the Lord in his Gospel required of us Now what Christian eares can indure to hear that Christ should be said to have turned from sin unto righteousness Christ was never overtaken with any sin he never turned from God therefore he cannot be said to have turned from sin unto God as we do when we are converted Nor can he be said to have been mortified for us for there was no flesh nor none of the old man in him that required any mortification SECT IV. How Christ is made unto us Sanctification BUt let us see now how Mr. S. endevoureth to prove and make good that Christ hath fulfilled all the conditions of the Gospel for us The Apostle saith he teacheth Object that Christ is made unto us of God Sanctification his holiness therefore is ours he wrought it for us 1 Cor. 1.20 Whatsoever holy duties therefore of faith or new obedience are required of us in the Gospel Christ hath fulfilled them for us Thus I have urged and inforced his Argument to his greatest advantage as I suppose For answer whereunto I say Answ that Christ may be said to be made unto us Sanctification three manner of wayes 1. Imputativè by way of imputation 2. Meritorie by way of merit 3. Effectivè efficiently or effectually working it in us The first of these Mr. S. maketh choyce of and pitcheth upon For he will have Christs holy obedience to be imputed unto us for our sanctification Now I grant that it is imputed unto us indeed Rom. 5.19 but for our justification not for our sanctification For as St. Paul saith by the obedience of one that is of Jesus Christ many are justified or made righteous Again If Christs holiness should be imputed unto us for our sanctification then sanctification should not be inherent in us but external and without us as our justification is And lastly Then there should be no real difference between our justification and sanctification neither should they be different graces but altogether the same For wherein consisteth our justification but in the imputation of Christs holy obedience unto us Now if our sanctification do consist in this also Heb. 10.29 13.12 what real difference will there be between them I do indeed acknowledge that the holy Scripture doth now and then make no real difference between sanctification and justification For whereas the Apostle saith ordinarily that we are justified by the blood of Christ it is said that we are sanctified by his blood Where I conceive that sanctification is either put for justification or at the least that justification is included in it as it must needs be if we shall say that the meaning of the Apostle is that the blood of Christ hath merited both our justification and our sanctification 2. In this sense I do willingly grant that Christ is made unto us sanctification that is by the merit of his passion purchasing it and by his blood washing away the spots of sin that do adhere to our sanctification 3 And lastly I do also acknowledge as all Orthodox Protestants do that Christ is our sanctification not only meritorieé by way of merit sed effectivé but efficiently also because by his spirit which he hath purchased of his Father he doth sanctifie us or effect and work holiness in us And thus as I take it I have cleared the Apostles meaning and made it manifest that he hath no intent to teach that Christ believed for us and obeyed the Gospel for us in that sense as Mr. S. taketh his words when he saith That Christ is made unto us of God sanctification SECT 5. Although the promises of the Gospel are offered unto sinners yet they have no right nor interest in them unless they do receive them LEt us now examine another of Mr. S. his Arguments whereby he goeth about ro prove that the promises of the Gospel do belong to sinners as sinners and that there is no condition of faith nor of repentance required of them that they may be partakers of remission of sins and of salvation through Christ What saith he were the Churches of the Corinthians Object Ephesians Colossians and what was Paul before Christ came to him were they sinners or qualified And what were all that believed before they believed Answ They were sinners It s true they were so but though the promises were then offered unto them yet they did not then belong to them nor had they any interest in them until they received them but as the Apostle saith Eph. 2.12 They were strangers from the Covenants of promise and so should have remained continued for ever had they rejected them as did the Jewes and some other Citizens of Antioch in Pisidia when Paul and Barnabas preached Act. 13.46 and offered Christ unto them Briefly therefore I do reason thus Promises do belong to those to whom they are made and not to any other but the promises of the Gospel concerning remission of sins and eternal salvation in Heaven are made to those that either do for the present or shall hereafter repent and believe in Christ and not to any other therefore none have any right to these promises but such believers and repentant sinners Object This was written before Mr. S. his death It may be Mr. S. or some other will here reply and say are the promises of the Gospel then to be offered to none but to those that do repent and believe Yes They are to be offered unto all neither Infidels nor any other sinners excluded but not absolutely sed sub conditione fidei resipiscentiae but upon condition that they do repent Mar. 16 16 Act. 3.19 and believe if they will have their sins blotted out and be saved through the mercy of God in Christ Thus indeed promissiones Evangelij sunt universales conditione promulgatione sed non applicatione the promises of the Gospel are to be preached and propounded unto all but all do not appropriate and apply them to themselves nor interest themselves in them Now wherefore is this but as I said before because the promises are not absolute but conditional For were they absolute and no condition at all were required then one man should have as great an interest in them and as good right to them as another whether he were believer or unbeliever SECT VI. How the promises of the Gospel or of the new Testament are said to be better then the promises of the old or of the Law Object BUt against this that hath been said it is further objected The Law promised life upon condition for so it saith Lev. 18.5 hoc fac vives do this and thou shalt live Heb. 8.6 The promises of the Gospel therefore seeing as the Apostle saith they are better then those of the Law are absolute and not conditional Answ But I answer No such thing followeth hereupon For the Apostles words are That Christ is the Mediator of a
tamen factam nostram Hence I infer these three Conclusions 1. That a man may have right to a thing and yet no right in it 2. That as long as he hath no right in it it is none of his 3. That it becometh his by being delivered unto him Now I demand Is not Christ delivered unto us by God the Father and by himself when in the Gospel he is preached and offered unto us and we by Faith do accept of him and not before These things being thus premised I will now by Gods gracious assistance examine Master S. his 7. Arguments whereby he endeavoureth to prove that Christ is not made ours by Faith Object It is an act of Omnipotency saith he to make Christ ours God only therefore doth this and no act of ours Answer Whereunto I answer that God only doth make Christ ours as the Author of this Divine Act and that Faith doth make him ours after a far inferiour manner that is as an instrument created by God in our hearts whereby we do lay hold of Christ and receive him being offered and given unto us of God Christ then is said to be made ours by Faith in the same sense as we are said to be justified by Faith that is Organice instrumentally For as Keckerman hath observed in his Logick the Act of the Author or Principal efficient cause is many times attributed to the Instrument Thus not only our justification but also our sanctification which is Gods proper Act an Act of his Almighty power is in holy Scripture attributed to Faith sometimes to the word of God and sometimes to the Ministers who do preach the word To Faith Acts 15.9 where St. Peter saith that God did purifie the hearts of the believing Gentiles by Faith to wit both from the guilt of sin in their justification and from the tyranny and dominion of sin in their sanctification To the word 1 Pet. 1.23 We are born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Lastly to the Ministers of the word 1 Cor. 4.15 For St. Paul saith to the Corinthians I have begotten you by the Gospel And he calleth Onesimus his for and saith Philem. 11. that he begat him in his bonds He telleth us also that God sent him to the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light Act. 26.18 and from the power of Satan to God Now in the same sense that we are said to be purified converted and born again by Faith the word and the Ministers that preach the word Is Christ said to be made ours and we to be justified by Faith to wit instrumentally as by means which it pleased God to use in our ingrafting into Christ and in our justification which are wrought only and altogether hy his Divine power and not by any power of the means which receive all their efficacy from him and can do nothing towards a sinners conversion of themselves The result of all thit I have said is this It is an Act of Gods Almightiness to make Christ ours by his own power and authority as the Author of this work But it is no Act of Omnipotency to make Christ ours instrumentally that is to receive him by Faith when he is offered to us of God A second Objection of M. S. is this Objection If Faith should give us our interest in Christ then as our Faith increaseth our interest should increase and we should be more and more justified and forgiven which none allow It is true indeed Answer if Faith did justifie us by any inherent virtue or dignity of its own then as M.S. saith the more we grow in Faith the more we should be interested in Christ be more more justified but he wel knoweth that the Protestant Doctrine is that Faith justifieth not as it is a vertue or any act of ours sed objectivè et correlativè but in regard of Christ the object thereof whereunto it relateth Even as a Chirurgion may be said to heal a man that is wounded with his own hands not that his hands had any vertue in them to heal but because by them he searched the wound and applyed a healing plaister unto it which drew out the purulent corruption and cured him For even so are we in like manner said to be justified and saved by Faith because we do by Faith lay hold of Christ and apply his merits to our souls So that it is not so much Faith as Christ in whom we believe by whom we are justified and saved that is who hath both merited our justification and doth actually acquit and absolve us from our sins And in like manner doth Faith interest us in Christ not for the dignity and worthiness thereof but because it is Gods Ordinance and appointment that we should receive Christ and have him dwelling in our hearts by Faith Wheresoever therefore there is true Faith to be found though never so weak and faint or feeble that man is a true member of Christ perfectly justified and absolved from all his sins Those of old amongst the Israelites that were stung with the fiery Serpents were perfectly cured if they did look up to the brasen Serpent and beheld it although their sight was never so dark and dim as well as the younger sort whose sight was most perfect so a weak Faith as well as a strong doth lay hold of Christ and of justification and salvation by him For as the Israelites were healed by beholding the brazen Serpent because it was Gods Ordinance that health which was otherwise wrought miraculously only by his own Divine power should hereupon follow and ensue so the same is to be said of Faith And therefore from hence an answer may be given to that question which Mr. S. asketh in his next words where speaking of some who call these other acts of Faith that is when it is grown and encreased Faith of assurance and Acts of manifestation he faith If Faith be thus in its other degrees of working Objection Why not in its first His meaning is as I take it if Faith when it is encreased doth only assure a man of his salvation and maketh the pardon of his sins manifest unto him why doth not the first and least degree of Faith also give us only an assurance and manifestation of our salvation by Christ but otherwise not any interest in him at all Answer Whereunto I answer First that a strong Faith doth give us that assurance and evidence or manifestation of our salvation by Christ which a weak Faith cannot because it doth lay firm hold on the promises of the Gospel that are the only ground of assurance which of a weak Faith are apprehended but weakly even as an Israelite with a quick sight could by that natural vertue that was in his eye more clearly behold the brazen Serpent then he that had a dark and dim eye sight But as he that did lift up his eyes and beheld
the brazen Serpent though never so weakly was through Gods Ordnance as perfectly cured as he that saw and beheld it most clearly and most evidently so Faith in the least degree through Gods Ordinance is as effectual to interest us in Christ and to make us partakers of salvation by him as the strongest Faith that is Thus I have shewed the cause or the reason why a weak Faith can give us an interest in Christ and the salvation which he hath purchased for us although it cannot so firmly assure us hereof But whereas he holdeth That Faith when it is increased and grown stronger by an addition of more degrees than it had at the first doth only give us a greater manifestation and assurance of salvation by Christ but no interest in him I cannot assent unto him in this for the interest which we have in Christ and his merits at the first by believing in him is continued by perseverance in the same Faith and therefore John 1.12 Eph. 3.17 as we are said to receive Christ by Faith so he is said to dwell that is to remain and make his abode in our hearts by Faith Consonantly whereunto the Apostle telleth us Heb. 3.14 that We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end And on the contrary he saith Heb. 10.38 If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Thus Faith not only in the first act or beginning of it but in the continuance also and greatest height or strength thereof doth interest us in Christ and as the Apostle saith maketh us partakers of him as well as it doth evidence unto us and assure us hereof Here therefore I would know whether it be not a manifest contradiction to say as Mr. S. doth Christ is ours without Faith but we cannot partake of him as ours but by believing Thirdly he objecteth also and saith If Christ should be ours by Faith in this sense that is actually then when Faith ceaseth shall we cease to be justified Whereunto I answer That no such thing followeth hereupon but the contrary For upon our Faith and Repentance our sins are pardoned and forgiven us not for a time but for ever Ezek. 18.22 They shall never therefore be mentioned unto us that is imputed and laid to our charge any more no not when Faith ceaseth Neither needeth this to seem strange to Mr. S. or any other that Faith which is but temporal should obtain an eternal pardon for a salve which by its own inherent vertue doth in a few days heal a wound needeth afterwards to be used no more much less will there be any need of Faith in Christ or of repentance for the continuance of the remission of our sins and of our justification in the world to come seeing by Christs Promise and by his Ordinance which hath more force in it then the most Soveraign or precious balm or salve upon our repentance and Faith in Christ we are for ever acquitted and absolved from all our sins Whereas then Mr. S. in his next words demandeth and asketh Shall Faith begin our interest here and not be able to continue it hereafter John 3.46 I answer him No it shall not For he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life His Faith indeed shall cease with this corruptible life of his 2 Cor. 13. but he himself shall be raised up by the power of Christ and not dye any more forever John 11.26 Fourthly Mr S. proceedeth and asketh Can a sinner be too soul for a Saviour and too wounded for a Physitian to heal and too filthy for a fountain opened to wash To all which several demands of his I will answer severally First Whereas he asketh whether a sinner can be too foul for a Saviour I answer No if he will carefully and conscionably practise and observe the means of salvation which he doth prescribe him which are Repentance Faith and new Obedience For as the Apostle telleth us Christ being in his passion made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 On the contrary therefore whosoever he is that doth not obey Christ but doth wilfully contemn or carelesly neglect the means of his salvation as many do it is in vain for him to look for salvation by Christ for as St. Augustine saith elegantly De verbis Apostoli Ser. 15. Qui fecit te sine te non te justificat sine te He that made thee without thee doth not justifie thee without thee His next demand is Can a sinner be too much wounded for a Physician to heal Surely no. Not for Christ our heavenly Physician but then he must take his Physick and observe such a Dyet as he prescribeth him that is he must receive Christ and his merits by Faith and live orderly according to his Gospel that is as St. Paul setteth it down He must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly Tit. 2.12 and righteously and godlily in this present world On the contrary therefore as long as infidelity or incredulity possesseth his heart and lyeth putrifying and rotting in his carnal lusts it is in vain for him to think or to perswade himself that he is healed by Christ Lastly Whereas he asketh Can a sinner be too filthy for a fountain opened to wash Surely no not for that fountain of which Zachary speaketh That is opened to the house of David Zac. 31 12. and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleaness But did he ever hear that a fountain though never so limpid and clear did cleanse any unlesse they did wash themselves with the water of it And even in like manner shall none be purifyed and cleansed from their spiritual filthyness and uncleanness until they do by Faith-sprinkle their souls with the bloud of Christ For as we have heard St. Peter tell us Christ purifieth the hearts of sinnâ—rs by Faith As long therefore as Faith with the inseperable effects thereof are wanting it is in vain for any to imagine that he is purified from his sins Fifthly He that offereth Christ saith M. S. offers all the conditions in him both of Faith and Repentance for Christ is exalted to give repentance unto Israel Acts 5.31 Gal. 2.21 And Faith is called The Faith of the Son of God Here first of all it is to be observed that he acknowledgeth Faith Repentance to be conditions required of us in the Gospel that we may be saved by Christ which elsewhere he denyeth Secondly he saith That God in offering Christ doth offer these conditions in him Which words of his may receive a double construction or understanding First that Repentance and Faith are not in our power but that Christ hath merited these graces for us and that he doth work them in us by his spirit when the Gospel is preached This the places of
any conditions He speaketh therefore not so advisedly when he saith Reconcil of God to man pag. 64. If you search into the reason of your many years bondage of your miserable doubting you shall finde your disease in that which hath been spoken I hope the remedy also And as frivolous are those words of his Ib. pag. 65. Let us learn to distinguish when God speaketh of his Reconciliation to us and when he speaketh of our Reconciliation to him For how shall we learn this seeing he hath told us before that there is no mention in the Scripture of Gods Reconciliation to us Quest 15 but of our Reconciliation to Him But this matter shall be discussed more largely when I come to the last Question Quest 6. Whether all the Elect be justified ab aeterno When I say that we are justified by Faith instrumentally I do not meane that Faith is properly but analogically the Instrument or means whereby we do receive Christ and his righteousness to our justification from all eternity before they do believe in Christ and consequently whether the Scripture when it saith that we are justified by Faith meaneth that Faith justifieth us only in tribunali conscientiae nostrae in our own coâ—sciences as same of the learned Protestants speak or declaratively as saith Mr. D. Or whether it doth not justifie us instrumentaliter et correlativè as other Orthodox Protestants not a few do teach that is as an Instrument or means wherby we are made partakers of Christs righteousness renouncing our selves and our own works altogether and relying on Christ only for our justification SECT I. Proâ—ed by Scripture that we are actually justified by Faith IT is not denied by any that we are justified ab aeterno from all eternity in Gods eternal Counsel and Decree but so are we also eternally sanctified and gloryfied The Question is Whether we be not actually justified Or whether our sins do not remain upon record against us until we do believe in Christ Doubtless the Scripture every where avoucheth that we are justified by Faith in Christ St Paul affirmeth that the Scripture that is of the old Testament saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness Where the Apostle telleth us Rom. 4.3 whom they are to whom God impuâ—eth righteousness that is Believers It is false therefore that Mr. D. saith that men are justified by God before they do believe St. Paul also telleth us That he counted all things he had but as dung that he might win Christ be found in him not having his own righteousness which was of the Law Phil. 3.8 9. but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith In these words St. Paul giveth us to understand that there was a time when he was not in Christ for otherwise why doth he say that he accounted al things but dung that he might win Christ and be found in him if he had been in him already And he here teacheth also that this benefit did accrue unto him by being in Christ that whereas he was of himself a sinner as we all are it was by Faith in Christ only that he came to be righteous before God For why doth he say That the righteousness which is of God is through the Faith of Christ and by Faith but because we are made partakers of this righteousness to our justification before God by Faith in Christ and not otherwise Those words of the Apostle also do fully confirm this VVe who are Jews by nature Gal. 2.15 16. and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Hence I do reason thus In the same sense that the Apostle denieth justification to works he attributeth it to Faith This is evident because he maketh a manifest opposition between justification by the works of the Law and by Faith in Christ But he denieth us to be justified by works before God and not declaratively to others or to our own consciences On the contrary therefore when St. Paul saith that we are justified by the Faith of Christ his meaning is that we are justified actually and before God by Faith and not declaratively only to our own consciences Again I do reason thus Without Christ there is no remission of sins Eph. 1.7 1 John 1.7 Apoc. 1.5 But men before they believe are without Christ Eph. 2.11.12 Therefore before they believe their sins are not pardoned or which is all one before they believe they are not justified nor absolved from their sins Moreover St. Paul teacheth us Acts 26.18 that we receive forgiveness of sins by Faith in Christ not before but after our conversion For so he saith that God sent him unto the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance amongst all that are sanctified by Faith in Christ Hence I infer that they were not justified and absolved from their sins before they were enlightened and believed in Christ even while they walked in darknesse and were under the power of Satan For what needs the Apostle to say that he was sent to turn them from darkness to light that they might by Faith receive forgiveness of sins if they had had it before Like hereunto is that of St. Peter Be it known unto you men and brethren Acts 13.3 that by this man by Jesus Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe not any before they believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses For the Law justifieth none but condemneth all that do not in all things observe it Deut. 27.26 From which condemnation as St. Peter here teacheth they are not absolved and freed but by Faith in Christ Now what is this but to say that we are justified by Faith and not before Faith or without it I may also reason thus Whosoever is justified is reconciled unto God and through Christ doth please him For he is that beloved Son of the Father in whom he is well pleased with all that are in Christ Matth. 3.17 But without Faith it is not possible to please God Heb. 11.6 Therefore neither is it possible that any one without Faith should be justified Again there is no remission of sins to be had without repentance for our Saviour hath joyned remission of sins and repentance together He telleth his Disciples That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name amongst all Nations Luke 24.47 And Peter also saith That God hath exalted Christ
which shall be all of them accomplished and fulfilled in us in their due time When the Apostle also saith that God hath chosen us unto sanctification of the Spirit it followeth hence not that we were actually and really in our own persons sanctified from all eternity as he reasoneth but that we shall be sanctified at that time which God hath decreed and appointed But let us see how Mr. D. confirmeth this former exposition of his These places saith he that is Object James 1.18 1 Pet. 1.23 are to be understood of the manifestation of adoption not of the act of adoption it self And that it is so is plain God hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead A lively hope is the thing whereunto we are begotten It is ordinary in Scripture to call the manifestation of things by the name of the things themselves I grant the Scripture Answ though not so ordinarily as he would have it yet sometimes doth call the manifestation of things by the name of the things themselves but we must not therefore take liberty to set this glosse upon whatsoever places of Scripture we shall think good our selves as Mr. D. and others now but too commonly do For it is agreed upon by Divines that the Scriptures are to be taken and understood in that sense and meaning which the words do plainly import except it be contrary to the Analogie of Faith or to good manners or abhorrent to common sense and reason or to some other plain and manifest places of Scripture none of all which can be said of these two places of Scripture Jam. 1.18 1 Pet. 1.23 Those words therfore of both the Apostles are ro be taken in their native sense as they found Now whereas St. Peter saith that we are begotten again to a lively hope he sheweth in the words following what this hope is when he saith to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation Object But whereas Mr. D. saith a lively hope is the thing whereunto we are begotten will he therefore infer hence as he seemeth to do that our Adoption is eternal surely then he may deduce quid libet ex quo libet chalk out of cheese for there can nothing be concluded hence but that the inheritance of Heaven is a câ—nsequent of our Adoption according to that of St. Paul If children then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ Answ But though Mr. D. passeth it over in silence it may be some one or other will say St. Peter telleth us that we are begotten again through the resurrection of Christ When St. James therefore and St. Peter do say that we were begotten by the word of God this must needs be meant of the manifestation of our Adoption and not of the act of Adoption it self for Christ was risen from the dead long before the Word was preached either to us or to those Christians to whom the Apostles wrote and directed their Epistles Whereunto I answer That neither will this prove the eternity of our Adoption as Mr. D. teacheth it For Christ rose again at that certain and determinate time which God had decreed and foretold that is to say the third day after his Passion on the Crosse But not to make any use of this whereas St. Peter saith that we are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead the meaning hereof is not that we were at that time regenerated or begotten again when Christ rose from the dead unlesse it were virtually only but that our regeneration which is actually wrought and effected by Gods Word and Spirit as was the regeneration of all Gods children from the beginning of the world depended on Christs resurrection as on a virtual cause or power producing it in that time and by those means which God hath appointed For as St. Paul saith to the Corinthians If Christ be not raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your sins Thus I have answered Mr. D.'s Objections and as I take it sufficiently cleared this matter Quest 9. Whether a man is to pray for the pardon of his sins after he is regenerated and doth believe and repent SECT I. The Children of God do and ought to pray for the pardon of their sins I Have taken occasion to discusse this question in regard of those many giddy Sectaries that do pertinaciously Reaso n 1 deny it And first I reason thus David was the Child of God in high favour with him as that Testimony which the Lord giveth of him doth bear witnesse I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after mine own heart which shall fulfill all my will Acts 13.23 Notwithstanding he prayed heartily not only for the pardon of those two heynous sins of adultery and murther when he had been overtaken with them but of those other sins whereof he had repented and which were forgiven him long before For Psal 25.6 7. he cryeth unto the Lord and saith Remember O Lord thy tender mercyes and thy loving kindnesse for they have been ever of old Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions And in many other Psalmes doth he petition the Lord for the pardon of his sins Daniel also a most worthy and renowned Servant of God one that was greatly beloved maketh confession of his own sins as well as of the sins of the people and prayeth most heartily for the pardon of them saying O Lord hear O Lord forgive Dan. 9.10.20 23. Thus did these holy men pray by the inspiration and instigation of Gods holy Spirit it followeth necessarily therefore that the Children of God both may and ought to pray for the pardon of their sins For I hope none now living will dare to say that they are holier then David or Daniel were or that they are in higher favour with God or have more Reaso n 2 assureance of his love and favour Again our Saviour taught his disciples whom all do acknowledge for Gods Children nor will any dare to say that they were the Children of the Devill to pray for the pardon of their sins For when they upon a time came unto Jesus Christ and said Master teach us to pray as John taught his Disciples Luk. 11.4 he said unto them when ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven forgive us our sins It is manifest and most evident from hence that it is our blessed Saviours will and appointment that those who are the true Children of God as his disciples were should pray for the pardon of their sins SECT II. There was forgivenesse of sins before Christs Passion BUt will you see how these our adversaries do think to avoyd the force of these Testimonies They confesse for so a foul mouthed Sectary * One that called me bald Rogue bald Priest
by the practice of other vertues as well as of Faith and consequently giveth us to understand that assurance of salvation is to be had not from Faith only but from charity also and from brotherly love and all those other Vertues and Graces that are joyned with it and by the Apostle in that place particularly rehearsed and reckoned up For it must needs be granted that those who are assured of their election are thereby also assured of their salvation seeing it is not possible that any of the Elect should perish Math. 24.24 For Gods decrees are immutable his counsel shall stand and he will do all his will and pleasure Isa 46.10 SECT VI. Objections answered and Doubts resolved THere remaineth nothing now but that I answer certain Reasons of Mr. D. which I have not yet touched whereby he goeth about to prove that our works of piety or charity cannot possibly assure us of salvation when faith lyeth hid that we cannot see that we believe by the inward testimony of our Conscience Object Convers J. Baptist p. 51. The first of them is this That which maketh me doubt of my Faith will make me doubt of the sincerity of my works No it will not for the cause many times lyeth hid when the effect discovereth it self and is obvious to sight and sense Answ 1 He that is shut up in a Dungeon or in a dark house cannot see the Sun when it is risen yet notwithstanding he may assure himself that it is not night but day and that the Sun is risen by those beams of light which do dart into the house through some little crevises or chinks that are in the wall and even so in like manner when a mans faith cannot be seen being over-clouded with tentations yet by the lively effects thereof by his love to God and to his word and Children and by the opposition which he maketh against all sinful lusts and tentations and by his constant purpose desire and endeavour to obey God and to please him in all things he may gather that he is not destitute of Faith though he cannot so clearly see it nor behold it directly and immediately in it self or in its own proper acts Again whereas he saith That which maketh him doubt of his faith will make him doubt not of his work but of the sincerity of it Answ 2 I further answer That there is a two fold sincerity the one agentis seu operantis of the person that doth the work the other operis of the work that is done 1. The sincerity of the person consists in the true intention of his minde or heart and so it is opposed to hypocrisie Now whether a man doth his works in sincerity and truth or but in hypocrisie his own Conscience will tell him 2. The sincerity of the work is when it is true and real and not imaginary or counterfeit Now if sincerity be taken in this sense there is apparent reason why many a believer doubteth more of the sincerity of his faith then of his works to wit because his faith is assaulted with strong yea and now and then with hideous and with fearful tentations which do shake it and make him to doubt of the truth of it whereas he may have no such cause to doubt of the truth of his works Even as though not the same man yet some other for the same cause may doubt more of the truth and sincerity of some of his vertues actions and works then of others As for example of his chastity rather then of his liberality and justice because lascivious thoughts do now and then rise in his minde although he taketh no delight in them but resisteth them and grieveth and condemneth himself for them Whereas he is not so assaulted in the exercise of other vettues which maketh him lesse to doubt of the truth and sincerity of them Lastly Whereas he saith That which maketh me Answ 3 doubt of my faith By retorning the Objection will make me doubt of the sincerity of my works I must tell him That if this reason of his be any thing worth then neither will his faith give him any assurance of his salvation when he doubteth of the sincerity of his works or of his love to God and Man Gal. 5.6 for the true justifying and saving faith worketh by love But contrary hereunto he telleth us as you heard before that when the soul is loaden with the burthen of sin and sense of misery it is sufficient for our assurance to believe God in his promises according to that Act. 16.21 Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Object A second Reason of his is this How is it possible I should judge my works sincere when I cannot see I believe Whatsoever is not of faith is sin Answ To this I answer It is one thing to be without faith another for a man to want the sense and sight or feeling of his faith No works in deed are any thing worth where faith is altogether wanting for without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 But as fire on the hearth cannot be seen when it lyeth covered under ashes so is the faith of Gods dear Children many times so covered by reason of doubts that arise in their minds or the dimness of their spiritual eye-sight that they cannot see it Yet I hope Mr. D. will not say that all their works in this case are unsound or that they or others shall do well to think so of them as long as their Consciences do tell them that whatsoever they do they do it in sincerity and in the singleness of their hearts and not as time-servers or men-pleasers Object Lastly He asketh What works are done in faith that the same acts may not be done in the spirit of bondage Answ I answer him That though the same acts that are done in faith may be done in the spirit of bondage He that is acted only by the Spirit of bondage doth love sin still and whatsoever good he doth Act. 15.9 it is only for fear and not out of love to God Heb. 9.14 that he may glorifie him quoad materiale according to the matter of them yet not quoad formale that is according to the purity and sanctity of them for it is faith that purifieth the heart as St. Peter saith And as another Apostle telleth us It is faith in the blood of Christ that purifieth the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Men in deed may be restrained from acting sin for a time by the terror and fear of Gods judgements which the spirit of bondage worketh in them but when that fear is gone or when it is but forgotten as usually it is in their mirth and meriments then they break out again and commit the same sins which they did before with greediness The sum of all then is this it is faith and the filial fear of God and not the
would know therefore how they came to have Christ but by receiving him when he was offered unto them in the preaching of the Gospel But here it may be said Christ in his Gospel Question requireth of us Repentance and new Obedience as well as Faith Mark 1.15 Heb. 5.9 Acts 3.26 Why then should we be said to receive Christ and to apply him and his merits unto us any more by Faith then by our Repentance To this I answer Answer That Faith is required of us as the only instrument or means whereby we are to receive Christ and his merits when they are offered unto us in the Gospel For so ye have heard the Scripture tell us that Christ is received by Faith and Paul saith Acts 26.18 that forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of Heaven which Christ hath purchased for us are received by Faith Now there is no such thing spoken of Repentance or new Obedience but they are required in another respect or for another Reason to wit That we may have communion with Christ and glorifie the name of God and his Gospel by living holily Thus both Faith and Repentance are Conditions of the Covenant of Grace or of the Gospel but in divers respects For by Faith we receive Christ and salvation by him and without Repentance we cannot receive him or the salvation which by his death he hath purchased and in his Gospel offereth unto us Briefly then thus it is Faith is a condition necessary to be performed by us that we may thereby receive Christ and be incorporated and united unto him Repentance is Conditio sine qua non that is a necessary condition without the performance whereof 2 Cor. 6.14 Heb. 5.9 we can have no communion with Christ nor hope of Heaven SECT V. Christ is freely given notwithstanding the Conditions that are required of us Object BUt he objecteth again and saith Yet methinks that Christ is here set forth upon some conditions and not so freely given Answ Yes he is freely given that is gratis notwithstanding these conditions For they are not meritorious as in many compacts and Covenants that passe between man and man but conditions to which Christ and his merits are freely offered and given in the Gospel through the meer mercy and goodness of God and not for any merit or desert of these conditions I would know of these men whether the Kingdom of Heaven and the glory thereof be not freely given us of God Yet I hope they will not deny but that Faith Repentance and new Obedience must go before tfie fruition and possession thereof Heb. 12.14 as conditions or as things on our part to be performed or else we shall never come there What doth not the Apostle set it down as a condition of our glorification and salvation in Heaven when he saith to the Collossians Now hath Christ reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable Col. 1.22 and unreproveable in his sight if you continue in the Faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Like whereunto is that of the same Apostle 1 Tim. 2.15 where he saith that the woman notwithstanding the dolorous pains in child-birth which God hath laid upon her shall be saved if they continue in Faith and charity and holiness with sobriety The like conditionals we meet with Rom. 11.22 Rev. 3.20 and in divers other places of the new Testament Whence these men who take upon them to be the only Patrons of free Grace may see how absurdly they reason when they say Grace is free therefore nothing is required of us antecedenter to the receiving of Christ or of justification or of any other grace For I would know of them whether eternal life be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the free gift of God or a gift of Gods grace as the Apostle calleth it Rom. 6.23 Now what will they say that nothing is to be done of us that we are neither to repent nor believe nor to do any good works before we come to Heaven that we may be saved by grace If so then let them profess themselves Libertines or if they will not do that let them take heed that they do not lay down such Principles whence Libertinisme may necessarily be inferred For I would know of them where in all the Scripture remission of sins is so granted by God that nothing is required of us neither Faith nor Repentance Where there is such an absolute grant a man is tied to nothing whence it will follow that he may have remission of sins and consequently be saved although he never believe repent nor amend his life but live in sin all his dayes But that I may let them see wherein they do deceive themselves Whereas they say That grace is free Objection therefore nothing is required of us but Christ is freely to be offered and preached to all even to those that live in sin as well as to any others without any conditions I answer That they do deceive themselves and others with an equivocation For when they say grace is free Answer the meaning hereof is that it is gratuita free in regard of any recompence or satisfaction and so freedome in this sense is opposed to merit but the meaning is not that we are inde liberati à conditionibus fidei et resipiscentiae thereby freed from the conditions of Faith and repentance without which there is no remission of sins nor salvation to be had no more then we are freed ab officio gratitudinis erga Deum from our duty of thankfulnesse towards God after we are justified and in the state of grace Yet thus do these men speak of freedom when they say grace is free opposing freedom not to merit but to any bond of duty towards God in the same sense as St. Paul doth when he saith that a woman is free from the Law of her husband when he is dead Rom. 7.3 SECT VI. In what sense and signification this word Grace is used and taken in holy Scripture and that we do ascribe our salvation wholly to Grace BUt that I may make this yet more plain I say that Grace is taken in several senses and significations in holy Scripture but principally in these two First properly pro gratuita Dei benevolentia et favore for the free good will and favour of God as when the Apostle saith Eph. 2.8 Ye are saved by Grace that is by the free favour and mercy of God Rom. 3.24 Rom. 4.16 Eph. 1.5.6 And so it is to be understood in those sayings All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justifyed freely by his Grace And therefore it is of Faith that it might be of Grace And having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his Grace
Secondly Grace is taken by a Metonymie for a supernatural gift of grace Eph. 4.7 2 Cor. 6.1 as in these places following Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ c. We beseech you that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain Under this latter signification of Grace are comprehended both Christ himself John 4.10 for he calleth himself the gift of God and all the several Acts also or parts of our salvation which he hath merited for us and worketh in us or bestoweth upon us as our justification adoption sanctification preservation in the state of Grace redemption from hell and eternal glorification and salvation in Heaven Now judge whether those can be enemies to Grace or whether they are justly charged not to preach free Grace who do thus ascribe our whole salvation to the Grace of God It is true indeed we do teach men to repent and believe in Christ that they may be saved by him but withal we do teach them that Faith and Repentance are Graces of God or dona ex gratiâ gifts of his Grace and that they cannot practise nor perform them viribus liberi arbitrii sui by their own free will or by any power of their own but must seek and sue unto God for them in the use of such means as he hath prescribed For God doth not force his graces upon us nor doth not work upon us as on stocks or stones but seeing he hath made us reasonable creatures he therefore speaketh unto us by his word and perswadeth and inableth us by his Spirit to do those things which he requirerh of us Thus he dealeth with us as with men but yet so that still our salvation is wholly of his grace both the beginning middle and the end thereof For though it bee we that do repent and believe and obey and not God yet we do all this not of our selves but by his grace Thus do we alwaies and in all things magnifie and extol the grace of God acknowledging it to be the only cause of our whole salvation by Christ Yet all this that I have said Objection Mr. S. thinketh to overthrow by saying That all sorts even Papists and Arminians do thus acknowledge grace in general as we do But who seeth not that we do more then so Answer For whereas they do divide the salvation of a sinner between mans Free-will and Gods free grace yea do terminate his conversion ultimately and leave it in the power of his own Free-will we ascribe it only to grace Quest 2. Whether a man when he is converted from Infidelity to Fayth do change his estate before God Reconcil of God to man pag. 32 MAster D. saith that a mans believing doth not change his estate before God Whereupon that I may passe my censure this I say that if before God he meaneth only according to that he is in Gods eternal predestination this may be admitted for so he is a believer that is decreed to be a believer from all eternity But if his meaning be that his estate before he believed and after his conversion is the same before God that is in Gods account or in reality and truth as well as in outward appearance in which sense Zachary and Elizabeth are said both to be righteous before God this may not be granted For upon Zacheus his conversion our Saviour spake unto him and said Luke 1. This day is salvation come unto this house He was not in the state of salvation therefore before Now the same is to be said of all other converts and true believers whereof is to be seen in the Ephesians Eph. 2.1 2. of whom St. Paul saith You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in times past ye walked and afterwards he speaketh unto them and saith Ye were sometimes darkness Eph. 4.8 but are now light in the Lord. Now I would know whether he doth not change his estate that passeth from death to life which our Saviour our in express words affirmeth of the believer John 5.24 and from darkness to light As manifest a change of their estate do those words of the Apostle import and imply when he saith unto them Remember that ye being in times passed Gentiles in the flesh that at that time ye were without Christ Eph. 2.11 12 13. being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world But now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Can any thing be spoken more plainly to shew what a great difference there was between their former estate and condition whilest they remained in infidelity and their present since they were converted to the Faith of Christ To be without Christ and without God and to be nigh unto God and unto Christ that is to be the children of God and members of Christ must needs argue a great change in a mans spiritual estate Those words also of St Paul Col. 1.13 do evince as manifest a change of our spiritual estate when he saith That God the Father hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son For how is it possible there should be any such translation if our state remained unalterable and still the same It is false therefore that Mr. D. teacheth to wit Reconcil of God to man pag. 27.28 That our Faith only giveth us evidence and assurance of our salvation which we had before but that we are not to believe and to serve God that we may obtain salvation non per modum meriti not by way of merit I mean not so but that we may obtain by Faith both right unto and possession or fruition of that salvation in Heaven which Christ hath purchased for us In this he contradicteth the Scripture for St Peter calleth the salvation of our souls the end of our Faith Now I would know 1 Pet. 1.9 whether a man doth undertake or do any thing nisi ex intuitu et cum intentione finis but for some end or other which he propounds unto himself When we do therefore believe in Christ and Repent us of our sins past we do it with this intention and for this end That we may be partakers of eternal salvation in Heaven through Christ Whereupon when the Jaylor demanded of Paul Silas Sirs What must I do to be saved Acts 16.31 They said Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thine house He findeth fault with this question Reconcil of God to man pag. 34. If the Jaylor had asked this question of Mr. D. he in choâ—er scorn would have answered him What thou ignorant and impious man dost thou ask me what thou must do to be saved as if Christ had not throughly wrought and
finished the work of thy salvation I tell thee thy salvation is not now to be begun thou hast been in the state of salvation ab aeterno from everlasting or at leastwise ever since Christ suffered his bitter Passion on the Crosse Believe only in the Lord Jesus and this thy Faith hujusce rei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erit evidentissimum shall be a most clear evidence hereof Thus Mr. D. would have answered but St. Paul knowing well that the Jaylor did only enquire concerning the means of his salvation which were by him to be used he answered him therefore Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Phil. 2.12 and thine house And in a like sense did St. Paul bid the Philippians Work out their salvation not in regard of the merit but the means thereof with fear and trembling And St. Peter prescribeth repentance as a means to be practised by us that our sins may not be laid to our charge by Christ at his coming but that we may be absolved from them Acts. 3.19.20 for so he saith Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you Let it be considered therefore whether Mr. D. doth nor deal most injuriously with us when he censureth our Religion for a falâ—e Religion because we do thus prescribe unto men Faith and Repentance as means of their eternal salvation by Christ Certainly St. Paul speaking of himself and of the rest of the Ministers of the Gospel saith 2 Cor. 5.20 As though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead that ye be reconciled unto God Now how is this to be understood but in respect of the means of our reconciliation Reconcil of God to man pag. 34. which are to be performed by us Yet Mr. D. is not ashamed to write thus Now this is the common character of all false Religions of what sort soever Jews Turks Papists Pharisaical Protestants Heathen all propound in some degree or other an angry God a Diety not reconciled and then prescribe certain means and services whereby to appease his wrath and to quench his displeasure or to obtain his love and favour that is in regard of the effects thereof so it must be understood or else he fighteth not against us but against a fancy of his own We are told that the wrath of God abideth on him that believeth not John 4 36 Are not all then under wrath or as St. Paul calleth them the children of wrath untill they do believe Eph. 2.3 But for the better understanding hereof our next Question shall be Quest 3. Whether God may be said to love us eternally before we do repent and believe in Christ even while we do live in sin And whether God do love his Children as much while they lye in sin as when they rise out of it by Repentance and live holily SECT I. Mr. D's opinion concerning this Question is set down and censured MR. D's resolution and determination hereof is this Ezek. 16.4 God loved us with as great love when we were in blood and pollution as he did ever afterwards when we were cleansed as well before as after our conversion He loved Paul with as great a love when he persecuted the Church as when he preached the Gospel Thus speaketh Mr. D. of this high mystery without distinguishing of the diâ—ers acceptions of Gods Love which cannot but greatly offend many godly good souls and confirm harden profane ones in their wicked courses yea imbolden them to do evil For will such carnal ones say seeing God loves his elect as much when they welter and wallow in sin as when they live holily and purely I 'le therefore take my pleasure and deny my self nothing that is delightful unto me For though I be not so strict as some are yet I see that I may be as highly in Gods love as the holiest of them all For preventing of such presumptuous thoughts And for clearing of the truth I will lay down the answer to the Question in two several conclusions SECT II. How Gods love is ever the same without any alteration THe former whereof is That if the Love of God be taken properly as it is in it self pro actu divini amoris for the internal Act of Gods Love so it is immutable eternal and ever the same accidens enim in Deo nullum est and hereupon it is that St. John saith 1 Iohn 4.11 God is Love his Love therefore must needs be immutable and eternal as he himself is Wherefore if we shall speak of Gods Love properly so it must be granted that he loved his people from all eternity even before they did believe in Christ and forsake their sins This is that which the Lord maketh profession of by his Prophet when he saith Ier. 31.1 I loved thee with an everlasting love And our blessed Saviour saith Iohn 13.1 that whom the Lord loveth he loveth unto the end When any of the children of God therefore are at any time or other supplanted by the Devil and do fall into sin as David did the Lord ceaseth not to love them for it is his love that upholdeth them that they do not fall totally and finally and that recovereth and raiseth them up again Thus Gods Love is eternal in it self and hath neither beginning nor end as our love hath Objection But how then are we to understand those words of David Psalm 5.5 where he saith Thou hatest all workers of iniquity for hatred is contrary to love Wherefore seeing the elect of God as well as others before their calling and conversion were workers of iniquity How can it be said that God loved them eternally Reconcil of man to God pag. 19 20 21 22. This Objection Mr. D. encountreth And first he bringeth three answers of Others The first whereof is That God hates the works but not the persons of his elect The second That God loveth his elect before their conversion amore benevolentiae sed non complacentiae with a love of benevolence not of complacencie The third that God loveth them with the love of election but not of justification all which he scornfully rejecteth And then taketh upon him to unty the knot thus The Lord hateth all the workers of iniquity is the voice of the Law The other the Lord loves sinners * He should say workers of iniquity is the voice of the Gospel Now the Law and the Gospel speak divers things the one being the manifestation of Gods justice tells us what we are by nature the other being the manifestation of Gods mercy tells us what we are by grace in Jesus Christ Thus he Now I do acknowledge indeed that the Law doth reveal Gods wrath against sin and passeth sentence of condemnation not only on
will be said So also did Christ reconcile us unto his Father by his death Object therefore we were reconciled before we did believe in Christ It is true we were reconciled to God by his death Answer 1 quoad meritum vel quoad pretium redemptionis et reconciliationis nostrae in regard of the merit or price of our Redemption and Reconciliation but we are not actually reconciled until by Faith we do believe in Christ 1 John 5.11 12. and are united unto him For he that hath the Son hath life but he that hath not the Son hath not life but the wrath of God abideth on him And hereupon it was that St. Paul accounted all he had but as dung that he might win Christ Phil. 3.8 Math. 17.4 and be found in him For why Christ is the beloved Son of the Father in whom it is that he is well pleased with us As long therefore as we are out of Christ and remain in our sins we are liable to Gods displeasure and therefore had need to be reconciled unto him For though God loveth us ab aeterno from everlasting amore complacentiae with a love of complacencie and delight secundum intuitum praedestinationis suae that is as he beholds us justified and sanctified in his Decree of predestination yet being considered as we were of our selves when we remained in our sins and were aliens from Christ he could take no pleasure in us If this answer do not give full satisfaction then I say Answer 2 further that although God loves his elect eternally yet he suspendeth the saving effects of this his love towards them until they do believe in Christ In that regard therefore they may be said to be reconciled unto him when they are converted and do believe because he then taketh off this suspension by working in them the saving effects of his love and not only declaratively For first God works these effects in them and then by them declares and manifests his Love unto them and assures them thereof Answer 3 Lastly Though God loved us eternally as we were elected of him in his eternal Decree of Predestination that is in regard of the felicity and happiness which he alwaies intended us notwithstanding we were by God in his word bound over unto eternal punishment and condemnation for our sins while we lived in them but when we did return unto God and believe in Christ then we were justified and absolved from our sins and from the sentence of condemnation and consequently were actually reconciled unto God for there is no reall difference between the justification and reconciliation of a sinner When a sinner by Faith in Christ obtainerh pardon of his sins then he is reconciled to God St. Paul therefore useth the words justification and reconciliation promiscuously Rom. 5.9.10 and indifferently as importing the same thing being justified by the blood of Christ saith he we shall be saved from wrath through him This he proveth thus for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son where you see he putteth reconciled for justified implying there is no real difference between them much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life See this proved afterwards Question 6. Now we are not actually justified from the sentence of condemnation which God in his word hath denounced against us for our sins until we do believe in Christ It follows necessarily therefore that we are not actually reconciled unto God until we do believe in Christ and are united unto him Quest 5. Whether the Doctrine of Reconciliation as Mr. D. hath propounded it be a better means of comfort to distressed consciences then our Protestant Doctrine is FIrst He teacheth that God was reconciled to us that is as he understandeth it that he loved us ab aeterne from all eternity without any precedent dispositions or qualifications which he found or fore-saw in us or any conditions to be performed by us to gain His love and His favour Now whatsoever comfort this can afford to any if it be a means to keep those that are great sinners or such as are troubled with the apprehension of their own unworthinesse from despair our Doctrine will do the same also For there is no judicious nor no orthodox Protestant who teacheth not that God loved us freely from everlasting and that His love is the cause of our loving Him and of all the goodness that is in us as St. John saith We love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 and not that he loveth us because we love Him to speak properly of his Love as it is in it self though otherwise when we speak of Gods Love according to the influence it hath upon us or according to the gracious effects thereof we say as the holy Scripture doth that the Lord will love those that love him and keep his commandements In this sense our Saviour speaketh of Gods Love If a man love me he will keep my words John 14.23 and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And John 16.27 The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me have believed that I came out from God Where we must not so understand our Saviour as if he made his Disciples loving of him and believing him to be the cause why God did first set his Love upon them for he loved them erernally but to be the cause why God did aboundantly testifie his Love towards them by many gracious rare and most comfortable effects thereof rather than to the world We may say therefore as Dionysius Carthusianus doth That our Saviour in these words setteth down the cause of Gods Love à posteriori that is he cause of the effects of Gods Love and so maketh his Disciples loving of him and believing in him a sign and an assurance unto them that his Father loved them Reconcil of man to God pag. 49 50 52 57. Secondly speaking of our Reconciliation to God that is as he expresseth himself of the declaration or manifestation of Gods Reconciliation to us he teacheth that we are thus reconciled to God by Faith only but maketh joy in the Holy Ghost and the Love of God and of our Brethren and new Obedience inseperable Companions of this our Reconciliation Now it a man cannot finde these graces in himself What great comfort can he take that Gods Love is eternal without any conditions on our par◠to be performed Or how can this encourage men against desperation more than our Doctrine which is That Gods Love may be known by the inseparable effects thereof For he will not say that God loves all or that he was from all eternity reconciled unto all but only unto the Elect. Until therefore a man shall finde in himself the undoubted effects of his Election he can take no great comfort in this that Gods Love is free and without
with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins Acts 5.31 To whom also hath God promised remission of sins Verily not to those that do live in sin but that do leave their sins and return unto GOd Ezek. 18.21 22 23 24. Pardon of sin therefore or which is all one justification and absolution from sin is not to be had until a man do repent and become a new man But what need I to heap up any more testimonies or to use any more reasons seeing St. Paul shutteth up his disputation of justification in these words Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Rom. 3.28 It will not serve M. D.'s turn to say That Pauls meaning is that we are justified declaratively to our own consciences by Faith only and not by works For St. Peter who spake by the same Spirit that St. Paul did teacheth us That by the constant practice not only of Faith but of other vertues and good works also we are to make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 2.10 that is to our own souls and consciences Consequently therefore by the same works may also be assured in our consciences of our justification before God and of our reconciliation to his Divine Majesty For he that is assured of his Election and of his effectual Vocation is assured of his justification and salvation Mr. D. therefore setteth a false glosse upon St Pauls words when he saith that his meaning is not that we are actually justified before God by Faith only but declaratively to our own consciences for thus are we justified by other Vertues as well as by Faith SECT II. Mr. D. his Objections answered ALL these plain Testimonies and many more Mr. D. thinketh to avoid and put off by saying that we were justified actually by Christs righteousness before we did believe even at that very time when he suffered his bitter Passion and bare our sins on his Body on the Tree and that therefore as I intimated before the Scriptures which say we are justified by Faith must be thus understood That Faith justifieth declaratively that is that our Faith declareth and maketh it evident unto our consciences that our sins are forgiven and that we are justified before God But the Scriptures as I have shewed do speak so plainly that they will not suffer themselves thus to be wrested Notwithstanding he goeth about to prove this his exposition by these Arguments following Object Confer p. 14. Rom. 4.5 Rom. 5.10 1. That the Act of our Faith is a Consequent of our justification and not an Antecedent is plain For God justifieth the ungodly And we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son when we were enemies Now saith he Believers cannot be called enemies but friends But we were reconciled when we were enemies The answer hereunto is easie to wit Answer That we were ungodly and so enemies antecedenter ad reconciliationem nostram that is before we were reconciled but not when we did actually believe The Apostle therefore in these words of his denotat tatum terminum à quo istius reconciliationis non terminum ad quem that is And so speaketh in the same sense as Isay doth c. 3. when he saith The lame man shall leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb sing which as Chamier saith must be understood in sensu diviso non in composito he sheweth what manner of persons we were before we were reconciled to God not what we are being reconciled He speaketh therefore in the same sense as our Saviour doth when he saith Math. 11.5 the lame walk and the deaf hear The meaning whereof no man will conceive to be that the lame still continuing lame did walk and that the deaf still continuing deaf did hear but that those who formerly were lame and deaf being cured by Christ did go and hear And even so in like manner when the Apostle saith that God justifieth the ungodly and that we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son when we were enemies the meaning is not That the ungodly remaining ungodly are justified or that any are enemies to God after they are actually reconciled unto him but that we who by nature and of our selves were ungodly and therefore enemies were justified from that ungodliness of ours and reconciled unto God when we believed in Christ Objection But saith he We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Christ bare our sins in his body on the Tree Remission of sin therefore is even as ancient as satisfaction for sin and at what time Christ Jesus taketh our sins upon himself at the same time are the persons of Gods Elect just before the tribunal of Almighty God Answer Hereunto I answer That we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son meritoriè that is in regard of merit but are not actually reconciled until we do by Faith receive Christ apply the merits of his Passion to our souls In the same sense is Christ said to bear our sins on his Body on the tree that is the punishment of our sins whereby he purchased the pardon of them It doth not follow therefore neither from these nor from any other the like sayings that actual remission of sins is as ancient as satisfaction for sin nor that the persons of Gods Elect were just before the Tribunal of God at the same time when Christ Jesus took our sins upon himself Mr. D. therefore doth indeed wrest those places of Scripture which speak of the actual performance of the price of our Redemption when he alledgeth them to impugn actual remission of sins by Faith Another of his Objections is this Object Confer p. 15. They that are ingrafted into Christ Jesus are justified but we must be ingrafted into Christ Jesus before we can believe therefore we must be justified before we can believe What force and what strength there is in this reasoning of his I will request him to consider by the like Answer They that are ingrafted into Christ Jesus are holy for so are all his members but we must be ingrafted into Christ Jesus before we can believe therefore we must be holy before we can believe Will he say that this is rightly concluded from the premises No he must not for he telleth us that holiness cannot go before Faith but must follow it But to answer his Argument Confer p. 21. When he saith They that are ingrafted into Christ Jesus are justified But we must be ingrafted into Christ Jesus before we can believe If here he do understand priority of time I deny this Assumption of his For at the same time that we are ingrafted into Christ we receive power from him to believe Again seeing Christ is offered unto us in the Promises of the Gospel How can we be made partakers of Christ if we
do not by Faith believe and receive those promises To say nothing that to be ingrafted into Christ is nothing but to believe in Christ For God by working Faith in us doth ingraft us into Christ I deny therefore his minor Proposition for we are not ingrafted into Christ at all untill the Spirit hath wrought Faith in us He alledgeth That the effects of righteousness is Assurance but to what purpose I know not Obiect Esay 32.17 unless it be against himself For if righteousness do alwaies bring assurance with it of Gods Love favour or of the forgiveness of sins and of our justification then it cannot be said that we are assured of our justification only by Faith as he teacheth Afterwards I finde him reasoning thus St. Peter saith Object That Christ bare our sins in his own Body on the tree that we being delivered from sin might live in righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 St. John tells us John 1.29 Christ takes them away Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world If the justice of God hath laid allour iniquities upon his back hath not his mercy taken them from us If the Lord Christ did take them away then they are no more Answ For answer hereunto I say first That they are taken away and are no more in regard of any satisfaction to be performed by us for so Christ bare them and took them away as I have shewed before Again I do here further add That the persons of whom both St. Peter and St. John do speak in these words are Believers Christ bare our sins that is ours who believe in him for of them St. Peter speaks and to them he wrote this and not to infidels So also when St. John saith Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world By the world here he meaneth all those throughout the world both Jews and Gentiles that do believe in him and receive him for their Saviour in the same sense as St. John the Apostle speaketh when he saith If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the just 1 John 2.1 and he is the propitiation for our sins ours of the Jewish Nation or of the Israelites who do believe in him and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world that is of all both Jews and Gentiles that do believe in him throughout the world SECT III. An Objection answered I Have done with Mr. D. And must now essay if I can give satisfaction to a stronger reason than any of his which I finde alledged by an acute and learned Divine for whom I am no fit match Vindic Gra. Lib. 1. Sect. 4. For thus doth he reason Justificatio est actus Dei immanens non transiens that is to say an internal not an external Act of God est ergo aeternus non temporaneus it is therefore eternal and not done in time as the outward works of God are Whereupon he inferreth and concludeth that when the Scripture saith We are justified by Faith the meaning hereof is that we are justified by Faith in tribunali conscientiae that is that God when we believe in Christ justifieth us in the tribunal which be setteth up in our own souls and consciences but that otherwise we were justified ab aeterno apud Deum eternally with God But methinks this exposition of his quite overthroweth the Doctrine of justification by Faith as it is taught by the Protestants For the Protestants Doctrine is First that our justification is actus individuus an individual act that is accomplished all at once in one and the same instant Secondly quòd non admittit majus et minus that it is not increased nor diminished by degrees as our sanctification is But this justification is not any such indivisible act For frequent and ordinary experience sheweth that those who are Believers and in the state of grace yea excellent Christians otherwise are somtimes confident that their sins are pardoned and that they are in Gods favour and at other times though they rely still upon God for the pardon of their sins and for salvation by Christ yet they cannot say that they are pardoned In a word the Children of God have sometimes a greater sometimes a lesser assurance of the pardon of their sins and of their salvation and sometimes hardly any at all The reason whereof in many of them is melancholy abounding which depraveth the fancy depresseth the heart and alwaies raiseth fears in opposition contrary to that which a mans heart is set upon and which it most desireth Somtimes again the Faith of the Believer is assailed with strong strange and hideous temptations which deprive him of that assurance which formerly he had or were it not for these temptations would have And sometimes also weakness of judgment in those whose hearts are upright with God is a great cause why they cannot lay hold of that comfort which belongeth unto them Now if we shall say that a man is justified by Faith when his Faith doth declare and evidence unto his conscience that his sins are pardoned then we shall exclude some of these good Christians from the state of justification and of others of them we shall say contrary to the common tenent of Protestants that they are sometimes more and sometimes lesse justified Object But how then shall we answer the aforesaid Reason which is alledged to prove the eternity of the justification of Gods Elect Answ I answer it thus That the Decree indeed of justifying or absolving Believers is an immanent and eternal Act of God Thus they are justified ab aeterno in mente Dei eternally in Gods counsel or in Gods mind and purpose even as those that are arraigned in Courts of justice here in this world are acquitted or condemned in animo et mente judicis in the Judges mind and decree or determination before he passeth sentence of judgment upon them But they are not actually judged until this sentence is pronounced and published Now the same is to be said concerning the actuall justification of those that do believe in Christ For justification as the Protestants do prove by the Scriptures est vocabulum forense is a judicial term and therefore is to be taken in sensu forensi in a judicial sense It importeth therefore an external judicial act of God that is to say his pronouncing or publishing of sentence of judgment For then is a Judge said to judge him that is arraigned before him when he giveth either sentence of absolution or condemnation upon him and even in like manner God the judge of all the world doth justifie those that believe in Christ by passing sentence of absolution upon them and condemneth all unbelievers and ungod y sinners by giving sentence of condemnation against them Object But it may be you will say unto me It is true Christ at his coming will judge the quick and the dead
time I deny this consequence for from hence it followeth only that Faith goeth before our justification in order of nature or in reason but not in time because a man is justified at the same instant that he layeth hold on Christ believeth in him But he denieth that Faith goeth before our justification in any respect at all his reason is because Faith is a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which indeed and in nature is before it The first of these Propositions I do willingly grant that Faith is a part of sanctification but whereas he assumeth that there is nosanctification but it is after justification I cannot assent unto him in this For many worthy Divines do hold that sanctification is before justification their judgment therefore I might oppose unto the learned Chamiers others that hold the contrary For the clearing of this matter I do distinguish of sanctification and say that it is either habitual and so God doth sanctifie us by infusing holinesse into us or actual and so we do sanctifie our selves by renouncing the works of sin and living holily Of both these Moses speaketh when he saith Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them Lev. 20.7.8 for I am the Lord which sanctifie you When the Lord saith here Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy this must be understood of actual sanctification that is of holiness that is to be actually performed by us But whereas the Lord useth this as a reason to stir us up hereunto for I am the Lord which sanctifie you this is spoken of habitual sanctification For how doth the Lord sanctifie us but by infusing the habit or the internal grace of holinesse into us whereby we are inabled to perform the several acts of holinesse or to live holily the effectual excitation of Gods blessed Spirit herewith concurring But because these words of the Lord which I have alledged though they speak of a twofold sanctification are taken in another sense by very learned Divines than this that I have given for confirmation therefore of habitual sanctification I do alledge those words of St. Paul 1 Thess 5.23 where he prayeth that God would sanctify them wholly or throughly And those 1 Cor. 1.30 where he saith That Christ is made unto us sanctification See also 1 Pet. 1.2 Now of actual sanctification St. Paul speaketh when he saith This is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God Hereof also speaketh St. Peter in that precept of his Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts In these and in other places the Scripture speaketh of Sanctification both habitual wrought in us by God himself and of sanctification acted and wrought by us through the assistance of Gods Spirit exciting us unto holinesse Whereas then this most learned Divine saith That there is no sanctification but it is after justification this is true if it be understood of actual sanctication For we are first justified by Faith and then this Faith inflameth our hearts with the love of God and stirreth us up to glorifie him and to serve him in holiness and righteousness according to all his commandements Thus the several works of holiness and righteousness do proceed from Faith Etiamsi non elicitivè imperativè tamen though not elicitly yet imperatively Faith stirreth us up unto them For as St. Paul saith The end of the commandement is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.5 and Faith unfeigned It is true therefore that Faith and therefore justification which is thereby laid hold of and obtained is before actual sanctification For as this learned man saith well fides vera est fons et scaturigo omnium bonorum operum in fidelibus De sola fide justificante Lib. 22. cap. 12. True Faith is the fountain and source of all good works in the faithful But I cannot say that there is no sanctification but it is after justification for habitual Faith is a part of habitual anctification Now the infused habits of grace such as Faith is are before their acts If therefore it can be proved that adulti or such as are of capacity and understanding are not justified without or before actual Faith then it will inevitably follow that there is some sanctification that is not after justification Yea beside what hath been said already to prove that we are actually justified by Faith and not without it methinketh Chamierus himself doth as good as grant it when he saith Verum est proptereà nos factos in Christo justitiam Dei quòd Christo nos simus incorporati per fidem It is true that we are therefore made the righteousnesse of God in Christ because we are incorporated into him by Faith We are not then justified before Faith or before we do believe in Christ Again this most excellent Divine saith In adultis fatemur remissionem peccatorum ab inhaerente justitiâ nunquam sepaerari We confess that remission of sins is never separated from inherent righteousness in those that are grown in years But say I many of the Elect after they have the use of reason and understanding being well grown in years do yet live in sin for some time and do not serve God in righteousness until he by his grace doth afterward convert them According therefore to his own Doctrine it followeth that justification from sin at least in adultis in those that are grown in years doth not go before Faith But saith he Faith justifieth relativè as it hath for its proper peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Whence as I conceive he would have it inferred That seeing the mercy of God is eternal therefore our justification is so also and therefore before Faith Now hereunto I answer that though Christs righteousnesse be materialiter the proper object of our justification or that which is imputed to us for our justification Yet I will not deny bur that Gods mercy considered as the internal cause moving God to justify us may thus be said to be the proper and peculiar object on which our Faith relyeth for justification But it doth not follow hereupon that we were justified ab aeterno from everlasting because Gods mercy is the cause of our justification no more than that we are sanctified and glorified eternally because our sanctification and glorification are wholly of Gods mercy Quest 7. Whether any previous dispositions preparations or qualifications be required of men in the Gospel that they may be partakers of salvation by Christ SECT I. The Preparations that go before our Regeneration and Conversion THose that take upon them to be the only Preachers of
be saved and otherwise denouncing damnation if we transgress it doth hereby shew wherein the covenant of works consisteth So seeing the gospel doth not offer remission of sins and salvation by Christ unto all nor unto any absolutely but unto those only that do repent and believe the Gospel Mark 1.15 and obey Christ Heb. 5.9 It followeth therefore that the Gospel bindeth us to the obedience thereof as to our part of the covenant of grace yet so that we are to do the things which the Gospel requireth not by our own strength as the Law injoyneth Sed subsidio gratiae divinae à Christo pronobis partae but by the assistance of Gods grace which Christ hath purchased for us So that even in this regard the Gospel is a covenant of grace as well as in respect of our free justification and eternal salvation in Heaven because our salvation from the beginning unto the end thereof is of grace and not of nature or by any power or strength of our own free will For all the powers of our souls are in bondage to sin and Sathan until they be freed by Christ as our Saviour himself giveth us to understand when he saith If the Son shall set you free ye shall be free indeed Joh. 8.26 And St. Paul telleth us Col. 1.13 That it is not we our selves by any power of our own but God of the riches of his grace who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Thus the very works or acts of Faith Repentance and new obedience which we are bound unto in the Gospel are effects of Gods grace in us We presume not therefore to do them by any power of our own but do covenant the performance of them by the grace of God in Jesus Christ diligently using the meanes that are prescribed us in the Gospel for the building of us up in grace and waiting upon God for a blessing on them 7. And lastly When the people of God in the old Testament had revolted from him by Idolatry and other foul sins We read that when they repented 2 King 23. they bound themselves by Covenant to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandements and his testimonies and his Statutes Now shall we say that they renewed the legal covenant We have no reason to think so for they knew it was impossible for them to keep it They covenanted therefore to keep Gods Commandements evangelically whereunto they had before bound themselves when they were circumcised yea and not only so but were born under this covenant being descended from Abraham and the ancient Patriarchs with whom and their Seed the Lord entred into covenant It was this covenant of the Gospel for such was the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham as is to be seen Gal. 3.17 18. that the Israelites when they repented and returned unto the Lord from Idolatry renewed with him These things which I have thus alledged do make it manifest both that the covenant of grace is properly a covenant and that it is made not only with Christ our head but with every one of us that are his members who by this covenant are bound to faith in Christ and new obedience that so we may glorifie God and be saved eternally through his rich mercy in Jesus Christ Against this that I have said Answ Mr. S. undertaketh to prove that the covenant is made with Christ only for so St. Paul saith To Abraham and his seed Gal. 3.16 were the promises made He saith not to seeds as of many but as of one And to his seed which is Christ But how he can prove hence Object that the covenant of grace was made only with Christ and not with any other I cannot see The contrary rather may be concluded and deduced from these words for the Apostle saith That the promises were made to Abraham and to his seed which is Christ To Christ indeed only as to the Mediator in whom the covenant is confirmed of God as the Apostle explaineth himself in the next words but otherwise to Abraham the Father of the faithful and consequently to all that tread in his steps as to those to whom forgiveness of sins and the other benefits and blessings purchased by Christ and promised in the covenant do appertain and belong This will be the more manifest and evident unto us if we do consider what St. Paul meaneth by the promises which were made to Abraham and his seed The words indeed are difficult and therefore diversly understood by the learned The most common exposition is that by the promises are meant that promise of the Lord to Abraham In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed And that the Apostle speaketh numero plurali in the plural number because this promise was at several times repeated and made unto Abraham Now it is evident that the seed here spoken of is Christ for in him only it is that all the Nations of the Earth are blessed But it doth not hereupon follow that the covenant is made only with him For from these very words we may infer against Mr. S. that all Christs members are comprehended in the covenant as well as he though after another manner and in another sort For the promise is made unto Christ only that he shall be the Authour of blessedness unto all Nations but unto them that they shall be blessed in him Now I would know how all Nations shall be blessed in Christ verily not so as if no one person of any Nation were to be excluded for then all the World should be saved and none should be damned The meaning therefore of this gracious promise must needs be that all Nations should be blessed in Christ not absolutely but according to the conditions expressed and laid down in the Gospel wherein the covenant of grace is fully opened and unfolded Or that Elect who are to be gathered out of all Nations shall be blessed in Christ who only fulfil the conditions of the covenant There is another exposition of these words of the Apostle and that is that by the promises of which St. Paul here speaketh we are to understand the promise which the Lord at several times made unto Abraham that he would give unto him and to his seed the Land of Canaan for an everlasting possession as a type of the eternal inheritance of Heaven whereof it was an assurance unto them That whereby Estius and other learned men are led and induced to renounce the former exposition and to imbrace this latter is because St. Paul without any necessity doth twice repeat this word And saying to Abraham and his seed were the promises made He saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed For the sense would have been as compleat and full say they if the word And had been left out and he had said he saith not of seeds
of salvation But because it is not in our power to repent and believe the Lord therefore hath promised his Elect absolutely that he will put his spirit within them Zech. 36.27 and write his Law in their hearts and cause them to walk in his Statutes and to keep his judgements and do them Object In this regard we acknowledge the promises of the Gospel to be absolute and not conditional to the Elect which may serve also for an answer to that saying of the Lord I will put my spirit within them and cause them to walk in my Statutes alledged by Mr. S. to prove that the promises of the Gospel are absolute and not conditional They are indeed in that sense or in that respect and regard which I have specified and more then this cannot be inferred nor rightly concluded from these words SECT X. How the Evangelical Covenant may be said to be made with all the visible members of the Church I Le onely adde one thing more and that is this Although the Lord doth promise his Spirit unto his Elect onely whereby they are inabled to obey the Gospel and to lay hold of salvation yet he doth enter into a conditional covenant with all the visible members of his Church For as all that were circumcised of old were taken into covenant with God not only the Israelites but proselytes also of the Gentiles and their seed so unto all both Jewes and Gentiles that do joyn themselves unto the Church and are baptized doth God promise and covenant salvation upon condition that they do repent and believe in Christ and they for their parts do restipulate and bind themselves to perform the same As many therefore of these as do conform themselves unto the world and live still in sin and unbelief are Covenant-breakers and their Baptisme becommeth no Baptisme unto them Even as Circumcision of old was made uncircumcision unto those that lived wickedly Rom. 2.25 and did not keep covenant with God Not onely believing Parents therefore themselves but their seed also are taken into covenant with God and hereupon it is that the Children of believers are called holy 1 Cor. 7.14 that is sanctitate faederali by a federal sanctity or holiness whereby they are dedicated and consecrated unto God even as the Vessels of the Temple and the Priests and Levites and Tythes and all consecrated things were called holy not in regard of internal but external holiness being set apart for the most holy God and his service Thus as all the Israelites of old Parents and their Children were taken into Covenant with God and circumcised and therefore called an holy Nation Exod. 19.6 so all believers now and their Children are reputed and reckoned within the covenant of the Gospel and are therefore baptised and by their Baptisme consecrated unto God and bound to obey him and to serve him as an holy people It is manifest therefore that as God did with the Israelites of old so he doth now enter into a conditional covenant with all the visible members of the Church that is with all that make profession of the faith of Christ and of obedience to his Gospel and with their seed And this doth St. Paul plainly give us to understand Rom. 11.17 where speaking of believers of the Gentiles he saith that they were taken out of their own wild Olive-Tree and grafted into the true Olive-Tree and made pertakers of the Root and fatness thereof For what meaneth he hereby but that the Church of the Gentiles is by God joyned unto the Church of the Israelites or rather made one Church and people with them and invested with the self-same priviledges As the Israelites and their Children therefore were of old taken into covenant with God Deut. 29.11 12 13. so are we now and our Children SECT XI The absurdities which do insue and follow upon their assertion who do deny the Gospel to be a Covenant THus as I take it I have sufficiently corroborated and confirmed my first Reason or Argument against the exceptions taken and objections made against it by Mr. S. and others I have made it evident that there are conditions required of us in the Gospel it followeth therefore necessarily from his own words that the Gospel in regard of us as well as of Christ is really and properly a Covenant Now for the conclusion and shutting up of this present question and controversie I will put Mr. S. in mind of some of those absurdities which he and all those do thrust themselves upon who deny the Gospel to be a covenant in regard of us and affirm it to be nothing else but an absolute promise of salvation by Christ First From hence it will follow that neither Simon Magus nor any other Apostates no nor any Christians that live dissolutely or flagitiously after their Baptisme are to be accused or charged with any breach of Covenant against God no more then Infidels or Heathens that never heard of Christ at all Secondly It will also as necessarily follow from hence that not only others but even the primitive and most ancient Christians ever since the dayes of the Apostles have dealt impiously who received none into their Communion by Baptisme but those that first renounced the world the flesh and the Devil and bound themselves by a solem vow promise or covenant to believe in Christ and to serve God and to walk before him in the wayes of his Commandements all the dayes of their life Lastly From hence also it followeth that it is not lawful for Christians to enter into covenant with God because this would be superstition and will-worship having no foundation in the Gospel And so it will follow also that Mr. S. and as many as are of his Opinion if they have taken the Parliament Covenant have dissembled and played the Hypocrites both with God and Man For if the Law only be a Covenant in regard of us and not the Gospel then mens binding themselves to God by covenant was lawful under the Law but not under the Gospel Quest 14. Whether those Ministers that do offer remission of sins and salvation by Christ not to all absolutely but upon condition that they do repent and believe in Christ be legal teachers And whether by this their Doctrine they do make the Gospel a Covenant of works as the Law is SECT I. The Law neither teacheth nor accepteth of Faith and Repentance but requireth perfect obedience to all the Commandements thereof He therefore preacheth not legally but evangelically that offereth pardon to those that repent and believe Mr. S. and our new illuminated preachers do accuse us and charge us who preach as the Protestant and all Orthodox teachers have ever done that we are legal teachers because we do not with them offer remission of sins and salvation to all absolutely and without any conditions but tell men as the Apostles do that they must repent and believe in Christ that their sins may be blotted
risen though perhaps that might not be the very first moment of the rising thereof when this was spoken and the Suns shining upon the wall is made a sign or an evidence and manifestation thereof And even so in like manner when our Saviour saith Her sins which are many are forgiven her his meaning was that they were really forgiven though not at that instant onely but from the first moment of her conversion And he maketh this manifest by his next words from her abundant love which she so many wayes shewed and expressed towards him saying For she loved much I know Mr. D. will not here say with the Papists that her love to Christ was the cause that he pardoned and forgave her her sins but that he drew an Argument from thence to prove and to evidence that her sins were forgiven And so this conjunction causal for est causa consequentiae non consequentis is only the cause of the consequence in his Argument or in his reasoning but not of the thing it self whereof he speaketh that is of the pardon of her sins He would prove also from the judgement of Protestant Interpreters that our Saviour speaketh not of remission of sins really but of the manifestation thereof because when we pray in the fifth Petition of the Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses they make this to be the meaning hereof that the Children of God whose sins are already pardoned do pray for more assurance thereof But I have shewed already Quest 9. that they make this to be the meaning thereof only in part and not the full sense of that Petition as Mr. D. would have it Recon of God to man pag. 43. Another place of Scripture which he perverteth and corrupteth by a novellous and strange Exposition are those words of St. Paul 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God The meaning hereof he will have to be that they shall not enter into the Kingdom of God here on Earth which is his Church But in expounding these words thus he commeth far short of the meaning of the Apostle for albeit it is most certain that the unrighteous are no true members of the Church though they be in it for a time yet the Scripture when it speaketh of the inheritance which Christ hath purchased for his Saints from which the unrighteous are excluded referreth the possession thereof not to this World where we sojourn for a time as Pilgrims in a strange Country but to that happy life that is to come Thus our Saviour at the day of judgement will say unto his Elect people and righteous Servants Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world St. Paul also telleth us that flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. neither shall corruption inherit incorruption Which words it were absurd to refer unto the Kingdom of grace or to say that the Apostle excludeth all such out of the Church here on earth who carry about them corruptible flesh and blood St. Peter also in plain words so speaketh of the inheritance of Heaven as of a thing the possession whereof is not to be had in this life but in the World to come Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God 1 Pet. 1.3 4 4. through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time When St. Paul therefore saith that Fornicators Adulterers and such unrighteous persons shall not inherit the Kingdom of God his meaning is that they shall never enter into the glorious Kingdom of Heaven but be excluded thence and be cast into Hell 3. As strangely doth he expound those words of the Apostle Heb. 12.14 Recon of God to man p. 43 44. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord that is saith he with spiritual eyes or with the eyes of faith whereas the Apostle speaketh not here in praesenti of that Vision or seeing of the Lord which is to be had in this present World but in futuro of our seeing of him hereafter to our endless comfort in his Kingdom and in his glory in the same sense as St. John doth 1 Joh. 3.2 We know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Most false therefore it is which Mr. D. saith To see God and to inherit the Kingdom of God are nothing else but to believe in God and in his Son Jesus Christ When we come to Heaven faith in Christ shall cease and yet we shall not cease then to see God Another place of holy Scripture 1 Cor. 13.13 Confer with a sick man pag. 7. 1 Ioh. 3.14 which he grosly perverteth with a false Exposition and so goeth about to deprive the godly of the comfort which they take from it are those words of St. John We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren Many good souls have acknowledged that when all other grounds of comfort have failed them or at the least when in time of temptation they have not been able to apprehend any comfort from any thing else yet these words of the Apostle have upheld them from despairing of their Estate because their Consciences did testifie unto them that they did unfainedly love and ardently affect all that are godly Now this comfort also Mr. D. denyeth them * Confer p. 9. I do saith he for the present believe that St. John doth principally speak of our assurance whereby we know one another to be the Children of God And Conf. p. 8. He telleth us that it is before man that our love beareth witness to our Faith For he saith that St. Johns meaning is not that a man may know by his love to the Brethren that he himself particularly is in the state of grace but that the faithful in general by means of the love which they professed and shewed one to another were well perswaded one of another and believed by the judgement of charity that they were all the Children of God But this Exposition of his crosseth the main scope and drift or the purpose and intention of the Apostle in writing this Epistle which was to comfort the faithful by shewing them what signes and tokens and particular evidences they had of the forgiveness of their sins and of their salvation by Christ for so he saith Chap. 5.13 These things have I written unto you whereof their love to the Brethren was one that believe on the name of