That, as was formerly said, which at present I aim at in reference to this truth is, to declare its rise and progress, its course and opposition, which it hath found in several ages of the church, with its state and con- dition at this day, in respect of acceptance with the people of God.
Its rise, with all other divine truths, it owes only to revelation from God, manifested in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Some of the most eminent places wherein it is delivered in the Old Testament are. Gen. iii. 15, xvii. 1; Deut. xxxili. 3; Josh. i. 5 ; 1 Sam. xii. 22; Ps. i. 3, xxiii. 4, 6, xxxvii. 39, 40, Iii. 8, 9, Ixxxix. 31-36, xxxiii. 9-11, xcii.
12, etc. ; Isa. xxvii. 3, xlvi. 4, lix. 21, liv. 9, 10, iv. 5, 6, xl. 27-31, xliii. 1-7 ; Jer. iii. 23, xxxi. 31-34. xxxii. 38-40; Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27; Hos. ii. 19, 20; Zech. x. 12; Mai. iii. 6, wdth innumerable other places. In the New Testament God hath not left this truth and Avork of his grace without witness ; as in sundry other places, so it is testified unto Matt. vi. 13, vii. 24, 25, xii. 20, xvi. 18, xxiv. 24; Luke i. 70-75, viii. 8, xxii. 32; John iii. 36, iv. 13, 14, v. 24, vi. 35-57, vii. 38, 39, viii. 35, 36, x. 27-30, xiii. 1, xiv. 15-17, xvi. 27, xvii. throughout; Acts. ii. 47, xiii. 48 ; Rom. vi. 14, viii. 1, 16, 17, 28-34, etc.; 1 Cor. i. 8, 9, x. 13, 14, xv. 49, 58 ; 2 Cor. i. 21, 22 ; Eph. i. 13, 14, iii. 17, iv. 30, v. 25-27 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; Phil. i. 6, ii. 13 ; 1 Thess. v. 24 ; 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18 ; Tit. i. 1 ; Heb. vi. 19, X. 38, 39, xii. 9, 10, xiii. 5 ; 1 Pet. i. 2-5 ; 1 John ii. 19, 27, iii. 9, 19, v.
13, 18 ; Jude 1 ; Rev. xx. 6. So plentifully hath the Lord secured this sacred truth, wherein he hath inwrapped so much (if not, as in the means of conveyance, the whole) of that peace, consolation, and joy, which he is willing the heirs of promise should receive. Whether the faith liereof, thus plentifully delivered to the saints, found acce])tance with the primitive Christians, to the most of whom it was " given not only to believe but also to suffer for Christ," to me is unquestionable. And 1 know no better proof of what those first churches did believe than by showing what they ought to believe; which I shall unquestionably be persuaded they did be- lieve, unless most pregnant testimony be given of their apostasy. That Paul believed it for himself and concerning others is evident. Rom. viii. 38,39; 1 Cor. i. 8, 9; Phil. i. 6; Heb. vi. 9, 10, are sufficient proof of his
24 A PllEFACE TO THE READER.
faith herein. That ho built up others in the same persuasion, to the enjoyment of the same peace and assurance with himself, is undeniable. And if there be any demonstration to be made of the belief of the first Christians, if any evidence comparable unto this, I shall not deny but that it ought to bo attended unto. But that we may not seem willing to decline the consideration of what those who went betbre us in the several ages and generations past apprehended, and have by any means commu- nicated unto us of their thoughts, about tlio business of our contest (having no reason so to bo), I shall, after a little preparation made to that work, pre- sent the reader with something of my observations to that end and purpose. Of the authority of the ancients in matters of religion and the worship of God, of the right use and improvement of their writings, of the several con- siderations that are to be had and exercised by them who Avould read them with profit and advantage, after many disputes and contests between the Papists and divines of the reformed churches, the whole concernment of that controversy is so clearly stated, managed, and resolved by Monsieiir Daille, in his book of the " Right Use of the Fathers," that I suppose all farther labour in that kind may be well spared. Those who intend to weigh their testimony to any head of Christian doctrine do commonly distinguish them into three great periods of time. The first of these is com])rehensive of them who lived and Avrote before the doctrine conceiving icMch they are called out to give in their thoughts and verdict had received any signal opposition, and eminent discussion in the church on that account. Such are the writers of the first three hundred years, before the Nicene council, in reference to the doctrine of the Trinity ; and so the succeeding writers, before the stating of the Macedonian, Eutychian, and Nestoriau heresies. In the next are they ranked loho hare the burden and heat of the opposition made to any truth, and on that occasion wrote expressly and at large on the controverted doctrines ; which is the condition of Athanasius, Basil, Gregory, and some others, in that Arian controversy. And in the last place succeed those loho lived after such concussions, which are of less or more esteem, according as the doctrines inquired after were less or more corrupted in the general apostasy of the latter days. According to this order, our first peiuod of time will end Avitli the rise of the Pelagian heresy, winch gave occasion to the thorough, full, and clear discussion of the whole doctrine concerning the grace of God, whereof that in whose defence we are engaged is no small portion; the next, of those whom God raised up to make head against that subtle opposer of his grace, with his followers, during the space of a hundred years and somewhat onwards ensuing the promulgation of that heresy. What have been the thoughts of men in the latter ages until tlie Eeformation, and of the Romanists since to this day, manifested in a few pregnant instances, will take up the third part of this design. Of the judgment of the Reformed Churches, as they are commonly called, I shall speak particularly in the close of this discourse. For the first of these: Not to insist on the paucity of writers in the first three hundred years, sundry single persons in the following ages have severally written three times as much as we have left and re- maining of all tlie others (the names of many who are said to ha\o written being preserved by Eusebius, Eccles. Hist., and Hiorom, Lib. de Script., their writings being perisheil in their days), nor in general of that corrup- tion whereunto they liave almost every one of them been unquestionably exposed, 1 must be forced to preface the nomination of them with some considerations : —