ones we are by sinners whom Christ professeth that he came to call to understand contrite and broken hearted sinners that being terrified with the judgements of the Law do acknowlege that they stand in great need of Christ the heavenly Physician and of every drop his blood which he shed for them But of this I have spoken enough before Object 7. He goeth on and saith All that ever received Christ Object 7 Corinthians Ephesians Colossians received him in a sinful condition when they were unwashen darkness dead in sins enemies in their minds by wicked works Answ Here also Mr. S. setteth up an adversaâ—y unto himself of his own devising and then dischargeth fiercely and furiously upon him For no Protestant teacheth that those that are only prepared for the preaching of the Gospel by the terrours of the Law are washed from their sins and do live the life of grace but on the contrary they hold That as yet they are dead in sin and if they proceed no further shall perish everlastingly Object 8. Object 8 Lastly He thus also objecteth God offereth Christ in time as God gave him God before all times gave him to us because we were sinners and now he is but offered as he was given Answ Hereunto I answer First That God neither before time gave Christ in his eternal decree because we were sinner nor in time doth he give us him because we are sinners For there is no cause in us at all of our salvation it is to be ascribed wholly to Gods grace As for sin it is in it self a cause of damnation not of salvation But if his meaning be that God before time considered us as sinners when he gave us Christ there followeth nothing more from hence but that God in time offered Christ unto us when we were sinners which we willingly grant But we add further that God before all time decreed not only to give Christ to sinners but that those sinners should by the power of his Spirit be brought in time to acknowledge their sins and spiritual misery and woful condition under sin and so be driven out of themselves and be made to fly unto Christ Seeing therefore whatsoever God decreed before time shall be fulfilled and accomplished in time hereupon therefore it followeth not that all sinners absolutely but that those only who do acknowledge their sins and their eternal misery by sin are they to whom Christ is offered in the Gospel and that do come unto him SECT 6. Two Objections of Mr. D. answered THere are two Objections of Master D. which I formerly passed over at my first reading of his Book whereunto I have thought good now to return an answer First Object he reasoneth thus against any qualification or preparation or other to be wrought in us before we be justified Reconcil of God to man pag. 16. Let us hear the Lord speaking of his own work upon the Creature Isa 57.18 He went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his wayes and will heale him I will lead him also and restore comforts to him and to his mourners Whom wilt thou heale O Lord Whom wilt thou restore Even him whose wayes I have seen What are those wayes Even frowardnesse and perversnesse He went on frowardly in the way of his heart See again Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my owne sake and will not remember thy sins Whose sins will the Lord blot out Look we back unto the 22. vers Thou hast not called upon me O Jacob thou hast been weary of me O Israel Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities verse 24. See Thou hast been weary of me Yea thou hast wearied me This is Iacobs qualification This is Israels preparation Then follows I even I am he that blotteth out thy trangressions As if the Lord should say unto his people as he speaketh by the prophet Ezek. 36.22 Say unto the house of Israel Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my holy names sake which ye have prophaned among the heathen whither ye went See also Deut. 9.6 Isa 48.9 alleadged by him And then his conclusion is This is all the qualification we bring unto God to win his love and mercy Answer But I answer whereas the Lord saith he went on frowardly in the way of his heart c. This is not Jacobs qualification but a description of his perverse disposition being considered as he was in himself to the magnifying of Gods most rich mercy and superabundant grace towards him in pardoning his sins His qualification precedent to his justification was his humiliation and abenegation of himself wrought in him by Gods Spirit opening his eyes to see his sins and the great wrath that was due unto him for them This was that which through the gracious working of Gods Spirit drew him unto Christ the promised redeemer of his people when he was offered unto him that he might be saved through faith in him But it was not this nor any thing else that Jacob did or could do that merited the pardon of his sins or that moved made God to justifie him for we acknowledge that our justification is wholly of grace yea that this preparation is also of grace yet not necessitating our justification as if it did alway follow it But of this enough hath been said before Yet Mr. D Dr. C and others do so represent our doctrine as if we taught precedent qualifications to win Gods love to procure him to have mercy upon us to forgive us our sins Object Master D. second Objection against precedent qualifications not onely to our justification but to our Conversion and Sanctification Reconcil of God to man pag. 31. is this John Frith whose Learning was by his adversarie commended whose constancy and patience in his Martyrdome was admired writeth to this effect Thou maist preach Hell Damnation and the rendering of a terrible account to a severe Judge seven years together and yet not make one good Christian He that would make a good Christian let the love of God be the first stone which he layeth for the foundation Answ That which this holy man saith I acknowledge to be most true A minister may preach not only seven but seventy time seven years together and yet if he preach nothing else but Hell and Damnation not convert one soule For it are not the terrours of the law but the glad tydings of Salvation by Christ in the preaching of the Gospel whereby the Spirit of God worketh faith in us to our conversion and salvation and stirreth us up to love and thankfulness towards God Notwithstanding the terrours of the Law are necessary by way of preparation hereunto For how can a man se of apprehend the great love of God to him in giving his Son to death for his Redemption if by
God If therefore he whom God loveth must not be guilty of sin and there is none but he is guilty of fin unless sin be pardoned remitted unto him that is unless he be justified Hence he leaveth it to be inferred and concluded that a man is not loved of God until he is justified Answer Here are many Propositions linked together which I shall examine in order And first whereas he saith Gods love is opposed to hatred To this I answer That Love and hatred in God as also the rest of his Attributes are the same single and undivided essence of God they are not therefore opposite as they are in God but in their Effects or in their Objects in quibus contrarie operantur in which they work those things which are contrary one to another For example justification and condemnation are opposite Effects of Gods Love and of his hatred But it doth not follow hereupon that because God damneth none but obstinate sinners whom he hateth that he loveth no man unlesse he be first justified from his sins For though God doth not condemn any nor hate any but for their sins yet he doth gratis freely justifie as many as he justifieth through his grace without any merits of theirs yea contrary to the merit of their sins as St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.23 24. And this indeed the most Learned Chamier not only acknowledgeth but abundantly confirmeth by most valid testimonies of holy Scripture Probat enim justificationem effici per charitatem Dei tanquam efficientem causam For he proveth that our justification is through the love of God as the efficient cause thereof After that the kindness love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3 4 5. God commendeth his love to us that whereas we were yet sinners Christ died for us Being justified therefore by his blood we shall much more be saved now by his life Rom. 5. Seeing these things are thus alledged and delivered by Chamierus himself I wonder that he could so far forget himself as after a few lines to say Deum non amare aliter nisi remissis peccatis that God doth not loâ—e us unlesse our sins be first forgiven us For if it were so How could Gods Love be said to be the efficient cause of our justification For sure I am he will not say Causam effectu suo posteriorem esse that the Cause is after its Effect In the next place whereas he saith the hatred of God is for the guilt of sin therefore as long as the guilt of sin remaineth so long must we needs be hated of God I grant that God hateth none but for sin but it doth not follow hereupon that every one is hated of God as long as the guilt of his sins doth remain For then seeing the guilt of sin in all the Elect doth go before the remission thereof Quod enim non est non remittitur for that which is not cannot be said to be forgiven it would follow that the Elect themselves as well as others were once hated of God and not beloved of him whereas the Lord himself saith That he loved them with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 Thus then it is God hateth sin in all yea in the Elect themselves but he pitied their persons and loved them from all eternity as they were his Creatures and out of this his love provided for them a Saviour Whereas then this most worthy Divine concludeth thus If therefore it behoveth him whom God loveth not to be guilty of sin but there is no man but he is guilty of sin unlesse his sin be pardoned and forgiven him that is unlesse he be justified and so leaveth it to be inferred that we must be justified before we can be loved of God That which I have said already doth sufficiently manifest the inconsequence hereof Whereunto this I add further that where thre is alike guilt we cannot alwaies infer a necessity of like condemnation As for example a Soveraign Prince or King when many of his Subjects are risen up against him in rebellion and are all alike guilty of death doth of his mercy and free grace pardon some of them but others he as freely maketh examples of his justice for terrour unto the rest of his Subjects and causeth them to be put to death Even thus it is in this present case for whereas all of us for our sins have deserved eternal death God of his grace converteth absolveth and justifieth some and others he leaveth in their sins and condemneth them according to their demerits Thus Gods love or his grace is the cause of our justification and not our justification the cause of Gods loving us as hath been shewed before and shal now by Gods grace be further proved tum ex concessis Chamieri both from that which Chamier granteth and delivereth for truth and from other places of Scripture beside those which I have already produced Lib. 22. cap. 12. de sola fide justificante Mat. 26.28 Mors Christi est vera causa justificationis saith he The death of Christ is the true cause of our justification And this indeed is most truly spoken of him for our blessed Saviour himself telleth us That he shed his blood for the remission of our sins Now how is this to be understood but that he shed his blood to purchase the pardon of our sins Eph. 1.7 For thus St. Paul also saith that we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of our sins And St. John likewise saith that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sins 1 John 1.7 Now what is this but for him to say that the forgiveness of our sins is an effect of Christs blood which he shed for us Or that I may speak in Chamier's words that Christs death is the true cause of our justification Now from hence I do first inferr that our justification cannot be the cause why God loveth us Quicquid enim est causa causae est causa causati For whatsoever is the cause of the cause is also the cause of that which is caused by that cause Now Gods love was the cause why he sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.10 Our propitiation therefore and consequently our justification which is therewith necessarily connexed or which is involved in it Rom. 3.25 cannot be the cause of Gods love for then Gods love should both be the cause and the effect of our propitiation and justification by Christ Again if Christs death be as it is indeed the true cause of our justification then we cannot be actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity Temporale enim non est causa aeterni for that which is in a definite time cannot be the cause of that which hath been for ever But Christ suffered for our sins non ab aeterno sed tempore Ã
only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have eternal life John 3.16 And this offer is an offer of Gods love wherewith he loved us from everlasting Answ So he but to the contrary I say That Gods eternal love is not here offered to all as he would have it there can no such thing be deduced and drawn from either of these places for in the former St. Paul sheweth what manner of persons believers were in themselves when Christ out of his love died for them they were not righteous but sinners in the latter our Saviour himself sheweth what it was that moved God to give his Son to death for us it was his surpassing and incomparable love and nothing else Now how Mr. S will frame an Argument either from the Apostles or from our Saviours words against preparations before Faith I know not unlesse it be thus God loved all equally loved them to make them partakers of Christ and of salvation by him therefore in preaching the Gospel nothing is to be required of any but all are to believe that they shall be saved by Christ whether they be penitent for sin or rejoyce and delight in sin and whether they purpose and resolve to leave sin or to live in sin Now I grant indeed That this Conclusion were to be admitted if the antecedent whence it is deduced were true that is if God did love all absolutely unto their eternal salvation and had no purpose to work any change or alteration in them while they live here But this is palpably false for whom God loveth eternally and before all time they receive in time through the gracious operation of his Spiit the necessary effects of this his love that is contrition and compunction of heart for sin Faith in Christ for the forgivenesse of sin conversion to God from all sin and all other saving graces to the accomplishment of their their salvation It 's false therefore that sinners are only to believe that God loveth them and that they are reconciled unto him by Christs death as Mr. D. and Mr. S. do teach and that nothing else but such a bare Faith is to be required of them that they may thereby know and be assured that they are justified and partakers of Christ For God loveth not all unto salvation but the Elect only whom in time he bringeth by degrees to the possession of that salvation by preparing them for it in that manner as the Gospel teacheth and letteth none lie still rotting in their sins without any true Faith or Repentance but only wicked reprobates whom he suffereth to walk in the broad way that leadeth unto destruction Object 3. It exalteth Grace more to receive broken hearted than Object 3 obdurate sinners He farther urgeth It exalteth Grace more to receive a sinner who hath no mony no price no righteousness His meaning is That it maketh more to the glory of Gods grace that he receive sinners as sinners without any sorrow for or sense and feeling of their sins rather than humbled and broken-hearted sinners that see and perceive how miserable they are in themselves and in what great need they do stand of a Saviour But I answer him That maketh most to the magnifying and exalting of Gods grace which he himself requireth and prescribeth and not which sinful men in their carnal and fleshly wisdom do fancy and like best or which they judge to be most for the setting forth of his grace Now it is evident that God offereth Christ to none but to those that acknowledge their sins and feel the burden of them Matth. 11.5.28 Isa 61.1 2. Yea even that very place which Mr. S. alledgeth proveth against him that some preparations go before Faith in Christ to wit a thirsting after him and his graces which cannot be unlesse a man feel his misery by sin and see in what need he standeth of Christ even as a man never thirsteth corporally until he is pained with heat and drynesse and feeleth in what need he standeth of drink These very words therefore of the prophet Isay Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no mony come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without mony and without price are produced by him against himself For all are not here invited to come to Christ and to be made partakers of his graces not sinners as sinners as he will have it that is sinners continuing in their sins without any purpose to leave them yea not so much as acknowledging their sins and their misery by means of them but first such sinners who feeling their great need of Christ do thirst after him and secondly such as have no mony and therefore do offer no price for him that is who do acknowledge that they have no merits of their own nor can do any thing to purchase or procure Gods favour Having thus wrested his weapon out of his hands and turned it against himself I must now tell him that whereas he saith That it exalteth grace more to receive a sinner that hath no money no price no righteousnesse that is in his sense all sorts of sinners though they do not so much as feel nor acknowledge their sins rather then those that being cast down with the sight and sense of their sins do acknowledge they have no money no price nor no righhteousnesse of their own I must I say tell him that he is much deceived in this for first it standeth not with Gods justice and his hatred of sin to pardon sinners without working any change in them at all but suffering them to continue and remain still in their sins The holy Prophet David disclaimeth this and speaketh against him when he saith Psal 5.4 Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickednesse neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity Again I say further Gods grace is most exalted when sinners do most acknowledge the riches of his grace and are most thankful to him for it Now so are they who do most feel the burden of their sins and do most apprehend their spiritual misery as it is to be seen in the penitent woman Luke 7. Luke 7.47 the sight and sense of whose many and great sins made her greatly to love Christ But on the contrary if God should pardon those that feel not their sins but are whole in their own conceit they would either with the Pharisees ascribe their salvation more to their own works then to Gods grace or turn the grace of God into lasciviousnesse and wax wanton against Christ as Libertines and carnal Gospellers do who rely so much on the grace of God that they have no care to live holily and righteously to the glory of Gods grace but by their wicked works and deeds of darknesse do cause the name of God to be blasphemed Rom. 2.24 1 Tim. 6.1 Object 4.
the Sonne of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God that is perseverantly unto the end What will Mr. D. except against this Will he say as Estius and the Papists do that the Apostles meaning is not that every or any ordinary faithful man knoweth certainly that he is translated from death to life and therefore in the state of salvation but that he speaketh generally in the person of all the faithful and is thus to be understood We Christians know by an assured faith that all good faithful people of which number we severally trust that we are are translated from death to life But surely this Expositiō of his est nimis jejuna is too hungry and leane For what comfort will it be to any one to know certainly that all good Christians and true believers are translated from death to life as long as he knoweth not whether he himself be of that number but doubteth hereof Again Shall we think or can we perswade our selves that St. John wrote so large an Epistle and used so many Arguments only to make known unto the faithful that all good Christians or that all good faithful people have their sins pardoned and are in the state of salvation which they never doubted of It s certain That St. John in writing this Epistle had a farther intent and that is to make it evident unto us by many infallible signes and tokens how we may know that we are the Children of God and that we are translated from death to life which is a matter of greatest comfort and rejoycing to a Christian heart that can be Mr. D. indeed for I would not willingly do him any wrong acknowledgeth that true charity is an assured signe or mark of grace received but for all that Cor a s pag. he holdeth that a Christian cannot certainly know that he hath charity whereby he may be assured that he is the Child of God But herein he joyneth with the Papists For they say as Estius doth quantum de dilectione fraternâ certi sumus tantum de isto look how much we are assured of our love to the Brethren so much are we assured of that also he meaneth that we are translated from death to life whereof he spake before Now he hath told us that this cannot certainly be known of us and so his meaning is as also Mr. D. that we cannot certainly but conjecturally only know that we love the Brethren Thus both Mr. D. and they would make St. John a silly and sory disputant as if he would prove ignotum per ignotius that which is unknown to us by another thing which is as much or more unknown for how can we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren if we have no more certain knowledge of this then of the former Our conjectural hope that we love the Brethren will only breed and beget in us an Opinion that we are translated from death to life but no knowledge thereof at all But on the contrary St. John saith not We hope we conjecture or we think but we know that we have passed from death to life And he proveth it as effectu tanquam signo hujus infallibili by an effect of this translation as an infallible sign thereof because saith he we love the Brethren Thus he maketh our love of the Brethren an evidence that we are in the state of salvation And hereupon St. Augustine writing on these words saith redeat unusquisque ad cor suum Si ibi invenerit charitatem fraternam securus sit quia transiit à morte ad vitam Let every one return unto his own heart if he doth there finde brotherly charity let him be secure because he hath passed from death to life Surely St. Augustine would never have spoken thus if he had thought that a Christian can have no certain knowledge of his love to the Brethren For it is not an uncertain hope or an opinion grounded on conjectures that can breed and beget any security in the soul Thus Christian Reader I have given thee a tast of Mr. D. his faculty in expounding of the Scriptures after his fancy More of his detorted Expositions I cannot acquaint thee with because I neither remember any more nor have his Book by me it being restored to the owner by him that lent it me long since And indeed I should both trouble my self and the Reader in rehearsing any more of them and this Treatise would swell and grow into too great a bulk whereby the weaker sort of Christians might be deterred and discouraged from reading of it for whose sake principally I have penned and published it that they may be setled and stablished in the truth which hath been formerly taught them and not be carried away with the deceiptfulness of novellous errors Here I made an end long since and thought to have proceeded no further but upon a second review of Mr. D. his three Treatises I started these Questions following which having discussed and determined I do here add unto the former hoping that they will not be altogether unacceptable unto not a few good Christians because the most of them may give some satisfaction unto them in divers doubts and scruples of Conscience wherewith their souls are exercised Quest 16. WHether all that are called of God and consequently that are his Children have alwayes and at all times their hearts ravished and replenished with surpassing joy and comfort Quest 17. Whether the Repentance which the Prophets taught and exhorted their hearers unto in the old Testament be the same which is taught in the new Quest 18. Whether there was any actual forgiveness of sin in the old Testament Quest 19. Whether there be not many things to be done by us before we can be saved Quest 20. Whether a man may not have a steadfast hope in God that he shall be saved who hath a care to keep Gods Law to do all things commanded and to shun all things forbidden to the uttermost of his power Quest 21. Whether a desire to believe be faith it self Quest 22. Whether he that useth the means of salvation constantly may not confidently expect and hope to be saved through Gods mercy in Christ Quest 23. Whether every one that he may be assured of the forgiveness of his sins and of his salvation is without reason or against reason to believe that his sins are pardoned and that God hath given him eternal life Quest 24. Whether he that hath oppressed defrauded or otherwise wronged his Neighbour in his goods and outward Estate can believe that his sins are pardoned before he hath made him restitution and satisfaction Quest 25. Whether the way for a wicked man to overcome and leave his sins be for him to believe that his sins are pardoned and forgiven him Quest 26. Whether every one that truly believeth in Christ be assured of salvation Quest 27. Whether every one who in his Conscience is not assured of his reconciliation to God and of his own salvation be a wicked man Quest 28. Whether a man can take no comfort in any of Gods promises unless he be first assured of his Faith FINIS
the same but sometimes greater and sometimes lesser towards his children And in this sense David speaketh of Gods Love Psa 147.8 when he saith The Lord loveth the righteous and Solomon Prov. 8.17 where he bringeth in the Son of God the eternal wisdom of his Father speaking and saying I love them that love me that is them only and none else Now there was a time when the elect did not love God but the world and the things thereof a time when they were not righteous but wicked they were not at that time therefore loved of God in this sense as Solomon and David here speak of his Love that is so as to taste or to be made partakers of the comfortable effects thereof The Lord also speaketh of his Love tanquam de re futura as of a thing to be accomplished in time to come when he saith or his revolted people I will love them freely I will Hos 14.4 saith the Lord he did not therefore thus love them alwaies Now this also must be understood not of the internal Act of Gods love which is eternal but of the manifestation of his love in the saving effects thereof Thus also are we to understand St. Paul when he blesseth the Corinthians and prayeth for them saying 2 Cor. 13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God be with you For his meaning is not that God would then first begin to love them as if he had hated them or had borne them no good will before but that he would multiply the effects of his Love upon them or that he would continue the gracious influence of his Love towards them in the most comfortable and saving effects thereof In the same sense also doth our Saviour speak of Gods Love John 14.21 He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them it is he that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him When Christ saith here He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him he speaketh as the next words do shew of the manifestation of his and his Fathers love by the saving effects thereof Tunc enim Deus novâ ratione suam exhibet dilectionem cum novo homines afficit beneficio For then doth God exhibit his Love after a new manner when he bestowetn on men a new benefit saith Jansenius Like whereunto are the words of Dionisius Carthusianus on this saying of Christ God loveth all that are predestinate eternally and simply even then when they do not love him but are wicked For he first loved us 1 John 4.19 He loveth them I say according to that he seeth them to be in his Decree of Predestination But when they are converted and do love God he bestoweth on them the effects of his Love which he doth fully and finally vouthsafe them when they obtain the inheritance of Heaven Peter Lumbard also Lib. 3. Sent. Dist. 32. doth excellently unfold this matter I will therefore shut up this discourse in his words The Love of God saith he is considered two manner of waies secundum essentiam et secunduÌ„ efficientiam according to the essence according to the efficiency of it It is neither more nor less according to the essence but according to the efficiency of it In which regard those may be said to be more loved for whom out of his love he hath from eternity prepared majus bonuÌ„ the greater good or a greater blessing and doth in time confer the same upon them and those lesse loâ—ed quibus non tantum for whom and on whom he hath from eternity prepared and in time bestoweth not so much good or not so great a blessing Thereupon also it is that some when they are converted and justified are said then to begin to be loved of God not that God can love any one nova dilectione with a new love yea he loved with everlasting love before the foundation of the world whomsoever he loveth But they are then said to begin to be loved of him when they receive the effects of Gods eternal love to wit grace or glory Whereupon Augustine saith Far be it from us that we should say that God loveth any one temporally as it were with a new love which was not in him before with whom nec praeterita transierunt neither the things that are past have passed away et futura jam facta sunt and those that are future are already present or are done Therefore he loved all his Saints before the foundation of the world sicut praedestinavit as they were predestinated by him But when they are converted and do find him then they are said to begin to be loved of him Ut eo modo dicatur quo potest humano affectu capi quod dicitur to speak after that manner that the thing which is spoken may be comprehended by mans capacity Thus also when God is said to be angry with the wicked and well pleased with the good the change is in them and not in Him as light is offensive to weak eyes but comfortable to strong to wit through the change that is in them not in it self so when any one begins to be Gods friend being justified he himself is changed not God Now if the Question be asked whether one may be said to be loved of God more at one time then at another distinguenda est dilectionis intelligentia that we may understand this aright we must distinguish of love for if it be referred unto the effects of love concessibile est it is to be granted that God doth love some more at one time than at another but if it be referred to the essence of Gods Lo e inficiabile est it is to be denied Hitherto Peter Lumbard And thus this deep mystery or matter is sufficiently cleared I 'le onely add two things more to preâ—ent the mistaking of this Doctrine The former is that all those quibus ab aeterno Deus bene vult whom God eternally loveth shall in time have all those good things that is those effects of grace wrought in them which he decreed for them As long therefore as men do live in sin they cannot conclude nor they cannot believe that God loveth them with any special love as he doth his Elect whom he hath appointed heirs of salvation because as yet no effects of Election do appear in them The other thing which I think good here to add is that Mr. D. hath no cause so sharply and bitterly as he doth to reproâ—e some of our Protestant Preachers and writers because they tell men that if they forsake sin and follow after Gods commandements and do that which is acceptable in his sight then God will love them For seeing they speak no otherwise of Gods Love than the holy Scripture doth Why should he so rack their words as if they taught that God were mutable in
Deo definito not from eternity but at that time which God had determined Gal. 4.4 His Passion therefore either must not be the cause of our justification or if we shall say that it is as this most learned Divine and all other for any thing that I know to the contrary do we must needs grant that we were not actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity but in time Lastly Whereas St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.24 25. that We are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood from hence also it followeth that our sins are actually pardoned and we justified from them in time and not from all eternity For it cannot be said of our Election and there is the same reason of every other immanent and eternal Act of God that we were elected through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus as a cause thereof For our Election is immediatly of Gods grace and not effected by any external means or for any external cause extra Deum without God himself no more then are opera ulla ejus ad intrà any of his internal acts or works For as much therefore as the Apostle teacheth That we are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood unto me it seemeth very evident that our justification can be none of the immanent and eternal works of God that are acted altogether within himself Object I know there are those that do object against this that I have said those words of St Paul 2 Thess 2.13 where he telleth them That God had from the beginning chosen them unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth But his meaning is not That sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth were any causes no nor means of their Election but of their salvation as if he should have said God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation to be enjoyed and possessed of you by being sanctified by Gods Spirit and by believing in Christ as by means leading thereunto Thus the Apostle in saying he hath chosen you unto salvation that is to obtain salvation by sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth maketh these means of their salvation not of their Election Yea not only the Orthodox Protestant Divines but Popish Doctors also do thus expound these words of St. Paul amongst whom Estius commenteth thus upon them The effects of Gods Election ordained unto salvation are hereby signified as if he should say God hath chosen you or hath taken you unto salvation by means thereunto allotted to wit through sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth Theophylact also alledged by him thus expoundeth these words God hath from the beginning that is from eternity chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit that is saith he he hath saved us in sanctifying us by the Spirit Thus our salvation is by means but our Election is the immediate work or act of God whereof there can no cause or reason be given nisi bene placitum Divinum but Gods own gracious good pleasure This that I have thus taught is the Doctrine of the most Orthodox Divines I cannot therefore but wonder what should move the most illustrious Chamier to say quòd amari mereamur à Deo per imputationem justitiae Christi et quôd inde diligamur et destinemur vitae aeternae that we deserve to be loved of God through the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and that thereupon we are beloved and allotted or elected unto eternal life This I say seemeth unto me a most strange assertion for hence it would follow that Gods Love and his Election were not free or altogether gratuitous But God speaking unto his Church and people saith dilexi te gratis I have loved thee freely And St. Paul teacheth that God hath predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will The same Apostle also saith that the Election of Gods people is of grace Now merit and free love and grace cannot stand together Christ indeed hath merited all the saving effects of Gods Love at dilectio ipsamet Dei est gratuitae but Gods love it self is not merited but free He loveth us meerly ex beneplacito suo of his good pleasure This love of his is the cause why he gave us his only begotten Son to work our salvation John 3.16 This love of his therefore must needs be the cause also of all Christs merits both of our redemption justification adoption sanctification and glorification Neither our justification therefore nor any other of these can be the cause of Gods love if we shall speak properly of his love and not of some one or other effects thereof But proceed we to the next thing wherein Chamierus dissenteth from that which is most commonly taught by other Protestants concerning our justification This learned man also teacheth contrary to the common Doctrine of the Protestants that there are no preparations unto our justification Now if it were as he saith that our justification is an eternal Act of God this would necessarily follow But seeing we are not actually justified until we do believe in Christ and are not ordinarily brought to renounce our selves and to put the whole confidence of our salvation in Christ until we be wrought upon and prepared thereunto both by the Law and the Gospel as is to be shewed in the next Question therefore seeing he produceth nothing that I have met with for confirmation of this his assertion I will leave the further examination and sifting of it unto its due place And so I come to the last thing that by the learned Chamierus is asserted in opposition to the common Doctrine of Protestants and that is That we are not justified by Faith in Christ for he speaketh expresly and saith falsum est fidem impetrare justificationem It 's false that Faith obtaineth justification For confirmation whereof he reasoneth thus If it were so then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in time which may by no means be granted For Faith it self is by it self a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which in deed and in nature is before it Which is the cause why we do say that Faith doth no otherwise justifie but relatively that is because it hath for its peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Now this is that properly that justifieth as the Church is built relatively upon the Faith of Peter that is upon Christ whom the Faith of Peter confessed That I may examine these things in order as they lie First whereas he saith If Faith should obtain our justification then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in
spirit of bondage that maketh men hold out in a constant course of obedience to all Gods Commandements And it is faith that purifieth the heart and inflameth it with the love of God and of his Son Iesus Christ No fear of punishment nor terror of Hell can mortifie sin or make it odious and loathsom For notwithstanding these feares the love of sin and vitious affections will still reside and remain in the soul SECT VII The Conclusion THus have I answered his Objections wherefore to conclude this matter this I say That where a man doubteth of his faith especially in time of tentation yet he may have some assurance from his works that he is not altogether without faith And on the other side a mans faith when it is grounded on the promises of the Gospel that is when he resteth and relyeth on Jesus Christ not only for the pardon of his sins but for the spirit of sanctification and endevoreth to obey God in all things may assure him of both these although he doubteth of the sincerity and truth of some of his works by reason of the reliques of the flesh or of that carnal corruption that doth adhere as yet unto them But the best assurance of all other is when a man upon proof and examination findeth that both his faith and works are upright before God that is sincere and sound though subject to many infirmities and imperfections 2 Pet. 1.5 to 12. See this Question handled again Quest 13. Whether the Gospel may properly be said to be a Covenant as that of the Law was SECT I. The Gospel is properly a Covenant Mr. S. his peremptory resolution and determination is this God makes no Covenant properly under the Gospel as he did at first Man is not restored in such a way of Covenant and condition as he was lost but more freely and more by grace and mercy that is as he explaineth himself by free promise without binding us to any conditions He will have the Gospel therefore to be called a Covenant non proprié not properly for as he acknowledgeth in every Covenant properly so called there are conditions sed laté but in a large sense or acception as the Lord calleth his promise that he will never destroy the World with a flood by the name of his Covenant But against this assertion of his I shall by Gods Grace make it evident that the Gospel is properly a Covenant not a Covenant of works indeed as the Law was yet as the Protestants have hitherto called it and as it is indeed the Covenant of Grace First I reason thus the promises of the Gospel or of the new Testament are not absolute but conditional Mr. S. therefore will he nill he must grant that the Gospel is properly a Covenant for he acknowledgeth that to be a Covenant Gen. 9. See also Mat. 6.14 18.3 Joh. 8.24 which requireth conditions or wherein men are bound to the performance of conditions It s true indeed Mr. S. and our new teachers do confidently avouch that the Gospel offereth salvation unto all without any conditions but this is apparently false as these Scriptures following do evidence Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God Rom. 11.22 to them which fell severity but towards thee goodnesse if thou continue in his goodnesse Col. 1.22 otherwise thou shalt be cut off Christ hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh 1 Tim. 2.15 through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel The Woman being deceived was in the transgression notwithstanding 2 Tim. 2.11 12. she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety If we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also raign with him 2 Tim. 2.20 if we deny him he will also deny us In a great house there are not only Vessels of Gold and of Silver but also of Wood and of Earth and some to honour and some to dishonour Heb. 3.14 If a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work We are made pertakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end 1 Joh. 1.7 If we walk in light as he that is God the Father is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Vers 9. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voyce and open the door I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me In all these Rev. 3.20 and in many other places of holy Scripture salvation is offered us not simply and absolutely whether we believe or no and whether we forsake sin and obey God or no but if we do such and such things as the Lord requireth of us that is upon condition of our faith and obedience This is so evident that Mr. S. is forced to acknowledge that there are conditions required in the Gospel and that it is a Covenant But he thinketh to put it off with this evasion 1. He saith That Christ is the only covenanted person The Covenant is made with him and not with us And 2. That he hath satisfied all the conditions thereof for us that he hath repented and that he was mortified for us But let us examine these things and see what truth there is in them SECT II. The Covenant of Grace is made not onely with Christ but with us also who do believe in him FIrst of all then whereas he saith the Covenant is made with Christ therefore not with us He might as well say the Surety here amongst men is bound to pay the debt therefore not the principal debtor himself whereas it is well known that both the debtor and his sureties do many times all of them stand bound together unto the Creditor Now so do both Christ and we stand bound together in the Covenant of grace to God the Father but after a far different manner For the Covenant of salvation is made with Christ as with our Mediator and surety who undertook to satisfie the justice of God for our sins and to bring us again to God from whom we were revolted and gone astray that so we may serve him and glorifie him according to our bounden duty It is made with us also as with the peculiar people whom Christ hath purchased unto God who by
house Both these Apostles do inform us that there is something to be done of us that we may be saved that is that we must repent and believe in Christ and be fruitful in all good works which are inseparable effects of Faith and Repentance Whereupon St. Paul exhorteth us not to be weary of well doing Gal. 6.9 and to incourage us hereunto he telleth us that in due time we shall reap if we faint not There is something then to be done or us contrary to Mr. S. his assertion that we may receive more then we have already For as we are here by the Apostle given to understand this present life of ours is but the seed time wherein we are to sow the seeds of virtue and good works and hereafter at Christs appearing the harvest cometh when we shall reap a crop of glory This is the expectation of all true believers for as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 15.19 had we hope in Christ only in this life we were of all men the most miserable Lastly Whereas he saith We are to do as much as if we were to be saved by what we do because we should do as much for what is done already for us and to our hands as if we were to receive it for what we did our selves Hereunto I answer That seeing Gods glory is to be preferred before our own salvation therefore we ought both to desire and to endeavour were it possible to do not as much but more for what is done for us already as if we were to be saved by what we do our selves But otherwise I must tell him that if we would obtain our salvation for our own works then we must look to it that they be pure and perfect and that we do all that the Law requireth without fayling in any thing But he that shall challenge such perfection to himself is to be ranked amongst proud Pharisees and deserveth not the name of an humble and lowly hearted Christian For a farewel therefore to this first reason of his I would know how Faith can be the only work of the Gospel if the Gospel do teach us to do as much in way of thankfulnesse to God for our redemption and salvation as if we were to redeem and save our selves Obiect 2 I come now to his next Reason whereby he endeavourete to prove That Faith is the only work of the Gospel Salvation saith he is a short work Believe and thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.10 Answ But I must tell him As short as he maketh it there will be work enough for the believer all his life long for the Faith which St. Paul speaketh of will not suffer a believer to be idle or unfruitful but as he himself telleth us Gal. 5.6 1 Cor. 15.58 it worketh by love yea it stirreth up believers alwaies to abound in the work of the Lord. Mt. S. his Faith therefore if it be without works and do set all upon Christs score as if he had repented for us and done all for us that we our selves should do is no better as St. James telleth us Jam. 2.17 then a dead Faith Obiect 3 Now whereas he saith It is the Gospel way of dispensation to assure and passe over salvation in Christ to any that will believe Answ I grant it is so but must tell him that true Faith as our Saviour himself teacheth us is to believe the Gospel Mark 1.15 The Faith therefore that is not founded on the Promises of the Gospel but a mans own fancie as is the Faith which Mr. S. requireth is not a true but a false Faith Obiect 4 But saith he There needs no more on our sides to work or warrant salvation to us but to be perswaded that Jesus Christ died for us because Christ hath suffered and God is satisfied Now suffering and satisfaction that great work of salvation How Christ by his Passion hath wrought the great work of our salvation I have already shewed But it followeth not hereupon that there is nothing to be done by us in a lower way for we must walk in that narrow way of which our Saviour speaketh Matth. 7.14 Matt. 7.14 that leadeth unto life or else we shall never come to Heaven nor have any part in that salvation which is there purchased and prepared by Christ for his Saints It 's therefore not only a false but a most impious and most dangerous assertion to say as here Mr. S. doth That there needs no more on our sides to work or warrant salvation to us but to be perswaded that Jesus Christ died for us If this were so then indeed salvation would be a short work For not only all those must needs be saved who are perswaded that Christ died for all men absolutely and therefore for themselves in particular but also the most loose and licentious Libertines and carnal Gospellers that are for even those if not all yet many of them do perswade themselves that Christ died for them as well as for any other but this Faith of theirs is nothing else but most deadly and damnable presumption as is shewed in the 15. Question Lastly Whereas he objecteth and saith They only Obiect 5 are justified who believe Rom. 1.17 Acts 13.39 And that we are justified by grace not of works Rom. 3 2â— Answ This we willingly grant but tell him that there is more required to our salvation than to our justification For as Bernard saith excellently well Bona operae De gratiae et libero arbitrio sunt occultae praedestinationis indicia futurae glorificationis praesagia via regni non causa regnandi Good works are tokens of our predestination that otherwise lieth hidden from us fore-tokens of our future glorification the way to the Kingdom but not the cause of the crown Whosoever therefore liveth here idly and worketh not nor imployeth the talent which he hath received of his heavenly Lord and Master shall never come to Heaven Matth. 25.30 but be cast into utter darknesse where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Again whereas he saith They only are justified who believe We acknowledge this true but tell him that no man believeth until he seeth his own misery by sin and in what great need he standeth of Christ as hath been already shewed Albeit then we are justified by Faith only yet this Faith is not ordinarily to be had without some precedent qualifications such as are the hearing of the word denial of a mans own self and of his righteousnesse and a belief of perswasion that salvation is to be had by Christ only Object 2. Gods love is not offered to all equally and indifferently or to all absolutely Object 2 Secondly He alledgeth also these sayings of holy Scripture against us as if they excluded all preparation to Faith God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 God so loved the world that he gave his
risen though perhaps that might not be the very first moment of the rising thereof when this was spoken and the Suns shining upon the wall is made a sign or an evidence and manifestation thereof And even so in like manner when our Saviour saith Her sins which are many are forgiven her his meaning was that they were really forgiven though not at that instant onely but from the first moment of her conversion And he maketh this manifest by his next words from her abundant love which she so many wayes shewed and expressed towards him saying For she loved much I know Mr. D. will not here say with the Papists that her love to Christ was the cause that he pardoned and forgave her her sins but that he drew an Argument from thence to prove and to evidence that her sins were forgiven And so this conjunction causal for est causa consequentiae non consequentis is only the cause of the consequence in his Argument or in his reasoning but not of the thing it self whereof he speaketh that is of the pardon of her sins He would prove also from the judgement of Protestant Interpreters that our Saviour speaketh not of remission of sins really but of the manifestation thereof because when we pray in the fifth Petition of the Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses they make this to be the meaning hereof that the Children of God whose sins are already pardoned do pray for more assurance thereof But I have shewed already Quest 9. that they make this to be the meaning thereof only in part and not the full sense of that Petition as Mr. D. would have it Recon of God to man pag. 43. Another place of Scripture which he perverteth and corrupteth by a novellous and strange Exposition are those words of St. Paul 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God The meaning hereof he will have to be that they shall not enter into the Kingdom of God here on Earth which is his Church But in expounding these words thus he commeth far short of the meaning of the Apostle for albeit it is most certain that the unrighteous are no true members of the Church though they be in it for a time yet the Scripture when it speaketh of the inheritance which Christ hath purchased for his Saints from which the unrighteous are excluded referreth the possession thereof not to this World where we sojourn for a time as Pilgrims in a strange Country but to that happy life that is to come Thus our Saviour at the day of judgement will say unto his Elect people and righteous Servants Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world St. Paul also telleth us that flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. neither shall corruption inherit incorruption Which words it were absurd to refer unto the Kingdom of grace or to say that the Apostle excludeth all such out of the Church here on earth who carry about them corruptible flesh and blood St. Peter also in plain words so speaketh of the inheritance of Heaven as of a thing the possession whereof is not to be had in this life but in the World to come Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God 1 Pet. 1.3 4 4. through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time When St. Paul therefore saith that Fornicators Adulterers and such unrighteous persons shall not inherit the Kingdom of God his meaning is that they shall never enter into the glorious Kingdom of Heaven but be excluded thence and be cast into Hell 3. As strangely doth he expound those words of the Apostle Heb. 12.14 Recon of God to man p. 43 44. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord that is saith he with spiritual eyes or with the eyes of faith whereas the Apostle speaketh not here in praesenti of that Vision or seeing of the Lord which is to be had in this present World but in futuro of our seeing of him hereafter to our endless comfort in his Kingdom and in his glory in the same sense as St. John doth 1 Joh. 3.2 We know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Most false therefore it is which Mr. D. saith To see God and to inherit the Kingdom of God are nothing else but to believe in God and in his Son Jesus Christ When we come to Heaven faith in Christ shall cease and yet we shall not cease then to see God Another place of holy Scripture 1 Cor. 13.13 Confer with a sick man pag. 7. 1 Ioh. 3.14 which he grosly perverteth with a false Exposition and so goeth about to deprive the godly of the comfort which they take from it are those words of St. John We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren Many good souls have acknowledged that when all other grounds of comfort have failed them or at the least when in time of temptation they have not been able to apprehend any comfort from any thing else yet these words of the Apostle have upheld them from despairing of their Estate because their Consciences did testifie unto them that they did unfainedly love and ardently affect all that are godly Now this comfort also Mr. D. denyeth them * Confer p. 9. I do saith he for the present believe that St. John doth principally speak of our assurance whereby we know one another to be the Children of God And Conf. p. 8. He telleth us that it is before man that our love beareth witness to our Faith For he saith that St. Johns meaning is not that a man may know by his love to the Brethren that he himself particularly is in the state of grace but that the faithful in general by means of the love which they professed and shewed one to another were well perswaded one of another and believed by the judgement of charity that they were all the Children of God But this Exposition of his crosseth the main scope and drift or the purpose and intention of the Apostle in writing this Epistle which was to comfort the faithful by shewing them what signes and tokens and particular evidences they had of the forgiveness of their sins and of their salvation by Christ for so he saith Chap. 5.13 These things have I written unto you whereof their love to the Brethren was one that believe on the name of