thee to note the object not the subject as there of Fear so here of Knowledge Scientia sui By the knowledge of him as Pagnin Vatablus and Tremelius Farther we cannot go till first we enquire what it is to justifie To justifie in the Text of Scripture doth sometime signifie To endeavor the justification of a sinner by acquainting him with the way and mean thereof as Dan. 12. 3. Sometime To effect it by acquitting the party accused from the Crime and Accusation which in this work of Justification is still presupposed Whether of these two other I let pass as not so applicable to this Text whether of them I say is most proper to the Text will appear by the Confirmation when we come unto it Onwards we make use of it to enquire farther into the Medium what is meant by His knowledge For answerable to these two the word His knowledge may import 1. Medium Revelationis That Doctrine by which Christ doth reveal the way of Justification 2. Medium Operationis That Grace by which Christ doth fit man for the benefit of Justification As Medium Revelationis so the Conclusion is The Gospel is that word of Truth that rightly enformeth us in the way and maner of Justification The Gospel i. e. that part of holy Writ which teacheth us the knowledge of Christ of his Person of his Office the Covenant of Grace and the condition required The Gospel opposed to the Law q. d. Not by the Law but by the Gospel and the Doctrine of Grace shall Christ propound and acquaint mankinde with the way of gaining their Justification Not by the Law Vnderst and this not in general as comprehending the writings of the Old Testament but in special as importing the Law of Moses and this considered as the condition of that Covenant made with Israel Not the Law of Moses but the Gospel of Christ is the mean of Revelation acquainting man with the way of obtaining his Justification What then Is this Law of Moses all of it altogether abolished Is it of no use and service to the Church of God to Believers now in the Constitution of the Church of Christ Some there be that would have it so whose main endeavor is to cast the Doctrine of it out of the Church and the care thereof out of the Conscience of the Christian neither the Precepts thereof alowed to binde men nor the Motives thereof to draw men to the Duties of Holiness See their Arguments examined Chap. 1. and 2. As medium Operationis and then the Conclusion will be That Faith in Christ is the way and mean of Justification Faith I say and not Works Faith not unfitly termed the Knowledge of Christ because this alone is that which doth rightly know Christ the fulness of his Merits and Graces None but the Believer doth acknowledge Christ nay none but he doth rightly fully and perfectly know him Faith is both the Daughter and the Mother of this Knowledge the knowledge of Christ The Daughter for Faith cannot lodge in an ignorant Soul The Mother for it leadeth on to perfection of knowledge This Faith is the mean by it shall Christ work in the heart of the Believer and dispose it for Justification Not by the works of mans Righteousness but by Faith in Christ is man justified How so Because it is Medium Recipiens as the hand or mouth of the Soul to receive that Spiritual Food and Physick that doth feed and cure the Soul It receiveth Christ and the communion of his Merits and Graces for the good of the Believer The Righteousness of Christ is not unfitly compared to Food and Physick to a Garment and Plaister which do no good but in the way of Application if not applied no good by them These are received by the hand or by the mouth and this is the work of Faith and by Faith we are said to be justified as by the hand the Body is fed and clothed viz. Instrumentally Upon this ground we conceive it That in order of nature justification cannot be considered as going before the habit yea the act of Faith but rather that Faith hath the leading hand and the precedency of Consideration St. Peter termeth Salvation the end of our Faith 1 Pet. 1. 9. By this end meaneth he only the consequent benefit which followeth upon it or rather the end intended and aimed at in believing Doth not Saint Paul prescribe it to the Jaylor as a mean to bring about the end Believe and thou shalt be saved Acts 16. 31. Doth he not shew the ground and reason of it Gal. 2. 16. We knowing that a man is not justified but by Faith in Christ even we have believed q. d. we have applied our selves to the use of the means that we might obtain the end If Faith be as a mean to the end then is it not to be considered as following but as foregoing the benefit of our Justification Plausible Arguments are aleaged to overthrow this Truth but their weight and worth is more in shew then in substance See them examined Chap. 3. In the Act expressing the benefit obtained by Faith we may not pass by the Tense of the Verb but by occasion of it as Doctor Crisp upon the like occasion see his Sermons on Isa. 53. 6. enquire into the Time when it is that this Act is done The Tense of the Verb is future He shall justifie Future it was then when the Prophet spake this Whether future still is a Question Or if not when it was to be transacted whether all at once dispatched The farther explication whereof see in Chap. 4. The Object remaineth This is in the word Many Not all but only a number There be who teach that All shall be saved a point well pleasing to flesh and blood If a man might live as he list abuse his Eye and Ear his Hand and Tongue yea his Hand and his Heart his Body and Soul to the service of Sin and Satan and yet hope for Salvation by Christ But this may not be it is not All but Many All shall not be justified by Christ nor saved by him Not through any defect of the means the Merit of Christ is sufficient to save all The Gospel doth call and invite all and no doubt but whosoever believeth shall be saved But it cometh to pass through the ill-disposition and negligence of man left to himself who regardeth not to perform the condition required By the Ordinance of God in whose hand as say our Divines Christ hath left the disposing of his Merit it is appointed That the Merit of Christ shall not be dispensed to mankinde but under a condition and without the performance of that condition it is not bestowed upon any Now mankinde left to themselves are negligent and careless to look to that condition and so through their own ill-deserts are excluded from the benefit of Christs Death and Passion So then it is not All but only Many Q. If not
else Saint Paul was deceived He saith If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8. 13. and again He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption Gal. 6. 8. If you will exempt him from all possibility of sinning and from all possibility of living after the flesh Then I grant he need not fear death and Hell But if such only be true Believers I suppose you must go out of the World to seek for your true Believers Consequently since it cannot justly and truly be said either that Believers need not the threats of the Law or that they need not fear them it is fit that they should hear them and have them pressed upon the conscience The threats I say and therefore much more the precepts and duties of the Moral Law This we teach and thus we practise For by Faith we do not make void the Law nay we do establish it saith the Apostle Rom. 3. 31. Our Faith in Christ doth give us an interest in the Promise of life and salvation But our Conformity to Christ in holiness and the daily growth and increase thereof is that which doth by degrees fit and fashion us for it Well therefore saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthines of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God CHAP. III. A brief Answer to the Arguments of H. D. by him brought to prove Justification before Faith i. e. before the act of Believing Arg. 1. INfants are justified yet do they not believe Rom. 10. 17. therefore some are justified before they believe Answ. This Instance of Infants is not to the point in hand as not in the case of Apostacy and falling from Grace maintained by the Arminians * So neither in this point of Iustification before Faith maintained by the Antinomians For why That Iustification which is in question consisteth in the Remission of actual Transgressions Not so that which Infants receive in their Infancy They are as yet guilty of no more but Original Sin And it is enough for them that the guilt of that is removed of Actual Sin they shall then receive the Remission when they stand in need of it and are fitted for it Objection But whatsoever Infants do receive they receive it without Faith Sol. Hic aqua haeret And Divines do not all agree in expediting themselves Some do not stick to affirm That Infants have Faith I grant it is an hard matter to prove the Negative viz. That Infants have not Faith That Text of Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by Hearing is not fully to the purpose If Hearing be restrained to the Ear then all that are born deaf are excluded if extended to any way of acquainting man with the will of God even by the workings of the Spirit who shall exclude Infants As hard a matter it is to prove that Infants have Faith especially if Faith be defined by knowledge perswasion or confidence It is said of Iohn Baptist that he was filled with the holy Ghost This sheweth that Infants are capable of the Spirit but it doth not thereupon follow that they do believe Because though in its actings the Spirit depend not upon the faculties of the soul and their fitness yet doth it not usually prevent them Nor be the actings of Grace ordinarily found but where Age hath added some perfection to the Abilities of Nature All that can be said in this point is this That Infants do receive together with their Iustification the principle of Faith viz. The Spirit of Faith as he is called 2 Cor. 4. 13. This is that which some do call The Seed of Faith or Seminal Faith nor can the term be refused since it is grounded on the phrase of Scripture 1 Pet. 1. 23. and Iohn 3. 9. And so it may be said that Infants have Faith as they have Reason in Actu primo though not in Actu secundo in the seed though not in the flower And this is enough to make them capable of that Iustification which they receive in their infancy consequently though they have it without and before actual Faith yet not before Seminal Faith not before the seed the root the Spirit of Faith 2. Arg. He that is in Christ is Iustified and so Iustified before he do believe Because none can believe before he be in Christ Faith is the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. Answ. Grant indeed None can believe before he be in Christ though that Text do not prove it yet he may believe so soon as he is in Christ and full as soon for time as he is Iustified and for order before he be Iustified for understanding whereof know That in the first moment of our Vnion with Christ the Soul hath a Communion of all that floweth from Christ both for Grace and Glory But how In the vertue and power of a Root and Seed from this Union floweth both Grace to enable the soul to do good actions and also Glory to crown and reward each good act that is wrought but each in his own order Ex. gr. The plant engrafted into the stock receiveth from it both sap and fruit Or thus from the vertue of life in the soul doth proceed a power both of Feeding and of Growing not both of them in the same maner for Feeding cometh as an Act Growing as an Effect yea an Effect of this Act so is it here To Believe and To be Justified come from our Union with Christ as indeed all that we have and all that we hope for is from him and without him we can do nothing And in that Union are they folded up as in the root and seed But still to be considered in their natural order in which one is the cause of the other and therefore to be considered in order of Nature before the other what say we that Glorification no less then Iustification doth flow from that Union will you then say that he that is in Christ is glorified yea glorified before he do believe Surely no As none is glorified before he be Iustified so neither is he justified before he be called Rom. 8. 30. In which call if Faith be not included it will not be effectual Thus every thing trust be considered in its own order All these Grace and Glory Faith and the Fruits thereof are rolled up as in a Root and bestowed upon us in our first Union but the explicite production and application of each to the Christian soul is in a just order 3. and 4. Arg. All the Elect of God are Iustified before God for why They cannot be charged with any thing Rom. 8. 33. Their Sins are taken away Isa. 53. 6. Ioh. 1. 29. 1. Pet. 2. 24. And this before they believe For some of them do not yet believe Answer All the Elect of God even they that yet have no being in the World yet when they are look't upon as justified
God set down the Text of Scripture and revealed the same to the Church of God he confirmed it by his works from Heaven by Miracles which did convince the world that it must needs be the Word of God which was accompanied with such mighty and miraculous operations so when God will by the Spirit speak to the soul the Application of a Text for comfort he doth make way for the credit of it by the work of the Spirit the work of grace upon the soul If not believe it not the spirit of truth is a spirit of holiness There is no truth in that word which speaks comfort to that heart in which is not wrought the work of Holiness Consequently Thy sins are forgiven in the heart of a Drunkard Swearer Whoremonger is not the voice of the Spirit The work and the word of the Spirit go together Nay so evident is this that the Doctor having sought to establish this Revelation of the Spirit as a principle that may not be disputed and that cannot be demonstrated doth yet in the close come in with this Yet something more for the Spirit doth give men to credit what he speaketh His meaning I conceive to be That by this work of the Spirit by which mans heart is framed to receive the Testimony of the Spirit and to believe it by it doth it appear that it is the Spirit of God which witnesseth their Adoption so then it is the voice of the Spirit that saith Thy sins are forgiven and it is evidenced to be the voice of the Spirit because he frameth the heart to believe it It cannot be denied but that it is the Spirit that giveth Faith to believe it nor is it doubted but that if this perswasion do come from the Spirit it doth afford comfort but still the question is Whether this be the work of the Spirit or not of the other viz. The work of sanctification there is no doubt which if it do not accompany that work of perswasion I much doubt whether it be not an over bold presumption 2. Touching Faith This is delivered by the same Author 1. That the Scripture doth authorize Faith to give full evidence concerning Interest in Christ 2. That this evidence of Faith is not Revealing but a Receiving evidence viz. As it taketh possession of what the Spirit Revealeth and doth rest upon it This Faith saith he brings with it unquestionable evidence full assurance and what needs a man look farther The spirit within thee saith Thy sin is forgiven Faith receiveth it and sits down satisfied here is thine evidence saith he and thou hast thy portion For why the Text of Saint John saith He that believeth hath the witness in himself q. d. He hath as much as can be desired when he hath believing in himself And he that believeth not hath made God a lyar q. d. If when God hath spoken man will not sit down with Gods bare Word but seek for signs and marks drawn from his own works this man hath made God a lyar The sum of all returns to this That this act of Faith receiving the Testimony of the spirit that is when the soul doth rest in it without any farther doubting that this I say is the evidence of our Adoption and Justification so then ask him how do you know that sin is pardoned His Answer is because I believe it and rest satisfied in this perswasion And is not this I pray you a very satisfying evidence It is so because I believe it is so In this way what prophane person is there in the world who may not conclude for himself if he will but force upon himself this perswasion Object Nay but it is not meant but of a perswasion which the Spirit hath wrought in the Heart If God saith he hath given thee to believe it this is thy evidence Sol. Yea but how shall I know whether God hath given me this perswasion or that Satan hath suggested it into my Heart Doth the Spirit of God take a man out of the Dunghil of filthiness and instantly without any work of washing and cleansing speak to him that word of comfort pronounce him pardoned and work in him the full preswasion of it or if he do speedily and as it were suddenly work him to this ful perswasion Doth he not at the same instant work a change upon his will and affections by which that light that is set up in the understanding may be discerned to proceed from the Spirit of God Surely thus we have learned Christ and thus we teach The Spirit of God doth work upon the whole soul and all the faculties at once and equally Understanding and Will Conscience and Affections Nor is there mroe light of saving knowledge in the one then there is heat of holines in the other That Faith which doth not purifie the heart and cleanse the conscience is not a saving Faith such a perswasion of pardon is but a presumption that of S. Iames remaineth an everlasting Truth Faith without works is dead Object That Faith saith he is not dead where the whole essence of Faith is Sol. True but wherein consisteth that essence of Faith This is nothing but the eccho of the Heart saith he to this voice of the Spirit Grant Faith to be the eccho of the Heart to the voice of the Spirit though this indeed be but one act of Faith yet by the voice of the Spirit we understand not that suggestion of Remittuntur but the whole Text of Scripture comprehending Precepts Promises Threatnings in all which there is indeed an eccho of the Heart by Faith Psal. 27. 8. But in this the Antinomian is farther off then the Papist The essence of Iustifying Faith doth neither consist in this eccho to the Text of Scripture nor in that eccho to that word of Revelation but in an act that cometh in between them ex gr. The Text of Scripture saith He that believeth shall be saved Is man justified by believing this for a truth or rather by doing that duty which the word Believeth doth intimate viz. The act of confidence and affiance in Christ Again the Spirit saith Thy sins are forgiven Is man justified because the believeth this word Surely no He must have it before the word that saith so be a word of Truth So then the first eccho goeth before the other doth follow after The right act of justifying Faith whence it is so named is that intermediate act of confidence and affiance Understand me to speak of these acts of Faith as first second third in the order of Nature not in the distance of time In the order of Nature justification doth not go before Faith but follow upon it Nor is man justisted because he doth perswade himself that so it is To wade no farther in this Argument By this I suppose it is evident That the new way of evidencing by the word of the Spirit and the subscription of Faith cannot lay the Ground of
though it be in a person not appointed to love though this his purpose change not yet will he suspend all the effects of hatred yea and with much tenderness of affection put forth the effects of love to this party till he doth wilfully let fall his care of goodness and take up a Resolution of evil yea and that incorrigibly 3. The love of God to the Creature in respect of the effects thereof is not unfitly distinguished into the love of Benevolency and the love of Complacency the former consisting in well wishing or pittying the Creature is absolute and free The other drawing with it delight in or friendship with the Creature is respective and hath an eye to the good behavior of the Creature see both these expressed in that Parable of the wretched Infant Ezek. 16. 6. an emblem and fit resemblance as thereof the Church of Israel so generally of the Elect of God For first God doth cast an eye of pitty upon them in their wretched condition and saith unto them Live His word is operative and did them good as is intimated verse 7. then afterward when his grace hath wrought in them and fashioned them into a comely beauty he doth again pass by them and behold them and lo it is the time of love whereupon he doth enter into a League and Covenant of friendship so that now the soul of every one of them may say as the Spouse in the Canticles I am my welbeloveds and my welbeloved is mine Gods delight is in them and theirs in God These things well understood will easily shew the Inconsequence of the Argument for the Elect may be loved in the purpose of God and yet not actually justified nor God enter into a Covenant of love till by the work of his grace they be fitted for the time of love Again whiles they are workers of iniquity and unconverted to God their sins may be hated and the effects of love suspended notwithstanding the eternal purpose of God No variableness in God because it is his purpose not to entertain them into the effects and fruits of his love and delight till they be converted and fitted for it by the actings of the spirit of grate moving and working in them To close up the point let us to prevent erroneous misconceits which spring from the Confounding of things that dâ—ffer let us I say take notice of this distinction A man may be said to be justified either Intentionally or Virtually or Actually either in God or in Christ or in Himself 1. Intentionally in God i. e. in Gods purpose and decree this is from all eternity But this decree and intention doth not put any thing into a state of actual being but in the fulness of time nor doth it exclude nay it doth include and presuppose Faith in the person justified for though election be of the persons yet Iustification Glorification are of the persons so and so qualified 2. Virtually in Christ may a man be said to be justified And this is from the Day of Christs passion and in the vertue of his satisfaction yet this intendeth no more but this that satisfaction is made and Remission purchased by the blood of Christ Neither doth this exclude the consideration of Faith nay it doth call for it that so there may be an actual Application of the price and purchase We know that in a purchase beside the payment of the price there must be Livery and Seisin given before a man be in actual possession of what is purchased so here there must be application of the Righteousnes of Christ as well as the Effusion of his Blood and this is received by Faith 3. Actually in himself is man said to be justified when he hath the possession of it But this Actual Iustification hath It's degrees of progression The beginning thereof is laid in our first Union and Incorporation into Christ The Consummation of it is not till the Judge at the latter day hath solemnly pronounced the sentence of final absolution so set us in full possession of entire remission Between both these there is a progressive work of Iustification by the constant actings of the Spirit applying the Blood of Christ by the hand of Faith to the quiet and comfort of the soul The first you may term Initial justification the latter perfective and this between I would call progressive it is the fruit of the first and the preludial assurance of the latter This is wrought and sealed in the second Sacrament as the former is in the first Sacrament and both these branches of Sacramental justification are to us the pre-assurance of that Complemental and perfective justification The sentence whereof putteth an end to all fears changing our faith and hope into fruition and ful possession even the first of these acts is not transacted without the seed and spirit of Faith much less the successive agitations and progress of the work Thus every way Faith is considered as equal with yea as foregoing the work of Iustification CHAP. IV. That justification is not transacted all at once nor any pre-remission of sin before it be committed BY his knowledge shall my Righteous Servant justifie many saith God by the Prophet Isaiah cap. 53. 11. Shall justifie is a verb of the future tense the work then at that time was not done the Question is when was it to be done In the day of his passion say some then did he bear the sins of many and take away the sin of the world so that from that time and forward to the end of the world there is no more imputation of sin to any of the elect It hath been commonly said even by some of our best Divines that justification is transacted in our first Union and Incorporation into Christ at which time it is conceived that the pardon of all sin is sealed consequently that it is to us an act already passed Nor can we say He shall but he hath justified But I fear that the mis-understanding of this point not untrue in it self if not mistaken and mis-apprehended hath laid the ground upon which the Antinomian buildeth that unhappy structure which turneth the Grace of God into wantonness Who knoweth not that justification in it's proper acceptation of the word according to the Scripture phrase is the act of a Iudge pronouncing a judicial sentence and according to this I suppose we shall not erre from the truth if we say that the main work of Justification is even to us as yet future and that the time when Christ shal justifie those many in the Text of Isaiah is when he shall condemn the Residue viz. at his sâ—â—ond coming when he shall separate the sheep from the Goats then shall he justifie them and at once absolve them from all accusations and charges laid in against them then shall they receive a final quietus and discharge then shall God wipe all tears from their eyes then shal there be no
AN EXAMINATION Of the chief Points of ANTINOMIANISM Collected out of some LECTVRES lately Preached in the Church of Antholines Parish LONDON And now drawn together into a Body and published for the Benefit of all that love the holy Truth of God By Thomas Bedford B. D. Vnto which is annexed An Examination of a Pamphlet lately published Intituled The Compassionate Samaritan Handling the Power of the Magistrate in the compulsion of Conscience By the same Author 2 TIM. 1. 9. The Law is for the lawless 2 PET. 2. 1. There shall be false Teachers who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies And many shall follow their lascivious ways by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of LONDON Printed by John Field for Philemon Stephens and are to be sold at his Shop at the sign of the gilded Lyon in Pauls Church-yard 1647. To the Worshipful and much Honored Mr. John Turner of Hamme in the County of SURREY Esq A Sincere Lover of the Truth and an earnest Contender for the Faith which was once delivered to the SAINTS T. B. In testimony of Love and Thankfulness Dedicates the life of this his weak and unworthy Labor Together with the Apprecation of much Health and Happiness ERRATA PAge 13. line 21. for And read Answ p. 16. l. 6. for eternal r. external p. 31. l. 5. for Yea though it be r. And if it be p. 31. l. 19. for as thereof r. as there of p. 40. l. 10. for or is the meaning r. or rather is not the meaning p. 41. l. 32. for casually r. causally p. 42. l. 23. for is that it r. it is that p. 60. l. 13. for so may our r. So may not our p. 60. l. 15. for having set r. having set down Oâ—â—ober â—â— 1646. I Have to my full satisfaction perused this excellent Dissertation and Discussion of the chief Antinomian Tenents and finde it to be so solid and judicious pious profitable and seasonable in our distracted Times and finally so adorned and sweetned with modesty gaullass sobriely and Christian charity that I alow it and approve it well worthy the Printing and Publishing not doubting but that it will be very effectual to stablish all in the Truth who have already embraced it and to convince if not perswade all those who in simplicity and through meer error of their judgement are contrary minded JOHN DOWNAMâ— THE TABLE THe Introduction Page 1. Chap. 1. Touching the Law of Moses Whether altogether abolished so that it is of no use to the Believer now in the time of the Gospel Also whether it do not binde Believers to the Duties of Holiness as well now as it did in the time of the Old Testament 9. Chap. 2. Touching the Motives of the Law Whether these also be abolished So that to propose the expectation of reward as an invitation to good Works and to deter men from sin by the fear of punishment be altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine of Grace 18. Chap. 3. A brief Answer to the Arguments of N. D. by him brought to prove Iustification before Faith i. e. before the act of Believing 25. Chap. 4. That justification is not transacted all at once nor any pre-remission of sin before it be committed 33. Chap. 5. The way of seeking resolution touching our Adoption and Iustification by signs and marks viz. The fruits of Sanctification whether it be altogether unsatisfactory 41. Chap. 6. Touching sin in the Conscience of the Believer The Doctrine of the Antinomians in this Point examined and found insufficient to satisfie the Conscience The right way of satisfying the Conscience and of taking away the scruple of sin set down 58. The Arguments of the Compassionate Samaritan touching the Power of the Magistrate in the compulsion of Conscience Examined 73. The Introduction Isaiah 53. 11. By his knowledge shall my Righteous Servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities A Farther Explication of what was said v. 10. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand in the hand of Christ shall the pleasure of the Lord Understand this touching the Bruising of the Serpents head mentioned Gen. 3. 15. consequently that Salvation of mankinde This pleasure of the Lord doth prosper in the hand of Christ which is seen in this That by his knowledge he shall justifie many This is that fruit of the Travel of his Soul in seeing whereof He i. e. Christ not God the Father as some very fondly and foolishly do apply the Text Christ I say shall be satisfied i. e. shall account himself well satisfied for all his labor and pains bestowed The Passion of Christ and the Benefit thereof these two are the subject matter of this Chapter The Benefit thereof is partly to others and partly to himself To himself that is set down ver. 12. To others in some verses foregoing The Description whereof taketh its rise from the middle of the 9. Verse Because he had done no violence c. That word Because is a trouble to Interpreters how to depend the latter clause of that Verse upon the former Vatablus saw and cuts the knot rather then unties it I conceive we shall not wrong the Text I am sure not the Truth if we joyn the former part of the verse to the 8. and begin a new period in the word Because thus v. 9. Because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him He hath put him to grief 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin Or When his soul shall make an offering for sin he shall see his Seed c. q. d. Inasmuch as notwithstanding he was altogether innocent yet he did patiently submit himself to bear whatsoever the Lord would lay upon him for the Expiation of mans sin that therefore upon his Death he should receive full satisfaction both in respect of himself and those persons whose cause he had undertaken Thus I but let the learned judge In the words of ver. 11. we have a Proposition and its Confirmation In the Proposition besides the Agent who is by God here term'd a Servant a Righteous Servant we have three things not to be so lightly passed over 1. Act in the word Shall justifie 2. Object Many 3. The Medium By his knowledge Of which somewhat more largely and yet only in reference to what just hints the words may give to the Examination of some positions of the Antinomians a Sect and a sort of men lately start up whom Satan doth make use of to be his Proctors of Prophaneness and the Abbettors of Atheism and licentious Libertinism But to the Text By his knowledge The Medium stands first in the Text and if you will let us first begin with it By his knowledg And what is that To make way for Answer I lay down this That the pronoun His must be passive like that in Psal. 90. 11. Thy fear i. e. The fear of
man 1 Tim. 1. 9. consequently belongs not to the Believer who is justified by Faith in Christ And the Believer indeed is justified but not a righteous man not in that sense of the word in which St. Paul doth use it in that Text The Righteous man is there opposed to the lawless and disobedient and so must be understood of one that seeketh to conform himself and all his actions to the Rule of the Law for such a man the Law is not made The Law what is that The Rule of the Law No but the threatning of the Law the Curse and Condemnation This is not made for the Righteous and so ought not to be applied against him but against the lawless and disobedient against them that will walk without Law and boldly bear themselves in the disobedience of the Law Against these is the Law made and against them are the threatnings and curses of the Law to be applyed This is the right use of the Law The which saith St. Paul is good if a man use it lawfully i. e. if he do not abuse it by mis-application Now then though St. Paul saith The Law is not made for a Righteous man yet saith he not It is not made for a justified person Nor doth he say The Law is of no use for a Righteous man It is not a Iudge to curse and condemn him but is it not a Teacher to instruct him a Counsellor to direct him Is it not a Guide to conduct him a Goad to quicken him and put him on if he slacken his pace in the path of Holiness Doubtless it is Was it not useful yea needful for Adam in Paradise though a righteous man So then I hold it a manifest truth That though the Believer by his Justification and Adoption be freed from the Curse of the Law yet not from the Counsel and Command of that Law Object It is Replyed That to Justifie and Condemn are as proper to the Law as to Counsel or Command If the Law may not command sub paenâ nor condemn proculpâ then doth it cease to be a Law nor hath it any binding power at all I answer That to justifie and condemn are indeed as proper to the Law as to counsel and command while the Law standeth as a condition of life and salvation but in that sense we confess it abrogated yet is not the binding power of it ceased still are we bound to walk in obedience to it because it is enjoyned as the Commandment of him who hath redeemed us from the Curse thereof Nay I adde this further That we are bound to walk by the direction of the Law not only ex debito gratitudinis in the way of thankfulness but also ex obligatione peccati to decline the guilt of sin Sinful it is in the justified person to neglect the counsel and command of the Law I would gladly ask these men Whether the justified person be exempt from sinning yea or not I finde it charged upon them That no action of a Believer after his Iustification is sin and I perceive that they do shift and shuffle in the business The Question is not Whether the sin of the justified person shall be charged upon him to endanger his salvation but Whether the act be sin in him or not Whether his Iustification do bring with it such a charter of priviledge and prerogative as doth exempt him from committing sin I confess the Text of St. John saith He that is born of God sinneth not 1 Joh. 3. 9. And yet they know that the same Apostle saith If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves 1 Joh. 1. 8. And St. James saith In many things we offend all Iam. 3. 2. If all then the justified also which is yet more plain by that of our Savior who prescribing a Form of Prayer for the Adopted Sons of God such who with confidence may call God Father teacheth them to pray for the pardon of sin and preservation from sin Doth he teach them to dissemble to pray for the pardon of a sin and yet there is no sin committed to pray for the preservation of their souls from Satans tentation and yet there is no danger of being drawn into sin May we not rather hereupon conclude in the words of St. John If we say that we have not sinned we make him Christ in that Form of Prayer a lyar and his word is not in us So that upon necessity that other Text which seemeth to cross the current of the Scripture and saith of the Regenerate That he sinneth not must be understood as some do understand that of Balaam He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob Numb. 23. 21. not of any at all but of some particular sin The Text of Balaam say some hath particular relation to the sin of Idolatry from which Israel at that time was free though not long after entangled by the counsel of Balaam And the Text of St. John hath an eye to presumptuous sin or rather to the sin of total and final Apostacy the sin unto death from which the Regenerate is preserved by that seed of God which remaineth in him from this sin I grant he is preserved and in this respect he sinneth not Not so in respect of other sins witness not only the Adultery of David which displeased the Lord or the act of Peter denying his Lord and Master in which his Faith was next door to failing and called for the Prayer of Christ to preserve him These you will say were before the Passion of Christ but witness that faultering of Peter and dissimulation of Barnabas for which St. Paul did openly reprehend them Gal. 2. 11. Well then if it be granted That the justified person may sin yea and doth sin there must then be a Law of Holiness which shall binde him to carefulness in such and such particulars for where there is no Law there is no Transgression nor can any man be concluded a sinner in case of negligence where there is no bond of duty Neither may we rest in this which they will not stick to grant The Law of the Spirit The Law written in the heart This is not enough there must be also another Law written in Tables and to be read by the eye to be heard by the ear Else how shall it be known to the rest of the Congregation whether this man doth not swerve from the Law written in the heart yea or not Nay how shall the believer himself be sure that he doth not swerve from the right way wherein he ought to walk Even in Paradice God appointed an Eternal precept of obedience for tryal beside that Law and Light of Nature which was written in Adams heart Much more needful is it now The Spirit I grant is the Justified mans Guide and Teacher That Vnction which they have received doth teach them all things But he teacheth them by the Word by the Word the written Word of Prophecy by the
Scripture of the Old Testament and New by the Law and Testimony And by it they know that they are not misguided because if any of them that peep and matter that pretend Visions and Revelations speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them These men though they do not plainly speak out their meaning yet would have us to understand them that the Spirit did by Enthusiasms and Revelations move them and guide them so infallibly that they need not the Scripture nor the instruction of the Ministry which what is it else but to revive and call up again that abomination of the Familists long since condemned to Hell the place of its just desert Just I say for take away the written Word of God and then every fancy of a dreaming Elder and doting Sister shall be the Rule of mens godly conversations Object A Law may be acknowledged and a written Law and yet not the Law of Moses not the Moral Law What then why the Law of Christ not the old but the new Commandment the precepts taught by Christ and his Apostles Well but the question is Whether that the subject matter of this new Commandment and of the old be not in both the same viz. Teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts to live righteously godly and soberly in this present world If so Then why should it not be indifferent to alleage the precepts of Moses and the Prophets to prove and press a duty of holiness as the precept of Christ and his Apostles ex gr. If we be agreed that it is the duty of a justified person to honor his Father and Mother what need we jangle about words and quarel about quotations whether we press it out of Exod. 20. or from Eph. 6. since both Texts do preach and press the same duty Is it not the same God who spake to the Fathers by the Prophets and to their Children by Christ and his Apostles Nay more do we not see it that those Precepts of holiness which by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles are taught in the New Testament are taken out of Moses and the Prophets yea and pressed upon the Conscience by this reason Because it is the Law and the Prophets What can be more plain then that Text of our Savior Mat. 7. 12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets So Saint Peter Be ye holy in all maner of conversation for it is written Be ye holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1. 16. mark that Because it is written By it you see that the Apostle presseth a duty by a Text of Scripture fetcht from the Law So Saint Paul Eph. 6. 1 2. presseth the duty of obedience upon Children and proveth it to be right by citing the 5. Commandment of the Moral Law What will these men say to that Text of Saint James Jam. 2. 8. If ye fulfil the Royal Law ye shall do well But if ye have respect of persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the Law as Transgressors What convinced as Transgressors and yet not bound to obedience Is there any Transgression where no obligation to obedience And is the Moral Law notwithstanding all this abolished Hath it none Office in the time of the Gospel Are we false Teachers who in imitation of Christ and his Apostles do call men to the practise of these holy duties which we finde contained in the Law No we teach the truth of God and in the right way of God Except it be that Christ and his Apostles were ignorant of the way or except these men have received a new Gospel and another dispensation of the grace of God hitherto unknown and unrevealed CHAP. II. Touching the Motives of the Law whether these also be abolished So that to propose the expectation of reward as an invitation to good works and to deter men from sin by the fear of punishment be altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine of Grace NOt only the precepts of the Law are bequarrelled by those men but also the Arguments of perswasion In doing good-works and living a godly and holy life we must not at all look to any Reward from God But must do good works meerly in reference to Gods Glory and the good of others Otherwise our service will be meerly mercenary Grant indeed that we must do good works for these ends Grant also That in the obtaining of these ends there is a full Satisfaction to a Godly and a Gracious Heart And yet why may we not encourage our selves to cheerfulness in our Obedience by having an eye to the Recompence of Reward which God hath gromised Doth not the Scripture propound a Reward for our encouragement And why doth the Scripture propound it but that we should believe it and by believing be put forward to work cheerfully Is it not set down as an act of Moses Faith and a point of his praise That he had an eye to the Recompence of Reward Heb. 11. 25. Doth not the same Apostle shew this That our blessed Saviour by the Joy that was set before Him did stir up himself to go on cheerfully to the end of his undertakings Heb. 12. 2. Nay is not this in part acknowledged by Dr. Crisp he having set down this for a Doctrine That the laying of sin upon Christ is the Lords own Act giveth this reason for it Because none else could give to Christ a proportionable reward And Christ had an eye to some good consideration and for the proof of this he citeth Heb. 12. 2. And God saith he to put him on propoundeth rewards unto him c. Now then if thus it was with Christ why may it not be lawful for the Christian to help his weakness by having an eye to the recompence of reward Will they say that this sevice is mercenary So they do indeed but without any just reason mercenary service is commonly measured by carthly profits and preferments when a man so looketh at them that where there is no hope of such a reward he doth let fall the duty to which he is called Self-seeking is then unlawful and sinful when Self is the ultimate end of our desire But he that in feeking the good of his body and soul serveth Christ i. e. so desireth his own good that he may serve Christ is acceptable to God and approved of man This being so Why are we blamed for pressing men to holiness and encouraging them in it by putting them in minde of that reward which is provided These men flye out upon such exhortations This is not to preach Free-grace this is to bring in Popery and to teach men to hang their Salvation upon their merits to expect their reward for their Works sake No such matter it is not Popery to preach the expectation of a reward upon the conscionable performance of duties enjoyned If it be surely Christ and his
work But the Motive and main cause of their performances it is some by-end and base respect as in Jehu and the Pharisees which appeareth in this That when that end is gained or that respect ceaseth then also their work is at an end though the Glory of God and the good of Christs Church be never so much concerned None but the Childe of God doth make the Glory of his Father the end and aim of all his actions All others begin and end in Self Object This sincerity is not found in the ordinary practises of Christians either in the exercises of Religion or in the works of mercy and justice For why saith the Doctor Is there not much Self mixed in their performances in praying and fasting Is not the end of these Duties to be delivered from Danger Sol. It is I grant one end but not the Vltimate end In these exercises we seek our own good bread pardon preservation deliverance and that not unlawfully For Christ hath taught us to put them into our prayers but still with this caution For thine is the Glory i. e. To desire them only as subservient to the glory of God should we desire these for our selves i. e. to spend them upon our lusts to live to our selves in matter of profit pleasure and preferment this were self-seeking But thus to desire them that in the use of them we may be the more instrumental to glorifie God in our several places this is not Self-seeking Say the same of Men-pleasing though a man do encourage himself in goodness by the praise of men by listening to the acceptableness of his well doing yet so long as the praise of men is not as it was in the Pharisees the prime and principal inducement of doing what is done this is not Men-pleasing both of these are defined not by the subservient but by the ultimate end of our endeavors if that be right there is sincerity in the Obedience and this sincerity is a ground of confidence the work of the spirit an Argument of our Adoption Object Not so saith the Antinomian Doctor For we read in Rom. 10. 1. 3. That the Jews had a zeal-and this was exercised in Obedience to the will of God yet these were En 〈…〉 to Christ And how can that be an evidence of Adoption that is found in an Enemy Sol. Is not this a gross mistake The point is touching sincerity and his proof is by an instance of zeal Is there no difference Is not sincerity the singleness of the heart and zeal the earnestness of the spirit Besides this their zeal was not according to knowledge If this kinde of zeal profit not shall not that which is according to knowledge and guided by the rules of Holy discretion shall not that afford comfort That which he addeth viz. That their zeal was not in a corrupt way of their own devising is directly contrary to the Apostle For he saith of them That in seeking to establish their own Righteousness they have not submitted to the Righteousness of God It was therefore a way of their own devising which is proved Verse 4. Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth So that to seek the establishment of the Law though the Law of God for another end then God hath appointed yea in opposition to that end is not an Argument of sincerity but an act of a turbulent passion Papists contend much for the efficacy of the Sacraments But while they place in them an efficacy altogether independent upon Faith do they not seek to establish their own fancies and not the truth of God Tâ—â—s did these Jews they pretended for God but in a way of their own devising Not much unlike to many among us who pretend for the Scepter of Christ but only in a way of their own Were the zeal of all thâ—se sincere as it should be there would be in them a readiness to embrace and submit to what shall appear to be the minde of God and say Vnicat Veritas or as St. Paul in 2 Cor. 13. 8. We can do nothing against the truth 3. Text. 1 Joh. 3. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren Hence we collect That the state of our Adoption and standing right in the sight and favor of God is a thing that may be known that this love of our Brethren is a note and evidence thereof For why Love is of God cap. 4. 7. an effect of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. For while the Spirit of Adoption doth shed abroad the love of God in our hearts and make us sensible of it it doth cause in us a love to him that loved us first and for his sake who hath begotten us a love to them also that are as we are begotten of God This is so plain that it may seem strange that any should either deny it or doubt of it Yet saith the Doctor Object The scope of the Apostle is to comfort them against the hatred of the World and he sheweth what esteem they had one of another q. d. though the World do not esteem us yet our judgement one of another is that we are the people of God grounding our selves upon this that we do love one another so that this is rather a mark how another may know me then how I may know my self Sol. Is not this strange That the Apostle should set this down as a ground of comfort to bear up the heart against the hatred of the World viz. The good esteem that Christians have of us Will this secure the soul against sadness and sorrow will not Satan suggest What if they be deceived They know not the heart they judge by the outward appearance by the expressions of love to the Brethren and therein they may be deceived And that the Text must be understood of that immanent and reflexive act of knowledge which passeth a Censure upon our selves it is evident by that that followeth For the Apostle having set this down as a rule of discerning their spiritual estate and proved Veâ—â—e it 15. and pressed it by the example of Christ whose love was manifested by laying down his life for us Verse 16. whom we are to imitate in a real demonstration of our inward affection to the Brethren He urgeth again this Motive That hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him And I would gladly ask whether here also the Apostle doth intend to teach us that by this act of love we way assure our selves touching others and rest secure that we are not decceived And what so great matter is this if in the mean space we may not evidently judge the state of our own souls And what meaneth he to adde this Verse 21. If our heart condemn us not we have boldness toward God Certainly the Apostles intention is to set down an evidence of Self-discerning Object But suppose it
Christ Nor is there any other end of our Faith save onely to manifest what is done long ago by God and Christ 3. That we may save all our care and fear for the work is done to our hand yea to think that we must take pains to get pardon is a deceitful Imagination 4. That our Righteousness may hinder our closing with Christ so may our sinfulness c. Not much unlike is the dealing of another of the same Society Who having set these two truths 1. That Christ hath taken away sin out of the sight of God by a sacrifice the effect whereof is Atonement and Peace 2. That he hath taken sin also out of the Conscience that so we might have the answer of a good Conscience and this is the effect of our Faith Act. 15. 9. Hence he draweth this conclusion That it is in effect the Doctrine of Antichrist the Man of sin whose design is to set up again what Christ hath destroyed To perswade any that sin is not taken away out of Gods sight or out of the Conscience till the work of Baptism and of Repentance To say That Baptism taketh away sin out of the Conscience Or that Repentance washeth away sin That no forgiveness of sin with God before Repentance Nay he closeth up the discourse with this speech Doth any declare Repentance to be a mean to obtain Remission It is a footstep of Antichrist These inserences being so dissonant from the truth give us cause to suspect the grounds on which they are builded and upon Examination we finde that the Explication of the Points delivered is not sound Touching the first man Who from that text God hath laid on him grounded those Points aforementioned viz. That God hath laid upon Christ all the sins of the Elect and that therefore men do needlesly trouble themselves by putting them again into the Conscience And that they should rest upon this assured ground that all their sins are so done away that there is no need of Repentance and Humiliation for them This man I say either did not throughly look into the text to finde out the true meaning of that phrase or else did willingly neglect it as not fit for his purpose For I desire it may be seriously considered whether that phrase The Lord hath laid upon him doth intend any more then what St. Paul hath expressed in that verb {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Rom. 3. 25. God hath set him forth or pre-ordained him to be a propitiation in which respect it is that he is called The Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World i. e. The Lamb the sacrifice of Expiation which God hath appointed for that end And so the words of the Prophet do give us this as the intention of God that though we every one of us have gone astray and so incurred the just wrath and displeasure of God yet doth not God lay the punishment of our transgression upon our own persons but hath appointed him the Lord Christ to bear the punishment and satisfie the Iustice of God so that we do make the fault and he doth bear the blame But now as touching the mean and maner how the fruit of this sacrifice shall redound to us whether absolutely without any intervenient act of man or conditionally in and upon mans recourse to Christ this is not determined in that text but to be fought elswhere Consequently to that which he urgeth That it is Gods own act to lay iniquity upon Christ and that it is done long since We may Reply This is little to the point the Pre-ordination of Christ in this office is Gods own act man hath no hand in it No nor in the purchase of pardon that is Christs own act Both these are done long since yet this hinders not but that in the Application of it to man which cannot be till man have a being it hinders not I say but that man may have his Act as indeed he hath The which is evident by that Analogy which holdeth betwixt the Type and the Truth the sins of the people were not laid upon the Sacrifice but by the hand of Man God indeed appointed the Sacrifices for Expiation and in that sence may be said to lay the iniquity of the sinner upon the sacrifice but beside this the man that brought the sacrifice was to lay his hand upon it And yet more evident is this in that Doctrinal Ceremony of the Scape-goat in Lev. 16. 22. Till the Priest by Confession of the iniquities and transgressions of the people had laid them on him the Scape-Goat did not bear them away So that Man also hath his act in laying iniquity upon Christ no less then God not in the preparation of the price but in the way of Application Adde this that the words Vs all which he applyeth to sinners contending against the necessity of inherent Qualifications in any to dispose them and make them fit to receive the benefit of redemption purchased these words I say are not Universal but only in relation to the Church of God So that till a man be of the Church and in the Number of Believers he may not include himself in the list of them to whom it doth belong For why If it belong to sinners as sinners then to all sinners And so he will lay the Ground for an Universal Redemption which I believe he doth not intend If this Redemption belong not to all as sinners and yet the terms of the promise run in the Universal then some act of Man sanctified by the spirit of God must come in between by which he may be included before he conclude for himself Truth it is That no sin may keep off the penitent soul from closing with Christ And if in saying that this grace is appliable by forgiveness of sin to persons before the least measure of sanctification if he intend no more but this that such is the vertue and value of Christs Sacrifice that no sin how great soever can hinder the hope of Pardon in case he come in and apply himself to Christ I know no man that will not subscribe No sin may may keep off the Penitent but till man be Penitent no man may close with Christ nor conclude to himself the Remission of sin The reason hereof is because mens names are not set down in the Book of God They must know that the conclusion of Comfort is by the way of a practical Syllogism in which alway the Assumption is the Testimony of the Conscience touching that work of Grace in the heart to which the promise is made ex gr. He that believeth in the name of the Son of God shall not perish If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Here is the Promise made to the Penitent believer now saith the Conscience I do believe I do confess my sins this is the Testimony of the sanctified Conscience speaking