02.03.02. Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Shews, That no Law is given, which can give Life; That Faith and Repentance are Things impossible to unregenerate Men, and that God is the sole Author of Regeneration. THE Opinion of a conditional Grant of Life to Men, supposes, that a Laws given, by which Happiness is attainable, and that a justifying Righteousness may be by that Law: Against which I object, thus,
I. If any such Law was extant and in Force, in the Apostle’s Time, he had not the Pleasure of an Acquaintance with it, this is evident from his own Words: If there had been a Law given, which could have given Life, verily Righteousness would have been by the Law (Galatians 3:21.). The Reasoning in which Text, (as the Apostle’s every where is) is exceeding clear and strong, ‘tis this: There is no Law enacted, by which Righteousness, justification, and Acceptance with God can be; and therefore there is no Law published, that can intitle Men to Life. The Opinion of Terms and Conditions of Life and Happiness, by fulfilling of which, Men may secure their eternal Blessedness, not being as ancient in the Church as the Time of this inspired Writer, I cannot believe it to be true.
II. If this Opinion is true, then, Salvation is due to the Works of Men: For if they perform those Terms and Conditions, which the Law prescribes, they may claim Life upon the Foot of Right, and the Reward cannot be esteemed of Grace; but must be accounted a due Debt: For to him that worketh, is the Reward, not reckon’d of Grace, but of Debt (Romans 4:4.). That Happiness becomes due to Men, on account of Works, is constantly denied: Not of Works, least any Man should boast (Ephesians 2:9.) Boasting is not excluded by a Law of Works; but by the Law of Faith (Ephesians 3:27.). To this it is answer’d, that the Apostle denies perfect Works to have Place in our Justification, or such Works as the Law of Innocency requires, which the Jews contended for; but that Works commanded by Christ, i.e. Faith, Repentance, and sincere Obedience, are Terms and Conditions of Life: To which I reply,
1. No such Distinction of Works, is to be found, where ever the Apostle treats of this Subject, and therefore it is not to be prov’d, that perfect Works are ONLY excluded.
2. It is faith, that the Jews contended perfect Works, as Conditions of Life. For, they sought Life, as it were by the Works of the Law; and not by a perfect and sinless Observation of it.
3. They did not allow, that the Law of God required Perfection, in order to Life. This is so evident by the Vindication of the Law from their corrupt Interpretations of it, in the Sermon of Christ upon the Mount, that it will not admit of the least Doubt. And therefore to suppose the Apostle in his Debates with the Jews, only militates against the Opinion, of Justification by perfect Works, is to represent him as an impertinent Caviller, which is not greatly to his Honour.
4. It is irrational to think, that the Jews could entertain such an Apprehension: For,
(1.) They had an Account of the Blemishes, which attended the most pious of their Forefathers, and therefore they could not conceive, that they were justify’d and sav’d, by a perfect Observation of the divine Law.
(2.) Promises of Pardon were given, as a Foundation of Hope, in their sacred Writings, which would not permit them to imagine, that Salvation and Happiness, were alone to be expected by perfect Works.
(3.) The Ceremonial Law provided them with Sacrifices for Sin, and in a Variety of Instances, obliged them, to acknowledge that they were Sinners. How a People, in such Circumstances, could think that perfect Works, were the Terms and Conditions of Life, is hard to conceive.
III. If Faith, Repentance, and new Obedience, are the Terms and Conditions of Life, these are not in the Power of Men: They cannot believe in Christ, or truly repent of Sin, nor in a spiritual Manner obey God: To prove which, I offer the following Particulars to Consideration.
1. Men cannot discern the Importance, Excellency and Worth of spiritual Things: Their Understanding is darkened; and therefore they are incapable of discovering the Beauty and Glory, of evangelical Truths: The natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God: For they are Foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14.). ‘Tis as reasonable to think, a Man may discern Objects, who is naturally blind, as imagine a Sinner, who hath no spiritual Sight, is able to see the Value and Excellency of divine Mysteries.
2. The Will of Man is averse to Holiness, and is strongly bent to Sin: Hence it is asserted, that, The carnal Mind is Enmity against God, that it is not subject to his Law, neither indeed can be (Romans 8:7.), and since there is such an Aversion to God, and such a Propensity to Evil fixed in the human Will, Men unregenerate cannot chuse those Things, that are pleasing to God, and which will conduce to their spiritual and eternal Welfare.
3. They are without spiritual Ability, and have not Power to perform what is spiritually good. The sacred Writer expressly affirms that we are without Strength, he doth not say, we are without great or sufficient Strength; but without Strength, which is exclusive of the least Degree of Power. And our Saviour asserts that without him we can do NOTHING: From him therefore Ability is derived, for the Performance, of every Act of evangelical Obedience.
4. The Hearts of Men are Stone: The natural Hardness of their Hearts, renders them incapable of evangelical Sorrow. The Adamant Stone will sooner yield to the Stroke of the Hammer, than the obdurate Hearts of Men, will yield to the Law’s Threatnings and Gospel Promises: They are harder than the nether Milstone, and are not susceptive of spiritual Impressions.
5. Men are dead or void of spiritual Life. Life is the Principle of Action: Since Sinners are not the Subjects of a divine Life, heavenly Acts are not within the Compass of their Power. Such are Faith, Repentance and holy Obedience: These then, if they are Conditions and Terms of Happiness, Men cannot perform, and of Consequence, it is impossible to obtain Life and Felicity, by a Law or Covenant, which requires those Things, in order to the Fruition of Bliss. It is allowed indeed, that divine Influences are necessary to enable Sinners to believe, to act Repentance and obey God: But not that any Principle or Habit of Grace, is infus’d and implanted by the Holy Spirit, in the Hearts of Men. Dr. Doddridge gives us his Sentiments, on this Subject in these Words: They who believed on him were possess’d of these Principles, not in Consequence, of their being born of Blood, i.e. their being descended from the Loins of the holy Patriarchs, or sharing in Circumcision and the Blood of the Sacrifices: Nor could they ascribe it MERELY to the WILL of the FLESH, i.e. their own superior Wisdom and Goodness, as if by the Power of corrupted Nature ALONE, they had made themselves to differf45. Elsewhere the same Gentleman has these Words: The Cause of Men’s final and everlasting Ruin, may be referred in one View of it, to God’s withholding those gracious Influences, which if they had been imparted, would indeed have subdued the greatest Perverseness; but the witholding these Influences, is not MERELY an ARBITRARY Act; (I suppose he means sovereign) but is a just Punishment of Men’s Wickedness, and of their obstinate Folly, in trifling with the Means of his Grace, and grieving his holy Spirit, till it was provoked to withdraw, This Thought, (no very bright and just one) which I might largely prove to you to be a Compendium of the Scripture Scheme, reconciles all; and any Consequences drawn from one Part of that Scheme, to the Denial of the other, how plausible soever, must CERTAINLY be falsef46. This is very strongly expressed indeed, and hardly leaves us room to think, the Gentleman apprehends himself, under a Possibility of being mistaken in this weighty Point. If I might be allowed to entertain any Scruple in a Matter, wherein this learned Person is so remarkably positive, I should think this Scheme to be antiscriptural, and imagine that Objections, far more than plausible, may be advanced against it:
They are such, as follow:
1. This Scheme supposes, that God intends the Salvation of some who perish: His Counsel therefore in there Instances doth not stand, and he does not all his Pleasure.
2. It supposes, that the Efficacy of divine Grace, is dependent on, and is to be resolved into the Will of Man. I have till now apprehended, that it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth; but of God that sheweth Mercy.
3. If this Scheme is true, then God excites Men to spiritual Acts, who are destitute of spiritual Life, and therefore we must be mistaken, in thinking a Principle of Grace and Holiness, is necessary to Acts of Holiness.
4. Then Men may bear good Fruit, before they are made good: Grapes may be gathered of Thorns, and Figs of Thistles, which we have thought till this Time, could not be.
5. The Scheme suggests, that God operates on Men in such a Manner, as he knows will not be effectual, to attain what he proposes in his Operations, whereas we have imagined, that the Word of God shall not return to him void; but that, it shall accomplish that which he pleases, and proper to the Thing, i.e. the End, whereto be sends it: But if this Scheme is true, we are doubtless mistaken.
6. It insinuates, that Men may cease to trifle with the Means of Grace, and subject themselves to the divine Law, even whilst the Enmity of their Hearts against God remains: We therefore have misunderstood the Apostle, who affirms, that the carnal Mind cannot be subject to that Law, and his Words are to be interpreted in a Sense very different to that, which they plainly express.
7. If this Scheme is true, then God works on some, with an Intention to save them, on whom the Decree of Reprobation is passed: Judas the Son of Perdition, who is gone to his own Place, for Instance: So that God hath contrary Wills, i.e. he wills to save some Men, and operates upon them, with a Design to bring them to Heaven, who were of old appointed to Condemnation. This seems to us most manifestly absurd.
8. Then, God draws some with loving Kindness, whom he never lov’d: We have apprehended, that heavenly Attraction is a Fruit of everlasting Love; but it seems in some Instances it is not so: God attracts them he hates, as well as those he loves.
9. Hence it follows, some hear and learn of the Father, who never come to Christ, the Words of our Lord therefore, which assert the contrary, are to be understood in a Sense quite foreign to their obvious and natural Import, and when he says, every Man that hath beard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me, we must: understand him to mean, some who hear and learn of the Father come not to me.
10. According to this Scheme, God operates on some in a gracious Manner, to whom he imputes Sin, condemns by his Law, and leaves them to perish for ever, under the Curie of the Covenant of Works.
11. It supposes, that God works on some to save them, WHOM Christ NEVER KNEW, and for WHOM he NEVER pray’d, and therefore whole Salvation, he NEVER DESIRED, which can’t be reasonably thought. It may be these Objections, will be found somewhat more, than plausible, and occasion greater Difficulty, to solidly answer, than this Gentleman, and some others, might conceive to attend a Point, in which he is so very positive and dogmatical.
IV. All Acts of Faith, evangelical Repentance and new Obedience, flow from a Principle of Holiness created or infus’d into the Souls of Men, and therefore no unregenerate Person, can fulfil there Conditions and Terms of Life.
1. If these Things are possible to unrenewed Men, then they may be saved without Regeneration or the new Birth; but if we do not as strangely mistake the Doctrine of our Saviour, in this Point, as we do in some others, according to the Principles of some Men, this cannot be. If a Man may act Faith, without the Grace of Faith wrought in his Heart: If he may exercise Repentance, without the Gift of the Grace of Repentance: And if Men may act holily, without a Principle of Holiness, implanted in them, they may be admitted to Heaven, without such a Change passing upon them, as that of the new Birth is: For tho’ they have not Principles of Grace in them, yet since they believe, repent of their Sins, and sincerely obey God, they shall be sav’d. And if Men may act Faith, or believe, before the Habit or Principle of Faith is wrought in them, then either their Act of believing without the Habit, must be taken for Regeneration, or else a Believer is not a regenerate Person: And if this is Regeneration without the Habit of Faith in the Soul, then, when a Man believes not, or his Act of Faith is interrupted, he sinks again into a State of Unregeneracy, and Men must he supposed, to become regenerate, or unregenerate, as often as they act, or act not Faith; but this cannot be. And therefore the Infusion of Grace, and a divine Life, into the Heart, must be that Regeneration, the Scripture speaks of, and is antecedently necessary to all Acts of Faith, Repentance, and holy Obedience to Christ:.
2. Regeneration is the Implantation of some supernatural Principles in the Mind; unless the Expressions used about it in Scripture, are to be interpreted infinitely below a Construction, which must be confess’d to be obvious and natural, and therefore not to be denied without manifest Necessity. Such Modes of speaking, as, being born again, quickened when dead, and created in Christ, are (at least) capable of being constru’d, without any Degree of Force, of the Production, of something in Men, which before they were not the Subjects of: And when it is said that we are new Creatures, it may mean, and seems properly to mean, that some heavenly Principle is created in us, which ‘till that Time we had not. This I think must be allow’d, and what Necessity can be urged, which should oblige us to understand these Modes of Speech in a lower Sense: Unless it is this, Enmity may love: Unbelief act Faith: And Sin may be productive of holy Acts: And Ignorance discover the true Nature of heavenly Things. In a Word, I can conceive of no other Necessity for this, than only maintaining that one contrary, may produce another: Darkness, Light, Sin, Holiness, and Enmity, Love; and who will not allow of the Propriety of this, especially, when it is to answer the desirable End of maintaining the Power of FREE WILL in MEN, to chuse what is good? It is likely all will grant it; but such as are fully determined to advance the Glory, Sovereignty and Efficacy of divine Grace. These Persons are indeed so tenacious of the Honour of the Grace of God, and at the Time desirous, not to embrace any Principle evidently repugnant to Reason, that they will never allow the Necessity pleaded for.
3. If Regeneration is not the Infusion of a divine Life into the Heart, then there are not contrary Principles in the Minds of regenerate Persons, then the Flesh lusteth not against the Spirit, nor the Spirit against the Flesh: For Spirit and Flesh are not in them: They have not a Law of Sin, and a Law of Holiness in their Minds, nor do contrary Acts flow from contrary Principles, as Acts of Faith, and Acts of Unbelief: But the Case is in Fact this, when their Hearts are excited by divine Grace, and their Wills are at Leisure to attend to, and are disposed to concur, with the Influences of the holy Spirit upon them, Acts of Faith and Holiness are produced, and they spring from the Mind not as possess’d of any supernatural Principles; but only, as it is under some divine Influences and Impulses. If it is thus, the Bible seems to me a Book most obscure, and I think the Experience of the Saints is not to be accounted for.
4. That in a Believer, which serves the Law of Sin, which is Flesh, and lusteth against the Spirit, is not, or can be, the Subject of divine Excitations and Influences to spiritual Acts: Who will say that the Minds of Believers, as depraved, carnal and corrupt, are stirr’d up, to love God, hate Sin, and act Faith on Christ? Should any affirm it, I imagine they will never be able to prove it. ‘Tis the spiritual Part in a Saint, that is excited to spiritual Acts: It is not his Unbelief, that is stirred up to believe in Christ; but his Faith which is wrought in him, as a Principle, in order to the Act. Unregenerate Persons therefore, being in the Flesh, and wholly carnal, they are not meet Subjects for those Excitations, which are spoken of: And such supposed Influences, will be eternally ineffectual to produce a single Act of Faith and Holiness in them. Let us then be very plainly told, what is intended by common Helps of divine Grace, and what Effects they do or may produce, if it be thought proper, do they regenerate Men, or do they not? If they do, then Men really believe, repent of their Sins, and obey the Precepts of Christ, and shall infallibly be saved: If they do not regenerate Men, then notwithstanding those Exciations, Impulses and Influences of the holy Spirit upon them, their Salvation, is absolutely impossible.
V. God alone, and entirely is the Author of Regeneration, which thus appears:
1. It is the Infusion, Creation, and begetting of a new Life and Principle in the Hearts of Men: This is evident from what has been above observ’d. The Will of Man cannot rationally be thought to contribute to the Production of an infused Habit or Principle: So far, as any Habit is owing to the Concurrence of the Will, so far it is acquired and not infus’d.
2. If the human Will is active herein, it must be so either as it is regenerate, or unregenerate, if that Faculty is the Subject of Sin, or of Holiness. If the Will should be said to concur, as it is made holy, that implies a manifest Contradiction, for it supposes a Man to be unregenerate, when he is regenerated, and it is the regenerate Part in him, treat renders the. Will capable of this Concurrence. If the Will acts herein, and cooperates with divine Grace, as unregenerate, in order to Regeneration, then one contrary assists in the Production of another, and it necessarily, supposes, that the Will may act in a holy spiritual Manner before it is made holy, which we deny, and ever shall do, until we see it clearly proved, that a Principle of Grace is not necessary to heavenly Acts.
3. If we are actively concerned in our Regeneration, then it is owing to ourselves, (at least in Part) that we differ from others, and become meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light, and the WHOLE of this Work is not to be ascribed to divine Grace. The Consequence (disagreeable as it would once have been to some, who I fear are in great Danger of falling from Grace, i.e. the Doctrine of Grace is heard with Patience) is allow’d: The Grace of God indeed hath the Honour of being represented as the supreme Cause of the new Birth; but the Will of Man is affirmed to be a Cause, tho’ subordinately to divine Grace; and therefore as Dr. Doddridge plainly suggests, it is of ourselves, at least in Part, that we differ from others, and it is because we will to be regenerated, that we become so.
4. Then the Efficacy of divine Grace is dependent on, and is to be resolved into the Will of Man: Unless the Will of Man concurs, divine Grace, will not obtain it’s End in its Operations: God will be disappointed of his Design in the Influences he affords to Men: His Will is resisted, i.e. it is overcome, and his Attempt to regenerate Men proves insuccessful, and his kind Purposes are rendered abortive: How these Things suit with his Wisdom, and agree to the Nature of his all-powerful Operations, a small Degree of Discernment in spiritual Truths, will enable us to determine. Upon the whole we may rarely conclude, That the Salvation of Men is impossible, according to this imaginary conditional Scheme of Salvation: For the Performance of the supposed Terms of Pardon and Salvation propos’d to Men, they are absolutely unequal to, and tho’ God has thus conditionally design’d their Happiness, he will not it seems, communicate to them that Grace, which is requisite to enable them to fulfil those Conditions, and therefore they must unavoidably perish, and their Damnation is as certain, as if such a conditional Grant or Proposal of Life, had never been made to them.