Gen. 22.18 That is with all spiritual and eternal blessings in Christ It is not imaginable that God should suffer the Faith of so great a Believer as Abraham to hang in the thickets of carnal things when he had such spiritual Promises before his eyes our Saviour saith Abraham saw his day and rejoyced Joh. 8.56 He saw the day of his Incarnation and as some the day of his Passion How far God carried the eyes of his Faith I know not however he saw so much as put him into those joys and triumphs of Faith which pointed beyond this World to that Salvation which is the end and center of Faith To me it suffices to say that Abraham rested upon Christ for Salvation and then Christ's Righteousness though unknown to Abraham was imputed to him The Author saith That from in thy seed shall all nations be blessed to imputed righteousness is a train of thoughts beyond Mr. Hobs and yet Abraham discerning the Messiah in that Promise it may be absolved in two short words that the Messiah shall merit Spiritual Blessings for us and that that merit shall be applyed to us there being no other way of applying of what is anothers but by Faith on our part and Imputation on Gods The Author ask's the question Is there no possible way for God to bless the world but by imputed Righteousness I answer had not Christ dyed for us which involves an imputation nothing of blessing could have been expected the wrath of God would no more have spared us than it did lapsed Angels The Jews about Christ's coming thought only of a temporal Messiah the very Apostles for a time thought not of Christ's death but this was because they then lived in the dregs and darkness of the Jewish Church I suppose in former ages the Jews had another manner of Prospect of Christ and above others Abraham whose Faith stands in Scripture with a more than ordinary crown on it probably had so Now if you would know what the Faith of Abraham and if all good men in ancient times was Mr. Sherlock the Apostle to the Hebrews gives us a full account of it Heb. 11. that he discourses there of a justifying Faith that is such a Faith as renders men approved of God and which he will count for Highteousness appears from the tenour of this Chapter in the second verse he tells us That by this the elders obtained a good report that is the Fathers were approved and rewarded by God for the sake of this Faith as he shews particularly That Abel obtained witness that he was righteous ver 4. That Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God ver 5. That Noah became heir of righteousness which is by Faith ver 7. Now this justifying Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A firm and confident expectation of those things hoped for and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an argument of the being of those things which we do not see Faith is such a firm and stedfast perswasion of the truth of those things which are not evident to sense as makes us confidently hope for them the object of Faith must be unseen things and the nature of it consists in such a firm assent to those unseen things as produces some answerable effects in our lives This is the general notion of Faith by which the elders obtained a good report Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Answer Heb. 11. This saith Erasmus is encomium fidei rather than definitio Dialectica However be it that justifying Faith is here meant Christ the marrow and center of the Covenant must be included in it Faith is the substance of things hoped for that is hoped for by vertue of the Promises and in a special signal way by vertue of the prime fundamental promise touching the Messiah which as we see Gen. 3.15 was delivered to Adam as an heavenly treasure more worth than a world and by him was no doubt handed down to his posterity not meerly in the bare words and letters of it for that protevangelium or first Promise of the Gospel was ministerium spiritûs but with such Divine Commentaries upon it as the illuminating spirit was pleased to give in to the heart of believing Adam Faith such is its excellent nature presentiates and makes to subsist the good things hoped for in such a lively manner as if they were actually at hand and before our eyes Nay as learned Pareus observes on the place it makes them subsist not only speculatively and assentively in the mind but fiducially in the heart Now by Faith in the Messiah the Elders had their divine Testimony Abel was righteous before God Enoch pleased God Noah was an heir of Righteousness all of them were Justified and accepted in their persons and holy walking The Author makes Faith to consist in a firm assent only without any thing more in the nature of it Thus the Romanists Thus Bellarmine proves it to be only assensum firmum 〈◊〉 certum ad ea omnia quae Deus credendae proponit And to that purpose among others quotes this Text Heb. 11. But I cannot find that this will down with Protestants Faith is set forth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a firm perswasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiducial liberty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perswasion with full sails 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiducial subsistence of things hoped for which expressions speak more than a naked assent Faith receives Christ puts on Christ feeds upon Christ such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was to the Fathers in the days of Moses that they did eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God even before his Incarnation 1 Cor. 10.3 4. Meer assent cannot do this Through faith we are justified and have peace with God Rom. 5.1 We have our hearts purified Act. 15.9 We have the Spirit of all grace Joh. 7.38 We quench the fiery darts of the Devil Eph. 6.16 We have a victory over the world 1 Joh. 5.4 We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 Nay not only in the hope of it but with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 as if we had a piece of heaven here below meer assent cannot reach such admirable effects Nay it may be in wicked men who have not the least mite of those Graces or Comforts Our Saviour hath excellently expressed the nature of true Faith Every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him hath eternal life Joh. 6.40 Here are two acts the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see the Son to assent that he is the Redeemer of the World the other is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe on him by fiducial recumbency by which saith Bishop Davenant Dav. Det. 165. Vitam à vitae fonte haurimus in
ipsum quasi totos nos immergimus We draw life from the fountain of life and wholly drown our selves in him It was well said of the School-man Nullus potest justificari nisi per unionem ad Christum prima autem unio ad Christum fit per fidem None can be justified but by an union with Christ and the first union is by faith Faith doth not only look upon Christ but it unites to him and rests on him It is not a meer intellectual thing but as Philip said Act. 8.37 It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the whole heart the whole not a Plece only of the heart is resigned up to Christ in believing meer assent therefore is not the all of Faith but there is fiducial recumbency in it Thus our Church 3. Hom. of Salvation The articles of our faith the devils believe they believe all things written in the New and Old Testament to be true and for all this faith they be but devils remaining still in their damnable estate lacking the very true Christian faith For the right and true Christian faith is not only to believe that holy Scripture and all the Articles of our faith are true but also to have a sure trust and confidence in Gods merciful promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ whereof doth follow a loving heart to obey his commandments And again 1. Hom. of Faith our Church sets forth faith to be a true trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ a trusting in God committing our selves wholly unto him hanging only upon him and calling upon him But it may be said that the Author places Faith in such a firm assent as produces some effects in our lives and so not in meer assent To which I answer according to our Author The nature of Faith stands only in assent Obedience indeed is an effect of Faith but it is not Faith it self it is not an essential ingredient in the nature of Faith neither is it indeed the effect of any Faith but such an one as is total and genuine that is which is assentive and fiducial also The different sorts of Faith result from the different Objects and Motives of it Mr. Sherlock the Apostle takes notice of two kinds of Faith in this Chapter and Faith in Christ makes a third which are all the kinds of Faith the Scripture is acquainted with The first we may call a natural Faith that is a belief of the principles of natural Religion which is founded upon natural Demonstrations or Moral Arguments as that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Which was the Faith of Abel and Enoch whereby they pleased God for there being no mention made of the Faith of Abel and Enoch in the Old Testament The Apostle proves that they were true believers because they had this Testimony that they pleased God Now it is impossible to be sincerely religious or do any acceptable service to God without the belief of his being and providence and care of good men These are the first principles of all Religion And God required no more of those good men who had no other particular Revelation of his Will Secondly There is a Faith in God or a belief of those particular Revelations which God made to the Fathers of the Old Testament Thus Noah believed God being warned of the deluge and in obedience to him provided an Ark and this was imputed to him for Righteousness Thus Abraham in obedience to the divine Revelation left his Country and Father's house and went into a strange Land Thus Sarah by believing the promise of God received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised Thus Abraham in obedience to God offered up Isaac which was as heroical an act of Faith as was ever done by man The like examples we have of the Faith of Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses c. Who firmly believed all the particular Revelations God made to them and confidently expected the performance of all his promises how unlikely soever they appear'd to be This is that Faith whereby Abraham and all the good men in these days were justified viz. Such a firm belief of the being and providence of God and all those particular Revelations God made to them as made them careful in all things to please God and to obey him It is the observation of the Learned Dr. Prideaux Answer That in the dark age of the School-men Paulus cessit Aristoteli gratia naturae St. Paul was fain to yield to Aristotle and grace to nature And I fear it will be so again we have here set before our eyes natural Faith Faith natural in its believing principle and natural in its Object Reason of it self and without any elevation of Grace may nay I suppose must admit the things of natural Theology as being within its own Sphere and shall we call this faith justifying faith which is nature nothing but nature Justifying Faith if we believe Scripture is every way supernatural supernatural in its Principle supernatural in its Object Supernatural in its Principle it is called faith of the operation of God Gal. 2.12 It is not of our selves but it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 Not a natural gift but a gift of meer Grace unto you it is given to believe saith the Apostle Phil. 1.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is freely graciously given to you to believe it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good grace divinely given Hence the second Arausican Council expresly tells us that our believing is per infusionem inspirationem spiritûs Sancti Can. 6. Nay the very Council of Trent pronounces an Anathema on those that say that a man may believe without the inspiration of the holy Spirit And Faith is also supernatural in its Object it is a thing above the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above meer natural Theology It is fixed in a God in Covenant and in his free Grace it hangs upon Christ and his sweet-smelling Sacrifice it embraces the promises of Grace and Remission and all these are supernatural only As in the Authors Natural Faith there is nothing but Nature So in the true justifying Faith there is nothing but supernatural Grace But the Author gives us an instance of natural Faith in Abel and Enoch who believed the principles of natural Religion who believed that God is and that he is the rewarder of them that seek him And had Abel and Enoch only a natural Faith Did they not believe in a Messiah Was that first precious promise Gen. 3. Given to be hid and buried in oblivion Or was it not handed down to Abel and Enoch Surely it was and they believed in the Messiah How could they come to God without a Mediator No man cometh to the Father but by me saith
sin we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as God is in the light then have we fellowship one with another 1 Joh. 1.5 6 7. This doctrine doth not only take away the necessity of Holiness in order to our Vnion to Christ but destroys the necessary obligations to Holiness and Obedience for the suture and so thrusts Holiness quite out of the Christian Religion Our Vnion to Christ is perfected while we are unholy and when we are united to Christ there is less need of Holiness than before For now the merit of Christs death is imputed to us to remove the guilt and punishment of sin and his actual obedience is imputed to us to make us righteous and to give us an actual right to glory So that if men will obey Christ out of a principle of good nature and thank fulness they may but according to this notion there is no necessity of it because they are delivered from wrath and have a right to eternal life without it Still the Author goes on with this charge Answer That wicked men who live in sin may be united to Christ Mr. Shephard holds that we are united to Christ by Faith And are Believers wicked men they receive Christ whole Christ as their Prophet to teach them their Priest to satisfie for them their King to rule them and upon account of this receiving they are the sons of God Joh. 1.12 And are they wicked men for all this they have the promise of pardon and justification Act. 13.39 The promise of the Spirit Joh. 7.38.39 The promise of eternal life Joh. 3.16 And may we call them wicked men If wicked men may be intitled to such promises there is no need at all of Holiness or Obedience But saith the Author an holy life must not only follow our Vnion to Christ But at least in order of nature go before it because by this we are united to Christ To which I answer Without doubt that Faith which in Scripture phrase doth come to Christ receive Christ put on Christ and feed upon Christ must needs unite to him and of this Faith Obedience or an holy Life is not a part but a fruit all those worthies Heb. 11. First believed and then by that Faith produced all those acts of Obedience there recorded First We are married to Christ by Faith and then we bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7.4 And in that fifth Chapter of John quoted by the Author First there are branches in Christ by Faith and then there is holy Fruit brought forth An holy Life must needs presuppose Faith it flows out of a pure heart and the heart cannot be such without Faith It is a conformity to the Divine Rule and that Rule cannot be assured to be such but by Faith It is levelled at the Glory of God and the single eye which looks at that great end is Faith without which the whole Body of our Works is full of darkness Now if Faith unite to Christ and precede Obedience or an holy Life then it is evident that Obedience or an holy Life do not go before our Union to Christ but follow after it But saith the Author our Vnion to Christ is not perfected without Obedience Hence our Saviour saith Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much Fruit so shall ye be my Disciples Joh. 15.8 To which I answer Our Union to Christ is not indeed perfect before Obedience as to its Fruit and Consequences but it is as to its essentials for the Believer in the very instant of believing hath a true title to the promises of pardon of the Spirit and of eternal Life So that should he immediately and before any one act of Obedience depart this Life he should undoubtedly and without any scruple enter that blessed Region where are the spirits of just men made perfect as for that place Joh. 15.8 where our Saviour tells them That bearing of fruit they should be his Disciples it is parallel to that place If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples Joh. 8.31 In both they were Disciples before In that Joh. 8.31 they were Disciples before that period of life unto which their continuance in the word extends it self or else their discipleship must have been adjourned to the other World And in that Joh. 15.8 they were Disciples before their bearing of fruit for they could not bear fruit without being branches in Christ and Branches they could not be without being Disciples when there fore our Saviour saith so shall ye be my Disciples the meaning only is that by their fruitfulness they should give a real proof and demonstration that they are indeed true Disciples and Branches of Christ But saith the Author This Doctrine destroys the obligations to holyness and thrusts holyness out of the Christian Religion our union to Christ is perfected while we are unholy and when we are united to Christ there is less need of holyness than before for now the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us To which I answer As to that that our union to Christ is perfected while we are unholy If by unholy be meant only before a holy life Believers before that are so perfectly united to Christ as to have a true title to the promises of Pardon the Spirit and Salvation If by unholy is meant a wicked Man no wicked Man is united unto Christ this would be a dishonour to our Saviour a contradiction to the Gospel such a one walks in darkness and cannot have fellowship with God who is Light as St. John speaks But a Believer who before an holy life is united to Christ is not must not be called a wicked Man As to the other That when we are united to Christ there is no need of holyness because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us I answer That before I have proved that this assertion that imputed righteousness makes holyness needless is but a Popish calumny and without any ground at all SECT V ACcording to these principles Mr. Sherlock there is no certain way to get into Christ the method prescribed is Conviction Compunction Humiliation and Faith which is the uniting Grace Now I observe first that a Man is passive in all this and can contribute nothing to it himself any otherwise than as he is acted by an irresistible power and it is a vain thing to give such rules and directions as no man can follow this only tells us by what methods God unites us to Christ not what we must do but what we must suffer in order to this union A Sinner may stir up in himself some natural Conviction of sin some natural fear sorrow c. And in a sense of this may set upon the work of Reformation of leaving his sins and performing duties But all this they tell us is to no purpose for unless this Conviction Compunction Humiliation be wrought in us by the irresistible power of the
gift of God hence it is called the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 and Faith of the operation of God Col. 2.12 It is not of our selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 And such a gift it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is freely gratuitously given Phil. 1.29 Seing then it is thus should we not submit to God for every crumb of bread drop of drink and moments patience because they are his gifts and must we not submit to him for Faith because it is such Had not God given a Jesus a Saviour to Men they could not have made a just complaint against him and now there being one that he is not known all the World over the Pagans may not open their lips against God and in the Church where Christ is known that all Men have no Faith no Man may question God about it Gifts are free and must be submitted for The Apostle asserts Gods Soveraignty clearly He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Rom. 9.18 And if any dare repy or find fault the Apostle takes him up Nay but O Man who art thou that repliest against God If thou hadst but any sentiments of thy own nothingness or rayes of the Divine Majesty thou wouldest never dare to question or to implead thy Maker before whom thou art but a Worm a piece of Clay to be disposed of at his pleasures It is certain that God owes us nothing Though we are in the use of means earnestly to seek Christ Faith and not in a careless indifferent manner as without cause the Author would hint Mr. Shephards mind to be yet we must still adore Gods Soveraignty and lye at his feet for all his Gifts and particularly for Faith It was horrible insolence and presumption in him who prayed Redde mihi vitam aeternam quam debes And it would be no less for any one to pray Redde mihi fidem vivam quam debes Verbum debet venenum habet as Peter Lumbard hath it These things considered Mr. Shephards words need no more but only a candid Interpretation What then is to be done Mr Sherlock in order to our closing with Christ by Faith for hitherto there is no foundation for our Faith Why you must not catch at Christ but stay till God give him to you till God take you into his Arms that you may lean upon your Beloved you must stay till God give you a particular call to come to Christ and whether that will be ever or never no Man can tell Many a wounded Sinner will be scrambling from some general reports of him such as his Gospel makes before the day and hour of Gods glorious call Now for any Man to receive Christ before he is called is presumption I unpardonable presumption too to attempt impossibilities for no Body can come till he is called no man should come unless first called and therefore no crime to stay away as it is in calling to an Office so it is in our calling to special Grace No Man takes this honour but he that is called of God Heb. 5.4 It is a great presumption to usurp the Office of a Priest Prophet or King without a designation and so it is to be a good Man or Christian without a particular call For what hath any Man to do with Christ to make himself a Son of God and Heir of glory to take care to please God and to make himself happy but he that is called of God Well Sinner wait with patience till thou art called and so thy work is at an end for this time The Author laughs at Mr. Shephards particular call Answer let us therefore consider it there is a double call a general external call reaching to all in the Church and a particular internal call vouchsafed to some The first is a command a sufficient warrant to come to Christ The second is a special Act of Grace which infallibly produces Farth in those to whom it is given This distinction is clearly founded in Scripture all in the Church are called but all are not drawn of the Father all do not hear and learn of the Father Joh. 6.44 45. For these taught and drawn ones do all of them come to Christ which all Men in the Church do not all in the Church are called but all are not called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 for then all would love God as those called ones do and by consequence all would have that Faith which works by love We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.23 24. All of them had an external general call those to whom Christ was a stumbling block and foolishness had such a call for an unknown an unreveiled Christ could not be a stumbling block or foolishness But besides this call there is another an internal effectual call such as makes Christ the power and wisdom of God to Men such as works Faith and other Graces in Men Hence the Apostle saith That they are the called called with a more internal and efficacious call than other Men are These things laid down all things in Mr. Shephard are very easie all Men in the Church have an external call and so a sufficient warrant to believe in Christ it will be no presumption at all in them to do so The Object Jesus Christ is evidently set forth before their eyes but that they may believe in him indeed they must wait for a particular internal call for that Grace which works Faith in the heart if not the work of Faith must be their own they must believe of themselves And this I fear though the Object Christ be free for them would be presumption because the Scripture assures us that Faith is the gift of God All Men in the Church should come to Christ for the Evangelical command makes it their duty yet if we believe our Saviour there must be internal teachings and tractions from the Father to make us truly come to him All in the Church are by the Gospel called to be Believers so to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Royal dignity to be Sons of God Joh. 1.12 to the Divine Offices to be Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 But this believing is produced by that internal efficacious call which calleth things that are not as though they were I mean which calleth Faith into being where it was not before But then saith Mr. Sherlock The Sinner must only wait till he is called and so his work is at an end for this time To which I answer His work is not at an end because he is still to wait if the Scripture which makes Faith the free-gift of God be true there is no nearer passage to Heaven then by waiting upon God for Faith in the use of means The Saints
to say that which he cannot know and that against his own Soul and eternal Salvation Is there any such reprobation in Scripture as barrs out of Heaven such as by Faith venture upon Christ No surely Christ hath so far dyed for all men as to found for them that general promise whosoever believeth shall be saved This is a plain sure foundation for men to venture upon none that by Faith venture upon Christ shall be barred out of Heaven by any Decree of God because his Decree cannot clash with his Promise It is very irregular arguing to say I know not Gods Decree therefore I 'll neglect my duty St. Paul exhorts the Philippians to work out their Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.12 13. Might the Philippians have said how do we know what Gods pleasure is or what he will work in us Why should we work at such a venture or at the pleasure of another No the fear and trembling in the Text was enough to keep them back from arguing at that rate Suppose now that there were no such thing as Election will there not be a paucity and an hard venture still Our Saviour tells us that few find the way to life Matth. 7.14 And God whose prescience is immutable eternally foresaw that it would be so and what must we do now May we deny the truth of Christs words or of Gods prescience Surely we ought not or may we argue thus Few enter into life why should I venture It s an hard venture and great odds against me May I now cry out Good God what Merchant adventurers are poor sinners Surely it doth not at all become me I must look upon the Rule in the Word and endeavour to do my duty Duties belong to us and issues to God But to pass on according to Mr. Shephard it seems assurance it self cannot secure us to which the bare recital of Mr. Shephards words will be answer enough they are these The Call of Christ is the ground by which we first believe It is a constant ground of Faith For if you come to Christ because you have assurance or because you feel such and such Graces and heavenly Impressions of Gods Spirit in you you may then many a day and year keep at a distance from Christ and lye without Christ for the feeling of Graces and assurance of favour are not constant His meaning is very plain the Call of Christ is the ground of our first believing and it is a constant ground if by after renewed acts of Faith we come to Christ because we have assurance we may many a day live without Christ for assurance is no constant thing as the Call is The Author I suppose took out a little out of Mr. Shephard not to interpret him but to sport with him Afterwards we have the Author concluding from Mr. Shephards particular Call That the general Call signifies nothing that there is no foundation for our Faith in Christ but this particular Call To which I answer The general promises of the Gospel signifie Gods will to save Believers and therefore are a sufficient foundation for a man to believe in Christ for Salvation a greater warrant we cannot have for it then Gods own Charter sealed with the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ But that which works this Faith in us is a special Call or internal Grace which shines into the heart and calls forth Faith into being But though we know not how to get into Christ Mr. Sherlock it would be some comfort to know that we are in him But this is as impossible as the other As the only foundation of our Faith in coming to Christ aocording to these mens notions is a special call of the Spirit So the only infallible assurance that we are in Christ is the testimony of the Spirit The spirit of adoption which teaches us to cry Abba Father And yet God doth not afford this Testimony to all but suffers many good Christians to walk in darkness and hides his face from them for no other reason but because they are desirous of it and would be quiet if they should know it this is somewhat hard measure But suppose you have or think you have this testimony of the Spirit how can you be sure that it is not a cheat and delusion the imposture of the Devil or of your own self-flattering imagination to satisfie this we are directed to marks Thus this infallible assurance from the testimony of the Spirit must in its last resolve be founded upon some Moral evidence As it is with the Church of Rome who after a great noise and cry of infallibility are at last forc'd to resolve their Faith into some Motives of credibility or to dance round in an endless circle Well what are the marks of our being in Christ You must enquire whether you have the Spirit of Christ And it is just as easie to know this as whether you be in Christ But are you true Believers Is your Faith of the right stamp is it wrought by the Almighty Power of God Or is it such an easie common presumptuous false faith as that which is in the generality of men This is as easie to know as any of the former For if there be such a false presumptuous faith as takes Christ when he does not belong to us and rests and relies on Christ only for pardon and salvation and yet shall never have Christ How shall we know whether our Faith be true and genuine such as will make Christ ours and the answer to this brings us to that great mark of Sanctification You must consider the effects of Faith Dr. Jacomb pag. 65. doth it purifie the Heart overcome the World work by Love are you new Creatures Is the state of your person changed from a Child of wrath to an Heir of Grace which is the thing to be proved Or is your nature changed Do you walk in newness of life Have you crucified the flesh with its lusts Do you bring forth fruit That is you must prove your justification by your sanctification your Faith by your Works I am glad it is no worse that good works and an holy life may at least put in for marks and evidences of a justified state though the truth is this is a meer complement to Holiness and as they order the matter an holy life can no more be a sign of a justified state than it can justifie us It would be some comfort to know Answer that we are in Christ But this is impossible Thus the Author Impossible Nothing plainer in Scripture we read of the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.12 The sealing of the holy Spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 The witness of the Spirit with our spirits that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 But God doth not afford this testimony of the Spirit to all
may we receive Christ and be as we were Doth he bring nothing at all with him May we receive him and not have his righteousness imputed and his spirit imparted to us It is utterly vain and impossible But now a touch for worthy Mr. Watson Christ Mr. Sherlock as Mr. Watson hath it saith to a believer with my body yea with my blood I endow thee and a believer saith to Christ with my soul I thee worship As if saith the Author Christ and a Believer were married by the Liturgy I suppose our Church intended some such thing Answer and I mean it in good earnest for in the Communion Service she tells us That we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we be one with Christ and Christ with us and excellently prayes That our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our Souls washed through his most pretious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us Sure such passages import a near Union and Communication between Christ and believers But saith Mr. Watson When a Soul is united to Christ no condemnation can fall upon him a woman being married her debts light upon her husband O blessed priviledge saith the Author And who would be afraid of running into debt with God when he hath such an Husband to discharge all and then how vile and impure soever men are their comfort is they are married to Christ and his beauty is put upon them To which I answer No men are more afraid to run into debt with God than those who taste of that Grace which forgives all and drink of that blood which pays for all Our love to Christ is a pure principle of Obedience and his love to us is a Divine inflammative of ours because he will discharge all shall we be presumptuous and extravagant Some Gallants in Queen Elizabeths time hoping for some Church-lands run out desperately crying out Solvat Ecclesia but shall believers who have past through the pangs of the new birth and tasted the hidden Manna of Gods love sin on and say Solvat Christus Nothing is nor can be more unnatural because they know themselves espoused to such an husband as Christ shall they be adulterous Because Christ will be their friend shall they be enemies These are strange repugnancies indeed As to what the Author adds How vile and impure soever men are their comfort is they are married to Christ those words how vile and impure soever men are are none of Mr. Watson's but added by the Author after which rate one may turn any thing into non sence or blasphemy And to crown all Mr. Sherlock when they are once ingraffed into Christ they are secure to eternity Christ is not divided a member cannot be lost the union cannot be dissolved This indeed is that Answer wherein the Covenant of Grace lifts it self up above the Covenant of works in that of works the stock was in mans hand but in this of Grace it is in Gods in that there was no promise of perseverance but in this there are many such promises God shall confirm you unto the end 1 Cor. 1.8 He will put his fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from him Jer. 32.40 The Apostle praying for the Thessalonians that they may be preserved blameless unto the coming of Christ immediately adds Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.23 24 Evidently God undertakes it and engages his faithfulness in it shall we take the matter out of Gods hand into our own or turn about to the old Covenant Shall we take these promises conditionally Then we must utterly evacuate these promises for they must run thus if we will persevere we shall persevere and so much was true under the old Covenant and without any promise at all Mr. Watson argues thus If any branch be plucked away from Christ it is either because Christ is not able to keep it or because he is willing to lose it But saith the Author May not sin dissolve the union What if the believer will not stay with Christ I answer This doth not at all answer the Argument from Christs power Hath he not power to prevent sin from being or from being final Hath he not power to strengthen believers in that which is good or if they lapse to raise them up again If so his promise cannot fail his faithfulness will make it good neither doth sin committed un-saint a believer as the Author hints this was the remarkable difference between the two Covenants in Adam one sin expelled perfect holiness but in believers it doth not extinguish inherent Grace though imperfect still there is a seed of God abiding in them a well of water springing up unto everlasting life through Grace they shall be revived again But saith Mr. Shepherd Christ hath taken upon him to purge his Spouse upon which the Author If she be not purged whose fault can it be but his own To which I answer Christ hath undertaken to purge believers but not so as to prevent all lapses when they are purged it is meerly of Grace but when they sin it is of their own By such lapses God lets them know as he did Hezekiah what is in their heart Let us now consider the consequential Mr. Sherlock conjugal affections the Soul must be enamoured with Christ sick of love to him he is maximè diligibilis the very abstract and quintessence af beauty you must delight in his embraces thirst after more intimate acquaintance with him follow him from one ordinance to another and never be satisfied unless you meet with him in ordinances there they hear of his Beauty Riches Fulness All-sufficiency of all truths they savour the truths of Christ best And what needs all this Answer These truths are too plain to be denied and too sacred to be laughed at Such sanctified Souls loath all dull Mr. Sherlock insipid moral discourses which are perpetually inculcating duty and troubling them with a great many rules for a good life Which Mr. Watson calls the quaint points of virtue and vice For this is not to enjoy Christ in ordinances I suppose they cannot loath discourses of duty Answer For as our Author tells us a little after they make Obedience to Christ their husband a conjugal act and in order to that they must hear of duty Only I take it they had rather hear duty spread before them in a plain Scriptural dress than in curious speculations of meer humane reason They would have duty inculcated but not so perpetually as to exclude the preaching up of that Divine Grace which enables thereunto without this they despair of doing any thing aright but saith the Author It is very hard to find a proper place for Obedience in this new Religion for this is not necessary at all to our coming to Christ and closing with him nay it is a great hinderance to it
Glory of them all from our Likeness to God from the Peace of Conscience from the Conviction and Conversion of others from the aversion of Judgments from the State of justified Persons from the Work of Sanctification are but poor insignificant things with the Author which yet with me are of great Moment This is all pertinent saith the Author but it contradicts it self and overthrows their Darling-opinion What the necessary way to eternal Life and yet neither Cause Matter nor Condition At least it might be Causa sine qua non and so a Condition But the Author might have observed that the Doctor did not speak ad idem to one and the same thing his words are Holiness is neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of Justification yet it is the way to Salvation both stand well together without any shadow of Contradiction Obedience is subsequent to Justification and so neither Cause Matter nor Condition of it but it is antecedent to Salvation and the way thereunto Well the Author is content that it only be a necessary way to eternal Life but what then becomes of Christ the only way What of Christ's Righteousness and of free Grace I hope there is no matter of fear our Holiness unless it be lifted up above it self into the room and Throne of Christ very well comports with Christ and Grace it is a way but not as Christ an Expiatory Meritorious one it stands as necessary in Sanctification but eeks not out Christ's Righteousness in Justification It flows from free Grace and doth not overturn but magnifie its Fountain Afterwards our Author draws up a long Charge against these men That they prepossess their Fancies with arbitrary Notions pervert the Scriptures to justifie their Darling-opinions and that sometimes with so ill success as to break some stubborn Truths into palpable absurdities and contradictions their Fancies and Scripture agree no better than the Church of Rome and Scripture do They add such limitations distinctions glosses to Scripture as are necessary to make them orthodox Their Acquaintance with Christs Person is only a work of Fancy teaches men Hypocrisie undermines the Design of the Gospel makes men incurably ignorant yet conceited of knowledge impertinent talkers and censurers of Mankind despisers of their Teachers as if ignorant and meer Moral Preachers Their Acquaintance with Christ's Person warms their Fancies moves their Passions sometimes they find breakings of heart and feel the horrors of damned Spirits sometimes they are ravish'd with his love and Beauty refresh'd with the sweet caresses of his love All which may be no more than the working of a warm Enthusiastick Fancy the transportation of frantick Raptures and Extasies of Love Unto all which I say two things only the one is this In general Charges which may be drawn up against the most innocent Souls under Heaven the intelligent Reader must measure the truth of them only by the Instances which before have been examined The other is this that the Author tells us That their breakings for sin and ravishments in Christ may be but the working of a warm Enthusiastick fancy In which Censure I suppose there is no over-measure of Charity There are yet Two things behind which because interwoven with the general Charge I have hitherto omitted but shall now recite them the one is this Prepossessed Fancies force men saith the Author to pervert the Scriptures to make them speak the Orthodox Language to this we owe all those nice and subtil Distinctions which constitute the Body of Systematical Divinity which commonly have no other design than to evade the force of Scripture or to bribe it to speak on their side I will now wonder no longer that the Author treats a few Nonconformists with such rough hands Behold an universal blast put on those excellent Divines which have stood in the Protestant World like burning and shining Lights and have set forth so many learned and worthy Systems of Divinity for the Churches use But this is All-a-mode with the Remonstrants who as Vedelius tells us De Arcan Armind have poured forth convitia atrocissima in Formulas not being afraid to say Ista ars est Sathanae calling them humanam tyrannidem and proceeding so far as to say That that Preface in Athanasius his Creed Qui vult salvus esse ante omnia credat c. was a proud one Systems of Divinity are to them as Bonds and Fetters which they would willingly break off that they might have the better Scope to introduce their unsound and novel Opinions The other is this It is not saith the Authour the Person but the Gospel of Christ which is the way the truth and the life It seems the new and living Way through his Flesh may be stop'd up the great Prophet may want the Title of Truth the vital Influences of Grace from Christ may be intercepted and all this after Christ himself hath told us expresly I am the Way the Truth and the Life These things I suppose will hardly be passable with Christian Ears or Hearts If he be not the Way there is no approach for us to the Father if not the Truth we are not bound to believe him or his Gospel if not the Life to quicken our dead and unbelieving Hearts we should never believe in him though he were both the former CHAP. IV. Sect. I. NExt to the Knowledge of Christ Mr. Sherlock there is not a greater Mystery than our Vnion to him and Communion with him on which as these men represent it are built all those wild and fanciful Conclusions which directly oppose the Doctrine and Practice of Christianity Therefore it is of great concernment to state this matter and to examine what is meant in Scripture by Vnion to Christ and Communion with him for the Scripture mentioneth such a Relation between Christ and Christians as may be expressed by an Vnion and the phrases of being in Christ abiding in Christ can signifie no less The Author owns some kind of Union Answer but our enquiry is after a spiritual mystical union between Christ and believers who are knit together by the Divine Ligatures of the holy Spirit and Faith The quickning Spirit as the right Reverend Vsher hath it descending downward from the Head Serm. before the Commons 1620. to be in us a Fountain of supernatural Life and a lively Faith wrought by the same Spirit ascending from us upward to lay fast hold upon him This Union is fully set forth in Scripture We are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.9 Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communion cannot but import Union We are said to have the Son and to have life by him 1 Joh. 5.12 To eat his flesh and drink his blood so as to live by him Joh. 6.56 57. And unless we dream of an oral Manducation what can this be but a Mystical
near conjunction between Christ and the Church and the mutual fellowship of Christians Hence the Apostle calls the Cup the Communion of Christ's Blood and the Bread the Communion of his Body For we being many are one bread and one Body one Body represented by this one Bread for we are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.16 Sacraments are Symbols of our Union with Christ Answer and why not of an immediate Union the Elements are immediately applied to individuals and why may not the signified Union be immediate else how doth it correspond to the Sign But to clear this point first for Baptism Unbaptized Believers are really united to Christ even before their Baptism how else should the Thief on the Cross ever arrive at Paradise Or which way should the unbaptized Martyrs get thither Baptism admits men into the Church Visible but if Believers they are in the Church Catholick that one Body of Christ before nay Baptism supposes them to be so because it is a Seal of the Covenant If thou believest with all thine heart saith Philip to the Eunuch thou mayest be baptized Act. 8.37 and after the holy Ghost poured down on the Gentiles water could not be forbid them Act. 10 47. And on the other hand baptized persons may yet not be really united to Christ they may be admitted into the visible Church and yet not in that one body of Christ which is made up of Believers Simon Magus was baptized Acts 8. but for all that in the bond of iniquity many are partakers of baptismal water in whom appears not a Scintilla Spiritûs Sancti In like manner for the Lords Supper men may be nay should be in union with Christ before their receiving of it and yet many outwardly receive it who are not in union with him receiving only Panem Domini and not Panem Dominum as S. Austin speaks and eating only forès non intùs in Sacramento tantùm non usque ad Spiritûs participationem To conclude Sacraments and visible Churches must not be disparaged yet truth must be owned a reall union to Christ may be before the use of Sacraments nay before entrance into the Church visible and therefore it must be immediate or else it could in no case be before them The intention of our Lord and Saviour Mr. Sherlock in what he did and suffered for us was not meerly to reform and save some single persons but to erect a Church and combine all his Disciples into a publick Society to unite them by holy mysteries and to engage them to a mutual discharge of all Christian Offices whereby the whole body may edifie it self in Love and therefore our Saviour doth not own any relation to particular men as such but as they are members of his body for he is the Saviour of the body and redeemed his Church with his own Blood Hence St. John tells 1 Epist That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ First That ye may have fellowship with us become members of the Church by which means you have fellowship with God and Christ. Christ intended to erect a Church How so Answer Common Philanthropy which does alike for all men doth no such singular thing as to cull and call a Church a select company out of the rest of mankind No it is impossible because the Love is common and the work singular no less than special love must do it such as God sets upon his chosen ones Christ intended to set up a Church very true and he hath pitched upon the individual persons which shall make it up he hath set down their names in the Book of Life or else his providence which is so accurate in the little Flies and Gnats as to set down every wing and little part which makes up those minute animals should be very lame and imperfect in that great design of a Church a Church only being designed and not the persons of which it should consist Christ intended to set up a Church Yes and he resolved to give such Grace as should infallibly effect it Providence such is its wisdom and accurate perfection never fails or falls short of its intent no not in a design of Justice and that to come to pass through the hardest medium can be used by it we need not scale Heaven for this but have a Scheme let down from thence to assure us of it 2 Chron. 18. God intended that Ahab should go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead and though the manner of it were by a lying spirit yet it infallibly came to pass how much more must providence be unfailable in such a design of Grace as that of a Church It s true suasory resistible Grace cannot secure it because it leaves the issue of all upon the will of man irresistible Grace must come in or else we may lay by the design of a Church and confess with Corvinus Finis mortis Christi constaret etiamsi nemo credidisset As for that place of St. John That ye may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ By us is meant S. John or the Apostles not the Church or body of Christ But were that Church meant it hinders not but that they in the use of the Evangelical Truths and Ordinances might come to an immediate Communion with God and Christ as the Apostles had thus the Learned Grotius on the place Vt vos ipsi non minùs quà m nos frucium inde percipiatis societatem cum Deo cum Christo Those publick censures Mr. Sherlock whereby rotten or dead members are cut off from the body of Christ consist in casting such persons out of the Christian Society in debarring them from the Communion of Prayers and Sacraments and all religious Offices which is a plain demonstration that our union to Christ is not an union to his person but consists in a sincere and spiritual communion with the Christian Church otherwise this external communion with the Church could be no visible signification of our union to Christ nor could our excision from the visible Church signifie our separation from him The Author argues thus Answer If union to Christ be immediate then our external communion with the Church cannot signifie our union to Christ nor could our excision from the visible Church signifie our separation from him To which I answer just before our Author saith Our union to Christ is not an union to his Person but consists in communion with the Church that is the visible Church as he afterwards calls it and therefore our communion with the Church doth not signifie our union to Christ but is it and our excision from the Church doth not signifie our separation from Christ but is it according to our Author which cannot possibly stand Because our union to the
a conduit only and not rather a Sea or Ocean of Grace S. Chrysostome as I have him quoted by the Learned Jeans calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an infinite Sea adding Though all the Saints that are were or shall be did do or shall receive of his fulness yet will he never be emptied never the less full for all that and why should the Author utter such a word as dressing up of Christ The investiture of him with his sacred Office of Mediator is so far above a slight that it is no less than the work of infinite Love Wisdom and Power those whom the Author opposes ascribe nothing to Christ but what is founded on Scripture And for such as are united to Christ in truth I verily believe that they shall never fall short of Heaven and to keep them in the true way thither God puts his fear into their hearts that they shall not depart away from him but these men ransack all the boundless perfections of the Deity What is this for Must we not own that Christ is God and hath all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him Or may we be Christians without it but they would have us build all our hopes not on the Gospel but on the person of Christ And where do they utter any such word or syllable Or how could they do so To rest upon Christ and cast away the Evangelical warrant to stand for the great purchaser and despise or neglect the Charter is utterly impossible To make this appear consider Mr. Sherlock Dr. Owen tells us That Christ is fit to be a Saviour from the Grace of Union and if we would understand what this strange Grace of Vnion is It is the uniting the nature of God and man in one Person which makes him fit to be a Saviour to the uttermost he lays his hands upon God by partaking of his nature Zach. 13.7 And he lays his hands on us by partaking of our nature Hebr. 2.14 And becomes a Daysman or Umpire between both Now though this be a great truth that the Vnion of the Divine and Humane nature in Christ did excellently qualifie him for the Office of a Mediatour yet this is the unhappiest man in expressing and proving it that I have met with For what an untoward representation is this of Christs Mediation that he came to make peace by laying his hands on God and men as if he meant to part a fray or scuffle and he might as well have named Gen. 1.1 or Matth. 1.1 or any other Scripture for the proof of it Strange Grace of Vnion Answer No Divine is a stranger to the Gratia Vnionis Nay the Author himself confesses it to be a great truth but the strangeness is in the Doctor 's untoward expressing of it he being the unhappiest man therein that ever the Author met with Imman fol. 21. that is except Bishop Vsher whose words are these Christ the only fit Vmpire to take up this controversie was to lay his hand as well upon God the party so highly offended as upon man the party so basely offending But the Doctor might as well have named Matth. 1. or Gen. 1. for the proof The expression was taken from Job 9.33 And if that expression the man God's Fellow Zach. 13.7 do not prove Christ's Divinity and that other he took part of our flesh and blood Heb. 2.13 do not prove his Humanity what can do it From the Deity of Christ Mr. Sherlock the Doctor observes The endless bottomless boundless Grace that is in Christ it is not the Grace of a creature no not of the humane nature it self that can serve our turn if it could be conceived as separate from the Deity Surely so many thirsty guilty souls as every day drink deep and large draughts of Grace and Mercy from him would if I may so speak sink him to the very bottom nay it could afford no supply at all but only in a moral way and that is a very pitiful way indeed The condemned Pelagius would allow meer moral Grace Answer but if there be no more what means the drawing quickning renewing regenerating creating conquering Grace so signally set forth in Scripture Or how should poor lost lapsed corrupted man dead in Sins and Trespasses ever be raised up into the Divine life Meer suasion operates only as proposing an object and not as ingenerating a power or faculty and were there no other Grace how should the power of repenting and believing which are things far above the Sphere of Nature ever be produced Or which way should the acts of repenting and believing ever come forth without a power S. Austin is not content with meer suasory Grace but would have such an one Quâ Gloriae magnitudo non solùm promittitur De Grat. contr Pelag lib. 1. cap. 10. verum etià m creditur nec solùm revelatur Sapientia verum etiam amatur nec suadetur solùm omne bonum verùm persuadetur And a little after he tells Pelagius That he must confess such a Grace if he would be a Christian The Dr. tells us Mr. Sherlock That if all the world should set themselves to drink free Grace and Mercy and Pardon from the Wells of Salvation if they should set themselves to draw from one single Promise they would not be able to sink the Grace of the Promise of the Person of Christ he means saith the Author one hairs breadth The Infiniteness of Grace with respect to its Spring or Fountain will answer all objections what is our finite guilt before it Shew me the sinner that can spread his Iniquity to the dimensions of this Grace Here is Mercy enough for the greatest the oldest the stubbornest Transgressor c. Enough in all reason this what a comfort is it to sinners to have such a God for their Saviour whose Grace is bottomless and boundless and exceeds the largest dimensions of sin though there be a world of sin in them The Grace of the Promise saith the Dr. of the Person of Christ he means Answer saith the Author This is just to as much purpose as if the Author should tell us That the Grace of the Evangelical Charter and the Grace of Christ the great Purchaser cannot consist together which as yet I never found admitted among Divines The Infiniteness of Christ's Grace is a thing no more to be scrupled or plaid withal than the Verity of his Deity When the Emperor Constantine had unjustly and unnaturally dipt his hands in the blood of his Son Crispus Spondan Annal. and Nephew Licinius Junior the Pagan Flamins were nonplust and could tell of no way of Expiation for so horrible a Crime but the Christian Doctrine furnished him with one No sooner doth a man become Christian but he must own that the Grace of Christ is infinite and in a transcendent Excess above all the dimensions of sin that the oldest and greatest Transgressor may find
of God if we observe their posture in the Scripture endeavour all they do in a way of dependance upon the Grace of God a famous instance is David in the 119. Psalm With my whole heart have I sought thee saith he But O let me not wander from thy Commandments vers 10. I will run the way of thy Commandments but do thou enlarge my heart Vers 32. Consider how I love thy Precepts but quicken me according to thy loving kindness vers 159. Lord I have hoped for thy Salvation and done thy Commandments vers 166. all his endeavors were under Grace and if Believers in all their endeavors wait upon the Grace of God much more should Sinners wait upon God for Faith in the use of means Mr. Sherlock But how shall a poor humbled Sinner know when he is called that then he may come to Christ You must not mistake the general offers of the Gospel for this special call for they are not a sufficient foundation for our Faith though they are made to the weary and heavy laden Men cannot will not come at such a call and they have no reason to do it for Christ is not intended for all therefore though he be offered to all in the Gospel yet it would be presumption for every one to lay hold on him for Christ doth not immediately offer himself to all Men as a Saviour whereby they may be encouraged to serve him as a King that is he does not promise Salvation and Eternal life in the Gospel with a design that every one that will should take encouragement from these promises to obey and serve him But first as a King commanding them to cast away their weapons and stoop under his Scepter acknowledging that if ever he save me I will bless him if he damn me his Name is righteons in so dealing with me that is every Man is invited in the Gospel to submit himself to the mercy of Christ but then Christ reserves a liberty to himself to save or damn as he pleases these are hard terms and such as sound wore like the arbitrary will of an haughty Lord than the conditions of a gracious Saviour Christ died so far for all Men Answer as to found the general promises of the Gospel for them to make them saveable upon Gospel terms which Devils are not and these general promises are a sufficient ground-work and warrant for them to come to Christ it is no presumption for any Man to do so but these general promises are not that internal call which produces Faith in Men. Christ saith Mr. Shephard doth not immediately offer himself as a Saviour to encourage them to serve him as a King that is saith the Author he doth not promise Salvation with a design to encourage every one that will to serve him To which I answer The promise is an encouragement to all Men to serve him but that this may be done they must lay down their weapons they must stoop under his Scepter or else surely they cannot serve him But Mr. Shephard goes on They must acknowledge if he save me I will bless him if he damn me he is righteous that is saith the Author every Man is invited in the Gospel to submit to the mercy of Christ but Christ reserves a liberty to himself to save or damn which are hard terms To which I answer God was under no necessity to give us a Jesus a Gospel a promise of Salvation What if there had been none would not the terms have been harder or rather no terms at all What hope of Salvation could there then have been yet in all this God would have been like himself the Righteous One man could not have uttered the least just complaint against him But now there is a Gospel what is the Liberty to save or damn which Christ reserves Is it a liberty to save men though unbelievers or damn men though believers No surely the Gospel stands firm that the believer shall be saved the unbeliever shall be damned and that without any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or difference among men but still Christ reserves to himself his Prerogative the key of David to open the hearts of men as he did Lydia's to believe upon him he dispenses Faith as he pleases And no man may say to him what dost thou He gives not an account of such matters What then must we do now Why Mr. Sherlock the only remedy is to venture and try God hath elected but few Christ hath shed his Blood for few therefore we must venture and a hard venture it is where there is such great odds-against us and yet our eternal happiness depends upon the success too great a stake for such a venture As many men among us do now who hearing of a good living fallen twenty will go for it though but one can have it though did they know it were irrevocably decreed who should have it none of them would stir but wait for the news Good God! what Merchant adventurers are poor sinners who after all their seeking for Christ are in such danger of missing him Or as the Lepers in Samaria if we stay here we must dye If we go out to the Assyrians we may live Which is the resolution of desperate men as it seems the Gospel condemns us all to be No previous dispositions can give us encouragement to come to Christ Humiliation cannot do it After this we must expect a call still we are but probationers and may miss him nay assurance it self cannot do it for if you come to Christ because you have assurance That is if you come to Christ because you are sure you are come or because you feel such Graces and Heavenly impressions of Gods Spirit in you then you may many a day and year keep at a distance from Christ and live without Christ This is an hard saying though we come to Christ we may be at a distance nay though we come because we are sure we are come already It is time now to give over when assurance is no security What then must we do now Answer We must venture and try God hath elected but few Christ hath shed his blood for few therefore we must venture and an hard venture it is and great odds against us Thus the Author To which I answer God hath elected but few But do secret things belong to us May we pry into the eternal Rolls and make them the measures of our acting No surely the Rule is before us in the Gospel which we must not wave because there are secret Decrees A man that would argue against himself and his venturing upon Christ from these principles must do it thus If I am eternally reprobated then it is to no purpose to venture upon Christ but I am eternally reprobated Ergo it is to no purpose to venture But how doth he know the Minor or what reason hath he for it What madness and desperate rashness is it
and miss of Heaven And yet when he was in a more gentle humour he told the poor doubting soul that desire nay that a desire only to desire at two or three removes was enough But I am zealous so was Jehu and Paul while a Pharisee in persecuting the Church and therefore an universal religious well-governed zeal for God can be no sign of Grace But I am constant and persevere in godly courses so did the young man all these have I kept from my youth only he left Christ for the sake of his riches and so did not persevere But I do all with a good heart for God so thou mayst think of thy self and be deceived And if this be an objection let a man have what marks he will the objection will still be good and so all evidences signifie nothing for after all a man may be deceived in it and think he hath those marks when he hath them not There is a way that seemeth right to man but the end thereof is death thou mayst live so as to deceive thy self and others and yet prove an hypocrite as if because some men may think themselves good who are in a bad estate no man could ever be sure that he is in the right And thus farewel all evidences There is reason to administer comfort to wounded Souls from the lowest measures of Grace Answer and no less to pluck down the proud Plumes of Hypocrites from the inward and pure spirituality of Religion Our Saviour doth both he gave out gracious Promises to mourners and to the poor in spirit and he poured out woes upon the Pharisees and upon all the pomp of their external righteousness But saith the Author they do so magnifie the attainments of Hypocrites that a sanctified man can do no more than an Hypocrite and so all the evidences of Sanctification are spoiled But how so do they paint the Hypocrite fairer than he is Do they attribute to him a jot or tittle more than what is true No surely an Hypocrite may be no Drunkkard or Swearer he may escape the pollutions of the World that is gross sins and though he be not entangled therein again and so a Swine in his outward converses yet he may be such inwardly his inward parts may be wickedness and uncleanness He may live a blameless innocent honest smooth life and yet be foul within He may fast pray hear read the Scriptures and yet his heart not right in the sight of God He may have some kind of sorrow or repentance some kind of love to good men and yet like the foolish Virgins have no Oyl in his Lamp no true Grace with his profession He may have a notional knowledge and yet not be Sanctified by the Truth He may keep a Sabbath in the outward decorum of it and yet want the Spirit and Life of it a delight in the Almighty He may have some kind of zeal and some desires after Heaven and yet not of the right stamp He may presume that he hath a good heart and a godly course and be deceived in both all this is true Now one Truth cannot oppose another The truth which concerns the attainments of Hypocrites cannot oppose that which concerns the evidences of Sanctification The outward reformation is an evidence not meerly as it is outward but as it flows from Faith and a pure heart Fasting prayer hearing reading are evidences not meerly in opere operato in the work done but in the doing of them in a Spiritual manner Faith and Hope and holy Love being actuated therein Keeping the Sabbath is an evidence not meerly in the outward observation of it But when it is filled up with Duties spiritually performed Knowledge Zeal Repentance Love to good Men are Graces when of the right stamp but meer notion which swims in the brain is not that sanctifying Knowledge which influences Holiness into the Heart and Life Every heat upon a Religious account is not true Zeal but that celestial Fire which rightly inflames the heart for the glory of God Every sorrow or pressure from the Law is not true repentance but that which melts the heart into tears for the sinfulness of sin Every respect to good men is not the right love but that which flows out of love to God and points to the Divine Image in them Desires after Heaven may be a mark of a good Estate but then they must be such as are vertually Grace and issue out of poverty of spirit A man may think he hath a good heart and a godly course and be deceived therein yet it follows not that we must bid farewel to evidences an holy life issuing out of a pure heart will still be an evidence to him who hath it But after all this Mr. Sherlock it would be worth while to know how to distingush a regenerate from an unregenerate man and that he tells us may be done thus An unregenerate man let him go never so far do never so much yet he lives in some one sin or other This now is very strange What go never so far and do never so much and yet live in some one sin or other what live a blameless innocent honest smooth life and yet live in some one sin or other Yet suppose he did a regenerate man may be in captivity to the Law of sin And pray what 's the difference But then an ungenerate man cannot be poor in spirit and so carried out of all Duties to Christ That is if an unregenerate man do good he is conscious to himself that he doth it If he have a good heart he feels a good heart in himself and in all he doth and therefore feels not a want of all good which is true poverty of spirit So that according to this discourse the surest mark of a regenerate man is either to have no good in himself or if he have any to be mistaken and think he hath none either of which I think is a very odd sign of Grace But then an unregenerate man comes to Christ but he never gets into Christ never takes up his eternal rest and lodging in Jesus Christ only I thought coming had been believing and that believing would have done the business And if so God forbid that any man should be damned for want of that other Metaphor of taking up his eternal rest and lodging in Christ Men in distress of conscience that 〈◊〉 unregenerate men under such distress If they have comfort from Christ they are contented If Salvation from Hell by Christ they are contented and I think they have some reason then to be contented But Christ himself that is without Comfort and without Salvation contents them not Now to be contented with Christ without comfort and salvation is so far from being the mark of an unregenerate man that I am not yet satisfied that it is the mark of an unreasonable man An unregenerate man Answer let him go never so far do
therefore cannot be given to them for any precedent Grace in them or indeed for any reason at all in them unless which is very odd we presume them to be given to them for the goodness of their Nature The Scripture clearly resolves it into the Soveraign will of God He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom. 9.18 He begets us of his own will Ja. 1.18 He begets us according to his abundant mercy 1 Pet. 1.3 He worketh to will to do of his good pleasure Ph. 2.13 Neither is it possible to be otherwise his love of Benevolence is the Fountain and great Origen of all the goodness in the Creature and how or which way shall the goodness of the Creature be the cause or reason of that love All the goodness in the Creature is but a donative of Divine love and if so then the Divine love was antecedent to that goodness in the Creature Now these things being clearly so in Scripture and reason I suppose there is little reason and less Religion to say That God loves for no reason or without reason that that Man is a Fool who loves at this rate that it is a reproach among Men so to Act with such other stuff which I pray God to forgive unto the Speaker If there be reason for any thing in the World there is for this That God the supream Donor should do what he would with his own That Man the poor Receiver should not expostulate with God or think to call him to an account for any of his matters That the regenerating Spirit should be at liberty and breath where it lists That all Gods gifts should be free and of his good pleasure there being in the Creature nothing that is good but what is a meer gift only But saith the Author This undermines the foundations of Religion if God love for no reason whether we obey him or disobey him it is all one if God love us our sins cannot hinder it if he love us not our holyness cannot alter him therefore all Religion is but in vain To which I answer This Argument runs upon two or three hypotheses which are untrue The Author supposes first that God's purpose or decretive love is what it is not the rule of our acting next that there is in God what indeed there is not some purpose or decree to bar some Men though never so holy out of Heaven And Thirdly That there is not what in truth there is a complacential love in God towards all holy Persons whoever they be Now these things are not so we say that God commands all in the Church to Repent and Believe that God hath made a general promise of Salvation to all that do so and withal that God hath a complacential love towards all holy persons whoever they be And these things considered surely Religion cannot be in vain or to no purpose As for the Philosophical nicety or verity rather if God be as he is a God and the supream Donor of all in reason all Creatures as Creatures must depend on him the Creator and as Receivers must depend on him the Donor And hence it is evident that all the grace and goodness in the Creature because a Creature must depend on him its Maker And because a gift must depend on him the Donor thereof Man though but a petty Benefactor is free in his gifts or else they would not be gifts how much more must God the supream Donor be so It is true when Men are good God such is the sanctity of his Nature doth take pleasure in them but to dispense grace or goodness to the Creature is his Royal prerogative he doth it according to the soveraign unaccountable pleasure of his will he was under no Natural necessity to give a Christ or a Gospel or a dram of Faith or holyness to any one fallen Man in the World what he gives he gives as he pleases out of meer Free grace It is true too when Men are good God such is his gracious promise will greatly reward them but it is he only who makes us good and so meet for the inheritance in light our goodness is of Grace and our reward is Grace upon Grace remunerating Grace upon sanctifying In a word the love of Gods Complacence respects goodness in the Creature but the love of Benevolence causes it and that freely in a way of unaccountable Soveraignty and this is so far from being a love without reason that without it it is impossible that there should be any goodness in the Creature Were there a goodness in the Creature antecedent to the love of his Benevolence it would be a beam without a Sun a gift without a Giver a strange independent self-originated goodness and that in the Creature which is as great an absurdity as can well be imagine Secondly Mr. Sherlock These Men tell us too that Christs love is immutable having once fixt his love upon us though without any reason he can never alter Sin it self cannot separate us from the Love of Christ If sin foreseen were not able to hinder him from planting his heart on us How then shall it that is sin committed be able to over-turn the thoughts of his heart when once they are fixed on us This is a strong fixed Love indeed which sin it self cannot alter But how wise and holy a Love it is let any man judge Herein Dr. Owen tells us the depth of Christs Love is to be contemplated that whereas his holy Soul hates every sin it is a burden an abomination a new wound to him and his poor Spouse that is sinful Believers are full of sin failings infirmities he hides all covers all bears all rather than he will loose them He adds indeed by his power preserving them from such sins as a remedy is not provided for in the Covenant of Grace I suppose he means the sin against the holy Ghost for there is a remedy provided for all other sins in the Covenant of Grace and all other sins a Believer it seems may be guilty of and Christ will hide all rather than lose him Now this is as down-right Antinomianism as ever Dr. Crisp or Saltmarsh vented There have been and are to this day a great many wise learned men who contend for the perseverance of the Saints that those who are once in a state of Grace shall always continue so But then they found this not on such an immutable Love as sin it self cannot alter for this is not reconcilable with the Holiness of the Divine Nature nor with those threatnings in Scripture against such back-sliders When the righteous man turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that a wicked man doth he shall dye Ezek. 18.24 If any man turn back my soul shall have no pleasure in him which is a plain demonstration the truth of which is which is acknowledged by all sober Writers that if
such men can be supposed to relapse into a sinful state God will cease to love them therefore they found the immutability of Gods Love to them on their perseverance in doing good God loves all good men but if they cease to be good he also must cease to love Herein the immutability of Gods Love consists not that he always loves the same person but that he always loves for the same reason For it is no perfection to be so fixt in our kindness that where we love once we will always love whatever reason there may be to alter our affections for by this means we may love undeserving Objects which is the greatest degeneracy of Love but the perfection of Love consists in loving deserving Objects and in loving upon honourable reasons and the immutability of Love consists in loving always for the same reasons which is the only foundation of a virtuous immutability The reason of Christs Love to any person is Holiness and Obedience If any love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him Joh. 14.23 The unchangeableness of his Love is seen in this that he will continue to love while we continue to obey him If ye shall keep my Commandments that is continue to do so Ye shall abide in my Love I will continue to love you As I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his Love Joh. 15.20 This is the immutability of the Divine Nature that God always acts upon steddy constant Principles that whatever changes there are in the World which may occasion very different administrations in his providence yet he is the same still and never changes Whereas should God always love the same person however he changed and altered God must change and alter too because though he still loves the same person yet he must love for different or contrary reasons or for none at all and that is the much greater change of the two to alter the reason than the Object of Love If God love a good man because he is good and continue to love him when he is wicked his love is a mutable thing which can love goodness or wickedness which can love for none or for contrary reasons But if God always loves true goodness and good men and never loves any other whatever change there be in Creatures God is the same still and unchangeable in his Love The Author admits an immutable Love in God towards goodness Answer but the Scripture asserts an immutable Love in God towards persons He hath chosen us before the foundation of the world Eph. 1.4 Electing Love is eternal and therefore immutable Non enim est vera aeternitas ubi orttur nova voluntas nec est immortalis voluntas quae alia et alia est An eternal choice must be ever the same and after one there cannot rise another The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his 2 Tim. 2.19 Election which is the foundation is sure and Gods fore-knowledge which includes invariable Love in it is the seal of it The Book of Life hath all the names of the Elect written in it and Gods Love is the Seal that confirms it whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 This Golden Chain of Grace comprises in it certain individual persons as the words whom and them which fasten every link of it doth evidently import and that which holds all the links of it together is immutable Love Nay besides Scripture evidence reason will evince this immutable Love of the Elect without this there can be no design of a Church and without the design of a Church Christs blood must needs be shed irrationally or upon a meer peradventure I say without this there can be no design of a Church for the design of a Church must comprise in it those individual persons which shall make up a Church and undertake that they shall infallibly believe and persevere till they come to Heaven it must first comprise in it those individual persons which shall make up a Church or else it is lame and imperfect unworthy of the Divine Wisdom and Perfection running much after this rate as if God should say I design a Church but I care not of whom it consists which is much one as if God should design an Heaven and not what Stars should be in it or an Earth and not what Plants should be there All the members in mans body are written in Gods book Psal 139.16 And can any man imagine that those who should make up the Mystical Body of Christ as so many Members thereof are not certainly designed God calleth them by name Joh. 10.3 Your names are all down in the Book of Life Phil. 4.3 To design a Church and not who is too weak a thing for the all-wise Deity Again the design of a Church must undertake that those individual persons shall believe and persevere unless this be granted the design of a Church must be framed thus God gives a Saviour and a Gospel in common and over and above a power to men to believe and persevere and so though the issue hang upon mans will hopes for a Church But in Truth this is not to design a Church but the possibility of one there may be one as it may happen and there may be none And is this like that Divine Providence which is perfect in all things and especially in the great design of a Church Nay is it probable upon these terms that any should believe and persevere Innocent Adam and yet alas how soon was that Star shot was more likely to stand in his integrity than any man since upon those terms hath been to believe and persevere The disparity clears it The Divine principles in Adam sweetly inclined him to obedience But the power of believing in men doth not incline but only put the will in aequilibrio The Divine Principles in Adam were pure and without mixture But the power of believing hath in the same heart where it dwells an inmate of corruption which continually counter-works it In innocency the temptation stood without a courting the senses But after the Fall it makes nearer approaches as having a party within ready to open and betray every faculty These things considered methinks every one who with humble eyes looks on that glass of Creature defectibility which was made out of the broken pieces of fallen Adam should conclude it very improbable that any one in all the World upon those terms should believe and persevere it being no less than a proud thought for any to imagine that upon such great disparities he could act his part better than Adam did And is it reasonable that God should found the design of a Church upon such improbabilities The first Covenant in which the stock of Grace