1. The Rise of Antinomianism.
I. Of the Rise of Antinomianism.
The scriptures foreseeing there would arise such a sort of men in the church, as would wax wanton against Christ, and turn his grace into lasciviousness; hath not only precautioned us in general to beware of such opinions as corrupt the doctrine of free-grace, Rom. 6.1,2.
"Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? "God forbid:" But hath particularly indigitated and marked those very opinions by which it would be abused, and made abundant provision against them; as namely, 1. All slighting and vilifying opinions or expressions of the holy law of God, Rom. 7.7,12.
2. All opinions and principles inclining men to a careless disregard and neglect of the duties of obedience, under pretence of free grace, and liberty by Christ, James 2. Matth. 25.
3. All opinions neglecting or slighting sanctification, as the evidence {552} of our justification, and rendering it needless or sinful to try the state of our souls, by the graces of the Spirit wrought in us, which is the principal scope of the first epistle of John.
Notwithstanding, such is the wickedness of some, and the weakness of others, that in all ages (especially the last past, and present) men have audaciously broken in upon the doctrine of free grace, and notoriously violated and corrupted it, to the great reproach of Christ, scandal of the world, and hardening of the enemies of reformation.
'Behold,' (saith Contzen the Jesuit, on Matth. 24,) 'the fruit of Protestantism, and their gospel-preaching.'
Nothing is more opposite to looseness than the free grace of God, which teaches us, That denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
Nor can it without manifest violence be made pliable to such wicked purposes; and therefore the apostle tells us, Jude 4. that this is done by turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness; μετατιθεντες transferring it, scil fœda interpretatione, by a corrupt abusive interpretation, to such uses and purposes as it abhors. No such wanton, licentious conclusions can be inferred from the gospeldoctrines of grace and liberty, but by wrestling them against their true scope and intent, by the wicked arts and practices of deceivers upon them.
The gospel makes sin more odious than the law did, and discovers the punishment of it in a more severe and dreadful manner, than ever it was discovered before. Heb. 2.2,3. "For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience, received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" It shews our obligations to duty to be stronger than ever, and our encouragements to holiness greater than ever, 2 Cor. 7.1. and yet corrupt nature will be still tempting men to corrupt and abuse it. The more luscious the food is, the more men are apt to surfeit upon it.
This perversion and abuse of free grace and Christian liberty, is justly chargeable (though upon different accounts) both upon wicked and good men. Wicked men corrupt it designedly, that by entitling God to their sins, they might sin the more quietly and securely. So the devil instigated the Heathens to sin against the light and law of nature, by representing their gods to them as drunken and lascivious deities. So the Nicolaitans, and the school of Simon, and after them the Gnostics, and other Heretics in the very dawning of gospel-light and liberty, began presently to loose the bond of restraint from their lusts, under pretence of grace and liberty. The Etiani[1] blushed not to teach. That sin, and perseverance {553} in sin, could hurt the salvation of none, so that they would embrace their principles.
How vile and abominable inferences the Manichæans, Valentinians and Cerdonites drew from the grace and liberty of the gospel, in the
following ages, I had rather mourn over than recite; and if we come down to the fifteenth century, we shall find the Libertines of those days as deeply drenched in this sin, as most that went before them.
Calvin[2] mournfully observes, That under pretence of Christian liberty, they trampled all godliness under foot; the vile courses their loose opinions soon carried them into, plainly discovered for what intents and purposes they were projected and calculated: and he that reads the preface to that grave and learned Mr. Thomas Gataker's book, intitled, God's eye upon Israel, will find, That some
Antinomians of our days are not much behind the worst and vilest of them. One of them cries out, Away with the law, away with the law, it cuts off a man's legs, and then bids him walk. Another saith,
It is as possible for Christ himself to sin, as for a child of God to sin.
That if a man, by the Spirit, know himself to be in a state of grace, though he be drunk or commit murder, God sees no sin in him.
With much more of the same bran, which I will not transcribe.
But others there are, whose judgments are unhappily tainted and leavened with those loose doctrines; yet being in the main godly persons, they dare not take liberty to sin, or live in the neglect of known duties, though their principles too much incline that way; but though they dare not, others will, who imbibe corrupt notions from them; and the renowned piety of the authors will be no antidote against the danger, but make the poison operate the more powerfully, by receiving it in such a vehicle. Now it is highly probable, such men as these might be charmed into such dangerous opinions, upon such accounts as these:
1. It is like some of them might have felt in themselves the anguish of a perplexed conscience under sin, and not being able to live with these terrors of the law, and dismal fears of conscience, might too hastily snatch at those doctrines which promise them relief and ease, as I noted before in the fifth Cause of my Treatise of Errors. And that this is not a guess at random, will appear from the very title page of Mr. Saltmarsh's book of free-grace, where (as an inducement to
the reader to swallow his Antinomian doctrine) he shews him this curious bait.
It is (saith he) an experiment of Jesus Christ upon one who hath been in the bondage of a troubled conscience, at times, for the space
{554} of about twelve years till now upon a clearer discovery of Jesus Christ in the gospel, &c.
2. Others have been induced to espouse these opinions from the excess of their zeal against the errors of the Papists, who have notoriously corrupted the doctrine of justification by free grace; decried imputed, and exalted inherent righteousness above it. The Papists have designedly and industriously sealed up the scriptures from the people, lest they should there discover those sovereign and effectual remedies, which God hath provided for their distressed consciences, in the riches of his own grace, and the meritorious death of Christ; and so all their masses, pilgrimages, auricular confessions, with all their dear indulgencies, should lie upon their hands as stale and cheap commodities. Oh, (said Stephen Gardiner) let not this gap of free grace be opened to the people.
But as soon as the light of reformation had discovered the free grace of God to sinners, (which is indeed the only effectual remedy of distressed consciences) and by the same light the horrid cheats of the man of sin were discovered; all good men, who were enlightened by the reformation, justly and deeply abhorred Popery, as the enemy of the grace of God and true peace of conscience, and fixed themselves upon the sound and comfortable doctrines of justification by faith through the alone righteousness of Christ. Meanwhile, thankfully acknowledging, that they who believe, ought also to maintain good works. But others there were, transported by an indiscreet zeal, who have almost bended the grace of God as far too much the other way, and have both spoken and written many things very unbecoming the grace of God, and tending to looseness and neglect of duty.
3. It is manifest, that others of them have been ingulphed and sucked into those dangerous quicksands of Antinomian errors, by separating the Spirit from the written word. If once a man pretend the Spirit without the scriptures to be his rule, whither will not his own deluding fancies carry him, under a vain and sinful pretence of the Spirit?
In the year 1528, when Helsar, Traier, and Seekler, were confuted by Hallerus; and their errors about oaths, magistrates and pædobaptism, were detected by him and by Colveus at Bern, that which they had to say for themselves was, That the Spirit taught them otherwise than the letter of the Scriptures speak. So dangerous it is to separate what God hath conjoined, and father our own fancies upon the Holy Spirit.
4. And it is not unlike, but a comparative weakness, and injudiciousness of mind, meeting with a fervent zeal for Christ and his glory, may induce others to espouse such taking, and plausible, though pernicious doctrines; they are not aware of the dangerous
{555} consequents of the opinions they embrace, and what looseness may be occasioned by them: I speak not of occasions taken, but given, by such opinions and expressions; a good man will draw excellent inferences of duty from the very same doctrine. Instance that of the shortness of time, from whence the apostle infers abstinence, strictness, and diligence, 1 Cor. 7.29, but the Epicure infers all manner of dissolute and licentious practices, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die," 1 Cor. 15.22. The best doctrines arc this way liable to abuse.
But let all good men beware of such opinions and expressions, as give an handle to wicked men to abuse the grace of God, which haply the author himself dare not do, and may strongly hope others may not do: but if the principle will yield it, it is in vain to think corrupt nature will not catch at it, and make a vile use and dangerous improvement of it.