one spark of the Law of God therefore he justifieth God in his Word and confesseth that he is guilty of death and eternal damnation The first part then of Christianity is the preaching of repentance and the knowledg of our selves And some few lines after The Law doth nothing else but utter sin terrifie and humble and by this meanes prepareth us to Justification and driveth us to Christ And about two leaves after Being thus terrified by the Law the man utterly despaireth of his own strength he looks about and sigheth for the help of a Mediator and Saviour Here then cometh in good time the healthful Word of the Gospel and saith Son thy sins are forgiven thee believe in Jesus Christ crucified for thy sins These sayings of Luther Sir do fully assure me that Luther held a necessity of Legal sorrow and humiliation in persons to be justified and that to prepare them for Justification which is directly against the second Position of your former Sermons concerning the absolutenesse of the Gospel wherein you pleaded what you could against the necessity of such legal sorrow and humiliation But passe we over these and consult we Luther about that necessary mean of faith Let the Question be whether in the Gospel faith be not required to the actual enjoyment of Justification and Remission and to the obtaining of a right thereto and interest therein Or whether we may have a right to and interest in or actual enjoyment of these benefits without faith or before faith We wil not go beyond his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians for the discovering of his mind herein and begin we where we left Chap. 2. ver 16. Here is to be noted that these three Faith Christ and Acceptation or Imputation must be joyned together Faith taketh hold on Christ and hath him present as a Ring doth a precious stone and whosoever shall be found having this confidence in Christ apprehended in the heart him will God account for Righteous This is the mean and this is the merit whereby we attain the remission of sins and Righteousnesse So on vers 20. of the same Chapter a place cited already he teacheth that it is through faith we are united to Christ and come to call the benefits we have by him ours Cap. 3. 13. about the middle For as much then as Christ reigns by his grace in the hearts of the Faithful there is no sin no death nor curse But where Christ is not knowne there all these things do still remain Therefore all they that believe not do lack this inestimable benefit and glorious Victory And on ver 14. We are all accursed before God before we know Christ and there is no other way to avoid the Curse but to believe A little after This gift of the Spirit we receive not by any other Merits then by faith alone Ver. 26. Faith in Christ maketh us the children of God And Verse 28. comparing our believing to the looking on the brasen Serpent saith thus This is true faith concerning Christ and in Christ whereby we are made members of his body flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone In him therefore we live move and have our being Christ and our faith must be throughly joyned together Vers 29. If ye be Christs then are you Abrahams Seed that is to say If ye believe and be baptized into Christ If ye believe I say c. then are ye the children of Abraham not by nature but by Adoption Yea in the place first cited with which we shall conclude this testimony cha 2. 16. Because thou believest in me saith the Lord and thy faith layeth hold on Christ whom I have freely given unto thee that he might be thy Mediator and High Priest therefore be thou justified and righteous Wherefore God doth accept or account us as righteous only for our faith in Christ Because we do apprehend Christ by Faith all our sins now are no sins But where Christ and faith bee not there is no remission or covering of sins but meer Imputation of sinne and Condemnation I hope Sir in those places Luther speaks plainly enough to the purpose in hand and doth sufficiently declare his belief in this particular to be that faith is required to our justification and that to the obtaining of it that it doth marry us to Christ and so state us in a right unto his benefits that till we have this faith we are accursed caitiffes under death wrath and condemnation and that before God or in his sight Nay Sir he doth say that it is because of our faith and for our faith and that faith is the merit by which we have it which though I doubt not but may passe with a favourable construction yet are higher titles of Honour then any of our Divines do give unto her in pleading for Conditions in the Covenant Your next Author was Peter Martyr his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans I have where I meet with that common place De Justificatione in it the passage you cite viz. We deny that the Testament of God concerning the remission of sins in Christ hath a condition annnexed to it But first I conceive that Martyr here denies only a condition of Works or a Legal condition Such legal conditions Pighius did plead for And that these are the conditions which Martyr doth deny his owne words in the very same page do clearly expresse For having in the line next after the passage you quote out of him alledged that of the Apostle at large Gal. 5. 15 16 17. hee presently from this Testimony drawes this inference as an Explication of his former negation of conditions in the Testaments Haec verba clarissimè docent These words do most clearly teach that the Testament which God made with Abraham was pure and absolute et sine ulla legali conditione and without any legal condition But that he should deny the condition of faith or that faith was required to Justification that common place shewes not but rather the contrary for about some leaves after speaking of that Rom. 4. It shall be imputed to us as it was to Abraham if we believe he thus saith Is it not here clearly enough said That we must believe that that Jesus Christ whom God raised againe died and rose again that we might be justified and that all our sins might be forgiven us And a little after Every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him hath eternal life Thus therefore we infer But I believe on the Son of God therefore I now have and shall have that which he hath promised Vnlesse faith be wanting wher by we may apprehend the things offered we are justified by the Promises Martyr in that common place reasons wholly against Justification by works And the condition there spoken of unlesse we will do apparent injury to the Author we must understand the condition of works or of the Law which
both there and in this eleventh Argument he excludes both from the Covenant with Abraham and the work of Justification 2. Let but Martyr expound himself and then it will appear what conditions he denies and in what manner nor shall I lead you any further for discovery of this then this his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Look then Chap. 10 on those words For righteousnesse to every one that believeth and you shall find the difference betweene the Law and the Gospel thus set down by him The Law is received by doing and most exact performing that which is commanded But the Gospel by a lively and efficacious assent of faith Moses also Deut. 30. writeth concerning the Law that hee had set before the people life and death manifestly teaching that if the Law be received and fulfilled it will bring eternal life with it But seeing we are shut out from this benefit the merciful God hath provided another word to wit of faith which if by assenting to it it be received bringeth life along with it From this place it appeareth that the promises of the Law were given from the supposition or condition of Works going before But in the Gospel if works are annexed to the Promises they are not so to be understood as either the merit or causes of those Promises But we must thus conclude That these gifts of God which are promised follow after the works though they be not perfect and absolute as they are commanded in the Law This place I hope will shew that Peter Martyr was only against the condition of Works and there too against their merit or efficiency for as for their presence he allowes that they are required in the Gospel But as as for the condition of faith he is not at all against it Turne to one place more Rom. 8. If we suffer with him c. Where setting down the differences between the Promises of the Law and of the Gospel he saith They do not differ in this as some think that the Promises Evangelical have no conditions annexed but the Legal Promises are never offered without conditions for as it s said Honour thy Father and thy mother that thou maist live long upon the earth And if ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land So we read also in the Gospel Forgive and it shall be forgiven give and it shall be given c. Wherefore seeing this is not the difference we must seek out some other It appeareth therefore to him that diligently considereth that the conditions of the Law might bee causes of the obtainment of the rewards promised for if they had been perfect and absolute as the Law required them they might be compared with the rewards themselves and had also had esteem of merit but seeing these cannot be performed by men God of his mercy gave in their stead Evangelical Promises which although they have conditions added yet are offered freely Wherefore if thou joyne these three things together that the Evangelical rewards are promised freely that the conditions cannot be compared unto or equalized with them that the Promises must be most firme and take away the account of merit you may see wherein these differ from those of the Law And thus I hope it is manifest that they were conditions of Works which Peter Martyr did deny that he did not deny them simply neither but only as meritorious and causal of the benefits promised that he held faith to be the Requisite or the Condition of the Gospel So that you must give me leave to take Martyr from you too and put him down with the forenamed Authors for a patron of our Cause 3. Next unto Peter Martyr you cite Olevian but whether with any more advantage to your Cause then the former or disadvantage to us is the businesse of our present enquiry If you please with second thoughts which are most commonly the best to look into him you shall find that when he denies conditions in the Covenant they are only such as first are performed by and proceeding from our own strength which we with him do acknowledg to be none and therefore also deny the same 2. Which arise from or carry along with them a consideration of dignity or worthinesse in our selves 3. Are of a meritorious nature Such conditions as these we together with him disclaim That these are the conditions which he doth deny is so clear and plain that he which runs may read If you begin with his definition of the Covenant of Grace you shall find him in the close thereof expressing himself thus Without the condition or stipulation of any good thoughts from their own strength Having spoken concerning God who makes the Covenant he comes afterward to consider the persons with whom this Covenant is made and shewes that the very Elect themselves to whom it doth especially belong are by nature children of wrath dead in sins such whose hearts are hearts of stone unable to think a good thought of themselves meer darknesse enemies to God slaves to sinne and Satan Now forasmuch as they are such God saith he promiseth he will not make any such Covenant with them which in the least part thereof should be founded on their own strength to perform it Wherefore lest the Covenant should fail and be of none effect men being miserable dead in sins having hearts of stone such as are not subject to the Law of God neither in deed can be Rom. 8. Who are not able of themselves to think any thought that is good but that it may remain firm and everlasting he promiseth such a Covenant the whole essence whereof doth depend on himself alone and is founded in his Son Jesus Christ He promiseth also such a manner of executing in us this his decree and purpose the strength and efficacy whereof doth not proceed from corrupt man but from himself alone A little after he sums up all that he had said concerning the nature and substance of the Covenant thus Wherefore if you look upon God the efficient cause and those to whom he promiseth the Covenant or if you consider the matter and form thereof you shall still find it is a Covenant of free grace and that it doth not Depend on any condition of our worthinesse merits or our proper strength The most merciful God did see the promise would be vain in respect of our vanity which should depend on the condition of our own strength What here he doth deliver so plainly and in such expresse termes you may if you please to look into him find him afterwards repeating againe and again Sir By these passages you may see you have not gained any thing by Olevian nor your Adversaries lost by what he speaks against conditions in the Covenant Now that you may further see that he speaks rather on their side whom you oppose then for you I shall intreat you to consider some
a gold chain with a rich Jewel of the Crown in it and withal should bind himself to give her both the chain and a will to wear it Again He is both without doors knocking and within doors opening yet he never cometh in but upon condition we open which condition is also his own work He offers Righteousness so the sinner believe and he works belief that the sinner may have Righteousnesse pag. 109. Thus you see others as well as Dr. Preston assert the absolutenesse of the Covenant in that part who yet still maintain the other part viz. the promise of life and salvation to be conditional which as hath been already shewed Dr. Preston doth maintain 8. As for Mr. Walker he denies not all kinds of conditions in the place cited but only Conditions Legal and conditions for which meritorious ones but conditions which are as a means by which the free gift is received and as a qualification whereby one is made capable and fit to receive and enjoy the free gift such he granteth and calleth them Conditions in the place cited by you saying There is no condition of the Covenant propounded but only the way and means to receive the blessing or the quality and condition by which men are made capable and fit to enjoy the blessing which is as much as I plead for under that Title As for Mr. Strong though both what I have heard from him my self and also what I have heard from others who have seen his Sermon induce me to believe that he is not against our conditions yet having not his Sermon I must be altogether silent at this time concerning him By this Sir you may see that I have looked into the most of the Authors which you cited and amongst them all I must professe unto you that I find not one that speaketh fully for you but more against then for your Tenent and for that sort of conditions whose cause I plead I must intreat you therefore to shake hands with them and leave them to stand on my side To them I shall add some few more 1 Mr. Perkins shall be the first who puts down conditions in the very description of the Covenant saying The Covenant of Grace is that whereby God freely promising Christ and his benefits exacteth again of man that he would receive Christ by faith and repent of his sins In the Covenant of Grace two things saith he elsewhere must be considered the substance thereof and the condition The Substance of the Covenant is that Righteousnesse and life everlasting is given to Gods Church and people by Christ The Condition is that we for our parts are by faith to receive the foresaid benefits and this condition is by grace as well as the substance 2. Mr. Reynolds shall be the next in his Treatise of the Life of Christ p. 399. he calls Faith the conveyance and p. 403. We expect Justification by faith in Christ Faith unites us to Christ and makes his death merit life kingdom sonship victory benefits to become ours You may see p. 451 452 453. That to marriage between Christ and his Church whereby the Church hath a right and propriety created to the Body Name Goods Table Possession and Purchases of Christ is essentially required consent which consent must be mutual for though Christ declare his good will when he knocketh at our doors yet if we keep at distance stop our ears at his invitations there is then no Covenant made It is but a wooing and no marriage c. Pag. 465 466 467. That the office of Faith is to unite to Christ and give possession of him till which union by Faith be made we remain poor and miserable notwithstanding the fulness that is in Christ Pag. 478 479. and to name no more pag. 512. setting down the difference between the two Covenants he saith They differ in the Conditions for in the old Covenant legal obedience but in the new Faith only is required and the certain consequent thereof Repentance 3. Mr. Ball shall be the third who saith The Covenant of Grace doth not exclude all conditions but such as will not stand with grace and pag. 18. The stipulation required is that we take God to be our God that is that wee repent of our sins believe the Promises of mercy and embrace them with the whole heart and yeild love fear reverence worship and obedience to him according to the prescript rule of his Word and p. 20. If then we speak of Conditions by conditions we understand whatsoever is required on our part as precedent concomitant or subsequent to Justification Repentance Faith and Obedience are all conditions But if by conditions we understand what is required on our part as the cause of that God promised though only instrumental Faith or belief in the Promises of free mercy is the only condition 4. Let learned Pemble be the fourth who speaking of the difference between the Law and the Gospel saith The diversity is this The Law offers life unto man upon condition of perfect obedience cursing the transgressors thereof in the least kind with eternal death The Gospel offers life unto man upon another condition viz. Repentance and Faith in Christ promising remission of sin to such as repent and believe That this is the main essential difference between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace we shall endeavor to make good against the Romish Apostacy And about a leaf after Hence we conclude firmly that the difference between the Law and the Gospel assigned by our Divines is most certain and agreeable to the Scriptures viz. That the Law gives life unto the Just upon condition of perfect obedience in all things The Gospel gives life unto sinners upon condition they repent and believe in Christ Jesus Where you may take notice that he layes it down not as his own private opinion but as the general Tenent of all the Orthodox Divines in his time and that in opposition to our Popish Adversaries It was then no Popery to hold conditions in the Covenant and as he of the Divines of his time so may I of the Divines of this present age See their consent and harmony herein Larg cat p. 9. 5. Doctor Downam shall be the fifth That which is the only condition of the Covenant of Grace by that alone we are justified But Faith is the only condition of the Covenant of Grace which is therefore called Lex fidei And l. 7. c. 2. Sect. 6. Our Writers distinguishing the two Covenants of God that is the Law and the Gospel whereof the one is the Covenant of Works the other is the Covenant of Grace do teach that the Law of Works is that which to Justification requireth Works as the condition thereof The Law of Faith that which to Justification requireth faith as the condition thereof The former saith Do this and thou shalt live the latter Believe in Christ and thou shalt be saved
to gâ—ve warning of such pernicious Errors and Practices as he seeth breaking in upon such as are committed to his oversight such a one however he speed in his own judgment and the judgment of others shall not fail before the Judgment Seat of God to stand in the rank and passe in the account of the faithful servants and Ministers of Jesus Christ Having thus shewed when a man may be said to bee a faithful Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I come in the next place to consider who are they who truly believe the Gospel to whom such faithful Ministers are precious who enjoy them in love and part from them in sorrow There is hardly any thing as I conceive in our unsettled times more pernicious then the mistake which many are subject to about the nature of believing Much talk there is of faith and the Gospel whilst few consider what is indeed the faith of the Gospel I shal therefore indeavour in few and plain words to clear unto you from the Scriptures who are the truly faithful the true Believers of the Gospel 1. First They truly believe the Gospel who glorifie the Word of the Lord as it is testifyed of the believing Gentiles to whom Paul preached the Gospel at Antioch When the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed Every true Believer glorifieth the Word of the Gospel by yeilding a firme assent unto it as a word of Truth setting a high price upon it as the only saving Truth holding it fast as a stable everlasting Truth and still desiring of it and delighting in it as an edifying and perfecting Truth which is able to build men up and give them an inheritance amongst those that are sanctified If men boast never so much of believing because they are confident that Christ is theirs and that all the benefits which flow from the Lord Christ are theirs yet if they do not glorifie the Word of the Lord the Word of the Gospel making an high account of it as a Word of Truth a saving everlasting edifying perfecting Word they shall never make it out before the presence of God that they have the true faith of the Gospel in them 2. Secondly True Believers of the Gospel are such as receive the Word of the Gospel with spiritual gladnesse as we read of that flock of faithful Converts brought in at one Sermon Then they that gladly received the word were baptized The Word of the Gospel cannot by faith enter into the soul but it bringeth in spiritual gladness with it Temporal believing hath a sleight and suddain joy accompanying it as our Saviour testified in the interpretation of the Parable of the Sower as to the stony ground He that received the seed in stony places the same is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it yet hath he not root in himself but dureth for a while An unrooted faith yeildeth an unsettled joy but when the Word is with a stedfast sound and saving faith received it usually out of the state of strong temptation and spiritual disertion filleth the soul with joy and peace in believing Now this receiving the Word by faith importeth a taking of it into all the faculties of the soul to new mould and transform them according to the holiness of the Gospel The Apostle James calleth it the receiving of the engrafted word because the word of the Gospel thus received as the graft set into the stock causeth all the sap of the inward faculties of the soul to bring forth such fruit as is sutable to the holy Word of the Gospel It is a very unworthy and ungrounded Opinion that a man can believingly receive the word of the Gospel and not be new moulded by it unto holines If any think that the Word of the Gospel shall be mighty to save them when it is not effectual to sanctifie them they deceive themselves and should attend to the Apostle James his Doctrine for right information in this point who sheweth that the Word of the Gospel is received as an ingrafted new moulding word in all those towards whom it is effectual to save their souls 3 Thirdly They that believingly receive the Word of the Gospel are brought off from trusting upon their own works and righteousnesse to trust and rest their souls upon the Lord Jesus Christ as the one which in Scripture dialect imports the only Mediatour between God and man for forgivenesse of sins peace with God righteousnesse and eternal life The Apostle Paul called believing in Christ hoping or trusting in Christ Ephes 1. 12 13 because all that truly believe cast away the thought of acceptance with God unto life in the merit of their own Righteousnesse and as worthlesse sinners build their hope of righteousness to life fully and wholly upon the Lord Jesus as the Mediator of the New Testament through whom they finally bottom their faith and hope on God 1 Pet. 1. 21. 4 Fourthly They truly believe the Gospel who trusting on Christ for Righteousnesse and life have their hearts brought on by believing to the love and high prizing of the Lord Jesus as most precious and desirable 1 Pet. 2. 7. Faith looking and resting upon Christs love inflameth the heart with the love of Christ according to the Apostles words In Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love And this true love of Christ the necessary and inseparable product of Gospel faith in all true Believers is obediential causing the faithful heart to stoop to the yoak and work of the Lord Christ as we learne from our Saviours own mouth If ye love me keep my Commandments And again He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me And yet further If any man love me he wil keep my words By all this it is manifest That they who truly believe the Gospel are such as glorifie the Gospel by embracing it as a saving everlasting edifying and perfecting Word of Truth who with gladnesse receive this word into all the faculties of the soul to mould them into a frame of Gospel holinesse who rest themselves upon the Lord Christ for Righteousnesse and life according to the Gospel and in the strength of that faith have their hearts knit to the Lord Christ in high prizing obediential love of him These two Points being dispatched viz. Who is a faithful Minister and Who are the true Believers of the Gospel I proceed in the next place to shew that such a Minister is enjoyed with much love by such a people This we have fully ascertained by the Apostles testimony which hee bare unto the Galatians when the faith of the Gospel at first prevailed amongst them My temptation saith he which was in my flesh ye despised not nor rejected but received me even as an Angel of God
proportion is there betweene the debt and the acknowledgment Thus God seemes to speak to us in the matter of repentance Only acknowledg thine iniquities The summe of all is That a man gives freely which he gives on condition when withal he gives ability to perform the condition else salvation given for and through Christ would not be free But such are the conditions we pleade for as our duties so Gods gifts and graces and therefore the gift of salvation notwithstanding them is free Againe That we give on condition the condition being the parties duty to whom we give is free else the portions that parents give dutiful children would not be free gift But such are the conditions maintained by us such as we owe of duty to God whether he give or no he giveth therefore freely though he require them 3. That we give on conditions the conditions being no way beneficial to us who give no way equivalent to the thing we give nor any way causal of our giving we give most freely But such also are the conditions defended by us as hath beene made apparent they no way benefit the Lord at all they are infinitely disproportionable to the gift of salvation he bestowes nor do they any way move him to bestow salvation but rather his will and purpose to bestow salvation moves him to bestow them that by receipt of them his people might be fitted for the salvation he intends them And therefore notwithstanding that they are required the gift of salvation is most free Thus have we done with your Argument from the freenesse of grace which that it may well stand with our conditions I hope is well cleared as also with your Arguments taken from scripture We come now to those you fetch from Reason The first of which was taken from the intent of Christ in dying which the Scriptures hold out to be the salvation of those for whom he died Now say you if he died conditionally it will follow that he willed not their salvation at all but their damnation as much or more then their salvation for he wills their salvation if they believe otherwise their damnation and it is natural to them not to believe This and all that followes in the Argument may make against the Arminians who hold that Christ hath purchased salvation for us but not faith and that he died for us conditionally i. e. that we should be saved if we did believe but did no way procure for us that we should believe and accordingly it is used by our Authors though in other terms to destroy the Arminians conditionality as you may see in Owen But conditional redemption in which the conditions are purchased as wel as the salvation which is that we maintain it no way oppugneth Put case an outlandish man should procure for his Sonne some inheritance in our Country to be enjoyed by him upon his infranchisement you cannot say he intended his Sons non-enjoyment of it as much as enjoyment because of the condition of his Infranchisement if that the Infranchisement be procured by the father as wel as the inheritance The purchasers intent I hope is ful and firme Notwithstanding the conditionality of the purchase when the condition is purchased as well as the thing So when we maintaine that Christ hath procured salvation for us to be enjoyed conditionally if wee doe believe You cannot inferre thence that he intended our damnation as much as salvation because we have no power to believe for wee maintaine also that Christ hath purchased for us that wee shall believe Sir Arminians say That Christ died for us that we might be saved if wee doe believe we that Christ died for us that we should believe and believing have life through his name Dare you say that Christ died for any so absolutely as that they should be saved whether they did believe or no I hope you will not though your parallelling the new Covenant with that with Noah doth naturally yeild such an inference as hath already beene shewed Your second Argument was the same with one you used in your former sermons where you asserted the absolutenesse of the new Covenant viz. That this conditionality infers a liberty of will But Sir that those who plead for conditions are no way maintainers or abettors of free will their writings sufficiently declare You make men believe that we preach not repentance as the grace of God by his Spirit wrought in our hearts in and for Christ which is most untrue and who of us denies faith to be the gift of God or that God out of his love to us in Christ freely worketh it in us that therby we may be enabled to receive Christ That we are not only halfe dead but quite dead and can do nothing that is good until the spirit quicken us cannot goe to Christ til God the Father draweth us cannot believe on Christ nor repent of sin until the Lord give it unto us and enable us thereto is a doctrine I have long agoe learned from their Sermons and often meete with in their writings And as for the inference he which chargeth the Patronage of free will on that kind of preaching that holds out life and salvation upon condition of faith and repentance let him looke to it how he will quit Christ and his Apostles from that charge whose Sermons are full of counsels commands and calls that require men to repent and believe if ever they would be saved Sir conditions to be performed by us of our owne strength and power which the Arminians maintaine argue a power in mans will indeede But conditions purchased by Christ for us and to be wrought by his Spirit in us which we maintain Inferre no power of free wil at all Your third Argument was taken from election That from this conditional redemption would follow that men are elected but conditionally so that Gods election should be undetermined and uneffectual and the will of God should be made subordinate to the will of the creature Sir God may be said to elect conditionally two wayes 1. So as that the condition be considered as anteceding his election moving him to will salvation to such a person This conditionality indeed subordinates the will of the Creator to the creature and causeth election to be undetermined and ineffectual But such kind of conditions we oppugne as Arminian Or 2. so as that the condition preceede indeed the actual enjoyment of the benefits to which men are elected but followes election it self And this consideration of conditions of election we propugne as no way evacuating either the efficacy or determinatenesse of Gods election nor yet in any wise subjecting the wil of God to the will of man therein Hear what Dr. Ames saith to this very thing It never was denied by our Divines that faith was maintained as a condition antecedent indeed to salvation but consequent unto or following election it self i. e. but hath been constantly
doth not justifie for it is against both his truth and justice 2. It may be taken for one that is ungodly and unjustifiable in himself but yet believing on Christ is through him and his satisfaction Just and so justifiable Such an ungodly person God doth Justifie and thus Ames Paraeus Bishop Downam and those other Divines I have in their descriptions of Justification make not a sinner simply but a believing sinner to be the subject of Justification or the person to be justified Now whereas you say That no where in Scripture a Believer is called ungodly I conceive it false He is called so there For who is the ungodly person spoken of there but Abraham and he was justified as hath been shewed when he did believe Besides God the object of faith Justifying who is described there to be the Justifier of the ungodly is said in ver 26. of the foregoing Chapter to be the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus I beseech you tell me doth not the Apostle speak of one and the same Justification in both places Doth he not in both places describe one and the same person the person that is justified Him then whom he calls a Believer on Christ in one place the same he calls an ungodly person in the other and whom he cals an ungodly person in this in that he stiles the same a believing person Certainly seeing as it is Chap. 3. vers 30 that it is one God that justifies both the Circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith i.e. All that are justified both Jew and Gentile circumcised or uncircumcised by or through one and the same mean of faith It must needs be that the ungodly person spoken of in the next Chapter is such an ungodly person as hath faith and doth believe or else God should justifie some without faith to which the former place doth aver the contrary That place in the Romanes then concerning Gods justifying the ungodly will not bear the Position you ground upon it viz. That sinners are justified before they do believe or that we do not believe that we may be justified as the Doctor expresseth it an assertion as rotten as the foundation on which it is built and expresly contrary to the Apostle who tells us Galat. 2. 16. that hee had believed on Christ that so he might be justified by the Faith of Christ Thus have I given you an account of some and those of the main of your Arguments both wherein they have not satisfied me concerning the Tenent you endeavoured to maintain and wherein also they have offended me whilst they wounded that I hold for truth through the sides of Popery and Arminianism I shall now shew you some grounds of my belief on the contrary first taking leave in a word to state the Question and to set downe how and what I hold concerning it First then I distinguish between both a condition and a meritorious cause as also between it and an impulsive cause By condition I understand neither any thing meriting Justification at Gods hands in the least degree nor yet any thing moving the Lord to Justifie or bestow Salvation on us Secondly By Conditions I understand the restipulation or repromission in a Covenant the termes and Articles of Agreement in a Covenant betweene equals and the thing commanded or required in a Covenant betweene Superiors and Inferiors such as is the Covenant between God and man Thirdly Whereas there are conditions yet I assert them not in any rigid and legal but in an Evangelical way Not so as if they were not strictly and in a rigid exactnesse perfectly kept there were no hope of Salvation but so as if that they be not in some measure sincerely observed there is sure damnation Mr. Ball will tell you that whereas in the Covenant of Nature perfect obedience is exacted so that if there be the least failing in any jot or tittle and that but once a man can never be justied thereby nor can the breach be made up by any repentance In the Covenant of Grace perfect obedience is indeed required yet so as Repentance is admitted and sincerity accepted Conditions in this Evangelical way I plead for and conceive That God in the New Covenant doth not promise life and salvation absolutely unto his chosen whether they believe and repent or no but doth require from and command them to repent and believe if they will be partakers of the benefits purchased by his Son and promised by himself in that his Covenant which that they may do he himself of his own grace and for his own Sons sake bestowes faith and repentance on them Nor have they a right to any actual enjoyment of these benefits untill they do actually repent and believe The Grounds of my perswasion in this particular follow 1. That Covenant wherein is a mutual stipulation is conditional But such is the new Covenant therefore that is conditional As on Gods part life and salvation are promised so on mans repentance and faith and perseverance therein are required and to be promised Mar 1. 15. Chap. 6. 12. Acts 2 38. chap. 3. 19. chap. 20. 21. John 6. 28 29. chap. 3. 15 16. John 8. 24. Rom. 10 6 7 8 9 John 8. 31. Chap. 15 5 6 7 10. Heb. 3. 6. Chap. 10 38. He cannot see wood for trees that doth not take notice of these Evangelical commands wherein performance of Gospel conditions and perseverance in that performance are required they every where so abundantly occur Choose we out one of the places named and a little insist on it that Rom. 10 9. the rather for that in your answer to Mr. S. you make some reply thereto How say you do you prove that Rom. 10 9. is set down the forme and tenure of the New Covenant I deny it The Apostles intent is c. Sir It is clear as Calvin notes that the Apostle here opposeth the Righteousnesse of faith to the Righteousnesse of Works It is also clear that in describing the Righteousnesse of Works he setteth downe the very tenor and form of that Covenant The man that doth them shall live by them ver 5. And in opposition thereunto delivers this to be the speech of the Righteousnesse of Faith If thou confessest with thy mouth and believest with thine heart c. If then it be granted which cannot be denyed that in these words The man that doth them shal live by them the tenor of the Covenant of Works is contained it must needs follow by the rule of opposition that in these words If thou confessest and believest c. the tenor of the Covenant of Grace is also contained Besides when the Apostle saith The Word is nigh thee c. That is the Word of faith which we preach That if thou confesse c. What I pray you doth he mean by the Word of Faith but the Gospel or what else did the Apostle preach but the Gospel The sum of which he
of giving ability to perfom the Conditions I will put my Lawes in their hearts They shall be my people i e. I will not only require of them that they know my Lawes and obey me as becomes my people but by my Grace I wil cause it to be wrought within them Whether way you take it either for Gods command injoyning them to be his people or for his promise to make them his people it is not much material this still remaines either way that they were to be his people And this we have even from the most absolute Promises those of taking the stony heart away giving a heart of flesh a new heart circumcising the heart writing the Law on the heart which admit not as I conceive any antecedent condition yet do they clearly shew that these things are required This new heart is required the writing the Law on the heart is required and so of the rest God doth require them in his people and without men have them they cannot be the people of God nor expect salvation from God These things Sir perswade me notwithstanding all that you have hitherto replied to adhere still to what I have formerly conceived and delivered concerning these Texts viz. That they do hold out a stipulation in the Covenant and then it will be conditional Now because this work is swollen bigger by the one half already then when I set pen to paper I intended it should have been I shall briefly add some more Arguments and draw toward a close And because we are upon stipulations in the Covenant add we an Argument or two of that nature 1. That Covenant which is mandatory as well as promissory and contains a Law as well as a promise that Covenant hath a stipulation which they must subscribe to who will be federates and Covenanters therein for whenever the Lord annexeth a command unto a Promise the Promise is not absolute but conditional there is something required in the command of him who will enjoy the benefit of the Promise Now the New Covenant is of this nature it is not a meer Promise as some would have it but a Law as well as a Promise and therefore called by the Apostle The Law of faith Rom. 3. 27. The Law of faith is that Doctrine which doth require faith to the obtaining of that Righteousnesse which is freely imputed saith Paraeus That is the Law of Works which teacheth that Righteousnesse is to be obtained by Works but the Law of faith teacheth it is to be hoped for from the mercy of God alone saith Martyr The Doctrine teaching Righteousness by faith is that which the Word of the Gospel doth bind us to if we will be saved saith Bernard in his Thesaur The Condition which offereth and promiseth Salvation is this Condition If wee believe Wilson in his Dictionary on the words 2. That Covenant which man is forbidden to break commanded to keep and wherein man is tyed and bound unto God that Covenant must needs have conditions and restipulations on mans part for it is in regard of the things required from man that man is said to break or keep or be bound by the Covenant But such is the New Covenant Abrahams was such My Covenant shalt thou keep Gen. 17. 9. Davids was such though you averred the contrary in your Sermon Psal 132. 12. If thy children will keep my Covenant Such was Israels Ezek. 20. 37. I will make you to passe under the rod and bring you into the bond of the Covenant and what Covenant doth he mean but that mentioned Ezek. 36. 26. and Hos 2. The places considered seem to me to hold out one and the same Such is also that administration of it under which we are The Romans were free from righteousness before they believed on Christ and entred into Covenant with him but after they were baptized into Christ they were Servants unto Righteousnesse The stile of Gods people formerly was they were Covenant keepers Psal 25. 10. Psal 103. 17. And is it not as proper to them now as it was then May not the people of God under the Gospel be guilty of breach of Covenant and that not only in regard of their Covenants with men nor yet in regard of those necessary engagements which occasionally they make unto the Lord but in regard of their Baptism and that solemne Covenant between God and them which Baptism doth seal I have not quite forgotten Mr. Perkins Catechism which I learned when I was a child where I was taught in the fift Principle expounded to answer this Question How comes it to passe that many after their Baptism for a long time feel not the effect and fruit of it and some never Thus answered The fault is not in God who keeps his Covenant but the fault is in themselves in that they do not keep the condition of the Covenant to receive Christ by faith and repent of all their sins And a little after How if a man never keep the Condition to which he bound himself in Baptism Answer His damnation shall be greater because he breaks his Vow made unto God Mr. Perkins you see teacheth Conditions in the New Covenant in regard of which it may be kept or broken by us Christians 3 This brings to my mind another Argument That Covenant wherein a Promise is required of the federates which Promise they do also seal to God in receiving of the Covenant Seal that Covenant hath a restipulation But such is the new Covenant For the confirmation of the Minor I desire you to consider how in the Primitive times growne persons were required to professe their repentance and faith in Christ before they were admitted unto Baptism Repent saith Peter Acts 2 and be baptized Whence also it is called the Baptism of Repentance Mark 1. 4. Acts 19. 4. And John is said to Baptise men unto repentance Mat. 3. 11. So when the Eunuch desired Baptism of Philip. Acts 8. 36 37. saying What doth hinder me to be baptized Philip replyes That if he believed with all his heart he might whereupon followed both his confession of Faith and Baptism The Baptist also requires those whom he baptized to bring forth fruits worthy amendment of life From which places Zanchy and Piscator collect that faith and Repentance and new obedience were required of all those grownpersons who were baptized they were to make profession of their repentance and faith and to make Promise of new Obedience Take Piscators note upon Matth. 3. Baptism is to be administred to no person that is of years unlesse he shall first of all make a confession of sins and of faith in Christ and withal a Promise of leading a holy life These Professions were afterward for the ease of the party to be baptized turned into Interrogations and Answers The Minister demanding of the party to be baptized Dost thou believe in God the party was wont to answer I do believe The Minister again
6 15. John 8. 24 Matth. 18. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 11. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 5. 36. If but if unlesse except only si sin modo dum dummodo were conditional when I learned my Grammer 3. The Office of the Ministry what is it for but to prepare people for mercy by working something in them that may fit them for the receipt of the benefits promised in the New Covenant As John was so are they to be Christs Harbingers and are to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Luke 1. 17. To preach to them that they might be saved 1 Thess 2. 16. To open their eyes and to bring them from darknesse to light and from the kingdom of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins c. Acts 26 18. Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast lead captivity captive and hast received gifts for men even for the rebellious that the Lord God may dwell among them Psal 68. 18 On which Dr. Crisp thus glosseth Vol. 2. p. 410. Who is that Them The Rebellious saith the Text And p. 412. The Holy Ghost doth not say that the Lord takes Rebellious persons and fits and prepares them by Sanctification and then when they are fitted he will come and dwell with them but even then without any intermission without any stop even when they are rebellious the Lord Christ hath received gifts for them that the Lord God may dwell among them Thus the Doctor But certainly the Apostle Paul was more acquainted with the mind of the Holy Ghost then Dr. Crisp now he Ephes 4. 8. alledging this of the Psalmist openeth it far otherwise and delivereth it so as to me it seemes full for the confirmation of that we have in hand When saith he he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men I hope he gave no other then what he received for them Now what gave he It followes He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers and for what end For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we come c. He did not then receive this gift that though they were rebellious the Lord God might dwell among them whilst they remained so as the Doctor avers But on the contrary he received and gave abroad these gifts of the Ministerial function that thereby people might bee taken off their rebellious principles and broken off their rebellious practices and fitted for the communion with the Most High The sum is the Ministers of the Word are sent on this businesse to prepare people for the Lord for remission and salvation therefore there is something required of them some work to be wrought in them on them before they can actually partake of remission or salvation from the Lord or enjoy communion with the Lord. 4. That which these Ministers of the Gospel have directed sinners to do for the obtaining of Remission Justification and Salvation that in order of nature is to be done before Remission Justification and Salvation can actually be obtained But the Ministers of the Gospel have directed sinners to repent and believe for the obtaining of c. Acts 2 38. chap. 3. 19. chap. 16 30 31. Gal. 2. 16. Nor was it remission or justification in cognoscend only that they were directed to seek in this way of faith and repentance Can any imagine that the meaning of that Query of the Jaylor Sirs what shall I do to be saved should be no more then this What shall I do to be certified and assured of my Salvation Besides that Justification that Paul did himself and directed others to seek by faith Rom. 3. 28. Gal. 2. 16. was such in which works have no hand But to Justification in cognoscendo or in foro conscentiae to the evidencing to us and assuring us that we are justified works do concur James 2. 16. 24. A man is justified assured of Justification by Works and not by faith only So that the other Justification must be of another and different kinde works being wholly excluded from having any thing to do therein 5. They who are in an estate of wrath and death until they do believe and then upon their believing passe out of that estate into an estate of life they are not actually justified till they do believe But the Elect are in such an estate of wrath and death till they do actually believe Ephes 2. Children of wrath even as others Tit. 3. 3. and then when they believe they passe out of that estate 1 John 3 14. We know we are passed from death to life Under the power of death we were then otherwise we could not have passed from it And when passed we from it the same Apostle in his Gospel tells us John 5. 24. chap. 3. ult in one of which places he assures us that he that heareth and believeth is passed and in the other He that believeth not the wrath of God stil abides on him which terms of passing and abiding clearly shew that all the Elect are and continue actually in that woful estate until they do believe I hope you will not say they passe in their own sense and apprehension and so are children of wrath according to their apprehensions The Apostle saith They are children of wrath even as others and certainly others are not only sensibly and appearingly so nay perhaps neither of these wayes but really so For my part I conceive no difference between a vessel of Election and a vessel of wrath but only in regard of Gods purpose and Christs purchase which til it be brought into act doth make no real change in the parties state and condition 6. Until men come actually to have Christ to be united unto him and one with him they cannot partake of Justification nor have any right thereto 1 John 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life But until men have faith they have not Christ nor are united to him for by faith they receive him John 1. 12. go to him John 6. 35 37. Feed on him dwell in him and he in them John 6. 40 56. By faith they live in him and he in them Gal. 2. 20. By faith he dwelleth in their hearts Ephes 3. 17. Ergo Until men have faith and by faith do actually believe on him they cannot partake of Justification through him John 3. 36. I remember that when in a private conference I pressed some of these places of Scripture in stead of answering to them you demanded Whether the Elect had no benefit by Christ nor right to Christ before they did believe To which I replyed 1. That though there be a purpose in God to give salvation to them and a purchase of it by Christ for them yet had they no right thereunto until they had faith 2 That they might
marry without advising with her Uncle about it she loseth her right to the Legacy given her which by the way may shew the weakness of that Argument that is taken from the word Testament which some use against Conditions as if Conditions could not stand with a Testamentary disposition Now such is Gods grant of salvation it is made in Christ it is made in him unto Believers it is not made to sinners as sinners as some aver but to repenting and believing sinners John 6. 38. 39 40. This is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him have everlasting life The Grant being made unto us as Believers I conceive we have not right unto the benefit granted until we doe believe Sure I am we cannot have right but by and through our union to him which union being an inestimable benefit we cannot have right before we have benefit 7. Because you are so ready to charge your Adversaries with nonsense and contradictions let us mind you of the old rule He that accuseth another of dishonesty must look well to himself and let the inconsequences which necessarily follow from your Doctrine be our last Argument I beseech you therefore to read me those riddles your Tenents seem to me to contain and to lead me out of those mazes and Meanders which I think your Positions lead unto at least to deliver your self out of them for perhaps my senses may not lead me to follow your clue unlesse I see better solutions then I have seene or heard from you hitherto I beseech you tell me then 1. How there can be Many yea or any true Believers who were never humbled when yet all men must see their Righteousnesse drosse and dung must be schooled by the Law to know their need of Christ before they can or will make out unto him 2. How the same man may be actually reconciled to God have wrath removed from him and be beloved of God with the love of complacency and yet at the same time in regard of the same evil works be an enemy unto God a child of wrath and have wrath abiding on him 3. How the same man may be actually justified and quickned and yet actually dead in regard of the same sins at the same time 4. How the same man at the same time can be a member of Christ one in him and united to him as he must be who is actually justified and a member also of the divel as he cannot but be who still remains an ungodly impenitent and unbelieving person 5. How faith in the work of Justification serves for any farther use then to assure us that we are justified seeing it doth not concur to the essence and being of it or to the constituting of us in a state justifiable and how we are said to be justified by Faith and not by Works when Works assure us of our being justified as well as Faith 6 How in the Petition Forgive us our debts we can pray for any thing more then assurance of pardon when actual pardon is passed long before And how sins can be actually pardoned before they be committed and the guilt removed before it is contracted 7 How God who promiseth pardon to Believers only and condemneth thousands for their impenitency and unbelief can without blemish of his Honour Truth and Justice give pardon to any in his impenitency and unbelief 8 How a man can be said to be bound by Covenant to keep or break the Covenant when yet in the Conant there are no conditions on mans part required to be performed 9 Why it doth not follow from your Tenents that a man may be actually Justified and saved without faith when yet you maintain actual Justification before faith and faith to be required not to the essence of it or interesting of persons in it but only to the assuring them of their interest therein 10. Why it follows not also from them that Christians may live as they list seeing you hold that no conditions are on their part required so that they cannot break the Covenant Whether Doctor Preston dares the Believer to sin if hee can I yet finde not but this I find That hee holds that the Believer may both sin and by sinning may break the Covenant as you may find in his Treatise of the New Covenant p. 458 459 460. c. These are some of the many for more might be named straites and intricacies your Positions lead your self and your followers into out of which how you will rid your self I wot not but sure I am that your Solutions hitherto given do yeild no manner of real satisfaction not only not to my self but not to any other of your godly and intelligent Auditors that I have yet met with Toward the close of your Sermon you ushered in your Authorities with this Objection But many good Divines call it a Conditional Covenant But Sir you are meal mouthed in the very Objection for not only many but the most part of Divines call it so All that I have ever yet met with Dr. Crisp Mr. Saltmarsh and your self exepted As for those Authors you bring I shall by and by shew your fowle play in citing some of them and your mistake of others and discover most if not all of them to be on my side and to be only against meritorious Conditions The like mincing you used in a passage in the beginning of your Sermon viz. That some good Divines say That Faith and Repentance are the way to glory Whereas if you be pleased to rub your poll I believe you may call to mind not only that some but most good Divines call these Conditions and say as much of good Works as you here allow to Faith namely that they are via ad regnum the way to the Kingdom though not Causa regnandi the cause of reigning I am sure Mr. Perkins Dr. Preston Bishop Davenant and most others I have read do call them so But you are politick in these expressions for thereby you would perswade your hearers that you had many on your side like some Travellers who passing on in solitary wayes keep a whistling and a hooping as if they had a great deal of company whereas alas they are either wholly alone or at most have but one or two Companions Now Sir for your reply to this Objection we shall refer it to the close of all and at present shall look into the Authours you bring and see whether they stand for the opinion for which you cited them or rather against it as shall be made to appear and then shall add some others to them You begin with the Fathers but there you are sparing in your citations you tell us the Question was rarely agitated then But you might have said that the Fathers if they faulted in any thing about the matter in Controversie it was in giving too much to Faith Repentauce and good Works by
on both these places doth Dr. Ames expresse himselfe for that conditionality in the Covenant which we maintain and that in the same place whence you fetch your proof against us Was it for this my good friend that you took the paynes to write so much out of the Doctor and that you shewed me your written copy and not the book when I was with you lest if you had brought the book the place it self should have spoken answered for it selfe Whether this were the cause or no I leave it to your conscience but assuredly your carriage in this and that other passage about Chamien whom you would not take notice of to hold conditions proper though it followed immediately your allegation out of him until I read it to you and then would not look upon it nor hardly hear it but put it off with saying that he did eat his owne words I say these carriages make me and mine and your dear friend who was with me fear that your Opinion sticks more in your will then in your mind Your eies and ears are open and ready to entertaine any Author though a Popish one that makes for your opinion but if he be against your Tenent though he be never so godly hardly have you patience to look upon him Well Sir what hath now been as also what was formerly alledged out of Dr. Ames do abundantly prove him to have been for that conditionality of the Covenant we defend 7. Passe we on to Doctor Preston where againe you may be blamed for when the Doctor laid down a distinction betweene the Covenants or rather between the Promises of the same Covenant viz. the promise of Grace which he calleth an absolute Covenant made with the Elect Jer. 31. Ezek. 36. and the Promise of life which he cals a conditional Covenant made with all If thou believe thou shalt be saved You run away with a piece and put downe Dr. Preston for a defender of the absolutenesse of the Covenant though both there and in his Treatise of the Covenant of which I believe you were not ignorant he writes many leaves to the contrary But I hope you will wipe this Author also out of your list after I have rehearsed some passages unto you out of him Look then either in that or the Sermon foregoing for I have not the Book now by me and you shall find Dr. Preston asserting faith to be required and that precedently to our being in Covenant For thus he writes That which is required of them is only that they take it And there is nothing precedently required or looked for on our parts but taking and applying of it So page 18 The taking of Christ makes Christ ours Faith is that whereby the right of Christ is made ours unto salvation Pag 62 63 he tels us of the reconciling and justifying act of faith which he saith is direct and is that whereby we take Christ as well as of its pacifying act which he calls reflex and saith it is that whereby we know we take him yea he tells us that Humiliation is required not as a qualification but as our sense of sicknesse is required to our seeking of cure so this to our seeking of Christ without which wee will never come to Christ And would you know what this taking of Christ is which he saith is precedently required He tells you toward the latter end of the first Sermon that it is to know Christ rightly as Prophet Priest and King To obey him To forsake all other for him To pitch on him with our whole deliberate and sincere will Moreover after this our receipt of him We are saith he required to obey him to be holy as he is holy to forsake all which he calls after-clap conditions and hard conditions And pag. 25. Those that be humble and see Gods wrath what it is that have their consciences awakened to see sin will come in and be glad to have Christ though on these conditions but the other will not If you will have Christ on these conditions you may But we preach in vain all the world refuseth Christ because they will not leave their Covetousnesse Pride c. And all because they be not humbled Now whereas he excludes conditions in some passages he tells you in what sense he excludes them Pag. 15. When we exclude all conditions we exclude such a frame and habit of mind which we think is necessarily required to make us worthy to take him By which it appears clearly they were meritorious conditions he excluded To these I may add how in his Treatise of the New Covenant page 217. he gives this for his fourth Reason why uprightnesse is required viz. That there might be an integrity on both sides A Covenant as on Gods part so on ours That as he promiseth he will be all-sufficient so he requireth this again on our parts That we be altogether his And pag 357. That the Condition God required of Abraham was that he should believe where he spends many leaves in shewing that and why faith is the condition of the New Covenant Page 389. That Repentance the condition required of us is part of the Covenant both on Gods part and on ours The condition that is required of us as part of the Covenant is the doing of this the action But the ability whereby we are able to perform these is a part of the Covenant on the Lords part Pag. 398. That when we do believe at that very hour we enter into Covenant and are translated from death to life And pag. 458. When the heart gives her full consent and takes the Lord for her God and Governour then is the Contract made up between them These passages Sir abundantly satisfie me concerning that holy and reverend Author that he held faith to be the grand condition of the Gospel precedently required to not only our knowing our selves in state of Grace but our very being therein and right thereto If he say that the Covenant that is one part of it viz. the Promise of Grace is absolute he saith no more then others for I know none of our side that hold that part to be antecedently conditional Some call it a Free others an Absolute promise others a Covenant with Christ for us c. Yea in regard of the freenesse and absolutenesse of it they grant the Covenant in respect of the Elect to be equivalent to an absolute Promise and the purchase equivalent to an absolute purchase as you may see Owen Vniv Redempt lib. 3. c. 2. the conditions on which salvation is promised being purchased and promised as well as the salvation Notable are the expressions of Mr. Rutherford in this particular We teach faith a condition on our part and also a grace promised Christ brings himselfe his righteousnesse and the condition of faith too which doth receive him As if some Prince should freely promise to marry some maid of low estate on condition she wear
6. Doctor Davenant doth also fully expresse himselfe several times to the like purpose and may in the sixth place be added to the former His words are these In the Covenant of the Gospel it is otherwise for in this Covenant to the obtainment of reconciliation Justification and life eternal there is no other condition required then of true and lively faith God so loved the world John 3. 16. Therefore Justification and the right to eternal life doth depend on the condition of faith alone Where he doth afterward thus briefly shew the difference betweene the Law and the Gospel considered as two distinct Covenants The Law saith he hath the very strength and form of a Covenant made in the condition of Works But the Gospel placeth the very strength and form of a Covenant made in the blood of the Mediator apprehended by faith What can be said more expresly then this I will not trouble you with repeating what hath been already delivered out of him in his next Chapter but only mention one passage or two out of him The Promise of eternal life according to the Covenant of the Gospel and of Grace doth depend on the condition of faith A little before explicating in what sense we deny good works to be required as conditions of Salvation he thus speaks If by conditions of salvation we understand the conditions of the Covenant whereby we are received into the favor of God and to the right of eternal life for these depend on the only condition of faith apprehending Christ the Mediator 7. With the fore mentioned Divines doth the learned Cameron fully agree who handling the agreement and differences of the Covenant of Nature and of Grace observes they both agree in the extrinsecal form that to each there is annexed a restipulation though in the thing it self required in each by way of stipulation they differ for that in the Covenant of Nature natural Righteousnesse is required but in the Covenant of Grace faith alone is required Whereupon in the conclusion of his whole Discourse concerning that Subject he gives this definition of the Covenant of Grace It is that wherein God on the Condition of faith in Christ proposed doth promise the remission of sins in his blood and life everlasting in heaven and that for this end that he might shew the riches of his mercy 8. Unto these I may add Paraeus who observes that the Apostle doth make mention of faith that he may teach us fidem esse conditionem that faith is the condition under which Christ is given unto us as the propitiation for sins and that it is the Instrumental cause by which alone we obtain the propitiation in Christ And elsewhere setting down the difference between the righteousness of the Law and of faith or of the Gospel He saith By that no man doth obtaine life because the condition of doing all things required by the Law is not possible to any besides Christ It is easie to obtaine the fruit and reape life by this because the condition of confessing the Lord Jesus and believing his Resurrection is nigh in the mouth and in the heart 9 The learned Chamier that great Assertor of the truth of God against the Romish corrupters of it is the next He disputing with Bellarmine concerning the difference between the Law and the Gospel speaks as fully and plainly as any of the rest forenamed Protestant Divines That the Law of Works doth propose salvation upon condition of fulfilling the Law But the Law of Faith doth propose it upon condition only of believing in Christ the word condition being taken in the same sense in both sides And having distinguished conditions that are in Contracts and Covenants that some are precedent others are consequent the former being such as are essential to the Contract or Covenant yea constituting the very essence and foundation of it The other being such the defect or want whereof doth make the Contract or Covenant to be void and of none effect though they do not make the Covenant and Contract it self He doth apply it to his present Subject The Law of Works requireth the fulfilling of the Law as a condition antecedent without which any man hath not either the actual possession of nor so much as a right to eternal life The Law of faith doth not admit works as such a condition antecedent but only consequent so that they are necessary ex vi donatae jam propter fidem vitae by vertue of that right to eternal life which is already conferred on them through faith Where you see Chamier doth clearly assert Faith to be the condition by which we doe receive the right to life given us by grace Works the condition consequent in the Covenant of Grace 10. Mr. Bayn on the Ephesians Remission of sin is communicated from Christ in manner following 1 Christ sendeth his Ministers as Legats with the word of reconciliation or pardon inviting them to believe on him that they may receive forgivenesse of sins 2. He doth work together by his Spirit making those who are his children believe on him if they may find forgivenesse in him 3 He doth communicate to them the forgivenesse which himselfe had procured and obtained for them And on that fourth verse God doth not bind any directly and immediately to believe salvation but in a certain order for he binds them first to believe on Christ to Salvation and then brings them in Christ to believe that hee loved them and gave himselfe for them 11. Mr. Burroughes upon Hosea upon those words I will betroth them unto me how frequently hath he those words It must be mutual it must be mutual in every particular branch of it He shewes it must be mutual on the Churches part as well as on Gods part and how can it be so without stipulation In Moses his self-denial p. 188. Faith hath the greatest honour above all other Graces to be the condition of the Covenant 12. Last of all it is the general Tenent of our brethren in New England as appears by Mr. Bulkly of the Covenant pag. 280 281. where he handles that very Question And also by the Catalogue of Errors that did arise there and were condemned by an Assembly at the Church of New Town August 31. 1637. attested by Mr. Weldes Err. 27. It is incompatible to the Covenant of Grace to joyne Faith thereunto Err. 28. To affirm there must be faith on mans part to receive the Covenant is to undermine Christ Er. 37. We are completely united to Christ before or without any faith wrought in us by the Spirit Err. 38. There can be no true closing with Christ in a Promise that hath a Qualification or a condition expressed Err. 82. Where faith is held forth by the Ministers as the condition of the Covenant of Grace on mans part as Justification by Sanctification and the acting of faith in that Church there is not
in the end for troubling of the Church her peace they were some of the chief of them cut off and banished May not my dear brother the like use be made of your present Doctrine Yea is it not think you already made by divers Are not the hearts of many taken off thereby from their faithful Ministers and Pastors whom before they loved prized hearkened to received good from yea haply received their conversion by if they be indeed converted are not I say their hearts taken off from these their spiritual Fathers so that they neglect their Sermons contemne their counsels call them nick-name them Legal Teachers and Ministers of the Old Testament when yet I hope you your selfe cannot in your conscience but acknowledg them for the true Ambassadors of the Lord Jesus May not this ill issue of your Doctrine lye heavy on your spirits Again may not the Writings of Pemble Preston Perkins and other our Worthies now with God for their holding of Conditions and professing the conditions of Faith and Repentance as without which we cannot have life be laid aside and neglected Nay are not these Authors themselves contemned as men of darker times and not acquainted with such cleare light as now shineth though you know there is more of the power and marrow of Christianity in one of their pages then in ten leaves of your new lighted Meteors Beside are not many of the godly who love you and were hearers of you driven from your Lectures or at least cannot come to them without fear and jealousie others thereby amazed not knowing whom to follow and most called away from the practice of Religion to that needlesse disquisition of a curious speculation When he builders clash the Building must needs be interrupted and when the Witnesses disagree the Jurors can bring in little better then an Ignoramus in their Bill I do beseech you Sir to consider how by this your Tenent the names and Doctrine of Gods faithful Ministers dead and living are aspersed the minds of the godly troubled the peace of the Church disquieted the hands of the wicked strengthened the mouthes of the Adversaryes opened and the hearts of your friends exceedingly sadded and to draw back your foot before you are gone too far By the wicket of an interpretative absolutenesse I should hope that you might yet recover your self in safety however by the door of retractation I am sure you may and though that work be an unpleasing businesse to flesh and blood yet is it one of the noblest Offices of a Christian souldier in which spiritual warfare as well as in temporal as much honour may be gained by a good Retreat as by a couragious Incounter or prosperous Victory FINIS PAULS SAD FAREVVEL TO HIS EPHESIANS OPENED IN A SERMON At the FUNERAL of Mr. JOHN GRAILE Minister of TIDWORTH in the Country of WILTS By HUMPHREY CHAMBERS D. D. And Minister of the Gospel at Peusie in the same County Praelucendo periit He was a burning and a shining light John 5. 35. The Righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Isai 57. 1. London Printed for Math. Keinton at the Fountain in Pauls Church Yard 1655 A Funeral Sermon COncerning the very sad occasion of our present meeting there is no need that I speak unto you seeing it is or may be knowne unto you all that we have at this time accompanied though not a very aged yet an able faithful painful and godly Minister of Jesus Christ unto his grave that house prepared for all the living where as to his body he is to rest until that great day when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of life they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation at what time the faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ how much soever contemned clouded and cloathed with reproach in this world who have fed the stock of God taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over Gods heritage but being example to the flock when the chief Shepherd shall appear they also shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away Yea they shall then together with all other Gods servants enter in all fulnesse into the joy of their Lord and be possessed of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for them The Holy Ghost tels us in Eccl. 7. 11. That a good name is better then precious ointment with that rich Embalming is our dear Brother gone unto his grave which will make his memory sweet and precious enough to all that knew him and love God And of such a one who is buryed with this sweet Odour the Holy Ghost witnesseth in the end of that verse That the day of death is better then the day of birth The day of Birth brings every one to an afflicted dying life but the day of death bringeth every such one yea every child of God to an everlasting life of never dying glory Whether you that are the Inhabitants of this place were sensible of your blessing in the enjoying the Ministry of this our deceased Brother or are apprehensive of your losse in his departure from you I cannot say for you are all strangers unto me but this I am sure of concerning very many who have occasionally enjoyed the fruit of his Labours that they sadly bewail the removing of one so furnished with skil and will to declare the truth of God and to oppose the old Superstitious and new or rather renewed Errors which on the right and left hand do oppose the Progress of a blessed Reformation amongst us And upon this Account my heart greatly mourneth over this brother of ours whom God hath taken away from us by whose death a great breach is made amongst us of the Ministry in these parts at this time wherein open profanenesse and pernicious Errours do so much abound When wee consider our Brothers Ministerial Qualifications and Graces his Ability and Humility embracing and beautifying each other his conscionable and Christian circumspection over himselfe and his Doctrine it is very doubtful whether he were more ripe for life or fit for death Questionlesse this our Brother after he had notice of deaths approach towards him could not but be sensible of the Apostle Pauls strait between a desire of living to do good to others and dying to receive good for himselfe of serving the Lord Christ in life and possessing the Lord Christ more fully in death yet I am confident that in this case he did prostrate himself obedientially at the feet of the will of God And seeing the Lord hath now declared his purpose to make this our dear Brothers gain our losse we must