The Protestant Religion Truly State and Justified, Part 23 – Part 25
The Five and Twentieth accuſed Point.
That every one ought Infallibly to aſſure himſelf of his Salvation, and to believe that he is of the number of the Predeſtinate.
Anſ. I would fain excuſe the man as far as I can, and therefore I hope, that as the man was excuſable that did eat Snakes for Snigs, (or Eels,) ſo he read ſome Pamphlet of an Antimonian, either Criſp or Saltmarſh, or ſome other ſuch, or talkt with ſome of their ſilly Novices, and thought he had Convers'd with the Reformed Catholicks, or read the Confeſſions of the Reformed Churches.
The firſt Sentence is a Fundamental Truth, and a damnable Falſhood, as the Equivocal words are variouſly underſtood. And is it not pity that the Prieſts of the Infallible Church, ſhould put things ſo different into the ſame words, and that in an accuſation of ſo many Churches and Nations; when yet God himſelf is feigned by them to write by his Spirit ſo Unintelligibly, that without theſe Doctors skilful Expoſition, it is but like to make men Hereticks, (that is, Adverſaries to the Pope and his Clergy.)
To aſſure our ſelves of our Salvation [may mean, to give all diligence to make our Salvation infallibly ſure: This every one ought to do.]
Or it may mean, that every man ought to believe it as an infallible Truth, that he ſhall be ſaved.] The next Sentence ſeemeth to make this his meaning in the firſt: Which if it be, he is a falſe Calumniator of the Reformed Churches.
But if the firſt be his meaning, and he deny it, he is an open Enemy to Man's Salvation.
What is all the Scripture for, and all our Religion, but to make ſure of our Salvation? 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election ſure. And if no man can be ſure, to what purpoſe hath God made ſo many promiſes of it, expreſſing the Conditions, (to them that believe, that love God, that forſake all for him,) if no man can know whether he perform the Condition, and that he is within this promiſe? Why doth God lay down ſo many ſigns to difference the Children of God from the Children of the Devil, if they cannot be diſcerned? Sure Heaven and Hell be not like; and yet are the Heirs of Heaven and Hell undiſtinguiſhable? Is the Image of God and the Devil ſo like that none can know them aſunder? No, not the man that hath had them both? And why doth God ſo aften call on Believers to Rejoyce, if they cannot know whether they ſhall be in Heaven and Hell for ever? If you ſay, he is not ſure to perſevere, many Papiſts grant that the Confirmed may. And why may not Bradford, Hooper, Sanders, and Thouſands elſe, that are Dying by the Sacred blood-thirſty Church, be aſſured when they are Dying, that they have forſaken Life and all for Chriſt.
But oportet mendacem eſſe memorem ſtill: Why do you not tell men when the Pope is ſelling them Pardons, and ſaving them out of Purgatory, that when all's done they can have no aſſurance of Salvation? yea, that they ought not to endeavour to make it ſure? And whoſe now is the ſafe Church and Religion, if a Papiſt can never be ſure that he ſhall be ſaved in your Church and Religion; nor ſure that he is in a State of Salvation? That is, that he is a true Chriſtian, and hath Charity, and is an honeſt man?
2. A man that hath got true and clear Evidence that he hath a Confirmed Faith, and Hope , and loveth God, as God above all, ought conſequently to take it for an infallible Truth, that ſo Dying, he ſhall be ſaved: Elſe he muſt either give God the Lie, that hath promiſed it, or he muſt be ſuppoſed to be deceived when he thinketh that he believeth and loveth God.
But that every man muſt believe that he is of the Number of the Predeſtinate to Salvation, is a damnable Doctrine, becauſe it requireth all the Millions of ungodly men to believe a Lie, yea to believe it as a Divine Truth, and to make God both the Author of the Lie, and of the deceit of our ſelves by this Command. And when Millions are not of the Number of Sanctified, and therefore not of the Predeſtinate, if they ſo continue, what can more harden them in their Impenitence, than to tell them that they muſt all believe that they ſhall be ſaved? How many hundred Proteſtant Books, and thouſand Sermons tell the World that it is the Preachers earneſt drift, to ſave Wicked men from ſuch Preſumption, which makes men call them terrible Preachers? Every man is bound to believe Gods promiſe to be true, and that he himſelf ſhall be ſaved if he be a true penitent ſanctified Chriſtian, and ſo continue, and that elſe he ſhall be Damned; and not to diſtruſt God as unwilling to continue the Grace he hath given him.
The Six and Twentieth accuſed Point.
That every man hath not an Angel Guardian or Keeper.
Anſ. 1. We hold that every true Chriſtian, even the leaſt, hath his Angel who beholdeth the Face of his Father in Heaven: And that Angels are Gods Miniſtring Spirits, for the good of his Elect; and that they guard us and pitch their Tents about us, and bear us up in their Hands, and keep us in and from Danger, and rejoyce at the Converſion of a Sinner, and that we live in inviſible Communion with them, and ſhall be like them.
2. But whether every Chriſtian have one Angel to himſelf alone, that guardeth no other, or one Angel guard Hundreds or Thouſands: Or whether ſome (as Lower Officers are ſet over a few, and others as General Officers are over whole Kingdoms,) we leave to the determination of the Infallible Pope, who is bolder with Gods Secrets than we dare be.
3. But till now, I thought they had not been ſo preſumptuous, as to aſſert that every man hath a Guardian Angel. Where is there one word of God for this? Is every man an Heir of Salvation, or one of Chriſts little ones, or under his promiſe? Had Cain and Judas ſuch Angels, and all the Sodomites?
Chriſt made it an argument of Terrour to Perſecutors, that they offend ſuch as had ſuch Angels with God: And dare you paint them as Devils, and Burn them, or Murder them by the Dragons Dragoons, if you believe that every man hath ſuch a Guardian Angel? Surely Saints, tho' called Hereticks, have ſuch.
The Seven and Twentieth accuſed Point.
That the Holy Angels pray not for us, nor know our Thoughts and deſires on Earth.
Anſ. A falſe accuſation. We ſay not that they pray not for us, nor that they know not our deſires, nor any of our Thoughts. We ſay that Angels are no ſuch Strangers to Saints and ſincere Godlineſs, as not to know that all Godly men deſire the Hallowing of Gods Name, the coming of his Kingdom, and the doing of his Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven: They that know what Grace is, and what our Prayers are, know much of our deſires: And we do not think that Angels know leſs of our Thoughts than Devils, who we feel to our Trouble are not altogether unacquainted with them. And thoſe Angels that rejoyce at a Sinners Converſion, are not unacquainted with it.
And as to their Praying, we know not how it is that Angels expreſs their deſires to God; but we all agree that they deſire our welfare, and therefore may be ſaid to pray for it, if all notified Deſire be Prayer. We ſuppoſe that they know and Love us, far better than we know and Love each other.
But we read that the Heretical Gnoſticks, or their like, did deceive men, [by Voluntary Humility, and worſhipping of Angels, intruding into thoſe things which they had not ſeen, vainly puft up by a fleſhly mind,] Col. 2.18, 19. Therefore we dare not pretend to Papal Infallibility, nor boldly to conjecture, how far it is that our Thoughts are known to Angels, nor how much they are ignorant of them; nor when, or how oft, or how far, or in what manner they pray for us: How far particularly, and how far only generally, &c. Had this knowledge been needful to us, God would have revealed it: Much leſs do we know what Angel of what departed Soul of a Saint hath the care or charge of our Sheep, and of our Cattel, and who of our Pigs and Geeſe, and who of our Fruits and Corn; abundance of theſe things we leave to the Infallible Church: As we do their acquaintance in Purgatory, while our acquaintance and Converſation in Heaven, can reach no higher than the proſpect which we have in and by the Glaſs of Scripture Revelation.