The Scripture Gospel Defended, Prologue
The Prologue.
§. 1. THE Doctrine of the Juſtification of ſinful man, by Chriſt as our Redeemer, Saviour and Judge, is of ſo great moment, that it ſhould be Skilfully taught to all that are Catechiſed. And yet by the Unſkilfulneſs of Teachers, is become a foot-ball of Strife and Contention, and of Wrathful Cenſures, and Reproach, among thoſe who are moſt zealous for the ſafe and honourable preſervation of it, and really differ more in the Terms and Methods which they think muſt preſerve it, than in the inward practical ſenſe of the matter itſelf.
§. 2. Two things conſtitute this itch or leproſy rather of ſtrife, which experience maketh us fear is uncurable: And theſe two are one. Ignorance: Ignorance of the caſe: And Ignorance of our Ignorance. But what Ignorance is it? I am grieved to know and ſpeak it. It is Ignorance of words or the art of ſpeaking; of Grammar and Logick. O what a plague did Nimrod bring on the World, and what a Babel hath it been by the confuſion of language to this day! How vain hath peaceable Dr. Wilkins attempt of an Univerſal Character proved? My good old highly valued Friend, Mr. John Eliots long ago wrote to me, that to make the Hebrew the Univerſal Language, and to ſet up a Godly Magiſtracy in the world were the two things yet to be done for Univerſal Concord and Reformation: Alas, good man? Abi in cellam▪ &c. If you can get the Earth to drink up the flood of Perſecution caſt out againſt you in New-England, it is well. Little did I think when I was a Schoolboy Learning my Grammar, that I ſhould live to find that the Chriſtian World is all in confuſion▪ Diviſi…n, Wrath, Schiſm, War, and Blood, and much, if not moſtly for want of Skill in words or Grammar!
But indeed were there one Univerſal Language it would not be enough to heal us. For we are moſtly ſo dull of nature, & ſo ſlothful in our Studies, and ſo apt to ſpeak as our parents or firſt Maſters or …ompany teach us, that we are utterly diſagreed and unreconcileable about the ſenſe of our ommon words in our Mother Tongue. So that if Engliſh were the only Language of the World, we ſhould ſtill be diſagreed: I have been a great comtemner of vain oſtentation in Critical or Verbal Skill: But I ſee that rightly uſed about things neceſſary, it muſt be a principal help to end moſt of our Controverſies.
§. 3. Though ſupernatural Revelation far exceedeth the meer light of Nature, and the teachings of the Creation▪ yet the difficulty of learning and ſpeaking many Languages, without which we cannot Preach abroad in the World, and the Univerſal Wars about words that take up and corrupt mankind, do make me read the 19 Pſalm. with great regard, and not think ſo hardly as I have been tempted to do, of Gods dealing with the heathen and generality of mankind, while the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament ſheweth his handy works, while day unto day utters Knowledge and while Sun Moon, and Stars, do Preach God with ſo loud a voice, and their ſound goeth through all the World and there is no Nation or Tongue where their ſound is not heard: And it is not a Syllable or Letter, an Accent or an Emphaſis, that doth obſcure their ſenſe. And they all tell the World that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently ſeek him. And that the inviſible things of God are ſeen by the things that are made, and in him we live and move and have our being, and that in every Nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteouſneſs is accepted of him. It is moſt legible in the book of Nature, and Providence, that God uſeth all the World upon terms of mercy, and not according to the utmoſt deſert of ſin; and that this mercy ſhould lead them to repentance, and that God is infinitely good, and therefore to be Loved above all: And that he that truly ſo loveth God, ſhall not lie in Hell and be ſeparated from him.
§ 4. Were it only Plow-men and other of the unlearned Vulgar that thus contended about words not underſtood, they had ſome excuſe: But it is thoſe that have from their Child-hood been bred up to learn the art of ſpeaking by their Parents, and School maſters, Books, and Univerſities. And when they have been thus tutor'd thirty or forty years, and exerciſed in Pulpits to the talking art, and gloried in it; they are after all this the incendiaries of the world, for want of underſtanding what to ſay.
Yea were it only men that underſtand not Hebrew, Greek, Latin or any Language ſave one, and were Skilful in that one, we might have ſome hope of ending this blind War. But it is kept up by our unſkilfulneſs in the Engliſh tongue, as well as of the Greek and Hebrew. Men have not brains and diligence to exclude Equivocals, or to diſtinguiſh of their ſenſe; or to ſtate the ſence of their terms before they diſpute. Nor to underſtand each others meaning, but fight in confuſion in the dark like the Phyſicians that let the Patient die, becauſe they could not agree whether he ſhould take ſuccinum, Carabes, Electrum or Amber.
§ 5 Whither need we to go for an inſtance of this unhappineſs, but to our controverſies about Juſtification? How many Books, Sermons, Diſputings, and Back-biting Revilings, are employed about words neither explained nor underſtood! Raſh folly and confident rage beſeem not holy things, that ſhould be managed by Reverence and Diſcretion.
1. Juſtification is loudly talkt of, by men that know not, or never tell you what the word ſignifieth, or what the thing is: They never tell you whether they mean making Righteous Eff…ciently, or making Righteous Conſtitutively, or making Righteous Inſtrumentally, or only Virtually, abſolutely or conditionally; or only a Diſpoſitive Reception of it as a gift; or Eſteeming one Righteous or Juſtifying by Apology, by Witneſs, by Evidence, or by Deciſive Sentence of the Judge, or executively uſing one as Righteous; Or many of theſe Conjunct, and which. Or if they name one ſence, they give us quite another when they are put to define it. Mr. Bradſhaws little Book is too big for their brains; becauſe the diſtinctions are ſo many when others by diſtinction and clear explication make the Controverſies intelligible, (as is excellently done by many) they underſtand them not, or deſpiſe diſtinction, and ſtill mouth out the ambiguous word Juſtification, as if they would end Controverſies as a Bell Ringeth by Sound and Noiſe: When Paul ſaith, 1 Cor. 14.7, 8. That even things without life muſt give a diſtinction in the Sounds as Harp and Trumpet, or elſe who can know what is Piped or Harped, or can prepare himſelf to the Battle? So we unleſs we utter words eaſy to be underſtood, how ſhall it be known what is ſpoken? But we ſpeak into the air, v. 9. But confuſion and ambiguity are not inſtructive, but deceitful to the ſimple.
2. So they talk much of Imputation, and neither know nor tell you what Imputation is: But take it moſtly to be that which even Dr. Criſpe calleth a charging God with falſhood; as if it were his Reputing, Reckoning, Eſteeming or Suppoſing us to be what indeed we are not▪ or to have done or ſuffered what we did not, or to have what we have not: Whereas Paul meaneth nothing (& foreign ſignifieth nothing but a true accounting us to be what we are, and to have done what we did, and to have what we indeed have. And to impute righteouſneſs to us, ſignifieth but truly to Repute, Account or Judge us Righteous. Thoſe that are here moſt inclined to miſtake, ſhould the rather take Mr. Bradſhaw to be impartial, becauſe he was for Independent Church Government (tho ſharp againſt Separation.) And in the Preface to his Engliſh Edition of his little Book of Juſtification, he hath in a few lines ſaid enough to end al this Controverſy, by a true explaining in what ſenſe Chriſts Righteouſneſs is imputed to us, and how not.
3. And do they tell us with any agreement what Righteouſneſs of Chriſt they call Imputed? Some ſay only the Paſſive, ſome alſo the Active; Some alſo the habitual, and ſome alſo the Divine. Much leſs agree they to what Effects it is imputed, and how far.
4. Alſo the name of Faith is uſed without a due and true explication of their meaning. One by Faith meaneth not Faith, but Chriſts Righteouſneſs. Another calls it an Inſtrument, and yet denieth it to be the foreign credere that is, the Act of Faith indeed, as if any thing elſe was that inſtrument. Another ſaith it is but one Phyſical act, and not like contracting, a Moral complication of many Phyſical Acts: One ſaith it is but one Act, and all other Acts of Faith he that looketh to be Juſtified by denieth the Doctrine of Grace or true Juſtification, and ſo leave men to deſpair becauſe they can never tell which that ſingle is, and how to eſcape the damning Doctrine of Juſtification by works. One ſaith it is the Underſtandings aſſent: Another that it is the Wills recumbency, or truſt: One ſaith it is only Faith in Chriſt that Juſtifieth, and not in God the Father or the Holy Ghoſt: One ſaith it is only Faith in Chriſts Prieſtly Office, and not in Chriſt as Prophet or King; ſome ſay it is not Faith in his whole Prieſtly Office, either his Interceſſion or Heavenly Prieſthood, but only in his Sacrifice and Obedience. Another that it is only the truſting on his Imputed Righteouſneſs: Another that it is none of all theſe, but only the belief that we are already Juſtified by Chriſt. One ſaith we are Juſtified only at once by the firſt numerical Act of Faith, and never by any after Act: Another that an Act of the ſame Species continueth our Juſtification. And this confuſion is from the vain fantaſy of men, that will divide and mince and yet will not ſufficiently diſtinguiſh: and know not that by Faith is meant our becoming Chriſtians and continuing ſuch.
5. So they talk loud againſt Works in the Caſe of Juſtification, and know not what either Paul or James or Chriſt meaneth by works. But they dream that Works and Acts are of the ſame ſignification; As if every humane Act were that which Paul meaneth by works, contrary to his expreſs explication: And ſo to be Juſtified by Faith muſt be to be Juſtified by Works. One ſaith, we will grant Juſtification by Faith, if you take it aright, to be a going wholly out of our ſelves and denying all our own righteouſneſs, and going to Chriſt and his Righteouſneſs alone. But is their choſen Metaphor [of Going out, and Going to] an Act or no Act? If an Act, than it is works, if they may be believed. If no Act, then their meaning is, we confeſs that you are Juſtified by Believing, if you do not believe: You are Juſtified by Faith, if Faith be nothing; and by coming to Chriſt if you come not to him, or it be nothing. Such is the ſence of theſe Confounders and Corrupters.
But theſe and many ſuch miſtakes are to be opened in their proper place.
That which I here intend is (not a confutation of this or that writer, but) to give them a breviate of my own Judgment, who will not read what I have largely written in many books long ago▪ pretending that the length of the books is their reaſon; and yet have not ſo much conſcience as to ſuſpend their cenſures, no nor their back-biting, falſe accuſations of that which they have not leiſure to underſtand or read; They judge hard caſes which they never digeſted by any anſwerable Study; and Scruple not Judging and Slandering per…ons unheard.
Corrupting the Goſpel, and ſo excellent a Subject as the Doctrine of Grace, and of the Office and Merits and Judgment of Chriſt, and ſo of Chriſtianity it ſelf, is a matter that conſcience ſhould more tenderly fear, than wearing a Surplice, or kneeling at the Sacrament, or communicating with a Church that uſeth the Common-Prayers. To think thoſe unworthy of their Communion that uſe ſuch Ceremonies or forms of prayer, and at the ſame time to prophane ſo high a part of the name of God, as is his Grace in Chriſt, and his Juſtifying, Governing and Saving works, and this (quoad verba) by corrupting it even in Eſſentials, and then to defame as erroneous thoſe that are not as Ignorant and Erroneous as themſelves, and to foment malice and errour and Sects by ſuch lying defamations: This is a Nonconformity which I earneſtly deſire that no man that loveth Chriſt, or Free grace, or the Church or his own Soul; may ever take for his duty or his honour, or raſhly as a ſequacious admirer of any miſtaken leader be ever guilty of: What is ſtraining at a Gnat and ſwallowing a Camel, if this be not? And of how ill a conſtitution is ſuch a blind and partial conſcience?
I ſhall here ſtudy brevity, and firſt explain the Doctrine of Grace, and Righteouſneſs and Juſtification, in ſome ſelf-evident Propoſitions And next briefly reſolve about fifty doubts or Controverſies hereabout.