The Covenant of God Entered with Mankind, Chapter 22
CHAP. XXII.
Objections againſt the conditionality of Faith anſwered.
AGAINST this which hath been ſaid, it is objected by one, that Vnbelief is not a barre hindring one, Objections. from having part in Chriſt; God beſtowes Chriſt without any regard to our belief or unbelief: Which words how high ſoever againſt the Goſpel, yet he undertakes to ſalve with a diſtinction. There is a twofold receiving of Chriſt, ſaith he, (1) There is a paſſive receiving of Chriſt, You will ſay, (ſaith my Authour) what is paſſive receiving of Chriſt? I anſwer, (ſaith he) A paſſive receiving of Chriſt, is juſt ſuch a receiving of him, as when a froward Patient takes a purge, or ſome bitter phyſick▪ he ſhuts his teeth againſt it; but the Phyſician forceth his mouth open, and poures it downe his throat, and ſo it works againſt his will, by the ever-ruling power of one over him, that knows it is good for him: Thus I ſay, there is a paſſive recipiency or receiving of Chriſt, which is the firſt receiving of him; when Chriſt comes by the gift of the Father, to a perſon whileſt he is in the ſtuborneſſe of his own heart. (2) There is an active receiving of him, &c.
This diſtinction carries a full contradiction in it ſelf, There cannot be in the ſame ſubject, a meere paſſive and active recipie cy of the ſame thing, as appeares in the ſimilitude brought to illuſtrate it; This froward Patient that hath a medicine forced into him, in which he is meerly paſſive, cannot again afterward receive that medicine. If Chriſt be th…s forced, and enters againſt our will, then we cannot actively at any time after receive him, And could it be reconciled unto it ſelf, yet it ſtands in full oppoſition to Scripture; Chriſt ſtands at the door and knocks, Re…. 3. 20. He waites till his locks are wet with the dew of the night, as Cant. 5. 2. But he makes no forcible entry; we read of Gods power in changing the will that it freely accepts, but not forcing gifts of grace upon any againſt their wills: Thy people ſhall be willing in the day of thy power, Pſal. 110. 3. He works a will, Philip. 2. 13. Chriſt dwells in none that riſe in hoſtility againſt him, and the poſitio…, which the diſtinction is brought to aſſert, (That unbelief is no bar hindring one from having Chriſt) is no better; If unbeliefe be no barre to our receiving of Chriſt; then it is no barre to ſalvation; where the Saviour enters, he brings ſalvation, He that hath the Son, hath life, 1 John 5. 12. But we finde it evidently a barre to ſalvation, according to Scripture, Joh. 3. 36. He that beleeveth not the Sonne, ſhall not ſee life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. He that beleeveth not ſhall be damned, Mark 16. 16. Yea, according to the Author himſelf, There is no perſon under heaven ſhall be ſaved (ſaith he) till he have beleeved; which is a truth according to Scripture. They could not enter into the reſt of Canaan, that did lie in their unbelief, Neither can they enter into the reſt of heaven, Heb. 4. 1. Then Chriſt dwells not in our hearts by Faith, Epheſ. 3. 17. But alſo in a ſtate of unbelief; Then God is not a juſtifier of thoſe that beleeve in Jeſus, as Rom. 3. 26. but equally juſtifies men without Faith in Jeſus; Then Chriſt is not ſet out a propitiation through Faith in his blood, but without any Faith in it; Then they that beleeve are not only juſtified from all things from which they could not be juſtified by the Law of Moſes, but they that beleeve not. And God gave his Sonne, that he that beleeves not on him ſhould have everlasting life. This doctrine layes all the honour of Faith in the duſt; Then Habakkuk might have ſpared this ſpeech, that the juſt ſhall live by Faith, Habbakuk 2. 4. and Paul might have found another way of life in the fleſh than by Faith in the Son of God.
Secondly, Object. It is ſaid that the juſtification of a ſinner was with God from eternity; It was in his purpoſe before all time to diſcharge his Elect, and to lay nothing to their charge; So then this is, as election it ſelfe, unconditional.
To which I anſwer, Anſw. That this ovethrows the redemption wrought by Chriſt, and the price paid by his ſufferings, as well as the neceſſity of Faith; What need Chriſt to be at all that pains, to undergo all thoſe ſorrows, as to be a man of ſorrows, to do that which from all eternity was done? Then, as Paul ſayes in another caſe, Chriſt is dead in vain: This, ſome have ſeene, yet rather than leave their opinion, have choſen to ſwallow it down, and the abſurdity with it, and do maintaine that Chriſt did not purchaſe, procure, or work any love from God for man, but only publiſhed and declared that he was from eternity beloved; A fit concluſion drawn from ſuch premiſſes: Then Chriſt was no Authour of eternal ſalvation, as Heb. 5 9. but only the publiſher, He was a meſſenger from God, in the dayes of his fleſh, but no Saviour of man; He did not redeeme us with a price, but only made known that we were ſo farre in the love of God from eternity that no redemption needs. Secondly, I ſay, Gods purpoſe of a thing doth no put it in being; He takes his own way, to bring about in time, that which he purpoſed before all time; All that is done, even every work under the Sunne, was alike from eternity in the purpoſe of God, Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world, Acts 15. 18. So the houſe that was built this day, was built from eternity; The childe that was born this day, was borne from eternity; We may as well ſay that the Elect were glorified from eternity, ſo that they need to look after no other glorification, as to ſay they are juſtified from eternity. All the works of God were in his purpoſe from ever, who ſees all things at once; and not as we can comprehend them in their reſpective ſucceſſion? But we enquire after things as they are in themſelves and not as they are in Gods purpoſe.
Thirdly, Object. Some ſay juſtification can be no other, than an act of God from eternity, being an immanent act, and not a tranſient. Tranſient acts are in time done, in the juncture of time when God pleaſes to do them, but immanent acts of God are from eternity. Anſw. To which I firſt anſwer, that it is not without danger for us to bring the actions of God under our examination, and then to fix School-notions upon them, according to which they muſt be bounded, When (as Maſter Burges well obſerves) we are here in meere darkneſſe, and not able to comprehend how God is ſaid to act or work. Treatiſe of Juſtification, page 166. How much more ſafe were it for us to learne à poſteriore, from the mouth of God in Scriptures, what his actions are, and the order how he works, than à pri…re, to conclude that they are thus and thus, and therefore thus of neceſſity he muſt work? Yet if we may be ſo bold as to look into this act of his, and take it into conſideration,Quae real…m & evidentem mutationem extrinſecus nullam infert. Tranſiens actio eſt quae revera mutationem infert. according to this notion; we may farre rather conclude that juſtification is an action tranſient, not immanent. An immanent action (as the Schooles tell us) is terminated within the ſubject, and works no real nor evident change out of it: and they inſtance in our conceptions of, and reſolutions about things, Kek…rman, p. 107. A tranſient act is not terminated within the ſubject, but hath its effect, and is terminated upon ſome other object. Now, if by way of analogy we may apply theſe to God, for we otherwiſe can reach none of his actions; it is eaſie to conclude that juſtification of a ſinner is a tranſient, and no immanent act; It works man from a ſtate of wrath to a ſtate of friendſhip and love, of a veſſel of wrath, brings man into favour and eſteeme, which though it work no Phyſical change in man, yet the whole effect is terminated in him; That act of Pharaoh, had as real an effect upon Joſeph, and was terminated in him in his advancement out of priſon, for rule in Egypt, as though a Phyſician in caſe of ſickneſſe, had wrought a cure upon him. Though I were not able to hold it our, that juſtification were a tranſient act, but according to our conception of the actions of man, it ſhould rather appear to be an action immanent in God, ſo in him that it had no effect out of him, yet I muſt follow the Scriptures that make juſtification an act in time, not from eternity. Paul having mentioned a ſtate of ſinne under which the Corinthians were, ſaith, ſuch were ſome of you, but ye are waſhed, but ye are ſanctified, but ye are juſtified, 1. Corinth. 6. 11. Once they were not, but now they are in a ſtate of juſtification; It hath its foreign, in which it is acted, a ſeaſon in which it is vouchſafed. It is affixed to faith. Acts 13. 38. Now faith is not from eternity, it comes by hearing; A Miniſtery is continually employed for reconciliation and pardon of ſinne, 1 Cor. 5. 19. John 20. Which were in vain if juſtification were as election, from before the foundation of the world; They work them not to election, but only call upon them to make their calling and election ſure; There are ſeniors and juniors in this priviledge, one obtains it before another; Andronicus and J…nia were in Chriſt before the Apoſtle, Rom. 16. 7. Theſe evident proofs would take with my faith, above a thouſand ſuch ſubtilties. But herein the Schools, in their application of theſe acts to God, ſpeak according (as to the point in hand) to the minde of Scriptures.
Fourthly, Object. It is farther objected that Chriſt is the Lamb ſlaine from the beginning of the world. His death hath been of efficacy in the Church through all ages, And he bore our ſinnes in his body, 1 Pet. 2. 24. All our ſinnes did meet in him, Iſa. 53. 6. and therefore from the beginning we were juſtified.
I anſwer, Anſw. it profited all thoſe, and only thoſe in each age to whom it was revealed, and by whom it was applied, and not thoſe that have no intereſt in him. Over and above the Decree of God for mans ſalvation, there was a neceſſity of the death of Chriſt for our redemption, which Chriſt in the fulneſſe of time paid on the Croſſe. And over and above the death of Chriſt, there is a like neceſſary of the application of it to our ſoules for life; The work of redemption was finiſhed on the Croſſe, when Chriſt triumphed over principalities and powers. But much of the work of our ſalvation was behinde; Election did not overthrow Chriſts redemption, but did eſtabliſh it; Redemption doth not overthrow our application, but doth eſtabliſh it likewiſe. There is a farther work of Chriſts to be done, his interceſſion in heaven being one part of his Prieſt-hood, which he is gone to diſcharge as the High Prieſt into the holieſt of holies; A farther work to be done by man through believing. Not to have intereſt in Chriſts death, is all one as though he had not died; He that beleeves in him ſhall not periſh. See Baxter of Juſtification, Aphoriſme 15. Davenant de morte Chriſti, cap. 5. p. 58, &c.
Laſtly, it is ſaid by another, If Faith be a condition of the Covenant of Grace, Object. then it can be no inſtrument of our juſtification; If it be a condition in this Covenant, it juſtifies as a condition, and then it cannot juſtifie as an inſtrument, and ſo I pul down what I build, and run upon contradictions.
I anſwer, Anſw. I ſhould rather judge on the contrary, that becauſe it is a condition of the covenant, in the way as it is before expreſt, that it is therefore an inſtrument in our juſtification; God tenders the gift of righteouſneſſe to be received by Faith. He covenants for this Faith, for acceptation of this righteouſneſſe. By beleeving then we keep covenant, and receive Chriſt for juſtification, We as well do what God requires, as receive what he tenders; We do our duty, and take Gods gift, and thereby keep covenant, and receive life, and ſo Faith is both a condition and an inſtrument.
Here I might by way of juſt corollary infer,A juſtified man is fitted for every duty, to which God is pleaſed for to call. that a juſtified man reconciled to God in Chriſt, is a man fitted for every duty unto which God calls, which he is pleaſed to require; Faith is his juſtification, the inſtrumental work of his reconciliation to God; and all things are poſſible to him that beleeveth, Mark 9. 23. There is not a duty commanded, but a beleeving man through Chriſt is ſtrengthned for it; The Word works effectually in th…ſe that believe, as 1 Theſ. 2. 13. We ſee the great works that were atchieved by thoſe of ancient time, both in doing and ſuffering, Heb. 11. and all of thoſe are aſcribed to Faith, what Chriſt can do as in reference to duty, that they can do to acceptation; They can do all things through Chriſt that strengthens them, Phil. 4. 13. Chriſt overcomes the world, John 16 33. And this is their victory whereby they overcome the world, 1 John 5. 4. Chriſt treads down Satan, Rom. 16 20. And they reſiſt him ſtrong in the Faith, 1 Pet. 5. 9. A man of Faith is for univerſal obedience; He is a man for dependance on God for the fruition of all promiſes. A word from God is enough for Faith. He knows how to reſt upon him, for the good things of the earth, he is above anxious thoughts, what he ſhould eate, what he ſhould drink, or wherewith he ſhould he clothed, knowing that godlineſſe hath the promiſe of this life, 1 Tim. 4. 8. and therefore, Though the fig-tree ſhall not bloſſome, neither ſhall fruit be in the Vines, the labour of the Olive ſhall faile, and the fields ſhall yeeld no meat, the flock ſhall be cut off from the fold, and there ſhall be no heard in the ſtalls, yet he will rejoyce in the Lord, he will joy in the God of his ſalvation, Hab 3. 17, 18. he knows how to reſt upon him for ſpiritual priviledges, for adoption of ſonnes, for evelaſting ſalvation; He reſts upon this, that he that liveth and beleeveth in Chriſt ſhall not die for ever. He knows how to manage all ſtates and conditions, he knows how to be full, and how to be hungry; he can beare proſperity, and not be puffed up; He can be under adverſity, and not be caſt down; In the worſt of times, the juſt lives by faith, Hab. 2. 4. He can make uſe of every Ordinance for his ſpiritual advantage. The word preach is for his benefit, Being mixt with faith when he receives it, Heb. 4▪ 2. He knows how to improve the Sacraments for his ſpiritual growth, thoſe ſeales of the righteouſneſſe of Faith, Rom. 4. 11. Abel by Faith exceeded Cain in ſacrifices, Heb. 11. 4. and ſo do theſe exceed all unbeleevers in their performances. All of theſe might be farther and more fully enlarged, but that it is done at large by better hands; Maſter Ward in his Life of Faith, Maſter Culverwel, eſpecially Maſter Ball in his elaborate treatiſe on that ſubject.