Infinite Power moreover to the act and none to the cessation And by this Rule it would follow that all Motion in the World is supernatural For if God cause it ut sons naturae he causeth it in the natural course if he do not it 's all supernatural and miraculous Moreover if all this satisfie not Disputes if it be worth the Cost they may try the Case thus Supposing that God hath told no man his Secrets when he will immediately move any thing without second Causes and that no second Causes nor his own Operation by them can move any thing without another immediate Motion Let them cut down the Pillars or undermine their Houses and say that by meer natural Causes the House cannot fall Let them set fire on their Houses and say that by meer natural Causes they cannot be burnt Let them drink Poison and say By meer natural Causes it cannot hurt us Or let them cut their Flesh c. For God never told them that he will immediately concurr and then there is no danger Perhaps they will say That Experience telleth us that God doth usually concurr with them I answer And is not that because he worketh by them What Experience or Reason have you that God should still work immediately with them and yet not by them We can prove that He worketh as the first Cause But if you will prove that He doth it not as the first Cause moving the second Causes but by immediate concomitancy let us hear your proofs Lastly let it be noted that when they that affirm all Motion to be by immediate concomitant Concourse or Predetermination do pretend that they do it lest God's Causality should be denied or extenuated it is a meer deceit For all are agreed that there is no less of God in the Operations done by second Causes or Nature than in immediate Operations without second Causes such as God exerciseth on the first created Motor and how else he please God is as much in one as in the other § 14. For the understanding of the nature and use of miraculous acts of Providence it must be considered 1. That God that made the World of Natural Agents and things Passive moved by the Active is not to be feigned without good proofs to alter any of the Works which he hath made which we see he continueth in the course that he made them without any mutation of their Natures § 15. God can change and cross and use as he pleaseth the Actions of Natural Agents without changing their natures and inclinations One Natural Agent or moved Passive may be resiâ—ed and turned back or overcome by another â—nd yet there may be nothing but natural motiâ—n in them all A stronger Stream may drive â—ack a weaker A Canon may cross the ordiâ—ary motion of the Air As a great Dog may â—aster a little one or a Woolf devour a Lamb â—nd a Bird a Worm or Fly and yet there be â—one but natural and sensitive motion So God â—an dry up or stop the Red Sea or Iordan and â—y Winds carry Caterpillars to and from Aegypt and such like and by one natural â—otion overcoming another It 's hard for us â—n most Miracles to say that God doth more than this § 16. But it is certain that God hath a rank of free Agents that act arbitrarily and that these have a great measure of power over natural and necessary Motions As man is a free Agent and driveth his Sheep to what Pasture he pleaseth and guideth his Horses and Oxen in their way and furrow to do his will by their natural and sensitive necessitated motion and as a Miller can make the natural course of the Wood and Water and Mill-stones and Horse all to serve his intention without changing the nature of any one of them so much more can God and free Agents under God attain their freely chosen ends by Ordering and not Changing Natural and Sensitive Movers § 17. We so little know what Arbitrary Free Agents that are invisible Spirits God hath set over this Passive World and what power he hath given them to use Natural Agents as they themselves freely will that it greatly disableth us to resolve all the Difficulties of the Cause of Sin and Misery and about the nature of Miracles But it is a clear truth that it is by such Free Arbitrary Agents primarily that natural Agency is crost and overcome in Miracles the one Natural Agent be employed to resist another as to quench the heat of Fire to stop the course of Winds and Water c. Yet it is some voluntary free Agent that thus useth natural Agents against each other Scripture tells us that God useth Angels as Rulers and Protectors of lower Agents And that there is a kind of a war between these and Devils And how far the prevalent Wills of good and bad Angels or voluntary Agents may be the Cause of Evil or be the Actors of Miracles by setting one moved Agent against another and yet all but Natural motion that is caused by these free Agents Mortals do not know and therefore should not be peremptory in judging § 18. But though we know not that in Miracles God useth not second Causes some natural and some free in waies unsearchable to us yet may we be assured by Miracles of his will and attestation when we find that things are done quite out of the way of his ordinary Providence in the uncontrouled confirmation of some prophetical Revelation For God is the Governour of the rational World and his moral Government must be by the intelligible signification of his will de debito what shall be due from us and to us And if Miracles be used to deceive us they cannot be done without him whatever second Cause there be And if he should use them tho' by second Causes to deceive us we are utterly remediless and therefore guiltless And God that 〈…〉 at h neither impotency ignorance nor badness cannot need a Lye to govern Man when he hath 〈…〉 de it part of his Image on Man and needful to Mens Justice to each other to hate Lying § 19. A Miracle controuled by contrary Evidence is no notification of God's Attestation It may be permitted for several good ends For God by controuling it giveth us sufficient remedy against Deceit And there are two waies by which a Miracle may be controuled First by greater conquering Miracles used for some contrary Doctrine or Cause so the Aegyptian Magician's Miracles were controuled by Moses Secondly when it is some unquestionable Truth or Duty or Word that is already better proved which that Miracle pretendeth to contradict As if a Miracle were done by a Deceiver to prove that there is no God no Life-to-come or against Mercy or Justice or to disprove Christianity the greater Miracles which have confirmed the Gospel and the evident Light of Nature which proveth the Deity and Life-to-come and the Duty of Love and Justice do controul such deceiving
man can do any more good than he doth and so That he hath no meerlysufficient Grace to any one act in all his life § 28. The Controversie about sufficient Grace is the same in the true meaning of it with that of the Power of Mans Free-will For when by sufficient Grace we mean nothing but the enabling a Man to the act or giving him Power to do it the stress of the Question is Whether Man hath truly any Power to do more than he doth For if he have such a Power Grace hath given it him if it be for a Work that Grace is needful to So that indeed were it not for Custom and Expectation this Question should be handled under that of the Power and Liberty of Man's Will § 29. No man hath at the present Grace sufficient for his Salvation if he have longer time to live Because the Grace or help of the present hour is not sufficient for the next but there must be continual Supplies from God supposing that we distinguish of Grace by the distinct numerical acts and hours for and in which we need it But if you distinguish of Grace by the species of Acts for which it is needful and not by the numerical acts then it may be truly said that the same Grace in specie which a Believer hath to day may be sufficient to his Salvation or to his life's end § 30. But if you speak de gradu that Grace may be sufficient to one thing which is not sufficient to another And so 1. An Infidel may have Grace sufficient to forbear some Sin or avoid some Temptation or use some means that tendeth to Faith and Repentance who hath not Grace sufficient to believe and repent unto Salvation 2. A man may have Grace sufficient to enable him to believe and repent unto Justification and yet not have at that instant Grace sufficient to enable him to love God above all as God with a fixed habitual Love and to live an holy life for the Spirit and Sanctification are promised on condition of Faith and Repentance 3. A sanctified man that is yet but weak may have Grace sufficient to live to God a holy life at present and yet not have Grace sufficient for greater trials of Duty and Temptation And therefore Augustine and all his Followers still say That the Grace of Perseverance is a Gift over and above the Grace of meer Sanctification in the weakest degree § 31. By all this it is evident that he that disputeth of the sufficiency of Grace must first distinctly tell us 1. Whether he mean extrinseck Grace or intrinseck 2. If extrinseck Whether he mean it comprehensively of all extrinseck Grace together or only of some particular part of sort 3. If the latter Whether he speak of the sufficiency of Christ's Death and Righteousness Sacrifice Merit Intercession c. or of the sufficiency of the Gospel-Covenant or Promise or of the sufficiency of Preaching Praying and other means or of the Scripture-Records c. 4. If he speak of intrinseck Grace Whether the Question be of Sufficiency ex parte Dei agentis which none must question or ex parte effecti 5. If the latter What is the effect whose sufficiency he questioneth 1. Is it a Grace or Power to do some more common good use some means forbear some evil as the Unregenerate may do 2. Or is it a Power truly to repent and believe 3. Or to love God habitually and live holily 4. Or to overcome greater Temptations and persevere 6. And he must tell you whether he speak 1. De specie whether the Grace or Power sufficient to this sort of Acts or Duty be sufficient to another or to all 2. Or de gradu Whether this degree be sufficient against a greater degree or sort of Temptation 3. Or as men use to distinguish Grace and Help by numerical Acts and Hours Whether the Grace of this Hour and Act be sufficient for the next or for all The sence of all these Questions is distinct 7. But his last and greatest difficulty will be to tell you truly and plainly what is that Grace which is the subject of his Question of its sufficiency in the general nature of it and as related to the thing which it is called sufficient to § 32. For by Grace he meaneth 1. Either somewhat ex parte Dei agentis 2. Or ex parte effecti or 3. Quid medium 1. Grace as it is in God the Agent 2. Or as it is in Man the Recipient 3. Or as it is somewhat between both § 33. I. Grace as it is in God is nothing but his Essence not as Essence but as an essential Power Intellect and Will denominated by Connotation from the effect This is commonly agreed on God doth operate per essentiam and not by Accidents § 34. II. If they mean any mediate thing between God and the Effect either they speak of the first effect or a second and so on If they speak but of secondary effects and the meaning be only whether one effect be a sufficient Cause for another they mean either an outward or an inward Grace or Effect If an outward then the sence of the Question is Whether some other Work of God be sufficient to move the Will of Man And then it must be told what other Work you mean Whether an Angel or the Planets or the Word or Preacher or an outward Mercy or Affliction or what it is But if you speak of the very first effect then the fancy is almost proper to Aureolus among the Schoolmen to think that there is something from God antecedent to the Creature and Motion which may be called Action or Energy or Efflux which is neither the Creator nor a Creature neither Cause substantial nor Effect but Causation As if some Beam of Virtue or Force went from God to produce every Creature and Motion which is neither God nor the Creature or Motion But this is commonly and justly rejected as feigning a third sort of Entity between God and the Creature which it passeth the wit of Man to conceive of what it should be ☞ And if God do immediately per essentiam cause that middle Entity or Action or Force which he saith is no Creature why may he not as well immediately per essentiam cause the Creature and motion it self This therefore cannot be the thing meant by Grace in this Question To question the sufficiency of God's Essence is intolerable To question the sufficiency of a mediate divine Efflux or Action which is between God and the Creature and Effect is to dispute in your Dream of a Chimera an unproved and a disproved and commonly-denied Entity To dispute of the sufficiency of Angels Scripture Sermons c. to work Grace is not the thing commonly intended in this Controversie of Grace Each several sort of means may be sufficient in its own kind and to its own use but no one of them is sufficient to the
Faith as to the Objects extensively which was required of Jewish Believers before Christ's Incarnation as is now of us nor the same degree that was required of all the rest of the World as of the Jews 2. But such a Faith in God our Redeemer as that Law which men are under maketh necessary to Salvation is necessary to Holiness And to ask what God will do with a man that is holy without Faith is to talk of a non-existent Subject There is no such man for without Faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him notwithstanding original and actual Sin and the Law of Innocency condemning us and therefore that he is under a pardoning and rewarding Law of Grace Heb. 11. 6. No man can be sanctified without the Merit Doctrine and Spirit of Christ nor without that degree of Faith which the Covenant which he is under requireth § 20. Quest. What if a man that was sanctified by believing should retain his Holiness or Love and Obedience and lose his Faith in Christ Answ. It is a thing that never was nor will be and not to be disputed of § 21. Moral Virtue in the proper sence of the word is the same thing as Holiness taken comprehensively as containing our Love and Duty to God and to man for God's sake But as Holiness is taken narrowly for our Love and Duty to God as distinct from our Love and Duty to Man so Moral Virtue is the genus and Holiness the chief species of it And thus we take Moral Virtue and Moral Action and so all Morality as contradistinct from Physicks or things meerly natural not falling under the genus moris And so Virtue and Vice or Sin are all that is Moral that is Moral Good and Moral Evil And this is the first and most notable sence of the word But some of late have used Moral as contradistinct from Holiness or Grace or from infused Habits or from Faith and Christianity and some tell us confidently but falsly That this is the most fit and famous sence and the word so to be taken when not otherwise explained It 's the sad case of Mankind that we have no words but what are liable to ambiguity And it 's the unhappiness of the Church that hath so many Teachers that will dispute write and wrangle about words unexplained and in the end shew that under divers terms they mean the same matter in which they are agreed and know not their Agreement § 22. As Holiness is sometimes taken so largely as to comprehend all that God commandeth and sometimes for the natural part of our Duty Love and Obedience as distinct from Faith in Christ which is the mediate Grace and of supernatural revelation so is Morality or moral Virtue distinguished § 23. They that take moral Virtue so narrowly and improperly as to mean no other moral Virtue than Heathens had or than is taught in Aristotle's Ethicks should first tell us That this is their sence and then they may boldly declaim against those Preachers that take this for sufficient or that preach no other For Scripture and Christianity were to little purpose if they taught us no more than the Writings of Philosophers do § 24. And no doubt but it is a pitiful sign and an odious Crime in a Minister of Christ to say little to the People of the Mysteries of Man's Redemption the Person and Offices and Works of Christ the Covenant of Grace and the special Blessings given by it our Union with Christ Justification Adoption and the special Works of the Spirit on Mens Souls and all the Duties and Pleasures of a Heavenly Conversation in the love of the Father the Grace of the Son and the Communion of the Holy Spirit and all this under pretence of magnitying and preaching up the Love of our Brethren and Charity to the Poor and Iustice and Temperance as if Man were our God and to wrong man were the only Sin and to wrong God were none or God could be no otherwaies wronged § 25. But Covetousness and Pride contradicteth their own Doctrine For among their good works those of Piety are first extolled and those are the enriching of the Church and that is themselves and why them more than the poorer People about us Because they are sacred persons and belong to God and serve at his Altars Very good And is Piety to a sacred person and such as they so great a Duty and yet our Piety as immediately to God himself an indifferent thing in comparison of our Duty to Man Yea some usually make that part of their Piety which consisteth in the observance of their own Traditions and unnecessary Injunctions to seem of great weight while the holy observance of God's own Laws is perhaps accused as too much preciseness or hypocrisâ—s when indeed the Hypocrite is he that instead of the life and serious practice of true Christian-Holiness sets up and resteth in the Image of Holiness and certain formalities that are lifeless to deceive himself and others § 26. Where there is no Faith and Love to God nor Duty done in obedience to God there is no true moral Virtue but somewhat equivocally so called whatever good such may do to the Common-wealth or to their Neighbors for it wanteth the principle end and object that should inform it § 27. An Hypocrite may be said to have moral Virtue as he may be said to have Holiness that is only secundum quid yea but analogically yea but equivocally in that he hath no other sort of Faith and Love and Obedience § 28. An Infidel's moral Virtue and all unsanctified Heathens or other persons is of the same sort only with this described of the Hypocrite And they err not that say They have no true moral Virtue but analogical § 29. Yet Nature and common Grace do give men that which is truly good and not only minus malum and may do much good to others and some to themselves and is truly laudable and amiable considered without the mixture simply in it self But because the contrary evil is still the predominant part in all the unsanctified it will not properly denominate them good men nor the whole action a good action save equivocally analogically or secundum quid because the form denominateth which is here wanting § 30. But if any one think otherwise that the name of moral Virtue yea or Holiness is due to the best actions or habits of Heathens Hypocrites or any unsanctified men it is but a Controversie de nomine and no otherwise to be regarded while we agree of the things signified by that name § 31. It is certain that now there is no moral good in any man on Earth that is not the effect of some Grace of God common or special for even Nature now as reprieved and maintained is an effect of common Grace much more further
of everlasting glory through Faith § 7. This Repentance is the same thing with Conversion and as I said before Faith it self includeth Repentance in its Essence as denominated from the terminus a quo it being a Turning from Unbelief to God by believing in him as God and to Christ by believing in him as our Saviour and to the Holy Ghost by believing in him as the Agent and Witness of Christ and our Sanctifier § 8. Particular Repentance is our turning with Sorrow from a particular Sin to our contrary obedience to God § 9. Without that universal Repentance or Conversion which turneth the Mind Will and Life to God from created Vanity and this World no Man can be saved because he continueth an Idolater and Rebel and doth not indeed take God for his God nor Christ for his Saviour nor the Holy Spirit for his Sanctifier but is an ungodly Man and a Forsaker of God and his own Felicity § 10. Repentance as towards God is sometime distinguished from Faith in Christ And then Repentance is our turning to God as God by Faith Trust Love and Obedience resigning our selves to him as our Owner subjecting our selves to him as our Ruler and loving him as our Benefactor and chiefly as the Infinite Good in himself our ultimate objective End And this is the greater Duty respecting God as our End even the same with Love to God for the procuring of which Christ came into the World and Faith is given us And then Faith in Christ is the mediate grace and duty by which we are brought to this Repentance § 11. Not that any man can truly take Christ for his Saviour before he taketh God for his God for the Love and Intention of the End is before our Choice and Use of the Means But Christ being our Teacher first bringeth us to assent to the Truth of God's Perfections and Relations to us and then to the Truth of his own Gospel and by this Assent bringeth us first to a common and then to a special Consent at once that God be our God and Christ our Saviour but so that we desire God as our End and Christ as Mediator as the Means § 12. Universal Repentance or Conversion doth virtually contain all particular future Repentance but not actually Therefore where this is that Soul may be saved without actual Repentance for some particular sins or sorts of sin As e. g. if we are ignorant that such or such a thing is sin for want of necessary Instruction or if in a crowd of business some sinful Thought Passion or Word pass unobserved or if we do our faithful endeavour to find out a sin and cannot remember it as who can remember at Conversion one of many that he has committed in Unregeneracy and after many are forgotten And every Man dieth in some sin which he hath no time here to repent of viz. in some sinful imperfection of all grace and duty and omission of due degrees of Love and other Acts For all which virtual repentance will be accepted § 13. But great and heinous sins must needs have actual repentance because it will not consist with the Truth of Holiness to be so indifferent or easâ—e towards them as not to observe them and remember them And if they be known and remembred they will be repented of when the Soul hath opportunity to consider what it hath done For habitual repentance is necessary to Salvation and Habits will act when they are not extraordinarily hindred having notable Objects and Opportunity § 14. Yet some sins that are great materially in their nature may be lessened much to some persons by unavoidable ignorance and so may not have an actual repentance As e. g. in times of War to kill men in a wrong Cause is one of the greatest â—ins in the World and yet when by the darkness of State-cases the Question who is in the right is so difficult that very few can decide it and after their utmost search each Party thinks that God bindeth them to fight for their King or Country such persons cannot have a particular repentance while they are not able to see that they were deceived § 15. It is therefore a Case of exceeding difficulty what sins may stand with Iustification not particularly repented of and what not or as some speak which are mortal and which venial sins or sins of Infirmity § 16. But he that hath a care of his Salvation must hate all sin in the general as sin and keep up his watch and be willing to know all the worst in himself and diligently use the means to know it and resolve to forsake it to his power when he knoweth it that so he may not be wilfully impenitent And he that will sin as far as he thinks will stand with grace either hath no true grace or shall not know that he hath it § 17. The time of repentance or mercy may be said in two Sences to be past 1. When a man shall not be accepted and pardoned though he should repent And so the Day of grace is never past in this Life and the Damned do not truly repent in our present Sence so that for a penitent person to fear that the Day of grace is past or his Repentance too late if true is to contradict the Scope of the Gospel which giveth pardon to every one that truly repenteth 2. When a man that before had some motions and helps to repent and obstinately resisted them shall be given up to his Obstinacy and never have such motions more Thus the Day of grace may be past with many And such persons turn from God to Wickedness and are hardened in the love of sin and usually blinded to defend it and hate a holy Life But those that do repent or fain would repent or yet feel God moving them to repent have no cause to think that God hath thus forsaken them For it is only obstinate and continued forsaking God that is the sign of one forsaken by him § 18. And this also is no proof to us that such a Person is finally forsaken For many that have rejected grace many years are afterward converted by that grace So that all that we can say is That such as God hath forsaken do continue to the end to reject his Mercy and prefer their Lusts but that he will so continue to the end no man himself can tell before the end § 19. About the unpardonable sin there are two Coâ—â—oversies 1. What it is 2. Whether it be absâ—â—â—â—ely unpardonable That final impenitency is unpardonable is undoubted But the sin in question is called The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost of which having written a special Tractate I now only say That it is the Sin of such as believing not Christ to be the Son of God but a Deceiver and yet being convinced of his and his Disciples Miracles do in their judgments think and blasphemously say and maintain that they were done by
Christ yet the Promise and Notification of the Mediator and his merits and sacrifice as the reason of this Pardon did then exist and was the cause of that Pardon which Christ was afterward to merit § 19. It is therefore no absurdity that the existence of Man's Faith and Repentance should be necessary when the Mediator's Existence and his Merits was not necessary For it was not then an existent Mediator and Sacrifice c. that was the Object of Faith but only a Promised Mediator § 20. And whereas it is a doubt seeing the Head is essential to the Church and the Divine Nature only was Head of the Church before the Incarnation and the Divine and Humane united was afterward the Head whether it follow not the Church before the Incarnation and after and so Faith and Religion were divers in specie and not the same I answer That while we agree all de re that so much difference there is it is not worth our trouble to strive about the Name or Logical Notion of Sameness of Species § 21. When God hath chosen to save Man by way of a Mediator and by his Sacrifice and Merits as that way in which his Wisdom Love Holiness Mercy and Justice are eminently glorified it seemeth to me too bold Presumption to dispute Whether he could not have saved us otherwise and pardoned Sin without a Saviour as it would be to dispute Whether he could not illuminate the Earth without the Sun He wanteth not Power to do whatsoever is meet for God to do but all the question is Whether it be meet supposing Man's Nature and Sin to be what they are § 22. God did illuminate the World without the Sun till the Sun was made But it was the imperfect World and before the perfecting of his Work And so God did save Man without an Existent Mediator unless God may be called a Mediator between himself and us which is a harsh Phrase But it was before the Work of our Salvation was brought to maturity for the Cure of Man is perfectest at last § 23. We must take great heed that in considering of the parts of our Redemption by Christ we look not all at one and over-look the rest nor set not those Works of Christ in opposition which must be taken in conjunction But his Incarnation Obedience Contempt of the World Victory over Satan Suffering Resurrection Ascension Glory Intercession Reign Raising the Dead Judgment glorifying his Church must be all conjoined though not confounded § 24 The Benefits of Redemption or recovering Mercies are not all given in the same way We must carefully distinguish of those that God giveth absolutely and antecedently that is before any Condition or Duty on Man's part and those that he giveth consequently upon Man's Duty performed as the means of Reception § 25. Antecedent Mercies are some common to all men and some proper to some Countries Ages and Persons as the free Benefactor pleaseth § 26. Of the former sort is the Sustentation of Nature reprival from deserved miseries the Law of Grace as to the tenor and some degree of promulgation with all the common Mercies Means Duties which tend to Recovery Of the later sort are the greater degrees of such mercies and means which God freely giveth to some more than others § 27. Therefore we must not say that Infidels or wicked men have no Mercies or no Right to what they do possess as from God as being no Consenters to the Covenant or Performers of it Because there are Antecedent Mercies given before such Consent or Performance not as to Covenanters but as to miserable men invited to enter Covenant with God in Christ. Though these are so forfeited by their refusal that they have no assurance of their continuance but God may soon take them all away § 28. The consequent Mercies are Pardon Iustification Adoption the Spirit a secured filia◠Right to all outward Mercies that are good and suitable to us and final Glory and whatever God hath promised on Conditions by us to be performed § 29. The question of universal Redemption and special I shall pretermit till I speak of universal Grace § 30. Seeing Life Health Food Hope and all that is truly good were forfeited by Sin and none of them can be due to us by the Law of Innocency it followeth that wherever they are given it is upon other terms which can be no other than those of the Law of Grace as fruits of our Redeemer's Mercy antecedently or consequently And where the Fruits are apparent we may know the Cause § 31. The Fruits of Redemption are one entire frame consisting of various and unequal parts to divers persons yet mutually related And therefore it will not follow that nothing but what certainly inferreth the person's Salvation is any such effect of Man's Redemption CHAP. XII Of the several Laws or Covenants of God § 1. THough the order of the matter require that I should have spoken of the Law of Innocency before I had spoken of Sin and Redemption yet thinking that the sort of Readers for whom I now especially write will best understand things if I treat of all God's Laws together I will at this time fetch my method from their intended benefit § 2. The nature of a Law in general and of God's Laws in special I have elsewhere so oft and largely spoken of pretending somewhat to clear up that Doctrine from several mistakes that I must here pretermit it § 3. Though the word Law do principally signifie the regulating Imposition of our Duty and the word Covenant doth principally signifie a mutual Contract yet it is the same Divine Instrument which is meant oft and usually in Scripture by both these Names Of which see Grotius at large in his Preface to his Annotations in Nov. Testamentum It is called a Law in one respect and a Covenant in another but the thing is the same As a Law the parts of it are 1. The Precept and Prohibition constituting our Duty 2. The Retribution Premiant and Penal constituting the Dueness of Rewards and Punishments as the duty is performed or neglected As it is a Covenant it containeth 1. The Benefit which is the Reward freely given yet on condition of a due and suitable Reception and use of prescribed Means 2. The Condition described and Means prescribed in the said Preceptive part 3. And the Threatning in case of Ingratitude Refusal and Disobedience Which are the same things as in the Law of Grace considering the Covenant but as Instituted and Offered For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth usually but the Resolved declared terms of Life and Death or the Divine Ordination by which he will Rule and Judge us And so it is oft called a Covenant before Consent by Man which maketh it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mutual Contract And even a Law as Received by a voluntary subject is Consented to and becometh a Contract If any think that I give not the
true difference of God's Laws and Covenants let him tell me more and I suppose we shall agree de re though not de ratione nominis And let it now suffice to tell you how I would be understood my self Though the word Law be some time taken more narrowly and the word Covenant oft for Mutual Contract which is but a Law consented to yet being to speak of each term as signifying that Regulating Frame by which God Ruleth us and will Judge us and by which he giveth us his Gifts and Rewards I mean the same thing in several respects called by the several names The absolute Antecedent Gifts of our Great Benefactor being supposed inclusively in both SECT I. Of the Law or Covenant of Innocency made to Adam § 1. I Shall in this order Treat briefly of the Divine Laws I. Of the Law of Innocency to Adam II. Of the Law of Mediation to Christ. III. Of the Law of Grace to fallen Man And there 1. As in the first Edition to Adam and Noah 2. As in the same Edition joined with the Jewish Law of Peculiarily to Abraham and of Works by Moses to Abraham's Seed 3. Of the Law of Graces as in the second Edition by Christ § 2. 1. The Law of Innocency contained a Precept and Prohibition and a Retributive part to which Adam was bound to be a Voluntary Subject and therefore to Consent which will allow it the name of a Covenant But here the brief Narrative in the Scripture calleth to us to distinguish of things certain and things uncertain whoever assert them § 3. 1. The Preceptive part was revealed by Nature or Supernaturally by Voice or Inspiration or Vision c. The former being Lex natura integrae the Law of Intire Nature though the Chief is least spoken of in Gen. because it is supposed legible in Nature it self § 4. The Law of Nature properly so called is in esse Objectivo that signification of God's Will concerning Man's Duty which was discernible in the Universa rerum Natura in all God's Works but principally in Mans own Nature as related to God and all Persons and Things about him § 5. But Improperly or Metonymically so called the Law of Nature is in esse subjectivo the Communes notitiae which Man had and was to have from the said Objective Law of Nature But properly this is rather the Knowledge of the Law than the Law it self being not perfect in Adam himself at first but was to be perfected as he came to know more and more of the Works of God and varying much now in several Persons Yet may it well be called God's Law written in the Heart when we have the Knowledge and Love of his primary proper Law § 6. This Law of Nature bound Adam to perfect Devotedness to God as his Owner and perfect gratitude to God as his Antecedent Benefactor and to perfect Obedience to God as his Ruler and to perfect Love to God as his ultimate most amiable End And this perfect Obedience was to be perpetual § 7. It was Adam personally that the Law bound to this perfect perpetual Obedience and not another for him or that he should obey by a Representative or a Delegate a Servant or by any other § 8. Nature even in its depraved state now telleth us that all Sin against God deserveth Punishment Therefore the Law of Nature had a Penal part § 9. It is a great doubt with many Divines whether the Law of Nature had any premiant part or promise and so was a Covenant because say they Duty obligeth not God to reward us But it seemeth to me as far past doubt as the penal part For the question is not what our Duty performed obligheth God to much less in point of Commutative Iustice where no Creature can Merit of God Iob 35. 6 7 8. If thou be Righteous what givest thou him c. But it is presupposed that God first became Man's Benefactor and his Ruler and his Law is the Instrument of his Government and his Promise is but the signification of his Will what he will give and on what Terms And God in Nature signified his Will to bless the Obedient and love those that love him For as a Ruler he is Iust and if he differenced not the Righteous from the Sinner what were his Justice Were there no other Reward but the Continuance of the Paradise-Blessing freely given him which Sin would forfeit it would have been a great Reward And if God equally take away his Gifts from Good and Bad it is not Governing Iustice though as the Act of a Proprietor it be neither Iust nor Unjust so that the very essence of Undertaken Government containeth a discovery of God's Rewarding Will which is the promissory or premiant part of the Law of Nature § 10. The Degree and Kind of the Natural Reward must be gathered 1. From the state that Man was in 2. From the nature of his Duty 3. From the state of Perfection which his Nature was made inclined to desire and seek § 11. 1. Man being freely placed in the state of Innocency and God's Favour in the Earthly Pleasures of Eden as a Sanctified state of Communion with God seeing Sin was to be punished with the privation of these we may gather that the Innocent should not have been deprived of them § 12. 2. Man's great Duty being to Love God perfectly according to his present Ability and to please him and delight herein we may gather that the Innocent should have the felicity which is herein contained even in the Delights of loving and pleasing God § 13. 3. Man's Nature being not made in its utmost perfection but in via with a desire of knowing God loving him pleasing him and delighting in him yet more according to his Capacity we may gather That obedient Man should have attained that Perfection For God maketh not the capacities dispositions and desires of Nature in vain § 14. But whether all this should have been given on Earth or in Heaven is not so clear in Nature or Scripture But 1. The Translation of Henoch and Elias maketh it probable that so Man should have been translated 2. And so doth the Glory purchased by the Redeemer 3. And the matter is the less because where-ever the place be the same state of Enjoyment would make it a Heaven to such a person § 15. Neither doth Nature now tell us How long Man must have obeyed before he had merited the full Reward of his Perfection But only that he must conquer all the Temptations that God would try him with and must persevere till God should please to translate him not appointing him any determinate time Nature and Scripture favour this § 16. There are some who considently conclude without either natural or Scripture-proof That had Adam performed but one Act of Obedience to God before his Sin he had been confirmed is the Angels as his Reward And what a Sinner do they make Adam before
Slave and also promiseth him great Possessions and Honours in a Kingdom in the East Indies or at the Antipodes if he will leave his Servitude and his Country and all that he hath there and go with him in his Ship and patiently endure the Sea-trials till he come thither Here he must 1. believe that the Prince hath paid his ransome 2. That he is a wise man and knoweth what he promised and skilful to conduct him safely through all the perils of the Seas 3. That he is an honest man and intendeth not to deceive him 4. That he is sufficient or able to perform his word 5. And if upon this belief he trust him he will let go all and venture in his Ship and follow him And here one tells him that the Ship is unsound another tells him that the Prince is a Deceiver unable to perform his Word or unskilful or dishonest and some way untrusty and another tells him that small matters in his own Country are better than greater with so much hazard and sets out the dangers and terribleness of the Seas Now if the man be ask'd Do you believe or will you trust me or will you not here every one by believing and trusting knoweth that a practical Trust is meant which lieth in such a confidence as forsaketh all and taketh the promised Kingdom for all his hope Such is our Saving Faith § 12. As many Acts and many Objects go to constitute Saving Faith so if you will logically anatomize it all these following must be taken in § 13. 1. The principal Efficient Cause is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost respectively according to their several operations § 14. 2. The Instrumental Cause is the Word of God and the Preaching and Preachers of it or Parents Friends or some that reveal the Word unto us § 15. 3. Subordinate auxiliary means are Providential Alterations by some awaking Judgments or inviting Mercies or convincing Examples c. § 16. 4. The Soul of Man in all its three Faculties Vital-active Intellective and Volitive is 1. the Recipient of the Divine Influx and then 2. the immediate Efficient or Agent of the Acts of Faith § 17. 5. Preparatory Grace and Duty is ordinarily Man's Disposition as he is the Recipient of God's Grace and the Agent of believing But God is free and can work on the unprepared but it is not to be taken for his ordinary way § 18. 6. The formal Object of the assenting Act of Faith is veracit as Dei revelantis the Veracity or Truth of God revealing his Will § 19. 7. The formal Object of the accepting and receiving Act is the Goodness of the Benefits offered us by the Covenant as offered § 20. 8. The formal Object of our Trust or Affiance is God's fides Fidelity because of his aforesaid Veracity in promising and his Power Wisdom and Benevolence as a Performer and this full Act comprehendeth all the rest It is God's Trustiness § 21. 9. The material Objects of the assenting Act in genere are all God's Assertions or Revelations More especially the Gospel or the Christian Faith objective according to the Edition of the Covenant which we are under § 22. The Essentials of our objective Christian Faith constitute the Essence of our active Saving Faith and the Integrals of it constitute the Integrity § 23. And it is of great importance to distinguish here as to the Word and Objects between 1. the signa or words 2. the signification or sence 3. the things matter or incomplex objects as distinct from words and sence viz. God Christ Grace Heaven Goodness Iustice Men c. And to hold 1. That the words are not necessary for themselves but for the sence and therefore Translations or any words which give us the same sence may serve to the being of Saving Faith 2. That the sence it self is not necessary for it self ultimately as if Holiness lay in notions but for the things which that sence revealeth viz. God to be loved and obeyed Christ to be received the Holy Ghost to be received and obeyed Holiness and all Grace to be received loved used encreased our Brethren to be loved Heaven to be desired c. All sence will not bring us to the reception of the things for all is not apt but any that doth this which must be divine and apt will constitute us true Believers § 24. 1. The material Objects of our acceptance and consent are the Word of God commanding offering and promising and the good of Duty and Benefit commanded offered and promised that is All that is given us in the baptismal Covenant God the Father and his Love the Son and his Grace and the Holy Ghost and his Communion The Father as reconciled and adopting us the Son as having redeemed us to teach rule justifie and save us the Holy Spirit to sanctifie comfort and perfect us § 25. 11. The material Object of our Trust or Affiance is God himself the prime Truth Power and Good and Christ as his Messenger and our Saviour and the Holy Ghost as the Author of the Word and the Word as being the Word of God You must pardon us as necessitated to call God a material Object analogically for want of words § 26. 12. The ultimate or final Objects of Saving Faith are 1. God himself the ultimate ultimum that is the perfect Complacency of his will in his Glory eternally shining forth in our Glory and the Glory of Christ with all the Church triumphant 2. Next to that This Glory it self which is a created thing and the Perfection of the Universe and of Christ's Church and our selves in which it consisteth And therein our own Perfection and our perfect sight love and praise of our glorious God and our Redeemer 3. And next under that the first fruits of all this in this World in the foresaid love of the Father and Grace of the Son and Communion of the Holy Spirit and the Church § 27. If therefore we were put to give a full description of Saving Faith we must be as large as this following or such-like in sence viz. The Faith which the Adult must profess in Baptism as having the Promise of Justification and Salvation is a sincere fiducial practical Assent to Divine Revelations and especially to the Gospel revealing and offering us God himself to be our God and reconciled Father Christ to be our Saviour viz. by his Incarnation meritorious Righteousness and Sacrifice Resurrection Doctrine Example Government Intercession and final Judgment and the Holy Ghost to quicken illuminate and sanctifie us that so we may live in the Love of the Father the Grace of the Son and the Communion of the Holy Spirit and of the Christian Church being saved from our Enemies Sin and Misery initially in this Life and perfectly in eternal perfect Glory With a fiducial acceptance of the Gifts of the Covenant according to their nature and a sincere federal Consent and with a sincere