with his Son-in-law Mr. Shepherd go both the same way yet Mr. Shepherd writing last hath done it more fully Mr. Hooker not putting forth his Book himself as I conceive therefore I shall attend Mr. Shepherd especially being I wrote to him about it and have his Letter in answer by me Let us see then whither we have brought the Soul the Spirit of God hath convinced it of its sinful undone miserable condition hath made it acquainted with fears and sorrows rising from that Conviction hath beaten it out of its self-confidence and self-righteousness it is very poor in its own eyes he hath made it willing or not unwilling to be divorced from its sins and lusts glad to take Christ upon any terms so it may have him What is next Faith in Christ close with him poor Soul say I take him upon those terms the Gospel tenders him which thou sayest and that truly thou doest heartily submit to and thinkest it is the best bargain that ever thou madest This Doctrine I dare preach to thee No saith Mr. Shepherd between those preparations and Faith in Christ there comes in one more to make up sound preparation What is that I pray The Soul in that condition must lye under God to be disposed of as he please quietly contented to lye still at his feet p. 125 143 150. But I pray what mean you by this That is It must have no sinking discouragements no secret quarrelling but content quiet though God will never work grace never manifest grace never pity it never help it never succour it never give it his Love p. 140 154. In one word saith Mr. Thomas Hooker if the Soul be rightly humbled it is content to bear the state of Damnation Souls Humiliation p. 112. This then is another requisite to right preparation for Christ So Mr Hooker Souls Humil. p. 145. expresseth it plainly p. 112. that the Soul so prepared as I have mentioned be content to be without Christ and bear the state of damnation if God will have it so These holy men tell us of damned Saints what else to call them I know not The Soul before it comes to Christ hath no goodness at all nothing that we can call Sanctification or Grace in them by way of habit these men acknowledge yet here I think is an Act and a high one too of Grace if it must be by the Word requiring it before the Soul hath Faith in Christ such a subjection to the holy Will and Soveraignty of God that if he will deny it the greatest good the rational Creature is capable of and inflict upon it his dreadful wrath to eternity the Soul is quiet contented well satisfied with his pleasure Can any man call this any other but Grace and it must be performed also from a habit of Grace Mr. Shepherd doth not tell us this is wrought by actual grace without a sanctified habit When Aaron heldhis peace Levit. 10.3 David was dumb Psal 38.9 I think they did manifest Grace in their quiet subjection to Gods Justice and Soveraignty But what petty nothings were their tryals unto this which the convinced Soul is now called to and yet must have no Grace Either Nature or Grace must do this not Nature I am sure then it must be Grace and yet no Faith no Christ no sanctified habit of Grace in it Content quiet well apayed satisfied words which both these Worthies express their minds by are words that carry much in them they imply not only a non-murmuring and devil-like fierceness flying out against God as Mr. Shepherd phraseth is but they carry in them abundance more something that is positive as will appear by both these Worthies Mr. Shepherd p. 147. makes this his second Argument to prove his Position Why art thou quiet and still when God denies thee any common mercy Is it not because the Lord will have it so Now look as we say of him that hates sin as sin that he hates all sin so he that is meekned with Gods good pleasure in any one thing because of his good pleasure in it upon the same ground will at least desire to stoop in every thing c. So if God will deny thee mercy c. By the way note this must not be any grace though the Soul hath this frame of heart for he speaks of one as yet not come to Faith Now in this Argument of his we shall find there is something positive and more then a non-murmuring There are many outward common mercies which God hath given to others and those of his own people but denied them to me which I could be glad of and think I should bless him if I had them yet I do not only not murmur against God and quarrel with him because I am denied them but I am very well pleased quiet and content with his Will in denying them a positive quiet well-pleased frame I feel upon what grounds I am so content whether only upon the account of his Soveraignty that I do not now express but may speak to it when I come to answer his Argument Mr. Hooker p. 139 140. shewing us how the humbled Soul answers the Devils Objections I shall only give the sum of one or two not willing to transcribe all 1. Satan objects Doest thou think to get mercy from the Lord when thine own Conscience dogs thee Go to the place where thou hast lived to the chambers where thou lyest see thy abominations God hears not the prayers of such vile sinners The Soul answers I have denied God and he may well deny me and if the Lord will cast me away and reject my prayers I am content But saith Satan this is not all for God will give thee over and leave thee to thy self thy lusts and corruptions thy end will be worse then thy beginning thou shalt call and cry and be overthrown God will leave thee to thy corruptions and lusts they shall prevail against thee thou shalt fall fearfully to the wounding of thy Conscience scandal of the Gospell and the reproach of thine own person To this the Soul answers If the Lord will give me up to my base lusts leave me to my sins and I fall one day yet let the Lord be honoured let not God loose the praise of his power and justice and I am contented if God leave me Blessed God what Divinity is this But Satan replies when God hath thus left thee to thy sins he will break out in vengeance against thee and get praise from that proud heart of thine The Soul answers If the Lord do come in judgment against me I am contented Hath the blessed God left no other way to answer the Devil but this Did the the Saints of God of whom we read in Scripture answer the Devil only thus We read of some that have been under their temptations but I remember not these answers But by what we read in Mr. Hooker we may observe this is not a bare
is no Apostolical preaching Mr. Shepherd nor any other ever found that in Christ or his Apostles preaching I put that question to old Mr. Daniel Rogers Whether it were the duty of Ministers to preach the Soveraignty of Gods Grace to give it where he will when we are upon the work of Conversion or effectual Calling and the Soul under that work He answered To preach the Soveraignty of his Grace in triumphing over all the guilt and vileness of the broken hearted sinner that lyes under the sense of his sin is proper preaching of it This is very true but this is not Mr. Shepherd's sense How sparing is holy Writ in this great point but how abundant is it in setting out his Goodness Grace Mercy towards poor sinners who feel the want of it and would gladly embrace it upon his terms Let us observe the Apostle in his practical Catechisme the Epistle to the Romans when he had opened the state of every man by nature in his first second and part of the third Chapter quite outed him and shewn where our remedy lay how we came to be justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed and reconciliation through his blood in the end of the third fourth and fifth Chapters and touched the Doctrine of Sanctification in the sixth Chapter the spiritual Combate in the seventh Chapter excellent priviledges of Believers in the eighth Chapter then indeed upon the occasion of an Objection that might be made about the Jews in the ninth Chapter he openeth this Soveraignty but the Apostle doth not use to preach this to awakened Souls as Mr. Shepherd doth and Mr. Hooker while under the work of Conviction Compunction c. For Mr. Shepherd's Similitude which he brings to illustrate his Reason but illustration and probation are different things from a Beggar coming to our doors asking alms and will have what he desires else he falls a quarrelling with the Master of the house draws his knife What saith the Master Away proud Beggar shall I not do with my own what I will c. Laying by this quarrelling drawing the knife and so that devil-like fierceness against God which Mr. Shepherd mentions and which is another question this must not be I acknowledge I shall with this holy mans leave give him a Similitude which answers the case and Scriptures more aptly then his doth For the beggar if one man doth not relieve him another may and save his life But let us suppose first There is but one man that can relieve a poor man in a miserable painful starving condition Secondly This rich man calls this poor man to his door Thirdly Promiseth him if he will submit to such a condition he will relieve him and save him from perishing Fourthly He commands him to come Fifthly Threatens him if he will not come Now for this poor man to go and beg at his door and declare that he doth and will submit to his condition and to have a servant of the house come and tell this poor beggar my Master is Lord of his own goods may do what he please with them you must be content to starve and dye if the beggar quarrels with the servant yea and Master too I cannot blame him For the Reddition or Application of the Similitude the case is the same Man hath dealt vilely with God brought himself into a miserable undone and damned condition God hath made the man sensible of this his state and lies under the burden of it God who is rich in grace and only able to help this man calls him to his Son whom he hath sent to redeem such miserable Creatures and by Christ he calls him to himself Secondly In calling him he offers to him if he will come and submit to his condition he will save him from his woful misery perfectly give him his Love Grace Pardon Image c. Thirdly He commands him to come to his Son Fourthly He threatens him with damnation if he will not come Fifthly He promiseth covenants and sets seals to his Covenant that he will do all for him in the second Head upon that condition This man now finds the Lord hath wrought in him a willingness to submit to the condition oh with all my heart do I yield if thou wilt give me what thou hast said To have a servant now come and tell me the Lord is soveraign over his Grace true he can pardon sanctifie c. but he will dispose of his Grace where he pleaseth you must be content to have no Grace but be damned for ever though it 's true I would not fly like a Devil against God nor draw my knife yet I will quarrel with this servant and tell him his Master is of a sweeter nature and told me otherwise bad me come and promised he would save me if I did come to his condition which I heartily submit to Whatever thoughts people have of God while they are filling themselves with their lusts and dead in sins yet when once people come to be awakened Conscience roars people then are apt to have ill surmises and hatd thoughts of God the Devil will throw them in fast enough we had need keep up as good thoughts of God as we can in the hearts of awakened sinners This answer may serve to another kind of argument like this p. 148. when he saith It is the greatest pride when the Soul will be discontent and grow sullen because God denies it not small things but treasures of Grace Mercy Christ and all that he is worth This he illustrates from a Beggar that must have a thousand pounds c. To which I answer I grant they are wonderful things indeed but considering the infinite fulness of himself and the fulness of Christs purchase it is no more for God to give me them then to give me the bread I eat every day God may give his Grace Mercy Love Pardon to millions of men more then are in the world hath been or shall be and when he hath so done not one farthing the poorer I am the poorer by a penny if I give a penny less then these will not serve the turn our misery is so great Be they never so great his sweet heart intended them his Christ hath purchased them He hath pleased to promise them Covenants and Seals to give them upon condition submitted to He calls me commands me to come and take them He threatens me if I do not No pride then at all to be discontent disquieted without them Doth God call me thus command me to seek the lesser things of this world and threaten me with damnation if I do not pursue them The case then is not the same In page 147. I find another Argument I think he intends it for one and I would leave nothing untouched which I see may carry a shew of an Argument in it it is that which at first I noted Why art thou quiet and still when the Lord denies thee any common mercy
is it not because the Lord will have it so Now look as we say him that bates sin as sin he hates all sin so he that is meekened with Gods good pleasure in any one thing because of his good pleasure upon the same ground will endeavour at least to stoop in every thing So then if Gods pleasure be to deny thee mercy c. I answer If this Argument be well looked into I think there is a fallacy appears in it If you lay it thus If the Soveraignty of God in denying me any one common mercy be the ground which makes me quiet and still in want of it then if Gods pleasure be to deny me another common mercy upon the same ground I will still be quiet So there may be some use of what is added be that hates sin as sin hates all sin for all sin is of the same nature transgression of the Law enmity against God So all common mercies as common are of the same nature none argue special love But this Argument speaks not ad idem for your Argument runs from common mercies to saving special mercies these are not as sins quâ sins of the same nature enmity to God but these differ infinitely quite of another nature So that to argue because I am quiet with the will of God in denying me common mercies ergo I must be quiet contented with the will of God though he denies me special mercies will never give me his Love Grace but damn me This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fallacy Secondly It seems by this Argument that all the reasons or the only reason why we are content and ought to be content when God denies us any common mercy is the soveraignty and pleasure of God for this is the reason expressed and none but this That the pleasure of God doth much and ought to do much among Christians I deny not but that this must be the sole reason as if no other reason should quiet us I understand not this Divinity With his leave I shall give him other reasons why I am content and quiet though God denieth me some common mercies since it is his pleasore freely to give me himself his Christ his Love his Grace his Pardon and Peace which are sure mercies therefore I desire to be quiet and content though he hath denied me many common mercies and let me say this with honour yet to that holy man that the will being a most hungry appetite and good being the meat that must satisfie it and this is Gods own work to make the faculty then if the will be hungry and sharp set after any common mercy that it tastes as good and very good for it then if the temptation blows hard it will be impossible to make that man quiet contented but either he must enjoy that particular good or he must find some other good counterpoizing nay overcoming and conquering that good and what is that but God himself in Christ Soveraignty doth not satisfie the appetite in it self simply it is no good for the will to possess but the love of the Soveraign God which gives the will union with God this is heavenly food for this appetite and this will do when this good God will give out himself to the Soul and make the Soul know it What the Soveraign God might have done with his Creature I deny not but it hath pleased him graciously to deal with man as a rational Creature giving him commands and doth many times give this reason for obedience I am Jehovah but yet withall he gives Argumeuts sutable to the will there is good for it How often is that Argument used to israel That it may go well with you and your Children How many promises of good How many threats of evil from which the will flies Then flie from disobedience Let us observe the twelfth of the Hebrews what Arguments the Spirit of God doth give to quiet Christians under afflictions want of common mercies Is Soveraignty the only Argument there insisted upon Search and we shall find others and but little of that if any thing at all Verse 3. an example from Christ our Lord and Head what he suffered ver 6. the love of God Whom he loveth ver 7. Childrens fare He deals with you as Sons ver 8. Else Bastards ver 9 10. Our own fathers after their own pleasure here was a fit place to have added so God for his pleasure his soveraignty but the Spirit opposeth God chastiseth us for our profit to make us partakers of his holiness These are all quieting Arguments so that for my part I do not find the Scripture speaking after Mr. Shepherd's manner who hath infisted upon nothing but only Soveraignty except his first Argument I find no more Reasons in Mr. Shepherd there is one which I have in my mind which may carry some strength in it I will set it down though I see it not in these holy mens Books and make their case as good as I can Either you must murmure and quarrel against God if he will not give you his Love and Grace but damn you or else you must be content though God will never give you his Love and Grace but damn you But you must not murmure and quarrel ergo you must be content To this Argument I answer I deny the disjunction there is no necessity that one of the parts must be true or I deny both the parts of the Proposition for I would neither murmure quarrel or fly out against God nor will I study to be content to be given up to my lusts denied Grace and be damned Quest If you ask me what will you do then Answ I answer The Lord hath made me see what a finful and miserable Creature I am in my self and hath made me feel how unable I am to help my self being nothing in my self but sin misery rebellion emptiness wants the Toad more happy yet in the Gospel I see he hath revealed his Chaist he offers Christ to me calls me to receive Jesus who delivereth me from wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity 2 Tit. 14. From this present world Gal. 1.4 Christ himself calls me to come Isai 55.1 Revel 22.17 tells me he will not shut the door against me nor cast me out if I do come John 6.37 He promiseth if I do come I shall not perish John 3.16 Gods will and command is that I do believe in him John 3.16 1 John 3.23 It is obedience to believe in him Rom. 1.5 and 16.26 Obedience of Faith He threatens me if I believe not with his wrath John 3. last When I was in my infancy he took me into Covenant with my godly Parents and powred clean water upon me in my baptisme Ezek. 36.25 signifying and sealing up to me the blood of Christ with his benefits if I answer the condition of his Covenant Now his offer I most thankfully accept his
pox and some from the Gout which though many men who are temperate are afflicted with it yet some by their intemperance bring it upon themselves One of our great men whose name I mention not being much afflicted with the Gout said Could I meet God I would know of him what is the reason he doth so plague me with the Gout Yet said he who told me of it and I think gave him the same answer he should not need to ask God the reason he might see it easily himself for he would I speak within compass as he related it to me drink a gallon of Claret-wine in a night Sixthly But what if you be taken off from your lusts and idols and enjoy a better content in the room of them I hope you are not hurt If this could be made good it were but rational indeed you say and if it cannot be made good say I it were but an irrational thing to call thee off from them to God and Christ Were there no more then the escaping those woful evils temporal and eternal which do attend them yet it were rational because the pleasure the good bears no proportion with the greatness exceeding greatness of the evils But the will I know is a hungry appetite and will not be satisfied with privative good it must have pasitive good to feed upon else it will not be quiet A man who is very hungry and hath meat before him to eat which pleases his palate if one tell him there is poyson mixed with his dish this will make him abstain from it because of the evil that will attend it but this doth not satisfie his hunger give me something to eat saith he 'T is the same with our rational appetite when set upon a lust creature or whatever is opposite to God tell him this will cost thee Hell the eternal wrath of an infinite God it may possibly prevail so with some to abstain though with most Hell signifies nothing Hell is but a Bugbear a thing fit to scare Children withall but this doth not satisfie the will still calls out give me something to asswage my hunger I feel emptiness fill up that yea and it shall be filled up when we come to speak of the Term to which thou art called or else hold to thy lust and idol still all that I say at present till I come to it is this Redemption from lusts and creatures fill with more solid satisfying content and delight then the enjoyment of lusts and creatures unto which Position I am assured all those who have been slaves to them but are now redeemed will set their hands As to the other part of the Objection the mopishness and sadness which you fear we know this also we have had the same Objections cast in and improved much by Satan and our carnal hearts against the wayes of God a stumbling block it hath proved to many young ones especially and those of a more chearful temper this Objection hath been advanced by the observation of others who are either under the work of Conversion newly or under some desertions or under some vile temptations which a Christian cannot master which many times cloud the faces and sink the spirits of those who are otherwise chearful enough and partly from the carriages of some Christians who are of a more austere morose temper or rather distemper which discourageth other that behold them and converse with them any thing shall serve to help a man to pick quarrels with the wayes of God yet I think Christians duty is to avoid whatever may cause any to stumble at them But to answer this Objection as we can very well having been under the same quarrellings with Gods wayes First That sadness and fears should seize upon a person when he comes to see himself under that woful state of sin and misery is this such a wonder Is this irrational Wouldst thou not have rational mirth Then thou art a fool indeed What were you never sad in all your life Were you ever upon the merry pin To meet with that man who was never in his dumps as you phrase it is a strange sight if ever sad it was upon some evil apprehended But I pray compare that evil with the evil of sin and misery thou art under by Nature and see which is worst Was it rational for you to be sad under an evil infinitely less and is it irrational to be sad under this Why then do you stumble Secondly There is some mourning under the sense of sin which if you were acquainted with you would not be shy of it but you would think it a mercy of God if you could attain more of it Christians pray for a broken spirit and would bless God for such a kindness Thirdly Chuse you which of these two you will a mourning time must be for sin either here or hereafter there is no avoiding it if your mourning begin hereafter you will not be in capacity of that Promise He will wipe away all tears from their eyes Revel 21.4 Take heed your weeping doth not begin there where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Matth. 25.30 but no wiping Fourthly But to ease you a little more you are mistaken very much in thinking that Religion in the power of it only serves to make men mopish and sad though you do see Christians sometimes dejected I grant it when God first deals with the Soul or if he deserts the Soul or if he lets it lie under its strong combatings with potent corruptions and denyes to send in answers of prayers these are sad times with Christians and is there not cause The Christian is rational in all this what Faith may do in such times I deny not 't is easie for them to talk of Faith at such times who are not pressed with these loads but still this is not the fault of Religion It is not Conversion or the power of Religion that makes them sad but the want of Religion and fuller Conversion give them what they desire in Religion and they shall be chearful enough so that they do not put Religion in sowr faces whatever he said that it may be hath had as sowr a face for a lesser cause since he spake it It were to be wished indeed that others might not see the dejected countenances of Christians hide them alwayes they cannot If any worldling or irreligious person have his countenance dejected for being crossed in something he desires as it is their lot oftentimes this is nothing but if one that is set for God and Religion do at any time shew such a countenance by and by the fault is layed upon Religion It is far from my thoughts to plead for levity frothiness among Christians I am afraid some take too much liberty but yet I think a chearful affable courteous behaviour in Christians avoiding that mopishness austerity morosity which some Christians express especially towards carnal men would better become the Gospel
if they did unawares happen to pronounce it then they would punish themselves with a blow on their faces and use another word like it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which by an Apocope they framed out of two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deleatur nomen ejus Let his name be blotted out to see the hatred of this poor people against the Lord Jesus the Lord hasten the removal of the vail But in the time of his being in the flesh amongst them that which they opposed was that he should be the Christ the Messiah this was such a crime that whoever did say he was the Christ it was matter of excommunication they put him out of the Synagogue John 9.22 Others of the false Apostles would not stand much at that but might yield it he was Christ but not Lord they would not set up him only Lord of their faith and lives but they set up the Servant Moses with him he must be joyned to him Non praedicabant Christum Dominum sed Mosis conservum Davenant ibid. this the Son nor his holy Apostles would endure hence we have it so often that these three are put together Acts 2.36 God hath made that Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ saith Peter the last words were the Controversie We preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord saith Paul so 1 Cor. 8.6 thus Paul in his Benedictions useth the words The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ eight times The essence of Faith lies in receiving this Person in his Offices Jesus Christ the Lord John 1.11 we have the word receiving the same Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our Text but in the twelfth verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the simple Verb Whence Grotius Hinc idem est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To this receiving four things are required it s made up of Acts 4. First Knowledge of the Person and his Offices his whole work what I am to receive I will know the Soul and Christ by receiving him enter into a married union it is mystical but real Will a Woman receive that Man to be her Husband whom she knows not John 17.3 This is life eternal to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Men cannot believe in him of whom not heard Rom. 10.14 Every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him John 6.40 There is a seeing the Son understanding knowing him well before there will be any believing on him to salvation First see then believe Thus he began in the term from which he called you thus he doth also in the term to which he calls you the work is rational no more only touch it This knowledge is of his Person Offices and work of Redemption for he must be received with all the Soul shall not be mistaken let it know what it must receive The Person such as is the Person such is the valor of his Offices and of all the work he hath done He who hath his state of sin and misery layed open to him to purpose Conscience awakened guilt lying heavy upon his Soul and feels the rebellion of his heart a hell of corruption within him will never venture his Soul with one who is but a meer Creature no power meerly created can do that for him which he feels must be done or he must perish God in our flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 it must be that must make a Redeemer for him or else he must lye in his bonds for ever Here the Socinians Jesus and our Jesus differ infinitely what the Apostle saith concerning his Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.14 If Christ be not risen our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain the same I say concerning his Person if he be but man a meer Creature let him die and rise and ascend both preaching and faith are but vain a meer man is not a Rock a precious Corner-stone for Faith to build upon Flesh is too soft too sandy to lay such a weight the weight of a guilty captivated Soul under laid lusts creatures and devils upon The Egyptians use men and not God and their horses flesh and not spirit Isai 31.3 What then They will fail when you come to trial Wo to them that go down to Egypt v. 1. They were reproved much and accounted fools who went down to Egypt to put their trust in men in flesh for outward temporal safety and shall we trust upon one who is man and no God flesh and not an eternal spirit for the eternal safety of precious Souls It were improper for me considering the scope of my Book to enter upon this discourse though this is the main pillar of our Christian Religion if this go all goes it is a mercy to weak Christians that God keeps off Satan from troubling of them here thousands go out of this world to Heaven and never meet with one troubled thought about it yet I fear this Doctrine spreads much but it must be amongst those who never had the load of guilt and sin lye upon them it will not easily down with those persons who have felt them I shall say no more about it only suggest to the Reader a notion or two which I have had when I read that Text John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. when God will set forth any of his Excellencies his Attributes they appear so glorious that they swallow up they confound the understanding of the Creature it cannot reach them they set him into amazement and there leave him If God will shew forth his Power his Wisdom his Goodness that God is so powerful so wise so good he makes a world and how are our understandings confounded amazed when we comtemplate these Attributes appearing in the Creature they are indeed God-like Would any man demand a demonstration of the patience and long-suffering of God Let him but consider the horrid wickedness Atheisme blasphemy uncleanness with all the abominations in England and then tell me if his patience and long-suffering be not God-like So if God will set forth the Attribute of his Love in a gift and put his so to it that he so loved that gift must be such a thing that his Love therein demonstrated may be like his other Attributes God-like such as confound amaze swallow up the understanding as do the other Attributes for if the understanding can grasp it it is but a mean pitiful business not at all becoming a God especially when he puts his so to it so loved Then let us view his gift and see whether this gift demonstrates Love to be God like comparable to his other Attributes The gift is an Only bigotten Son But what is that Son God or man or God-man in one Person Why He is but a man flesh as we are only his miraculous Conception of a Virgin had not our sinful nature he lived a holy life and died to confirm his Doctrine and to
this only that by his sin be hath displeased God who hath been to him a most merciful and loving Father Quest What sign is there of this sorrow Answ The true sign of it is this when a man can be grieved for the very disobedience of God in his evil word or deed though he should never be punished 1 Pet. 2.19 and though there were neither Heaven nor Hell By these men Christians are put to try their Sonship whether Sons or Slaves also to try their repentance and godly sorrow here is the only cause and the true sign set down whereby they must try themselves you repent you are sorrowful for offending of God you worship him you serve him though there were neither Heaven nor Hell give in your answers Christians you are sure thus it is with you and you can trust your hearts that they say true if they do say as these Divines have said before Calonius to prove his Assertion brings in Antigonus his judgment who taught his Scholars this kind of Divinity and tells us out of Menasse Ben Israel that Zadok and Baytos two of Antigonus Scholars did misinterpret their Masters Doctrine as if their Master denied any other life after this and from thence took occasion to deny the immortality of the Soul and from this Zadok rose the Heresie and Sect of the Sadduces thus he Of these Sadduces we read often in the Gospels and in Acts 23.8 The Sadduces say there is no Resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit Were there neither reward nor punishment Hell nor Heaven I believe the number of Sons and such Penitents would be but very few Sadduces would not be esteemed Hereticks Such Doctrine would produce if not vile Herefies yet vile practises This Doctrine turns out all the Promises and all the Threatnings out of the Bible as to Believers and sets up such Divinity as came not into the thoughts of God to declare to the Sons of men Strange that when man was in his pure estate no sin yet had crept into his Soul yet then when God gives him a Commandment to obey he to keep man to obedience adds this threat Thou shalt dye And that now when sin hath got in and hath still such a hold even in those who are regenerate Sons and do truly repent and besides sin dwelling in them live amongst such varieties of temptations to draw forth sin which Adam never had that now persons must be put to try their Sonship and godly sorrow by this that though there were neither Hell nor Heaven yet they would serve God and repent is very strange Yet farther to answer these worthy men First I grant that the true Children of God do walk with God they do serve him worship him they do repent when they fall without being moved with Arguments from Hell or Heaven being actually in their thoughts the excellency of God and Christ the love they bear to him the content they have and find in pleasing of him the beauty they see in a conformity to his holy Will and blessed Image carries them on without having Heaven or Hell reward or punishment actually in their eye but what my vile heart would do if there were neither Heaven nor Hell reward nor punishment as these men say I cannot tell that what Calonius and holy Perkins found in their hearts I know not but I am sure many find their hearts so vile so out of frame many times that let them use all Arguments from the right hand and left unless the Spirit of God comes in and quickens them and puts to his power they will not all do to keep the vile heart in the path of Gods Commandements Secondly I grant that is a true sign as Mr. Perkins saith if persons do as he sayes in their godly sorrow but if there be no other sign but this and as he saith for no other cause but this only then I know not how we shall be sure of our repentance or Sonship until I saw and were sure there were neither Heaven nor Hell and then saw what my heart would do whatever it may say now it would do I dare not trust it Thirdly The only cause saith Mr. Perkins is this Because by his sin he hath displeased God who hath been to him a most merciful and loving Father Very good Wherein did God shew himself to be so merciful and loving Was it not in delivering him from the misery for mercy alwayes suppose misery he had brought himself into And is not guilt hell and damnation a part of that misery It seems then the man being delivered from hell calls God his loving and merciful Father for redeeming his Soul from death and from this love and mercy of God to him if he offends he mourns and grieves and would do though there were no hell and by this judge his state But had God been looked upon so merciful and loving if he had not delivered him from Hell and given him a Title to Heaven I doubt not So that when a man is sure of deliverance from the one and Title to the other now he repents and serves God though there were neither one nor the other This is the Divinity I cannot understand As to the Texts Mr. Perkins quotes to prove his Doctrine that of 2 Cor. 7.8 9. it proves not at all his point it mentions godly sorrow indeed but what was the only cause of it it treats not of it doth not say the Corinthians were so sorrowful though there were neither Hell nor Heaven Nay in the fear which it wrought ver 11. I do not know how Mr. Perkins will prove that the thoughts of the wrath of God of Hell might not be some inducement to that fear As to Peter's bitter weeping Matth. 26.75 which is his next it proves no more than what I yielded at first the look of a gracious Saviour upon unkind Peter who had boasted so before that he would dye with him and not deny him but now deals with him after this manner this breaks Peter's heart this argues that unkind dealing against love manifested breaks a heart and nothing like it But still in what is this love manifested John 6.68 Peter knew Thou hast the words of eternal life the Christ the Saviour had there been neither Heaven nor Hell I question whether Peter would have left all and followed him As to 1 Peter 2.19 the only Text he quotes for his second Answer the Apostle exhorts Servants to be subject to their Masters though froward his reason For this is thank worthy if a man for Conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully By Conscience here is meant no other but that good Conscience before God which makes Christian Servants sollicitously careful lest by their disobedient and rebellious carriages against their Masters they should offend God who had given command to Servants to be obedient and subject to their Masters but as the Lord had given command to Servants so he promises them