not therefore upon every leaning of your soule upon conditionall promises for so you may build upon a Covenant made upon a worke and so you and your Covenant may faile together But when you read how the Lord hath made such promises to such and such qualifications then consider that those things are indeed requisite to be found in you but who is there in heaven or earth that can worke them in you there is none but Jesus Christ and unlesse you have him to be in you you cannot have any of these things wrought in you But will a poore soule say I am not able to reach the Lord Jesus Christ therefore all the promises doe fall heavie upon a man and he seeth that they are too burthensome and too weighty for him he doth not say here is the qualification and here is the blessing promised to it and therefore I will take it to my selfe but one that is taught of God doth forthwith goe and pray unto God that he will set him in the way of those blessings and that so he will make him partaker of them he prayeth that God will give him his Sonne and that he will adorne him with his grace as a bride of Jesus Christ Thus while the soule doth looke towards Jesus Christ and grace in him the Lord doth secretly transforme him into the image of Christ by working such qualifications in him and then beareth witnesse to that sanctification which is wrought in his heart thereby enlarging his soule with strong consolation in Jesus Christ and in the same way it is that the Lord doth strengthen the faith of his people to believe that all those things which God hath promised are accomplished in Jesus Christ and the Law fullfilled in me so farre as Christ is in me and therefore I come unto God in prayer to make good those promises unto me in a right way which would have been preposterously applyed before Christ was given And this may serve for Answer to the 5th Question Quest 6. Wee come now unto a sixt Question If the Lord doe give himselfe first in the Covenant of his grace this may then be a doubt and a question in a Christian soule If God give himselfe before any blessing before any promise in order of nature though he giveth himselfe alwayes in a promise if wee cannot claime any blessing from God at the first in any conditionall promise therefore not by any condition in our selves but as we received all things from God so wee claime all things from him in Jesus Christ and so doe first seeke for him and for all things in him If thus to what use then serveth the Law of God which requireth such and such conditions in us doe we not abrogate the Law make it of none effect and roote it out from having any power over Christians And truly some under pretence of the Covenant of grace have thought it altogether bootlesse to bind Christians unto the Law of God and to looke at it as any part of the direction of their Course Now because this is an imputation usually reflected upon the Covenant of Grace let us Confider therefore and enquire to what use serveth the Law of God if God give himselfe first unto his people in the Covenant of his grace Answ Though the Lord giveth himselfe freely to the soule and his Sonne and all the blessings of the Covenant of grace without respect unto any worke of the Law yet the Law is of speciall and notable use unto all the sonnes of men both unto them that are not yet brought home unto God by converting grace and also to those that are regenerate in Jesus Christ The Apostle Paul did observe that the question would arise upon the doctrine of the Covenant of grace Gal. 3.16,17,18 For if the blessing of Abraham came upon the people of God by Jesus Christ to what end then serveth the Law which came 430 yeares after It cannot disanull grace to make the promise of God of none effect to what end then serveth it Some say it is of no use others say that it is of such use that they had rather renounce the Covenant of grace than it but the Answer is it is of especiall use both unto spirituall and carnall men First unto carnall men and they are of two sorts some belong unto the election of grace though they be not yet called others are not written in the Lambs booke of life but will in the end finally perish and the Law is yet of use unto both sorts of them For the Elect it is of use unto them to aggravate their sin and to multiply it unto them as it were that is to say to aggravate the apprehension of the hainousnesse of sin upon their Consciences and to set home the burthen of sin unto their soules thereby to drive them to feele their great need of the Lord Jesus Christ whom otherwise they should for ever have despised Thus the Apostle answereth in the place aforenamed The Law was added because of transgressions that they might cleerely appeare and be aggravated thereby that a man might plainly discerne how he hath made himselfe liable to the wrath of God by so manifold breaches of so many Commandments in one kinde or other the Law giveth cleere knowledge of sinne and so much the more doth it set on the weight of it upon the Conscience working feare in the heart Rom. 8.15 And hence it is that the Apostle telleth us Gal. 3.24 The Law was our Schoole-Master to Christ As a Schoole-Master driveth his Scholler through feare unto this or that duty either to doe it himselfe or if he cannot to get others to doe it for him so the Law of God driveth the soule through feare unto Jesus Christ not that it doth reveale Christ a Saviour of free-grace but the soule being once brought downe under sense of sin by the terrours of the Law will readily willingly hearken unto the newes of Christ a Saviour for being once made sensible of his owne inability to redeeme himselfe and unworthines to be redeemed from the wrath of God now is the soule fitted to heare the voyce of the Gospell now is the newes of Christ beautifull and glad tidings And of this use is the Law unto the Elect of God before they come under the Covenant of the grace of God 2. But of what use is the Law unto other men First the Disobedience of it is of use Secondly the Obedience of it 1. The Disobedience for if men had not knowne sin it had been some pretence though they had committed sin but when men have the knowledge of the Law and yet commit sin willingly now they have no cloake for their sin Rom. 1.21 compared with 32. where the Apostle speaketh of the great sin of the Gentiles and much more of the Jewes Who though they knew God and the judgement of God and that they which commit such wickednes are worthy of death yet
his owne works and taught him to resolve in his judgment to believe on Jesus Christ 4 There is a fourth sort also that fall far short of Christ too and yet goe beyond all these they goe beyond works and beyond this Faith also which we have spoken of which was not a lively Faith in Christ whereby we are justified but men justifie themselves by it God doth not justifie them Now this fourth sort come plainly to see that their Faith is shaken and they dare not look God in the face to justifie the truth of their Faith before him it is true many an heavenly spirited man cannot tell what will become of him nor can he tell whether his Faith be sound but many an Hypocrite also is so far convinced that he cannot tell what will become of him nor can he say that his Faith is right nor that he is able to believe What saith the soule now in such a case as this He will say I see it is not my Reformation nor my Faith that will serve the turn what is it then I see that now I must waite upon Christ that I may believe and unto him I must seek for helpe Is not this soule in a state of everlasting fellowship with Christ Truly this is that which the Lord many times bringeth the souls of his Servants unto but he leaveth them not there if he mean to doe them good for I would examine again how camest thou to waite upon Jesus Christ thou hast been driven out of conceit of thy former Faith and so hast been forced and hast seen a necessity to wait upon Christ for Faith or else thou canst not believe force of Argument hath constrained thee thus far if thou hast taken up a course of waiting onely upon this ground here is a spark of old Adam still kept alive in thee Thou art able to seek and wait upon Christ and yet I cannot promise thee that thou hast any part or portion in him But a soule will say Hath not the Lord made gratious Promises to all those that seeke for him Hath he not said that all they are blessed that waite for him Isa 30.18 And am not I wrapped up hereby in a bundle of grace and peace Mind you there is no promise of life made to those that wait seek in their own strength who being driven to it have taken it up by their own resolutions though I grant it is true that every one that waiteth for and seeketh the Lord aright is driven unto it by the Lord yet if ever the Lord mean to save you he will rend as it were the caule from the heart I mean he will pluck away all the confidence you have built upon a as man would rend the intralls of a Beast from him so the Lord will bring you to a flat deniall of your selves and that you have neither good will nor deed as of your selves And you will find you know not what God will doe with you but this you know that whatsoever he doth he is most righteous When the Spirit of God cometh as a Comforter he will in this manner convince the soul of a man that he hath heretofore hung upon his reformations for hope comfort but now he is brought plainly to see and flatly to deny that he hath so much as one drop of the fatnes of the true Olive tree in him when he most trusted unto his own excellencies Now a man being thus far brought on doth not only deny himselfe in his judgement but in his will and is ready to say as David sometimes did If the Lord say he hath no pleasure in me here I am let him doe unto me as seemeth him good The Lord is righteous in all that cometh upon me this onely the soul hath for his support in such a case the Lord is able to doe all for me that I stand in need of If he shew me no mercy he is just if he be gratious I shall live to praise him Now when a mans will is thus subdued that he hath no will of his owne to be guided by but onely the will of God this is true brokennesse of heart when not onely the judgement but the heart and will is broken The soule being thus convinced that neither his working nor believing nor waiting nor seeking as of himselfe will doe him any good there is no mercy that he can chalenge for any goodnesse sake of his owne then cometh the Holy Ghost in some declaration of Gods free love and taketh possession of the heart and then the soule beginneth to pant after Jesus Christ and nothing in Heaven but him nor in the Earth besides him The soule being thus wrought upon beginneth to put forth it selfe towards the Lord Jesus but the Holy Ghost having taken possession before helpeth our infirmities Rom. 8.26,27 He alone must help us and no other FINIS CERTAIN QUERIES Tending to Accommodation and Communion of Presbyterian Congregationall Churches BY Mr JOHN COTTON late Teacher of the Church at Boston in New-England Published by a Friend to whom the Author himselfe sent them over not long before his Death LONDON Printed by M. S. for John Allen and Francis Eglesfield in Pauls Church-yard 1654. Certain Queries tending to the mutuall Accommodation Communion of Presbyterian and Congregationall Churches delivered in 11 Propositions humbly presented both to the Consideration and Examination of them according to God BY Mr JOHN COTTON The 1. Querie Whether may it not be safely acknowledged that the Congregations of Christians subject to Presbyteriall Government preaching and professing the Truth of the Gospel and not over-growne with ignorant and scandalous Persons are true and holy Churches of Christ BEcause such Churches for the Matter of them consist of visible Saints at least a principall part of them especially when they present themselves to sit downe before the Lord at his Table And for the Forme they doe agree together in choosing their owne Minister in attending duely to the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments and in submitting to the Doctrine of the Gospel which implyeth a reall and visible though implicite profession of the Covenant of grace requisite to Church-estate Object The Parish-Churches in England were Antichristian if not in their first Institution yet at least for these many hundred yeares and were never since unchurched nor new moulded out of their Anchristian Apostacy Answ 1. The Gospel of Christ was preached and received in England ten yeares before it was in Rome as may appeare by Gildas and may be inferred from Baronius also Annal. Anno Christi 35.5 45.1 and that by the Ministry of Apostles and Apostolick men who doubtlesse did at first institute Churches not after the Pattern of Rome which then was not a Church but according to the Patterne of the Apostles 2. Neither were they unchurched by the Antichristian Apostacy which afterwards grew upon them as a Leprosie but were onely corrupted and polluted even
deliver unto us another Gospel for it is not of Grace that Faith is given us Vse 3. This may also teach the people of God to bear a gratious respect unto those that are under a Covenant of works and not forthwith to condemn them as if there were no hope of their Salvation For God doth not call any into fellowship with himselfe in a Covenant of Grace but ordinarily he first bringeth them into a Covenant of works and casteth them out of doors by a spirit of bondage and of burning and then bringeth them in by the true door and Jesus Christ is that doore Joh. 10.9 Though the Children of the Faithfull be born under the outward dispensation of the Covenant of Grace yet if they be not of the Elect seed they will chose life by their works and so fall under the Covenant of works Gal. 4.24 to 30. So will Professors also Gal. 4.21 yea the Elect themselves before their Effectuall Calling will seek life by their works Hence those that are under a Covenant of works may belong unto the Lord as well as my selfe pray for them therefore Paul was under a Covenant of workes Steven prayeth for him and as most conceive that Prayer was effectuall unto his Conversion and Paul was as dear unto the Lord in his Eternall purpose as Steven himselfe was And thus Paul himselfe speaketh of Onesimus He therefore departed for a season that he might be received for ever So may we say of men under a Covenant of works the Lord may bring any of them home unto himselfe by dashing all his works in pieces and shewing him the presidence of his Spirit though the Lord hath melted him formerly in his Prayers and Preachings and Hearing and Sacraments by a Spirit of burning yet the Lord will discover that he is but hardened by it into another lump of pride against the Lord his God And the Lord will also pluck away the caul from their hearts and then they will have none in Heaven but Christ nor in the earth in comparison of him and then the Holy Ghost convinceth them of this sin above all their other sins that they have not believed on Jesus Christ Doe not therefore censure any such as to say there is no likelihood that they should have fellowship with Christ for if the Lord make them to fall down before him and to yield up their spirits unto the Lord in holy reverence and feare these have now received some secret smoking affections besides a Spirit of burning which the Lord will not quench Vse 4. It may serve in the next place to clear up our judgements in sundry passages that doe concerne the Covenant of Grace by Answers unto these 6 Questions following Quest 1. What is the first gift that ever the Lord giveth unto his Elect Answ First of all he giveth Himselfe the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit this is the foundation and if you shall lay saving Qualifications in the foundation before these the foundation will lye uneasily and the spirit of a true Christian shall not lye long in peace Christ must therefore be first and with him Faith to receive him first he will make a Covenant with us and put his holy Spirit within us and he cometh in with Faith and Fear that we never may depart from him He giveth us his Son and all things else in him he giveth us in him pardon of sins in our Justification and in him some degrees of glory also and in him right unto all the Promises of the Covenant no other foundation but him Take him first for he is the first thing given He taketh us by giving us Faith and we take him by exercising our Faith on him Object But whether doth not the Lord give us some saving Preparations before Jesus Christ for there be those that are gratious Saints that have conceived that there are some gratious Qualifications which the Lord giveth to prepare for Jesus Christ Answ There be saving graces which doe sanctifie us unto God our Father but whether they doe make way for Jesus Christ there proveth a difference but you may discern the truth of the point If the Lord doe give any saving Qualification before Christ then the soule may be in a state of Salvation before Christ and that would be prejudiciall unto the grace and truth of Christ for if there be no name given under Heaven whereby we must be saved but onely Jesus Christ nor his name but in a way of fellowship with him then it will unavoidably follow that whatsoever saving work there be in the soul it is not there before Christ be there it is true John Baptist was sent to subdue all flesh by a spirit of burning which burneth up the Covenant of Abraham I mean their carnall confidence in it and all their fruits of righteousnesse here were indeed preparations for Christ but these were not saving they were still Children of wrath Ye Serpents ye Generation of Vipers notwithstanding all this John did indeed dispense poverty of Spirit and yet though they had received the Holy Ghost they were not sensible of it yet the poverty of spirit was there unto which the Promise was made but then Jesus Christ was there also whether they knew it or knew it not that is not greatly materiall in this Argument But if the Kingdome of Heaven was there Jesus Christ was there first otherwise it will prove dishonourable unto the name of Christ Indeed there is a saving preparation before consolation in Christ and the manifestation of our gratious union with him but for our first union there are no steps unto the Altar Exod. 20. last But Christ doth prepare his Tabernacle for himselfe to dwell in This is in the first place for Instruction concerning what is the first gift which the Lord giveth unto the soule before any work or Promise he giveth saving communion in spirituall union with his Son this standeth firm from the Tenor of the Covenant and the nature of it to my best understanding and therewith giveth us Faith and all other saving Qualifications and Conditions as it is held forth in the Scriptures of God Quest 2. In what order the Lord giveth the Covenant and the blessings of it whether Faith before them or those blessings before faith be able to apply them Answ He doth give himselfe in working Faith before Faith can be there and therefore it is the fruit of the Spirit that Faith is wrought in the soule and this Faith doth receive the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ himselfe by his Spirit and it doth also receive Adoption and Justification but to be able actually to apply it our first birth will not bear it for a man is as passive in his Regeneration as in his first generation onely the Lord giveth us his Spirit that doth unite us unto Christ which is received by Faith together with Adoption and Justification And yet by the Act of believing we are justified
to ingraffe us into Jesus Christ this is quite contrary to nature Why wherein is it so contrary I answer whereas nature is active for it selfe now it cometh to passe that whereas a soul hath been stirring and busie in his owne strength at length the Spirit of God by the mighty power of his grace being shed abroad into the soule doth burn up root and branch not onely the root of Abraham's Covenant but all the fatnesse of the root of the Wild Olive by which we are fat and lively to all spirituall work in our owne apprehensions so that we work in our owne strength untill the Lord come and cut us quite down and make us to see that there is not the least good thought as of our selves and therefore unlesse the Lord be wonderfully gratious unto us we cannot be saved till it come unto this the soule is not fit for Jesus Christ Thus the Spirit of God may worke powerfully in the hearts of men and burn up their root and branch and this a spirit of burning may doe and yet leave the soule in a damnable condition for ought I know and such as many a soule may be in and yet never come to enjoy saving fellowship with Jesus Christ therefore as this is one arm of God stretched forth for the salvation of his people when he draweth them out of themselves by a Spirit Of Bondage Burning towards Christ So 2 There is a further work of God in drawing us home throughly and effectually to Jesus Christ when he giveth the Spirit of Adoption which reacheth beyond all the former work he hath cut us off from our selves and now we stand in a state quite contrary to nature and if any saving work be wrought in us it is quite contrary to nature if any thing fall upon the heart and soule of a man to bring his will to this passe to lye downe at Gods feet that he knoweth not what to doe and yet whatsoever the Lord calleth him unto he is willing if it were possible to be done he would run through fire and water to doe it but he findeth himselfe unable to doe any thing and now he will tell you that to believe is as impossible for him as to build a world why then bid him wait waite saith he I but I cannot waite and if I seek the Lord I cannot find him and I see others of Gods servants wrought upon gratiously but dead-hearted I nothing will work upon me now in such a case as this the Spirit of God cometh into the heart of a Christian and taketh possession of the soule for Jesus Christ and so draweth the soule to Christ and maketh it there to stay and there to lye down and to be willing to be drawne yet neerer and neerer unto Christ and to be carried an end by him to take all from him to give all the glory to him This Spirit of Adoption doth give a man a Son-like frame to lye prostrate at his Fathers will like unto the Prodigall Son Luke 15.17,18,19 who when he came to himselfe and saw how unable he was to provide for himselfe and how unworthy he was that his Father should doe any thing for him he came and lay downe at the feet of his Father for he is unable and unworthy of any mercy Now this stooping of the heart unto God and yielding unto him to doe with us as seemeth good in his own eyes is such a prostration of the heart wherein the Lord hath taken possession of the soule that now a man is led unto fellowship with Christ that there is None in Heaven but him none in the earth in comparison of him that the soule desireth after and now a man waiteth upon Christ to see what he will doe for him and though he cannot tell you that he waiteth yet he doth waite that he may be helped of God to depend upon him Thus he receiveth all from Christ and giveth all unto him This is the Fathers drawing of the soule which is expounded to be the hearing and learning of the Father of which John speaketh ch 6.45 He that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me which is when the Lord hath drawne the soule out of his naturall corruptions legall reformations pretences of Faith and waiting upon Christ in his owne strength for Faith if it be wanting Then when the soul doth lie at his feet to be disposed of according to the will of God and is in some measure subject unto the Lord though not so much as he could desire and therefore now the soule doth not content or blesse himselfe in any gifts or works of his own but yieldeth himselfe humbly to the Lord to work in him both will and deed of his owne good pleasure and to teach him how to seek and waite and believe and long after Jesus Christ these things he waiteth for Otherwise untill he be thus taught of God the soule will alwayes think that he can doe something and is not able to come out of himself to utter denyall of himselfe but if any man will come unto Christ he must deny himselfe even all his owne gifts and parts and good works whatsoever for a man is never utterly denyed untill there be nothing left of which a man can say This I am able to doe or this is an hopefull thing in me and when it cometh to this passe then will the soule lie down at the will of God and acknowledge that if the Lord would never shew him mercy just and righteous are his judgements Now when the soule and will of a Christian are convinced of these things as well as his judgement that now he waiteth upon Christ as well that he may be able to waite and seek the Lord as he doth for any other good thing from the Lord he waiteth now upon the Lord for a poor spirit and cannot perke up himselfe no more then a bruised Reed can doe Thus when it cometh unto saving work the will and soule of a man is so cast downe that a man cannot tell what to make of himselfe but there he lieth to see what the Lord will doe with him whether he will reach forth the hand of salvation unto him or no. In this case the soule is left utterly void and hath in himself neither root nor branch but seeth how unable he is in himselfe to beleeve or waite nor can he tell whether Jesus Christ be his portion and now doth the Lord take possession and fill the empty soule If you ask me how this spirit cometh into the soule to make it thus to stoop unto Christ You shall find that the Lord useth to convey himselfe unto the soule in some word of Promise of the Gospel that sheweth unto the soule the riches of the grace of God in Jesus Christ something or other is declared of Christ This word being taught in the publick Ministry of the word or brought to remembrance in some spirituall