Of The Cause Of Faith, Grace, And Righteousness
Chapter 10
OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH,
GRACE, AND
RIGHTEOUSNESS
The second part of this controversy particularly concerns grace, faith, and holiness – sincere obedience to the precepts of the new covenant – the praise for which we appropriate to the Most High, by reason of a double interest: first, of the merit of Christ, which procures them for us; secondly, of the Holy Spirit, which works them in us. The death of Christ is their meritorious cause; the Spirit of God and his effectual grace is their efficient cause, working instrumentally with power by the word and the ordinances.264 Now, because this would deprive the [Arminian] idol of his highest glory, and expose him to open shame, like the bird "furtivis nudata coloribus," 265 the Arminians advance themselves in his defense; and in behalf of their darling [Free-will], they exclude both the merit of Christ and the Spirit of God from any title to their production.
First. For the merit of Christ. We affirm that God "blesses us with all spiritual blessings in him," or for his sake, Eph 1:3, among which, doubtless, faith does not possess the lowest place; that "he is made to us righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption;" (1 Cor
1:30)that "he was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;" (2 Cor 5:21)that he is "the Lord our righteousness," (Jer 23:6) and glories to be called by that name (and
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
whatever he is to us, it is chiefly by way of merit); that "to us it is given uJpe<r Cristou~, for Christ's sake, to believe on him," Phil 1:29, where uJpe<r Cristou~ is plainly referred to di>dotai,[ejcari>sqh,?] "is given," – as if the apostle had said, "Christ is the meritorious cause of bestowing those good gifts, faith and constancy unto martyrdom upon you." When I say we profess that all these are the proper and immediate products of the passion and blood of Christ, these turbulent Davusses come in with a prohibition, and quite expel the blood of Christ from having any interest in these things.
"There is nothing more vain, nothing more foolish," they say in their Apology, "than to attribute our regeneration and faith to the death of Christ; for if Christ may be said to have merited faith and regeneration for us, then faith cannot be a condition whose performance God requires at the hands of sinners under pain of eternal damnation." 266 And again, "If faith is the effect of the merit of Christ, it cannot be our duty."267 No? Suppose the church were to pray that it would please God, for Christ's sake, to call home those sheep that belong to his fold who are not yet collected, those who are still far off – and that God would grant faith and repentance to them based on the merit of his Son. Would this be an altogether vain and foolish prayer?
Let others think as they please, it is a vanity I do not desire to be weaned from, nor does anyone who sincerely loves the Lord Jesus, I believe. Oh, [the thought] that Christians should patiently endure such a diminution of their Savior's honor, that with one dash of an Arminian pen, they would have the chief effects of his death and passion quite obliterated! If this is a motive to love and honor the Son of God, if this is a way to set forth the preciousness of his blood – by denying its efficacy in enabling us to get an interest in the new covenant by faith – then most Christians in the world need to be newly catechised by these seraphical doctors.268 Until that time, they must give us leave to believe with the apostle, that God "blesses us with all spiritual blessings in Christ," Eph 1:3; and we will take leave to account faith as a spiritual blessing, and, therefore, that it is bestowed on us for
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
Christ's sake. Again, our regeneration is nothing but a "purging of our consciences from dead works so that we may serve the living God."
This being done by "the blood of Christ," as the apostle witnesses in Heb 9:14, we will ascribe our new birth (or forming anew) to the virtue of that grace, which is purchased by his blood. It is that "precious blood" which "redeems us from our vain conversation," 269
1 Peter 1:18-19; and by its efficacy we are vindicated from the state of sin and corrupted nature in which we are born.
The Arminians have but one argument that I could ever encounter, and by which they strive to rob Christ of this glory of meriting and procuring for us faith and repentance. And that is, they say, because faith and repentance are such acts of ours, that we are bound to perform them in duty and obedience to the precepts of the gospel.270
They press this everywhere at large, "usque et usque." 271 In plain terms, they will not allow their idol to be considered defective in anything that is necessary to bring us to heaven. Now, concerning this argument, that nothing which God requires of us can be procured for us by Christ, I would note two things:
First. That the strength of their argument consists in this: that no gift of God bestowed on us can be a thing well-pleasing to him as being in us; for all of his precepts and commands signify only what is wellpleasing to him that we should be or do. It is not meriting anything by Christ, but God's bestowing the gift as the effect of it, which keeps it from being a thing required of us as part of our duty (which I will shortly consider). Only observe for now that there is nothing in us by way of habit or act that is not required of us in the gospel – from the beginning of our faith to the consummation of it, from our new birth until we become perfect men in Christ by finishing our course. All and every grace of which we are partakers in this life, are by this argument denied to be the gifts of God.
Secondly. Consider the extent of this argument itself. Nothing which it is our duty to perform can be merited for us by Christ. When the apostle beseeches us to be "reconciled to God," (2 Cor 5:20) I want
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
to know whether it is not a part of our duty to yield obedience to the apostle's exhortation? If not, then his exhortation is frivolous and vain.
If it is, then to be reconciled to God is a part of our duty; and yet the Arminians sometimes seem to confess that Christ has obtained reconciliation with God for us. The same may be said in diverse other particulars. So that this argument either proves that we enjoy no fruit of the death of Christ in this life, or (which is most true) it proves nothing at all. For neither the merit of Christ procuring grace, nor God bestowing any grace in the habit of our life, at all keeps it from being our duty to exercise that grace, inasmuch as it is done in us and by us. Notwithstanding this exception, then – which cannot stand on its own without the help of some other not as yet discovered argument
– we will continue our prayers, as we are commanded, in the name of Christ; that is, that God would bestow on us those things we ask for Christ's sake, and immediately upon our plea,272 indeed, even as we cry with the poor penitent, "Lord, help our unbelief," or with the apostles, "Lord, increase our faith."
Secondly. Of the Holy Spirit. The second plea on God's behalf, to prove he is the author and finisher of all those graces of which we partake in this life, arises from what the Scripture affirms concerning his powerfully working these graces in us, by the effectual operation of his Holy Spirit. To which the Arminians oppose a seeming necessity that they must be our own acts, as distinct from God's gifts, because they are in us, and commanded by him. The head, then, of this contention between our God and their idol about the living child of grace, is whether God can work in us what he requires of us. Let us hear them pleading their cause:
"It is most certain that what is wrought in us ought not to be commanded; and what is commanded cannot be wrought in us. The one who works in others what he commands them to do, foolishly commands them." says their Apology.273 O foolish St. Prosper,274 who thought that it was the whole of the Pelagian heresy to say, "That there is neither praise nor worth as [great as] ours, in what Christ bestows on
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
us!"275 Foolish St. Augustine, praying, "Give us, O Lord, what you command, and command what you will!"276 Foolish Benedict, bishop of Rome, who gave such a form to his prayer that it must cast an aspersion of folly on the Most High! "O Lord," he says, "teach us what we should do; show us where we should go; work in us what we ought to perform."277 O foolish fathers of the second Arausican council, affirming, "That many good things are done in man which he does not do himself; but a man does no good which God does not so work that he should do it!" And again, "As often as we do good, God works in us and with us that we may so work."278 In a word, this makes fools of all the doctors of the church who ever opposed the Pelagian heresy, inasmuch as they unanimously maintained that we are partakers of nothing good of this sort without the effectual powerful operation of the almighty grace of God; and yet our faith and obedience are so wrought in us, as to be most acceptable to him. Indeed, what shall we say to the Lord himself, who in one place commands us to fear him, (1
Pet 2:17) and in another promises to put his fear into our hearts so we shall not depart from him? (Jer 32:40) Is his command foolish, or is his promise false? The Arminians must affirm the one or else renounce their heresy. But more about this after I have laid open a little further this monstrous error from their own words and writings.
"Can anyone," they say, "wisely and seriously prescribe the performance of a condition to another, under the promise of a reward and threatening punishment, who will effect it in the one to whom it is prescribed? This is a ridiculous action, scarce worthy of the stage." 279
That is, seeing Christ has affirmed that "he that believes shall be saved; but he that does not believe shall be damned," Mark 16:16. By this, faith is established as the condition of salvation, and unbelief is threatened with hell; if God should by his Holy Spirit ingenerate faith in the hearts of any, causing them to fulfill the condition, it would be a mere mockery, and be driven from a theater as an unlikely fiction. I leave to all men's silent judgment, what an aspersion this casts upon the whole gospel of Christ, indeed, on all God's dealings with the
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
children of men ever since they became unable by themselves to fulfill his commands by reason of the fall. Well, then, seeing they must be considered ajsu>stata, things inconsistent, that God should be so righteous as to show us our duty, and yet be so good and merciful as to bestow his graces on us, let us hear more of this stuff, "Faith and conversion cannot be our obedience, if they are wrought in us by God," they said at the Hague;280 and Episcopius, "That it is a most absurd thing, to affirm that God either effects by his power, or procures by his wisdom, that the elect should do those things which he requires of them."281 So that where the Scripture calls faith the gift and work of God,282 they say it is an improper expression, inasmuch as he commands it; properly, it is an act or work of our own. And as for that renowned saying of St. Augustine, that "God crowns his own gifts in us,""it is not to be received without a grain of salt;"283 that is, without some gloss such as those with which they corrupt the Scripture. The sum at which they aim is this: affirming that God bestows any graces on us, or effectually works them in us, contradicts his word requiring them as our duty and obedience. By this means they have erected their idol into the throne of God's free grace and mercy. And they attribute to this idol all the praise due to those many heavenly qualifications that the servants of God are endowed with – for they never have more good in them than that; no, not even so much as is required. All they have, or do, is only their duty. (Luk 17:10) They themselves seem to acknowledge how derogatory this is to the merit of Christ, when they affirm that he is not said to be a Savior in any other way than all those who confirm the way to salvation by preaching, miracles, martyrdom, and example. So that, having quite overthrown the merits of Christ, 284
"they grant us to be our own saviors in a very large sense." 285 I will now demonstrate how contrary all of these assertions are to the express word of God.
There is not one of all those plain texts of Scripture, not one of those innumerable and invincible arguments, by which the effectual working of God's grace in the conversion of a sinner, in his powerful
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
translation of us from death to life, from the state of sin and bondage to the liberty of the sons of God, which does not overthrow this prodigious error. I will content myself to give a few instances of them which are directly opposite to it, even in terms:
First. Deut 10:16, The Lord commands the Israelites to "circumcise the foreskin of their hearts, and not be stiff-necked anymore;" so that the circumcising of their hearts was part of their obedience – it was their duty so to do, in obedience to God's command. And yet, in the 30th chapter, verse 6, he affirms that "he will circumcise their hearts, that they might love the LORD their God with all their hearts." So it seems the same thing, in diverse respects, may be God's act in us, and our duty towards him. How the Lord will escape that Arminian censure, that if his words are true in the latter place, his command in the former is vain and foolish, "ipse viderit,"286 – let him plead his cause, and avenge himself on those that rise up against him.
Secondly. Ezekiel 18:31, "Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, O house of Israel?" The making of a new heart and a new spirit is required here under a promise of a reward of life, and a great threatening of eternal death; so that so to do must be a part of their duty and obedience. And yet, chapter 36:26-27, God affirms that he will do this very thing that he requires of them here: "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh; and I will cause you to walk in my statutes," etc. In how many places, also, are we commanded to "fear the Lord!" which, when we do that, I hope no one will deny that it is a performance of our duty; and yet in Jer 32:40, God promises that "he will put his fear in our hearts, so that we shall not depart from him."
Thirdly. Those two gifts against which they lay particular exceptions, faith and repentance, are also expressly attributed to the free donation of God: He "grants the Gentiles repentance unto life,"
Acts 11:18. And He grants faith directly, "It is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God," Eph 2:8. I would rather fasten my belief to this assertion
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
of the Holy Spirit than to the Arminians, who assert that it is not a gift of God because it is of ourselves; and yet this does not hinder it from being styled, "Our most holy faith" in Jude 1:20. Let those who will, deny that something can still be properly ours which God bestows on us; the prophet did not consider these two things inconsistent when he averred that "the LORD works all our works in us," Isaiah 26:12. They are our works, though of his working. The apostle labored; though it was not he, but "the grace of God that was with him," 1 Cor 15:10. He
"works in us kai< to< ze>lein kai< to< ejnergei~n of his good pleasure," Phil 2:13; and yet the performance of our duty may consist in those acts of our wills and those good deeds of which he is the author. So that, according to St. Austin's counsel,287 we will still pray that he would bestow what he commands us to have.
Fourthly. 1 Cor 4:7, "Who makes you different from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?" Everything that makes us different from others is received from God. Therefore, faith and repentance being the foundation of all difference in spiritual things between the sons of Adam, they must also, of necessity, be received from above. In brief, God's "circumcising our hearts," (Col 2:11); his
"making us alive when we are dead," (Eph 2:1-2); birthing us anew, (John 1:13); making us in all things as he would have us to be – all these are contained in that promise of the new covenant in Jer 32:40,
"I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, so that they will not depart from me." In no way is this repugnant to the holy Scripture, declaring our duty to be all that the Lord would have us be. And now, against so many clear testimonies of the Holy Ghost, let all men judge whether the Arminian reasons, borrowed from the old philosophers, are of any value. You may find the sum of them all in Cicero, his third book De Natura Deorum.288
"Everyone," he says, "obtains virtue for himself; no wise man ever thanked God for that: for our virtue we are praised; in virtue we glory,
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
which might not be if it were a gift of God." And truly this, in softer terms, is the sum of the Remonstrants' arguments in this particular.
Lastly. Observe, that this error, of all others, is what the orthodox fathers most opposed in the Pelagian heretics; yes, and to this day,289 the more learned schoolmen stoutly maintain the truth in this against the innovating Jesuits. I will close this discourse with a few of the testimonies of the ancients. "It is certain that when we do anything, we do it," says St. Augustine;"but it is God that causes us to do so."290
And in another place, "Shall we not account that to be the gift of God, because it is required of us under the promise of eternal life? God forbid that this would seem so, either to the partakers or the defenders of grace;"291 he rejects both the error and the sophism with which it is upheld. So also Coelestius, bishop of Rome, in his epistle to the bishops of France: "So great," he says, "is the goodness of God towards men, that he will have those good things be our good duties292 which are his own gifts."293 To this same purpose I previously cited two canons out of the Arausican council. And St. Prosper, in his treatise against Cassianus the semi-Pelagian, affirms it is a foolish complaint of proud men "that free-will is destroyed, if the beginning, progress, and continuance in good be said to be the gifts of God."294 And so the imputation of folly, wherewith the Arminians in my first quotation charge their opposers, being retorted on them by this learned father, I refer you to these following excerpta for a close:
S. S.
Lib. Arbit.
"Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no more," Deut 10:16. "And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed," chapter 30:6. –
"Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"
Ezekiel 18:31. "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you," chapter
36:26.
"This is most certain, that what is wrought in us ought not to be commanded. He foolishly commands that to be done of others who will himself work in them what he commands," Rem.
Apol.
Chapter 10: OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH, GRACE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
"If you fear the LORD, and serve him, then shall you continue following the LORD your
God," 1 Sam 12:14. "I will put my fear in their hearts, so that they shall not depart from me,"
Jer 32:40.
"It is absurd to assert that God either works by his power, or procures by his wisdom, that the elect should do those things which God requires of them,"
Episcop.
"You have wrought all our works in us," Isa 26:12. "God works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure," Phil 2:13.
"Faith and conversion cannot be acts of our obedience if they are wrought in us by God," Rem.
Coll. Hag. "That God should require of us what he himself will work in us is a ridiculous action, scarce fit for a stage," Rem. Apol.
"He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ," Eph 1:3.
"That saying of Augustine, that 'God crowns his own gifts in us,' is not easily to be admitted," Ibid.
"To you it is given in the behalf of Christ to believe on him," Phil 1:29. "The blood of Christ purges our consciences from dead works to serve the living God," Heb 9:14.
"There is nothing more vain and foolish than to ascribe faith and regeneration to the merit of Christ," Idem.