Glory in Heaven though it cannot but be more estimable than all the Providences in Nature must be a meer Pendant on the fickle Will of Man But the Author urges upon the Doctor That it is impossible for us according to his Principles to do any thing that is good that is I suppose without Faith in Christ without which our Church in her Homily of good Works declares that no good work can be done I take it for a very Truth That from the first good Thought to the last Act of an holy Life all that is truly good must come from Grace But saith the Author This turns us into meer Machins and pag. 379. he glosses upon one of his Opposites as if Christ were to make us willing against our will Unto which I answer The very same was cast into St. Austin's dish by the Pelagians Sub nomine inquiunt Ad Bonisacdib 2. cap. 5. Gratiae it a satum asserunt ut dicant quia nisi Deus invito reluct anti homini inspir averit boni ipsius imperfecti cupiditatem nec à malo declinare nec bonum posset arripere To which as a meer Calumny St. Austin returns That a man may as well call St. Paul fati assertorem for saying It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Indeed it is a very strange charge doth Grace destroy Nature or may we be willing against our Will It is impossible That of the Schoolman may reconcile the matter Voluntas humana induci potest ab agente creato mutari ab agente increato Bonaâ—â—â—â— in 〈◊〉 2.25 cogi à nullo The Will without ceasing to be it self cannot be compelled but Grace changes it without Coaction breaks off its Chains without destroying its Liberty and per suavissimam omnipotentiam makes the unwilling Will willing But still there is a more glorious Discovery behind that is Mr. Sherlock The glorious end whereunto Sin is appointed and ordained I suppose the Dr. means by God is discovered in Christ viz. for the demonstration of God's Vindictive Justice in measuring out to it a just recompense of reward and for the praise of Gods glorious Grace in the pardon and forgiveness of it that is It could not be known how just and severe God is but by punishing sin nor how good and gracious God is but by pardoning it And therefore lest his Justice and Mercy should never be known to the World he appoints and ordains Sin to this edd that is Decrees that men shall sin that he may make some vessels of wrath and others vessels of mercy This is a Discovery which Nature and Revelation could not make for Nature would teach us that so infinitely a glorious Being as God is needs not sin and misery to recommend his Glory and Perfections and that so holy a God who so perfectly hates every thing that is wicked would not truckle with Sin and the Devil for his glory and that so good a God had much rather be glorious in the happiness and perfection and obedience of his Creatures than in their sin and misery And Revelation tells us the same thing That God delights not in the death of a sinner but rather that he should return and live that is He had rather there were no occasion for punishing than be made glorious by such acts of vengeance Vindictive Justice and pardoning Mercy are but secondary Attributes of the Divine Nature and therefore God cannot primarily design the glorifying of them for that cannot be without designing the sin and misery of his Creatures which would be inconsistent with the goodness and holiness of his Nature And afterwards pag. 57. He appointed sin for the glory of his Justice and Grace and since nothing can withstand the Decrees of God it pleased God that Man should sin but when he hath sinned he is extremely displeased with it and now his Justice must be satisfied This falls hard on those miserable Wretches whose ill fortune it was without any fault of theirs to be left out of the Roll of Election and who have no way to satisfie divine Justice but by their eternal torments It is I suppose agreed by all that God did willingly permit the entry of sin upon the World of Angels and Men he could have kept all the Angels up in their primitive Station and then there would have been no Tempter to Man or had their been one he could have sent the holy Angels to warn him from the late downcast of their fellows against his own and to tell him that the poyson would come from the Serpent or if not that he could have sent him such strong auxiliaries of Grace as should have out wrestled the temptation he could no doubt as easily as he confirms the Saints and Angels in Heaven he could for ever have barred out sin but he would not he freely suffered it to come in only the question is How he did it Whether there be only a nude Permission such as leaves the event pendulous and uncertain till Man's Will hath determined or whether there be a Preordination of the Event so that it falls out infallibly Deo permittente and Creatura liberè agente Two things constrain me to believe the latter The one is this That without a Preordination the Event of sinful Actions must be casual and what then shall become of Providence The Moments which hang upon those Events are great and weighty Multitudes of Angels Courtiers of Heaven turn Apostates out of their Fall comes a Tempter who at one blow draws Man and all his Posterity into sin that entring into the world makes way for a glorious Redemption by Christ The Four first Monarchies rowl about upon the Lusts and Ambitions of Men The poor Church like the Ark floats upon the waters and now and then a storm of persecution comes dashing down upon it Errors and Heresies successively break forth as so many Torrents ready to carry away every Article of our Creed and what mighty Concerns are these Admirable are the Methods and Mysteries of Providence in and about such Events Joseph's Brethren sell him into Egypt and the Church is provided for in the famine Absolon goes in to his Fathers Concubines and David is visited for his Adultery Judah and Tamar commit Incest and this way came the holy One into the flesh The wicked Jews crucifie the Son of God and out comes the great Work of Redemption Persecutors scatter the Church and God by this means scatters the Gospel Act. 8. In such Actions as these the Light shines out of Darkness God's Mercy Justice Wisdom Holiness Power break forth out of Man's Cruelty Injustice Folly Filthiness and Weakness In every Ataxy God hath a secret Order either an Order of Penalty Sin punishing Sin or an Order of Conducibility Good coming out of Evil. Nullum est malum in mundo saith profound Bradwardine quod non est propter aliquod magnum
a conduit only and not rather a Sea or Ocean of Grace S. Chrysostome as I have him quoted by the Learned Jeans calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an infinite Sea adding Though all the Saints that are were or shall be did do or shall receive of his fulness yet will he never be emptied never the less full for all that and why should the Author utter such a word as dressing up of Christ The investiture of him with his sacred Office of Mediator is so far above a slight that it is no less than the work of infinite Love Wisdom and Power those whom the Author opposes ascribe nothing to Christ but what is founded on Scripture And for such as are united to Christ in truth I verily believe that they shall never fall short of Heaven and to keep them in the true way thither God puts his fear into their hearts that they shall not depart away from him but these men ransack all the boundless perfections of the Deity What is this for Must we not own that Christ is God and hath all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him Or may we be Christians without it but they would have us build all our hopes not on the Gospel but on the person of Christ And where do they utter any such word or syllable Or how could they do so To rest upon Christ and cast away the Evangelical warrant to stand for the great purchaser and despise or neglect the Charter is utterly impossible To make this appear consider Mr. Sherlock Dr. Owen tells us That Christ is fit to be a Saviour from the Grace of Union and if we would understand what this strange Grace of Vnion is It is the uniting the nature of God and man in one Person which makes him fit to be a Saviour to the uttermost he lays his hands upon God by partaking of his nature Zach. 13.7 And he lays his hands on us by partaking of our nature Hebr. 2.14 And becomes a Daysman or Umpire between both Now though this be a great truth that the Vnion of the Divine and Humane nature in Christ did excellently qualifie him for the Office of a Mediatour yet this is the unhappiest man in expressing and proving it that I have met with For what an untoward representation is this of Christs Mediation that he came to make peace by laying his hands on God and men as if he meant to part a fray or scuffle and he might as well have named Gen. 1.1 or Matth. 1.1 or any other Scripture for the proof of it Strange Grace of Vnion Answer No Divine is a stranger to the Gratia Vnionis Nay the Author himself confesses it to be a great truth but the strangeness is in the Doctor 's untoward expressing of it he being the unhappiest man therein that ever the Author met with Imman fol. 21. that is except Bishop Vsher whose words are these Christ the only fit Vmpire to take up this controversie was to lay his hand as well upon God the party so highly offended as upon man the party so basely offending But the Doctor might as well have named Matth. 1. or Gen. 1. for the proof The expression was taken from Job 9.33 And if that expression the man God's Fellow Zach. 13.7 do not prove Christ's Divinity and that other he took part of our flesh and blood Heb. 2.13 do not prove his Humanity what can do it From the Deity of Christ Mr. Sherlock the Doctor observes The endless bottomless boundless Grace that is in Christ it is not the Grace of a creature no not of the humane nature it self that can serve our turn if it could be conceived as separate from the Deity Surely so many thirsty guilty souls as every day drink deep and large draughts of Grace and Mercy from him would if I may so speak sink him to the very bottom nay it could afford no supply at all but only in a moral way and that is a very pitiful way indeed The condemned Pelagius would allow meer moral Grace Answer but if there be no more what means the drawing quickning renewing regenerating creating conquering Grace so signally set forth in Scripture Or how should poor lost lapsed corrupted man dead in Sins and Trespasses ever be raised up into the Divine life Meer suasion operates only as proposing an object and not as ingenerating a power or faculty and were there no other Grace how should the power of repenting and believing which are things far above the Sphere of Nature ever be produced Or which way should the acts of repenting and believing ever come forth without a power S. Austin is not content with meer suasory Grace but would have such an one Quâ Gloriae magnitudo non solùm promittitur De Grat. contr Pelag lib. 1. cap. 10. verum etià m creditur nec solùm revelatur Sapientia verum etiam amatur nec suadetur solùm omne bonum verùm persuadetur And a little after he tells Pelagius That he must confess such a Grace if he would be a Christian The Dr. tells us Mr. Sherlock That if all the world should set themselves to drink free Grace and Mercy and Pardon from the Wells of Salvation if they should set themselves to draw from one single Promise they would not be able to sink the Grace of the Promise of the Person of Christ he means saith the Author one hairs breadth The Infiniteness of Grace with respect to its Spring or Fountain will answer all objections what is our finite guilt before it Shew me the sinner that can spread his Iniquity to the dimensions of this Grace Here is Mercy enough for the greatest the oldest the stubbornest Transgressor c. Enough in all reason this what a comfort is it to sinners to have such a God for their Saviour whose Grace is bottomless and boundless and exceeds the largest dimensions of sin though there be a world of sin in them The Grace of the Promise saith the Dr. of the Person of Christ he means Answer saith the Author This is just to as much purpose as if the Author should tell us That the Grace of the Evangelical Charter and the Grace of Christ the great Purchaser cannot consist together which as yet I never found admitted among Divines The Infiniteness of Christ's Grace is a thing no more to be scrupled or plaid withal than the Verity of his Deity When the Emperor Constantine had unjustly and unnaturally dipt his hands in the blood of his Son Crispus Spondan Annal. and Nephew Licinius Junior the Pagan Flamins were nonplust and could tell of no way of Expiation for so horrible a Crime but the Christian Doctrine furnished him with one No sooner doth a man become Christian but he must own that the Grace of Christ is infinite and in a transcendent Excess above all the dimensions of sin that the oldest and greatest Transgressor may find
Commandements shall be the Least in the Kingdom of Heaven if taken in rigore juris were enough to shut all men out of heaven it imports therefore that sincere Obedience is necessary to those who will go thither Again the Evangelicall Light brake out as it pleased the Father of Lights gradually and successively In Math. 16. Peter makes that famous Confession Thou art Christ and was by Christ called Blessed for it and a little after Peter as ignorant of Christ's Passion would have diverted him from it and for that was called Satan Christ's Passion was sure a most necessary thing vet he knew it not Further our Saviour tells the Apostles that It was expedient for them that he should go away why so Then the spirit should come which should guide them into all truth which should glorifie Christ which should take of Christs and should shew it unto them Joh. 16.7 13 14 15. Observe the Spirit was to open and display the things of Christ amongst others his blood and righteousness in their glory and true use to be made ours and now it is no wonder at all if imputed Righteousness be more fully laid down in the Epistles than in the Sermons of our Saviour Christ himself the wisdom of heaven reserved that fuller light till the descent of the holy Ghost Moreover we must distinguish between the necessity of Christs imputed righteousness in it self and the necessity of the knowledge of it Imputed Righteousness since the fall hath ever been necessary in it self no man was ever justisied without Christ's blood applyed to him and that application is made upon believing by way of imputation but the knowledge of it hath been more or less necessary as the Evangelical light hath more or less reveiled it St. Peter at that time of his confession was no doubt justified by Christ's blood and yet he then had not the knowledge of his passion Lastly it appears plainly that our Saviour warned his hearers not to trust in their own Righteousness Thus the Pharisee and the Publican are in the Parable set forth to those that trusted in themselves that they were righteous Luk. 18.19 The Pharisee boasts of his Justice Purity Sanctity The Publican cries out of his sins and begs for mercy and as our Saviour tells us went away jestified rather than the other So true is that of Prosper Melior est in malis factis humilis confessio quà m in bonis superbagloriatio To conclude I hope by these things it appears that neither our Saviour was unfaithful in his prophetical Office nor the Evangelists in giving us an account of our Saviours Doctrine It is worth the observing Mr. Sherlock that in all the New Testament there is no such expression as the Righteousness of Christ or the imputation of Christ's Righteousness we there only find 〈◊〉 righteousness of God and the righteousness of Faith and the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ which is 〈◊〉 strange Did the whole Mystery of the Gospel consist in the imputation of Christ's Righteousness that neither Christ nor his Apostles should once tell us so in express terms This is Bellarmine's own Argument Answer Hactenùs nullum omninò locum invenire potuerunt De just l. 2. cap. 7. ubi legeretur Christi justitiam nobis imputari ad justitiam But I hope our Author will not follow the sound and tinkling of words what if it be not in Scripture syllabically and literally May it not suffice to be there in Sence just Consequence Ratio divina non in superficie est sed in medullà The Author saith That there is no such Expression as the Righteousness of Christ but St. Peter tells us of the righteousness of God our Saviour Jesus Christ 2. Pet. 11 1 Again he saith That there is no such Expression as the Imputation of Christs Righteousness But St. Paul tells us That we are made righteous by Christs obedience Rom. 5.19 But I will say no more to this Objection because I have before proved Imputed Righteousness by Scripture That phrase Mr. Sherlock the Righteousness of God sometimes signifies his Justice Veracity or Goodness Rom. 3.5 but most commonly in the new Testament it signifies that Righteousness which God approves commands and which he will accept for the Justification of a sinner which is contained in the Terms of the Gospel Rom 1.17 For therein is the Righteousness of God reveiled Thus it is called the Righteousness of God Math. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness which is the same with the righteousness of his Kingdome Now the Kingdom of God signifies the State of the Gospel and the Righteousness of God or of his Kingdom that Righteousness which the Gospel prescribes which is conteined in the Sermons and Parables of Christ and consists in a sincere and universal Obedience to the Commands of God Answer The Righteousness of God is indeed that which he approves and accepts of in Justification but not that which he commands us to do no then we should not be justified by Christs blood Rom. 5.9 nor made righteous by his obedience Rom. 5.19 then the Apostle would not tell us of a righteousness imputed without works Rom. 4.6 Neither would he as he doth in that place exclude the Works of converted Abraham from Justification I say of converted Abraham for those words Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness Rom. 4.3 were spoken of Abraham divers years after his Conversion as Dr. Ward hath observed Our Obedience is an Evidence of our Justification 〈◊〉 22. but till it can expiate sin and reach the top and apex of the pure Law it cannot be the Matter of our Righteousness before God Our Church places good Works after Justification and most exellently states Justification in three things Vpon Gods part his great mercy and grace 〈◊〉 of Salvation upon Christs part Justice that is the satisfaction of Gods Justice or the price of our Redemption by the offering of his Body shedding of his Blood with fulfilling of the Law perfectly thoroughly and upon our part true and lively Faith in the Merits of Jesus Christ which is not ours but by God's working in us Thus our Church leaving no room at all for Obedience In the point of Justification The Righteousness of God that which he commands and rewards is the Righteousness of Faith Mr. Sherlock or Righteousness by the Faith of Christ Now Faith in Christ is often ujed objectively for the Gospel of Christ which is the Object of our Faith and so the Righteousness of Faith or by the Faith of Christ is that Righteousness which the Gospel commands Thus Acts. 24. Felix sent for Paul and heard him concerning the Faith of Christ that is concerning righteousness temperance and the judgment to come vers 25. which are the principal Matters of the Gospel Thus obedience to the Faith is obedience to
all the Dispensation of Grace to it self But if we may not have acquaintance with Christ himself may we have one with the Gospel No I doubt not the Gospel tells us That the Spirit reveils the things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 and by necessary consequence the Gospel will lead us unto Christ for that Spirit and to communion with him which is the thing opposed by the Author but to me so pretious that before I would open my lips against it I would put my self under the penance of Severus Sulpitius who having sullied himself with Pelagianism afterwards repented and devoted himself to perpetual silence ut peccatum Spond Ann. An. 430. quod loquendo contraxerat tacendo emendaret But now we must see the Pious Learned Dr. Owen brought upon the Stage The Dr. tells us Mr. Sherlock that Christ is not only the Wisdom of God but made Wisdom to us not only by teaching us wisdom by his Doctrine as he is the great Prophet of his Church but also because by knowing of him we become acquainted with the Wisdom of God which is our Wisdom To which purpose he applies that Text which speaks of the Doctrines of Christ to his Person Col. 2.3 For in him dwell all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge A little before those words Answer the Doctor 's Design by which in all Candor his After-discourse should be construed appears to be that all Wisdom is laid up in Christ and that from him alone it is to be obtained who is so hardy as to deny it He that knows him becomes acquainted with one in whom dwell all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and from whom are derived all the Riches of Understanding in the Saints As in the corporal vision of an Object there is requisite a Light in the Air and another in the Eye so in this intellectual Vision there is external Revelation and internal Illumination and both are from Christ Cui Veritas comperta sine Deo De Anima cap. 1. cui Deus cognitus sine Christo cui Christus exploratus sine Spiritu sancto cui Spiritus sanctus accommodatus sine Fidei Sacramento saith Tertullian By that Col. 2.3 In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge is as I take it meant the Person of Christ the very same which is pointed out Ver. 9. In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead Ver. 10. in him ye are complete Ver. 11. In him ye are circumcised and Ver. 12. With him ye are buried in Baptism and with him ye are risen through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead I can very hardly understand all these of the Gospel neither did I ever find that it was raised from the dead But now let us hear the Author's Inference So that our acquaintance with Christ's Person signifies such a knowledge of what Christ is hath done and suffered for us Mr. Sherlock from whence we may learn those greater deeper and more saving Mysteries of the Gospel which Christ hath not expresly reveiled to us for so the Doctor adds That these Properties of God Christ hath reveiled in his Doctrine in that Revelation he hath made of God and his Will but the Life of this Knowledge lies in an acquaintance with his Person whereby the express Image and Beams of this Glory of his Father doth shine forth that is that these things are clearly eminently and savingly only to be discovered in Christ So that it seems the Gospel of Christ makes a very imperfect and obscure discovery of the Nature Attributes and Will of God and a little after This sets up a new Rule of Faith above the Gospel acquaintance with Christ Doth our Acquaintance with Christ teach us Mysteries not reveiled in the Gospel No by no means neither doth the Doctor say so Redde verba mea vanescet calumnia tua saith St. Austin to Julian The Doctor saith those Properties are reveiled in the Doctrine And in a Sentence interposed by the Doctor but omitted by the Author he saith The knowledge of them is exposed to all but saith the Dr. The life of this knowledge lies in acquaintance with Christ So it is he is God manifest in the Flesh and so a rare Mirrour of the divine Perfections and withall he is the Great Illuminator by his Spirit and so opens our eyes to see the Mysteries in Christ and the Gospel Without this Illumination the outward Revelation gives not a saving Knowledge It may be the Author will smile at me but hear St. Austin De Praed Sanct. c. 8. Valdè remota est à sensibus carnis haec Schola in quâ Deus auditur docet gratia ista secreta est gratiam verò esse quis ambigit Hear Bishop Davenant Exp. in Col. cap. 2. Tales illuminationes fieri talem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imprimi fidelium animis non credunt mundani experiuntur tamen pii The Gospel is a perfect outward Revelation and Rule of Faith yet our blindness needs an inward Illumination that we may spiritually discern the Mysteries therein But now the Author will shew us what Additions these men make to the Gospel from an Acquaintance with Christ's Person and first upon the doctors words That the knowledge of God the knowledge of our selves and skill to walk in Communion with God in which three is the sum of all true Wisdom are obtained and manifested in and by the Lord Christ. The Author observes that by is fallaciously added to include the Revelations Christ hath made To which I answer The Dr. never excluded outward Revelation but this alone cannot give saving knowledge All Wisdom is in Christ as the Mirrour of divine Perfections and by Christ as the great Illuminator by his Spirit We should use outward Revelation in the very same posture as Zuinglius did who understanding from St. Peter that the Scripture was not of private Interpretation Mel. Ad. in vit Zuing. In coelum suspexit doctorem quaerens Spiritum looked up to heaven seeking the the Spirit for his great teacher Had Christ never appeared in the World Mr. Sherlock yet we had reason to believe that God is Wise and Good and Holy and Merciful because not only the works of Nature and Providence but the Word of God assure us that he is so And a little after he adds And is not this a confident Man to tell us That the love of God to sinners and his pardoning Mercy could never enter into the heart of man but by Christ when the Experience of the whole World confutes him for whatever becomes of his new Theories both Jews and Heathens who understand nothing at all what Christ was to do in order to our recovery did believe God gracious and merciful to sinners The Jews knew God to be gracious and merciful Answer very true but through the promised Messiah whom the Believers among them saw slain
the Prima Sapientia In the Sale of Joseph Man was cruel but God merciful In the Act of Judah and Tamar Man was unclean but God holy aiming at the Messiah in it In Rehoboam's rough Answer Man was foolish but God wise to accomplish his word In the Assyrian Tyranny Man was unjust but God righteous to correct his people In the strong Delusions sent to those that love not the Truth Man was weak but God strong in Spiritual Judgements and to name but one more In the Crucifixion of Christ there was Malice Blood and Wickedness on Man's part but Love Justice and Righteousness on God's one Attribute or other of his glitters in the Event with no more taint than is upon the pure Sun-beams by their converse in unclean places It 's true God needs not Sin to recommend his Glory no nor Virtue or Holiness in the Creature but sure he uses Sin that way and that so holily that it deserves a more reverent Expression than trucking with sin and the Devil As to the Event God preordains it I confess the Event of sinful Actions is evil in it self but in some respect it may be good to a third person Confess li. 9. cap. 8. A railing Servant wrought a cure upon Monica as St. Austin relates Nay in some case it may be good to the sinner De Civit. l. 14. c. 13. Audeo dicere superbis esse utile cadere in aliquod apertum manifestúmque peccatum unde sibi displiceant qui jam sibi placendo ceciderant saith the same Author And again on those words Omnia cooperantur in bonum Rom. 8. he adds Etiam si deviant exorbitent De Correp cap. 9. hoc ipsum eis faciat proficere in bonum quia humliores redeunt doctiores But however the Event be evil to the sinner it is not so to God as Ordinator The Event of Adam's Fall was evil to him but as it made way for the Redeemer was not so to God which made one cry out O foelix culpa quae tantum meruit Redemptorem The Event of the vile Affections in the Gentiles was evil to them but as it was punitive of their Idolatry was not so to God Hence St. Austin saith elegantly Tradit Deus in passiones ignominiae Contr. Jul. lib. 5. ut fiant quae non conveniunt sed ipse convenienter tradit even those inconvenient Affections were convenient for Gods Justice to inflict on them Is it not good that Sin should be punished with Sin The Scripture plainly affirms it and if the Event may be good as to God because of the Order of just penalty why may it not be such because of the Order of wise Conducibility God by his holy Ordination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dion de Div. Nom. cap. 4 as far as that Ordination is Hence the Apostle puts a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Event of Heresies Dial. de Ver. cap. 8. and Anselm puts a Debet esse upon the Event of Sin and St. Austin lays it down clearly Euch. cap. 96. Vt sent mala bonum est aliter nullo modo esse sinerentur ab omnipotente bono every thing is good so far as ordinated by him In this sence the Medes are God's sanctified ones without sanctity in themselves and Events are good without goodness in themselves that which is evil in Specie may be good in Ordine and so far as it is good it is a fit Object for his Will especially seeing it is ordained to come to pass Deo permittente on the one hand and Creaturâ liberè agente on the other On such Terms as these I may say Deo ordinante pulchra sunt omnia But saith the Author The Creature cannot act freely for nothing can withstand the Decrees of God To which I answer Gods Providence is ever salvative of the Creatures Liberty inferring not a necessity of Coaction but Immutability Instances in Scripture are abundant Antiochus blasphemes according to his own will yet it was determined Dan. 11.36 The Chaldees march in violence and in the pomp of freedom insomuch that the Text saith That their judgment and dignity proceeded of themselves yet God had ordained them for judgment Hab. 1. The Kings in Revel 17. gave their Kingdom to the Beast and what freer than gift yet God put in their hearts to do so The Jews freely crucified Christ yet God's hand and counsel was in it After such pregnant Scriptures ought we not to acquiesce in this Truth That God's Decree and Man's Liberty may consist together Cajetan is an excellent Pattern for us who laying down the Common Opinion That Humane Acts are evitable as to us but inevitable as to Providence and then mentioning some distinctions to reconcile the matter piously concluded that he would captitivate his Uunderstanding in obsequium fidei and so we should all Having so prolixly spoken of the Ordination of such Events a very little may serve as to the End when God preordains such Events to be sure he doth it in great Wisdom and Reason some End there is in it If any will say it was done quià Voluit I am content his Will is never irrational if he will say further that it was for his Glory I am satisfied that is the supreme End if he will yet go on and say it was for the manifestation of his Justice and Mercy I cannot tell how to assign a better End if the after-use made of Sin may interpret God's meaning that shews forth the Illustration of both those Attributes The Apostle tells us That God is willing to shew his wrath and power in some and to make known the riches of his glory in others Rom. 9. Suppose there were no Ordination but only a nude Permission a man may ask Why did God permit such an Apollyon as Sin to enter the World Why suffered he so many glorious Angels to fall into sin and immediately without any place for Repentance to sink into Chains of Darkness for ever There is scarce any appearance but of meer Sovereignty Justice in it Why suffered he Man and all his Posterity with him to fall into sin and wrath It is plain that the work of Redemption in which Justice and Mercy were both shewed forth was ushered in upon it It 's true as the Scripture saith That God delights not in the death of a sinner not in death as it is the misery of the Creatute not in the death of a repenting sinner his Repentance which is there opposed to Death is more grateful However the sins of men fall under his Providence and without repentance their death as an act of Justice wil be grateful to him insomuch that he will laugh at it Prov. 1. There are behind yet two other Expressions the one puts the Doctor 's Opinion into odious colours after this manner It pleased God that Man should sin but when he had sinned he is exceedingly displeased at it But upon the very
mercy enough in him and in very deed this is a comfort for sinners too high and sacred to be entertained with any other laugh than that of the joy of Faith But what now if the Divine Nature it self have not such an endless Mr. Sherlock boundless bottomless Grace At other times the Dr. tells us of the Naturalness of Vindictive Justice Though God be rich in Mercy he never told us yet that his Mercy was so boundless and bottomless He hath given a great many demonstrations of the severity of his Anger against sinners who could not be much worse than the greatest oldest stubbornest Transgressors But supposing the Divine Nature were such a bottomless Fountain of Grace how comes this to be a personal Grace of the Mediator For a Mediator as Mediator ought not to be considered as the Fountain but as the Minister of Grace God the Father ought to come in for a share at least in being the Fountain of Grace though the Dr. is pleased to take no notice of him But how excellent is the Grace of Christs Person above the Grace of the Gospel for that is a bounded limited thing it is a strait gate and narrow way that leadeth unto life there is no such boundless Mercy as all the sins in the world cannot equal its dimensions as will save the greatest oldest stubbornest Transgressors Smalcius denies God's Mercy to be infinite and immense Answer and the Author seems to hint some such thing But Christ is God and in his Divine Nature there can be no finite Attribute and what if Divine Justice be natural and infinite too Infinite Justice and Infinite Mercy may stand very well together or what if Divine Justice break out against sinners yet is Divine Mercy infinite for all that nay what if Divine Mercy had shewed it self in gracious Effects to no one man in the World yet still would it have been infinite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the divine Essence And what if the Author will not call this a personal Grace in the Mediator It is doubtless a Grace in the Person of the Mediator and what if Christ as Mediator be God's Servant yet is he really God and a Fountain of Grace and that without the least exclusion of his Father being such The Son made and upholds all things and yet I hope the Father did and doth the same and what if in the Gospel the Gate be strait and Way narrow yet the Grace is never the less infinite because it is dispensed in a way decorous to the Holiness of God infinite Grace stands open to the greatest Sinners and yet none shall partake of it but upon the holy Terms of the Gospel Thus the Love of Christ is an Eternal Love Mr. Sherlock because his Divine Nature is Eternal an unchangeable Love because his Nature is so a fruitful Love producing all things which he willeth to his beloved he loves Life Grace Holiness into us he loves us into Covenant loves us into Heaven This is an excellent Love indeed which doth all for us and leaves nothing for us to do we owe this discovery to an Acquvintance with Christ's Person or rather with his Divine Nature for the Gospel is very silent in this matter all that the Gospel tells us is that Christ loved Sinners so as to die for them and that he loves good men who believe and obey his Gospel so as to save them and that he continues to love them while they continue to be good but hates them when they return to their old Vices And therefore sinners have reason to fetch their comforts not from the Gospel but from the Person of Christ which as far excels the Gospel as the Gospel excels the Law The Dr. discourses of the Love of Christ as he is God Answer There is in God Amor Complacentiae a Love of Complacence whereby he delights in good men but is there not Amor Benevolentiae too a gracious purpose of bestowing good things on us All the good things Temporal in the World and Spiritual in the Church know no other Spring or Origen than this our Repentance Faith Grace Holiness unless we will blaspheme the great Donor and deny them to be Gifts are so many pregnant proofs of it Hence the Apostle tells us That God worketh in us to will and to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 And is not this Love or gracious Purpose an Eternal one It can be no other all the divine Decrees are so His Works are in Time but his Decrees in the same Eternity with himself as being no other than Deus Volens Should his Decrees be made in time the Divine Will though it ever had an infinite Reason and Wisdom standing by it must yet hang in suspence and float in uncertainties touching things to come till its own Creature Time came forth into Being and then upon passing those Decrees a new Generation of Futures must start up which were never before and withal a new Prescience in God to look upon those novel Objects both which are impossible But this is a Love which doth all for us and leaves nothing for us to do Thus the Author Vsser de Cottesch The Semipelagians to blast the Doctrine of St. Austin touching God's Free Grace formed out of their own Brain a Story of the Praedestinatiani an odious Sect which as was pretended held such a Notion as rendred an holy Life altogether unnecessary But why the Author should charge the Dr. with any such thing I know not he never said or thought any such thing nay he hath again and again urged the Necessity of Obedience Neither do I see how there can be a more unnatural Consequence framed than this Christ loved us and therefore we need do nothing our selves Our Love to Christ is an excellent Principle of Obedience to him and to set it a working his Love to us is a divine Inflammative to ours But saith the Author All that the Gospel tells us is That Christ loved Sinners so as to die for them and that he loves good men who believe and obey the Gospel But sure this is not all Christ in his Love doth something to the Quickning and Conversion of men and something to the sanctifying and establishing of them This Last I suppose the Author allows not for he tells us That he loves them while they continue good and hates them when they return to their old vices But this is much after the rate of the Remonstrants who tell us That as soon as men believe there is a kind of incomplete Election such as rises and falls with their Faith and when they arrive at the full point of Perseverance it becomes complete and peremptory The Divine Will according to them must be successive and make its progress from an incomplete Election to a complete one and in its passage to that Completure it must all the way vary and turn about to every point
as the fickle Will of Man doth that standing there is an Election that falling there is none and so toties quoties as often as it pleases man to shew himself variable Election will be something or nothing as it happens This Opinion doth not ascribe Eyes and Hands to God as the gross Anthropomorphites did but it assimilates him to the filly turnings and windings of the Creature But to speak more directly to the Author God's electing Love antecedes all Goodness in in Men and if his elect Vessels fall into great sins as holy David did and this after their Conversion however the Light of God's Countenance be for a time suspended however their habitual Graces be weakned and their Consciences wounded yet the Foundation of God stands sure electing Love remains unvariable and will revive them again by Repentance When God elected a People to himself he did not as Mr. Shaw speaks in allusion to the words of the Apostle use lightness or purpose according to the flesh after the manner of men unsteady and wavering in their determinations no the foundation of God standeth sure the Lord knoweth those that are his But if the Love of Christ be infinite Mr. Sherlock eternal unchangeable fruitful I would willingly understand how sin and death and Misery came into World for if this Love be so because the Divine Nature is so then it was always so for God always was what he is and that which is eternal could never be other than it is now And why could not this Love as well preserve us from falling into Sin Misery and Death as love Life and Holiness into us for it is a little odd first to love us into Sin and Death that then he might love us into Life and Holiness which indeed could not be if this Love were always so unchangeable and fruitful as the Dr. perswades us For if this Love had always loved Life and Holiness into us how should it happen that we should sin and die The gracious Decree of Election is Answer as becomes the Divine Nature eternal unchangeable fruitful yet was it a free Act terminating upon what Object it pleased Hence God saith Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated he infallibly brings his Elect to Glory But no man may be so vain or presumptive as to limit the holy One or chalk a Way or Method for him to walk in who works all things according to the counsel of his own will But how then came sin and death into the World Why surely it came in by Man's Transgression and under God's-Permission But why could not this eternal unchangeable fruitful Love preserve us from falling I doubt not at all but God who is Almighty could have kept up Man and all his Posterity in their primitive station as well as he did the standing Angels but if you ask on Why did he not do it I have nothing to answer but that it was not his pleasure God loves no man into sin the Expression is too odd for a Christians Mouth or Ear but he suffers his very Elect to fall into sin yet is his Love eternal unchangeable fruitful towards them if I may allude to that of Hezekiah Isai 38.17 He loves them from the pit of corruption he fetches them out of the corrupt Mass of Mankind by his effectual Grace and though afterwards they have many falls and lapses yet electing Love sets to its hand again and revives them by a fresh Repentance shewing it self fruitful in their recovery and safe conduct to Heaven and all this is managed in a way of unaccountable Sovereignty Not that I deny that the Love of God is eternal Mr. Sherlock unchangeable fruitful that is that God was alwayes good and alwayes continues good and manifests his love and goodness in such wayes as are suitable to his nature which is the fruitfulness of it but then the unchangeableness of Gods love doth not consist in being alwayes determined to the same object but in that he alwayes loves for the same reason that is that he alwayes loves true virtue and goodness where-ever he sees it and never ceases to love any person till he ceases to be good and then the immutability of his love is the reason why he loves no longer for should he love a wicked man the reason and nature of his love would change and the fruitfulness of Gods love with respect to the Methods of his Grace and Providence doth not consist in producing what he loves by an omnipotent and irresistible power for then sin and death could never have entered into the world but he governs and doth good to his Creatures in such wayes as are most suitable to their Natures he governs reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason as he doth the material World by the necessary Laws of Matter and bruit Creatures by the instincts and propensities of Nature After all the rest Answer the Author himself confesses that there is in God an eternal unchangeable fruitful Love how so There is a Love of Virtue and Goodness and is there not a Love of Persons too The Scripture is express in it St. Paul is a chosen vessel Act. 9. Jacob was loved and that before he was born or had done any good at all Rom. 9. The Lord knoweth those that are his 2 Tim. 2. He calleth his sheep by Name Joh. 10.3 Some are drawn of the Father Joh. 6.44 Some are called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 On some God will have mercy when he hardens others Rom. 9.18 All which places places prove that electing Love is of particular persons who as St. Austin hath it certissimè liberantur are certainly saved when others are left in massa perditionis Unless this be owned that great Design of a Church which is the Master-piece of Providence must be carried on in such a lame and imperfect manner as if God which is unworthy of him should say I would have a Church but I intend not who shall make it up Such a Jeofail is hardly to be found in a prudent Man But saith the Author The Vnchangeableness of God's Love doth not consist in being determined to the same Object but in that he always loves for the same Reason that is he always loves true Vertue and Goodness where-ever he sees it and never ceases to love any person till he ceases to be good he always loves for the same Reason where Goodness is there he loves where Goodness is not there he loves not This is the Author's meaning this is loving for the same Reason But if this had been so what could have become of Man corrupt lapsed Man in whom as our Church tells us there is not a spark of Goodness How desperate must his case have been Divine Love could not possibly have let out a drop of Mercy to such an one much less have shewed forth it self in such an unparalle'd Act as the Mission of his own Son for our Redemption there
covering for their own Defects should ever be able to stand before God and justifie us at his Bar Who were is the Saint in Scripture that ever durst stand before God in his own inherent Righteousness Job though perfect would not know his own soul Job 9 21. David though a man after Gods own heart would not have him mark iniquities Psal 130.3 Daniel though a man of desires prayes not for his own Righteousness but for Gods great Mercies Dan. 9.28 Look over the posture of all Saints in Scripture you find them not standing upon their own bottom but in a sense of their wants breathing after Holyness pressing on towards perfection flying to a Mercy-seat and as it is expressed Hebr. 12.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking off from themselves unto Jesus the author and finisher of their faith in whom alone perfect Righteousness is to be found Now if as appears Justification be not by inherent Righteousness then it must be by imputed according to that of St. Bernard touching fallen Man Assignata est ei justitia aliena qui caruit suâ Unto what hath been said I shall add a few Testimonies out of the Fathers Ad Diag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What other thing could cover our sins but Christ's Righteousness In whom could we lawless and ungodly be justified but in the only Son of God! Oh sweet exchange Thus Justin Martyr The fulfilling of the Law by Christ the First-fruits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was to be imputed to the whole lump so Athanasius Christ having translated the filthiness of my sins to himself hath made me partaker of his purity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 communicating unto me his own beauty so Greg. Nyssen Non habeo unde me jactem De Jacob. â—it Beat lib. 1. cap. 6. gloriabor in Christo non gloriabor quia justus sum sed quia redemptus sum non quia vacuus peccati sed quia remissa peccata thus St. Ambrose God sent his Son that assuming our flesh and obeying his Father in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might justifie the Nature of Man in himself so St. Cyril of Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou believest on Christ thou hast fulfilled the Law and more than it commanded thou hast now received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a greater Righteousness Hom. in â—om 10 that is in Christ the end of the Law So St. Chrysostome Domine memorabor justitiae tuae solius ipsa enim et mea nempe factus es mihi tu justitia à Deo Sup Cant Ser. 61. numquid mihi verendum nè non una ambobus sufficiat Non est pallium breve quod non possit operire duos Justitia tua in eternum me te pariter operiet quia largiter larga eterna Justitia thus St. Bernard Many other Passages might be quoted out of the Fathers but this Tast may suffice This divine Truth touching imputed Righteousness such is its Heavenly Oriency hath extorted a confession even from its enemies The very Schoolmen themselves as Bishop Andrewes hath observed whatever they are in their Quodlibets and Comments on the Sentences yet in their Soliloquies and devotional Meditations acknowledge Jehovah justitiae nostra Cardinall Contarenus saith Ego prorsùs existimo piè Christianè dici quòd debeamus niti tanquam re stabili justitia Christi nobis donatà non autem sanctitate gratià nobis inherente And Bellarmine himselfe confesses Propter incerâ—itudinem propriae justitiae periculum inanis gloriae â—â—â—just 〈◊〉 cap. 7. tutissimum est fiduciam totam in sola Dei misericardia benignitate reponere And now having in short asserted this great Truth I shall attend the Author To begin with that famous place Mr. Sherlock Jer. 23.6 where Christ is called expresly the Lord our righteousness In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely And this is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness a very express place to prove that Christ is our righteousness as these men expound it that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us But is there no other possible sence to be made of this phrase Righteousness in Scripture is a word of a very large use sometimes it signifies no more than mercy kindness and beneficence and so the Lord our righteousness is the Lord who doth good to us who is our Saviour and Deliverer which is very agreeable to the reason of this name that in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel dwell safely and righteousness signifies that part of justice which consists in relieving the injured and oppressed Thus David speaks Hear me O Lord of my righteousness Psal 4. Thus Isai 54 17. Their righteousness is of me saith the Lord which is a parallel expression to the Lord our righteousness and signifies no more than that God will avenge their cause and deliver them from their enemies the like we have Isai 45.24 In the Lord have I righteousness and strength that is the Lord the righteous judge will deliver them from their enemies which agrees with that promise vers 14. Thou shalt be far from oppression and Isai 61.10 He hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness This sounds like imputed righteousness but it signifies the great deliverances God promised to Israel in the former verses which should make them as glorious as a splendid garment would The Lord our righteousness is a very illustrious Name of Christ Answer Bishop Andrews observes the word Jehovah Fl saith he is communicated to Angels their names end in it as Michael Gabriel Jah is communicated to Saints their names end in it Isaiah Jeremiah But here is Jehovah to certifie us that it is not the righteousness of Saints nor of Angels that will serve the turn but the righteousness of God very God And in his after discourse upon that name he fairly builds on it the imputation of Christ's active and passive righteousness but our Author hath no mind to it The Socinians who play in Homonymies familiarly enervate the force of a word in one Text by the different signification of it in another Tell them that Christ is called God they will say so are creatures too tell them of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they will reply Moses was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 7.35 I will not say that our Author imitates them but he turns himself about and is much concerned for another interpretation of Christ's name Is there no other possible sence to be made of this phrase Righteousness sometimes signifies mercy and so the Lord our righteousness is the Lord that doth good to us Thus the Author righteousness in some places signifies mercy Very well but where do we meet with Jehovah our mercy Or because it signifies so in some Texts must it do so in all The question is what it signifies in this
Spirit of God which no Man can possibly tell whether it be or not it is not of the right stamp and will avail us nothing so that the Sinner hath nothing to do but to sit still and patiently expect till God will do all for him The method is Conviction Compunction Answer Humiliation and Faith but a Man is passive in all this How passive what is he to sit still and do nothing at all No surely he may abstain from outward Acts of sin he may do Acts of Sobriety Justice Charity he may hear pray but internal Grace is Gods work Some have taken those words Let us make Man as if God hath spoke to the four Elements and said Vos date Corpus ego dabo Animam Do you give the Body I 'll give the Soul If I may allude to this Gloss thus it is Man may frame a Body of outward Piety but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inward life of Grace is from God only it is he Who quickneth the dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.1 Believers are not born of the will of Man but of God Joh. 1.13 But saith the Author It is a vain thing to give such rules and directions as no Man can follow To which I answer Rules are not therefore vain because Man cannot follow them by his own power God gave not the Moral Law in vain yet the spotless sanctity of it was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer impossible thing to any fallen Man in the World God bid them not in vain to make a new heart Ezek. 18.31 and yet claims it as his prerogative and as an act of special Grace to make such an heart Ezek. 36.26 Christ did not in vain call Men to come to him and yet withal tells them That no Man could come to him except the Father drew him Joh. 6.44 Moses was but to lift up the Rod but it was God only who could divide the Sea we are to use the means but it is God only who can work the great work of Grace These Rules though we cannot follow them of our selves may yet shew us our duty and if we reflect upon our selves they may point out our impotency to us and withal they minister under that Spirit which in the use of means infuses the life of Grace into Men. Polychronius in the 6. Council of Constantinople offered by a Paper containing in it the Doctrine of the Monothelites to raise a dead Man to life again Mr. Shephard never thought that his rules though containing excellent truths in them could raise the Spiritually dead but this they do they minister under that Divine Spirit which breathes regenerating Graces into the Soul St. Paul would have Timothy instruct the Opposers not as if they had a power of themselves to repent but if God peradventure would give them repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 All Rules and Instructions do but minister under the Holy Spirit who gives Faith and Repentance as it pleaseth But saith the Author These tell us not what we must do but what we must suffer in order to our union to Christ To which I answer we are to use the means and thus far we must be doers but I suppose we must suffer the Holy Spirit to have the glory of our Regeneration we must not presume to be such doers as if we could work Regeneration our selves or by our works procure it Pelagius would have been a doer in this kind alledging that Gratiam darisecundum merita that is in the Phrase of the Ancients in those dayes secundum opera that Grace was given according to works But unless he had recanted he had in the Palestine Council been by the Church turned into a Sufferer by a just Excommunication neither is our Church for any such doers for it tells us in the 13. Article That works done before Grace do not make Men meet to receive Grace or deserve Grace of congruity yea rather they have the nature of sin The Inspiration of the Spirit which that Article mentions must work the great work of Grace in us which when we see in our selves we must needs acknowledge the insuperable power that was in it Suppose a Man have this Conviction Mr Sherlock Compunction Humiliation is this a sufficient reason to lay hold upon Christ by Faith by no means The end of Conviction is Compunction the end of Compunction Humiliation and all this carries us no nearer to Christ than quietly to lye down before God that he may do what he will with us he may save or damn us So that all this contributes nothing to our union to Christ but brings us to such a temper of mind as to be content to have Christ or go without him as God shall please this is all Men get by Humiliation that if the Lord intend to do them good this is the way in which he will do it but though they be humbled they cannot be sure whether God intend to do them good or not therefore we are told we are as much bound to submit to God whether he will save or damn us as we are to submit to the disposal of God as to any common mercy though you must pray for mercy it must be with submission to Gods good will saying the Lords will is good whether it be to save or damn but mine is evil though it be to be saved and have Jesus Christ Nay we are much more bound to submit to God whether he will save or damn us than we are to submit in the lesser concernments of this life if it be pride to murmur in case the Lord deny you smaller matters the off-alls of this life is it not greater pride to quarrel with him if he deny the greater the things of another life Is he bound to give thee greater who doth not owe thee the least The Lord gives you life but you ask for treasures of Grace and Mercy now God hath given you life you would live for ever an unpardonable fault this thousands of pounds Christ and all he is worth and the Lord seems to deny you and now you sink and grow sullen may not the Lord say Was there ever such pride insolence as to be unwilling to be damned for ever though I dare say this is not the pride which cast the Angels out of Heaven so that though Humiliation be the way to Christ yet it brings us never the nearer him when all is done we are where we were Before Humiliation it was at Gods pleasure whether we should have Christ or not and so it is still The humbled Soul may Answer without doubt lay hold upon Christ but we must remember that we cannot do it by the power of Nature but must do it by the Grace of God Faith is a great receiver it receives Christ and all blessings in and with him but this Faith this very receiving must be received from Grace Nothing is plainer in Scripture than that Faith is the