lately taught there That in the Spiritual Generation no less than in the natural the Soul of Man attains unto the Spiritual Birth by many precedent Operations and God who will effect that Work in man not by violent raptures and Enthusiastical Motions but in a way agreeable to our Nature and who doth not in one Moment but successively and by degrees carry it on uses various Dispositions whereby man may be prepared by little and little to receive saving Grace at least he does so in the ordinary way of Calling So that there are various Acts previous to Conversion and as it were degrees or steps towards the thing it self before Man be brought unto the State of Regeneration And they are either External which may be done by a Man or are in his Power such as to go unto the Church to hear the Word and the like or they are Internal which are excited by Grace even in the Hearts of the unconverted such as the Reception and Apprehension of the Word Preached Knowledge of the Divine Will some Sense of Sin Fear of Punishment and some kind of Desire of Deliverance Thus Turretin in a Book Printed at Geneva in the Year 1688. By all which Testimonies we have made it plainly appear That our Opinion concernnig the Preparations and Dispositions which ordinarily go before Regeneration and saving Conversion is neither new nor singular but that what we Believe and Preach as to this matter we have learned and received from the most eminent Pastors of the Reformed Churches whereof many have lived and died in the true Faith before many of us were born And this may suffice as enough and indeed too much for the Confutation of our Authors third Error against the Purity of our Christian Faith CHAP. III. Of his Ridiculous Way of Converting an Vnbeliever AND first we acknowledge to our Authors Praise that he made a good beginning and from the 17th line of the 15th page to the beginning of the 16th he Discourses well enough and shews how indispensibly necessary it is that a Sinner believe on Christ and what warrant he hath from the Command as also what encouragement from the Conditional Promise of God in the Gospel to believe on Christ for Justification and Salvation But we cannot say that as he made a good beginning so he continues till he have made a good end for he gives several miserable Answers to the Questions which he makes the Unbeliever to put unto the Minister who is perswading him to believe in Christ First He makes the Unbeliever to ask the Minister What it is to believe on Jesus Christ Whereunto he Answers That be finds no such Question in the Word of God but that all both Believers and Unbelievers the Disciples and the Enemies of Christ did some way understand the Notion of it And this he endeavours to prove because it was commonly reported by Christ and his Apostles That Faith in Christ is a believing that the Man Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Son of God the Messiah and Saviour of the World so as to receive and look for Salvation in his Name and this common report was known by all that heard it This is no satisfactory Answer for the Unbeliever may easily reply 1st That though in the Scriptures there be no such Question in so many express formal Words yet there is sufficient ground in and from the Scripture for a Man to ask such a Question because the Scripture speaks of several sorts of Faith of an Historical Temporary and miraculous Faith and of a saving justifying Faith Of a Faith that is common to unconverted Wicked Men and Devils and of a Faith that is proper and peculiar to Gods Elect. These Faiths are of different natures and therefore one of them must have something that another hath not and each of them must have that whereby they are constituted in themselves and distinguished from one another And this being â—o that the man be not deceived to his ruin he hath great reason to put the foresaid Question and should be commended for asking if he do it seriously What it is to believe on Christ To believe in him so as he ought to do so as may be to Gods Glory and his own Spiritual and Eternal Good 2. He may reply that if there were no ground for such a Question why did the Westminster Assembly put that same Question in the Shorter Catechism which they composed for the use of Children Had they no warrant from Scripture for putting such a Question Or doth the Scripture only warrant Ministers to put Questions to the People but not warrant the people to put Questions to the Ministers Again he may say that if there were no ground for putting such a question Cap. 14. Art 1 2. why did the same Assembly in their Confession of Faith give such a large Description of Faith was it not that they and all who own their Confession might be readily furnished with an Answer to such a question which they knew was expedient to be asked since there are several sorts of Faith in Christ and so much Hypocritical counterfeit Faith in the World and in the Church and necessary to be wisely and judiciously answered that people may understand what kind of Faith it is that they are chiefly to seek after and get and if they have it that they may know it to their comfort and may bless God for it and give him the glory of it 3dly The Unbeliever may reply That it doth not follow that because Christ and his Apostles commonly reported that Faith is a believing that Jesus is the Son of God the Messias and Saviour of the World so as to receive and look for Salvation in his Name Therefore the thing Reported was known by all that heard the report and they did all some way understand the notion of it For we read in Luke 18. v. 31 32 33. That Christ told his own Apostles as plainly as any thing can be expressed in words that he would go up to Jerusalem and that there he should be most cruelly and shamefully put to death and rise again the third day And yet in the very next verse
were then any such foolish ignorant Christians in the World but in regard he was not acquainted with every individual Christian he did not absolutely deny it only he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perhaps there might be some such Christians in the World And if there were as there might be or not be some for ought he knew they were none of the right breed of Christians they were but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolish ignorant Christians 3. Origen acknowledges that that senseless Opinion did impute unto the Holy God a thing that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most unjust 4. Therefore in the Name of the Christian Church he declares to Celsus That Christians believed that God pardons and receives into Favour no unconverted impenitent Man and that he rejects no good Man no penitent Believer 5. He declares that according to the Faith of Christians a Man must always repent before God pardon him and receive him into his Favour 6. That the Repentance which goes before Pardon and to which pardon is promised must be such as makes a real change in a Man's Heart and Soul and that the change is so great as that the Man greatly condemns himself on the account of his sins he mourns for them and turns from them unto the Lord in Heart and Affection yea it is so great as that the reigning power of sin is in a good measure broken and it is cast down from its Throne in the Heart 7. That upon this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God immediately grants unto the Man thus changed the graciâ—â— beneâ—t and Feuiâ— of his Repontance that is the pardon of his sins which in the very next Sentence Origen calls an Amnesty or an Act of Oblivion And here by the way those who are intelligent may see that we were in the right before when we said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grace of Repentance in Clement doth signifie pardon of sin as the Gracious Fruit of Repentance for here the self-same words are used by Origen where they are capable we think of no other meaning 7. Origen declares that if the Gracious Principle that comes to take possession of the penitent Believer's Soul be not at first a confirmed habit of Christian Vertue yet it is such as at that present time doth in a good measure purge out sin and for the time to come makes it well nigh impossible for sin ever to recover its power in and over the Soul again This Book of Origen against Celsus is acknowledged by all learned Men to be genuine and uncorrupted and so far as we know he was never yet taxed with errour by any Man for asserting â—â— here he doth that Repentance is antecedently necessary to Justification and pardon of sin If our Authour have the confidence to affirm that he ever was by any mortal Man taxed with errour for this let him prove his assertion if he would be believed The same Doctrine was taught by Justin the Martyr writing in defence of the Christian Religion against a learned Jew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Dialog cum Trypho pag. 370. Edit Parisâ— Anno 1636. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So then saith â—ustin if they repent all that are willing to receive mercy from God they may and the Word hath before declared them to be blessed saying blessed is he to whom the Lord imputeth not sin And that is thus that whoso repenteth of his sins shall receive from God remission of sins but not so as ye deceive your selves and some others also that are like you in this matter who say that though they are sinners yet if they know God i. e. believe the Lord will not impute sin unto them We have a Testimony and Evidence of this in one of David 's sins which he fell into by his pride and vain-glory which was then forgiven when he had so wept and lamented as is written of him And now if Pardon was not granted to so great a Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before he had repented but when that great King and anointed One and Prophet â—had wept and done such things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how cau filthy and foolish witless Men or Men quite out of their right mind unless they lament mourn and repent have hope that the Lord will not impute sin unto them Here it is observable that Justin Christ's blessed Martyr Fifteen Hundred Years agoe positively denies that God pardons Sinners before they repent and declares that they deceive themselves that they are desperate or witless Creatures quite out of their right mind who perswade themselves that if they know God he will pardon their sins before they repent mourn for and turn from their sins About the beginning of the Third Century Tertullian in his Book of Repentance Chap. 4. writes thus Omnibus delictis c. that is The same God who by his righteous Judgment hath ordained punishment for all sins that are committed either in the Flesh or Spirit either in the outward Deed or inward Will and Desire hath also promised pardon by Repentance saying to the People Repent and I will save thee And again As I live saith the Lord I had rather Repentance then Death Therefore Repentance is Life that is it is the way and means to Life since it is preferred before or more desired than death And a little after Poenitentia quae per Dei gratiam ostensa indicta nobis in gratiam nos Domino revocat Repentance saith he which by the grace of God is revealed to us and commanded brings us into Favour again with the Lord that is Repentance is a means and condition of God's own appointing upon the use and performance whereof we are received again into favour with the Lord. And after the middle of the same Book desertam dilectionem Ephesiis imputat c. The Lord imputes unto the Ephesians that they had left their first Love he upbraids them of Thyatira with Fornication and eating of things sacrificed to Idols He accuses them of Sardis that their works were not perfect before God he reproves them of Pergamus for teaching perverse Doctrine he rebukes the Laodiceans for trusting that they were rich and needed nothing And yet he admonishes them all to repent with threatnings indeed but he would not threaten to punish the impenitent if he were not willing to pardon the penitent and saith if any doubt of this for the removing of such doubts illum etiam mitissimum patrem non tacebo qui prodigum filium revocat c. I will not forbear to mention that most meek Father in the parable who calls back his Prodigal Son and after his poverty and distress gladly receives him upon his Repentance kills the fatted Calf adorns his Joy with a Feast and why not For he had found his Son whom he had lost and he had felt his love to be the greater towards him because he had regained him Now whom must we understand by
sorrows and pains than to hear that this is the Command of God this is the voice of Christ the Bridegroom that they be surely perswaded that Remission of sins or Reconciliation is given not for our worthiness but freely through Mercy for Christ's sake that the benefit may be certain As for the word Justification in those passages of Paul it signifies the Remission of sins or Reconciliation or imputation of Righteousness that is the acceptation of the Person And in the same Article the paragraph concerning good works This new life then should be obedience towards God And the Gospel preaches Repentance nor can there be Faith but in those who repent because Faith comforts Mens hearts in contrition and fears of sin c. Moreover we also teach concerning this Obedience that they who commit mortal sins that is wilful presumptuous sins against Knowledge and Conscience are not just because God requires this obedience that we resist our corrupt lusts and affections But those who do not resist but obey them against the Command of God and do actions against their Conscience they are unjust and they neither retain the Holy Spirit nor Faith that is confidence of Mercy For in those who delight in sin and do not repent there cannot indeed be that Trust or Confidence which may seek for remission of sins This passage of the Augustan Confession we thus understand that habitual reigning wilful sin against Conscience and without Repentance is inconsistent with a state of Grace and Reconciliation And we think that all Protestants except Antinomians are agreed in this One passage more and we have done with this Confession of Faith It is in the same 20th Article of Faith a little before the passage last quoted There is no need here of disstations about predestination and the like For the promise is universal and it takes nothing from works yea it stirs up to Faith and to Works that are truely good For remission of sins is transferred or removed from our Works unto God's Mercy not that we may do nothing but much rather that we may know how our Obedience pleaseth God in our so great infirmity This was the first Protestant Confession of Faith written by Melancthon Received by the Protestant Churches subscribed by their Ministers and that not onely by Luther and those of his Party but even by Calvin also It was likewise subscribed by seven Princes and Dukes in Germany and by the Magistrates of Cities and presented unto the Emperour Charles V. in the Year 1530. We hope then it will not be denyed but that this Augustan Confession contains the true Doctrine of the Gospel in the points of Justification by Faith and of the necessity of Repentance unto the obtaining pardon of sin and of sincere Obedience unto the obtaining of Eternal Salvation And if so then our Doctrine in those points is likewise the true Doctrine of the Gospel for it is the same with that of the Augustan Confession as to those Matters of which we treat From the Augustan Confession and the Testimony of many Princes Pastours Cities and Churches who subscribed and received it we come to the Articles of the Church of England which we have all subscribed the 11th Article concerning Justification we most heartily embrace and acknowledge that it is a most wholsome Doctrine and full of comfort that we are justified by Faith onely in that sense which is more largely explained in the Homily of Justification to which the Article expresly refers us and which by consequence we have subscribed by subscribing the Article It is called a Sermon of the Salvation of Mankind by Christ onely and a very good Sermon it is worth a thousand of our Authour's Letter which deserves not to be mentioned the same Day with it For understanding then the true and full meaning of the Article of Justification we must have recourse to the Homily or Sermon of Salvation In which Excellent Sermon pag. 13. We read as followeth London Edit 1673. That though according to the Apostle we are justified by a true and lively Faith onely and that that Faith is the Gist of God Yet that Faith doth not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God to be joined with Faith in every Man that is Justified but it shutteth them out from the office of Justifying So that although they be all present together marke that they do not onely necessarily follow and flow from Faith in time but when we are first Justified they are present together with it in him that is Justified yet they Justifie not altogether nor the Faith also doth not shut out the Justice of our good Works as necessary to be done afterwards of Duty towards God for we are most bounden to serve God in doing good Deeds commanded by him in his Holy Scripture all the Days of our life but it excludeth them so that we may not do them to this intent to be made good by doing them For all the good works that we can do be imperfect and therefore not able to deserve our Justification c. Again in the second part of that Sermon pag. 15. Nevertheless this Sentence that we be Justified by Faith onely is not so meant of them that the said Justifying Faith is alone in Man without true Repentance Hope Charity Dread and Fear of God at any time and season Nor when they say that we be Justified freely they mean not that we should or might afterwards be idle and that nothing should be required on our parts afterwards Neither they mean not so to be justified without good Works that we should do no good Works at all But this saying that we be justified by Faith onely freely and without Works is spoken for to take away clearly all Merit of our Works as being unable to deserve our Justification at God's Hand and thereby most plainly to express the weakness of Man and the Goodness of God the great infirmity of our selves and the Might and Power of God the imperfectness of our own works and the most abundant Grace of our Saviour Christ and therefore wholly to ascribe the Merit and Deserving of our Justification unto Christ onely and his most precious Blood-shedding This Faith the Holy Scripture teacheth us this is the strong Rock and Foundation of Christian Religion this Doctrine all Old and Antient Authours of Christ's Church do approve this Doctrine advanceth and setteth forth the true Glory of Christ and beateth down the vain-glory of Man this whosoever denieth is not be accounted for a Christian Man nor for a setter forth of Christ's Glory but for an Adversary to Christ and his Gospel and for a setter forth of Mens vain-glory Again pag. 16. The true meaning and understanding of this Doctrine we be Justified freely by Faith without Works or we be Justified by Faith in Christ onely is not that this our own Act to believe in Christ or this our Faith in Christ which is within us
thereunto The Discipline of Christ's Kingdom is as Cords and Bonds unto them they desire to break them and to cast off the yoke of obedience unto him And again it is as true that 〈◊〉 man is damned for not adding the efficacy of Gods Spirit unto his word They are damned for contemning Godâ—s Word and not hearkning to his Gracious Admonitions but they could do no other as this Arminian Authour intimates But what impotency is this Is it any where else than in their wills Which this Authour considers not nor distinguisheth between impotency natural and impotency moral were they willing to hearken hereunto but could not then inâ—â—gd their impotency were excusablâ— but they please themselves in their obstinate courses and if they would do otherwise I make no question but that they should have no more cause to complain of their impotency to do that good which they would do than the servants of God have yea and holy Paul himself had How can you believe saith our Saviour John 5.44 Here is a certain impotency of believing which our Saviour takes notice of but what manner of impotency is it Observe by that which followeth who receive Honour one of another and regard not the Honour which cometh of God only Therefore you hear not my words because ye are not of God John 8.47 This is as true as the word of the Son of God is true although this Authour sets himself to impugne this kind of Doctrine all along But withal consider do they deplore this impotency Doth the consideration hereof humble them Nay rather they delight in it as the Prophet noteth Jerem. 6.10 Their ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hearken Behold the Word of God is as a Reproach unto them they have no delight in it By these Testimonies of Dr. Twiss and more which might be quoted to this purpose we plainly see that though he doth every where maintain that God by his special discriminating effectual Grace enables the Elect but not the non-Elect to believe repent and obey the Gospel and so to performe the Condition of the Covenant yet at the same time he declares that the inability of the Non-Elect to believe repent and obey is a meer moral impotency arising from the ill disposition of their own minds and affections that therefore they cannot because they will not and that if they would they should be able to believe and repent and obey the Gospel Now though we heartily agree with the Doctor that it is by the special discriminating effectual Grace of God in Christ Jesus that the Elect believe repent and obey the Gospel and also that the inability and impotency which others are under to do these things is a moral and not a meer natural inability and impotence yet to show that we are far from being Pelagians or Arminians we must declare to the World That Dr. Twiss seems sometimes to ascribe more to the Natural Power of an Unregenerate Man without the Grace of God than we can allow of This he doth in the foresaid Book in defence of the Doctrine of the Synod of Dort page 48. Where after he had discoursed of natural and moral Impotency and shewed 1. That the wicked are punished for refusing to believe that this refusal is the free act of their wills and by their natural power they might abstain from this refusal and might believe with an acquired Faith as many Vnregenerate Men have done And 2. After he had likewise shewed out of Augustin That the reason why the wicked do not believe is because they will not and that if they would they might believe and that since they might believe if they would it is just with God to punish them sor not believing And 3. After he had shewed out of the same Augustin That the reason why they will not believe is either because they do not see the truth and goodness of that which they should believe or else because it doth not delight them 4. In the fourth place he adventures to go one step further and of his own head to say That except the supernatural acts of the Three Theological Vertues Faith Hope and Love all Acts and Duties inward or outward are natural and may be performed by a natural man though not in an acceptable manner for want of Faith Hope and Love supernatural Now saith he they are his own very words suppose that a man were so exact both in natural morality and in an outward conformity to the means of Grace as not to fail in any particular as he hath power to performe any particular hereof naturally in this case I say if there were any such he should be in the same case with those that are guilty of no sin but sin original c. Upon this passage we observe that the Doctor supposeth it possible for a natural man by the meer power of nature without any supernatural Grace to be so exact in doing all the Duties which God requires of him as not to fail in any particular and so to keep himself free from all actual Sin He doth not indeed say that there is or ever was or ever will be such a Man but he plainly enough says that it is naturally possible and supposes it so to be he supposes it possible for a natural man by the power of Nature so to live as to be without all actual sin This we are so far from agreeing to that on the contrary we hold it to be naturally impossible for any natural man by natural power so to live as to be without all actual sin For surely original sin in such a Man would so vigorously put it self forth into act upon the presentation of outward objects to his Senses or the formation of Notions and Idea's of things in his mind that by his meer natural power he could not possibly hinder all the Sallies and Eruptions of it This is the Catholick Faith and the contrary is pure Pelagianisme which we wonder how it should ever fall from the Pen of Dr. Twiss who was really a hater of Pelagianisme We should never have mentioned this but to let men know how far we are from Pelagianism even farther than Dr. Twiss was as to the power of a Natural Man Indeed we are so far from thinking that a Natural Man by his meer natural powers can live without all actual sin that we do not believe that a Spiritual Regenerate Man can live so exactly as to keep himself free from all actual sin although he be furnished and assisted with such a measure of supernatural Grace as the Lord doth ordinarily give out unto his own select People This is the Common Doctrine of the Reformed Churches which we can demonstrate to be true and which we firmly believe Surely then it must be a vile slander cast upon us that we are so far gone off from the Truth of the Reformed Religion Let. p. 13. as that our Cause and the Pelagians is coincident and
Faith and consequently before Justification We say Let but any Man read those Two Chapters of Dr. Ames his Books now mentioned and he will see it as clear as the Sun that he was of the same mind with Rollock and held That an Holy Change is wrought on us and a Seed or Principle of Holyness is put into us and some Holy Act is produced by us before we be justified and our sins be forgiven us And as for Dr. Twiss though the Antinomians have laid claim to him and some of ours have almost given him up to them by Reason of some Expressions of his which seem to favour them yet Mr. Jessop in his Preface to Mr. Grailes Book hath shewed that they have no sufficient ground for their so doing and hath proved as we have further done that he is on our side against them Yea and against our Authour too We read that Arminius in the Preface to his Answer unto Perkins complained that though Mr. Perkins did not yet there were some others who did contend that Repentance doth not go before but follow after Remission of Sins Twiss Vind. gratiae Resp ad Arminii Praefat. pag. 17. Edit Amster 1648. fol. Whereunto Dr. Twiss answered by Confessing ingenuously That the places of Holy Scripture which prove that Repentance is before Remission of Sins are expressiora frequentiora both more express and more numerous than those that seem to favour the other Opinion And indeed the places of Scripture that speak of Peoples repenting after their Sins are pardoned prove nothing at all but what we and all sober Christians grant that our Repentance is to be continued all the days of our Life and that the Repentance which is begun before Justification and is but weak and imperfect is to be carried on through Grace unto greater Perfection afterwards by reducing our purposes into Practice and bringing forth Fruits meet for Repentance to the doing whereof the Assurance of Gods special Love to us in having pardoned our Sins and accepted us as righteous unto Life through Jesus Christ doth not a little animate and excite us As to what Twiss saith there that it is without Controversie that as Remission of Sins is an immanent Act in God it is before both Faith and Repentance that is neither more nor less than this that God himself and his Decree to remit Sin is before both Faith and Repentance which is indeed very true for God and his Decree was before this World or any thing in this World but though it be true it is nothing to the purpose for to speak properly as we ought and as the Lord speaks to us in his Word Remission of Sins is not an immanent Act of God that is it is not the Decree of God which is Eternal but the consequent and the effect of the Decree which is Temporal and is every where promised in the Scripture as a thing future and to come upon Condition of Faith and Repentance as Dr. Twiss himself expresly affirms most frequently over and over as we have shewed already and may do it yet farther hereafter From single Witnesses we pass to a whole Assembly of Divines who give in their Testimony for us and it is the Synod of Dort the most famous Assembly of Divines that ever was in the Reformed Churches for it consisted of a great number of Learned men delegated and deputed from all the best Reformed Churches in Europe In the eleventh and twelfth Canons on the third and fourth Articles their Words are as followeth Act. Synodi Dord Part. 1. p. 303. But when God executes this his good Pleasure in the Elect or works in them true Conversion he not only causeth the Gospel to be outwardly Preached to them and by the Holy Spirit powerfully enlightens their Mind that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God but also by the Efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit he penetrates or pierces into the innermost parts of Man he opens his closed he softens his hard and circumcises his uncircumcised Heart he infuses new qualities into his Will and of dead makes it alive of evil makes it good of unwilling makes it willing of disobedient makes it obedient and so Acts and strengthens it that as a good Tree it may be able to bring forth the Fruit of good Actions And then the Will now renewed is not only acted and moved by God but being acted by God it acts it self Wherefore even Man himself by that Grace received is rightly said to believe and repent This was subscribed by the whole Synod now here we have such a Testimony of the Reformed Churches for a real change for Holy Qualifications and Dispositions in the Soul of Man before Justification as we are sure our Author can never find the like to oppose against us for no real change no Holy Qualifications or Dispositions in the Soul of Man before sustification And that the Synod held this real change those Holy Qualifications or Dispositions to be in the Soul before Justification is manifest because they affirm all this to be necessary that the Will may be able to act and that the Man may produce the saving Acts of Faith and Repentance but so it is that the very Act it self of Faith is before Justification as hath been proved and so it was believed to be by the Synodic Therefore a fortiori all that is before the Act of Faith is also before Justification This were enough if we could say no more to prove that it is we who cleave to the old received Protestant Doctrine in this matter Yet something more we will adde from some of the Suffrages of the Colledges of Divines recorded in the Acts of the Synod And first we find that the Embdane Divines in their Judgment concerning the first Article do very particularly and clearly set down the way and order of Gods bringing his Elect unto Eternal Life and Glory Their Words are Actor Synodi Dord part 2. pag. 77. Via inter Electionis decretum decreti finem intermedia quâ Deus ex mera gratiâ peculiariter electos ad salutem provehit est 1. Christus 2. Vocatio ad Christum efficax 3. Fides 4. Justificatio per fidem c. The intermediate way between the Decree of Election and the end of the Decree by which God of meer Grace brings to Salvation those whom he hath peculiarly chosen is 1. Christ 2. Effectual Vocation unto Christ 3. Faith 4. Justification c. To these they speak particularly one after another First They shew that Christ is deservedly set in the first place for he is the second Adam through whom all the Elect are saved by unspeakable Mercy What they say of Christ there we all agree to and also that all the other particulars are subordinate to him and through him Then they speak to the second means which is Effectual Calling and that they say is Quando Vox Dei
But after all this anger on both sides there may be some hope that the Children of those Fathers and our Author may be reconciled in time if the old Axiom be true that Quae sunt eadem in tertio sunt eadem inter se They who agree in a Third agree between themselves or one with another But so it is that they agree in a third to wit in Bradwardin For certain Papists agree with Bradwardin in the matter of Justification and they will have good hope that our Author will do so too when they consider that in the 13th page of his Letter he saith That God gave Bradwardin for a Blessing to England For since he believes that Bradwardin was a Blessing to England the Papists cannot but hope that he will be of Bradwardins mind in the important point of Justification and if the World would know of what mind Bradwardin was in that matter they may see it in his Book pag. 406 Consiteor Deum meum sicut aeternaliter gratuitô me dilexit aeternaliter gratiam Justificatricem tempore placito coram eo mihi gratis conferre disposuit sic tempore placito veniente gratis insundere gratiam Justificatem mihi injusto justificare me gratis lavare injustitias meas gratis suscitare sanare me gratis debitum poenae aeternae dimittere mihi gratis atque in poenam temporalem vertere ipsam gratis c. I confess that my God as from eternity he freely loved me and likewise from eternity purposed freely to give me justifying Grace in such time as seemed good in his sight so when the time appointed comes doth freely infuse justifying Grace into me an unjust man that he doth justifie me freely wash away my unrighteousness freely raise up and heal me freely that he doth freely forgive me the debt of eternal punishment and freely change it into temporal punishment c. And Pag. 416. Nec etiam peccator peccato dimisso statim habet reformatione plenariam status sui sicut evidenter sequitur ex predictis adhuc enim remanet debitor poenae satisfactionis debitae pro peccato Nor when sin is forgiven hath the Sinner immediately a full reformation or change of the state of his Soul as it evidently follows from what hath been said before for he yet remains a debtor of punistment or bound to suffer punishment and to make the satisfaction which he ows for his sin Thus Bradwardin he speaks the true Language of the Beast and makes Justification to be by inherent Righteousness and the pardon of the eternal punishment of sin with a reservation of the temporal punishment to be yet suffered and of satisfaction to be made by our selves either in this life or in Purgatory after this life In all which there is a perfect agreement between him and the Council of Trent And let no man think that he must needs differ from the Council of Trent because he speaks so much of Gods freely justifying the unrighteous for it is the first Justification that he so speaks of and the Council of Trent speaks the self-same Language witness their own formal express words in the Eight Chapter of the Sixth Session Concil Trident Ses 6. Cap. 8. Perpetuus Ecclesiae Catholicae consensus tenuit ut c. The perpetual consent of the Catholick Church hath always held that we are therefore said to be justified freely because none of those things which go before Justification whether Faith or Works do merit the Grace of Justification for if it be of Grace then it is not of Works otherwise as the same Apostle saith Grace is no more Grace Rom. 11.6 Thus the Council of Trent Whereby it is evident that they and Bradwardin are agreed as to the freeness of Justification and it is as evident from the Canons that they are agreed about the formal nature of Justification wherein it consists And as the Papists that keep close to the Council of Trent are agreed with Bradwardin in the fundamental point of Justification against the Pelagians so they are not without ground of hope that our Author will agree also if he do not already agree with the profound Bradwardin in that fundamental point of Justification against the Pelagians because he hath publickly confessed it in the 13th Page of his Letter that God gave Bradwardin to be a Blessing unto England surely then will they say among themselves this Minister will not differ from Bradwardin in so important a point of Religion for fear he should prove a Curse unto England It is not impossible nor it may be improbable but Papists who consider of the matter may thus reason themselves into the hopes of a Proselyte to their Religion Therefore we will endeavour to frustrate their hopes and to prevent our Brothers being drawn over to them by means of his admired Bradwardin and this we shall do by giving him a further account of the Principles and Practices of that profound Doctor Thus then he writes in 61 page of his Book called The Cause of God Nos Imagines Christi Dei Trinitatis Angelorum Sanctorum hominum Adoramus We worship the Images of Christ of God of the Trinity of Angels and Holy Men. Again in the same page Nos Deum propter se Sanctos Angelos ejus Homines ipsorum Imagines adoramus finaliter propter Deum We worship God for his own sake and we worship his holy Angels and Men finally for Gods sake This Bradwardin confesseth to have been the Principle and Practice of himself and his Church And in the same page he very kindly makes an Apology for the Heathen and excuses them from the guilt of damnable Idolatry upon the same principle For says he it is probable they had some knowledge of the true God and him they worshipped for his own sake sub nomine tamen Idolo Dei Jovis yet under the name and Idol or Image of the God Jupiter Et nihilominus praeter ipsum c. And yet besides him they worshipped some other Idols dedicated unto Holy Angels unto Men and Demons and in them and by them they finally worshipped God That is the Pagans worshipped God for himself but they worshipped Idols and Devils for Gods sake just as the Papists worship Saints and Angels and that excused them from the guilt of damnable Idolatry as it doth the Church of Rome and they therein found acceptance with God For they knew no better and did as well as they could Therefore Deus ista piè discretè respiciens ignorantiae simplicitati eorum pepercit sinceram verô dilectionem sanctam intentionem benevolam voluntatem acceptavit Hoc autem consonum videtur rationi non enim videtur quod justissimus atque piissimus plus requirat ab homine quam accepit quam sit in hominis potestate imò quod illud acceptet si intentione debitâ offeratur God considering these things mercifully and discreetly spared their ignorance and simplicity but he accepted
that Synod And we would hope also that our Author and those of his way will not be against this mutual forbearance when they consider that the said middle-way was not only tolerated but even approved by the Synod of Dort in that the suffrages which expresly asserted it were approved and that long before it was held by our first Reformers both at home and abroad For instance the Universality of Christs death in the sense before explained was believed and professed by the Blessed Martyrs Latimer and Hooper in England as also by the Church of England her self and by Luther in Germany and Calvin at Geneva as shall be proved by their own words to be seen in their writings extant at this day if any have the considence to deny it At present we shall only give our Brethren to understand First That Luther on John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever c. says Jam sanè tibi omnibus hominibus fatendum est mundum c. Now truly thou and all men must confess that the whole race of Mankind is called the World comprehending in one all men in general and every man in particular do'st thou believe therefore that thou art a man or if thou canst neither believe nor know that put thy hand in thy bosome or feel thy Nose make an experiment whether thou hast not all thy Members full of flesh and blood as other men Wherefore then wouldst thou exclude thy self out of this word World since Christ expresly declares that God did not send his Son to the Virgin Mary only nor gave him to Peter or Paul but to the World that all might lay claim to him even as many as are called the Sons of Man c. Secondly That Calvin on 1 John 2.2 says Ego verum esse illud dictum fateor sufficienter pro toto mundo passum esse Christum sed pro electis tantum efficaciter I confess that saying to be true That Christ suffered sufficiently for the whole World but efficaciously for the Elect only And on Rom. 5.18 Communem omnium gratiam fecit quia omnibus exposita est non quod ad omnes extendatur reipsa nam etsi passus est Christus pro peccatis totius mundi atque omnibus indifferenter Dei benignitate offertur non tamen omnes apprehendunt The Apostle saith Calvin Makes Grace common to all Men because it is exposed to all Men not that it is really and effectually extended unto all For tho Christ suffered for the sins of the whole World and through the goodness of God he is indifferently offered unto all yet all do not apprehend or receive him Here is that which is called the middle-way owned by Luther first afterwards by Calvin as plainly as can be expressed in so few words Whereupon we demand Did our First Reformers Luther and Calvin by this Corrupt the Old and Preach a New Gospel or not If they did corrupt the old true Gospel and preach a new false Gospel Then 1. We owe no great thanks to them or respect to their Memory for their Service in Reforming the Church 2. If we grant this to be true of Luther and Calvin we betray the Reformation and yield to the Papists that which their hearts do most earnestly desire that Luther and Calvin may be accounted Two Impostors and Deceivers who deluded the People corrupted the Christian Religion and Preached a new Gospel to the World For our parts we dare not thus far betray the Protestant Cause to the Papists rather than do so we maintain that Luther and Calvin by holding universal Redemption in the sense explained did not corrupt the Christian Religion nor preach a new Gospel And if they did not then those amongst us who hold universal Redemption as they held it do no more corrupt Religion nor preach a new Gospel than they did and consequently it is a vile Calumny and Reproach cast upon us and through us upon 〈◊〉 First Reformers that by the middle-way aforesaid we corrupt Religion and preach a new Gospel We have been something long in shewing the false-hood of our Authors first Calumny and in wiping it off because it is general and seems to comprehend or to be the ground of all the rest that abound in his Letter But for the rest of them since we have removed the grounds of them by the account we have given of our principles in the points of Justification and of the extent of Christs death they fall of themselves and light on the head of him that raised them and therefore we shall not much trouble either our selves in refuting them or others in reading a long Refutation of them Yet we will take particular notice of some of them and briefly shew how false they are Second Calumny HIS Second is to be seen in the the sixth page of his Letter where he saith Let. pag. 6. The righteousness of Christ in his active and passive Obedience hath been asserted by Protestant Divines to be not only the procuring and meritorious cause of our Justification for this the Papists own but the matter as the Imputation of it is the form of our Justification Here a gross Calumny is implyed to wit that we differ not from the Papists in the point of Justification and to make the simple people believe this he gives them to understand that we hold Christs righteousness to be only the procuring and meritorious cause of Justification and that the Papists own this as well as we do and consequently that there is little or no difference between us and the Papists in the Fundamental point of Justification But that this is a Calumny doth appear by what we have said before when we shewed that Christs Righteousness alone comes in the place of that personal perfect sinless Righteousness which was the condition of the first Covenant in Innocency and of the law of Works and by which personal Righteousness man was to have been justified according to that Covenant if he had perfectly kept it and had not fallen from his Innocency There we shewed that since no man in his lapsed state hath or can have in himself that personal sinless righteousness every man is to seek a righteousness in Christ that may serve him for his Justification instead of that which he should have had in himself but hath not and he that seeks it in Christ as he ought to do will there find it For Christ by his obedience unto death even the death of the Cross hath paid the full price of our Redemption and by paying that price hath made full satisfaction to the Justice of God for our sins and hath merited for us the full pardon of our sins and eternal Salvation of our Souls if we sincerely believe repent and obey the Gospel by that Grace which he hath also purchased for us by his blood promised to us in his Word and gives unto us by his