A Sovereign Salve, Section 3
SECT. III.
The place of Scripture.
2 CORINTH. 13. 5. Prove your ſelves whether ye are in the faith: Examine your ſelves: Know ye not your own ſelves, how that Ieſus Chriſt is in you, except ye be Reprobates?
The Concluſion which tender Conſciences draw from this place againſt themſelves, is this,
THat they, according to the Apoſtles command, have tried whether they be i…ledge… the faith, or no; and whether Chriſt be in them: But upon this triall, and examination, they can finde no ſuch thing in themſelves, and therefore by the Apoſtles verdict, they muſt needs be Reprobates and Caſtawaies.
The place of Scripture vindicated and cleared.
FOr the better underſtanding of this place of Scripture, ſuch tender Conſciences muſt know, that by Reprobates in this place, are not meant thoſe that are not elect, whom God in his juſt judgement hath paſt by, and ordained unto wrath, as the word is uſually underſtood: For none of the elect, before their Converſion, doe know, by any ſearch, that they are in the faith, or that Chriſt is in them; for that cannot be knowne, which yet is not. Againe, many are not converted, untill they be thirty, forty, fifty yeares old, or upward: And ſhall we ſay, that ſuch in their younger yeares were Reprobates? We may then ſay, that they were in the ſtate of damnation, but cannot, dare not ſay, they were Reprobates.
Beſides, a man muſt not be ſaid, not to be in the faith, and not to have Chriſt in him, becauſe he doth not know ſo much: For many of Gods deareſt children may have faith, and have Chriſt in them, and yet in the time of ſpirituall deſertion, or when ſome grievous temptation is upon them may not know ſo much, as we ſee by daily experience. I confeſſe the word, Reprobate, is ordinarily underſtood by our common people, for a man ordained to condemnation; and I confeſſe it is a tearme proper enough to expreſſe ſuch by: But yet in this place, it See Dr. Jackſon on the Creed, lib. 7. pag. 180. &c.cannot be taken in that ſenſe, as may appeare by the whole coherence of the Apoſtles Diſcourſe.
The thing now queſtioned by the Corinthians, upon the ſuggeſtion of ſome falſe Apoſtles, was this; whether Paul were lawfully called to his Apoſtleſhip; and therefore they require of him to give them †foreign. v. 3.a proofe of Chriſts ſpeaking in him.
To which his anſwer is this, or to this purpoſe, I will goe no further to ſeeke a proofe of Chriſts ſpeaking in me, then unto your ſelves: Hath not the Word, and Goſpell of Chriſt, beene powerfull by my Miniſtery to convert you, and to beget faith, and to forme Chriſt in you? Looke into your ſelves, †foreign.try if ye have not faith, and if Chriſt be not formed in you. If you finde this, I need no other proofe of my calling, nor of Gods power and grace bleſſing me in my calling. But if upon triall you cannot finde, that you are in the faith, and Chriſt thus formed in you, then you have yet either a meere forme of Chriſtianity, and my paines hath beene taken amongst you in vaine: Or if you be Chriſtians in truth, yet you are unexperienced Chriſtians, and without proofe of the truth of it in your ſelves. But whether you finde, upon triall, theſe things in you, or no, I truſt and am aſſured, that I, and …ledge…he reſt of Chriſts Miniſters with me, ſhall ap…ledge…ove our ſelves to be true, and faithfull Mi…ledge…iſters of Chriſt; though you, and the falſe Apoſtles, thinke us to be ſuch, as cannot give …ledge…oofe of Chriſts ſpeaking in us. So then the …ledge…ord here rendred *foreign.Reprobates) (to ſpeak …ledge…s the coherence gives it) cannot be meant …ledge…f ſuch as be Reprobates indeed, but of ſuch …ledge…nely, as are †foreign. Except you be unapproved, or except ye be without proof, viz. of your being in the faith, &c. See Mr. Schudder, ubi ſupra, pag. 536.unapproveable, or can give no …ledge…roofe for the preſent; and make it ap…ledge…eare to themſelves, that they are in the …ledge…ith, or that Chriſt is in them indeed.
The Concluſion drawn from the fore-alleadged place of Scripture, confuted.
ANd therefore they that ſhall from hence conclude, that becauſe upon triall, they can neither finde themſelves in the faith, nor Chriſt in them, therefore they are Reprobates indeed, doe fouly erre, and are much miſtaken. For firſt, (you ſee) the Apoſtle doth not avouch any ſuch thing here. And next, in caſe you ſhould be that, which the Apoſtle doth here intend, at the utmoſt it can be but this, that you are for the preſent, onelyonly unexperienced and unapproved Chriſtians: For who knoweth not, that God can make you able to give better proofe thereof hereafter? And that he will doe it (you may build upon it) if you ſhall carefully and conſcionably keepe on in the uſe of the meanes ſanctified and appointed by him for that end.