Precious Faith with all the Elect and that which is most Holy but those Acts of it which Respect our Justification with God from the Curse of the Law that is due for Sin are such as respect not any good Work done by us but the Righteousness that Resideth in the Person of Christ and is made ours by the imputation of Grace This Faith I say accounteth him in whom it is now a Sinner and without Works yea if he have any that in his own eyes are such this Faith rejects them and throweth them away for it seeth a Righteousness in the Person of Christ sufficient even such as is verily the Righteousness of God Now to him that worketh not but believeth Works and Faith are put here in oppposition Faith being considered as Justifying in the sight of God from the Curse The Reason is because the Righteousness by which the Soul must thus stand Justified is a Righteousness of God's appointing not of his Prescribing us a Righteousness that Intirely is Included in the Person of Christ. The Apostle also when he speaks of God's saving the Election which hangeth upon the same Hinge as this of Justification doth to wit on the Grace of God he opposeth it to Works and that not to this or that sort onely but even to Work in the Nature of Work Rom. 11. If it be of Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace but if it be of Works then it is no more of Grace otherwise Work is no more Work By this Text I say the Apostle doth so throughly Distinguish between Grace and Works as that which so ever standeth in the Case the other must be Annihilated If it be by Grace then must Works be no more then it is no more of Works but if it be of Works then is Grace no more then it is no more of Grace But this notwithstanding you urge farther That Faith Justifieth as it includes a sincere Resolution c. Answ. Although as I have said before the Faith which is the Justifying Faith is that of the Holiest Nature yet in the Act by which it layeth hold of Justifying Righteousness it respects it simply as a Righteousness offered by Grace or given unto the Person that by Faith layeth hold thereon as he stands yet ungodly and a Sinner Faith Justifieth not seperate from the Righteousness of Christ as it is a Grace in us nor as it subjecteth the Soul to the obedience of the Morral Law but as it receiveth a Righteousness offered to that Sinner that as such will lay hold on and accept thereof Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners by being their Redemption and Righteousness himself But you add The Faith that Intaileth the Sinner to SO High a Priviledge as that of Justification must needs be such as complyeth with all the purposes of Christ's coming into the World c. Answ. By this supposition Faith Justifieth not by receiving of the Righteousness that Christ by himself accomplished for Sinners but by falling in with all good Works which because they cannot be known much less done by the Soul at first his Faith being then as to the perfection of knowledge of Duties weak he standeth still before God unjustified and so must stand until he doth comply with all those purposes of Christ's coming into the World But yet again you recall your self and distinguish one purpose from the rest as a grand one Pag. 222. And that is to receive Christ as Lord as well as a Saviour Answ. 1. Although the Soul that in truth receiveth Christ receiveth him wholly and intirely as Christ and not as chopt and pul'd in Pieces Yet I distinguish between the act of Faith which layeth hold of Christ for my Justification from the Curse before God and the consequences of that act which are to engage me to newness of Life And indeed as it is impossible for a Man to be a new Man before he be Justified in the sight of God so it is also as impossible but that when Faith hath once layed hold on Christ for Life it should also follow Christ by Love But 2. Christ may be received at first as Lord and that in our Justification and yet not at all be considered as a Law-giver for so he is not the Object of Faith for our Justification with God but a requirer of Obedience to Laws and Statutes of them that already are Justified by the Faith that receiveth him as Righteousness But Christ is as well a Lord for us as to or over us and it highly concerneth the Soul when it believeth in or trusteth to the Righteousness of Christ for Justification with God to see that this Righteousness Lords it over Death and Sin and the Devil and Hell for us The Name wherewith he shall be called is The Lord our Righteousness Our Righteousness then is Lord and Conquerour over all and we more then Conqerours through this Lord that loved us The Author to the Hebrews calls him King of Righteousness because by his Righteousness he ruleth as Lord and King and can reign and Lord it at all times over all those that seek to seperate us from the presence and Glory of God Now how you will brook this Doctrine I know not I am sure he stands in need thereof that is Lorded over by the Curse of the Law the guilt of Sin the Rage of the Devil and the fear of the Death and Hell He I say would be glad to know that in Christ there is a Righteousness that Lords it or that Christ as he is Righteousness is Lord. Wherefore Reader when thou shalt Read or Hear that Jesus Christ is Lord if thou art at the same time under guilt of Sin and fear of Hell then do thou Remember that Christ is Lord more ways then one he is Lord as he is Righteousness he is Lord as he is Imputative Righteousness he is the Lord OVR Righteousness Of the same import is that also he is a Prince and a Saviour he is a Prince as he is a Saviour because the Righteousness by which he saveth beareth Rule in Heaven and Earth And hence we Read again that even when he was in the Combat with our Sins the Devils the Curse and Death upon the Cross he even in that place made a shew of them openly and triumphed over them Now in these things he is Lord for us and the Captain of our Salvation as also in that he hath Led Captivity Captive all which places with many more being Testimonies to us of the sufficiency of that Righteousness which saveth us from the Justice of the Law and Wrath of God But you respect not this his manner of Lording but will have him be a Saviour as he giveth Laws especially those you call Indispensible and Eternal the Morral Law You would have him a Saviour as he bringeth us back to the Holiness we had lost But this is none
that is found in the whole World But you add farther What good ground can Men have for this fancy when as our Saviour hath Merited the Pardon of Sin for this end that it might be an Effectual motive to turn from it Answ. Although you speak this in great Derision to Faith when it worketh right yet know that therefore seeing you would hear it I say therfore hath our Saviour merited pardon and bestowed it on men freely and bid them believe or receive it and have it that thereby they might be incouraged to live to him and love him and comply with his commandements For scarcely for a Righteous Man will one dye yet for peradventure for a good Man some would even dare to dye But God commended his love to us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us Much more then being NOW Justified we shall be saved from Wrath through him Now as here we are said to be Justified by his Blood that is as his Blood appeaseth the Justice of God so again it is said that this Blood is set forth by God for us to have Faith in it by the term of a Propitiation Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation or a Sacrifice to appease the displeasure of God through Faith in his Blood To declare at this time his Righteousness that he might be Just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. Again As we are thus Justified by Blood in the sight of God by Faith in it so also it is testified of his Blood that it sprinkleth the Conscience of the faithful but still onely as it is received by Faith But from what is the Conscience sprinkled but from those dead Works that remain in all that have not yet been Justified by Faith in this Blood Now if Faith in this Blood doth sprinkle the Conscience and so doth purge it from all dead Works then must Faith go first to the Blood of Christ for Justification and must bring this home to the Defiled Conscience before it be delivered from those dead Works that are in it and made Capable of serving the Living God Rom. 5. 7 to 10. ch 3. 24 25. Heb. 9. 14. ch 10. 19 20 21 22. But you say you will never trust your discoursive faculty so long as you live if you are mistaken here Pag. 224. Tell not me of your discoursive faculty The Word of God is plain And never challenge Man for he that Condemneth your way to Heaven to the very Pit of Hell as Paul doth can yet set forth a better I come now to the Second thing viz. The Doctrine of the imputation of Christ's Righteousness which you thus Expound It Consists in dealing with sincerely Righteous Persons as if they were perfectly so for the sake and upon the account of Christ's Righteousness Pag. 225 226. Answ. 1. Any thing but truth But I would know how sincerely Righteous they were that were Justified without Works or how sincerely Righteous they were whom God Justified as Ungodly Rom. 4. 3 4 5. 2. Your Explication of the imputation of Christ's Righteousness makes it respect our Works rather then our Persons It Consists say you in dealing with sincerely Righteous Persons as if they were Perfectly so That is it Justifieth their imperfect Righteousness First and so Secondarily their Persons for the sake of that But Observe a few things from this Explication 1. This Concludeth that a man may be sincerely Righteous in God's account WITHOUT the Righteousness of Christ for that is to be imputed to such and none but such 2. Thâ— Concludeth that Men may be sincerely Righteous BEFORE Christ's Righteousness is imputed For this sincere Righteousness is Precedent to the Imputation of Christ's 3. This Concludeth that a Man may have true yea saving Grace in great and mighty action in him before he hath Faith in the Righteousness of Christ. For if a Man must be sincerely Righteous first then he must not onely have that we call the Habit but the powerful Acts of Grace Besides if the Righteousness of Christ is not to be looked to First but Secondarily not before but after we be made sincerely Righteous then may not Faith be thus acted if a man should have it until he be first a sincerely Righteous Person 4. This Concludeth that a Man may be brought from under the Curse of the Law in God's sight before he have Faith in the Righteousness of Christ yea before it be imputed to him For he that in God's account is reckoned sincerely Righteous is beloved of his God 5. This Concludeth that a Man may be from under the Curse of God without the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ For if a Man must be sincerely Righteous in God's account without it then he is from under the Curse of God without it 6. This Doctrine teacheth farther that Christ came to call and Justifie the Righteous contrary to his express Word In short By this account of things first we must be healed and then the Plaister comes Yea so Confident is this Man in this his Assertion that he saith it is not possible any other notion of this Doctrine should have truth in it Pag. 226. O this Jesus this Rock of offence But he that believeth on him shall not be Confounded But Blessed be God for Jesus Christ and for that he took our Nature and Sin and Curse and Death upon him And for that he did also by himself by one Offering Purge our Sins We that have believed have found rest even there where God and his Father hath smelled a sweet savour of rest because we are presented to God even now compleat in the Righteousness of him and stand discharged of guilt even by the Faith of him Yea as Sins past so Sins to come were taken up and satisfied for by that offering of the Body of Jesus we who have had a due sence of Sins and of the Nature of the Justice of God we know that no Remission of the guilt of any one can be but by Attonement made by Blood Heb. 9. 22. We also know that where Faith in Jesus Christ is wanting there can be neither good Principle nor good Indeavour for Faith is the first of all Graces and without it there is nothing but Sin We know also that Faith as a Grace in us severed from the Righteousness of Christ is onely a beholder of things but not a Justifier of Persons and that if it lay not hold of and applyeth not that Righteousness which is in Christ it carrieth us no farther then to the Devils We know that this Doctrine killeth Sin and curseth it at the very roots I say we know it who have mourned over him whom WE have pierced and who have been confounded to see that God by his Blood should be pacified towards us for all the Wickedness we have done Yea we have a double Motive to be Holy and Humble before him one because be dyed for
also Fundamental truths of the Christian Religion as I do heartily believe let all Men know that I quarrel not with him about things wherein I discent from the Church of England but do contend for the truth continued even in these very Articles of theirs from which he hath so deeply revolted that he clasheth with every one of them as may farther be shewn when he shall take heart to reply But to wind up this unpleasant Scrible I shall have done when I have farther shewed how he joyneth with Papist and Quaker against these wholsome and Fundamental Articles Mr. Fowler 's Doctrine compared with Campian the Jesuite upon that question whether Faith onely Justifieth saith Campian 1. Campian We Papists say that as Grace is put into us in Justification so also our Righteousness is inlarged through Good Works and is inherent in us therefore it is not true that God doth Justifie by Faith ONELY Fowler Pag. 221. Justifying Faith is such a belief of the truth of the Gospel as includeth a sincere resolution of obedience unto all its Precepts and that it justifieth AS it doth SO In short is it possible that Faith in Christs Blood for the forgiveness of Sin should be the onely act which justifieth a Sinner 2. Campian So that Faith is urged but not Faith ONELY again by Faith is meant all Christianity and the whole Religion of Christians Fowler Pag. 222. For surely the Faith which intaileth the Sinner to so high a Priviledge as that of justification must needs be such as complyeth with all the purposes of Christ's coming into the World especially with his grand purpose as Lord and that it is no less necessary that it should justifie as it doth this 3. Campian Though Works void of Christ are nothing yet through Grace they serve to Justification Fowler Pag. 225. 226. Of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness this is the true Explication It consisteth in dealing with sincerely Righteous Persons as if they were perfectly so for the sake and upon the account of Christ's Righteousness The grand intent of the Gospel being to make us partakers of an inward real Righteousness and it being a Secondary one that we should be accepted and rewarded as if we were compleatly Righteous 4. Campian Speaking of Faith Hope and Charity he confesseth that Faith in Nature is before them but it doth not Justifie before they come Fowler Pag. 223. What pretence can there be for thinking that Faith is the condition or Instrument of Justification as it complyeth with onely the Precept of relying on Christ's Merits for the obtaining of it especially when it is no less manifest then the Sun at Noon Day that obedience to the other Precepts or Works of Love must go before obedience to this 5. Campian I deny that Faith ONELY doth Justifie for you have not in all the Word of God that Faith ONELY doth Justifie Fowler Pag. 225. And for my part I must confess that I would not willingly be he that should undertake to Encounter one of the Champions of that foul Cause with the Admission of this Principle That Faith Justifieth onely as it apprehendeth resteth or relyeth on Pag. 224. the Merits and Righteousness of Jesus Christ I must certainly have great luck or my Adversary but little Cunning if I were not forced to repent me of such an engagement 6. Campian Abraham being a Just Man was made more Just by a living Faith Fowler Pag. 283. He onely is a true Child of Abraham who in the Purity of the Heart obeyeth those substantial Laws that are imposed by God upon him 7. Campian I say that Charity and good Work are not excluded in the causes of ruo Justification Fowler Pag. 215. For we have shewn not onely that Reformation from the practice and purification of Heart from the liking of Sin are as plainly as can be asserted in the Gospel to be absolutely necessary to give Men a right to the Promises of it but also that its great Salvation doth even consist in it Mr. Fowler 's Doctrine compared with William Pen the Quaker 1. Pen's Sandy Foundation Pag. 19. Life and Salvation is to them that follow Christ the Light in all his Righteousness which every man comes onely to experience as he walks in a holy Subjection to that measure of Light and Grace wherewith the fulness hath inlightned him Fowler Pag. 8. That is those which are of an indispensible and Eternal Obligation which were first written in mens hearts and Originally Dictates of Humane Nature 2. Pen Pag. 32. I really confess that Jesus Christ fullfilled the Fathers Will and offered up a most satisfactory Sacrifice but not to pay God or help him to save Men. Fowler Pag. 85. Christ was set forth to be a Propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin I will not say that his Father who is perfectly sui Puris might be put by this means into a Capacity of forgiving it 3. Pen Pag. 16. God's Remission is grounded on Man's Repentance no tthat it 's impossible for God to pardon without a Plenary Satisfaction Fowler Pag. 84. There are many that do not question but that God could have pardoned Sin without any other satisfaction then the Repentance of the Sinner c. 4. Pen Pag. 27. Justification doth not go before but is subsequential to the Mortification of Lusts. Fowler Pag. 14 15. This Blessing of making Men Holy was so much the design of Christ's coming that he had his very Name from it Observe the Words He shall save his People from their Sins not from the punishment of them c. And that is the Primary sence of them which is most plainly expressed in them That he shall save his People from the punishment of Sin is a true sence too but it is Secondary and implyed onely as this latter is the never failing and necessary consequence of the former Salvation 5. Pen Pag. 25. Since therefore there can be no admittance had without performing that Righteous Will and doing those Holy and Perfect sayings Alas to what value will an imputative Righteousness amount c. Fowler Pag. 16. Christ shall bring in an inward substantial and everlasting Righteousness and by abrogating the outward Ceremonial and establishing ONELY this Righteousness he should inlarge the Jewish Church an accession of the Gentiles being by that means made unto it 6. Pen Pag. 24 25. Since God hath prescribed an inoffensive life as that which onely can give acceptance with him and on the contrary hath determined not to justifie the Wicked c. Will not the abomination appear greatest of all when God shall be found Condemning the just on purpose to justifie the wicked and that he is thereto compelled or else no Salvation which is the tendency of their Doctrine who imagine the Righteous and merciful God to condemn and punish his righteous Son that he being sanctified for our Sins we might be justified while unsatisfied by the imputation of his perfect Righteousness O why should
that like venome drop from your Pen. But as before I told you in general so here I tell you again That neither the Scriptures of God the Promise or Threatnings the Life or Death Resurrection Assention or coming again of Christ to Judgement hath the least Sillable or Tendency in them to set up Your Heathenish and Pagan Holiness or Righteousness Wherefore your whole Discourse is but a meer abuse of and Corrupting the Holy Scriptures for the fastening if it must have been your Errors upon the Godly I Conclude then upon the whole that the Gospel hath cast out Mans Righteousness to the Dogs and Conclude that there is no such thing as a Purity of Humane Nature as a Principle in us thereby to Work Righteousness withal Farther It never thought of returning us again to the Holineness we lost in Adam or to make our perfection to Consist in the Possession of so Natural and Ignorant a Principle as that is in all the things of the Holy Gospel But hath declared another and far better way which you can by no means understand by all the Dictates of your Humanity I will therefore content my self at present with gathering up some few Errors out of those abundance which are in your Book and so leave you to God who can either Pardon these grievous Errors or Damn you for your Pride and Blasphemies You pretend in the beginning of your Second Chapter to prove your Assertion Viz. That the great Errand that Christ came upon was to put us again into possession of that Holiness which we had lost For Proof whereof you bring John the Baptist's Doctrine and the Angels saying to Zacharias and the Prophet Malachi Mat. 3. 12. Luke 1. 16 17. Mal. 3. 1 2 3. In which Texts there is as much for your purpose and no more then there is in a perfect Blanck For which of them speak a Word of the Righteousness or Holiness which we have lost Or where is it said either by these mentioned or by the whole Scripture that we are to be restored TO and put again into Possession of that Holiness These are but the Dictates of your Humane Nature John's Ministry was To make ready a People prepared for the Lord Jesus not to Possess them with themselves and their own but now lost Holiness And so the Angel told his Father saying Many of the Children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God Not to Adam's Innocency or to the Holiness that we lost by him Neither did the Prophet Malachi Proâ—hesie that Christ at his coming should put men again in Possession of the Holiness we had lost And I say again As you here fall short of your Purpose so I Challenge you to produce but one piece of a Text that in the least looketh to such a thing The whole Tenor of the Scripture that speaks of the Errand of Christ Jesus tells us another Lesson to wit That he himself came to save us and that by his own Righteousness not that in Adam or which we have lost in him unless you can say and prove that we had once even before we were Converted the Holiness of Christ within us or the Righteousness of Christ upon us But you yet go on and tell us That this was also the Phrophesie of the Angel to Joseph Pag. 14. in these Words HE Jesus shall save his People from their Sins Not say you from the Punishment of them although that be a true Sence too but not the Primary but Secondary and implyed onely and the Consequence of the former Salvation Pag. 15. Answ. Thus PEN the Quaker and you run in this in one and the self same Spirit He Affirming that Sanctification is antecedent to Justification but not the Consequence thereof 2. But what Salvation Why Salvation say you First from the Filth For that is the Primary and First Sence Justification from the Guilt being the never-failing Consequence of this But how then must Jesus Christ first save us from the Filth You add in Pag. 16. That he shall bring in instead of the Ceremonial Observations a far more Noble viz. An inward Substantial Righteousness and by Abrogating that namely of the Cerimonies he shall Establish onely this inward Righteousness This is that Holiness or Righteousness you tell us of in the end of the Chapter going before that You acknowledge we had lost so that the Sum of all that you have said is That the way that Christ will take to save his People from their Sins is First to Restore unto them and give them Possession of the Righteousness that they had lost in Adam And having established this in them he would accquit them also of Guilt But that this is a shameless Error and Blasphemy is apparent from which hath already been Asserted of the Nature of the Holiness or Righteousness that we have lost viz. That it was only Natural of the Old Covenant Tipical And such as might stand with perfect Ignorance of the Meditation of Jesus Christ And now I add That for Christ to come to Establish this Righteousness is alone as if he should be sent from Heaven to overthrow and Abrogate the eternal Purpose of Grace which the Father had purposed should be manifested to the World by Christ For Christ came not to Restore or to give us Possession of that which was once our own Holiness but to make us Partakers of that which is in him That we might be made Partakers of HIS Holiness Neither were it granted that you speak the truth is it possible for a man to be filled with inward Gospel-Holiness and Righteousness that yet abideth as before the Face of God under the Curse of the Law or the Guilt of his own Transgressions The Guilt must therefore first be taken off and we set free by Faith in that Blood that did it before we can Act upon Pure Christian Principles Pray tell me the meaning of this one Text which speaking of Christ saith Who when he had by himself Purged our Sins sat down on the Right Hand of the Majesty on High Heb. 1. 13. Tell me I say by this Text whether is here intended the Sins of all that shall be saved If so what a kind of Purging is here meant seeing thousands thousands of thousands of the Persons intended by this Act of Purging were not then in being nor their Personal Sins in Act And note he saith he Purged them before he sat down at the Right hand of God Purging then in this place cannot First and Primarily Respect the Purging of the Conscience But the taking the compleat taking of the Guilt and so the the Curse from before the face of God according to other Scriptures He hath made him to be Sin and accursed of God for us Now he being made the Sin which we committed and the Curse which we deserved there is no more Sin nor Curse I mean to be charged by the Law to Damn them that shall believe not
him by but as a Seal of the Righteousness of THAT Faith which he had being yet Vncircumcised Now we know that Circumcision in the Flesh was a Type of Circumcision in the heart wherefore the Faith that Abraham had before his outward Circumcision was to shew us that Faith if it be right layeth hold upon the Righteousness of Christ before we be Circumcised inwardly and this must needs be so for if Faith doth Purifie the Heart then it must be there before the Heart is Purified Now this inward Circumcision is a Seal or Sign of this That that is the onely saving Faith that layeth hold upon Christ before we be Circumcised But he that believeth before he be inwardly Circumcised must believe in another in a Righteousness without him and that as he standeth at present in himself Ungodly for he is not Circumcised which Faith if it be right approveth it self also so to be by an after Work of Circumcising inwardly But I say the Soul that thus layeth hold on Christ taketh the onely way to please his God because this is that also which himself hath determined shall be accomplished upon us But unto him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt but to him that Worketh not but Believeth in him that Justifieth the VNGODLY his Faith is counted for Righteousness Rom. 4. He that is Ungodly hath a want of Righteousness even of the inward Righteousness of Works But what must become of him Let him Believe in him that Justifieth the Ungodly because for that purpose there is in him a Righteousness We will now return to Paul himself he had Righteousness before he was Justified by Christ yet he chose to be Justified rather as an unrighteous man then as one Indued with so brave a Qualification That I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness away with mine own Righteousness I chuse rather to be Justified as Ungodly by the Righteousness of Christ than by mine own and his together Phil. 3. You Argue therefore like him that desireth to be a Teacher of the Law nay worse that neither knoweth what he saith nor whereof he Affirmeth But you say Were it possible that Christ's Righteousness could be imputed to an Vnrighteous man I dare boldly affirm that it would signifie as little to his Happiness while he continueth so as would a Gorgeous and Splendid Garment to one that is almost starved c. Answ 1. That Christ's Righteousness is Imputed to men while Sinners is sufficiently testified by the Word of God Ezek. 16. 1 8. Zech. 3. 1 5. Rom. 3. 24 25. Chap. 4. 1 5. Chap. 5. 6 9. 2 Cor. 5. 18 21. Phil. 3. 6 7 8. 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. Rev. 1. 5. 2. And that the Sinner or unrighteous Man is happy in this Imputation is also as abundantly Evident For 1. The Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law are both taken off by this Imputation 2. The Graces and Comforts of the Holy Ghost are all Intailed to and followers of this Imputation Blessed is he to whom the Lord will not Impute Sin It saith not that he is Blessed that hath not Sin to be imputed but he to whom God will not Impute them he faith Therefore the non Imputation of Sin doth not argue a non being thereof in the Soul but a Glorious act of Grace Imputing the sufficiency of Christ's Righteousness to Justifie him that is yet Ungodly But what Blessedness doth follow the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to one that is yet Ungodly Answ. Even the Blessing of Abraham to wit Grace and Eternal Life For Christ was made the Curse and Death that was due to us as Sinners that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Faith in Jesus Christ That we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith Gal. 3. 13 14. Now Faith hath it's eye upon two things with respect to it's act of Justifying First it acknowledgeth that the Soul is a Sinner and then that there is a sufficiency in the Righteousness of Christ to Justifie it in the sight of God though a Sinner We have Believed in Jesus Christ that we might be Justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law Therefore they that believe aright receive Righteousness even the Righteousness of another to Justifie them while yet in themselves they are Sinners Why do they believe in Christ The answer is That they MIGHT be Justified not because in their own Eyes they are They therefore at present stand Condemned in themselves and therefore they believe in Jesus Christ that they might be set free from present Condemnation Now being Justified by his Blood as Ungodly they shall be saved by his Life that is by his Intercession For whom he Justifieth by his Blood he saveth by his Intercession For by that is given the Spirit Faith and all Grace that preserveth the Elect unto Eternal Life and Glory I Conclude therefore that you argue not Gospelly in that you so boldly Affirm that it would signifie as little to the Happiness of one to be Justified by Christ's Righteousness while a Sinner as would a Gorgeous and Splendid Garment to one that is ready to perish For farther Thus to be Justified is Meat and Drink to the Sinner and so the beginning of Eternal Life in him My Flesh is Meat indeed said Christ and my Blood is Drink indeed And he that Eateth my Flesh and Drinketh my Blood hath Eternal or Everlasting Life He Affirmeth it once again As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that Eateth me even he shall live by me John 6. Here now is a Man an Hungred what must he feed upon Not his pure Humanity not upon the sound Complexion of his Soul nor yet on the Dictates of his Humane Nature nor those neither which you call truly Generous Principles But upon the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God which was once given for the Sin of the World Let those then that would be saved from the Devil and Hell and that would find a Fountain of Grace in themselves first receive and feed upon Christ as Sinners and Ungodly Let them believe that both his Body and Blood and Soul was offered for them as they were Sinners The believing of this is the Eating of Christ this eating of Christ is the beginning of Eternal Life to wit of all Grace and health in the Soul and of Glory to be Injoyed most perfectly in the next World Your Twelfth Chapter is to shew That Holiness being Perfected is Blessedness it self and that the Glory of Heaven Consisteth chiefly in it Answ. But none of your Holiness none of that inward Holiness which we have Lost before Conversion shall ever come to Heaven That being as I have shewed a Holiness of another Nature and arising from another Root then that we shall in Heaven injoy 2. But farther Your Description of
other then Barbarous Quakerisme the stress of their Writing also tending to no other purpose But you tell us That you scarcely admired at any thing more in all your Life then that any worthy Men especially should be so difficulty perswaded to receive or imbrace this account of Justifying Faith and should perplex and make intricate so plain a Doctrine Answ. And doubtless they far more groundedly stand amazed at such as you who while you pretend to shew the design of the Gospel make the very Essential of it a thing in it self indifferent and absolutely considered neither good nor evil that makes obedience to the Morral Laws more Essential to salvation then that of going to God by Christ that maketh it the great Design of Christ to put us into a Possession of that promiseless natural old Covenant holiness which we had lost long since in Adam that maketh as if Christ rejecting all other Righteousness or Holiness hath Established onely this Yea that maketh the very Principle of this Holiness to consist in a sound Complexion of Soul the Purity of Humane Nature in us a habit of Soul truly Generous Motives and Principles Divine Morral Laws which were first written in Mens Hearts and Originally Dictates of Humane Nature All this Villany against the Son of God with much more as bad is Comprised within less then the first sixteen â—ages of your Book But say you what pretence can there be for thinking that Faith is the Condition or Instrument of Justification as it complyeth with onely the Precept of relying upon Christ's Merits for the obtaining of it especially when it is no less manifest then the Sun at Noon-day that obedience to the other Precepts must go before obedience to this And that a Man may not rely upon the merits of Christ for the forgiveness of his Sins and he must be presumptuous in so doing and puts an affront upon his Saviour too till he be sincerely willing to be reformed from them Pag. 223. Answ. That the Merits of Christ for Justification are made over to that Faith that receiveth them while the Person that believeth it stands in his own account by the Law a Sinner hath already been shewed And that they are not by God appointed for another purpose is manifest through all the Bible 1. In the Type when the bloody Sacrifices were to be offered and an Atonement made for the Soul the People were onely to confess their Sins over the head of the Bullock or Goat or Lamb by laying their Hands thereon and so the Sacrifice was to be slain They were onely to acknowledge their Sins And observe it in the day that these offerings were made they were not to Work all For he that did any Work therein was to be cut off from his People Lev. 4. ch 16. ch 23. 2. In the Antitype thus it runs Christ dyed for our Sins Christ gave himself for our Sins He was made to be Sin for us Christ was made a Curse for us Yea but say you What pretence can there be that Faith is the Condition or Instrument of Justification as it Complyeth with onely the Precepts of relying upon Christ's Merits that is first or before the Soul doth other things Answ. I say avoiding your own Ambiguous terms that it is the Duty the indispensible Duty of all that would be saved First Immediately now to close in by Faith with that work of Redemption which Christ by his blood hath purchased for them as they are Sinners 1. Because God doth hold it forth yea hath set it forth to be received by us as such Rom. 3. 23. to 27. 2. Because God hath Commanded us by Faith to receive it as such Act. 16. And I add If the Jaylor was altogether ignorant of what he must do to be saved and Paul yet bids him then before he knew any thing else Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and he should be saved that then Believing even Believing on Christ for a Righteousness to justifie and save him must go first and may nay ought to be pressed even then when the Soul stands ignorant of what else he ought to do Act. 16. 30 31 32. But you say It is evident as the Sun at Noon-day that obedience to the other Precepts must go before obedience to THIS that is before Faith in Christ. Answ. This you say But Paul said to the ignorant Jaylor that knew nothing of the mind of God in the Doctrine of Justification that he should first believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and so should be saved Again when Paul Preached to the Corinthians The first Doctrine that he delivered unto them was That Christ dyed for their Sins according to the Scriptures c. 1 Cor. 15. 1 2 3 4. But what be these other Precepts Not Baptism nor the Supper of the Lord for these you say are as poor and inconsiderable as that of coming to God by Christ even all three things in themselves neither good nor evil but of an indifferent Nature they must be therefore some more weighty things of the Gospel then these possitive Precepts But what things are they It is good that you tell us seeing you Tacitely forbid all men upon pain of Presumption and of doing affront to Jesus Christ that they rely not on the merits of Christ for forgiveness till they be sincerely willing to perform them first yet I find not here one particular Precept instanced by you But perhaps we shall hear of them hereafter therefore now I shall let them pass You tell us farther that such a relyance as that of acting Faith First on the Merits of Christ for Justification is ordinarily to be found amongst Vnregenerate and even the worst of Men. Answ. This is but a falshood and a slander for the Unregenerate know him not how then can they believe on him Besides the worst of men so far as they pretend Religion set up your Idol in their hearts viz. their own good meanings their own good Nature the Notions and Dictates of their Nature living that little which they do live upon the Snuff of their own Light the Sparks of their own fire and therefore woe unto them But you add How can it be otherwise then that that act of Faith must needs have a Hand in Justifying and the special Hand too which distinguisheth it from that which is found in such Persons Answ. 1. There is no Act of Faith doth more distinguish true Faith from false and the Christian from the painted Hypocrite then that which first lays hold on Christ while the Person that hath it stands in his own esteem ungodly all other like your self being fearful and unbelieving Rev. 20. 8. despise it and wonder and perish Act. 13. 40 41. 2. And this Faith by thus acting doth more subdue Sin though it doth not Justifie as subduing but as applying Christ's Righteousness then all the Wisdom and Purity of Humane Nature or the Dictates of that Nature
consideration 1. As it respecteth Christ. 2. Man 1. As it respecteth Christ so it concerns his compleating the Redemption of Man by himself by his own personal performances John 6. 38 39. Heb. 10. 5 6 7 8 9 10. 2. As it respecteth Man it doth first and immediately respect our believing on him for Remssion of Sins and Eternal Life And this is the Will of the Father which sent me saith Christ that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last day John 6. 40. This then is the will of God That Men do believe in Jesus Christ. Again when the Jews asketh Jesus Christ what they should do that they might work the works of God he did not send them first to the Morral Precept or to it's first Principles in the hearts of Men by obeying that to fit themselves for Faith but immediately he tells them This is the Work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent John 6. 29. This is the Work of God that is this is his Commandement that we believe in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ c. and love one another as he gave us Commandement 1 John 3. 23. If any Man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine that is as I have said he shall feel and have the Authourity of this Faith in his heart both to give Peace and Joy in his heart and assurance and the Sealing of his Soul to Glory For all these things come in upon believing First in Christ. 1. By Faith we have Peace with God Rom. 5. 1. 2. We have Joy and Peace through Believing Rom. 15. 13. 3. Assurance comes also through Believing Joh. 6. 69. Heb. 10. 22. 4. Yea and the Sealings up to Eternal Life In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise Eph. 1. 13. 5. Sanctification and a right obedient temper is not to be found in Men before but after they have believed He purified their hearts by Faith Yea Heaven and Eternal Happiness is promised to them who are Sanctified by Faith which is in Christ Act. 15. 9. Chap. 26. 18. This First Text therefore hath been by you abused in that you have ungodly strained it but in vain to make it warrant your Heathenish preparations to Faith The Second Scripture He that is of God heareth Gods Words ye therefore hear them not because you are not of God John 8. 47. Answ. This Scripture supposeth Men must first be of God before they can hear God's Word before they can hear it with the hearing of Faith and therefore nothing respecteth those that before they have Faith live in the Law of Works and least of all those that become obedient thereto that thereby they may obtain everlasting life For these are not of God not of him in a New Testament Sence not Sons because they are born of Men of the will of Men of the Law and according to the Wisdom of Flesh and Blood John 1. 12 13. Your Third Scripture is And as many as were ordained to Eternal Life believed Act. 13. 48. Which Text you thus expound That as many of the Gentiles as were disposed or in a ready preparedness for Eternal Life believed that is those which were Proselites of the Gate who were admitted by the Jews to the hope of Eternal Life and to have a Portion in the Age to come without submitting to the whole Law or any more then owning the God of Israel and observing the Seven Precepts of Noah Answ. 1. That obedience to the Morral Law is not a preparative to Faith or an excellent and necessary qualification to the right understanding of the Gospel I have proved 2. That to be a Jewish Proselite was to live in the Faith of Messias to come is the strain of all the Scriptures that have to deal with them 3. But that ordaining men to Eternal Life respects an act of the Jews or that the Jews did dispence with the Gentile Proselites in their casting off all their Laws but the seven Precepts of Noah 4. Or that God counted this a fit or forerunning qualification to Faith in Jesus Christ neither stands with the Word of God nor the Zeal of that People 5. Besides the Words presently following seem to me to insinuate more viz. That the Jews and Religious Proselites that adhered to Paul at his first Sermon verse 43. did Contradict and Blaspheme at his second verse 45. And moreover that it was they that raised Persecution upon him and expelled him out of their Coasts verse 50. When the Gentiles even those that were more Barbarously ignorant at his coming when they heard that by Christ there was offered to them the forgiveness of Sins they believed verse 48. and Glorified the Word of the Lord. The Wisdom of Heaven so disposing such of their hearts that were before by him not by Jews ordained to Life And as many as were ordained to Eternal Life believed But you come again in Pag. 269. to the Scripture first urged by you If any man will do his will c. and you tell us That this must also needs be implyed he shall rightly understand the Doctrine too Which word understand you so carry as may best help you in case you should meet with an Adversary As if any should thus object that here you have granted that the Words make promise of an understanding of the Gospel yea require in it the very first act of the will then you readily shift it by saying That this is implyed onely suggesting that obedience to Morrals is expressed and therefore muh first be thought on and done But if one of your Brotherhood stop here and make the objection then you add It is Knowledge at least in all the necessary points thereof absolutely necessary and Essential parts from among which you long since did cast out Coming to God by Jesus Christ Yea you add That by that which you call the design of the Gospel it may be presumed that whosoever considereth it with a design of being so that is of living up to Humane Principles and that desireth to be possessed again of the Holiness he hath lost for that is it for the proof of which you have Written above 300 Pages he must needs believe the Gospel to have come from God and also be inlightned in the true Knowledge of at least the necessary points of it viz. All Morral Duties contained therein which are never a one of them as such an Essential of the Gospel but are such Duties as are consequential to the belief thereof Wherefore although you feign it this honest temper as you call it will not help you 1. To judge of the Gospel without Prejudice nor 2. To evidence it with satisfaction nor 3. Secure those in whom it is from Error and Delusion No Man being more Bruitish or Heathenish nor so void of satisfaction about it nor
if God will timely Advertise my Reader that the Gospel and it's Attendants are to be accounted things Distinct The Gospel properly taken being Glad Tidings of good things or the Doctrine of the for giveness of Sins freely by Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus For to speak strictly neither is the Grace of Faith Hope Repentance or Newness of Life the Gospel but rather things that are wrought by the Preaching thereof things that are the Effects of it or its unseperable Companions to all them that shall be saved Wherefore the Gospel is said to be Preached in all Nations for the obedience of Faith Hope also is called the Hope of the Gospel not the Gospel it self So again the Gospel is Preached that Men should repent but it is not Preached that men should Gospel But your Gospel which Principally or Chiefly Centers in the Dictates of Humane Nature and your Faith which is chiefly a subjecting to those Dictates are so far off from being at all any near attendants of the Gospel that they never are urged in the New Testament but in order to shew men they have forgotten to act as men Rom. 1. 19 20 21. Chap. 2. 14 15. 1 Cor. 11. 14. Your last Reason is because of several untoward opinions the Gospel is very unsuccessful Pag. 175. Answ. But what these opinions are we hear not nor how to shun them you tell us here nothing at all This I am sure there are no Men in this day have more opposed the Light Glory and Lustre of the Gospel of Christ then those as the Quakers and others that have set up themselves and their own Humanity as the Essential parts of it You in Answer to other things add many other Reasons to prove they are mistaken that count the Gospel a thing of but mean Operation to work Holiness in the heart at which you ought your self to tremble seeing the Son himself who is the Lord of Gospel is of so little esteem with you as to make coming to God by him so trivial a business as you have done Your large Transcript of other mens sayings to prove the good success of the Gospel of Old did better become that People and age then you yours they being a people that lived in the power thereof but you such Bats as cannot see it That Saying you mention of Rigaltias doth better become you and yours Those now adays do retain the Name and the Society of Christians which live altogether Antichristian Lives For take away Publicans and a wretched Rable c. And your Christian Churches will be laâ—entable weak small and insignifieant things I shall add to yours another reason of the unsuccessfulness of the Gospel in our days and that is because so many ignorant Sir Johns on the one hand and so many that have done Violence to their former Light and that have Damned themselves in their former Anathematizing of others have now for a long time as a Judgement of God been permitted to be and made the mouth to the People Persons whose Lives are Debauched and who in the Face of the World after seeming serious Detestings of Wickedness have for the Love of filthy Lucre and the Pampering their idle Carcasses made Shipwrack of their former Faith and that Feigned good Conscience they had From which number if you Sir have kept your self clear the less Blood of the Damned will fall upon your head I know you not by Face much less your Personal Practice yet I have heard as if Blood might pursue you for your Unstable Weathercock Spirit which doubtless could not but stumble the Weak and give advantage to the Adversary to speak Vilifyingly of Religion As to your Seventeenth and Eighteenth Chapters I shall say little onely I wish that your Eighteenth had been more express in discovering how far a man may goe with a notion of the truth of the Gospel and yet perish because he hath it not in Power Onely in your Inveighing so much against the Pardon of Sin while you seem so much to cry up Healing you must know that Pardon of Sin is the beginning of Health to the Soul He Pardoneth our Iniquities and Healeth all our Diseases Psa. 103. 3. And where he saith by the stripes of Christ we are healed it is Evident that healing beginneth at Pardon and not Pardon after healing as you would rather have it 1 Pet. 2. 24. compare Isa. 53. As for your Comparison of the Plaister and the Physitians Potion Pag. 217. I say you do but abuse your Reader and muddy the way of the Gospel For the first thing of which the Soul is sick and by which the Conscience receiveth wounding it is the guilt of Sin and fear of the Curse of God for it For which is provided the wounds and Precious Blood of Christ which Flesh and Blood if the Soul eat thereof by Faith giveth deliverance there-from Upon this the filth of Sin appears most odious for that it hath not onely at present Defiled the Soul but because it keeps it from doing those Duties of Love which by the Love of Christ it is constrained to endeavour the perfecting of For Filth appears Filth that is irksome and odious to a contrary Principle now implantin the Soul which Principle had its Conveyance thither by Faith in the Sacrifice and death of Christ going before The Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge That if one dyed for all then are all Dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but to him that dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 14. The man that hath received Christ desireth to be Holy because the Nature of the Faith that layeth hold on Christ although I will not say as you it is of a Generous mind worketh by love and longeth yea greatly longeth that the Soul may be brought not onely into an universal Conformity to his Will but into his very likeness and because that State standeth not with what we are now but with what we shall be hereafter Therefore in this we groan being burthened with that which is of a contrary Nature to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven Which state is not that of Adam's Innocency but that which is Spiritual and Heavenly even that which is now in the Lord in Heaven But I will Descend to your Nineteenth Chapter it may be more may be discovered there Your Nineteenth Chapter is to shew That a right understanding of the Design of Christianity viz. as you have laid it down will give satisfaction concerning the true Notion First Of Justifying Faith Secondly Of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness Pag. 221. First Of Justifying Faith It is say you such a Belief of the truth of the Gospel as Includes a sincere Resolution of Obedience to all it's Precepts Answ. To this I shall Answer First that the Faith which we call Justifying Faith is like