may be observed and remembred that when we say sincere Obedience is indispensably necessary to Salvation we do not mean that it is required as absolutely and indispensably necessary to our Salvation that our sincere Obedience be never at all interrupted by any Acts of disobedience but that if it happen that our Obedience be at any time notably interrupted by Acts of wilful presumptuous Sin it is indispensably necessary to our Salvation that we renew our Faith and Repentance and return to our Obedience again and that we dye in Faith and Obedience to the revealed Will of God As for them who are called at the last Hour who are first converted and justified a little before their Death Actual Faith and Repentance is required of them in their own Persons and as much more sincere Obedience as they have time and strength to performe As we see in the penitent Thief he performed a great deal of Obedience in a little time he not onely believed in Christ with his Heart but confessed him with his Mouth pleaded for him and vindicated him from the blasphemous Aspersions that were cast upon him He likewise took shame to himself and gave Glory to God by confessing his own Sins and withal he expressed his Love to his Fellow-Thief by rebuking and admonishing him Lastly He trusted in and prayed unto Christ as a Lord and King who had a Kingdome in another World and who could help and save him after this Life Luke 22.40 41 42. This that penitent Malefactor did at his Death and truly this was a great deal for him to do at such a time and when Christ his Lord and Saviour was before his Face in so low and miserable a Condition to the Eye of Sense and Reason The Obedience which that poor penitent Believer yeilded to the Lord in such Circumstances may well be esteemed equivalent to all that sincere Obedience which in the space of many Years others in better Circumstances perform unto the Lord. Thus we have at large prosecuted and cleared this Argument for the indispensable necessity of sincere Obedience to the obtaining of Eternal Life and Salvation and consequently for the Conditionality of the Covenant-promise of Eternal Life and Salvation And the Argument seems to us so clear and cogent that we do not see any thing of weight that can be objected against it If any should say that sincere Evangelical Obedience is not only necessary to Salvation as the condition to be performed on our parts but upon other accounts also We heartily acknowledge that it is so It is necessary to express our Love and Thankfulness to God and Christ for their wonderful Goodness and Grace Mercy and Love to us As also it is necessary in order to the pleasing and Glorifying our God Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier and that thereby we may profit and edifie our Neighbours But this doth by no means hinder its being likewise indispensably necessary to our own Salvation nay all this is a part of that Obedience which is so necessary to our Salvation If yet any should further object and say that besides Faith sincere Obedience may be indispensably necessary to Salvation and yet not be a Condition of obtaining Salvation We answer that we do not love to contend with any about the use of the word condition if they will grant us the thing signified by the Word Now by the Word condition in this matter of Obedience we mean no more but that sincere Obedience is so necessary to Salvation that God by his Promise hath suspended our obtaining of Salvation consummate Salvation in Heavenly Glory till we have performed sincere Obedience unto him assuring us that if through Grace we perform sincere Obedience unto him we shall certainly be saved but if not we shall not be saved This is all we mean by sincere Obedience its being the Condition of the Covenant-promise of Salvation If our Brethren agree to this they yeild us the thing that we contend for and there remains no more difference as to this matter but about the use of the word condition and if they do not think fit to use that Word we leave them to their Liberty not to use it as we desire they would leave us to our Liberty to use it as we have occasion For though the Word be not in Scripture yet the thing signified by the Word is manifestly there as we have proved It is also a Word of Antient usage in the Christian Church even in the best Reformed Churches before ever we were born why then should we forbear the use of the Word condition or why should any be offended at our using of it Indeed we cannot forbear the using of it for the Reason given us by some well-meaning Men because it is not a Scriptural-word For if that Reason prove any thing it will prove too much to wit that we should not use the Words Trinity Incarnation Satisfaction Merit of Christ Sacrament Infant-baptism c. and which is more that we should wholly give over Preaching the Gospel and hereafter only Read the Holy Scripture without Expounding it for we are sure that no Man doth or can Preach one Sermon without using some Word or Words that are not expresly in the Scripture And as our sincere Obedience may be and really is a Condition of obtaining Eternal Salvation though it be not expresly called by that Name in Scripture so may it be and really it is a Condition though it be performed by the help of God's Grace We know this is the main Reason why our Brethren think that neither our Faith nor Obedience can be a Condition of the Covenant because they are wrought in us by the special and effectual Grace of God but we know also that this is a very weak Reason For 1. We do not say that that is the Condition of the Covenant which is the Work and Effect of Gods Grace alone Such is effectual Calling on God's part and the infusion of the Seminal abiding principle of supernatural Spiritual Life It is God only who calls us effectually and who infuses the said Principle of Grace and Life into our Souls and we are merely passive in the reception of it We never said nor thought that it is required of us by way of Duty or Condition that we should effectually call our selves and infuse a supernatural Principle of Grace and Life into our selves This indeed would be very absurd Therefore we hold that our being effectually called and our having an abiding principle of Grace and Life given in unto us is quid prae-requisitum something pre-required to our right performing the condition but not the condition it self That which is required of us by way of Duty and Condition on which God promiseth us the subsequent blessings of the Covenant It is that we do not resist his Spirit and that by the grace of his Spirit we do actually believe and obey and persevere to the end Now the Grace of God whereby
than this For we freely acknowledge that any person or party who find themselves unjustly suspected of and charged with horrid crimes whereof they know themselves not to be guilty may and ought to clear themselves the best way they can and if they cannot do it by Word they may very honestly do it by Writing provided that in clearing themselves they do not falsely accuse others and so fall into the same fault which they blame others for which if they do assuredly they take wrong measures for all considering Men will be apt to suspect them more than ever of Libertinism when they plainly see that they run themselves into Libertine practices in order to clear themselves of Libertine principles But after all he hath said of his Party their being falsely accused of Antinomianism and that they could no longer be silent Let. pag. 10. but must speak and write in their own defence and in defence of the Gospel we are at a loss to know who they are that so accused them We can find no such thing in Mr. Williams Book nay we find that in it which clears the chief of them of the charge of Antinomianism At the beginning of the Digression Concerning the necessity of Repentance to forgiveness of Sin pag. 113. these are Mr. Williams Words My business in this Digression is with Men of more Orthodox Principles to wit than the Antinomians There is one whom we know as well as any Man in the World to whom Mr. Williams said before his Book was all printed off This is said with respect to Mr. Cole him I mean and here I endeavour to state and make up the difference between him and Dr. Bates Hereupon that Minister looked into the Digression and read some part of it which he liked so well as thinking it might be very useful both to consirm Truth and also to maintain Peace and Love among Brethren that it was to him one motive amongst others which induced him to subscribe unto the stating of the truths and errours in Mr. Williams Book This we know to be true we know it as certainly as any other thing in the World and we mention it to show that we did not suspect that Party as our Authour hath been pleased to distinguish them much less did we accuse them of real Antinomianism So far were we from it that we were heartily glad to find that our Reverend Brother had expresly owned them to be Men of more Orthodox Principles than the Antinomians against whom and no other that Book was written How comes it then to be so often asserted or insinuated throughout the Letter that we falsely accuse them See p. 26. and charge them with Antinomianism and put them upon a necessary self-defence We think we are wronged in this matter and must think so till we see better proof than the bare word of this Authour Or if any of us had really been so unjust and uncharitable as to accuse their whole Party of Antinomianism did that warrant this Brother falsely to Recriminate as he hath done and to charge us especially our younger Brethren with Arminianism and Pelagianism Where did he learn such Morals Sure we are not in the School of Christ For Christ hath taught us all not to render evil for evil This we say upon supposition that some of us had sometime or other done him wrong in this matter which is unknown to us But if there was no such provocation given then this Authour was the more to blame to fancy or feign that we had accused his Party of Antinomianism that from thence he might take an occasion to accuse us of Arminianism and Pelagianism As for what any of us have at any time spoken or written against the Antinomian Tenents in Dr. Crisps or such Books we thought it did not at all concern them as being Men of more Orthodox Principles Tho' we could not be ignorant that there was some little difference of Judgment between some of them and us in some things yet we did not think nor say that that difference amounted to Antinomianism on their side nor could we have ever thought till the Letter informed us they would have said that it amounted to Arminianism and Pelagianism on our side But now we find we are mistaken for they have made us know that they had not so good an opinion of us as we had of them Yet we had rather be mistaken in this than in the other that is we had rather they should without cause think us to be Arminians and Pelagians than that ever we should have just cause to conclude any of them to be indeed Antinomians They tell the World by the Authour of the Letter that they have been suspected And we are afraid the late Writings of some of them will increase the suspicion But what ever suspicious Thoughts may be thereby raised in the minds of many we will endeavour to hinder such Thoughts from setling in our own Minds and still have the best opinion we can of our Brethren till we see further what the issue will be We do not then now account that Party to be really Antinomian whatever Mens Thoughts may be of some particular persons amongst them and we hope and wish we may never have cause so to do The Authour of the Letter in their name hath most solemnly protested that they are not Antinomians and we do believe it not so much because he says it as because we have other evidence to ground our belief upon For we have known very worthy Men of those who were formerly called Congregational that have been as much against Antinomian errours as we our selves are Such there are at this day and such we doubt not there will be when we are dead and gathered to our Fathers If then by his Party our Authour mean the Reverend Brethren of that Perswasion aforesaid we neither did nor do suspect them as such But for all that we are sorry that some who have made themselves of a Party should have also made themselves to be suspected at least of favouring Antinomianism This is the case of the Authour of the Letter who raised such a suspicion in the minds of some that truly loved him by recommending Dr. Crisps Book as Mr. Williams says in his late Preface and we know it to be true and by lending it to one without giving the least caution against any of the errours in it His own Conscience knows this to be true And this might very probably raise a suspicion of him in particular And we think lie was concerned to have cleared himself and expected that in his Letter he would have done it by disowning some of the Doctrinal errours in the said Booke But we are disappointed for there we do not find that he hath so clearly disowned any of the Doctrinal errours in that Book as that the People who want judgment as his expression is can discern that he hath done it This we shall
breaking of God's Commandements without Repentance pertaineth not everlasting Life but everlasting Death as Christ himself saith they that do evil shall go into everlasting fire Mat. 25. These Passages do manifestly show that in the Judgment of the Church of England as sincere Repentance is indispensably necessary to obtain forgiveness of sin so sincere Obedience from a principle of Faith and Love and bringing forth Fruits meet for Repentance is indispensably necessary to the escaping of eternal damnation and obtaining of eternal Salvation Let any Man read and consider the Sermon of Repentance in the same Book Tom. 2. pag. 324. and he will see this to be as clear as the Light at Noon-day We will quote one short Passage out of it in Page 339. they say The filihiness of sin is such that as long as we do abide in it God cannot but detest and abhorre us neither can there be any hope that we shall enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem except we be first made clean and purged from it But this will never be unless forsaking our former Life we do with our whole Heart return unto the Lord our God and with a full purpose of Amendment of Life flee unto his Mercy taking sure hold thereupon through Faith in the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ This excellent Passage shews clearly that as Faith is the receptive applicative Condition so true Repentance is the dispositive Condition of the Covenant of Pardon and Life and that the one is as necessary in its kind as the other is and that unless through Grace we do both we are undone for ever Thus we have shewed at large what was the old Gospel Doctrine of the Church of England at the Reformation and that our Doctrine is exactly the same Therefore it must needs be a most horrid we will not say lye but falsehood that we preach a new Gospel and that we are to be blamed for telling People that they must repent and mourn for their known sins leave and loath them and God will have Mercy upon them for Christ's sake From whole Societies of Protestants we pass to the Testimonies of Individual Pastours of the Reformed Churches And we begin with Calvin who in his Commentary on Ezek. 18.23 sayes Deus ergo non ita vult omnes salvos fieri ut discrimen omne tollat boni mali sed praecedit veniam poenitentia quemadmodum hîc dicitur Therefore God doth not so will all Men to be saved as to take away all difference between good and evil but Repentance goes before Pardon as it is here said And again on the same Text We hold therefore that God doth not will now the death of a Sinner because he calls all to Repentance without making a difference and promises that he shall be ready to receive them modo seriò resipiscant if they or on condition that they earnestly repent And in his Institutions he writes thus Lib. 3. cap. 3. Sect. 20. Quare ubi remissionem peccatorum offert Deus c. For which reason where God offers remission of sins he likewise useth to require on our part Repentance signifying thereby that his Mercy offered ought to cause Men to repent Doe saith he Judgment and Justice because Salvation is come near at band Isa 56.1 Likewise The Redeemer shall come to Sion and to them who turn from transgression in Jacob Isa 59.20 Again Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteousness of his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him Isa 55.6 7. Again Be converted and repent that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3.19 Where yet it is to be noted that this Condition to wit of Repentance is not so annexed to those Promises as if our Repentance were the ground of meriting our pardon but rather because the Lord hath determined to show mercy unto Men for this end that they might repent he shews them whither they are to go to wit unto God by Repentance if they will obtain Favour In these passages we observe 1. That Calvin says expresly That Repentance is a Condition annexed to the promise of pardon 2. That the performance of that Condition goes before pardon And 3. That therefore we are to repent and so perform the Condition that we may obtain the Grace of pardon 4. That in Calvin's Judgment Repentance is a Condition of Justification and that because Calvin believed Justification and pardon of sin to be the same thing as is most evident from what he writes against Osiander Instit 3d. Book cap. 11. Sect. 4.11 21 22. 5. That in Calvins Judgment Repentance is the dispositive Condition of Justification For it must be either the receptive or dispositive Condition but it cannot be the receptive Condition for in Calvin's judgment Faith is the only receptive Condition therefore it must be the dispositive Condition And indeed Calvin so held it to be for in his third Book of Institutions chap. 3. Sect. 18. He says Privatim Deo confiteri pars est verae poenitentiae quae omitti non potest Nihil enim minus consentaneum quam ut peccata ignoscat Deus in quibus nobis ipsi blandimur c. To confess our sins in secret to God is a part of true Repentance which cannot be omitted For nothing is less becoming or suitable than that God should forgive us those sins in which we flatter or please our selves On the contrary Calvin writing against Pighius says Contra Pigh de lib. arb lib. 5. Sect. Adducit tamen Sanè humiles Deus respicit sicut illi acceptum cordis contriti afflicti sacrificium David canit Indeed God hath regard unto the humble as David sings in his Psalm that the Sacrifice of a contrite and afflicted heart is acceptable and pleasing unto him These passages show That in Calvin's judgment an impenitent sinner is by reason of his impenitence unfit for pardon but that the true Penitent by his Humiliation and brokenness of Heart is disposed and fitted for pardon so that it is agreeable to the perfections of God's Nature to accept such a Person in Christ and to pardon his sins for Christ's sake And as Calvin held Faith and Repentance to be the Conditions of our Justification so did he hold sincere Obedience from a Principle of Faith and Love to be the Condition of our not falling from a justified state and of our obtaining the possession of Eternal Life and Glory For thus he writes in his Institutions Quoties ergo audimus c. Therefore as often as we hear lib. 3. cap. 17. Sect. 6. that God bestows his benefits on them who keep his Law we are to remember that God's Children are there designed or described by the Duty which they ought to be continually exercised in that we are for this reason adopted that we should reverence and honour him for
have everlasting Life And Art 6. he sayes that Faith embraces and appropriates to ones self Christ and all that is in him for since be is offered us to be possessed by us with this condition if we believe in him one of the two thâ—n must necessarily be to wit either that all is not in Christ which is necessary to our Salvation Or if all be in him then he possesseth all things who possesseth Christ by Faith And in his short Confession Art 10. Itaque meritò concludere possumus in uno Jesu Christo contra omnia mala quae conscièntias nostras terrere possunt praesentissima remedia reperiri Sed addenda est conditio si ista remedia nobis applicemus Therefore we may justly conclude that in one Jesus Christ there are found soveraign infallible remedies against all the evils that can terrifie our Consciences But this condition must be added if we apply those remedies to our selves We see Beza put it into his Confession of Faith as an Article of his Belief that the Gospel Covenant hath a Condition and is conditional The same Authour in his little Book of Questions and Answers the First Part to the Question You say then that Good Works are necessary to Salvation he Answers that if Faith be necessary to Salvation then Good Works are likewise necessary to it non tamen ut salatis causam yet not as the cause of Salvation for we are justified and therefore live onely by Faith in Christ but as something that is necessarily joined with Faith as Paul saith they are the Children of God who are led by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.14 And John that he is righteous who doth righteousness 1 John 4.7 So that it plainly appears they are contentious Men who condemn the necessity of Good Works as a false Doctrine Thus Beza And we do no more say that Good Works are necessary as the cause of Salvation than he doth nor do we any more than he say that Good Works without Faith are the necessary Condition of obtaining Salvation On the contrary we say that Faith is the Spring of all our good Motions and runs through them all and that it is Good Works done from a Principle of Faith and Love which are the necessary Condition of obtaining Salvation Lastly To the Question What then if Faith be first given to a Man at the point of Death For this seems to have been the case of the penitent Thief who was crucified with Christ What good Works can such a Man do Beza Answers Yea the Faith of that Thief in a most short time was unspeakably energetical or effectual and operative for he reproved the other Thief for his blasphemies and wickedness he abhorred his own Crimes with a firm and most wonderful Faith he acknowledged Christ to be an Eternal King and prayed unto him as a Saviour under the very ignominy and shame of the Cross when all his own Disciples were silent and spoke not one word for him he did also openly rebuke the Jews for their Cruelty and impious Expressions But so it is that Confession of sin Prayer to God the Father through Christ and thanksgiving are the most excellent Works of the First Table which in no Man can be wholly separated from Faith And although some may be so prevented by Death as not to have power to shew forth any works of the Second Table yet in such a Man Faith is not therefore to be esteemed idle and unfruitful because it hath Love conjoined though not in Energie and Act yet in Power and Principle Thus far Beza To which we agree as we said before In such extraordinary cases God requires no more of Men as absolutely necessary to their Salvation than they have time and strength to perform but accepts the will for the deed through Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 8.12 Our next Witness is Mr. Fox the Authour of the Book of Martyrs The World hath been told already in the defence of Gospel-Truth pag. 35. that holy Mr. Fox in his Latine Book of Christ freely Justifying maintains that Faith is the proper receptive applicative Condition of Justification and that Repentance is the dispositive Condition it is that which prepares us for receiving Justification But some who read that Discourse of his in the Book of Martyrs which our Authour directs them unto may possibly object that in the second Volume of the Book of Martyrs pag. 192. he saith The Promise of Life and Salvation is offered unto us freely without any Condition We Answer It is true he doth say so but he means that it is without any Meritorious Legal Condition and all such Conditions we reject as much as he did or any Man can do as appears by what we have said at large in giving account of our Judgment concerning the Conditionality of the Covenant That this was Mr. Fox's true meaning appears from his own Words in the same Page a few Lines after The Voice of the Gospel saith he differeth from the Voice of the Law in this that it hath no Condition adjoined of our meriting but only respecteth the Merits of Christ the Son of God If our Authour will not admit of this explication of Fox's Words that he only rejected all Meritorious and Legal Conditions but will needs have it that he absolutely rejects all Conditions of the Covenant of Grace both Legal and Evangelical then we must say that he hath little respect to the Memory and Credit of Mr. Fox since he makes him most shamefully to contradict himself And was he fit then to write a Book of Martyrs or to be himself a Witness for the Truth against the Papists Can he be justly admitted to bear witness against others who by self-contradiction is a false Witness against himself Truly we should be loath so to expose that good Man to the scorn of the Papists and therefore we positively affirm that he doth not contradict himself at all because the Conditions are of different kinds which he denies and affirms He denies that there are any properly meritorious legal Conditions of the new Covenant and so do we He affirms that there is a proper Evangelical Condition to wit Faith and constant Confession They are his own Words in his Latine Book aforesaid And we join with him in affirming the same And now we do further make it known to the People that Mr. Fox in the said Book concerning Christ freely Justifying doth grant that after we are freely justified by Faith in Christ sincere Obedience to Christ's Commandments is necessary to retain or not to lose our Justification These are his own Words Quod autem dici solet per obedientiam retineri justificationis gratiam Page 369 370. ut hoc concedatur aliquo modo non tamen hinc c. As for that which useth to be said that the Grace of Justification is retained by Obedience though that be granted in some sense yet it doth not follow from hence that Justification
neglect of Faith and Obedience cannot be culpable if they be not required 3. Because otherwise it would follow that in this Covenant God is bound to Man but Man is not bound to God which is most absurd and contrary to the nature of all Covenants wherein there is a mutual Agreement and reciprocal Obligation whereby the Parties Covenanting are bound to one another Afterwards in Page 204. he comes to Answer the Second Branch of the Question to wit Which are the Conditions of the New Covenant And saies that as for Faith there is no question but it is the Condition of the Covenant because the Scripture so clearly affirms it so to be Joh. 3.16 Rom. 1.16 17. and 10.9 And he sayes that Faith is the Condition of the Covenant as it hath respect unto and is the Instrumental Means of our Union with Christ Yea he maintains as we do that in this sense Faith is the onely Condition because there is no other Condition that is of a receptive applicative Nature as Faith is no other that receives Christ and applyes his Righteousness as Faith doth But in another sense there are other Conditions of the Covenant besides Faith that is if the Word Conditions be taken for all those things which a Man by the Covenant of Grace is bound to do then nothing hinders but Repentance and new Obedience may be called a Condition because they are comprehended among the Duties of the Covenant John 13.17 2 Cor. 5.17 Rom. 8.13 Moreover he holds that though new Obedience be not the primary antecedent yet it is the secondary subsequent Condition of the Covenant because being by Faith the primary Condition actually brought into Covenant now Obedience is medium via per quam tendimus ad plenam possessionem bonorum foederis the means and way by which we come to the full possession of the good things of the Covenant He saith we should distinguish between the Condition of Justification and the Condition of the Covenant the Promise of Justification is not the whole of the Covenant and therefore that which is the Condition of the Promise of Justification is not the whole Condition of the Covenant which adequately considered is of larger extent than the Promise of Justification He tells us lastly that we should distinguish between the first accepting of the Covenant and the after-keeping of the Covenant Faith accepts the Covenant by receiving the Promises Obedience keeps the Covenant by fulfilling the Commands Be ye holy for I am holy And yet this Obedience is not Legal but Evangelical because it is not meritorious it is the Fruit and Effect of an antecedent Principle of Spiritual Life wrought in us and of the actual Influence of the Spirit of Grace upon us and it is not rigorously exacted in the highest degree of Perfection as indispensably necessary to Salvation but though it be imperfect yet it is admitted and accepted through Christ if it be sincere We have here given a true and faithful account of the Judgment of the Learned and Judicious Turretin concerning the Conditionality of the Covenant of Grace with whom we agree in this matter which contains the sum of the Gospel as to Man's Duty especially and therefore if Turretin was no Legal Preacher no more are we and if he preached no new Gospel no more do we for we preach the same Gospel and in the same manner as he did There is one thing more wherein this worthy Divine and we do perfectly agree and that is concerning true Believers fallen into wilful sin against Knowledge and Conscience We say they cannot be saved till they have first recovered themselves through Grace by renewing their Faith and Repentance and returning to their Obedience again Now he sayes the same thing witness what he writes in the same Book Pag. 671 672. where he sayes That if a Believer fallen into gross sin against his Conscience be considered in himself and as guilty of such sin not repented of verum est reum esse mortis si in eo statu moreretur certo damnandum it is true that he is guilty of death and if he dyed in that state he would be certainly damned but if he be considered with respect to God's Decree of Election he is rightly said to be one who is to be absolved or pardoned and saved God so ordering the matter by his immense Love and Wisdome that he never dies in that state but by a renewed Act of Faith and Repentance he is first restored and returns into the way before he come to the end Whence it is that according to a twofold respect these two Propositions although they seem to be contrary may be both together true It is impossible that David a Person elected and a Man according to God's own Heart should perish It is impossible that David an Adulterer and Murderer if Death seize on him before he have repented should be saved The first of these Propositions is true in respect of God's Decree of Election The second is true also in respect of the hainousness and demerit of David 's sin But God's Providence and Grace looseth this Knot by taking care that neither David nor any of the Elect dye in that state in which for his impenitence he should be excluded from Salvation This Passage shews that Turretin believed as we do that after Justification sincere Obedience is so indispensably necessary to Salvation that unless a Believer continue in the practice of sincere Obedience or if there happen to be any signal intermistion by gross wilful sin for a time unless he renew his Faith and Repentance and thereby return to his Obedience he cannot be saved And Turretin a little before in Page 669. saies very judiciously That though God hath promised perseverance to Believers yet hath he not promised it to be given absolutely and without means but by means to be used by Man himself so that whilst God keeps Man he is bound also to keep himself by the Grace of the Spirit 1 John 5.18 Whence Believers are sure of their perseverance through the Faith of the Promises not by any external force which retains them in the way of Salvation will they will they yea even whilst they are living in their sins but in the use of Means and practice of Piety whilst working out their own Salvation with fear and trembling they are confident that it is God who works in them both to will and to do and who graciously perfects the good Work which he hath begun So that an occasion of licentiousness and impiety is wrongfully inferred from this Doctrine since to indulge wickedness and to have the Grace which causeth perseverance are utterly inconsistent Yea he that hath this Hope purifieth himself 1 John 3.3 And he ought to be certainly perswaded in himself that without holiness no Man shall see God and that there is no other way to Life but the way of Piety and Godliness A most Excellent Passage this is which
125. and Justified do sometimes through their own default fall into hainous sins and thereby they do incur the Fatherly Anger of God they draw upon themselves a damnable Guiltiness and lose their present â—tness to the Kingdome of Heaven Thon they prove their Position It is manifest say they by the Examples of David and Peter that the Regenerate can throw themselves headlong into most grievous sins God sometimes permitting it that they may learn with all humility to acknowledge that not by their own strength or deserts but by Gods Mercy alone they were freed from Eternal Death and had Life Eternal bestowed upon them Whilst they cleave to such sins and sleep securely therein God's Fatherly Anger ariseth against them Psal 89.31 Rom. 2.9 Besides they draw upon themselves damnable Guilt so that as long as they continue without Repentance in that state they neither ought nor can perswade themselves otherwise than that they are subject to Eternal Death Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die For they are bound in the Chain of a Capital Crime by the desert whereof according to God's Ordinance they are subject to Death although they are not as yet given over to Death nor about to be given over if we consider the Fatherly Love of God but are first to be rescued from this sin that they may also be rescued from the guilt of Death Lastly in respect of their present Condition they lose the fitness which they had of entâ—ing into the Kingdome of Heaven because into that Kingdome there shall in no wise enter any thing that is defiled Rev. 21.27 or that worketh Abomination For the Crown of Life is not set upon the Head of any but those who have fought a good fight and have finished their course in Faith and Holiness 2 Tim. 4.8 He is therefore unfit to obtain this Crown whosoever as yet cleaves to the Works of wickedness The Fourth Position is The unalterable Ordinance of God doth require that the Faithful so straying out of the right way must first return again into the way by a renewed performance of Faith and Repentance before he can be brought to the end of the way that is to the Kingdome of Heaven By the Decree of Election the Faithful are so predestinated to the End that they are as along the Kings High-way to be led to this appointed End no other ways than by the Means ordained by God Nor are these Decrees of God concerning the Means Manner and Order of such Events less fixed and sure than the Decrees of the End and of the Events themselves If any Man therefore walk in a way contrary to God's Ordinance namely that broad way of Vncleanness and Impenitence which leads directly down to Hell he can never come by this Means to the Kingdome of Heaven yea and if Death should overtake him wandring in this By-path he cannot but fall into Everlasting Death This is the constant and manifest Voice of the Holy Scripture Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13.3 Be not deceived neither fornicatours nor idolaters c. shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 They are deceived therefore who think that the Elect wallowing in such Crimes and so dying must notwithstanding needs be saved through the force of Election For the Salvation of the Elect is sure indeed God so decreeing But withal by the Decree of the same our God it is not otherwise sure than by the way of Faith Repentance and Holiness Heb. 12.14 Without holiness no man shall see God The foundation of God standeth sure And Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 Again their Fifth Position is that In the mean time between the Guilt of a grievous sin and the Renewed Act of Faith and Repentance such an Offender stands by his own desert to be condemned by Christ's Merit Ibid. Art V. pag. 126 127. and God's Decree to be acquitted but actually absolved he is not until he hath obtained pardon by Renewed Faith and Repentance And for Proof of this Position they say in Page 128. The Father of Mercies hath set down this Order That the Act of Repentance must go before the Benefit of Forgiveness Psal 32.5 Ezek. 18.27 Thus those Excellent Divines and Judicious Faithful Ministers of Christ By all which it is clear as the Sun That the Synod of Dort taught the conditionality of the Covenant and held Faith Repentance sincere Obedience and Perseverance to the End to be the indispensably necessary Conditions of obtaining Eternal Salvation and therefore if there happen to be a partial Intermission of sincere Evangelical Obedience for a time by Christians falling into hainous wilful sins there must be a renewing of Faith and Repentance and a returning to their Obedience again before they can obtain the pardon of those Sins and the Eternal Salvation of their Souls which is all that we hold in this matter And it is alserted explained and solidly proved by the most Learned and Judicious Dâ—â—â—â—â—ant who was a Member of the Synod of Dâ—â— in another Book of his in these Words Bond Opera sunt necessaria ad Justificationis statum relinendum Praelect de Justitiâ Habit. Act. cap. 31. p. 404 405. conservandum non ut causae c. that is Good Workes are necessary to retain and preserve the state of Justification not as causes which of themselves effect produce or merit this Preservation but as Means or Conditions without which God will not preserve the Grace of Justification in Men. And here may be reckoned up the same Works which we mentioned in the foregoing Conclusion For as no Man receives that general Justification which froes from the Guilt of all former sins unless Repentance Faith a Purpose to lead a New Life and other Actions of that nature concurre So no Man retains a state free from Guilt with respect to following sins but by means of the same Actions of believing in God calling upon God mortifying the flesh continually repenting and grieving for the sins that are continually committed The Reason why all these things are necessarily required on our part is this because these things cannot be always absent but their contraries will begin to be present which are repugnant to the Nature of a justified Man For if you take away Faith in God and Prayer there succeeds unbelief and contempt of God's Name If you take away the endeavour of Mortification and the exercise of Repentance there breaks in upon the Man predominant Lusts and Sins wasting the Conscience Therefore because it is not God's will that Men who are Vnbelievers obstinate carnal should enjoy the benefit of Justification he requires continual Works of Faith Repentance and Mortification by whose presence are thrust as it were out of Doors and driven far away Vnbelief Obstinacy Security and other Poysons of Justifying Grace and also of particular sins there is a particular pardon
That according to the Description which he gives of a Middle-way-man Let. p. 2. we may safely and with a good Conscience according to the Light which God hath given us deny that we are Middle-way-men for he makes a Middle-way-man to be one who espouses defends and promotes a Middle-way betwixt the Arminians and the Orthodox But that we are Middle-way-men in this Sense we must deny for we cannot own our selves to be such men without lying against our Consciences and saying that we are not Orthodox or but half-Orthodox which we believe to be a great falshood If therefore our Author would have us to confess that we are Middle-way-men 1. He must give us a better and truer Definition of a Middle-way-man for this will not fit us at all belike he would have the World believe that we are half-Arminians and half-Orthodox but if that be his meaning in intimating that we steer a Middle-course between the Arminians and the Orthodox it is an abominable Calumny which we have already wiped off by solemnly and sincerely Declaring that we do not participate of the Arminian extream at all we are no Arminians in whole or in part 2. He would do well to tell us whom he means by the Orthodox it may be that by the Orthodox he means chiefly himself and his small party exclusively of all other Protestants If that be his meaning we say 1. That he must not thus beg but prove his Orthodoxy before we can own him to be thus very Orthodox 2. We think that such a Notion of Orthodoxy is too narrow and Schismatical It is a Monopolizing of soundness in the Faith to a Party and that Comparatively a small Party of Christians too and a branding of all the rest with the Mark of Unsound and Erroneous in the Faith Whereas the real Difference between those called Middle-way-men on the one side and the most of those called Orthodox on the other may not be matter of Faith strictly so called but rather matter of Opinion and so both Parties may be Orthodox or sound in the Faith That is notwithstanding some different Sentiments in lesser things they may both firmly and fully agree in believing all the Articles of Christian Faith which are necessary to Church Communion on Earth and to the obtaining Eternal Salvation in Heaven through the Mercy of God the Father the Merits and Satisfaction of the Son and the Grace of the Holy Spirit 3dly If he had shewed us in his Letter wherein that Middle-way doth particularly consist according to his Opinion we should have it may be either owned or disowned it in part or in whole according as we had found him to have truly represented or misrepresented it to the World But since he hath not done that we cannot know certainly what he means by that Middle-way he talks of 4thly Yet by some Passages in his Letter we guess that he Points at the controversie about the extent of Christs Death which hath been amongst Protestant Divines since the Reformation or since the time that Beza and Piscator began to write on that Head after the Reformation And if that be the thing he Points at without naming it we will First Give the true State of the Controversie Secondly Declare briefly what our Opinion is as to that matter And for the State of the Controversie First There are some Divines in the World who are said to hold that Christ died equally for all men Elect and Non-elect and that God on the account of Christs Death gives a common sufficient Grace to them all whereby they may all if they will apply to themselves the Vertue of Christs Death and thereby obtain Justification and Salvation But that Christ did not dye for the Elect out of any special Love to them above others and that God through Christ doth not give any Special Effectual Determining Grace to the Elect more than to the Non-elect This is the Arminian extream Secondly There are other Divines who hold that Christ died for the Elect only and exclusively of all others and that he died not for any of the Non-elect in any proper tolerable true sense that he no more died for any of those Men who are not elected to Eternal Life than he died for the Devil and that such Men have no more to do with the Satisfaction and Meriâ—s of Christ than the Devil hath This is the other extream And we suppose that this is that which our Author accounts the Orthodex side and that he is of this side himself But Thirdly Between these two extream Opinions there is a Golden mean there is a Middâ—e-way which hath been many hundred years ago and still is expressed in this form of Words That Christ died only for the Elect-Sinners of Mankind both Sufficiently and Efficaciously but that he died for the Non-elect only Sufficiently but not Efficaciously This is the State of the Controversie 2. If Secondly It be now demanded Whether we be for this Middle-way or not In Answer to that demand we say That there are a great many of us who are Calumniated by our Author as corrupters of the Gospel by holding a Conditional Covenant and tho' we do not doubt but we all agree in the foresaid General form of Words and in admitting the Distirction of Christs dying for the Elect Efficaciciously and for the Reprebate only Sufficiently yet it may be that when we come to explain what we particularly mean by Christs dying Sufficiently only for the Non-elect there will be some little Difference amongst us in some of our Notions and Expressions and possibly some of us may not in effect differ from our Author further than in the manner of our Expression and in the Method of our Conceptions and Notions But 1. We are all of one Mind and of one Faith with respect to Christs dying Efficaciously for the Elect only and we hope also that our Author himself agrees with us herein Which is the main thing wherein our Agreement is necessary And then 2. As to the Non-Elect especially those of them to whom the Gospel is preached we hope all of us do and will agree to this That Christ died for them sufficiently in such a sense as he did not dye for the fallen Angels so that if they should believe in Christ and repent of their sins as they are bound to do according to the tenour and terms of the Gospel they should be saved through Christ and not perish as they do by persevering in Unbelief and Impenitence And being thus far agreed we hope we shall keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and as to any little difference of Judgment that may remain we shall bear with one another in Love after the example of the famous Synod of Dort whereof the Members differed in the Synod upon this very point and yet they bore with one another and wisely agreed against the Arminian extreme as most manifestly appears from the Acts of