is so much debauched, as not ftrially criminal in themfelves, is acting out of character as a moral preacher; unfuitable to a Reformation Sermon; unferviceable to the defign of the Societies to whom he preached; and if these can be thought to be agreeable to the nature and fitness of things, from all fuch fitnesses the Lord deliver us ! THE NECESSITY OF GOOD WORKS UNTO SALVATION, CONSIDERED: OCCASIONED BY SOME Reflections and Misrepresentations of Dr Abraham Taylor, in a Pamphlet of his lately published, called, An Address to young Students in Divinity, by way of Caution against fome Paradoxes, which lead to Doctrinal Antinomianifm. BOVE fix years ago I fent a printed letter to the Gentleman whofe name stands in the title-page to this, on account of fome ill ufage of myself, and contemptuous treatment of some doctrines of grace; to which he never thought fit to return an answer. The impreffion of that letter quickly went off, and I have frequently been folicited by my friends to reprint that, and my Difcourfes on Juftification; but could never be prevailed upon to do any thing of that kind till now: for no other reason but this; I saw that he and his friends were not inclined to enter into a controversy about these things, and I did not choose to move it afresh, or appear forward to it, which I thought re-printing would look like, or might be fo interpreted; and therefore I determined to fit ftill, and only defend myfelf when any attacks were made upon me. In this refolution I have perfifted, notwithstanding the little, mean, and difingenuous method's this Gentleman has made ufe of, to render my character odious among men. The letter above mentioned was not written with any defign to provoke to wrath wrath and anger; nor is there a fingle fentence, that I can remember, in it, that has any tendency that way: But it seems a grudge was conceived, which has been broiling upon his heart ever fince, and now at this distance of time he takes up a fingle phrafe, and inveighs against it with the utmost wrath and fury; whereby he has moft fadly verified that observation of the wife man, that anger refteth in the bofom of fools. A controversy has of late been moved, or at least revived, by fome minifters of the Independent denomination, about the duty of unconverted perfons to believe in Christ, or about the nature of that faith which fuch are obliged to; a controverfy in which I have had no immediate concern: And whereas it has been given out, that a book published not long ago, called, A further Enquiry after Truth, is of my writing, though another man's name ftands to it; I take this opportunity of declaring to the world, in juftice to the worthy author of it whose name it bears, and that I may not take the credit of another man's labours, that there is not one single sentence of mine in it; nor did I see the author when he came to town to print, nor his performance, until it was in the prefs; who I doubt not will give a proper reply to the notice taken of him. The Gentleman I am now concerned with, has thought fit to nibble at this controverfy; and which he might have done without meddling with me, fince what he has broke his gall about, has no relation to that. He tells the fociety to whom he dedicates this miferable pamphlet, that he was glad that an oppor"tunity offered to declare against tenets, which can answer no purpose, but to "weaken mens obligation to duty and holiness, and to lead to grofs Antino"mianifm." But had he not an opportunity fix or seven years ago of declaring against, not only this single tenet he has now taken notice of, but several others which he imagines has the fame tendency, and of attempting a confutation of them, had he either a head or a heart for such a service? For fome months paft, we have been alarmed of this mighty work, that a learned doctor had conceived, and that in a fhort time the mountain would bring forth. But while we were waiting for, and expecting to fee the wondrous birth, out turns a filly mouse, according to the poet's words; Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. -b The particular tenet, or principle ftruck at, is, "that good works are not necessary to salvation, not in any fenfe; no, not as the antecedent to the "confequent." This is called "a filthy dream, a dangerous paradox, an un"fcriptural absurdity, an extravagant pofition, a dangerous tenet, big with "abfurdity; a horrible blafphemy, the fenfelefs paradox', rude and ignorant blafphemy; • Page 6. Addrefs, &c. p. 5. Dedication, p. 3, 4. Page 9. • Page 7. 66 "blafphemy; the blafphemy invented by one of the vileft and lewdeft heretics"; "the draff of thofe who turned the grace of God into wantonnefs; and, to clofe all, an Antinomian paradox." When these ill names and hard words are taken out, there is very little left for me to reply unto. And whether the doctrine opposed deserves fuch ill language, will be better judged of, when the terms of this propofition, "Good works are not neceffary to falvation," and the fenfe of it, are explained. By good works are meant, not the work of fanctification, a principle of grace or internal holiness, which though it is fometimes ftiled the good work, yet is not the work of man, but the work of the Spirit of God, and is therefore called the fanctification of the Spirit. This I firmly believe is abfolutely neceffary to eternal happiness, both in infants and adult perfons, and that without it neither the one nor the other can ever see the Lord; fanctifying grace being an effential and initial part of falvation, or that branch of grace and salvation which the elect of God and redeemed of the Lamb are first made actually partakers of in their own perfons, in order to their enjoyment of the heavenly glory. This man must be conscious to himself that I have expreffed myself to this purpose in my letter to him; and yet he most basely infinuates that I hold, and reprefents me as faying, that "A conformity to him (Chrift) in holiness, is not an"tecedently neceffary to our reigning with him in light and glory." If by conformity to holiness, is meant that internal conformity of the foul to Christ, the produce of divine grace in regeneration and fanctification; it is a thought that never entered into my head nor heart, and which I abhor. Paffive holiness, or that holiness of heart which makes a foul like to Chrift, and is no other than Chrift formed in it, or his image inftamped upon it, in the production of which it is entirely paffive, is abfolutely neceffary to the everlafting enjoyment of him; yea, I believe that an outward conformity to Chrift in converfation, or active. holinefs, external holiness of life, is abfolutely neceffary to evidence the truth of holiness of heart in all that are faved, who are either capable, or have an opportunity of performing it, and fhewing it forth. This writer almost all along takes the liberty of altering the ftate of the question before us, and inftead of good works puts holiness; thereby to fuggeft to his readers that I deny the neceffity of fanctification to complete happiness; which as it is an iniquitous proceeding, fo it gives us a fpecimen of his skill in the management of a regular controversy he prates about. Nor by good works are to be understood the internal acts and exercifes of grace, as faith, hope, and love; for though these are our acts, under the influence of divine grace, and fo may be called our works, though & Page 10. b Page 12. 1 Pet. i. 2. 2 Thefs. ii. 13. 1 Page 13. 1 Phil. i. 6. though not with much propriety, and as fuch good ones; yet thefe do not ufually go by the name of good works, either in fcripture, or in the writings of good men, or in our common way of speaking. This I mention to ftop the mouths of fome filly cavillers, who I perceive are fond of objecting these things. Though even these acts and exercises of grace cannot be thought to be fo abfolutely neceffary to falvation, as that it cannot poffibly be without them; fince infants, as foon as born, though they may be capable of having the principles of faith, hope and love, implanted in them, yet I apprehend they cannot be capable of acting or exercifing thefe graces: If therefore without these acts and exercises of grace perfons cannot be faved, these must stand excluded from the kingdom of heaven. By good works, I understand a series of external holiness; not a fingle action or two, but a course of living foberly, righteously, and godly; a conftant performance of religious duties and exercises, in the outward life and conversation: In this fenfe, and in this only, am I to be understood in the propofition before us, and in all that I have faid, or shall say concerning it. It may be proper next to inquire what is the meaning of the word necessary, and in what fenfe good works are fo. That they are neceffary to be done, or ought to be done, by all that hope to be faved by the grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift, is readily granted; but not in point of falvation, in order to that, or with a view to obtain it. Good works are neceffary to be done, on account of the divine ordination and appointment; for fuch as are the workmanship of God, are created in Chrift Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that they should walk in them". They are neceffary, neceffitate precepti & debiti, on account of the will and command of God, and of that obedience we owe to God, both as creatures, and as new creatures. They are neceffary upon the fcore of obligation we lie under to him, and in point of gratitude for the numerous mercies we receive from him, and that by them both we and others may glorify him our Father which is in heaven. They are neceffary to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, to recommend religion to others, to testify the truth of our faith, and give evidence of the reality of internal holiness. They are neceffary for the good of our neighbours, and for the stopping of the mouths of our enemies. These things I have more largely obferved and afferted in my letter to this man; all which he conceals from his readers, and moft vilely fuggefts to them, that I have vented the fame notion, and am of the fame opinion with Simon Magus, Carpocrates, and their followers; who held that falvation was through faith and love, but that other good works were not neceffary; but were to be looked upon by men as indifferent in their own nature, being neither good nor evil; nothing being naturally rally evil, and fo might or might not be done: Things I never thought of, and of which I have the utmost abhorrence and deteftation. With what face or confcience could he infinuate any thing of this kind, when I have fo fully expreffed myself upon the neceffity of doing good works? But what will not a man say, intoxicated with paffion? True indeed, I cannot say that good works are neceffary to falvation, that is, to obtain it; which is the only fenfe in which they can be faid with any propriety to be neceffary to it, or in which fuch a propofition can be understood; and which I charge as a Popish and Socinian tenet, and hope I shall ever oppose, as long as I have a tongue to speak, or a pen to write with, and am capable of using either. Salvation may be confidered, either in the contrivance of it from eternity, in the mind and counfel of God; and the defignation of perfons to it; or in the impetration of it in time by Chrift; or in the application of it in effectual vocation by the Spirit of God; or in the entire confummate enjoyment of it in heaven. In every of thefe views of it, good works are not neceffary to it: Not to the contrivance of it, and defignation of perfons to it. God, when in his infinite wifdom he drew the fcheme of falvation in Chrift, fixed upon him to be the author of it, and appointed men unto it by him, was not moved hereunto by any works of his creatures, or by any forefight of them; they were then no moving caufes with God, no conditions of falvation fixed by him, nor were as the antecedent to the confequent; no, not in the prescience or fore-knowledge of God: As they could not go before, fo they were not fore-viewed by God, as any cause, condition, motive, or reafon of his chufing one to falvation, and not another; For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. Good works are the confequents and fruits of election to falvation, not antecedent to it. Nor are they neceffary to the impetration or obtaining of it in time by Chrift: These did not move Chrift to engage in this work, they were no ways affifting to him in it; they did not help it forward, or in the leaft contribute to the performance of it, which was done entirely and compleatly without them. Nor was it effected by him on condition of mens performing good works, nor were they neceffary to it, as the antecedent to the confequent; they did not antecede or go before it, no, not in the divine mind or confideration, and in the view of Chrift; for men were then confidered, not as having done good works, but as evil and wicked; for while we were yet finners, Chrift died for us, and obtained eternal redemption by his blood; conciled to God by the death of his Son". low after redeeming grace: Chrift gave VOL. II. • Rom. ix. 11. and when we were enemies, we were reGood works do not go before, but folhimself for his people, that he might re-. BB P Rom. v. 8, 10. deem |