Baxters Aphorisms, Part 2 · Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII.
Mr. Baxters calumnie, that this doctrine doth harden the Papiſts in their Popery, and give occaſion to many learned Proteſtants to turn Papiſts, anſwered.
HIS fifth Quere hath no ſhew of weight in it, deſerving an examination, ſavouring more of the Spleen than of the judgment of the Author. Nevertheleſs, though it declares only the ſtomach and indignation of the man againſt the truth, rather then any ſtrength in his hand to hurt it: yet becauſe it is formed for the deceiving of the ſimple and unwary, upon whom ſounds oft times take no leſs impreſſion than actuall ſtrokes; to prevent damage to ſuch I ſhall examine whatſoever may ſeem materiall in it, as I have the reſt.
B. pa. 329. 5. Laſtly, Is not this excluding of ſincere Obedience from Juſtification, the great ſtumbling-block of Papiſts? and that which hath had a great hand in turning many learned men from the true Proteſtant Religion to Popery?
That by obedience he meaneth all morall qualifications and works as they are vertues and works, we have before learned from his own words: ſo his meaning is, that the Doctrine of Paul, and the Churches which follow him, viz. Juſtification by Faith, and not by works, is guilty of the damnable and pernicious evills which he here chargeth upon it. Theſe evills are two.
1 It is the great ſtumbling-block of the Papiſts.
2 It hath carried back many learned men from the Proteſtant Religion to Popery. To both theſe I ſhall ſpeak in order. 1 Of its hardning the Papiſts in Popery.
Is it not the great ſtumbling-block to Papiſts? ſaith Mr. Br.
I anſwer, 1 Was not Chriſt (and that in this very point of juſtifying the ungodly by an imputed righteouſneſs, without any inherent righteouſneſs of their own) a ſtone of ſtumbling, and a rock of offence to the Jewes; as which they were ſo offended, that to their eternall ruine, they reject the Goſpel and ſalvation of Chriſt unto this day? Rom. 9. 32, 33. 1 Cor. 1. 23. 1 Pet. 2. 8. What then? muſt Chriſt be anathematized? Nay, but let the truth of Chriſt ſtand, and man be the lyar, the tranſgreſſor: It is ſcandalum, acceptum non datum, an offence taken, not given: And bleſſed is he who ſoever ſhall not be offended in [or at] Chriſt, Mat. 11. 6. Lu. 7. 23. But if any will be offended, and daſh, the Lord Chriſt admoniſheth him of the danger: Whoſoever ſhall fall on this ſtone ſhall be broken; but on whomſoever it ſhall fall, it will grind him to powder, Mat. 21. 44.
2 And as ſound a reaſon is it that our doctrine of Juſtification hinders the Papiſts from turning Proteſtants, as was that of ſome Statiſts that complained againſt the Church of Geneva, that they hindered the converſion of Papiſts in thoſe parts, by forbidding dancing; and the like grave conſideration by ſome great Politicians in England, that the forbearing of Bull and Bear-baiting, and other ſports on the Lords day, hardned the Papiſts of Lancaſhire in their Popery. When Religion is made a meer piece of policy, and to have in it at the beſt no more than a dreſs of dreggiſh formality or morality, no marvail if ſuch dirty and unſpirituall means are made uſe of to ſpread it.
3 But how deep doth this effect lurk in its cauſe, ſo that only this one mans ſagacity can ſmell it out? That the Papiſts in the leaſt things will not turn Proteſtants, except we in the worſt turn Papiſts. For this Article of Juſtification is the greateſt of all the queſtions controverted between us and the Papiſts. All the reſt not ingredients of, or meerly relating to this, may the Papiſts continue in (if not of malice or wilfulneſſe) with a poſſibility of ſalvation. They are but wood, hay, and ſtubble built upon the foundation, the very builders whereof may be ſaved, but ſo as by fire, ſaith the Apoſtle. But a Trentified Papiſt, by the coherent judgment of the beſt Divines, cannot be ſaved, becauſe hee holdeth not the foundation ſure and pure, but mixeth mans works with the grace of God in Chriſt to Juſtification. And their judgment is grounded upon the authority of the Apoſtle: Yee are faln from grace, Chriſt is become void [or forfeyted] to you, whoſoever are juſtified by works. An ardent love to Romes ſhavelings out of doubt poſſeſſeth Mr. Br. that he doth not only wiſh himſelf (as did the Apoſtle) but would make himſelf and all us accurſed, that they might be (not ſaved, but) damned with us. For if they reject all other their errors, and practically retain but this one, by it they forfeyt all the ſalvation of the Goſpel.
4 Nay contrariwiſe, as long as this Article of the Goſpel was diligently preached, and ſtoutly maintained in the Proteſtant Churches, and that not with qui…ks and quidities of humane Art, but by the nervous arguments of Scripture alone: ſo long the Kingdom of Antichriſt more and more decayed, and they which were before marked up as ſlaves to that rivall of Chriſt, brake the fetters, and came in by thouſands and ten thouſands, taking the Kingdom by a holy and violent force. But ſince the time this Doctrine hath been leſs preached and patronized, the Reformed Churches have been ſtill in a languiſhing, and the Antichriſtian Kingdom in a growing condition; as Mr. Br. himſelf, ſo great a Reader, and ſo fully acquainted with the Eccleſiaſticall Hiſtories, muſt neceſſarily grant. And why hath this ſtop to the promoting of the Goſpel befaln the Churches, but that the Lord Chriſt doth herein declare his offence taken againſt us for not making him our all, that hee alſo ceaſeth ſo victoriouſly, as in former times to vouchſafe his preſence among us?
5 But ſince Mr. Br. is leapt home to them, and many foot beyond many of the more moderate ſort of them, in the point of juſtification by works, and ſo hath removed the ſlumbling-block, let him ſpeak by experience, how many of them are come in to him to be his Proſelytes, rejecting the Papacy, and other their Popiſh errors. Or whereas his Friends the Arminians have in this and many other of their Tenents ſo many decads of yeers cloſed fully with them, where is the confluence of Papiſts to them ſeen, that ſhaking off their former opinions and practices, profeſs themſelves Converts? A Cardinals Hat perhaps hath been ſent, or a fat Biſhopprick promiſed to ſome of the moſt deſerving men among them (in relation to the Romiſh Cauſe) to allure them to further and higher deſervings of this kind. But the holy Mother Church (I warrant you) ſticks where ſhe was. If ſhee ſhould permit but one ſtone of her Fabrick to be looſed, it might cauſe a crack in the whole.
This part of the Quere I ſhall therefore upon theſe Conſiderations leave as reaſonleſs, and examine the next whether there be any more reaſon in it.
To the 2d. That it hath had a great hand in turning many learned men from the Proteſtant Religion to Popery.
1 I demand whether there be not a contradiction in the Quere? How were they ever eſcaped from the dreggs of Popery, that yet held Juſtification by works, which is the very root out of which all other Popiſh errors almoſt ſpring, and by it ſelf alone is worſe than all the reſt?
Or how can ſuch perſons be ſaid to have turned from the Proteſtant Religion, that joyned not with the Proteſtants in the very Foundation. Let all the Confeſſions of all the Proteſtant Churches be read, and but one produced that hath not with all defiance r…j…cted juſtification by works as a foul abhomination. They muſt needs be very learned men, that had learned this myſticall Art of turning in Religion from them to whom they were not joyned, unto them from whom they were never ſevered.
2 If any have ſo turned, they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would without doubt have continued with us: But they went out from us, that they might be made manifeſt that they were not of us, 1 Joh. 2. 19.
3 Nevertheleſs they that are truly learned, i. e. wch have the myſterie of Chriſt revealed to them, not by fleſh and blood, but by their Father which is in heaven, that have learned as the truth is in Chriſt Jeſus, that have been taught of God, and have ſo heard and learned of the Father, that by his teaching they come to Chriſt, being drawn and given to Chriſt by the effectuall teaching of God: theſe ſhall never turn back again; They are built upon the Rock, and all the gates of Hell ſhall not prevail againſt them: It is the will of the Father, that of all thoſe which are thus given to Chriſt, he ſhould loſe nothing, but raiſe it again at the laſt day, Mat. 16. 18. Eph. 4. 21. Jo. 6. 45. 39.
4 By the vanity, levity, changes and whirlings of theſe learned ones in humane literature, the Lord is pleaſed to publiſh to the world how vain, and of no power ſuch learning is (while unſa… ctified) to true bleſſedneſs. I thank thee O father, &c. that thou haſt hidden theſe things from the wiſe and prudent, and haſt revealed them to babes, Mat. 11. 25. I will deſtroy the wiſdom of the wiſe, and bring to nothing the underſtanding of the prudent, ſaith the Lord. Where is the wiſe? where is the Scribe? where is the diſputer of this world? Hath not God made fooliſh the wiſdom of this world? 1 Cor. 1. 19, 20. Profeſſing themſelves wiſe, they became fools, [becauſe] they became vain in their imaginations, Rom. 1. 21, 22. So vain, that they bring the tranſcendent myſteries of divine things to be tryed in the ſcales of humane reaſon, and that which the Apoſtle ſaith is falſly called Science, i. e. philoſophicall learning. A due ſtroke of Gods judgment upon them that will be wiſe without Chriſt, and againſt him; that while they will diſpute, and in their diſputations ſubject the doctrines of Faith (which can have no other foundation but the authority of the word) to the rules and principles of ſecular Arts, they ſhall with all their Art and Learning, diſpute themſelves out of Chriſt, out of Happineſs.
5 No more hath befaln them herein, than God had before threatned ſhould be the doom of ſuch. Becauſe they received not the love of the truth that they might be ſaved: For this Cauſe God ſhall ſend them ſtrong deluſions that they ſhould believe a lye, that they might all be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleaſure in unrighteouſneſs, 2 Theſ. 2. 10. 12.
6 And moſt juſtly, for pride goeth before deſtruction. And what higher degree of pride, than that an impure worm ſhould ſwell with ſuch an opinion of his own righteouſneſs, that he will refuſe the life and ſalvation which are by Chriſt, except his own righteouſneſs be valued at ſo high a rate by the eternall God, as to conſtitute him worthy of it? Yet ſuch is the high ſpirit of theſe ſelf-righteous workers, that they will enter heaven, triumphing in their own ſtrength and righteouſneſs, or els refuſe to enter. Magis honorificum eſt habere aliquid ex merito (ſaith Bellarmine, ſpeaking of Merit) quam ex ſola donatione; ideo deus ut filios ſuos magis honoraret, &c. It is more honourable to have ſomething of merit than of meer gift; Therefore God, that he might the more honour his Children, hath made a way that they ſhould get to themſelves eternall life by their own merits. To the ſame purpoſe is that of another of the ſame neſt, Abſit ut juſti vitam eternam expectent, ut pauper Tapper. in. Art. Lovan. Tom 2. art. 9.Eleemoſynam, multo enim glorioſius eſt, ipſos quaſi victores & triumphatores eam poſſidere, tanquam palmam ſuis ſudoribus debitam. i. e. Far be it that the righteous ſhould expect eternall life, as a poor man doth an Alms. For it is much more glorious that they ſhould poſſeſs it, as conquerours and triumphers do the Crown due to their labors. When this arrogant conceit once poſſeſſeth M. Brs. learned men to make themſelves glorious by their ecclypſing of the glory of Gods grace, no marvail if we ſee them not ſo much turning as turned out among the dogs and ſwine. How can ye believe which ſeek honour one of another, and not the honour which is of God only, John 5. 44.
7 Yet for one that Mr. Br. can mention, who in hatred of this Doctrine hath made a defection from, I dare to undertake to produce hundreds that by the ſweetneſſe of it, and demonſtration of the Spirit in preaching it, have been drawn to the profeſſion of the Proteſtant Religion. It is a concluſion of Luther, lamenting the ſchiſms and Controverſies ſtirred in the Churches about lighter and leſſer things: That if theſe had been layd aſide, and this one Article of Juſtification by Faith alone had been by the counited labors of all the Churches, moſt of all (though not only) preached and continued to be preached to this day, ſaith he, the whole Kingdom of the Pope had by this time laid wholly ſhivered. How adverſatively do the ſpirits of Luther and Mr. Br. fight either againſt the other? Yea of the many learned that Mr. Br. ſpeaks of, we can find him particularizing but one, his St. Grotius, pag. 331. thus,
B. This Doctrine was one that helped to turn off Grotius to Caſſandrian Popery. See Grotij votum, 21, 22, 23. 115.
Is Grotius ſo turned off? moſt likely is it ſure, that Mr. Br. will follow him, and truly we may add [if not] this doctrine, ſurely that which is worſe hath turned off Mr. Br. to Triden…ine and Jeſuitized Popery: See Mr. Brs. Aphoriſms, not in four pages only, but almoſt in all the paſſages of that Book and its Appendix: And thus Grotius and he make up (if not many, yet) a number of learned men turn'd to Popery.
This ſhall ſuffice to have ſaid to the matter of Mr. Brs. Quere; But memorable and worthy to be written upon the pureſt chryſtal waters, where he that can may read them, are the reaſons which Mr. Br. annexeth, for which this Doctrine hath had a great hand in turning many learned men to Popery, viz.
B. pa. 329. When they ſee the language of the Scripture in the fore-cited places, ſo plain [that no mortall eye can diſcern it] to the contrary: When Illyricus, Gallus, Amſdorfius, &c. ſhall account it a hereſie in George Major, to ſay that good works are neceſſary to ſalvation: And when, if Melchior Adamus (ſay true) eò dementiae & impietatis ventum erat ut non dubitarent quidam haec axiom ata propugnare; Bona opera non ſunt neceſſaria ad ſalutem: Bona opera officiunt ſaluti. Nova obedientia non eſt neceſſaria. When even Melanctons credit is blaſted for being too great a friend to good works; though he aſcribe not to them the leaſt part of the work or office of Chriſt: And when to this day many Antinomian teachers, who are magnified as the only Preachers of free grace, do aſſert and proclaim, That there is no more required to the perfect irrevocable Juſtification of the vileſt Murtherer or Whoremaſter, but to believe that hee is juſtified, or to be perſwaded that God loveth him.
And again, p. 331. This Doctrine was offenſive to Melancton,
Bucer, and other moderate Divines of our own.
What of all this? and what is the iſſue at laſt? Therefore theſe learned men with great learning and wiſedom, took the advantage Cum ratione in ſanire, like a pampred horſe, with a fly in his tayl, to catch the ſnaffle in the teeth, and in great indignation to runn mad to Rome. Who els but Mr. Brs. learned men could have expreſſed ſo much grace and wit? And it ſeems they were all fellow-ſtudents in the ſame School, els could not their good wits have jumpt together upon ſo pretty a ſlight. And it ſeems Mr. Br. by his exagitation of the damnable doctrines of the Antinomians in our days, doth tacitely invite the learned to joyn with him in proſecuting the ſame learned device.
As to the matter of theſe ſeverall particulars, ſomwhat, yet not much is needfull to be ſaid. 1 To that of George Major, &c. Mr. Br. here diſcovereth fully (what elſwhere in this his Tractate he doth not totally hide) his enmity and ſwelling againſt the firſt reformation of the Churches by Luther and others, that hee accounts it a ſchiſmaticall defection, not a due reformation. Hee ſpares the names of Luther, Zuinglius, Calvin, &c. leſt his ſpitting in their faces, ſh…uld make his own odious to all knowing Chriſtians: But the Doctrine which he reprehendeth under the names of Illyricus, Gallus, Amſdorfius, &c. he knows to be the frme which thoſe former Divines, wch all the Proteſtant Churches have taught and propugned. Concerning Gallus, either what he was, or what he did, I can give no account. Illyricus is reported by ſome to have been ſomwhat hot and heady in proſecuting all that he undertook; but that at any time he entred the liſts with George Major, I find not. This I find, that they both lived and converſed together at Jenes in the ſame Univerſity, and were both adverſaries to Strigelius a famous Divine, unto whom between them they procured great perſecution: But Amſdorfius was one of thoſe eminent inſtruments of Chriſt in the reformation, who bare the burden and heat of the day, was a Colleague with Luther in the Univerſity of Wittenberg at the firſt dawning forth of the Goſpel, his yoke-fellow in the labor… and in the ſufferings of the Goſpel, both in proſperous and difficult times one and the ſame; Holding faſt the ſame principles which were laid in his heart while a young man, even to his old age, and death, which God prolonged untill the 88. year of his age. I know not any one profeſſed Proteſtant that hath aſperſed him for any thing that in all that time of ſo long a life, he either committed or omitted, as unworthy of a learned and faithful Miniſter of Chriſt, until the candor of M. Br. hath now done it. Truth it is, that George Major in his time, about a hundred years ſithence, when Luther was dead (not daring ſo to do while he was living) ſet forth ſome propoſitions and diſputations of the neceſſity of good works to ſalvation; and finding himſelf quickly encountred, he after more fully explained himſelf, or rather endeavoured to make his Doctrine the more ſmooth to be ſwallowed, by allaying it thus: That we are juſtified by faith only, but not ſaved without works. So that good works are neceſſary though not to juſtification, yet to ſalvation. At this his Doctrine, as all the Churches and their Miniſters were much offended, ſo were there many that confuted it; among others Strigelius, Wigandus, & this Amſdorfius, who wrote againſt him his Bona opera officiunt ſaluti: Good works are hinderances of ſalvation. A propoſition I acknowledg not well ſounding in words; but the ſubſtance of Treatiſes is not to be judged alway from their Titles; This work of Mr. B. hath a golden Title, Aphoriſms of Juſtification: untill a man hath read the Book, he would have ſuppoſed from the Title, they had bin Aphoriſms to maintain, not to deſtroy Juſtification by free grace. So on the other ſide the Paradoxical ſound of Amſdorfius his titular poſition, doth in no wiſe deny his Treatiſe thereon to be orthodox, except Mr. Br. can produce any thing thence to prove that he affirms good works in themſelves to be ſo, and not only in the ſenſe wherein George Major affirms them neceſſary to ſalvation. Or why this Aſſereion ſtifly maintained by George Major, ſhould not be counted a hereſie in him as well as in the Papiſts, or the Phariſees before them, I ſee no other reaſon but this, that then Mr. Br. having more worthily deſerv'd than he, will be thought fit to be honoured with the Title of Doctor in the ſame profeſſion.
2 To that of Melchior Adamus, I ſay no more, but that the Teſtimony of an Adverſary without proofes is unworthy, or at leaſt incompetent to bow our belief to it. What wreſting and curtilating there is of their ſentences, whom in this caſe ſuch men would defame, is obvious to every mans notice. He ſhould in ſtead of his Individuum vagum, his quidam, have named ſome ſingular perſons, & at leaſt have quoted ſome of their writings, in which they have propugned ſuch aſſertions, that we might have ſearched and found whether it were ſo, if he would have been believed. Otherwiſe, if theſe things were only for diſputations-ſake handled in the Schools, this argues not the propugners to be of that judgment.
3 What he ſaith of Melancton and Bucer, whether it be true or falſe, is of the like moment. Be it that ſome crazie brains, or corroding ſonns of Momus (with whom the world too much at all times aboundeth) envied becauſe they could not match, and ſought to defame, becauſe they envied the excellent parts of theſe two Worthies, was either of them ſo wiſe and learned, as to run headlong from Chriſt to Rome, upon it? Nay, this is a piece of learning which Mr. B. & his Grotius have of very late yeers learned and taught. The true ſervants of Chriſt in former times were ſo little ſcholaſticall, that they were ignorant in this Art. Yet whether Melancton after the death of Luther gave not ſome occaſion to the Proteſtant Churches to mourn till this day for the yet remaining fruits of his timorouſneſs, or (as Mr. Br. will have us call it) moderation, I leave to the wiſe who are acquainted with the paſſage of thoſe times, to judg. But I never underſtood any ſuch thing imputed to Bucer, or that he hath left any other but a ſweet ſavour behind him. Nor any thing that can ſo dim the worth of Melancton, that his name ſhould not be in continuall veneration among the Saints: For who can ſay he is without his infirmities? But in the point of Juſtification by Faith only, he was ſound till death.
4 But what hee ſaith of the Antimonian Teachers what they preach at preſent, and yet are magnified for the only preachers of Free Grace, is that which ſtartles Mr. Br. and makes him run many furlongs beyond Grotius. If his haſt had not put him out of breath, he might have told us what places of England are haunted with theſe Spirits, that we might have ſhunned them. Why ſhould a man of ſuch animoſity that ſcorns to look upon Colier, Hobſon, Spriggs, and ſuch like fellows, be ſo troubled about theſe unconſiderate animals which he here mentioneth: what the former three are I do not know; yet by what I have heard of them, I ſhould think them not ſo inconſiderate as theſe, to affirm juſtifying faith to conſiſt in a mans believing that he is juſtified, or in a perſwaſion that God loveth him? But that there are either more than one fountaine opened for the purging away of ſinne, or any other propitiation for our ſins ſet forth by God. Beſides Chriſt alone, or any other means to effectuallize it to the chief ſinners beſid…s faith in his blood, or that the juſtification which is by Faith, i… (according to the tenor of the Goſpel) revocable, I am ſo far an Antinomian of Mr. B. defining, to deny, and cannot find him ſo learned a Papiſt or Phariſee to prove it.
There is nothing elſe which I ſee in this Quere which he hath not in ſubſtance ſaid, and ſo hath been examined before, or elſe will more properly offer it ſelf to examination in that which remaineth to be examined. And this ſhall ſuffice to have ſaid to that one and yet five-fold Argument comprehended in his five Quere's.