Catholic Theology Plain Pure Peaceable, Conference 11 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Whether the New Covenant of Grace have any Conditions?
Lib.
V. BY feigning the Covenant of Grace to have Conditions, you make it to be a Covenant of works.
P.
Either by works you mean [any humane acts;] And ſo all Gods Covenants with man (and his Laws) are of works; that is, It is ſome act of man that they require: For what elſe can be commanded? Or you mean as Paul doth, when he calls the Jews Law, a Law of works: And if ſo, you falſifie his doctrine or ours. Prove if you can that by works he meaneth every humane Act, and that Faith it ſelf is either no Act of man, or the works meant by him.
Lib.
Faith is a work, but it is not put in the Covenant as a work required of us, but as a gift to be given to us freely.
P.
Judge whether it be required of us, and that formally as a condition, by ſuch texts as theſe: (yea whether obedience be not required as a Condition of our ſalvation, which is promiſed thereupon?) 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godlineſs hath the promiſe of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized ſhall be ſaved, and he that believeth not ſhall be damned. Rom. 10. 8, 9, 10, 13. If thou ſhalt confeſs with thy mouth the Lord Jeſus, and ſhalt believe in thy heart that God raiſed him from the dead (N. B. this is an act diſtinct from accepting his Righteouſneſs) thou ſhalt be ſaved. For with the heart man believeth unto Righteouſneſs, and with the mouth Confeſſion is made unto ſalvation.—For whoſoever ſhall call on the name of the Lord ſhall be ſaved. Matth. 6. 14, 15. For if ye forgive men their treſpaſſes, your Heavenly Father will alſo forgive you: But if &c. Rev. 22. 14. Bleſſed are they that do his commandments, that they may have Right to the tree of life, &c. See Iſa. 1. 16, 17, 18. & 55. 6▪ 7. Luk. 13. 3, 5. 1 Joh. 1. 9. Act. 3. 19. Heb. 5. 9, &c.
Lib.
God promiſeth a Reward to our Actions, not as ours, but as h… own gifts.
P.
1. Enough is ſaid of Rewards before: We ſhall not by ſuch talk as this believe either that God Rewardeth himſelf, or that he Rewardeth not us. But we eaſily grant that he rewardeth us for nothing which cometh not from his free bounty: For no creature can have any other good.
2. But if Faith, and Love, and Obedience be not commanded to us, but only given us, then they are no Duties, but Gifts only; and unbelief, hatred of God, and diſobedience is no ſin, nor brings no puniſhment.
Lib.
At leaſt they are no Conditions of the Covenant.
P.
Do you think that they are any proper Means of our Juſtification and Salvation as their End? or not?
Lib.
Yes: I dare not ſay, that they are no means at all; Faith and Repentance are Means of our Pardon, and Holineſs and Perſeverance of our Glorification.
P.
What ſort of means do you take them to be?
Lib.
They are ſuch Gifts of God as in order muſt go before Salvation.
P.
Going before, ſignifieth only Antecedency, and not any Means.
Lib.
One Gift maketh us fit for a thankful improvement of another.
P.
This ſpeaketh them only to be a Means to our Thankful improvement, and not to our Right to the things to be improved.
Lib.
I do not think that they are a means of our Right or title.
P.
Rev. 22. 14. Bleſſed are they that do his Commandments, that they may have Right to the tree of life, &c.
Lib.
It may be tranſlated [that waſh their garments] and [that they may have power upon] as Dr. Hammond noteth.
P.
1. The Alexandrian Copy which giveth him this occaſion, is ſingular, and not be ſet againſt all other (though the Vulgar Latin go the ſame way). Beza who yet thinks that a tranſpoſition of two Verſes hath darkned theſe Texts, this Book being negligently uſed, becauſe many for a time took it not for an Apoſtolical Writing, (or Canonical,) yet ſaith, that it is contra omnium Graecorum codicum fidem, that the Vulgar goeth.
2. But all's one in ſenſe: For [to waſh their Garments] is [to be ſanctified or purified from ſin] and not only from guilt of puniſhment: And foreign ſignifieth ſuch a Power as we call Authority o… Right (uſually.)
But what maketh you deny Conditions on mans part?
Lib.
Becauſe, 1. It is ſuppoſed that a condition is profitable to him that requireth it. 2. It is ſome Cauſe of the benefit. 3. It is to be done by the performers own ſtrength: whereas God giving …s Faith, that can be no condition on our part which is firſt a Gift from him that requireth it: For to give it firſt, maketh it no condition of ours.
P.
Here we ſee what it is to quarrell about ambiguous Words: No one of theſe is true that you ſay, of the common nature of a condition; or at leaſt as we mean by that word.
1. Civilians define a Condition to be Lex addita negotio, qua donec praeſtetur eventum ſuſpendit. As it is Required it is only Modus promiſſionis, donationis vel contractus: as Performed it is only a Removal of an Impediment, and a Diſpoſition of the Receiver. So that as the Non-performance is but the ſuſpenſion of a Cauſation, ſo the performance of a Condition as ſuch, is no Cauſe efficient: But it is diſpoſitio ſubjecti, which you may call a neceſſary Modus of a Material Cauſe, as the Recipient may improperly be called; Dr. Twiſſe therefore calleth faith Ca…ſa juſtificationis diſpoſitiva.
2. So it be an act of our own, it is no way neceſſary that it be done without the Commanders help or gift: For he that giveth us to believe, doth give it by this means, even by commanding it, and making it a Condition of his further benefits, that ſo he may induce us as rational free agents, to perform it ex intuitu mercedis, or by the motive of the end or benefit. For he cauſeth it by ſuitable means. And no doubt, but faith, and the reſt, are free acts of ours, though cauſed by Gods grace.
3. And it is accidental to a Condition, that it be any way commodious to the Impoſer. What profit is it to a Father that his Child put off his Hat and ſay, I thank you? And yet he may make that a condition of his gift. What profit is it to a free Phyſicion, that the Patient obſerve his order in taking his Medicines? And yet he may give them on that condition.
But yet I will add, that as uſually men make that the condition of a Gift or Contract, which the perſon obliged is backward elſe to perform, and that which is ſomewhat either for the Donor or Contracters Intereſt, or the Ends of his contract: ſo God who taketh his Glory and Pleaſure in his Childrens Good, to be as his Intereſt, and the End of his Gifts, and knoweth how backward we are to our duty, doth on theſe accounts impoſe on us our duty and conditions, his Pleaſure and Glory being inſtead of his Commodity.
But if [If] be a conditional Particle, and if Gods ſuſpending by the tenour of his Donation, our Right to Juſtification upon our free believing, and our Right to Salvation on our free obedience, do prove Conditionality (as it doth all that we mean) then you ſee that the new Covenant hath conditions.
Lib.
Doth not God promiſe us the firſt Grace, even to take the hard heart out of our bodies, and give us hearts of fleſh, and new hearts, &c. And I pray, what condition can the firſt grace have, unleſs you will run in infinitum, to ſeek Conditions of Conditions?
P.
1. This is a Cauſe of great moment, of which I have my ſelf had darker thoughts than now I have. 1. If one Benefit of the Covenant have no Condition (viz. the firſt,) will it follow, that none of the reſt are given upon condition? May not God in Baptiſm give us a Right of ſpecial Relation to the Father, Son and Holy Ghoſt, his Love, Grace and Communion, Pardon, Adoption and Glory, on condition of Faith and Repentance, and yet himſelf give us that Faith and Repentance which is the condition of the reſt?
2. But upon fuller conſideration it will appear, that It is not the firſt Grace that thoſe promiſes mean, by a new and ſoft heart: For who ever will examine them, ſhall find that the Texts mention Conditions and alſo antecedent Grace: And indeed, [A new and ſoft heart] is but the ſame thing which the New Teſtament calleth Sanctification. And yet that Sanctification is promiſed as conſequent to Faith as its condition: And our ordinary Divines do accordingly diſtinguiſh of Vocation and Sanctification; holding that in Vocation the Act of Faith and Repentance are cauſed by Gods Grace, before proper Habits; and that Sanctification is the Habits (ſpecially of Love and Holineſs) following them, (vid. Ameſ. Medull. de Vocat. Rolloc. de Vocat. Hookers Souls Vocat. & Humil. Rogers of Faith, &c.) And this is the new and fleſhy heart.
But what need we more to prove that Covenant Conditional which I mean, when it is nothing but the Baptiſmal Covenant? where ſure the condition is notorious, and every Baptizing Miniſter prerequireth the profeſſion of it.