6. and when they assayed to go into Bithynia the Spirit suffered them not ver 7. Philad For what reason God would not that the Gospel should at that time be preached by Paul and Timothy in Asia is hid from us he might have many either that he would make use of their Ministry somewhere else or that he had appointed some others to the Work whatsoever it was certainly the Reason is not to be brought from God's absolute Decree of Reprobation as Calvin upon this place doth for it is certain that the Gospel was at least soon after preached and that in this place by Paul himself so that Demetrius the Siver-smith did greatly lament the admirable progress of the Gospel in Asia Acts 19. 26. And in the 10th Verse you may see that Paul continued for the space of two years at Ephesus which was the Metropolis of Asia insomuch that it was said That all they that dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks Mar. But all Men have not the Gospel preached to them nor the same Light and Means to know the Lord and so come to believe in him and surely if Christ died for all Men for the whole World he would have sent amongst them the Word of Life and removed out of the way all those things which he knew would have hindered their Salvation and therefore I cannot think but all those Nations which the Gospel is not sent to are left by the Lord in the Fall and reserved for Eternal Punishment Philad As it was in Paul's time so it is now the Jews prided themselves against the Gentiles as being the only Elect People and the Gentiles but Reprobates and Cast-aways and so do such as you are at this day by the Nations which have not the Gospel-light as I have often heard to my great grief even damn them by whole-sale looking upon them little better than Devils What tho the Lord according to his manifold Wisdom is pleased to vouchsafe a greater sufficiency of means to know the Lord and to know what God hath done for them and by the Gospel reveals those things which otherwise in an ordinary way could not be known to one Nation or one Age and Generation of Men more than another yet knowing and by daily experience finding God to be infinite in Goodness and Mercy I cannot but believe he hath effectually provided for their Salvation as well as ours tho the ordinary means is wanting as at this day in many parts of the World for tho Faith is not now begotten in them by preaching and hearing as with us at this day yet God hath many ways to instruct and communicate his Will to Man Job 33. yea to reveal Christ in such manner and ways as may be available for Jesus Christ who took Man's Nature upon him and who hath taken away their original Guilt and who enlightens every Man that comes into the World may by the Operation of his Spirit how and when he pleaseth so help them to improve their single Talent of Reason and the Light set up in their Consciences which may so perfect what is wanting of the ordinary means that many thousands according to our Saviour's words Mat. 8. 11. shall come from the East and the West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven when the Children of the Visible Kingdom or Church who judged themselves the sole Inheritors of it and all the rest of the World but Castaways shall be shut out and if you look Psal 87. you may see that those that had their natural Birth in Rahab Tyre Ethiopia Philistia Babylon shall be accounted as born in the Spiritual Zion or Church of God And tho the Lord in his Wisdom and Mercy is pleased to vouchsafe a greater measure of Grace Light and Knowledg and of Salvation unto us than unto them yet hath not God left himself without Witness all the common Providences of God being given to direct Men to seek the Lord. In Rom. 2. 14 15. we read that the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things c. That Law which was given in two Tables of Stone was that which was purely moral and imprinted in their Hearts namely that God is to be worshipped that Parents should be honoured and in a word to do to all as they would be done to These were Duties written in he very Book of Nature and tho they have not the Evangelical Law in the preaching of the Gospel as we have become a Law to themselves and by observing the Dictates of that Light living up to a true informed Conscience and to that Law which warreth against the rebellious Lusts in their Members have gradually so prevailed with them as to bring them to a good measure of conformity to the Will of God and have quite outdone many Christians in their practices Mar. What tho yet if Christ as Mediator be not some-way made known to Men they are lost for ever He that believeth on the Son hath Life and he that believeth not on the Son hath not Life But you seem to hold that it is not absolutely necessary to Salvation to know Christ and him crucified as Mediator but to live up to that which God hath manifested to them and to have some Notions of Unisersal Grace and Mercy in the Divine Essence But I must tell you all that ever were saved before Christ came were saved not by living up to that Light which God had given to all Men or by living up to a true conformity to the Law planted in their Hearts or by believing God was merciful and gracious but by believing on Christ who was to come to be a Sacrifice for their Sins and all that are saved since our Saviour's coming do in some measure know and believe in Jesus Christ that died without the Gates of Jerusalem Philad Have you forgot that you told me that I went too far to assert the Salvation of all those that died in Infancy I not being the Sovereign Lord and Judg of all and now are you not guilty of the same thus to determine the final State of all Men both before and since Christ's coming in the Flesh as if none were saved but only such as distinctly knew Jesus Christ the Seed of the Woman that was to break the Serpent's Head as he that was to offer himself a Sacrifice for Sin seeing I believe neither you nor any other is able to prove that no Heathen wanting the Letter of the Gospel and the Oral Ministry of it which is the ordinary Means to beget Faith never yet believed on God to Justification or were accepted with him And whereas you say none can be saved who diligently frame their Lives according to the Light God hath given them or live in a true conformity to the Law written in their Hearts This is but your presumption for if God hath given them no other Law or Light
to walk by 't is far more safe to leave them to the Lord who will not gather where he hath not strewed than thus to censure them for where much is given much is required Mr. Baxter tells us More proof pag. 95. That as the Jews had by Promises Prophecies and Types more means to know God than other Nations so they were answerably obliged to more Knowledg and Faith than other Nations were that had not or could not have their means Yea Mr. Calvin in his Epistle to the French New Testament as quoted by Mr. Goodwin says After Adam was left in such confusion he was fruitful in his cursed Seed to bring forth a Generation like to himself vicious perverse void and destitute of all Good and abounding in Evil nevertheless the Lord of his Mercy who doth not only love but is himself Love and Charity being yet willing by his infinite Goodness to love that which is not worthy of Love hath not altogether lost and overwhelmed Men as their Sins did require but hath supported them in Sweetness and Patience giving them time and leasure to return to him and set themselves to that Obedience from which they had strayed and tho he did suffer them to go after the desires and wishes of their own Hearts without Law without Government without any correction by his Word yet he hath given them warning enough which might have incited them to seek taste and find him to know and honour him as it behoveth them for he hath lifted up every where and in all places and things his Ensign and Arms that there were none could pretend ignorance of the knowledg of so Sovereign a Lord for that in all parts of the World in Heaven and in Earth he hath written and engraven the Glory of his Might Goodness Wisdom and Eternity St. Paul therefore saith true That the Lord never left himself without Witness even towards those to whom he hath not sent the Knowledg of his Word forasmuch as all Creatures might be Witnesses and Messengers of his Glory unto all Men to draw them to seek him and having found him to welcome him and do him Homage according to the Dignity of a Lord so Good so Powerful so Wise and Eternal and also did help each other in its place to this Guest for the Birds singing sung God Beasts cried aloud to him the Elements stood in fear of him Mountains reasoned with him Rivers and Fountains cast their Eyes upon him Herbs and Flowers smiled upon him altho indeed there was no necessity to seek him very far by reason that each one might find him in his own self being that we are all kept up and preserved by his Virtue dwelling in us in the mean while for to manifest more amply his Goodness and Infinite Clemency among Men he hath not contented himself to instruct them all by such Documents as we have exprest but hath especially given to understand his Voice to a certain People Surely here Mr. Calvin hath acknowledged that God hath vouchsafed sufficient Means to all whereby to come to the knowledg of him and consequently to repent and believe in him Philet But without Christ and a Work of Grace upon the Heart and Faith in him none can be saved doth not our Saviour tell Nicodemus John 3. 5. Except a Man be born again of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God That is he cannot be saved Philad Do you think our Saviour did there mean the Kingdom of Glory Philet Yea doubtless Philad I rather think that Christ spoke it of the Kingdom of Grace or the Visible Church of Christ that none could not or at least wise ought not come into it without Regeneration and holy Baptism yet may a Person be a Member of the Universal Church yea and be received a Member of the Triumphant Church in Heaven that may not be a Member of the Visible Church of Christ here on Earth for there are two sorts of Persons that cannot in an ordinary way be regenerated and born again which yet may and shall go to Heaven to wit Children and Idiots So tho it is a truth that without Jesus Christ there can be no Salvation yet if there is no Salvation without believing on the Name of the Lord Jesus what then will become of these and all dying Infants who neither have Faith nor are regenerated and yet they shall have Salvation by him Now as God hath one way to bring Persons of Age to Heaven and another way to bring infants why may not those that never had the means to know the Mediator particularly and distinctly have Salvation by him Infants and those many millions of Heathens in some remote parts of the Earth to whom the Gospel was never preached must unavoidablely and eternally perish if God hath provided no other means of Salvation by Christ than such a way of preaching it as is vouchsafed to us We know that the Judgment of God will be according to Equity he knows what he hath laid down what he hath given and what to require and how to reward every Man according to his Works and his Mercys are infinitely extended over all his Works and he is not so severe as to exact more than frail Man is able to perform but according to what light and knowledg he hath given him and whosoever worship God and do his Will according to the manifestation which he hath given them of his Will shall be accepted of him Acts 10. 34 35. He that improves one Talent well shall be accepted as well as he that improves five for surely the Almighty will never require any more of a Man than he hath given him therefore I believe that all those that are obedient to that Light or Law which the Lord hath given them endeavouring according to their measure an exact conformity to the Divine Will shall be happy and it would be a great piece of uncharitableness to exclude them from all interest in Christ and to allow none to have any saving benefit by Christ's Death but such as own the true Orthodox Faith as it is called by some we may by this damn by wholesale not only all the Gentile Nations but also most other Christians who have erred in Judgment and have unwittingly mistaken the Truth 〈◊〉 God forbid Tho many in our days 〈◊〉 that without hopes or sense of their â—ondition exclude them from any part in Christ or the Church of God as did the Jews of old who reputed themselves the only Children of the Kingdom boasted of their Privileges as having Abraham to their Father and cried the Temple of the Lord how much soever they abused the means and neglected God and reputed the Gentiles but Castaways not being circumcised nor brought into the visible Jewish Church-state yet had the Lord a regard to them when the Visible Church-state extended it self no farther than the Familys of Abraham Isaac and Jacob as appears by the effect
And pray you to what end are all his Promises in Scriptures are they not to spur us on to a holy and pious Life but how vain are they when they are upon condition of our repentance believing and obeying the Lord which is as possible to perform without Grace as to eat up a Rock Now if God makes a promise to give us Heaven on condition we do believe and yet never gives us a Christ to believe in nor power to believe these are Promises equal to a bare denial but far be it from the most High that any of his Promises should be either false or fraudulent his Promises are in Christ Yea and Amen they are as unchangeable as his being they are not fair to look on like the Apples of Sodom but afterwards die in a mere nothing of performance And to conclude this Point I must needs tell you that I look upon all those no better than ungrateful Blasphemers and Liers that say God hath required us to perform those things which he hath not given us abilitys whereby we may cooperate with him in doing those things which he hath injoyned us to do and in avoiding those things he hath forbidden and yet it shall be our Condemnation Calvin himself acknowledgeth that Man's refusing God's Grace evidently presupposes there is in every Man a real power to imbrace it Philet But do you hold that God gives special discriminating Grace to all you ought to make a distinction between God's Grace for there is common Grace and special Grace his common Grace is given to the whole Universe but his special Grace only to the Elect. Philad I believe God gives not his Grace to all alike but to some more and to others less according to the good pleasure of his Will yet he is wanting to none but such as are wanting to themselves O Israel thy destruction is of thy self Hosea 13. 9. Man's destruction is of himself for not faithfully doing of that which God by his Grace hath enabled him to perform But pray what is this you call common Grace and what discriminating Grace Philet Common Grace is the single Talent of Reason and Understanding with the good things of this Life which all Men injoy and those that live under or within the sound of the Gospel call are under the external Offers of Grace we are not under the Law but under Grace that is the Gospel yea and may from thence receive common Grace viz. Illumination Conviction legal Humiliation c. But special Grace is an inward Work wrought in the Hearts of the Elect by the irresistible Power of the Spirit Philad Pray tell me one thing For what End and Use is God's Grace given to any let it be never so small was it given to do Evil Philet No. Philad What then to do nothing withal Philet No Men that receive it are not to be idle with it Philad Then doubtless it was to honour and glorify the Lord with it here on Earth and through Christ is sufficient to glorify him in Heaven if he be a faithful improver of it But it doth appear that those that have received one Talent have receiv'd a small measure of Grace this you will not call by the name of Special Grace what is not the least measure of Grace which we injoy from God a special Favour and is not Grace as it comes from God whether great or small the same in Nature and will not the least measure of Grace faithfully improved through Christ lead us to Heaven and the non-improvement of it lay the receiver under unpardonable guilt for we shall be accountable to God for what he gives and no more God did not require the improvement of two Talents of him that had received but one neither did the Lord take away the one Talent from him that had it till he hid it and would not improve it Philet Why he that had received the one Talent receiv'd but common Grace and one reason he could not make that one Talent two was because he had not special Grace to inable him to improve it so tho he might have received so much as to leave him without excuse yet it was not sufficient for Salvation Philad But it was not sufficient to leave him without excuse if not sufficient to effect that which the Lord expected from him and still Mens not believing or obeying the Lord must be laid at his door as if God would damn Persons for not improving their Talent that never had sufficient Means or Power to do it You in effect say that God requires Persons to believe and obey him yet he hath not enabled them so to do is not this plainly to say God exacts more of his Creatures than they are able to do God grant you repentance for these your hard sayings Surely if he that had received the one Talent had not thereby received power and opportunity sufficient to improve it according to the Lord's Will it would not have been so provoking in the sight of the Lord as to cause him to pass so heavy a Doom upon him as to be bound hand and foot and cast into utter Darkness This is not like the Righteousness and Equity of God's Proceedings with wicked and ungodly Men to bring the Vengeance of Eternal Fire upon the Heads of those who did not do that which was impossible for them to do surely we shall be accountable to the Lord for no more than what we receive from him according to that principle of Equity attested by our Saviour Luke 12. 48. for unto whom much is given of him much shall be required and then by the rule of contraries unto whom but little is given but little shall be required He that hath one Talent must be only accountable for that and he that is faithful in a little shall be ruler over much And seeing you pretend very high to Grace above others know this God expects sutable returns he that improves his one Talent well shall be rewarded with a well done good and faithful Servant when thou with all thy Light and Talents if not improved according to the Will of the Doner thereof shall receive the greater condemnation and then instead of free Love thou wilt meet with just Wrath therefore fear and tremble lest gracious Favour be abused But come Philetus let us leave this I believe you cannot make it out how the Gospel should be preached to those that God hath not given a Christ to believe in nor power to believe You know it was the Gospel Ministers Work and the first thing they were to do was to say Peace be to this House Luke 10. 5. But what Peace or Glad-tydings could they bring or speak to those where God intended none Philet But it is not known whom the Lord hath chosen to Life and therefore the Word of Life is to be preached to all tho only those will receive it whose Hearts the Lord opens by his mighty Power so
break off at this time only give me leave to ask you and your Friend Martha this Question viz. What is the reason you go about to perswade your selves and others that God is so severe with the greatest part of Mankind as to leave them in the Fall without giving his Son to die for them but leaving them to perish is it to make your own Salvation doubtful for if Christ died for scarce one in a thousand what grounds have you to believe Christ died for you or that you were elected and chosen to Life Philet I do not question but I was beloved of God and chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the World Philad I suppose that you must needs have a high Opinion of your self that you are one of the Darlings of Heaven one beyond all possibility of miscarrying one that shall never behold the angry Countenance of the Almighty otherwise I believe you would be glad to hear the joyful Tidings of Peace and Reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ for tho you represent God at so dreadful a rate towards others yet you would not have him appear in such Wrath and Fury to your self nay your Doctrine would not be so readily imbraced by so many if they thought they themselves were of that number that God had by an absolute Decree of Reprobation shut under Wrath from all possibility of obtaining Life and Salvation And should the Lord awaken your Conscience under a sense of the dread and horror of your being absolutely rejected from Grace and Glory from having any saving benefit by the Death of Christ this might so amaze you that all Means and Arguments used to comfort you might be of no value your Opinion walks Antipodes to all words of comfort What would it avail you then at such a time to tell you of God's great Love to his Elect and that he had such a Love for some few of the degenerate Sons of Adam that rather than they should perish he would give his Son a Ransom for them and with him give them Faith and Repentance and by a strong hand of irresistible Grace carry them through this World to Glory but that far the greater number are left of the Lord to die and perish for the manifestation of his Justice and Displeasure against Sin Would this fasten any comfort upon you when you behold the Lord's angry Countenance only speaking Blood and Ruin to you Come Philetus this hath been so dreadful to many that they have run some to the Sword and others to the Halter Now seeing that you make the number of the Elect so small as not one in a hundred or one in a thousand how can you have any comfortable assurance that you are one of those that Christ died for unless you prove it by his dying for all and so consequently for you including a part in the whole Philet What rotten stuff have we here at what a pitiful rate do you talk would you have me believe Christ died for me because he died for the whole World if I had no other assurance and hopes for Heaven than this I should be in a miserable state I injoy saving Grace there is an inward Work of God upon my Heart and I am really brought over to Christ this is a better proof that I am not one of those that are left in the Fall to perish but one of those Christ died for Philad I own that there are Marks and Signs which may be sufficient proof of a Person 's Regeneration and may be a good Mark of Election and a sound Evidence for Heaven Rom. 8. 16. the Spirit witnessing with our Spirits But now in this weighty concern of our Souls and Salvation nothing ought to be believed by any but what they have grounds to believe from the Word of God and from that inward Witness which if true never contradicts but is always sutable and agreeable to the Word Now since by your Doctrine the Death of Christ did not extend to one of a thousand how is it possible for you to know that Christ died for you unless it be revealed in the Word of God since he that Christ did or did not die for must be built upon the Testimony of the Lord therefore I say shew me if you can a proof from the Scripture that Christ died for you or if you cannot do that shew me that Man now living in the World for whom Christ did not die Philet I cannot shew you my Name written in the Scriptures nor no place that saith that he died for I. S. but if I can prove my self a Believer I can prove that I am no Reprobate but an Elect Person and consequently one that Christ died for for believing is an infallible Fruit of Election Philad But what if you mistake and think you have true Faith when you have not there is a Faith which is only sancy nay mere presumption a Faith besides the Word of God 't is easy for Men to deceive themselves and others with false Appearances and deceivable Marks in this case since all saving Graces in the Saints have their Counterfeits in Hypocrites yea oftner furnished and set forth with more gaudy paint in Hypocrites than real Christians the Devil can shew himself to be an Angel of Light But come to your Marks of Election Are you the Child of believing Parents this is not sufficient to prove you in the Love and Favour of God for so was Cain Ishmael and Esau yet you say they were reprobated Have you been baptized and so initiated into the visible Church of Christ so have many thousands who by their Conversation shew themselves to be of the Synagogue of Satan Have you done Miracles so did Jannes and Jambres yet they were Cheats Do you outwardly partake of the Lord's Table so do many that have no part in him as Judas Do you preach the Word to others prophesy in Christ's Name so may many to whom Christ will say Depart you cursed and while they preach Salvation to others miss it themselves Philet These are outward Marks which may very well stand with Hypocrisy mine is a supernatural spiritual and inward Work the saving Effect of the sanctifying Spirit of God What say you to Faith is not that a Fruit of the Spirit Philad Yea true justifying Faith is but what would you prove that Christ died for you because you are a Believer Philet No Christ did not die for me and elect me because I believe but because God elected me and gave his Son to die for me therefore I believe I being to prove that God loved me and gave his Son to die for me and that Faith is a Fruit of God's electing Love Philad But what if your Faith be the Faith of the Hypocrite which will perish Simon Magus Acts 8. 13. believed the Doctrine preached by Philip and professed his Faith publickly by being baptized in Water according to our Lord's Command and yet in the
forbear my Testimony against such unworthy Doctrines when just occasion is offered for truly it makes my very Heart sink in me to think what great Injury is done to the Justice Mercy and Love of God who hath graciously ingag'd himself as a Creator to love and respect his Creatures until they voluntarily renounce him by walking in and chusing sinful Ways or suffer the God of this World to blind their Eyes and to deface the Image of God in them See what the Lord saith by the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 44. 2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the Womb which will help thee c. and so Chap. 46. 3 4. Hearken unto me O House of Jacob and all the Remnant of the House of Israel which are born by me from the Belly which are carried from the Womb even to old Age I am he and even to hoary Hairs will I carry you c. Mar. Pray to what purpose do you bring these Scriptures What would you have them prove God speaks here to his Church his Elect ones Phil. He speaks to the whole House of Israel and you will grant that all were not true Israelites that were of Israel nor because they were of the natural Seed of Abraham were they all Children but God reminds them that he was their Creator and Maker and so consequently bore the love of a Creator to them all and you ought to understand that the Relation of a Creator is one and the same to the Believer and Unbeliever the one being the Workmanship of his hands as well as the other as Holy Job speaks Chap. 31. 13 14 15. and Job 34. 19. sheweth that God tenderly loveth and respecteth all as they are his Creatures till they renounce him c. Mar. But did not the Lord say of Pharaoh That for this same purpose he had raised him up to shew his Power in him Doth it not shew that God before he created Pharaoh did peremptorily decree his State and Condition of Sin and Punishment yea and as God dealt with Pharaoh so doth he deal and will deal with all Reprobates to the Worlds end Phil. How was that Mar. Why as God hardened his heart so that he could not but be disobedient to all the Applications of God by Moses to him so those that are under an Eternal Decree of Reprobations are under an impossibility of repenting or believing In this Rom. 9. 17. the Apostle shews that God raised Pharaoh made him a Man a King gave him Power over the Children of Israel left him to the Corruption of his own heart for the same purpose to manifest his Glory in his Confusion and Destruction Phil. You have no saying in the whole Book of God that speaks of Pharaoh's being reprobated to eternal misery before he was born or that he was decreed and ordained before he was born by the Lord to be a Vessel of Wrath or that God created him for this same purpose that he might make his Power known in his Destruction And therefore as Mr. Loveday sheweth upon these words in his Personal Reprobation Reprobated p. 157 158 159. 't is not to be understood as referr'd to his Creation or raising him to be a King for then this Message would have been applied to him when God first sent Moses to him but we have not one word of it till after the six Plagues and now he speaks of raising him up so that this raising up must have respect to God's dealings with Pharaoh in extending some special Favour to him and so saith he To raise up signifieth as the Learned in the Greek tell us to raise up out of some low state and condition sometimes out of some Sickness James 5. 15. The Hebrew words from whence the Apostle draws this Latined Stare feci is read thus I have made thee to stand the vulgar Latin reads it I have sustained thee the Septuagint reads Thou wert kept alive the Chaldee Paraphrase reads For this cause have I endured thee or patiently born with thee the generality of Interpreters as well Calvinists as others do receive this as the most proper reading I have made thee to stand I have kept or sustained thee thou hast been laid low under the sentence of Death but upon Moses's Intercession I have raised thee up I have rescued thee I have forgiven thy disobedience and tried thee again by taking off my Plagues from thee and thy Land but if still after all this thou should'st remain obstinate and rebellious then the stroke shall be the heavier at last my Power shall be seen in thy Destrustion And now as Pharaoh would not obey the Lord in letting his People go but bore himself proudly and stubbornly against the Lord being seduced by the Magicians notwithstanding he had tasted of God's long-suffering and Mercies in raising him up at the request of his Servant Moses so now he should deeply feel his Power in his Destruction and so will the Lord do to all wilful rejecters of his Grace and Mercy in Christ Jesus in these Gospel days But I observe farther that you seem to say that God necessitated Pharaoh to be rebellious and hard-hearted against him by an eternal Decree so that he could not but be disobedient But surely God doth not necessitate that which is contrary to his Nature See Mark 3. 5. where Christ grieved for the hardness of their hearts which saith Mr. Loveday p. 173. supposeth these 4 things 1st That Christ had done what he could i. e. what he could in Wisdom and Justice to soften their hearts 2dly He declares that such a frame of Spirit to wit hardness of heart was contrary to his Spirit or else he had not grieved for it 3dly They had sufficiency of means to have made them soft 4thly They were not necessitated to be so from him Mar. But did not the Lord tell Moses before he went to Pharaoh that he would harden his heart Exod. 4. 21 Phil. 'T is true God did predict this Judgment which was afterward executed he did tell Moses that he would harden Pharaoh's heart that is conditionally if he first hardened his own for we find that the Scripture charges this Sin of hard-heartedness upon Pharaoh himself 1 Sam. 6. 6. So that Pharaoh first hardens his heart against God and after that God even in Judgment delivered him up to this hardening as the effect of his sin and disobedience for God never changeth the nature of a soft heart into a hard one and though it is said by God I will harden Pharaoh's heart yet God did not do it primarily or necessarily as may be seen by the means God used which tended rather to soften than harden him though accidentally he did and that many ways Loveday p. 178. by sending that Message to him to let Israel depart his Land which was so much against his proud and covetous Interest If God had been pleased that Israel should still have been Slaves to him we had
do you think that God Almighty doth so delight in the Blood and Ruin of Men that rather than not destroy them Soul and Body he will have them live and die in Sin that he may destroy them This is like that which Suetonius reports of Tyberius in God's Love to Mankind Page 59. who being minded to put certain Virgins to death because it was against the Roman Laws to strangle Virgins caused them all to be defloured by the Hangman that so they might be strangled but far be any such thing from the God of Truth and Father of Mercy that he should appoint that the Devil should lead Men into Sin that afterward he might take occasion to damn them for it Mar. But you ought to distinguish between the Actions of Men and the Sin of the Action tho God is the Author of the Actions of Men yet not of the Evil of their Actions Phil. This is a nice Distinction you would seem to split a Hair God you say is the Author of the Fact but not of the Fault of their Disobedience not of their Sin but is this any part of God's revealed Will Mar. You read Acts 4. 27 28. Of a Truth Lord against thy Child Jesus both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the People of Israel were gathered together for to do what soever thy Hand and Counsel determined before to be done Here you see that it was the determinate Counsel of God that his Son should not only suffer but also that Herod Pontius Pilate Jews and Gentiles should betray and murder him Now had they done this in Obedience to the Will of God they had not sinned but they doing of it to make him a Sacrifice to their Revenge and Malice that was their Sin here God decreed the Fact but not the Fault Phil. This is no good Distinction How much better had it been for the World and what Peace might the Church of God have enjoyed had People contented themselves with what was spoken to them from the Lord and had not given their Imagination such unbounded Scope as to pester the World with such abundance of Scriptureless Distinctions and frivolous Niceties Now I readily grant that it was the determinate Will of God to redeem lost Man by the delivering up of his Son unto Death that is by leaving him in the Hands and to the Will of those who were his Enemies and whom the Lord did foreknow would put him to Death unless he did interpose by his Power to prevent their Rage and Malice Now for the effecting of this great and blessed Work the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind it was sufficient for God to decree that in case these or any other should attempt his Death he would not hinder them from effecting it but neither this Scripture nor any other saith that the Hand and Counsel of God had determined that the Jews and Gentiles should betray and murder Christ but only that these were gathered together to effect that which God in his Counsel had determined before to be done to wit the Redemption of the World Compare this Text with Act. 2. 23. where the Apostle plainly lays this Sin upon their own Heads in that they took and by wicked Hands crucified and slew the Lord of Life and Glory Du-Veil commenting upon this place saith That this Jesus by the Decree of the Father to whom he in all things voluntarily obeyed being surrendred into your Hands with incredible Importunity you forced the Romans to nail to a Cross Therefore Christ by the determinate Decree of God was given up into the power and disposal of his Enemies whose hostile and inhuman Rage God did not predestinate but only foreknew Now tho God did decree to leave his Son in the Hands of wicked Men that so he might die for Sin yet it is no less than Wickedness and horrid Blasphemy to say that God decreed that such and such Men by Name should betray and murder him Now to kill a holy and innocent Person is a sinful Act which is not from God but of the Devil who is the Author of it John 8. 40 43 44. and therefore it is said John 13. 2. that the devil put it in Judas's Heart to betray Christ and that Judas fell by Transgression Act. 1. 25. Now if God who hath by his Word prohibited the shedding of Blood or taking of any Man's Life away unjustly should any way incline or compel Men to it so as to lay them under a Necessity of being wicked he must needs be the Author of it Bishop Vsher in his History of Gotteschalk p 138. as quoted by the Author of God's Love to Mankind hath these Words Whosoever saith that God hath laid a Constraint or a Necessity of sinning upon any Man he doth manifestly and fearfully blaspheme God inasmuch as he makes him by that the Author of Sin and therefore I look upon your Distinction no better than meer Delusion to deceive the simple and inconsiderate ones First Because in wicked Actions the Acts themselves are simply Sin as Adam's eating the forbidden Fruit was simply Sin and is not Murder Drunkenness profane Swearing Stealing Whoring in themselves Sin Is it not because of such things that the Wrath of God comes upon the Children of Disobedience Eph. 5. 5 6. The Wrath of God doth not take hold upon Men for such Actions as bare Actions but as sinful Actions as they are the Transgression of the Righteous Law of God 1 John 3. 4. How shall God be just in rendering to every Man according to the things done in the Body if Men sin by the Determination of God Secondly Because if God by his divine Decree lays Man under a necessity of sinning he is truly the cause of Sin and Man by thiâ— comes to have some Cloak for his Wickedness because he cannot justly be blamed nor punished for doing of that which he had no power to withstand but was forced on by an irresistable Necessity It was a grave and true Saying saith Goodman upon the Parable of the Prodigal Son of Seneca Necessity is the great Sanctuary of human Infirmity which whosoever can lay claim to obtains Protection for it perfectly excuseth all the Faults it commits No Punishment either Temporal or Eternal can in Justice be inflicted for any bad Action where there is no power in the Party to avoid it Why doth our Law condemn Men to suffer Death for wicked Actions if they were unavoidable and that when they murder steal plot Treason or practise any other Villanies they do them by Necessity of God's unalterable Decree Pray see what we have Deut. 22. 25. where we may see the Law of God awards no Punishment to the Damsel because what she did was by Compulsion being over-born by force which she was not able to withstand Nay farther if God hath decreed all the Actions of Men and bound them under the Dominion of absolute Necessity to commit them why then should we be
believe is an Error presently they are ready to say I cannot see it because God hath purposely blinded my Eyes and am such a one as is cast out of the Love and Favour of God and when this is once settled in their Hearts how can I expect Love from them unless I can believe they can be better to me than they represent God to be to the greatest part of Mankind Mar. I see that which is uppermost will out you still are of the same mind you was you hold fast your Error and will not let it go Philad Truly I am much of Rawlin the Martyr's Mind when the Bishop after he had read Mass ask'd him if he would revoke his Opinion answered my Lord Rawlin you left me and Rawlin you find me and by God's Grace Rawlin I will continue and tho I may seem to you to err yet I have considered every Particular and it seemeth so pleasing an Error if it be one and so comfortable a Doctrine to poor Mankind and doth so much exalt the Justice and Mercy of God that I think I shall never be of a contrary Mind Yea and if for any thing in the World I could suffer the Loss of all that 's dear to me methinks it should be to witness to this great Truth Mar. I know that natural Reason seems to stand on your side but you must know and allow Faith to be above Reason and God may have and questionless hath Ways and Actions which are known only to himself past finding out by Man neither doth he give an Account or Reason of any of his Matters Job 33. 13. You must have a care of searching into God's Decrees they are not to be fathomed by Man's weak and shallow Capacities what Eye looks upon the Sun doth not by that dazle So while Men would by the Eye of Reason see a Cause in God's secret Will they stumble and fall Pray ye what Reason can be given concerning the Mystery of the Trinity or that the second Person should take our Flesh upon him and be conceived of a Virgin or that the same Bodies after dissolved to Dust should be restored to a Spiritual Immortal and Incorruptible State These things are the object of Faith and are above our Reason to comprehend or define yet are we to believe these things to be Truth because revealed to us by God in his Word So tho it be beyond the Reason of Man to define how God whose Ways are all equal and just should from Eternity predestinate the greatest part of Adam's Offspring to Everlasting Misery or freely and unchangeably ordain the coming to pass of every thing in the World and yet he himself neither guilty of Cruelty or the Author of Sin yet we ought to believe it is so when declared to us by the Word of the Lord. Mod. These are great Mysteries which we ought not to pry into Secret things belong unto God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our Children Deut. 29. 29. Philad This is true but surely Moderatus This wretched Opinion of God's positive Reprobation doth not carry the Nature of Divine Mysteries along with it It is not accompanied with so great Awe and Majesty as that it should be only obeyed and no way disputed For God himself denies it to be any Decree of his Ezek. 3. 11. And as Calvin saith We should not be ashamed to be ignorant of some of the Nature of Divine Predestination Yet as Eusebius saith 'T is an Argument of great Sloth and Idleness not to seek unto that whereof we may justly make inquiry Hockins on God's Decrees Page 126 190. Now I do not pretend to draw the Curtain to look into the wonderful and astonishing Mystery of the Holy and Blessed Trinity or of the Incarnation of the Son of God God manifest in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. which is so great a Mystery that infirm Man with all the strongest Faculties of his Soul cannot reach unto I also freely grant that whatsoever God hath revealed in his Word must needs be a Truth and meet and worthy to be believed of us all But where do you find that God hath revealed in his Word that he hath appointed the greatest part of the World to Everlasting Misery and tho there may be many things above Reason quite out of the Apprehension of it yet not altogether against Reason How is it contrary to Reason that God the first Being of all things being Infinite should have a manner of subsisting far different from all created and finite Beings Neither is it contrary to Reason that God should be able to make a Virgin to conceive in a way beyond the Course of Nature or ordinary Providence for the accomplishing of so great and glorious a Work as the saving poor lost and undone Mankind Neither ought it to be look'd upon no not in the Eye of Reason as a thing incredible that God should raise the Dead Act. 16. 8. Is it not every way as easy for God to restore a Body dissolved to Dust and give a Perfection and Glory to it as to restore a dry Hand to Life and Activity in the Body or cause Aaron's dry Staff to blossom and bare Almonds Can Man burn a Tree into Ashes and change it into shining Glass And cannot God cause that Dust that was once Flesh to become Flesh again and to restore it to a Spiritual Immortal and Incorruptible State But to let this pass are these Friends of yours to whom you say you have imparted the Substance of our Discourse c. of your Mind Mod. There is some Difference for what I hold you have heard But Philetus looks upon Mankind as lying in the Fall under the Guilt of Adam's Sin so that God looking upon Man as fallen did decree the greatest Number of Men to Eternal Misery for the Declaration of his Justice without affording them a Saviour which is the only Way and Means of their Recovery or without sufficient Grace for the avoiding of Sin Philad Truly I see little difference between you you both place the Sin and Damnation of the greatest part of Mankind upon the alone absolute Will and Pleasure of God you looking upon it from Eternity he as lying in the Fall But surely God never left any Man in that State whereunto Adam brought him but as I have said hath graciously provided means whereby both Sin and Misery might be prevented or removed if timely embraced seeing Christ hath abolished that Wrath and Death and hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel and God hath so far reconciled all Sinners to himself that thro the Sacrifice and for the sake of that Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World he is graciously pleased to be reconciled to them and to open a Door of Hope for all the Sons of Adam And tho it is a great Truth that Adam in breaking the Law of his God brought not
Apostle saith that the Elect that believe are dead to the Law the Law can no more command a Man than a dead Husband can command his Wife Philad 'T is true Believers are dead to the Law with respect to the Curse and Rigor of it but yet this Death to the Law brings Believers to a New Subjection you are dead to the Law that you might be married to another that you should bring forth Fruit to God so that you may see the blessing of the Marriage-Union between Christ and faithful Souls is fruitful before God in living in Subjection to his blessed Maker and Redeemer Mar. But doth not the Apostle bid Believers stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free and be not intangled in the Yoke of Bondage which is the Law Philad This word Liberty not rightly understood may be a Snare to destroy precious Souls we are bid to stand fast in the Liberty in which Christ hath made us free but not in the Liberty in which Satan the Lust of Men the Spirit of Error Carnal Interest c. make us free Christian Liberty is a freedom from Sin not in Sin Rom. 6. 18. it is a free serving of God to do his Will not the will of the Flesh we are called to Liberty but we are not to use it as occasion of the Flesh Gal. 5. 13. Gospel Grace brings glorious freedom 't is true from the Curse of the Law the guilt of Sin and wrath of God and from the burden of legal Ceremonies Sacrifices Circumcision with other heavy Yoaks yet is this Liberty to be confined to Scripture Rules Believers freedom should be like the Heavenly Liberty Angels are free but 't is to Duty not Rebellion and here will come in the surest Mark and the best Evidence of our Election 1 Joh. 3. 7 10. Little Children let no Man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous c. in this is manifest the children of God and the children of the Devil 1 Joh. 1. 6. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we do but lye 2 Pet. 2. 19. Mod. I believe that in many things Philadelphus is in the right Duties are means which God hath appointed for us to walk to Heaven in and those that belong to him he will give them Faith and Repentance and will by his Grace overpower their Hearts that they shall obey him in all his Holy Precepts I also believe that the New Covenant includes Conditions something to be done by us that believe for though the Love of God the Suffering of Christ was wholly free yet the Saving Fruits and Benefits by the Suffering of Christ doth not actually become ours upon the bare shedding of his Blood till it be receiv'd by Faith for his Death doth not necessarily save any but only as God the Father Son and Spirit shall think fit to communicate and dispense with the Issues of them as he that pardons an Offender may bring him to Terms before he pardons him and he that dispenseth Crowns and Scepters to unworthy Persons may require Homage and Observance from them without rendering it no Act of Grace As to the Law I say we are not justified by that but by Christ alone receiv'd by Faith and that it is necessary that Godly Preachers should teach the Moral Law or the Doctrine of Good Works as the Doctrine of Faith for Satan is a deadly Enemy to both Philad Well said Moderatus indeed to what end should the Great God of Heaven give forth his Divine Laws if they do not require our due observance for the Life of Christianity is not barely a Speculative but an active Life and does as seriously tell us what we are to do for Christ as well as what we are to receive from him Mar. There are many that lead sober Lives yet may nay shall go to Hell for all their Morality 't is not that will save them Philad I believe so too but why should you condemn honest Men fearing God as only Moral Men and as such who must certainly go to Hell yet others must escape it that are guilty of far worse Vices and who have been out-done by meer Heathens in their Practices Some must question their Condition for every Sin though never so small but such as you that reckon your selves true Believers must by no means question your Condition though your Sins be never so great No wonder to hear such expressions as these viz. that if a Believer be overtaken with gross Sins yet he blasphemes Christ that dare serve a Writ of Damnation upon him and that if they be but Believers and have once set their foot upon Christ they need not stagger for the greatness of their Sins nor their continuance in them it seems tho you be not good Moral Men yet you have a right to Heaven for all that Mod. Well but there are many very ignorant in the Mystery of Faith Faith hath the honour to be the Grace that apprehends the Mercy of God in Christ and lays hold upon his perfect Righteousness by which Persons come to be justified and to have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. yea by which Persons become the Children of God and by which they receive Christ as tendered to them in the Gospel and see him to be the end of the Law God hath now in respect to us cancel'd the Law which stood as a hand-writing against us and hath by the Gospel shewed us a way whereby to be made Righteous without the Law nay justified from those things by which we could not be justified by the Law for saith the Apostle by the Works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified but by Faith or by Christ made ours by Faith this was the great overthrow of the Jewish Nation Rom. 10. they being ignorant of Christ's Righteousness went to establish a Righteousness of their own c. this is a Righteousness without the Law and yet witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets and the whole Law is fulfilled in the Children of God because Christ's Righteousness is made theirs through believing and I must tell you that in many things Faith stands at defiance with Working and Doing Philad I believe Moderatus these things to be true and that it is the work of Faith to do what you say yet by the Scripture 't is plainly evident that 't is not a bare naked Faith a Faith that swims and floats in the Brain or a lazy Reliance upon Christ destroying of good Works that can or will save any let not any Persons flatter themselves into Misery for that Faith that is barren of the Fruits of good Works bears its own Curse that Faith that is not accompanied with good Works is stiled a dead Faith a Faith that can never bring us to Life and no better than the Faith of Devils James 2. 19 20. And tho it is true as you have said Faith hath the Honour to be the Grace that
are sanctified an unholy thing and make all the Precepts of the Gospel uncertain whether they be the Will of God or not or whether Christ when he prayed to his Father for his People or for Sinners prayed as a Mediator or as Man only yea give footing to that Opinion which begins to evidence it self too much in many even denying the personal Union of God and Man in Jesus Christ in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Col. 2. 9. which did influence and give a value and worth to all things done for us by the Manhood and therefore his Righteousness and his Blood was called the Righteousness and Blood of God Acts 20. 28. 1 John 3. 16. Rom. 10. 3. Christ as he was God-Man and our Mediator what he did upon this account in the Flesh he did in the Spirit also Now in this place where Christ bewailed Jerusalem's state with tears either they flowed from true inward compassion or they did not if the first then Christ in the Flesh and in the Spirit willed one and the same thing and had no distinct Will for Jerusalem's Salvation as Man different from his Will as God but if the second then his tears were only feigned and his bewailing nothing but dissimulation which is a capital Sin to affirm And tho the Lord was resolved to bring Jerusalem to desolation by delivering them into the hands of their Enemies yet as you say and say truly it was an effect of their Sins the neglect of the Day of their Visitation mocking his Messengers and stoning them that were sent to her to have drawn her from the evil of her ways and for crucifying the Lord of Life thereby filling up the measure of her Iniquity So tho the Lord brought her to desolation yet Punishment is rather his refuge than his choice and his defence against Sin than the hurt of his Creatures and the Sinner with his own hands most cruelly pulleth down punishment upon his own head for the evil of Sin and the evil of Suffering are Twins or rather Sin gives birth and being to the other God never inflicted the least punishment on any merely as Men but as workers of Evil as continuing sinful and disobedient So that it was Jerusalem's actual Sins and her refusing to be healed that brought her to ruin and not any irresistible Decree of the Almighty for you may as well deny the Being of a God as entertain a belief that he takes pleasure in the death and destruction of his Creatures His Nature is perfect Goodness and he is a stranger to Cruelty and all the expressions of Love and Good-will in Christ to poor Sinners are such that they neither admit nor are consistent with fraud or falshood so that yet you have not told me where the Attribute of God merely takes place upon those that God is resolved against all means possible to be used to punish by his Decree as you use to say But before I leave this let me ask you one Question more which is this Ought not or do not all Men stand ingaged to love God Philet To love God yea who should they love if they do not love God Philad Ay but I ask you for what Reason Mar. There may be many Reasons given the receiving the good things of this Life may engage all Men to love God Philad Yea but you will not own that God gives the good things of this Life with any good intention to the greatest number but rather gives them to them to heighten their misery doth God intend any good to the Souls of such by what he gives Mar. No yet are they to be accountable for the abuse of them Philad But you hold that God did decree they should abuse them accordingly and for that end were they given to them that so the abuse of them might heighten their misery this is but like the Proverb Give a Man Roastmeat and beat him with the Spit Can any Man become grateful or be tied in the Bonds of Love and Gratitude to such a Man that should feast him for a while yet after condemn him to Death and Destruction Philet The Apostle saith 1 John 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us but this is meant of the Elect only Philad Why should you go about to confine the Lor'd Mercy which is altogether Infinite and as incomprehensible as his Divine Essence why should you thus contract the Divine Goodness whose Mercies are not only exalted above our Conceptions but also above and over all his Works Therefore do not presume to measure the Lord 's Mercys by your narrow conceit nor labour to make it run into a lesser Channel than the Lord intended But God's great Love to all Men in giving his Son to die for them is the ground and cause of their Love to God again True love must first spring from the knowledg of God's Love to them neither can I think that any Men in the World will ever heartily and cordially love God unless they believe that God Almighty had designs of Love to them yea so far loved them as to send his Son to die for them otherwise instead of loving and living to God it would tend to a most horrid and desperate alienation of the Hearts of poor Creatures from their dear and ever-blessed Creator For how is it possible that the poor Creature should devest himself of those Delights and Pleasures of this Life and intirely love and delight himself in God and his blessed Will if he knew or had strong grounds of fear that before he made him or without respect to his Sins or unworthy carriage in the least he so far hated him as to resolve against all Mediation whatsoever to cast him out of his sight and to doom him to suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire You may preach up God's Sovereignty pronounce Justice and Judgment as some have done till they have brought Despair and Hell into the Souls of many and beget more Fear than Love make God feared as a Tyrant but 't is the making known Christ's meek Condescension Long-suffering and the superexcellent Amiableness of free Love and tender Mercy that soonest and most effectually works in us Repentance of our Sins and inclines us to love him that first loved us Wither's Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Who is able to perswade Men by Arguments or move them by Threatnings to love God whose love to them in particular is doubtful Do you think it can or ever will be a motive for Persons to love God to tell them That before all Worlds or before they were born or there were any possibility of offending him in any manner it was decreed that the greatest number of Adam's Off-spring should be eternally reprobated and damned And tho he had provided means whereby Man might have been saved and that the worth and value was so great that it was sufficient for the Redemption of thousands of Worlds yet then it was
I have already shewed it cannot still that of the Apostle will stand good Ephes 2. 8. By Grace you are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God So that all boasting is excluded since we cannot change our Hearts cannot repent of our Sins or believe on him by virtue of our own natural Abilities but by the aid and assistance of Divine Grace Man's Perfection and Felicity is derived from God and we live daily in a necessary dependance upon him for his Grace and the Aid of his Holy Spirit to repair our Strength and assist our Faculties and every way to enable us to perform those Duties which are due to so Sovereign a Lord and as it becometh Creatures to do Yet still we are to remember that his assisting Grace doth not destroy our Endeavours for as we can do nothing without God so he will do nothing for us without our selves and as God works in us to will and to do c. so Persons are to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling and not think to sit still and take their ease and live in a carnal state without improving those means that God hath vouchsafed them to repent and believe till the Lord by an irresistible Power pluck them out of their Sins This we are not to expect neither are we to thank our selves if we be saved but God's free Love and Bounty is to be acknowledged the sole cause of our Salvation neither can it be any diminution to Divine Goodness to say that unless Man doth concur with the first Cause the End cannot be obtained since Faith Repentance and Obedience to the Lord is made a condition with reference to Eternal Life Suppose a Prince should see one that has riotously mispent his Portion in great want and he out of his free Bounty should profer him a Sum of Money sufficient to supply all his Wants discharge all his Debts free him from all fear of Arrestments and enrich him for ever in this World provided he will but come to him and put forth his hand to receive this Treasure he shall have it if he will not he will give it to those that will Will any say that this was no free act of Love because it had such Conditions propounded with it or if any one should refuse so kind an Offer tho upon such terms as these and will not come to him nor put forth his hand to receive any of his Gold or Silver but will rather pine away or rot in a Goal unless he will force it into his Pocket whether he will or no would not all People look upon this as the greatest folly and imprudence in the World What be loaded with Bags of Gold and Silver and discharged from all Wants and Fears and yet not so much as reach out the hand to receive them Well suppose he should put forth his hand to receive this Treasure is it the act of receiving the Money or the Money received that enricheth him surely tho his putting forth his hand was a means yet it was the Mony received that inriched him and he had cause for ever to be thankful to him and admire his Love and Bounty and free Gift here would be no cause for such a poor Wretch to pride up himself as if by his own power and towardliness he had merited such Grace and Favour but rather the contrary so in spirituals O here will be enough for Souls to admire and that to Eternity the signal Acts of God's free Grace and Favour in that he has provided such effectual Means and afforded them so powerful Aids and Assistances in order to make them holy and to bring their Wills into a compliance with his own And I desire you to consider whether it will not be an aggravation to the damned to think that they might have been happy as well as others but that they wilfully refused Grace and Mercy when it was tendered to them 1. Now if Conversion is to be wrought only by the irresistible and unfrustrable Power of Grace why is it said that some resisted the Holy Ghost and made void the Counsel of God against themselves and would not hear come nor obey his Voice but closed their Ears and hardned their Hearts as may be seen Acts 7. 51. Luke 7. 30. Acts 13. 46. 7. 39. Prov. 1. 24 25. Zac. 7. 11 12 13. Jer. 5. 7. and of others that they heard the word readily and received it chearfully and obeyed it from the heart as Acts 2. 41. 13. 47. 6. 7. 17. 11. Rom. 6. 17. Now how can any of these be attributed to those who either can no ways believe and obey it being wholly above their power or could not but believe and obey by the force of Grace no ways resistible 2. But again if God by a strong hand of irresistible Grace works conversion in all then all the Exhortations Threatnings and Promises made unto Sinners in order to their repentance and believing are made in vain yea bootless and ridiculous The Divine Decree doth not impose any real and fatal necessity on any in respect of their eternal safety or ruin for the Voice of Reason must needs proclaim those Laws and Constitutions unjust which plainly forbid and prohibit that which a Man cannot possibly assume or avoid nor can no more be changed by our most earnest endeavours than we can stay the course of the Heavens or fly in the Air. Mr. Hockins on God's Decree p. 122. 3. If we have not a sufficiency of Means vouchsafed by the Lord to repent believe and obey him then doth the Lord deal more severely with Men under the Covenant of Grace than under the Covenant of Works now I say I suppose you will not deny but that the Lord endued Adam with sufficient Means for the persormance of that Covenant and so to obtain the Reward of that Covenant but now if the Lord should under the Covenant of Grace require of Persons a ready submission to his holy commands and yet pass a Decree that they should not move one step forward in the way of Obedience and wholly deny his Grace to them doth he not deal more severely with most of Adams off-spring under the Covenant of Grace by Christ than under the Covenant of Works in Adam requiring only possible things in the first and impossible things in the latter And saith Hockins on God's Decree pag. 189. If a Master should be so severe to require as much work of his Servant when his hands are fast tied as when he is at liberty this would argue an unheard of Cruelty joyned with the greatest Severity 4. Nay if Persons be not enabled by Grace to repent and believe the Gospel they are thereby laid under an absolute necessity of despising it thereby making themselves more the Children of Wrath and Death than before Heb. 2. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation clearly implying that
gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity for his heart was not right in the sight of God And saith Duveil upon this place Many that are not of a right heart in the sight of God may oftentimes excel in the Gift of the Spirit for neither did the perverseness and Hypocrisy of Judas the Traitor hinder him to excel in the Gifts of the Spirit neither had the Gifts of the Spirit been so corrupted 1 Cor. 14. if their hearts had been sincere Luke 8. 13. These are they which for a time believe and in time of temptation fall a way But we are fallen into an Age that the practick part of Christianity is almost destroy'd by the speculative part As if the truth of our Faith did not stand with a course of holiness and strict walking with God And as Dr. Burnet saith in his Preface to the Life of God in the Soul of Man That in more antient times those that wrote Apologies for the Christian Religion did appeal to the Lives of the Christians to prove their Doctrine holy but alas when we write Apologies we must appeal from the Life to the Rule and Precepts of Faith which ought not to be Philet But it hath wrought Reformation of Life in me Philad Hyprocrites have been famous for moral virtues yea many that you will not own for Christians in many things excel you at this day Remember the Scribes and Pharisees read 2 Pet. 2. 20 21 22. where you may see that some that shall not escape the damnation of Hell may notwithstanding escape the pollutions of the World and that through the knowledg of the Son of God Philet But I see such Excellencies in Christ that I have longings of Heart after more intimate acquaintance with him Philad Strong desires may Hypocrites have after Christ and Heavenly things John 6. 34. Mat. 25. 8. Numb 23. 10. Philet But the Lord hath given me through the Spirit a foretast of Heaven it self in the first-Fruits of it Philad May not this be found in Apostates also Heb. 6. 4 5 6 So tho I do not charge you to be a Hypocrite to pretend to what you do not injoy yet this I say since every saving Grace in the true Christian hath its counterfeit in others this will not be sufficient to prove Christ died for you but must find better grounds for it than such marks which are as proper for Hypocrites as true Believers you may indeed have an opinion that Christ died for you but where are your grounds seeing the certain knowledg whom Christ died for must not be built upon any good which we may suppose in us but upon the Word of the Lord so till it be proved beyond all Objection that Christ died for you and hath not decreed to leave you in the Fall c. all comfortable assurance of your Eternal State will be cut off if ever you should fall under the dread and horror of it and methinks could I be got to believe that Christ died but for a few and no Man could prove Christ died for him but by such Marks as you talk of I am so conscious to the failings and deceitfulness of my own heart that I should despair of Mercy but here 's my support that God would have all Men to be saved hath redeemed all calleth all to Repentance and believing in him with gracious promises of Life and Salvation and now seeing God loveth all Men and desireth their eternal good therefore mine as well as others if I by true Faith apply that through the assistance of the Spirit to my self which is offered in general to all And how doth the certain knowledg of this tend to beget honourable thoughts of God and fill our Hearts with precious indearedness to Christ yea soften our Hearts when we sin against such Mercy and Grace yea make us look upon him whom we have pierced Zach. 12. Yea and if at any time poor Souls come to be bowed down under the weight of Sin and knows not how to be delivered from their fears and dangers but are ready with the Church Lam. 3. 18. to sit down and say My hope is perished from the Lord Now at such a time as this when the Love of God in Jesus Christ is set home upon the Heart O what work will this make upon such a one O the dear Love that this begets in a sincere Soul for Christ and O methinks what a comfort is it to Gospel-Ministers that in their declarations of the Gospel they can offer it to all and labour with Souls to bring them over to the Lord But how faint and cooly must other Ministers be in tendering of Christ to Sinners or how can your Ministers tender Christ to their hearers or be earnest with them to imbrace Christ or believe in him when they do not know whether Christ died for one of them So notwithstanding all you have said to prove your Title for Heaven and to be one of those that Christ died for yet since you place Salvation upon the absolute Decree of God and that Decree is kept secret to you you cannot say of your self you are one of those that Christ died for and that you shall go to Heaven because you at present believe no more than you can say of any wicked Man in the World that he is one of those that God hath left in the Fall without a Saviour since he that is now wicked may be called and saved such were some of you 1 Cor. 6. and you may make shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience fall from your first Love and so miss Heaven Philet I see you are for falling away from Grace Philad No I am not I am against falling away Philet Yea but you hold that a true Believer a Child of God and in a state of Grace may so far fall away as to miss Heaven you are not able to prove by any Example in the Scripture where any true Believer hath fallen from Grace Philad Suppose I cannot prove by any Example in Scripture that any true Believer hath fallen doth it therefore follow that no true Believer can possibly fall suppose no true Believers ever yet fell away yet 't is possible they may Philet How prove you that Philad From 2 Pet. 2. 20. If those that have clean escaped the pollution of the World and that thro the knowledg c. may fall away then other Believers may Philet That is not the description of a true Believer Philad How any one can escape the Pollutions of the World c. and yet not be a Believer I know not Philet 'T is meant of gross Pollutions of the World and so a Man may be free from the gross pollutions of this World in the midst of inward Impurities and Hypocrisies they were free from the gross acts of Sin so that they did not come into the view of the World Philad That is as much as to say their escaping was not
that our Ministers preach the general Love of God as much as you do Philad I know it they are forced so to do or to preach themselves out of doors very few being so true to their Opinion as one I lately heard of that after he had been exhorting his Hearers a great while to Dutys at last told them That he did not know whether Christ died for one Soul amongst them And I believe very few ever heard any of your way that have managed any Theme but are necessitated to assert and own it otherwise such their Discourse would be as inconsistent in it self as it is far from Truth tho many in their Sermons speak much in their Exhortations to Holiness and when they take a Text of Scripture from thence labour to prove their Notions a Truth while they raise their Doctrin and give Reasons they seemingly go on fairly till they come to the Applicatory part where they knock all to pieces Mar. 'T is true many or most are to blame upon that account I have plainly told them of that my self that in private they have been one with me but in publick quite other Men as much for the general Point as you are Philad Tho they are professed Enemies to general Redemption yet it is of that use and necessity that they are forc'd to argue many things upon that account neither can they be without the service of it in the carrying on many of their Affairs yea and many times dissemble it 't is so odious in most Christians Eyes If we look within the Confines of our own Nation very few of the Church of England but own and believe Christ died for all yea I am informed that there are hardly six of your Opinion in both Universities The Quakers generally not one that I hear of but look upon it unworthy the belief of a Christian Not to mention any others you your selves are greatly divided about it and the most zealous of those that hold it dare not preach what they believe to the People lest instead of People which you say are as passive in Conversion as the Stones in the Walls they should have none but Stones to preach to Mar. Surely if Christ died for all with an intent to save all then all would be â—…ved and how comes it to pass that any miss it Universal Redemption must needs procure universal Salvation Christ's Blood must needs effect that for which it was shed Philad That Persons miss Salvation is not for want of a Jesus nor for want of the free tenders of Grace nor for want of an Advocate none can charge their eternal ruin upon the Lord Hosea 13. 9. but 't is their not believing on the only begotten Son of God their rejecting Light and loving Darkness taking pleasure in Unrighteousness and because they refuse to come at Christ's Call and will not open when he knocks nor take his Counsel nor mind those things that make for their Everlasting Peace but abuse the Lord's patience waiting upon and striving with them and so come at last to perish through their own vile stubborn and wilful Obstinacy Prov. 1. 24 to 32. 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. 2 Thess 2. 10 11 12. God doth not necessitate any to be wicked neither doth he withdraw Grace necessary unless first abused 1 Chron. 28. 9. The Lord is with you while you are with him c. 2 Chron. 24. 20. There is no let in God that all Men may believe and be saved Nay what could God have done more for Man that he hath not done Isa 5. 4. that is what God in his Wisdom thought meet to do and which was most agreeable to those Properties and Principles of Reason and Understanding placed in Man For 1. God hath placed in Man an inward Witness to wit Conscience which if it be hearkned unto will convince of Sin and lead to Duty And not only so but hath discovered by his Word to Men the damning Nature of Sin and hath plainly forewarned Persons that if they will go on in a way of Sin and Disobedience they are like to suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire hereby to deter them from Evil. And hath also made many most gracious Promises to those that are faithful and obedient to him of infinite Glory incomprehensible Rewards with the injoyment of the infinite good and gracious God himself in Heaven to Eternity And that Man might escape Eternal Wrath and obtain Life and Glory God that foresaw Man's Fall did from the beginning purpose to provide a way to make Man happy and therefore in infinite Wisdom and tender Mercy contrived the saving lost Man by sending into the World and delivering up unto Death his only Son that so all the Enmity that was between God and poor sinful Man might be renewed and Man through him might have peace with God Ephes 2. 14 15. Rom. 5. 1. And also the Lord stands engaged by Promise to justisy and save Sinners if they believe in his Son and hath promised the assistance of his Infinite Spirit to all those that by true Faith and Love seek it of him Luke 11. whereby Persons may be able to repent and believe and able to oppose Sin and advance forward in the Path of Righteousness and persevere therein to the end Now what could God do more than this So that if any perish their destruction is of themselves Jonah 4. Dr. Holms upon John 6. 37. pag. 17. speaking of God's freely pardoning Sinners and of the Bridegroom and Bride the Church and the Spirit all calling to Sinners to come Rev. 22. 17. saith Therefore why O ye Sons of Men stand you still in a damnable mistaken doubting condition so as not to come to Christ Why will you die you need not perish unless you will perish no Reason in Christ's Will but in your own Will You never improved the least Gift to go forward towards Christ but he prospered it more What would you have more than a Christ suffering a Christ offering a Christ intreating that you may come And in pag. 18. having repeated the same words saith You have a Christ that hath suffered for you a God that hath sent him to you a God that invites you to him and if you come to him you shall not be disappointed the Text saith He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out All which so fully and freely declares the Mind of God and Christ to poor Sinners that nothing can be said against it as Isa 5. 4. Hosea 6. 4. Now O Sinner look about thee God acquits himself therefore the fault must lie upon thee if thou dost not improve what thou hast tho God's Will doth not depend upon Man's Will yet God will be tied to his own Ingagement and do what he hath said Philet Come forbear any farther discourse on this Point we all hold that Man's destruction is of himself there is no damning to misery without relation to sin Philad Well we will wholly