by the Power of the Word and Spirit of Christ they are Works done by a certain Inferior kind of supernatural Grace of Christ and Inspiration of the Spirit of Christ which is sufficient to elevate and raise the Faculties of a Sinner something above its natural Capacity to the producing of such Actions which though they be not savingly good and so not pleasing to God unto Justification and Salvation yet they are materially good and Relatively good too in Order to the use and end for which God has ordained them that is they are Dispositively good they have from God so much goodness as makes them fit to be a Material Disposition of the Sinner to receive from God that which is in a higher Order of goodness even that which is savingly good and in this respect being good they are so far pleasing to God as they are dispositive unto Regeneration and Conversion Hence it is written Mark 10.21 That Jesus beholding an unconverted man loved him the Man was certainly as yet in an unregenerated unconverted State as appears by the 22 verse and by the following Discourse of our Saviour yet he was something solicitous about his Salvation and had some small weak Disposition towards Conversion which our Saviour observed in him and was pleased with it and loved him under that Consideration as something inclined and disposed towards Conversion now our Saviour as Man and as Mediator was never pleased with any thing but as it was pleasing to God and never loved any Man further than God loved him 3. The Article doth not deny but that the foresaid Works or Actions of unregenerate Men done by the Grace of Christ and Inspiration of his Spirit are by the Ordination and free Constitution of God Preparatory and Dispositive unto the Reception of special saving Grace in Regeneration and Conversion But if it intends them at all it denies that of their own Nature they are meritoriously Dispositive either unto the Grace of Regeneration or Justification for the clearing of this it is to be well considered that before the Reformation there were several numerous Sects of Schoolmen in the Roman Church whereof one to wit the Scotists held that a Sinner by doing what he can as far as his natural Strength will go without any Supernatural Grace from Christ may Merit the first Supernatural Grace with a Merit of Congruity and this same Doctrine was taught at Rome even after the Reformation and Council of Trent and published by Nider in a Book intituled Consolatorium timoratae Conscientiae Printed at Rome in the Year 1604. as is to be seen in the 9. Chap. of the 2d part pag. 57. where he maintains that Facienti quod in se est solis naturae viribus Deus daâ— gratiam infallibiliter necessario That unto a Man who doth what he can by the alone Power of Nature God gives Grace infallibly and necessarily â—vâ—n as necessarily as the Sun gives Light to all that open their Eyes to receive it But others of the Schoolmen rejected this Opinion of the Scotists as a Semipelagian Error yet even they held that God having freely given to an unconverted Sinner the first supernatural preventing Grace he may thereby so Convert and Turn himself to God as to Merit of Congruity the Grace of the first Justification that is the Infusion of the Habit of justifying or sanctifying Grace Now the 13th Article of the Church of England was levelled against both these Opinions of the Papists especially and expresly against the 1st Works done by the alone Power of Nature cannot make Men meet to receive Grace or they cannot deserve Grace of Congruity because they are done before and without any Grace of Christ and Inspiration of his Spirit and so are not pleasing to God and what is not pleasing to him cannot possibly Merit the Grace of Regeneration or Justification at his Hand 2. Neither the Works done without any Grace of Christ nor the Works done by the help of Christs preventing common Grace before Regeneration make Men meet to receive or of Congruity deserve the Grace of Justification because they do not Spring out of Faith in Jesus Christ but are both of them before it and therefore are not pleasing to God unto Justification and Salvation yet that nothing hinders but the Works which are done by the preventing Grace of Christ before Conversion may by Gods free Ordination be Preparatory and Materially Dispositive unto Conversion and Faith in Christ 4. We willingly grant what the Article saith That Works done before Regeneration and Conversion have the Nature of Sin because they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done that is they are not so circumstantiated as God requires good Works to be Yet it doth not follow that such of them as are done by the help of preventing Grace are Sin and nothing but Sin as our Author would make People believe for it is one thing for a Work to have the Nature of Sin cleaving to it and it is another thing to be Sin and nothing but Sin the Works of which we now speak certainly have the Nature of Sin cleaving to them as they proceed from an unregenerate Man whose Heart is not yet renewed and who is not endued with a saving Faith and as they are not directed by him to the Glory of God as the best and highest end and yet it is so far from being true that they are Sin in the abstrect and nothing but Sin that on the contrary they are Materially and Substantially good as they are commanded by God and as they proceed from the preventing exciting Grace of Christs Spirit causing a Man to do them in Obedience to Gods command and likewise they are Relatively and Dispositively good as they are ordered by God to be a means of preparing and disposing Man for the saving Grace of Regeneration and Conversion Hence Dr. Owen in the Book aforesaid Pag. 196. saith That they are good in themselves and Fruits of the kindness of God towards us And Pag. 198. He saith That in their own Nature they have a tendency unto sincere Conversion And Pag. 167. He saith that the Spirit of Grace ordinarily giveth not out his Aids and Assistances any where but where he preparen the Soul with Diligence in Duty Thus Dr. Owen whereby it manifestly appears that he was far from thinking that all a Man can do before he have the Spirit of God dwelling in him and in Order to a Holy change first in his Heart and then in his Life is both vain labour and an Acting of Sin And as far was Dr. Twiss from any such thought for thus he writes in the Book mentioned before Answer to the Doctrine of the Synod of Dort and Arles reduced to Practice p. 106. There is a legal Repentance and there is an Evangelical Repentance And that legal Repentance may be unto Desperation as Judas his Repentance was Again that legal Repentance may be a
AN APOLOGY FOR THE MINISTERS Who Subscribed only unto the Stating of The Truths and Errours IN Mr. WILLIAM's Book SHEWING That the Gospel which they Preach is the Old Everlasting Gospel of Christ AND Vindicating them from the Calumnies wherewith they especially the younger sort of them have been unjustly aspersed by the Letter from a Minister in the City to a Minister in the Countrey Nos quidem neque expavescimus neque pertimescimus ea quae ab ignorantibus patimur cùm ad hanc Sectam utique Susceptâ conditione ejus pacti venerimus ut etiam animas nostraas auctorati in has pugnas accedamus ea quae Deus repromittit consequi optantes ea quae Diversae vitae comminatur pati timentes Tertullianus ad Scapulam in ipso libri principio LONDON Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry MDCXCIV THE PREFACE TO THE READER IF a Profest Enemy or a Common and Known I yer had fallen foul upon us with his Tongue or Pen and called us Hereticks Arminian Pelagian Hereticks Corrupters of the Old and Preachers of a New Gospel we should have held our peace and in silence despised his Lies and Revilings But since a Brother who professeth seriousness in Religion and hath some credit amongst good People that fear God and love the Truth and Purity of Christ's Gospel has publickly in Print proclaimed us to be Hereticks and Preachers of a New Gospel our Consciences would not suffer us any longer to keep silence Because it might have been justly interpreted to be an Argument and Evidence of our guilt and good People might have thought that we could say nothing in our own defence and therefore that they had good reason upon the uncontrolled Testimony of a serious Brother to believe that we are Hereticks indeed Pelagian Arminian Hereticks Corrupters of the Old and Preachers of a New Gospel Wherefore to remedy this and to undeceive the Lords People and maintain the Truth and Purity of his Gospel with the credit of his Ministry we judged our selves obliged in Conscience to write and publish this Apology wherein our design is to do wrong to no Man no not to him who hath wronged us But to do right unto the Truth to clear up our own Innocency as to the things we are falsly charged with and to let good people see that the testimony of our accuser is not true and therefore can be no proof that we are Heretical Preachers of a New Gospel or Corrupters of the Old If we had still kept silence and suppressed this Apology all the World that should have heard how we were accused might have either suspected us of Heresie or have blamed us if guiltless for keeping silence and suffering our Ministry to remain aspersed with such a publick charge of Heresie unanswered But we are sure none can have just cause to be offended with us for our now publishing it Since if Men would suppose our case to be their own and that a reputed serious good Man had in a printed Lybel accused them of damnable Heresie they cannot but see That they should judge it their Duty to defend themselves and to clear up their own innocency as to that matter Now if Men would judge thus if it were their own case right reason will assure them that they should pass the like judgment in our case upon supposition that we know our selves not to be guilty of the Crime which we are charged with And the supposition is most certainly true for we know as certainly that we are not guilty of that crime as we know any other thing in the World we know as certainly that we do not preach a New Gospel as we know that there is an Old Gospel in the Church or World So then if we are to be blamed for any thing it is for not doing this work sooner but for that we could alledge more Reasons than we need here to mention It is enough to tell the World that there being more than one conâ—erned in this cause it was fit that we should know one anothers mind and proceed in it with one joint consent which it required some time to do Whereunto we add That the Collecting and Transcribing so many and large Testimonies out of the Writings of Ancient and Modern Divines required yet more time Moreover we profess our selves not to be of the number of those who make boast of their quick and hasty Births and boldly venture to publish unto the World any thing as it comes into their heads without taking time to consider whether it be such as will endure a strict Tryal by the Rule of Truth and Righteousness If our Accuser had taken more time to consider of the several particulars of his Letter of Information before he had printed it we are apt to think that if he be a good Man as we would hope he is he would have seen cause to have altered much of it or to have suppressed it altogether as well for his own particular good as for the common good of Christ's Church But it seems that since all the World almost is ingaged in War at this day he had an ambitious desire to be a Warriour likewise and that desire if he was not put on by others would not let him be quiet but he must sound the Trumpet and both proclaim an Ecclesiastical War and also himself make the first Attack But fâ—r us we are not of such a Spirit so far from it that we have a real aversion to such Ecclesiastical War and are not easily brought to it Indeed it is purely defensive on our side and we were necessitated to it In the managing of it we have endeavoured no farther to offend the first aggressour than was necessary to defend our selves We are not conscious to our selves of having given him just cause of offence unless our refuting his errours vindicating our selves from his Calumnies and exposing the weakness and sometimes the ridiculousness of his reasonings be matter of offence to him And if that be all it is offence taken not given for which he may blame himself For he having attackt us in such Hostile Rude Unbrotherly and Unchristian manner we could not repel his Attack so as to secure the Truth of God the Honour of Religion and our own good Names without answering him as we have done But if it shall be made appear to us that in any thing we have passed the limits of a just self-Defence and have done him any real injury which is more than we know we shall be sorry for it and willing to do him right For we do really wish him well and should be ready to do him any office of love and kindness that lyes in our power But we have no moral lawful power to suffer any Brother to throw Dirt on us the vile Dirt of Pelagian Heresie and to hold our hands and not endeavour to wipe it off again Certainly Pelagianisme is one of the things in
insisted long upon this that all may see how sound and orthodox our Principles are in the point of Justification and how we have been abused and misrepresented to the People by the Authour of the Letter Whether he did it ignorantly or maliciously he knows best himself But which way soever he did it it was certainly very ill done 5thly and lastly We believe that as the Faith of God's Elect is a Condition of the Covenant of Grace so that it is not an uncertain but a most certain Condition our meaning is that before the Elect believe it is not uncertain whether ever they will believe or not It is indeed uncertain to the Persons themselves but it is not objectively uncertain the thing is not uncertain in it self nor is it uncertain unto God whether ever his Elect shall believe No it is most certain in it self and unto God that all the Elect shall believe for God hath chosen them through Christ unto Faith Christ hath merited special Grace for them whereby they shall believe God through Christ hath promised that special Grace and God by his Spirit for Christ's sake gives them that special Grace whereby they do all certainly and infallibly believe The contrary Opinion to this is by our Divines generally charged upon the Arminians It is said that the Arminians hold that it is so far left to Mens Wills assisted by Universal sufficient Grace whether they will make that Grace effectual and so whether they will believe or not that it may come to pass that not one Man in the whole World shall ever eventually believe and consequently that Christ's Blood might have been shed in vain and not one Soul have been effectually redeemed and saved by it This Opinion whoever they be that hold it we utterly detest and abhor and declare to the World that as we are infallibly sure that many of the Elect have believed already and do at present believe so all and every one of them in their several times shall by the special and effectual Grace of God believe to the saving of their Souls We also believe that this certainty of the Faith of God's Elect doth not at all hinder their Faith from being a condition but rather that it makes it to be a certain Condition The Arminians pretend they cannot understand how Faith can be a Duty required of us and a condition to be freely performed by us and that yet at the same time we are so excited to it and assisted by the Grace of God in the doing of it that it is done with an infallible certainty And therefore they say that if we did believe by such a special effectual Grace as that we could not but believe at the time we are influenced by that Grace then our believing would neither be a Duty nor Condition of the Gospel Thus the Arminians argue against Special Effectual Grace But what say our Antinomians to this Argument Why truly they say it is a very good argument that the Arminians have reason on their side and that they do effectually prove that Faith cannot be a Condition of the Gospel-Covenant Now we desire the World to take notice that the Antinomians join with the Arminians against us and take up their very Argument to prove that Faith neither is nor can be a Condition of the Gospel-Covenant And since they account this their chief argument we desire they would be so just and honest as to take the whole argument and not only a part of it and consider that the whole argument proves that upon supposition of special effectual Grace Faith can neither be a Duty nor a Condition and it proves as strongly that Faith cannot be a Duty of the Gospel as that it cannot be a Condition of the Gospel Either then our Antinomians must say that Faith is no Duty because of this argument or if it may be still a Duty so may it also be still a Condition notwithstanding the force of this Argument For ought we know the right Antinomians may be willing enough to grant the consequence of the argument to be good as to both parts of it for we are afraid they care as little for Duties as they do for Conditions and some of them have plainly renounced Faiths being their Duty and have put it over upon Christ as his Duty and not theirs But we hope the Authour of thy â—etter is not yet so far gone and that he still retains some respect for Rutherfond's Examen Arminianismi which he had a hand in publishing and where he will find these words following page 270. Quaeritur an fides non potest esse conditio c. The Question is whether Faith cannot be a Condition required of the Elect by way of Duty and free Obedience and at the same time be a thing promised by God and unavoidably wrought by God in us The Remonstrants deny it we affirm it We likewise are for the affirmative against the Remonstrants who hold the negative of the Question But how to reconcile the Efficacy of God's Grace with our Free Will in doing the Duties incumbent upon us is no easie matter S. Augustin lib. deâ—praedest Sanct. cap. 14. says that it is Difficilis ad solvendum quaestio A Question difficult to be resolved Erkstra blasphemas ignorantium auribus ingeris nos lib. arb condemnare damnetur ille qui damnat Hieron Epist ad â—tisi hontem And Epist 46. Ad Valentinum he says it is difficillima quaestio paucis intelligibilis a most difficult question and such as few can understand And again lib. de gratiâ Christi contra Pelagium Caelestium cap. 47. Ista quaestio ubi de arbitrio voluntatis Dei gratiâ disputatur ita est ad discernendum difficilis ut quando c. That Question where Men dispute about Free Will and God's Grace is so hard to discern or understand that when Men defend Free Will they seem to deny God's Grace and when they assert God's Grace they seem to take away or destroy Free Will What must we do then in this case must we deny Free-will altogether No not altogether for as Augustin saith Epist 47. ad Valentinum Fides Catholica neque liberum arbitrium negat sive in vitam malam sive in bonam neque tantum ei tribuit ut sine gratiâ Dei valeat aliquid c. The Catholick Faith neither denies Free-will whether in order to a bad life or a good neither doth it ascribe so much to Free-will as that without God's Grave it can do any good c. We must not then altogether deny Free-will the Catholick Faith will not allow us so to do nor will the inward sense and experience that we have of our own Soul and its Actings suffer us to do it For as Augustin saith Lib. 83. Quaest 98. Moveri per se Animam sentit qui sentit in se esse Voluntatem He feels his Soul to be moved by it self who feels that
may be observed and remembred that when we say sincere Obedience is indispensably necessary to Salvation we do not mean that it is required as absolutely and indispensably necessary to our Salvation that our sincere Obedience be never at all interrupted by any Acts of disobedience but that if it happen that our Obedience be at any time notably interrupted by Acts of wilful presumptuous Sin it is indispensably necessary to our Salvation that we renew our Faith and Repentance and return to our Obedience again and that we dye in Faith and Obedience to the revealed Will of God As for them who are called at the last Hour who are first converted and justified a little before their Death Actual Faith and Repentance is required of them in their own Persons and as much more sincere Obedience as they have time and strength to performe As we see in the penitent Thief he performed a great deal of Obedience in a little time he not onely believed in Christ with his Heart but confessed him with his Mouth pleaded for him and vindicated him from the blasphemous Aspersions that were cast upon him He likewise took shame to himself and gave Glory to God by confessing his own Sins and withal he expressed his Love to his Fellow-Thief by rebuking and admonishing him Lastly He trusted in and prayed unto Christ as a Lord and King who had a Kingdome in another World and who could help and save him after this Life Luke 22.40 41 42. This that penitent Malefactor did at his Death and truly this was a great deal for him to do at such a time and when Christ his Lord and Saviour was before his Face in so low and miserable a Condition to the Eye of Sense and Reason The Obedience which that poor penitent Believer yeilded to the Lord in such Circumstances may well be esteemed equivalent to all that sincere Obedience which in the space of many Years others in better Circumstances perform unto the Lord. Thus we have at large prosecuted and cleared this Argument for the indispensable necessity of sincere Obedience to the obtaining of Eternal Life and Salvation and consequently for the Conditionality of the Covenant-promise of Eternal Life and Salvation And the Argument seems to us so clear and cogent that we do not see any thing of weight that can be objected against it If any should say that sincere Evangelical Obedience is not only necessary to Salvation as the condition to be performed on our parts but upon other accounts also We heartily acknowledge that it is so It is necessary to express our Love and Thankfulness to God and Christ for their wonderful Goodness and Grace Mercy and Love to us As also it is necessary in order to the pleasing and Glorifying our God Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier and that thereby we may profit and edifie our Neighbours But this doth by no means hinder its being likewise indispensably necessary to our own Salvation nay all this is a part of that Obedience which is so necessary to our Salvation If yet any should further object and say that besides Faith sincere Obedience may be indispensably necessary to Salvation and yet not be a Condition of obtaining Salvation We answer that we do not love to contend with any about the use of the word condition if they will grant us the thing signified by the Word Now by the Word condition in this matter of Obedience we mean no more but that sincere Obedience is so necessary to Salvation that God by his Promise hath suspended our obtaining of Salvation consummate Salvation in Heavenly Glory till we have performed sincere Obedience unto him assuring us that if through Grace we perform sincere Obedience unto him we shall certainly be saved but if not we shall not be saved This is all we mean by sincere Obedience its being the Condition of the Covenant-promise of Salvation If our Brethren agree to this they yeild us the thing that we contend for and there remains no more difference as to this matter but about the use of the word condition and if they do not think fit to use that Word we leave them to their Liberty not to use it as we desire they would leave us to our Liberty to use it as we have occasion For though the Word be not in Scripture yet the thing signified by the Word is manifestly there as we have proved It is also a Word of Antient usage in the Christian Church even in the best Reformed Churches before ever we were born why then should we forbear the use of the Word condition or why should any be offended at our using of it Indeed we cannot forbear the using of it for the Reason given us by some well-meaning Men because it is not a Scriptural-word For if that Reason prove any thing it will prove too much to wit that we should not use the Words Trinity Incarnation Satisfaction Merit of Christ Sacrament Infant-baptism c. and which is more that we should wholly give over Preaching the Gospel and hereafter only Read the Holy Scripture without Expounding it for we are sure that no Man doth or can Preach one Sermon without using some Word or Words that are not expresly in the Scripture And as our sincere Obedience may be and really is a Condition of obtaining Eternal Salvation though it be not expresly called by that Name in Scripture so may it be and really it is a Condition though it be performed by the help of God's Grace We know this is the main Reason why our Brethren think that neither our Faith nor Obedience can be a Condition of the Covenant because they are wrought in us by the special and effectual Grace of God but we know also that this is a very weak Reason For 1. We do not say that that is the Condition of the Covenant which is the Work and Effect of Gods Grace alone Such is effectual Calling on God's part and the infusion of the Seminal abiding principle of supernatural Spiritual Life It is God only who calls us effectually and who infuses the said Principle of Grace and Life into our Souls and we are merely passive in the reception of it We never said nor thought that it is required of us by way of Duty or Condition that we should effectually call our selves and infuse a supernatural Principle of Grace and Life into our selves This indeed would be very absurd Therefore we hold that our being effectually called and our having an abiding principle of Grace and Life given in unto us is quid prae-requisitum something pre-required to our right performing the condition but not the condition it self That which is required of us by way of Duty and Condition on which God promiseth us the subsequent blessings of the Covenant It is that we do not resist his Spirit and that by the grace of his Spirit we do actually believe and obey and persevere to the end Now the Grace of God whereby
sometimes two as in Acts 20.20 21 27. compared the Apostle comprehends the whole counsel of God under Repentance and Faith also in that of Solomon Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of Man Eccles 12.13 So that if you could suppose a Man to be a Believer and to be a Believer alone it would not save him as the Apostle James saith chap. 2.14 What doth it profit my Brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him No no more than saying be ye warmed will warm any or be ye filled will fill any for Faith without works is dead And what is said of this may be said of the rest so that when the Scripture speaks of Salvation as annexed to any one thing it supposeth that to contain the rest The reason is evident for the Graces of God as saving are not parted There is no believing to Salvation without Repentance nor no Repentance to Salvation without believing there is no calling upon the Name of the Lord will save without departing from iniquity nor can they savingly depart from iniquity that call not on the Name of the Lord. It is not any one thing but things that pertain to the Kingdom of God Acts 1.3 It is not thing but things that accompany or as it may be better read contain Salvation Heb. 6.9 And he that takes one for all without all as our wise Authour doth will find nothing at all A part is no portion The great fallacy with which Satan deludes many men is that which Logicians call à benè compositis ad malè divisa When he gets them to take Religion into pieces and then take one piece for Religion One cries up God another cries up Christ another Faith another Love another good Works but what is God without Christ or Christ without Faith or Faith without Love or Love without Works But now take God in Christ by Faith which worketh by Love to the keeping of the Commandments of God and this is pure Religion It is the whole that is the whole of Man Yet again though I have spoken thus much to it let me make it clearer than a demonstration That one is put for all and as containing all by comparing these places of Scripture In 1 Cor. 7.19 You read that circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the Commandments of God What 's that Why that is all in all In Gal. 5.6 It is neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love That 's that which availeth or is all in all Yet in Gal. 6.15 he saith neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature That 's all in all And yet for all this as if all this were nothing he tells us in Col. 3.11 That Christ is all and in all cashiering both circumcision and uncircumcision as formerly Now my beloved if you should take any one of these though each be said to be availing I say if you should take any one and lay the stress of your Salvation upon it you were undone Let our Authour and his Proselytes look to themselves It is not keeping the Commandments of God nor Faith working by Love nor the new Creature no nor Christ himself considered alone and apart that availeth any thing but these in conjunction He names one onely because where one is it is not only one there is more than one wherever one is savingly there are all in their respective places as far as they are to be in relation to Salvation Thus you see that Faith as well as Works and Works as well as Faith every one in their own order are to be taken in or we shall not be taken into the Kingdom of Heaven This Rule of interpreting Scripture is one of Vennings things that are well worth the thinking on and therefore we have set it down at large If it be duly attended to it will give light sufficient to discover the darkness of our Authours Ignorance or Hypocrisie But he objects further That no answer but this alone can rightly heal the wound of an awakened Conscience pag. 15. We reply That what he says is false and delusive in his sense taking Faith for one single act of one Grace and Duty exclusive of Repentance and all other Graces and Duties But take it according to God's usual way of speaking much in a little and in a complex comprehensive sense as taking in or not excluding but rather supposing Repentance and it is most true For the Vertue and Efficacy of Christ's Blood applyed by the Spirit and Faith to the Soul prepared by Repentance is indeed the only Remedy that can heal it But if our Authour will say that Faith in Christ alone and without Repentance will heal the wounds of awakened consciences in wicked Men at their first Conversion we cannot choose but rank him amongst those Covetous deceitful Prophets and Priests who heal the hurt of the People slightly saying Peace peace when there is no peace Jerem. 6.13 14. We are infallibly sure from the Scriptures of Truth That the Apostles Commission was to preach Repentance as well as Faith in order to Mens Justification and Salvation and that they were obedient to the Commands of their Great and Glorious Lord and preached according to their Commission For we read in God's Holy Word that when the Consciences of a multitude of unbelieving Jews who had been accessory to the most barbarous murder of Christ the Son of God and Saviour of Men were throughly awakened and their Spirits were deeply wounded by the Arrows of Conviction which Almighty God by his Word and Spirit had shot into their Souls they feeling themselves pricked in their hearts said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do Acts 2.37 then as follows vers 38. Peter said unto them Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins c. Here we have a Company of People in great distress of Conscience as the Goaler was and in this their Spiritual distress they do as the Goaler did As the Goaler sought advice of Paul and Silas and asked them what he should do to be saved Just so the awakened convinced Jews sought advice of Peter and the rest of the Apostles and asked them What they should do To whom Peter answered Repent and be baptized c. Whereupon we demand of our Authour was this answer of Peter a right answer or not 1. We hope he will not he dare not say it was not a right answer For Peter was an Apostle as well as Paul and at that very time he was full of the Holy Ghost and spake as he was inspired by the Holy Ghost If then he should be so bold as to say that Peter did not give them a right answer because he did not say to them as Paul said to the
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
the Lord himself hath taught us by his holy Spirit in the Canonical Scriptures And therefore if the Scriptures be true this Doctrine cannot be false but is and must be true and it is very strange and wonderful if all true Christians be afraid to dye in the Faith of the true Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures We rather think that if they be not delirious but have the use of their Reason they are not true Christians but meer Hypocrites that renounce the foresaid Doctrine of Justification and are afraid to stand to it at Death We are sure that good Hezekiah was not afraid to stand to this Doctrine when he justly apprehended himself to be under the Sentence of Death since we find it written in Isa 38.3 4. That he prayed thus unto the Lord Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in thy sight c. And God was so far from being displeased with this his Prayer that he most graciously accepted it and shewed himself so well pleased with Hezekiah that he gave him a further Lease of his Life for fifteen years and Sealed the Lease with a Miracle a thing we do not find that ever the Lord did for any other Man before or since We have also read of many in History and have heard of others and have our selves known some who have not been afraid to stand to our Doctrine aforesaid at Death but have died comfortably in the Faith of it As for our selves we live in the Faith of it and desire to die also in the Faith of it and as we account it our Duty to stand to it in Life and at Death so we trust and hope that if the Lord be pleased to preserve to us the use of our Reason and to continue to us the Presence of his Spirit and Assistance of his Grace we shall be enabled to perform our Duty in owning at Death and if he call us to it in Sealing with our Blood the said true Doctrine of Justification which we have preached to his People in the time of our Life As for our Author we hope he agrees with us that Christs Righteousness is never to be renounced but always to be trusted to and relied upon as the cause of our Justification and Salvation both in Life and at Death What then would he have us to renounce If it be our own Merits he knows very well that we admit not the very possibility of any proper Merits of our own and that we renounce all Confidence in such a Chimera as much as he or any Man can do If it be our own good Acts or Works as the Cause of our Justification He may know by what we have said before that we renounce as much as he doth and something more too all causal Influence of any good Acts or Works of ours upon Justistification If it be Faiths being the Condition of Justification that he would have us to renounce That we can never do either in Life or at Death for the Reasons we have given before Besides he himself ascribes as much and we think something more to Faith in the matter of Justification than we do for he maintains Faith to be the Instrument of Justification and if it be a proper Instrument it must have an Instrumental Causality upon Justification and so must be an Instrumental Cause and to be an Instrumental Cause is more than to be a Receptive Condition of Justification If we may be afraid then to stand to it at Death that Faith is the Condition of Justification he may have more Cause to be afraid to stand to it at Death that Faith is the Instrument of Justification But we suspect his meaning is that we will and must be afraid to stand to it at Death that Repentance is a Condition necessary to Justification and that perseverance in Faith and in the Practice of Repentance and Holiness is necessary to the obtaining Possession of Eternal Salvation and if this be it indeed which he thinks we and all sensible men must be afraid to stand to at Death and therefore must renounce we cannot but judge the Man to be under a strong Delusion for First The Scripture is as full and clear for the Truth of these things as it is for the Truth of any other Article of the Christian Faith Secondly We have the Concurrent Judgment of Divines both Ancient and Modern agreeing with us in the same Truth as we have proved at large Thirdly We have heard of many and have known some who upon their Death-bed have bitterly lamented and bewailed that they had not repented of their Sins in time that for and through the Meritorious Righteousness of Christ they might have obtained Pardon and Justification but we never heard of or knew any who upon their Death-bed lamented and bewailed that they had repented too soon in order to their obtaining Pardon and Justification through Christs Meritorious Righteousness The like we may say of the Necessity of a Holy Life in Order to the obtaining of Eternal Salvation through Christ many have most lamentably bewailed on their Death-bed their own Folly and Wickedness in not preparing themselves for Happiness by the Practice of Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. But we could never hear of any who on their Death-bed lamented and bewailed that they had held the Erroneous Opinion that the sincere Practice of Holiness is necessary to the obtaining of Salvation and Happiness through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ On the contrary the Generality of People that are serious and sensible they then acknowledge the Necessity of sincere Repentance in Order to the obtaining Pardon of Sin and the Necessity of Holiness in Order to the obtaining of Salvation and Happiness through Jesus Christ our Lord. So abominably false is it that no sensible man dare stand to our Doctrine at his Death that the quite contrary is true and no knowing sensible Man but will gladly stand to it and own it with all his Heart except such Nominal Christians as are Conscious to themselves that they are Hypocrites and unconverted Sinners and fear that if the Gospel be true they shall certainly be damned And therefore they may possibly some of them at least flatter themselves with the Hopes that God for Christs sake will Pardon and Justifie them before and without Repentance and save them without Holiness But we dare not humour such People nor flatter them however they may flatter themselves and therefore we must in faithfulness to Peoples Souls tell them from God that except they repent they shall perish and that without Holiness they shall never see the Lord so as to be Happy in the sight of him And for the Hypocrites Hope of being pardoned without Repentance and of being Happy without being Holy it shall certainly perish with himself His Hope shall be cut off and