Scripture alleadged by him do prove and we do constantly professe and preach the same but by that which he hath written in other places of this Treatise I know that he hath another meaning and that is that Christ performed the conditions of the Covenant of grace or of the Gospel for us that is as he speaketh that he repented for us and believed for us and that his Faith and Repentance are in the Gospel offered unto us and are accepted of God for us as if we our selves did repent and believe This strange opinion of his I have examined Quest 13. Whither I do referr you for more ample satisfaction in this matter Sixthly It 's no more saith Mr. S. to offer Jesus Christ then any grace of Christs or gift of Christ unto a sinner For a sinner is as unprepared and unfit for the one as the other equally in sin and pollution to both All this is true I grant if he do speak of a sinner as he is by nature and of himself But what can be inferred or concluded hence against the Protestant Doctrine that hath been hitherto constantly taught I cannot see nor perceive but may rather wrest his weapons out of his hands and use them against himself For if it be all one or as he saith if it be no more to offer Christ then any grace of Christ or gift of Christ unto a sinner then seeing the grace and gift of remission of sins or of justification is received by Faith as both St. Peter teacheth Acts 10.43 and St. Paul Acts 26.18 Christ himself also is to be received of us by Faith and as our sins are not forgiven but we are bound over unto punishment for them in Gods word until we believe in Christ so neither can any have any interest in Christ as long as we remain in infidelity and incredulity do not believe in him contrary to Mr. S. Mr. D. new doctrine Thus I have answered this Objection also according to the generality of the words wherein it was propounded But thinking more intentively with my self what M. S. his meaning might be I guessed that his words must be taken Restricte in a more restrained sense as if he should reason thus The graces of Faith and Repentance are freely and absolutely offered in the Gospel without requiring any antecedent act of Faith or Repentance whereby they are to be received and made ours therefore Christ is also as absolutely offered without any condition either of Faith or Repentance Now hereunto I do answer that all are in the Gospel commanded to believe in Christ and to repent that they may be saved by him but Faith and Repentance were never offered to all neither by Christ himself nor by his Apostles when they preached the Gospel nor are the Ministers of the Gospel now so to offer them It 's true Christ giveth Faith and Repentance to his spiritual Israel This we are to teach Acts 5.31 that men may be stirred up to seek both Faith and Repentance of Christ in the use of such means as he hath prescribed But it is one thing to teach this and another to offer Faith and Repentance to all absolutely It is Christ and his merits that are offered unto us in the Gospel but Faith is required of us as the means whereby both himself and his merits are received and Repentance and new Obedience is in joyned as a necessary condition without which we can have no communion with Christ as I shall have occasion to shew hereafter But if I shall grant that Faith and Repentance are offered unto us in the Gospel yet I may retort the Argument of Mr. S. upon himself for Faith and consequently Repentance are not offered unto us nor wrought in us nisi mediante verbo but by the means and ministery of the word For Faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10.17 and hearing by the word of God therefore Christ is neither absolutely offered nor absolutely made ours sed mediante eodem verbo et fide but by means of the same word and Faith whereby we receive him Lastly I do argue thus eternal life is not to be had without Faith in Christ This St. John giveth us to understand when he saith John 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Seeing therefore as Mr. S. saith we are alike indisposed to any gift of Christ as we are to Christ himself it followeth therefore necessarily that seeing the gift of life is not ours without Faith neither is Christ himself ours without Faith which if it be granted it cannot be avoided but must needs be acknowledged that he is made ours by Faith And this the Apostle expresly avoucheth Eph. 2.12 Ye were at that time without Christ that is whilest they were Infidels and unbelievers Lastly This spiritual work saith Mr. S. is a new Creation and so works of preparation are not so proper in that Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus Answer That our regeneration is a new Creation we do all acknowledge but that every work of Creation doth exclude all precedent preparations will not so easily be granted For Beasts Birds and Fishes were not made immediatly of nothing but of a precedent matter And God created man also not immediatly of nothing but his Body was first prepared and created of the dust of the earth and when that was perfectly formed he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils that is he infused his Soul into his Body Gen. 2. and so he was made a living Soul The same course also doth the Lord ordinarily take in our regeneration which is a new Creation For that there are certain preparations such as are the hearing of the word some knowledge of sin and of a mans own misery by sin and of the grace of God in Christ ordinarily thereunto precedent in adultis in those that are of capacity and understanding shall be shewed afterwards God willing in the seventh Question It doth not appear therefore neither by this nor by any former Reasons of Mr. S. that Christ is ours before we do believe in him or that he is not made ours by Faith Objection Whereas therefore he saith immediatly before the first of those aforesaid seven Reasons of his that we are not to consider neither Faith nor Repentance as bringing-in Christ in the Soul but Christ bringing-in them and working them more and more in the soul Unto this I answer Answer that Christ by bringing-in as he speaketh that is by working Faith and Repentance in the Soul doth bring-in himself into it and taketh and keepeth possession of it and so we are interested in Christ For until Christ worketh these graces in us by his Spirit we are altogether aliens from him and have no communion with him at all It is no good reasoning to say Christ worketh Faith in
would know therefore how they came to have Christ but by receiving him when he was offered unto them in the preaching of the Gospel But here it may be said Christ in his Gospel Question requireth of us Repentance and new Obedience as well as Faith Mark 1.15 Heb. 5.9 Acts 3.26 Why then should we be said to receive Christ and to apply him and his merits unto us any more by Faith then by our Repentance To this I answer Answer That Faith is required of us as the only instrument or means whereby we are to receive Christ and his merits when they are offered unto us in the Gospel For so ye have heard the Scripture tell us that Christ is received by Faith and Paul saith Acts 26.18 that forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of Heaven which Christ hath purchased for us are received by Faith Now there is no such thing spoken of Repentance or new Obedience but they are required in another respect or for another Reason to wit That we may have communion with Christ and glorifie the name of God and his Gospel by living holily Thus both Faith and Repentance are Conditions of the Covenant of Grace or of the Gospel but in divers respects For by Faith we receive Christ and salvation by him and without Repentance we cannot receive him or the salvation which by his death he hath purchased and in his Gospel offereth unto us Briefly then thus it is Faith is a condition necessary to be performed by us that we may thereby receive Christ and be incorporated and united unto him Repentance is Conditio sine qua non that is a necessary condition without the performance whereof 2 Cor. 6.14 Heb. 5.9 we can have no communion with Christ nor hope of Heaven SECT V. Christ is freely given notwithstanding the Conditions that are required of us Object BUt he objecteth again and saith Yet methinks that Christ is here set forth upon some conditions and not so freely given Answ Yes he is freely given that is gratis notwithstanding these conditions For they are not meritorious as in many compacts and Covenants that passe between man and man but conditions to which Christ and his merits are freely offered and given in the Gospel through the meer mercy and goodness of God and not for any merit or desert of these conditions I would know of these men whether the Kingdom of Heaven and the glory thereof be not freely given us of God Yet I hope they will not deny but that Faith Repentance and new Obedience must go before tfie fruition and possession thereof Heb. 12.14 as conditions or as things on our part to be performed or else we shall never come there What doth not the Apostle set it down as a condition of our glorification and salvation in Heaven when he saith to the Collossians Now hath Christ reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable Col. 1.22 and unreproveable in his sight if you continue in the Faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Like whereunto is that of the same Apostle 1 Tim. 2.15 where he saith that the woman notwithstanding the dolorous pains in child-birth which God hath laid upon her shall be saved if they continue in Faith and charity and holiness with sobriety The like conditionals we meet with Rom. 11.22 Rev. 3.20 and in divers other places of the new Testament Whence these men who take upon them to be the only Patrons of free Grace may see how absurdly they reason when they say Grace is free therefore nothing is required of us antecedenter to the receiving of Christ or of justification or of any other grace For I would know of them whether eternal life be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the free gift of God or a gift of Gods grace as the Apostle calleth it Rom. 6.23 Now what will they say that nothing is to be done of us that we are neither to repent nor believe nor to do any good works before we come to Heaven that we may be saved by grace If so then let them profess themselves Libertines or if they will not do that let them take heed that they do not lay down such Principles whence Libertinisme may necessarily be inferred For I would know of them where in all the Scripture remission of sins is so granted by God that nothing is required of us neither Faith nor Repentance Where there is such an absolute grant a man is tied to nothing whence it will follow that he may have remission of sins and consequently be saved although he never believe repent nor amend his life but live in sin all his dayes But that I may let them see wherein they do deceive themselves Whereas they say That grace is free Objection therefore nothing is required of us but Christ is freely to be offered and preached to all even to those that live in sin as well as to any others without any conditions I answer That they do deceive themselves and others with an equivocation For when they say grace is free Answer the meaning hereof is that it is gratuita free in regard of any recompence or satisfaction and so freedome in this sense is opposed to merit but the meaning is not that we are inde liberati à conditionibus fidei et resipiscentiae thereby freed from the conditions of Faith and repentance without which there is no remission of sins nor salvation to be had no more then we are freed ab officio gratitudinis erga Deum from our duty of thankfulnesse towards God after we are justified and in the state of grace Yet thus do these men speak of freedom when they say grace is free opposing freedom not to merit but to any bond of duty towards God in the same sense as St. Paul doth when he saith that a woman is free from the Law of her husband when he is dead Rom. 7.3 SECT VI. In what sense and signification this word Grace is used and taken in holy Scripture and that we do ascribe our salvation wholly to Grace BUt that I may make this yet more plain I say that Grace is taken in several senses and significations in holy Scripture but principally in these two First properly pro gratuita Dei benevolentia et favore for the free good will and favour of God as when the Apostle saith Eph. 2.8 Ye are saved by Grace that is by the free favour and mercy of God Rom. 3.24 Rom. 4.16 Eph. 1.5.6 And so it is to be understood in those sayings All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justifyed freely by his Grace And therefore it is of Faith that it might be of Grace And having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his Grace
spirit of bondage that maketh men hold out in a constant course of obedience to all Gods Commandements And it is faith that purifieth the heart and inflameth it with the love of God and of his Son Iesus Christ No fear of punishment nor terror of Hell can mortifie sin or make it odious and loathsom For notwithstanding these feares the love of sin and vitious affections will still reside and remain in the soul SECT VII The Conclusion THus have I answered his Objections wherefore to conclude this matter this I say That where a man doubteth of his faith especially in time of tentation yet he may have some assurance from his works that he is not altogether without faith And on the other side a mans faith when it is grounded on the promises of the Gospel that is when he resteth and relyeth on Jesus Christ not only for the pardon of his sins but for the spirit of sanctification and endevoreth to obey God in all things may assure him of both these although he doubteth of the sincerity and truth of some of his works by reason of the reliques of the flesh or of that carnal corruption that doth adhere as yet unto them But the best assurance of all other is when a man upon proof and examination findeth that both his faith and works are upright before God that is sincere and sound though subject to many infirmities and imperfections 2 Pet. 1.5 to 12. See this Question handled again Quest 13. Whether the Gospel may properly be said to be a Covenant as that of the Law was SECT I. The Gospel is properly a Covenant Mr. S. his peremptory resolution and determination is this God makes no Covenant properly under the Gospel as he did at first Man is not restored in such a way of Covenant and condition as he was lost but more freely and more by grace and mercy that is as he explaineth himself by free promise without binding us to any conditions He will have the Gospel therefore to be called a Covenant non proprié not properly for as he acknowledgeth in every Covenant properly so called there are conditions sed laté but in a large sense or acception as the Lord calleth his promise that he will never destroy the World with a flood by the name of his Covenant But against this assertion of his I shall by Gods Grace make it evident that the Gospel is properly a Covenant not a Covenant of works indeed as the Law was yet as the Protestants have hitherto called it and as it is indeed the Covenant of Grace First I reason thus the promises of the Gospel or of the new Testament are not absolute but conditional Mr. S. therefore will he nill he must grant that the Gospel is properly a Covenant for he acknowledgeth that to be a Covenant Gen. 9. See also Mat. 6.14 18.3 Joh. 8.24 which requireth conditions or wherein men are bound to the performance of conditions It s true indeed Mr. S. and our new teachers do confidently avouch that the Gospel offereth salvation unto all without any conditions but this is apparently false as these Scriptures following do evidence Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God Rom. 11.22 to them which fell severity but towards thee goodnesse if thou continue in his goodnesse Col. 1.22 otherwise thou shalt be cut off Christ hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh 1 Tim. 2.15 through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel The Woman being deceived was in the transgression notwithstanding 2 Tim. 2.11 12. she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety If we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also raign with him 2 Tim. 2.20 if we deny him he will also deny us In a great house there are not only Vessels of Gold and of Silver but also of Wood and of Earth and some to honour and some to dishonour Heb. 3.14 If a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work We are made pertakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end 1 Joh. 1.7 If we walk in light as he that is God the Father is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Vers 9. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voyce and open the door I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me In all these Rev. 3.20 and in many other places of holy Scripture salvation is offered us not simply and absolutely whether we believe or no and whether we forsake sin and obey God or no but if we do such and such things as the Lord requireth of us that is upon condition of our faith and obedience This is so evident that Mr. S. is forced to acknowledge that there are conditions required in the Gospel and that it is a Covenant But he thinketh to put it off with this evasion 1. He saith That Christ is the only covenanted person The Covenant is made with him and not with us And 2. That he hath satisfied all the conditions thereof for us that he hath repented and that he was mortified for us But let us examine these things and see what truth there is in them SECT II. The Covenant of Grace is made not onely with Christ but with us also who do believe in him FIrst of all then whereas he saith the Covenant is made with Christ therefore not with us He might as well say the Surety here amongst men is bound to pay the debt therefore not the principal debtor himself whereas it is well known that both the debtor and his sureties do many times all of them stand bound together unto the Creditor Now so do both Christ and we stand bound together in the Covenant of grace to God the Father but after a far different manner For the Covenant of salvation is made with Christ as with our Mediator and surety who undertook to satisfie the justice of God for our sins and to bring us again to God from whom we were revolted and gone astray that so we may serve him and glorifie him according to our bounden duty It is made with us also as with the peculiar people whom Christ hath purchased unto God who by
Covenant do bind our selves to believe in Christ and to glorifie him and his Father for the work of our Redemption That the Covenant of the Gospel is thus made not only with Christ our head and our surety but with us also that are his members is most evident from those words of the Lord wherein both the persons with whom the Covenant is made and the form thereof is related and expressed This is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel Jer. 31.34 32 33. Heb. 8.8.9 10 11 12. saith the Lord with the spiritual Israel of all Nations not the carnal Israel after those dayes I will put my Lawes into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people c. We see here with whom this new Covenant of the Gospel is made with the house of Israel now the house of Israel is not persona singularis one individual person as Christ is sed totum aggregatum but a multitude united together as the Church of God is 2. The Lord also Ezech. 16.8 9. telleth us that he entred into Covenant with the Israelites when he found them defiled in their filthiness which cannot be spoken of Christ and then washed their blood from them which must be understood of the Covenant of grace not of works The Covenant of grace therefore was not made with Christ only but with all his members also who in their natural condition are such as were the Israelites here described 3. We read also Gen. 17.7 Gen. 17.9 That the Covenant of grace was made with Abraham and all his seed It was not made therefore with Christ only Yea which is more God said unto Abraham Thou shalt keep my Covenant thou and thy seed after thee in their generations This Coâ—enant therefore was not only a gratious promise of salvation on Gods part but Abraham and his seed were also bound by it to do something that is Gen. 17.1 to believe in the promised Messiah and to glorifie God for their salvation by him But here it will be said Object the Covenant which Abraham and his seed were commanded to keep was that all their males should be circumcised the eighth day It is true Answ but that outward circumcision did bind them inwardly to circumci e their hearts for the Circumcision of the flesh was not commanded for it self barely but in regard of the mystical signification thereof whereupon the Lord spake unto the Israelites who were circumcised in the flesh and said Circumcise therefore the fore-skin of your heart and be no more stif-necked Deut. 10.16 Where this spiritual Circumcision was neglected the Covenant whereof it was a token was not kept but broken as that complaint which the Lord taketh up concerning the carnal Israelites plainly sheweth All these Nations to wit all the Heathen Nations there reckoned up are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel Jer. 9.26 are uncircumcised in their heart The Apostle also telleth us that that is not circumcision which is outward in the flesh but which is in the heart Rom. 2.28 29. 4. When David also saith All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal 25.10 And again The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness Psal 103.17 18. justitia promissionum his righteousness in fulfilling his promises unto Childrens Children To such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandements to do them I would know of what Covenant and of what testimonies and commandements it is that David here speaketh Doubtless not of the legal Covenant for that is not a Covenant of mercy but of justice that exacteth all that is required in it without remitting any thing or shewing any mercy unto those that do transgress it Deut. 27.26 It is of the Evangelical Covenant therefore that David speaketh when he saith that God will be merciful unto those that keep his Covenant Now I cannot conceive how we cannot be said to keep this Covenant and the Testimonies and Commandements thereof if the Covenant of the Gospel were made only with Christ and we were bound to nothing nor nothing were required of us by it as a part of this Covenant belonging to us For were it so then we could be said neither to keep it nor to break it no more then mankind can be said to keep the covenant that God made with Noah Gen. 9.11 that he would no more destroy the Earth with a Flood Gods absolute promise to Noah concerning this his mercy is here called his covenant It is God himself therefore who faithfully performeth and keepeth this covenant throughout all generations But it cannot be said to have been kept by Noah or any of his posterity who by this Covenant were bound to nothing 5. To these former Testimonies may be added those words of the Lord to the Israelites Exod. 19.5 where after he had told them what great things he had done for them he subjoyneth Now therefore if ye will obey my voyce indeed and keep my Covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the Earth is mine And ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation Here the Lord hath promised great things unto his people but it is upon condition that they obey him and keep his Covenant If it be said That this was spoken to the carnal Israelites and therefore belongeth not to us I confess indeed That it was spoken not only to the Elect but to the whole Nation of the Israelites Answ but how verily as they typified or as they analogically repreâ—ented the spiritual Israel of God or the called of God of all Nations whence it followeth that believers now under the Gospel are confederate with God and therefore are to keep the covenant of the Gospel that they may be a peculiar people and a royal Priesthood unto God 1 Pet. 1.9 for so St. Peter applyeth this promise unto all true believers as unto those to whom all the blessings of the covenant do belong Nec enim alios quam faederatos faederis conditionem servantes decrevit Deus beatitudinis facere participes for neither hath God decreed to make any other partakers of blessedness than those that are confederate with him and that keep the condition of the covenant as saith the most learned and judicious Rivetus writing on these very words of the Lord unto the Israelites 6. I do also reason thus As the Law is the covenant of works or at least wise as the covenant of works is revealed in the Law So the gospel revealeth and maketh known unto us the covenant of grace or of salvation by the meer mercy of God through Jesus Christ As the Law therefore binding us to the perfect obedience thereof if we will
be saved and otherwise denouncing damnation if we transgress it doth hereby shew wherein the covenant of works consisteth So seeing the gospel doth not offer remission of sins and salvation by Christ unto all nor unto any absolutely but unto those only that do repent and believe the Gospel Mark 1.15 and obey Christ Heb. 5.9 It followeth therefore that the Gospel bindeth us to the obedience thereof as to our part of the covenant of grace yet so that we are to do the things which the Gospel requireth not by our own strength as the Law injoyneth Sed subsidio gratiae divinae à Christo pronobis partae but by the assistance of Gods grace which Christ hath purchased for us So that even in this regard the Gospel is a covenant of grace as well as in respect of our free justification and eternal salvation in Heaven because our salvation from the beginning unto the end thereof is of grace and not of nature or by any power or strength of our own free will For all the powers of our souls are in bondage to sin and Sathan until they be freed by Christ as our Saviour himself giveth us to understand when he saith If the Son shall set you free ye shall be free indeed Joh. 8.26 And St. Paul telleth us Col. 1.13 That it is not we our selves by any power of our own but God of the riches of his grace who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Thus the very works or acts of Faith Repentance and new obedience which we are bound unto in the Gospel are effects of Gods grace in us We presume not therefore to do them by any power of our own but do covenant the performance of them by the grace of God in Jesus Christ diligently using the meanes that are prescribed us in the Gospel for the building of us up in grace and waiting upon God for a blessing on them 7. And lastly When the people of God in the old Testament had revolted from him by Idolatry and other foul sins We read that when they repented 2 King 23. they bound themselves by Covenant to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandements and his testimonies and his Statutes Now shall we say that they renewed the legal covenant We have no reason to think so for they knew it was impossible for them to keep it They covenanted therefore to keep Gods Commandements evangelically whereunto they had before bound themselves when they were circumcised yea and not only so but were born under this covenant being descended from Abraham and the ancient Patriarchs with whom and their Seed the Lord entred into covenant It was this covenant of the Gospel for such was the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham as is to be seen Gal. 3.17 18. that the Israelites when they repented and returned unto the Lord from Idolatry renewed with him These things which I have thus alledged do make it manifest both that the covenant of grace is properly a covenant and that it is made not only with Christ our head but with every one of us that are his members who by this covenant are bound to faith in Christ and new obedience that so we may glorifie God and be saved eternally through his rich mercy in Jesus Christ Against this that I have said Answ Mr. S. undertaketh to prove that the covenant is made with Christ only for so St. Paul saith To Abraham and his seed Gal. 3.16 were the promises made He saith not to seeds as of many but as of one And to his seed which is Christ But how he can prove hence Object that the covenant of grace was made only with Christ and not with any other I cannot see The contrary rather may be concluded and deduced from these words for the Apostle saith That the promises were made to Abraham and to his seed which is Christ To Christ indeed only as to the Mediator in whom the covenant is confirmed of God as the Apostle explaineth himself in the next words but otherwise to Abraham the Father of the faithful and consequently to all that tread in his steps as to those to whom forgiveness of sins and the other benefits and blessings purchased by Christ and promised in the covenant do appertain and belong This will be the more manifest and evident unto us if we do consider what St. Paul meaneth by the promises which were made to Abraham and his seed The words indeed are difficult and therefore diversly understood by the learned The most common exposition is that by the promises are meant that promise of the Lord to Abraham In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed And that the Apostle speaketh numero plurali in the plural number because this promise was at several times repeated and made unto Abraham Now it is evident that the seed here spoken of is Christ for in him only it is that all the Nations of the Earth are blessed But it doth not hereupon follow that the covenant is made only with him For from these very words we may infer against Mr. S. that all Christs members are comprehended in the covenant as well as he though after another manner and in another sort For the promise is made unto Christ only that he shall be the Authour of blessedness unto all Nations but unto them that they shall be blessed in him Now I would know how all Nations shall be blessed in Christ verily not so as if no one person of any Nation were to be excluded for then all the World should be saved and none should be damned The meaning therefore of this gracious promise must needs be that all Nations should be blessed in Christ not absolutely but according to the conditions expressed and laid down in the Gospel wherein the covenant of grace is fully opened and unfolded Or that Elect who are to be gathered out of all Nations shall be blessed in Christ who only fulfil the conditions of the covenant There is another exposition of these words of the Apostle and that is that by the promises of which St. Paul here speaketh we are to understand the promise which the Lord at several times made unto Abraham that he would give unto him and to his seed the Land of Canaan for an everlasting possession as a type of the eternal inheritance of Heaven whereof it was an assurance unto them That whereby Estius and other learned men are led and induced to renounce the former exposition and to imbrace this latter is because St. Paul without any necessity doth twice repeat this word And saying to Abraham and his seed were the promises made He saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed For the sense would have been as compleat and full say they if the word And had been left out and he had said he saith not of seeds
better Covenant which was established upon better promises to wit then the former covenant was which God by the Ministry of Moses made with the Israelites Now by this former covenant if he meaneth the covenant of grace as it was administred unto the Israelites of old under the Law of Moses and by this latter and better covenant the same covenant of grace as it is plainly laid down in the Gospel the promises of this latter covenant are better then those of the former First Because they are clearly delivered in express and plain words whereas those were darkly shadowed out under types and figures and dimly represented in obscure Prophecies Secondly Because there is a greater measure of the spirit and of the graces thereof both promised and exhibited now under the new Testament since the comming of Christ in the flesh then was formerly in the old Testament This may well be the meaning of the Apostle But if we shall say that he doth in these words of his compare together the covenant of works and the covenant of grace then I say that the promises of the Gospel are better promises then are the promises of the covenant of works First Because remission of sins is promised in the Gospel which is not to be had by the Law For whosoever fulfilleth not all the Commandements thereof Deut. 27.26 it shutteth him up under the everlasting wrath and curse of God without any hope of pardon Again The promises of the Gospel are said to be better then those of the Law because the Gospel promiseth grace whereby we are inabled to perform the conditions thereof which the Law doth not For the Law only forbiddeth sin and commandeth that which is holy and just and good but ministreth no power to perform that which it requireth but in the new covenant of the Gospel the Lord promiseth that he will write his Lawes in our hearts and put his spirit within us Heb. 8. and cause us to keep his Commandements and to do them Thus by the grace of God in Christ we are strengthened and inabled to keep the covenant of the Gospel whereas it is altogether impossible for us so to keep the Law as to be justified and saved thereby SECT VII The learned Protestants do hold the promises of the Gospel not to be absolute but conditional THere is one Objection more which I think good to remove and that is this The learned Protestants as by name Bucanus Locis Com. Theol. and some others make this main difference between the Law and the Gospel that the promises of the Law were conditional but the promises of the Gospel sunt gratuitae are free promises It may seem therefore that Mr. S. and those that teach as he doth do preach true Protestant Doctrine and that we which teach otherwise have revolted and departed from the Protestant Religion at leastwise in this particular Answ But I answer It is nothing so for Bucanus explaineth himself and sheweth what he meaneth by the conditions which he speaketh of to wit such as are causae causes of the blessings that are promised Whereas therefore the Gospel saith si credideris if thou shalt believe particula si non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this particle if is not a note of a cause but of a consequence saith he Now this we do willingly grant that remission of sins and salvation are freely promised in the Gospel and that our faith and repentance are no causes of them Bucanus therefore teacheth altogether as we do for in the next words he saith that our faith or our believing non est causa vel meritum sed modus vel instrumentum sine quo non potest fieri applicatio beneficiorum Christi is not a cause or merit but a meanes or instrument without which there can be no application of Christs benefits unto us And if this be not enough he saith afterwards in expresse words that Jeremy calleth the Law of Moses being considered by it self and in it self the legal and old Covenant because it was the covenant of our creation whereby the Lord required of us perfect obedience to be performed by our own strength but the Gospel a new or a free covenant sub conditione fidei ex gratuito favore ab ipso nobis donandae upon the condition of faith to be freely given us by him Thus Bucanus who in his common places hath abridged and drawn into a short sum both Calvin and the principal and best of the Protestant writers that were before him sheweth how we are to understand them if any of them any where or other do say that the promises of the Gospel are not conditional as those of the Law were And for further confirmation that the Protestants do teach that salvation is offered us in the Gospel non simpliciter absolute sed sub conditione fidei resipiscentiae not simply and absolutely but upon condition of our faith and repentance I will also alledge Volum 2. Thes Theol. Loc. 4. what Pisâ—â—tor and Pareus two of the most principal Protestant Doctors do write First of all then Piscator setting down the difference between the Law and the Gospel hath these words The covenant of the Law is whereby the Lord of old promised unto the Israelites all sorts of temporal blessings and eternal life it self upon condition of perfect obedience to be performed by them to his Law by their own strength and on the contrary threatned sundry and divers curses and eternal death it self to all that should transgress but even one Commandement of the Law and they on the other side promised that obedience unto God The sanction or ratification of this covenant is described Exod. 24. The covenant of grace is that whereby God hath promised his gratious favour for ever to all that believe in Christ upon condition indeed of that their faith and sincere piety or new obedience joyned with it notwithstanding of neither to be performed as by the believers own strength but as by that free favour to be bestowed on them by him and they on the other side being assisted by Gods grace do promise faith and obedience unto him â—olleg 1. de lvang et gratia p. 21. Pareus also setting down the difference between the Law and the Gospel amongst other things hath these words The Law promiseth life with condition of a mans own righteousness the Gospel promiseth the same with condition of repentance and faith in Christ This might be sufficient notwithstanding because the same Pareus doth excellently in another place express and unfold the conditions of the covenant of grace I will therefore here transcribe and translate that which he there saith into English that all those who are illiterate and unlearned amongst us as well as others may see and perceive that the Doctrine formerly taught by us here in England is the very same which the learned Protestants also beyond Sea have taught from which our new illuminated
teachers have revolted and departed and therefore in this perticular are but half Protestants if so much His words are these Colleg. theol 2. de faed Dei part 2. There were three conditions of the covenant of grace without which there could have been no peace between God and Man The first was That some one should be a purchaser or procurer of this peace that is a Mediator who upon a way agreed upon should make peace between God and man That way was that he should proceed or come forth from God unto mankind not only as an herald or as a Messenger between them for he could not come forth from men declaring Gods will concerning peace but that he should both pacifie Gods wrath by the dignity of his person merit and intercession and that he should also by his divine efficacy confer upon men grace righteousness and life eternal by him obtained for them The former of these was necessary in regard of Gods justice and truth the latter in regard of mens imbecility The second condition was That God for the intercession satisfaction and merit of the Mediator should receive sinners into his grace or favour of enemies should make them his friends and Sons and blesse them with eternal joy and happiness with himself The third condition was that men should acknowledge this comprehensive grace of God towards them receive by faith the benefits purchased by the Mediator offered and given in the Gospel and be thankful unto God in all holy obedience Let every one that readeth these things see and consider whether it be Protestant Doctrine to teach that there are on our part no conditions at all in the covenant of grace but that all the conditions thereof belong unto Christ as Mr. S. will have it SECT VIII That the promising or passing over of a thing not absolutely but upon a condition doth not infer merit in him that performeth the condition but is onely a bar to the injoying of the thing promised whilest the condition is not performed But against this that hath been said Object it is further thus objected If God should exact or require any thing by way of condition of us then our salvation should not be of grace but of merit But no such thing followeth hereupon Sol. for we are bound to serve and to obey God both by right of Creation and of Redemption Now what may not God require of us that which is his own yea and upon condition also of our Faith and Repentance if we will be partakers of the reward which he freely promiseth unto our obedience Methinks this should not be denyed especially seeing it is for our good that God doth offer salvation unto us upon such conditions for hereby we are stirred up to use the means of our salvation the more carefully and diligently that so we may be both for the present assured and hereafter pertakers of the thing promised to our endless comfort Again God in his Gospel requireth no other conditions of us but what we in duty are bound to perform now what can we be said to merit any thing by doing of our duty I trow not for our Saviour teacheth us when we have done all that is required of us yet to say that we are unprofitable Servants we have but done that which in duty we were bound to do Luk. 17.10 Moreover God hath elected and chosen us to the means as well as to the end for by the meanes we come to the end And hereupon it is that the end that is eternal salvation is not promised absolutely but upon condition of the means that lead unto it that is of Faith and Repentance which God of his grace worketh in us and we by the grace of God are to perform because we are elected unto them as well as to the end it self which is our eternal salvation by Christ Now that which we thus obtain by the free election of God and for the merit of Christ and not by any power of our own but by the work of his grace it would be too much pride in us to think that we do any way merit it by this that hath been said it appeareth that the thing which is made over unto us upon a condition non transit in meritum doth not become meritorious upon our performance of that condition unless it be res indebita a thing to be done by us whereunto we are not bound and unless also there be some proportion and equality between it and the reward otherwise a condition is only a barre to the receiving and injoying of the thing promised until it be fulfilled or if the condition be not fulfilled at all by us or in the time appointed and set down then we loose the thing promised and deprive our selves of it A Gentleman as I heard some few years since from a Servant of his did promise to give unto the Vicar in an impropriate Rectory that belonged unto him 40 l. per annum if he would receive it as his free gift and testifie this under his hand Now I demand whether this requiring of him to receive it as a free gift did turn it into a merit Doubtless it did not for unless the Vicar would under his hand acknowledge that he received it as a free gift he was to forfeit it and to lose it as indeed he did not because he did think that he should have merited some thing if he had fulfilled this condition but out of pertinacy and stomack because his predecessor had more or out of the pride of his heart contemning this gift as too small and mean for a man of that worth which he took himself to be Now the same is to be said concerning eternal life which God offereth unto us upon condition of our faith and repentance for the exacting of this condition doth neither make eternal life to be any whit the lesse the free gift of God nor doth it any whit diminish or destroy our bond of thankfulness to God for this his unspeakable and unconceivable blessing and benefit SECT IX Although Salvation is not promised to any but upon condition of Faith and Repentance yet the Lord hath absolutely promised to his Elect Grace to perform both these YEt notwithstanding Because I would not willingly conceal any part of the truth I do freely grant that the promises of the Lord are in some sort absolute that is in respect of the grace promised by God unto his people whereby they may be inabled to keep his Covenant and his Commandements or in respect of his spirit which he hath promised them With Dr. Field therefore and other learned Protestants I say that the promises of the Gospel are absolute in respect of the means but conditional in regard of the end Their meaning is that salvation which is the end of our hope is no where offered us but upon condition of our Faith and Repentance Where these therefore are wanting there can be no hope
the brazen Serpent though never so weakly was through Gods Ordnance as perfectly cured as he that saw and beheld it most clearly and most evidently so Faith in the least degree through Gods Ordinance is as effectual to interest us in Christ and to make us partakers of salvation by him as the strongest Faith that is Thus I have shewed the cause or the reason why a weak Faith can give us an interest in Christ and the salvation which he hath purchased for us although it cannot so firmly assure us hereof But whereas he holdeth That Faith when it is increased and grown stronger by an addition of more degrees than it had at the first doth only give us a greater manifestation and assurance of salvation by Christ but no interest in him I cannot assent unto him in this for the interest which we have in Christ and his merits at the first by believing in him is continued by perseverance in the same Faith and therefore John 1.12 Eph. 3.17 as we are said to receive Christ by Faith so he is said to dwell that is to remain and make his abode in our hearts by Faith Consonantly whereunto the Apostle telleth us Heb. 3.14 that We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end And on the contrary he saith Heb. 10.38 If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Thus Faith not only in the first act or beginning of it but in the continuance also and greatest height or strength thereof doth interest us in Christ and as the Apostle saith maketh us partakers of him as well as it doth evidence unto us and assure us hereof Here therefore I would know whether it be not a manifest contradiction to say as Mr. S. doth Christ is ours without Faith but we cannot partake of him as ours but by believing Thirdly he objecteth also and saith If Christ should be ours by Faith in this sense that is actually then when Faith ceaseth shall we cease to be justified Whereunto I answer That no such thing followeth hereupon but the contrary For upon our Faith and Repentance our sins are pardoned and forgiven us not for a time but for ever Ezek. 18.22 They shall never therefore be mentioned unto us that is imputed and laid to our charge any more no not when Faith ceaseth Neither needeth this to seem strange to Mr. S. or any other that Faith which is but temporal should obtain an eternal pardon for a salve which by its own inherent vertue doth in a few days heal a wound needeth afterwards to be used no more much less will there be any need of Faith in Christ or of repentance for the continuance of the remission of our sins and of our justification in the world to come seeing by Christs Promise and by his Ordinance which hath more force in it then the most Soveraign or precious balm or salve upon our repentance and Faith in Christ we are for ever acquitted and absolved from all our sins Whereas then Mr. S. in his next words demandeth and asketh Shall Faith begin our interest here and not be able to continue it hereafter John 3.46 I answer him No it shall not For he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life His Faith indeed shall cease with this corruptible life of his 2 Cor. 13. but he himself shall be raised up by the power of Christ and not dye any more forever John 11.26 Fourthly Mr S. proceedeth and asketh Can a sinner be too soul for a Saviour and too wounded for a Physitian to heal and too filthy for a fountain opened to wash To all which several demands of his I will answer severally First Whereas he asketh whether a sinner can be too foul for a Saviour I answer No if he will carefully and conscionably practise and observe the means of salvation which he doth prescribe him which are Repentance Faith and new Obedience For as the Apostle telleth us Christ being in his passion made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 On the contrary therefore whosoever he is that doth not obey Christ but doth wilfully contemn or carelesly neglect the means of his salvation as many do it is in vain for him to look for salvation by Christ for as St. Augustine saith elegantly De verbis Apostoli Ser. 15. Qui fecit te sine te non te justificat sine te He that made thee without thee doth not justifie thee without thee His next demand is Can a sinner be too much wounded for a Physician to heal Surely no. Not for Christ our heavenly Physician but then he must take his Physick and observe such a Dyet as he prescribeth him that is he must receive Christ and his merits by Faith and live orderly according to his Gospel that is as St. Paul setteth it down He must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly Tit. 2.12 and righteously and godlily in this present world On the contrary therefore as long as infidelity or incredulity possesseth his heart and lyeth putrifying and rotting in his carnal lusts it is in vain for him to think or to perswade himself that he is healed by Christ Lastly Whereas he asketh Can a sinner be too filthy for a fountain opened to wash Surely no not for that fountain of which Zachary speaketh That is opened to the house of David Zac. 31 12. and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleaness But did he ever hear that a fountain though never so limpid and clear did cleanse any unlesse they did wash themselves with the water of it And even in like manner shall none be purifyed and cleansed from their spiritual filthyness and uncleanness until they do by Faith-sprinkle their souls with the bloud of Christ For as we have heard St. Peter tell us Christ purifieth the hearts of sinnâ—rs by Faith As long therefore as Faith with the inseperable effects thereof are wanting it is in vain for any to imagine that he is purified from his sins Fifthly He that offereth Christ saith M. S. offers all the conditions in him both of Faith and Repentance for Christ is exalted to give repentance unto Israel Acts 5.31 Gal. 2.21 And Faith is called The Faith of the Son of God Here first of all it is to be observed that he acknowledgeth Faith Repentance to be conditions required of us in the Gospel that we may be saved by Christ which elsewhere he denyeth Secondly he saith That God in offering Christ doth offer these conditions in him Which words of his may receive a double construction or understanding First that Repentance and Faith are not in our power but that Christ hath merited these graces for us and that he doth work them in us by his spirit when the Gospel is preached This the places of
God If therefore he whom God loveth must not be guilty of sin and there is none but he is guilty of fin unless sin be pardoned remitted unto him that is unless he be justified Hence he leaveth it to be inferred and concluded that a man is not loved of God until he is justified Answer Here are many Propositions linked together which I shall examine in order And first whereas he saith Gods love is opposed to hatred To this I answer That Love and hatred in God as also the rest of his Attributes are the same single and undivided essence of God they are not therefore opposite as they are in God but in their Effects or in their Objects in quibus contrarie operantur in which they work those things which are contrary one to another For example justification and condemnation are opposite Effects of Gods Love and of his hatred But it doth not follow hereupon that because God damneth none but obstinate sinners whom he hateth that he loveth no man unlesse he be first justified from his sins For though God doth not condemn any nor hate any but for their sins yet he doth gratis freely justifie as many as he justifieth through his grace without any merits of theirs yea contrary to the merit of their sins as St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.23 24. And this indeed the most Learned Chamier not only acknowledgeth but abundantly confirmeth by most valid testimonies of holy Scripture Probat enim justificationem effici per charitatem Dei tanquam efficientem causam For he proveth that our justification is through the love of God as the efficient cause thereof After that the kindness love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3 4 5. God commendeth his love to us that whereas we were yet sinners Christ died for us Being justified therefore by his blood we shall much more be saved now by his life Rom. 5. Seeing these things are thus alledged and delivered by Chamierus himself I wonder that he could so far forget himself as after a few lines to say Deum non amare aliter nisi remissis peccatis that God doth not loâ—e us unlesse our sins be first forgiven us For if it were so How could Gods Love be said to be the efficient cause of our justification For sure I am he will not say Causam effectu suo posteriorem esse that the Cause is after its Effect In the next place whereas he saith the hatred of God is for the guilt of sin therefore as long as the guilt of sin remaineth so long must we needs be hated of God I grant that God hateth none but for sin but it doth not follow hereupon that every one is hated of God as long as the guilt of his sins doth remain For then seeing the guilt of sin in all the Elect doth go before the remission thereof Quod enim non est non remittitur for that which is not cannot be said to be forgiven it would follow that the Elect themselves as well as others were once hated of God and not beloved of him whereas the Lord himself saith That he loved them with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 Thus then it is God hateth sin in all yea in the Elect themselves but he pitied their persons and loved them from all eternity as they were his Creatures and out of this his love provided for them a Saviour Whereas then this most worthy Divine concludeth thus If therefore it behoveth him whom God loveth not to be guilty of sin but there is no man but he is guilty of sin unlesse his sin be pardoned and forgiven him that is unlesse he be justified and so leaveth it to be inferred that we must be justified before we can be loved of God That which I have said already doth sufficiently manifest the inconsequence hereof Whereunto this I add further that where thre is alike guilt we cannot alwaies infer a necessity of like condemnation As for example a Soveraign Prince or King when many of his Subjects are risen up against him in rebellion and are all alike guilty of death doth of his mercy and free grace pardon some of them but others he as freely maketh examples of his justice for terrour unto the rest of his Subjects and causeth them to be put to death Even thus it is in this present case for whereas all of us for our sins have deserved eternal death God of his grace converteth absolveth and justifieth some and others he leaveth in their sins and condemneth them according to their demerits Thus Gods love or his grace is the cause of our justification and not our justification the cause of Gods loving us as hath been shewed before and shal now by Gods grace be further proved tum ex concessis Chamieri both from that which Chamier granteth and delivereth for truth and from other places of Scripture beside those which I have already produced Lib. 22. cap. 12. de sola fide justificante Mat. 26.28 Mors Christi est vera causa justificationis saith he The death of Christ is the true cause of our justification And this indeed is most truly spoken of him for our blessed Saviour himself telleth us That he shed his blood for the remission of our sins Now how is this to be understood but that he shed his blood to purchase the pardon of our sins Eph. 1.7 For thus St. Paul also saith that we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of our sins And St. John likewise saith that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sins 1 John 1.7 Now what is this but for him to say that the forgiveness of our sins is an effect of Christs blood which he shed for us Or that I may speak in Chamier's words that Christs death is the true cause of our justification Now from hence I do first inferr that our justification cannot be the cause why God loveth us Quicquid enim est causa causae est causa causati For whatsoever is the cause of the cause is also the cause of that which is caused by that cause Now Gods love was the cause why he sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.10 Our propitiation therefore and consequently our justification which is therewith necessarily connexed or which is involved in it Rom. 3.25 cannot be the cause of Gods love for then Gods love should both be the cause and the effect of our propitiation and justification by Christ Again if Christs death be as it is indeed the true cause of our justification then we cannot be actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity Temporale enim non est causa aeterni for that which is in a definite time cannot be the cause of that which hath been for ever But Christ suffered for our sins non ab aeterno sed tempore Ã
consolation have we against the difficulty of repentance Now all these things being well considered let any indifferent man judge whether are like to bring men out of their sins and to bring on their conversion they that by their Doctrine do stir them up to labour and strive against sin and to call upon God for grace whereby they may be enabled to subdue it relying not on their own strength but on Christs merits who hath purchased the spirit of God for them or they that will have men even while they live in prophane swearing drunkenness whordom or any other the like impieties or impurities Reconcil of God to man p. 40 41 42 to believe that their sins are pardoned and that they are reconciled unto God and in the state of salvation which is Mr. D. his Doctrine preached and much applauded by many There is not any one that considereth rightly hereof and perceiveth what the necessary and unavoidable consequences hereof are but he will say that this is to lay a foundation for pre umption and carnal security And indeed this is the very use which many have made of this Doctrine already For though they live in sin and are led captiâ—e by their sensual lusts as formerly they were yet hearing these mâ—n offer Christ unto all without requiring any thing of them either faith repentance or any reformation of their sinful liâ—es reâ—â—ing them that grace is freely offered in the Gospeâ— without any conditions and freeâ—y to be taken and receiâ—ed of all hereupon they are confident that they shall be saved by Christ though they liâ—e like libertines and cast off all care of reforming their wicked wayes and works It is too late now after they haâ—e thus preached free grace unto them according to this nâ—w way of theirs to tell them that if they do finally continue in infidelity and impenitency they shall be damned For their former Doctrine hath made them secure inâ—omuch that they do now resolve as one did of late haâ—ing read a certain Treatise of Mr. S. that they will no more hearken unto any judgements or terrors threatned and denounced against sin as they had formerly done And well may they resolve thus with themselves if it be true which Mr. S. teacheth to wit that God in the Gospel doth absolutely offer remission of sins and salvation by Christ to all without any condition yea to sinners as sinners For it is most certain that God will fulfil and perform all his absolute promises to all those to whom they are offered and made neither can their infidelity or their wickedness frustrate the performance of them He promised absolutely and without any condition Gen. 8.22 that while the earth remaineth Seed-time and Harvest and cold and heâ—t and Summer and Winter and day and night shall not cease Gen. 9.9 He promised also as absolutely that the World should never more be destroyed with a Flood and that he would set his Bow in a Cloud for a sign and in assurance hereof Now these promises of his he hath ever since constantly performed throughout all Generations though the World hath been never so wicked God did as absolutely promise Christ and accordingly sent him into the World in a most corrupt time to renew all things Thus the wickedness or the infidelity of man cannot frustrate nor disannul the promises of God that are absolute Wherefore if the promises of life and salvation by Christ unto all to whom he is offered and preached be absolute and without any condition how can final impenitency or infidelity as Mr. D. telleth us cause any to forfeit and frustrate them to their damnation But let us see how our adversaries go about to prove that their Doctrine is more likely to gain sinners to God and to bring them to repentance and amendment of life then ours is Object It is not possible say they for a man to believe that his sins are forgiven him but he will love God and in lieu of thankfulness consecrate himself unto his service Whereas therefore they do require no such hard conditions of men to discourage them from believing as we do but offer Christ and salvation by him freely unto all though they live in their sins and profess that they cannot leave them who seeth not that they will sooner believe this Doctrine then ours and then afterwards being thus perswaded of the pardon of their sins they will love God for his mercy and forsake sin and consecrate themselves unto his service Answ It is ttue indeed he that truly believeth will love God and will out of thankfulness towards him for his mercy renounce the World and his own lusts and consecrate himself unto his service For first The true believer by his faith in Christ Joh. 7.38 doth obtain grace and power and strength to love God and to obey him And secondly That faith of his upon serious and due meditation and consideration first of his own eternal misery by sin and secondly of Gods wonderful mercy towards him in Christ who suffered his most bitter passion for his redemption and passing by many others doth offer salvation freely unto him will inflame his heart with the love of God and excite and stir him up to the obedience of his Commandements But a false faith produceth no such gracious effects but nourisheth and nusleth men in carnal security as we see in many who fay they believe in Christ and trust to be saved by him as well as the best and yet live still in their sins and never go about to reform themselves Now such is the faith which Mr. D. and his Companions do teach for they will have men to believe that their sins are pardoned and that they are reconciled to God before they go about to rise out of them by repentance which faith of theirs is no true but a false faith for as I have before proved repentance and remission of sins do alwayes go together Where there is no repentance therefore there can be no remission of sins All therefore that such a faith can do is but to stir up those who do thus falsly perswade themselves that their sins are pardoned to love God for his mercy towards them and to obey him which it seldom or indeed never doth but grace it obtaineth none to crucifie sin in them and to sanctifie them and therefore though they should strive never so much to serve God and to obey him according to all his Commandements yet it is not possible that they should do this because there is no principle of grace nor no spiritual life in them SECT III. Wherein is shewed who do preach Christ most comfortably BY this that hath been said any one that is not possest with prejudice may easily see and perceive whether the Protestant way of preaching the Gospel or the new way taken up here of late in England be like to bring forth better fruits and to prove more profitable and more