Gods Call from Heaven Echoed, Part 1 · Chapter 12
CHAP. XII. XI. Objections anſwered.
IN the next place we ſhall endeavour to give anſwer to ſome few objections, and queries that may be made: Many queſtions might be ſtarted; ſuch as ſavour of curioſity more than Chriſtianity; of carnal wit than Spiritual wiſedom; that have more bone than meat (the Lord redreſſe it, this age is too rife with them) which I ſhall wave; and ſpeak onelyonly to three, or four, which I judge convenient, and pertinent.
1. Obj. The firſt is, whether God be the ſole S. 1 Author of effectual calling.
Sol. God is the Sole Author, and we the ſubjects that are wrought upon: He the Agent, and we the Patients; our hearts are not in our own hands; we are dead, and cannot make our ſelves alive; we muſt erect an Altar with this Inſcription: To the God 1 Sam. 7. 12.of grace: And ſet up a ſtone of remembrance, with this Motto, The Lord hath helped us: Grace can be of the off-ſpring of none but the Eternal Father: It is not in any, but by the gift and work of God; it is a Plant of Gods ſetting; ſo the Saints may truely ſay; Thou, O Lord, haſt wrought all our works in us. Iſai. 26. 12. His people are the natural and Spiritual workmanſhip of his hands. And of this doth Paul informe his Corinthians, when he ſaith, And ſuch were ſome of you, but ye are waſhed, but ye are Sanctified. 1 Cor. 6. 11. Ye did not ſanctify your ſelves, but ye were ſanctified; foreign.ye did not make your ſelves Saints, but ye were made Saints: and as it was with the people, ſo with the Preacher; he could give grace neither to them, nor himſelf; for their grace and his grace had both one Author, and were from God: The Lord was active; and he and they were paſſive; for ſo he ſpeaketh of himſelf: But I obtained mercy. 1 Tim. 1. 13. The tranſlation runs in the active, when the Greek word is of the paſſive voice; neither foreign. Bez. in loc.in Latine, nor Engliſh can one well expreſſe the original: It is as if one ſhould ſay, I was had mercy upon: So then it is clear that we have neither hand, nor heart in the work of grace: But it muſt be ſet upon the account of God, as the ſole efficient: Yet thus we muſt underſtand it; for we are not ſtockes, and ſtones in the work of converſion.
1. We being effectually called, can afterwards work by the grace, which God hath wrought in us: If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, &c. Rom. 8. 13. Here is an Act of mortification of ſin, but from the might of the Spirit; an Act of killing, but from enlivening grace; when principled, then the Soul is to do it's part; when animated, then it is to Act: When it hath it's treaſure, then it muſt trade; when ſtocked with life, then it muſt ſtand out againſt it's luſts.
2. A Soul worketh in the very moment of Perk. Revel. 3. 9.converſion; as it was with Paul; Lord what wilt thou have me to do? Acts 9. 6. Paul was now infieri, in making; and loe the beatings of his Pulſe: And ſo it was with good Lydia: Whoſe heart the Lord opened, that ſhe attended to the things which were ſpoken of Paul. Acts 16. 14. There we ſee her in making, the Lord opened her heart; that was Gods work; and ſhe Acteth: ſhe attended, that is her work, by vertue of the former, Babes of grace Act in the very birth; and whileſt the Lord is framing and faſhioning them; they pant and breath; in their new moulding they melt and mourn; in Gods ſtriving with them, they ſtrive for him; in their making, they move: Yet we muſt be careful to underſtand this rightly: viz. thus.
1. In the order of nature Gods working is Acti agimus.before the Soules; and the Soules working depends upon it: that as the cauſe, this as the cauſed; that as the efficient, this as the effected; that as the ſpring, this as the ſtream; that as leader, this as led; that as the parent, this as the poſterity; that as the root, this as the fruit.
2. What the Soul doth is not the cauſe, or meanes of converſion: Converſion is without Nulla praecedit in nobis praeparatio. Auguſt.the ſpheare of our activity.
2. Ob. In the next place it may be queried, what the difference is between effectual vocation and ſanctification; how near they live S. 2 each to other, or how far diſtant they are one 2. Ob.from the other; whether neighbours, or ſtrangers; kindred, or aliens.
Sol. Effectual calling is meant of the firſt Sol. Aſſem. Ad. Baxter. Saints reſt. pag. 140.work of God upon the ſoul, in implanting grace there, and changing the whole man; and regeneration, and converſion are the ſame with it, as we have ſaid before.
Sanctification is meant of the increaſe of that firſt work; and of holineſſe in the life, and converſation. 1 Theſſal. 4. 3. The firſt as the riſing of the Sun, the latter as it's keeping it's courſe: The path of the juſt is as the ſhining light, that ſhineth more and more unto the perfect day. Prov. 4. 18. The one as the infancy and youth, the other as the growth and age of grace; the one as the principle, the other as the practice; one as the morning, the other, as the noon of grace.
3. Ob. It may be queried in the next place S. 3 which grace is firſt? Faith, or repentance; 3. Ob.Faith before repentance, or repentance before faith; which of theſe two is the firſt born, and elder Child.
Sol. This queſtion hath been much toſſed Sol.up and down; and many ſapleſſe contentions have been about it; without ſolid demonſtration of the thing, and without ſpiritual edification of the ſoul.
If were better for people to enquire, whether they find theſe graces in themſelves, than which is firſt: the ſincerity of them in reference to truth is more to be ſought after, than the priority of them in reference to time: it were more profitable to queſtion our participation, than their precedency, yet people had rather deal with Metaphyſicks, than Morals; with notional rather than neceſſary points: and love to riſe to the clouds in their askings, when they cannot reach the top of a low-built anſwer: However I will in ſome meaſure ſatisfy this queſtion.
1. We muſt know that all habits of grace are infuſed together; the habits are put in to the ſoul at one time, though ſome may put out themſelves by actings before one another; A new heart will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you. Ezek. 36. 26, 27. Here is a change mentioned, which could not be without the infuſion of all ſaving graces together, Simul & ſemeland at once: They are like twins, they receive their being both together, though one be brought forth before another: This ſimilitude following may make it a little plain; a man taketh ſeveral ſorts of ſeeds, and ſowes them in his Garden at one time, yet ſome come up, and ſhew themſelves before others; ſome ſooner, ſome latter: Our hearts are the Garden, the habits of grace, the ſeeds, all which by the hand of the ſpirit are ſown at one time, though in actings ſome appear before others.
2. One things is ſaid to be before another; two wayes:
1. Firſt, in time; as that which is to day, is before that which is not till to morrow: and that which is this houre, is before that which is not till the next.
2. Secondly, in nature: As the ſhooting of a Gun with a Bullet, and the killing of any one thereby may be together in time at the ſame inſtant; yet the ſhooting is before the ſlaughter, in nature as the cauſe thereof.
Theſe things I lay down as preparatives, now briefly to the purpoſe.
The habits of faith and repentance are planted, and ſet in the heart at one inſtant: there is no difference of time there.
2. Repentance from the tenour of the Law, Am. med. de vocat. Theſ. 31, 32, 33, 34. Buc. lae. 30.goeth before juſtifying faith in time, and I think in nature too.
3. Goſpel repentance followeth juſtifying faith in the act, and dependeth upon it.
4. Repentance, viz. Goſpel, is uſually firſt ſeen, becauſe one cannot well perſwade himſelf, that he is reconciled to God in Chriſt, till he perceive he hath parted with his ſins: nor conclude he is pardoned, till he ſaith he is purified; nor that Chriſt and they be united, till their ſouls & ſins be divided; nor that they have put on Chriſt, till they have put off their ſins.
4. Ob. In the next place the queſtion ſhall 4. Ob.be, whether converſion, or effectual calling be S. 4 by the Preaching of the Law, or Goſpel.
Sol. Maſter Burges ſhall anſwer this query, Sol. Vindiciae legis. Lect. 20.and unty this knot. I ſhall give you the ſhort notes of what he delivereth more largely.
1. The Law could not work to regeneration, were it not for the promiſes of the Goſpel: the queſtion is not whether converſion be vi legis, by the power of the law; but whether it may be cum lege, with the preaching of the Law.
2. Howſoever the Law may be bleſt to converſion; yet the matter of it cannot be the ground of our juſtification and adoption.
3. The Word of God, as it is read, or preached, worketh no further, than objectively to the converſion of a man, if conſidered in it ſelf.
4. Whatſoever good effects, or benefits are conveyed to the ſoul by the preaching of the Law, or the Goſpel, its efficiently from Gods Spirit: Thus far, this worthy man.
It is unſafe to exclude the Law, though we Am. de voc. cap. 26. Theſ. 12. v.conclude the Goſpel is the chief. Between the hammer of the Law, and the cuſhion of the Goſpel is a flinty heart, moſt like to be broken by the hand of the Spirit: we may ſuppoſe the Lord ſpeaking in this caſe, as in Zech. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, ſaith the Lord: 4. Zech. 6. v. The Spirit is the ſupreme, & chief: Though they be different in their conſtitution, yet they agree in one, as to the work of converſion: They are all good, though in ſeveral reſpects. We may well ſay, precious Law, more precious Goſpel, moſt precious Spirit: if the ſpirit did not move them, neither the upper, nor nether milſtone would turn: as neither muſt be taken for pledge, for they cannot work alone: ſo joyntly, and together they cannot act without the ſpirits aſſiſtance: the Law ſheweth the ſore; the Goſpel, the ſalve: the one teacheth of ſin, the other of a Lex data eſt, it gratia quaereretur.Saviour: the one ſheweth the harming curſe, the other the healing croſſe: the one mans miſery, the other Gods mercy: but it is the ſpirit that ſetteth home theſe things, and openeth the eyes to ſee them, anointing them with ſpiritual eye-ſalve: the Law may be a preparative, hut the Goſpel is the power of God to ſalvation: Rom. 1. 16.when the ſoul by the Law (ſet only the ſpirit, which is the maſter builder) is driven to fear, it is the more likely by the Goſpel to be drawn to faith; and when it ſeeth it is loſt in it ſelf, it is thereby provoked to long for Chriſt: the Law treateth of tranſgreſſion, condemneth our courſes, revealeth wrath, thundreth threatnings: but the Goſpel propoundeth promiſes, breatheth benedictions, holdeth out happineſs, ſheweth ſalvation, whereby the ſpirit draws the heart to Chriſt.