pure eyes which found folly in his Angels And the best of men whilest he lives on earth is both a Saint and a sinner A Saint by reason of Gods Grace wrought in him And a Sinner by reason of his own naturall corruption which in some measure tainteth every Grace of God And therefore not only the worst of men but also the best of Gods Saints that being compared with their fellowes might seem just indeed Yet looking to the strictnesse of Gods justice they disclaimed all their own righteousnesse and relyed wholly upon the righteousnesse of God so Job 4.17 18 19. and Job 15.14 and 9.2.3 and Psal 130. and Psal 143.2 and Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 4.4 That he knew nothing by himself Yet he confesseth that thereby he was not justified because that although he served God most faithfully in the inner man yet he saw another Law in his members which did alwaies rebell against the Law of his mind and made him therefore cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7. Thirdly Because that although it were granted that some works of the Saints might be perfectly good yet because any one sin blotteth out the memory of our precedent righteousness as Ezekiel 18. and makes us guilty of all the Law as the Apostle witnesseth James 2. and that we are so prone to commit sin and so frail to resist sin that in many things we sin all And therefore taught to beg every day of God that he would forgive us our trespasses It is impossible that any righteousnesse of man should justifie him before God Fourthly Because St. Paul saith plainly Rom. 3.28 We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the Law and Gal. 5.3.4 That is if you seek to be saved or justified by the works of the Law then are you bound to fulfill the whole Law and so you have no need of Christ But no man is able to fulfill the whole Law therefore it is impossible that you should be justified by the works of the Law And that St. Paul excludeth not only ceremoniall works or morall or any other kiâ—de of works before we receive faith but also all works whatsoever it is hereby apparent For he writes these things not to unbelieving Jewes but to the Galatians they were believing Christians Fiftly Because no work of man can be good before the person of that man be justified before God for without faith it is impossible to please God Abel was first accepted and then his offering And therefore it is impossble that any works shall justifie us when we must be justified before we can doe any works that can be accounted good But then it may be objected That it is to no purpose to doe good works if we can neither be justified by them nor merit by them I answer That as gold is good yet not to asswage hunger for then Mydas had not died with gold in his mouth And as the Sun hath divers admirable effects yet is not able to make a blinde man see so then Bartimeus had had no need of our Saviours help that he might receive his sight So good works have many profitable and available necessary uses yet not to justifie us before God nor to merit any thing at the hands of God For when we have done all we can we are unprofitable c. Luke 17.10 Ob. 2 But our adversaries object That if God gives us Commandements which we could not perform them First It were in vain to exhoâ—t us to obey them seeing we are unable to perform them Secondly His promises of happinesse for performing them were but mockeries as if I should promise a Child a thousand pounds for carrying away a Milstone which I know he is not able to wagg such were rather meer mockeries than true promises Thirdly 〈…〉 nishments should he unjust upon the transgressors because 〈…〉 ommandements are beyond their power of performance For Lawes must be made according to the power that we have to perform them Else may he as well be termed a Tyrant and unjust that enacteth the Law which we cannot keep as he which punishes an Innocent which never offended But these cannot stand with the wisedome and justice of God and therefore it cannot be that God should give us a Law beyond our ability or the performance of obedience To this I answer That the consequence is false for though God commandeth us things that we cannot perform Yet these consequences cannot follow because as August saith de lib. arbit cap. 16. God commandeth us to doe those things which he knoweth we are unable to doe that we might learn to know what we ought to seek of him and so likewise for three speciall ends First to teach us what we could have done and what we owe to God because Adam received strength to fulfill it and we had had that strength if Adam had not lost it Secondly To shew unto us that it is our own fault that we cannot doe it because man abusing his power and free liberty to doe what he would did loose himself and his power that now he must doe what he would not Because as Adam received that strength both for himself and us so he lost it both for himself and us Thirdly To teach us what we should ask and of whom we should crave what we want for God doth therefore command us to doe what we cannot perform that seeing our own infirmities and being wearied under the Law of equity We might sue unto the Throne of Grace for mercy and for the gracious assistance of his holy Spirit whereby we may be enabled in some measure to perform that which he so justy requireth As August saith In the Commandement we must know what we ought to have In the punishment we must learn that we our selves are the cause of all our wants And in prayer we must understand from whâ—â—â—â— we must supply the defects that is from God Or to answer more methodically I say That God being on Mount Sinai to deliver a Law not de novo that was never given before but such as was formerly engraven in mans heart and now defaced and obliterated through sinne It was not for him to bend the Rule of Righteousnesse to the crookednesse of our affections to make it answerable to our abilities But rather to set down a straight Rule Not in favour of our sinfull nature but to expresse our whole duty though it be impossible for us to perform it now after we have lost our ability For as he that lent thee a thousand pounds may without injustice demand the same of thee when he knoweth that thou through thy lavishnesse hast spent all and as a Bankrupt art not able to pay one penny So God having given us power to obey all his precepts may at any time most justly call for the performance of the same though he knoweth that we by our sinnes have
Doctor give me leave as a Brother though unworthy to give you this Christian Animadversion Call to mind whose doctrine it is which you stand up for and who they have been that have still done the same Pelagius Bellarmine c. I doubt not of your acquaintance with the many more But how cleerly this is against the Fathers of our Church and some of their owne Doctors I know you cannot be ignorant as Augustine Gregory Lactantius Ierome Bernard Anselme and all Moderne Divines except Bellarmines Fraternity I am sorry that Doctor Drayton should be contrary minded but they and we are all men I shall pray to God to discover our Errors and that in the end God may have glory his Church reap benefit and Christian brotherly love may be increased betwixt Doctor Drayton and his unworthy fellow labourer in the Lords Vineyard John Tendring 30. March 1657. Doctor Drayton 's second Letter To his honoured Friend Doctor Tendring These Reverend Sir I Did not desire to alter the State of the Questions nor have I either wittingly or willingly done it All errors in doctrine must come from hell and not from heaven Therefore if I prove the doctrines erroneous which I reproved you will I hope no longer quarrell the expression You say your doctrines are plaine and that you desire in the sincerity of your heart the glory of God and the good of souls neither of which can consist with the continuance of sinne in our mortall bodies nor doe I carry on any interest but what directly tends to the designe which you pretend to ayme at You further say you are not ignorant from whence our doctrines come but to that I crave leave to question for I am sure it came from heaven if the Prophets and Apostles had theirs to come from thence Nor who they are who have endeavoured to carry it on in this nation who doubtlesse were the best men that ever were in this or any other nation But I will with you take up Gamaliels counsell and conclusion si sit à Deo Good Sir forbeare the aspersions of the truth with the obloquies that have been cast upon any that have held it forth For the first Question I see no difference betwixt your first stating of it which I sent unto you in your own words and your last I shall therefore admit it in these new expressions That sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their souls have a being in these houses of Clay For the second I expressed my selfe again and again in the words which I sent unto you as all impartiall and understanding Auditors will attest But I will take it in your owne words so far as they are plaine viz. That you deny that any man by grace can in this life performe such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same I mentioned nothing concerning the work of Satisfaction nor shall that come into dispute unlesse by necessary consequence I thank you for your good advise I shall next after Scriptures avouch no other Authors but the Fathers of the Church and perhaps some of our owne Modern Divines of the best note and concluding with a note of your own prayer rest March 3. A servant and lover of the truth that is according to godlinesse and your Fellow-servant in Christ THO DRAYTON I pray you let me heare in a line or two whether we are now agreed upon the stating of the questions Doctor Tendring's Answer to Doctor Drayton's second Letter Reverend Doctor As the Questions are now stated I agree to them and doe hereby joyne Issue I require your Rejoynder and let it be at your pleasure whether I shall begin or you So I rest Yours in the Lord Iohn Tendring Send your Answer by this Bearer Doctor Drayton's Third Letter For his much honoured Friend Doctor Tendring These SIR I Am very glad that we are thus far agreed viz. about the state of the Questions I hope we shall goe on in the same correspondency if you please to begin because you are perhaps at better leisure and so will send one or both of the Questions with your respective Confirmation to Mr. Parker you shall soone after God willing receive mine who in the interim and I hope ad interitum shall remaine Your loving friend to serve you in the Lord Tho Drayton The Positions be these Posit 1 THat Sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their Soules have a being in these houses of clay Posit 2 That no man by grace can in this life performe such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same or to be thereby justified otherwise then in and through Christ of grace given NOw to the end that the er suing Discourse may be proper and profitable for the informing the judgments of the weak and for the establishing them in the faith of the truth which next to the glory of God and the advancement of his truth is the onely thing intended I shall observe this method First I shall define what Sin in generall is Secondly what the first sin waâ— Thirdly the causes of the first sinne Fourthly the effects thereof And lastly what Originall Sin is And so I shall proceed to confirmation of the first position And first of the first what Sin in generall is The word in Hebrew which is traâ—slâ—ted sinne signifi th properly misdoing or missing of the mark or way as in Judg. 20.6 it is said that the men of Benjamin could sling a stone at an nares breadth and not sin that is not misse And in Prov. 19.2 it is said that he that is hasty with his foot sinneth that is misseth or swerveth In Religion Gods Law is our mark or way from which when we swerve we sin and therefore Sin is defined to be the transgression of the Law as in 1 John 3.4 or whatsoever is repugnant to the Law that is a defect or inclination or action repugnant to the Law of God Which is the generall nature of sinne Or defect is this generall nature and inclinations or actions or rather the matter of sin The difference and formall essence of sin is as I said a repugnancy with the Law The property which eleaveth fast unto it is the guilt of the creature offending that is to say the binding of the creature to temporall and eternall punishments which is done according to the order of Gods Justice And hence it is that we commonly say there is a double formality or two-fold nature of sin Repugnancy with the Law and guilt Or that there are two respects of which the former is a comparison or dissimilitude with the Law the other an ordaining to punishment In the second place the fall or first sin of man was the disobedience of our first Parents Adam and Eve in Paradise or the eating of the apple and sruit forbidden Gen. 2.16 17. This Commandment of God
made our selves unable so much as to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 But our Adversaries have and doe further object That a regenerate man hath sufficientia principia rectae operationis sufficient causes and means of well doing as knowledge to understand what is good will to desire what is good and power to effect what is good his soul being enlightned sanctified and assisted by Gods Spirit therefore he may doe what is good and all what God commands I answer That we grant a regenerate man to be enabled to doe good but how farre enabled Surely not perfectly for our knowledge is but in part obscured with ignorance our will is distempered with many turbulent affections and our power hindred to doe many good things we would doe by many lustfull temptations And therefore these principia operationis being not perfecta principia our actions cannot be perfect which proceed from them Who can tell saith David how oft he offendeth Cleanse thou me from my secret sinnes You see Gods Saints have secret sinnes I may have many sinnes and fail in many things which no man knoweth of nor my self but only known to God I may sin and not know mine own sin yet God seeth the same We cannot judge mens hearts for we know not our own it is Gods preroagative to search and try the Reines Jer. 17.9.1 John 3.20 And it is our duty to pray with Nehemiah 13.12 Accept my obedience but pardon mine iniquity That chosen vessell was compelled to say this although he knew nothing by himself yet he knew that thereby he could not be justified And this I hope may suffice for the cleering the first Branch of the second Position That no man can perform such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same or by his obedience thereunto be justified before God And for further confirmation of the truth thereof I dare appeale to any mans conscience if he be not too arrogant how upon the confirmation of Gods strict Judgement and his own manifold infirmities he dares justifie himself in any one act against God And I doubt not but the proudest heart would soon tremble and the boldest face would blush and be ashamed and affraid to have his best works even his prayers scan'd according to the strictnesse of Gods Law or the rigor of Gods Justice And of the adversaries to this truth I require this one thing That they will either produce a man and prove it That hath ever performed in his own person such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same Or else let them acknowledge their error with shame and forbear opposing the truth and disturbing the peace of Gods Church Lest by persisting in their malicious wickednesse their sinne become unpardonable I shall pray for them as for my self that the Lord would be pleased to convince us of the errors of our waies humble us in the sense of our sinnes and be mercifull to our poor Souls Come we now to the second Branch of the second Position which hath in it these two parts to be considered First That no man can be justified by the works of the Law Secondly That we are only justified by the righteousnesse of Christ And first of the first In part I have cleered it before but for further confirmation The Apostle Paul reasons admirably and plainly in this point saying Rom. 15.6 If Salvation be of Grace it is no more of works for else were Grace no more Grace And if it be of works it is no more of Grace for else works were no more works But Salvation is of Grace for by Grace yee are saved through Faith and that not of your selves It is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Eph. 2.8 And our Saviour tells us plainly that when we have done our best We are but unprofitable Servants Ergo Salvations is not of works Again Reason it self drawn from the Scriptures doth sufficiently prove that we cannot be justified by our works For if any works doe justifie us they must be done either before or after justification But First no works done before the Grace of justification can justifie us Because evill trees cannot bring forth good fruit and being not done of Faith they must needs be sinne for whatsoever is not done of Faith is sinne and without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 Whereupon Saint Paul saith That all men before they be ingrafted into Christ by Grace are the Servants of sinne farre from righteousnesse and bringing forth nothing but fruits deserving shame and death Rom. 6.20 Secondly Our works done after Grace Reason it self sheweth That they cannot be the cause of Grace for how can that which commeth after be any cause of that which goeth before The cause must precede the effect And so August tells us That good works doe not goe before him that is to be justified but doe follow him that is already justified And therefore as good fruits cannot be the cause of the goodnesse of the tree so good works cannot be the cause of justification And that place of the Apostle which I cited before Rom. 3.20 makes it cleer By the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified For first in the 9. ver he tells us That both Jews and Gentiles are under sinne because all are transgressors of the Law Therefore all the world must be guilty before God and can no wayes be justified by pretending innocency in keeping the Law Secondly He sheweth the Reason why no flesh can be justified by the Law because the Law convinceth us of sinne for by the Law commeth the knowledge of sinne But the Law convinceth them that are under Grace and which hath the greatest measure of Grace to be sinners Phil. 3.9 Therefore they that doe the works of the Law by the help of Grace cannot be justified by the Law because the Law sheweth them likewise to be sinners as well though not as great as they that endeavour to keep the Law without the help of Grace And therefore the Apostle concludeth That we are all justified by the righteousnesse of God without the Law as you may see in Rom. 3. from 2. ver therefore not by any righteousnesse of the Law done either by the help of Grace or without Grace For he that obeyeth the Law how ever he doth it with the help of Grace or his own strength yet he hath the same righteousnesse The righteousnesse of the Law because the different manner of obteining it altereth not the nature of the thing But the Apostle sheweth a great difference betwixt the righteousness of the Law and the righteousness of Faith For Moses describeth the righteousnesse which is of the Law That the man which doth these things however he doth them by his own strength or some other help if he doth them he shall live by them Rom. 10.5 But the righteousnesse of Faith speaketh on
due to you for your sinnes in the name of the Lord Jesus that is for the merits and righteousnesse of Jesus Christ But some may here object and say The Righteousnesse is Christs and how can a man be justified by the justice of another I answer As sinne is ours by propagation so righteousnesse is ours by imputatiou and as Adam derived sinne by nature to our condemnation so Christ brought life by his obedience to our justification So if many be made sinners by the disobedience of one man Then how much more shall many be made righteous by the obedience of one man especially seeing the nature of Christ was farr more divine than the nature of Adam and thee fore more powerfull in ability to work this effect to justifie us than Adam's was to condemn us And in 1 Joh. 5.11 12. That eternall life which God giveth us that is that righteousnesse whereby he bringeth us to eternall life is in his Sonne And this the Apostle doth most excellently shew unto us when he saith that God made Christ to be sinne for us and as in the place before cited 2 Cor. 5.20 For as our sinnes were made the sinnes of Christ not by alteration of them inhesively into his own person but by assumption of them imputatively to make satisfaction for them as fully and as truly as if they had been his own inherent sinnes Even so the righteousnesse of Christ is as truly made ours by imputation as if we had most perfectly fullfilled the Law by our own actuall operation And therefore justification is a gracious and judiciall action of God whereby he judgeth the elect being in themselves liable to the accusation and condemnation of the Law to be just and righteous by faith in Jesus Christ through the imputation of his Justice to the praise of his glorious power and the eternall salvation of their souls Now for the Canses of justification they are especially first Efficient secondly Materiall thirdly Formall fourthly Finall and each one of these must be considered two wayes first Actively in respect of him that justifies us secondly Passively in respect of Man that is justified First The principall efficient Cause of this our justification actively considered is God freely purposing to send his sonne to be made man to work righteousnesse for men 1 Pet. 1.10 Gal 4 4. then in the fulnesse of time sending his son made of a woman made under the Law then revealing his son to us by the preaching of the Gospell and perswading us to believe the same and to lay hold on the sonne of God by the operation of his blessed Spirit and then accounting to us the obedience of his son for our righteousnesse To shew that he is the beginning the middle the end of our justification And to prove this the Lord himself saith Isay 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sinnes And the Apostle plainly saith Rom. 8.33 It is God that justifieth And the very Scribes that rejected Christ most impiously professed this most truly that none can forgive sinnes but God only And so Gregory saith It is meet that he should be the giver of Grace which was the author of nature Gregory in Psal poenitent pithily saith It is his office to absolve the guilty by whose justice he is made guilty Again The impulsive Cause that moved God to doe all this for man wee finde to be two fold first Internall secondly Eternall The first is The meer Grace and free Mercy of God towards man and that because he would be mercifull unto man Because we can ascribe none other Cause of Gods Will which is the cause of all things but only this Quia voluit because it pleased him And therefore St. Paul attributeth our Redemption to the Riches of hâ—â— Grace 1. Eph. 6 7. Rom. 3.24 and so likewise in 3. Tit. 4. he saith that after the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed in us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Whereby you see the Apostle maketh the Kindenesse and Love and Mercy of God to be the first efficient principal Cause or Motive that moved God to send Christ to be the means to save us And St. Aug. in Psal 30. Idoe de nat grat saith That it is the ineffable grace of God that a man guilty of sin should be justified from sin And especialy against the Pelagian Heresie that magnified nature to vilifie and almost to nullifie Grace He saith That the grace of God whereby Infants and men of years are saved is not procured by deserts but tendered freely without merits And so Anselmus in Rom. 12. saith That because all men are shut up under sin the Salvation of man commeth not in the Merits of men but in the Mercy of God The second is Christ God and Man which purchased by his Merits that we should be justified in the sight of God because the chastisement of our peace was laidupon him that we by his stripes might be healed Isay 55.5 Secondly The material Cause of our justification actively considered is Jesus Christ And the benefits we have by Christ are especially two First Redemption Secondly Propitiation First Redemption is a word borrowed from the use of warres and it signifieth freedome from captivity And thus Christ is our deliverance First From the wrath of God Because he is our reconciliation unto God through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Secondly From the Tyranny and Dominion of sinne Because That obeying from the heart the form of Doctrine which is delivered us that is the Gospell of Christ we are made free from sin and are become the servants of Christ which is our Righteousness Rom. 6 18 Thirdly From the punishment of sinne Because it is against Justice that the punishment should be inflicted when the sinne is pardoned For sinne being the cause of punishment it must needs follow that sublata causa c. the cause being defaced the effect must be abolished Object But against this it may be objected That the sinnes of the Elect are pardoned and yet they are continually afflicted and as the Prophet saith Psal 73.13 Chastised every morning And therefore how can it be that albeit he forgiveth the guilt of their sinnes yet as the Prophet saith Psal 99.8 he punisheth their inventions Sol. I answer That the miseries of men before the pardon of sinne are the punishments of sinne but the afflictions of the Saints after the remission of their sinnes are not to be reputed penalties from Gods anger but exercises of his Servants and arguments of his love For as many as I love I rebuke and chasten Rev. 3.19 Heb. 12.6 c. And that for a double end First principally for our Salvation that wee may
Idolatry from such a man as Solomon after so much wisdome from God Or fretfulnesse or frowardnesse of spirit in such a man as Jonah after such deliverance from God Or fearfulnesse in such a man as Abraham after so much protection from God Or cursing from such a man as Job after so much patience and experience of God The Lord grant that in such examples we may learne our selves and feare our selves The Disciples could say Master is it I that shall betray thee Peter did not ask Master is it John nor John Master is it Thomas but every one said is is I As much as if they should have said I have a deceitfull flesh a revolting heart in my bosome such a traytor that it may be as soon I as another man See 6. to the Gal. and 1. verse If a man be overtaken in a fault c. Considering thy self that is doe not rejoyce against thy brother nor insult over him doe not despise him in thy heart nor exilt thy self thou art of the same mould thou hast the same principles with him That God which for a season hath forsaken him may forsake thee That temptation which hath overcome him may happen unto thee That enemy which hath â—â—â—â—â—d him may winnow thee And therefore in his fall learne compassion towards him and jealousie to thy self Restore him and consider thy self Strive we what we can our it fiâ—mities will incompâ—ss us and our corruptions will be about us so long as we carry flesh about us as we may see in the forenamed instances What shall I say but briefly this thorne will still be in out flesh our Canaanite in our side our twinnes in our womb our counterlustings and counterwillings though we be like unto Christ per primitias spiritus by the first fruits of the spirit Yet we are unlike him per reliquias vetustatis by the remainders of our flesh Not to sin is here only our law Mark but in heaven it shall be our reward All our perfection here is imperfect sin hath its deaths blow given it but yet like a fierce and implacable beast it never le ts goe its hold till the last breath Animamque invulnere ponit never ceaseth to infest us till it cease to be in us Who can say my heart is cleane I am pure from my sin Prov. 20 9. which interrogation is an emphaticall negation As affirmative questions commonly categorically turned meane negatively Cleanse thou me from my secret sinnes saith holy David Psal 19.12 So Paul 1 Cor. 4.4 Though I know nothing by my self yet am I not thereby justified and the reason is added he that judgeth me is the Lord. Which Saint John further unfolds 1 John 3.20 God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Which places although most dangerously perverted by these innovators with whom we have to deale doe yet in the experience of the holiest men that are or have been evince this truth That the lusts of the flesh will be in us and work in us so long as we carry our mortall bodies about us Againe Secondly this truth will appeare more fully if we consider the four-fold condition of mans freedome of will according to his four-fold state and condition First in statu confectionis In the state of innocency as he was Created The will was free to good and evill or freely to chuse good but so that it had ability of chusing evill So that it might persist in good God preserving it and might also fall into evill God forsaking it The former is proved from the perfection of the image of God in which man was created Gen. 1.27 The latter is too evident by the event of the thing it selfe and by the testimony of Scripture Eccles 7.29 God made man upright but man found out many inventions And the Apostle saith Rom. 11 32. God hath shut up all men in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all Where the Apostle testifieth that God of speciall Wisdome did not confirme the first man against the fall Neither did he allot him such a portion of ability that he might not be seduced by the devill and moved to sio But that he therefore permitted him to be seduced and fall into sin and death That as many as were saved out of the common ruine might be saved by his mercy alone This fall was not praeter voluntatem Domini That were to make a lame providence nec contra for that were to make a weak omnipotence but juxta voluntatem Domini As nothing is done without the Everlasting and most good counsell of God so neither can this fall be exempted from it though not as it was a sin to the ruine of the Creature but as a way to exercise the Justice and Mercy of the Creator His justice in punishing and his mercy in saving If in the world there had been no misery there had been no mercy no need of Christ If no sin no matter for his justice to shew its self And yet herein the crime and fault of sin neither can nor ought to be laid on God but on mans will only falling from the rule of his Creator albeit notwithstanding he fell from it by the eternall counsell of God God and man both willing the same matter but not after the same manner or to the same end God neither willing it with mans intent nor man with Gods intent Adams purpose being to be like God Gods purpose being to manifest his own glory It being necessary in respect of Gods decree but voluntary in respect of Adams will The purpose of the Creator did not take away the Creatures freedome for sin being no positive being hath not an efficient cause but a deficient cause that is the will of the Creature sailing in obedience So that notwithstanding God did hate the sin and therefore did neither absolutely will it nor cause it yet he justly suffered it to be done I say justly for whatsoever God doth is good and just and not disagreeing from his nature and law whether the reason thereof be known or unknown unto us I say suffered it to be done for the Creator was not bound unto his Creature to preserve him in his goodnesse neither doth the deniall of such grace disagree with the mercy and bounty of God God having willed this to be an occasion of bestowing a greater grace and benefit as it is apparent in the fall and the restoring of man againe For although it be mercy not to rejoyce in the ruine or destruction of the Creature yet mercy ought not to fight with justice It is most just that more regard should be had of the chief good which is God both by himself and by others then of all Creatures Wherefore very well doe agree together in God his mercy and his justice His mercy which will not the death of a sinner and his justice which suffereth man-kind to fall that thereby the goodnesse and severity of God may appeare
So that briefly in statu confectionis Adamus acceperit posse si vellet he received a power to be if he would sed non habuit velle quod posset but he had not power given him to will that he might be Which first power having willingly cast away man now can challenge no more but what God will give for God owes no Creature any thing If he gives it is of his free grace if he withholds he doth no man wrong In the second state in man fallen born of corrupt parents and yet not regenerate Although man hath lost that first grace of liberty to be if he will yet the will doth work freely but it is carried to evil only and can doe nothing else but sinne And the reason is because the privation of the knowledge of God in the understanding ensued on the fall together with the want of inclination in the heart and will to obedience Instead where of blindnesse and aversenesse from God succeeded the which man cannot shake off unlesse he be regenerate Briefly it is the fitnesse and pronenesse in man after his fall being unregenerate to chuse only evill Of this blindnesse and corruption of mans nature after the fall it is said All the thoughts of man are evill c. Gen. 6.5 and can the Ethiopian change his skin Jer. 13.23 And a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.28 and dead in sinnet by nature the sonnes of wrath Ephes 2.1.3 and we are not able of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 With these testimonies concurreth every mans experience and the weary conscience which proclaimeth that we have no liberty or pronenesse of will to doe that which is good but too great freedome and readinesse to practise evil unlesse we be regenerate as it is said Jer. 31.18 Convert thou me and I shall be converted c. Wherefore there is no love of God in us by nature and therefore we have by nature no readinesse to obey God From whence it comes to passe that the enmity between God and man is not in God but in man who will not now rank himself in the roome of a subject and yield to the Lord the place of a Commander There is only now this question between God and man Whose will should be done The Lord craves that man should subject his will to Gods will But man aspires to make his own will the rule of his actions and in this miserable state lives every man not renewed by grace he sets up within himself a will contrary to Gods most holy will And this is the fruit of Adams apostasy for in his Creation he had a perfect conformity to the law or will of God and had power to yield exact obedience to the same But now onely a readinesse to doe evill But no power of it selfe to doe good Thirdly in the third state Take a man as he is renewed we deny against all our adversaries that our will is a co-worker with grace by the force of nature But we say it worketh by grace with grace We deny that grace doth enable the will of it self to doe good works if it please But we say that grace worketh in the will to please and to doe such offices as God requires at our hands God doth not hang his work upon the suspended If of our will but he worketh in us to will and causeth us to doe the things that he commandeth to doe as in Ezekiel 36.27 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and doe them We will indeed saith Augustine but God worketh in us to will we work but God worketh in us to work we walk but God worketh in us to walk we keep his commandements but God worketh in us to keep them according to that in the Philippians 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure So that in this estate the cause for which the will beginneth to work well is this Because by the singular grace or benefit of the holy Spirit mans nature is renewed by the word of God there is kindled in the mind a new light and knowledge of God in the heart new affections in the will new inclinations agreeing with the law of God And the will effectually moved to doe according to these inclinations and so it recovereth both that power of willing that which God approveth and the use of that power and beginneth to be conformed and agreeable to God and to obey him Deut. 30.6 The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed c. and Ezekiel 36.26 a new heart will I give you c. and 16. Actâ— 14. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia and 1 Cor. 3.7 Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty And yet notwithstanding we must know first in this life the renewing of our nature is not perfect neither as concerning out knowledge of God neither as concerning our inclination to obey God And therefore in the best of men while they live here doe remaine sinnes both originall and others And Secondly that the regenerate be not alwayes ruled by the holy Spirit but are sometimes forsaken of God God withdrawing himself for a season either to try them that is to make their weaknesse without God known to themselves as in Peter or to chastise or humble them but yet are recalled to Repentance that they perish not Of the first the Aposte testifieth Rom. 7.18 I know that in me that is my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but I find no means so performe that which is good And in Marke 9.24 Lord I believe help my unbeliefe Of the second it is said Take not thy holy spirit from me and Esay 63.17 It is said O Lord why hast thou made us to erre from thy wayes and hardened our heart from thy feare Return for thy servants sake the Tribes of thine inheritance and in the 1 Kings 8.57 The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers let him not leave us or forsake us And therefore the regenerate in this life doth alwayes goe either forward or backward neither continueth in the same state Here then are deduced these two conclusions First as man corrupted before he be regenerate cannot begin new obedience pleasing and acceptable to GOD so he that is regenerate in this life although he begin to obey God that is hath some inclination and purpose to obey according to all his commandements and that unfeigned though yet weak and strugling with evill inclinations affections and desires and therefore there shine in his life and manners a desire of piety towards God and his neighbour yet he cannot yeild whole and perfect obedience to God because neither his knowledge nor love to God is so great and sincere as the law of God requireth And therefore it