Faith in him or else we must feign that a Believer hath a Spiritual Life in him that is not from Christ if he have Faith before he is united to Christ as some pretend and so there would be two Spiritual Lives in a Believer one before Union to Christ which works Faith and the other from Christ upon acting our Faith But this Ass of our own Spiritual Life and the Oxe of Christ's Life in us will not draw well together So that I think I may safely conclude this is no Heresie to say that Union to Christ is before Faith much less is that which follows an Heresie to say that we partake of the Spirit by vertue of that Vnion This is brought in as part of the fifth Heresie Whence do the Branches partake of the Sap of the Vine but from the Root by Vertue of Union to the Vine 'T is strange to admiration that this should be question'd by those who like Peter seem to be Pillars in the Church to call it an Antinomian Heresie to say We partake of the Spirit by vertue of Vnion to Christ If the Spirit be not in us before Faith how can he convince of Sin in not believing and thereby work Faith Doth not the Scripture say plainly 1 Cor. 12.8 9. To one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another Faith by the same Spirit Doth the Spirit give Faith and is he not then in the Soul to work Faith before it is wrought Is not the Former before the Thing formed If so then sure my Dear Kratiste was in a great Mistake and has sadly imposed on those that profess Faith in our Lord Jesus to rank this for a Heresie That we partake of the Spirit by vertue of our Vnion to Christ which in Naturâ is before Faith The sixth as being much akin to the former I pass only with the naming of it 'T is Heresie he saith to say Justification in regard of Application must be before Believing Whose Saying this is or whence it is taken I know not If the meaning be that God applies it to us or reckons it to us before our Believing that we are Justified This is so far from Heresie that I think the contrary is a Contradiction Or 't is Nonsense for me to believe a Thing is mine before it is given me or applyed to me and so made mine And in that Sense the Application of Justification by God's Spirit to my Conscience that God hath loved me and given his Son for me this must first be applyed to me before I can believe it or else my Believing is but Presumption But if by Application of Justification before Believing he means that the Soul doth apply it to himself before his Believing I think he is to seek for any that hold that Tenet §. XXVII His seventh Heresie is this That the first Application ordine Naturae saltem is to an Vngodly Man eo nomine that he may believe That this is a blessed Gospel-Truth and no Heresie appears by what our Blessed Lord Jesus saith That he came not to call the Righteous but Sinners And his immediate Call made them follow him as Levi from being a Publican to be a believing Disciple Nay saith our Lord Publicans and Harlots enter into the Kingdom of God before you Ye believed not but the Publicans and Harlots believed Matth. 21.31 32. Here was Application to ungodly Wretches eo nomine that they might believe and when Publicans and Harlots they did believe and so came off from their Ungodliness Yea the Dog Syrophenaecian as Christ called her she had Faith given her while she was a Dog even to the Admiration of Christ himself who said O Woman great is thy Faith And saith the Apostle for a full Proof that the Application is to an ungodly Man eo nomine While we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Nay as God will have it the very word ungodly which they oppose as Heresie is asserted in the Scripture that the first Application of Christ is to an ungodly Man in Rom. 4.5 To him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness If the Blessed Apostle saith God justifieth the ungodly I trow this is no Heresie in him but if Heterodox Dr. Crisp say the same words then 't is an Antinomian Heterodoxy Now there 's a great out-cry what do you make God to be Is God such a Friend to Sin as to justifie the Vngodly Doth it become the Holiness of God to justifie an ungodly Man This is the way to vindicate all licentious Antinomianism That God justifies the Vngodly and that while he is an Enemy he is reconciled to God O out upon such profane Antinomians We can allow the Apostle Paul to use such Language because we can distinguish this into he doth not justifie the Vngodly that the Apostle means so whatever he saith but we cannot bear it that Apochryphal Tobias should say so nor that Mysterious Nonsense say so as Mr. Williams called Mr. Cole we cannot bear it in him for this is to open a gap to Profaneness to say God justifieth the Vngodly §. XXVIII The eighth Heresie is to assert That we believe that we may be justified declaratively The Case I take to be thus The Apostle saith in Gal. 2.16 We believe that we may be justified by the Faith of Jesus from whence the Neonomians conclude that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere our Act of Faith is that very Thing which justifies us or that we are justified by our Work of Faith if not by Works of Faith and Holiness which sometimes they joyn yet at least by a Work by our Act of Believing Whereas the Orthodox according to the Homilies and Doctrine of the Church of England from plain Scripture put Faith it self from us as that Act that justifies and say Faith justifies only declaratively as it manifests to the Conscience our being justified by Christ's Blood Rom. 5.9 and freely by his Grace not our Grace of Faith through the Redemption that is in Jesus Rom. 3.24 Titus 3.7 It is still ascribed to his Grace not any Grace in us our Grace of Faith being only the Instrument or Hand given us of God to receive Christ and all in him If Justification be as they would have it from any Act of ours as the Ground or Cause of it then we are not freely justified by his Grace but by our Work of Believing which if not a Popish is an Arminian Tenet to blemish the Free Grace of God in Jesus Christ So that it may be safely concluded that it is no Heresie to say our Justification by Faith is declarative in as much as the Essence of Justification is by the Blood of Jesus and the Grace of God imputing it to us is the form of our Justification which being received by Faith is thereby manifested or declared to the Conscience by the Illumination of the Holy
to Christ only the Homilies § 152 88 Faultless sin is what Christ bore with Mr. Williams c. § 23 Forgiveness before Faith Twiss § 25 Freely justified by his Grace not ours § 28 Foederal Vnion of Infants § 47 Faulty Obedience allowed by God's Law Mr. Williams § 50 Facile Representations Christ's sufferings William Penn § 61 Found in Christ shews a Commutation § 72 No Foundation but Christ § 79 We fulfill'd the Law in Christ the Homilies § 85 Fellow heirs with Christ and fellow-body § 90 Of God's forsaking Christ § 104 Fire-brands cast against Free-Grace § 105 The Fault of Sin on Christ or we bear it § 106 The Froth of Kratiste in his Rebuke § 112 His Falsity in saying No more subscribed to § 118 G. Grapes not of the Rebuker's Thorns § 2 Gospel-Truth of Mr. Williams imbellish'd § 11 Life the Gift of God then not work'd for § 36 Dr. Goodwin refused by the Rebuker for saying the Spirit himself is in Believers § 71 Grasping all Councils by the Rebuker § 74 Gratis dictum non gratiose to say Dr. Crisp against Repentance § 93 The Gigantick Sophister § 117 The Guilt of Sin how Christ bare it Bishop of Worcester § 141 Golden Sentences in the Homilies § 152 Gold not tainted by Poyson nor Christ by Sin § 158 The Glowing holiness of Christ purged our Sin § 158 H. Dr. Harris of Christ's sustaining us § 9 Crispian Heterodoxies Cole c. dipt in § 17 Mr. How said If the Doctor be an Antinomian so am I § 17 In what Men call'd Heresie so Paul worship'd § 26 No Hurt of a Believer by Sin is called Heresie § 38 Holiness imperfect is Sin § 41 Hilary withstood a World so Mr. Cole c. § 72 The Homilies against the Rebuker and made Law § 72 86 145 146 147 The Homilies Antinomian as Dr. Crisp § 147 The Homilies Golden Sentences § 152 Horrid Opinions charged by the Rebuker on Mr. Cole c. § 105 Hard Speeches Christ will convince of § 114 Heman's Groans under Sin little to Christ § 134 To Honour the Son as the Father § 155 The Holiness of Christ purged our Sins § 158 J. Justified before called is Heterodox they say § 17 Judgments for Scorners § 17 Justified in God's sight before called § 18 He Justifies the Vngodly § 27 freely by his Grace § 28 at Christ's Death Pemble § 30 Justification where settled before now § 71 slid off from by the Rebuker § 99 not by Faith as our Act Homilies § 152 Injustice to punish Christ if very Sin not on him § 23 Faith an Instrument of Justification § 30 The Ineffable Life of Christ in Saints § 43 The Incarnation of Christ how no Humiliation § 45 Our Imperfect Obedience makes not accepted § 49 Imputation of Sin made Christ a Curse § 54 Judgment on Mockers of Elisha § 68 Jakin and Boaz Commutation is § 70 Jestingly to speak of Christ forfeit 10 l. § 89 Ismael's hand against all so the Rebuker § 96 Indignation of the Rebuker against Mr. Cole § 105 The Insult of the Rebuker against Mr. Cole § 113 Ismael's mocking like the Rebuker § 114 The Joab like Stab § 114 The Idem of the Law Christ suffered denied by Mr. Williams § 120 The Imaginary Change of the Bishop § 148 151 No Infection to Christ by our Sin § 157 K. Kratiste Theophile the Rebuker call'd § 19 Kicking against Pricks to deny Christ made Sin for us § 59 L. Lips of Righteousness God's delight § 17 Land settled on Infants that know it not so our Inheritance before Faith Pemble § 32 Mr. Laurence took up the Rebuker at Pinner's-Hall § 33 To work from Life not for Life is call'd Heresie § 36 Love in God perpetually the same Pemble § 39 The Life of Saints how 't is the eternal Life of God § 43 Of Legal Vnion to Christ before Faith § 47 A Law that allows Sin Mr. Williams is for § 50 Luther of Christ a Curse a sinner with our sinful Person § 54 Luther on the Change of Persons § 75 of Christ bearing Wrath § 102 Little sins need Christ's Blood as great § 78 M. Meek and lowly learn of me § 2 They Mince Christ made sin for us § 5 Man made Righteous Mr. Williams's Book § 11 Dr. Manton Christ first apprehends us § 26 'T is Monstrous to live without Vnion to Christ § 26 Manifestation of Pardon pray'd for § 35 Mr. Mather of Christ's Incarnation § 45 Mess of Milk kick'd down of Christ's satisfaction § 51 Christ the Murderer falsly tax'd § 53 The Monstrous Change tax'd on the Doctor § 55 Michael durst not rail as the Rebuker § 68 The Moot point if Socinians or Antinomians be worse § 77 Making Millions to Damn them denied § 80 Melius inquirendum of the Rebuker § 96 Meliora speramus of Mr. A § 108 Christ called a Mask prophanely by § 89 Misprision of Treason against Christ Mr. Williams § 110 The Mildness of Christ when they slept § 113 A Marriage and no Marriage trump'd up by A § 113 The Mockers Judgment and Ismael s Mocking § 17 68 114 Mony to be told after ones Father § 125 Maas in Hebrew is reprobated abhorred § 127 N. New Obedience not the substance of the Gospel § 3 Not New or Novel that Christ took our Persons § 9 Neonomians for Faith procuring Pardon § 35 Neonomian for a Law that allows sin § 50 A Negative not an Affirmative § 113 'T is not for Nothing to lose Peace for Truth § 120 How God Needs sin Antisozzo § 136 Nothing but sinful in us the Homilies § 146 147 O. Objections against Mr. Williams not accounted for § 15 The Oxe and Ass of Christ and our Works forbidden § 26 Old Wine of Election better than New § 49 Obedience imperfect what it doth § 49 Obedience not sinless Mr. Williams is for § 50 Orthodoxy in the Apostle is Heterodoxy in the Doctor § 76 We Obeyed in Christ saith Antisozzo § 107 Christ Odious to God falsly charged § 126 P. Poor Presbyterian he calls himself § 3 Christ in our Place jeered by the Rebuker § 4 The Punishment born by Christ only is invented § 5 8 Pinners-Hall left by three and why § 14 Pardon before Faith saith Dr. Twiss § 24 Pemble of Grace and Faith § 29 Pemble that Christ made not God placable § 32 Prayer for Manifestation only of Pardon is denied § 35 Perpetual God's Love is Pemble § 39 Plate of Gold of High Priests for Pardon § 40 Christ and Believers one Person § 46 Paul the Apostle why not call'd an Antinomian § 53 his differing with Barnabas § 97 Our Person taken by Christ Mr. Calvin § 54 Mr. Pen's facile Representation Christ's Sufferings were § 61 How we take Christ's Person § 66 Paul call'd Apocryphal how by the Rebuker § 75 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philosophers to deny a Change § 75 I forgave in the Person of Christ § 75
which is laid Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 and all hay and stubble upon it shall be burnt Which every sincere lover of our Lord Jesus daily prays may be hastened Even so come Lord Jesus §. LXXX Our Rebuker like some Captain General in the Confederates Army in Flanders where most of them are Papists or very sorry Protestants is in the next place giving orders for a kind of Popish Barriere to be set about the Divine Justice in pa. 51 though by the way a Barriere against an Enemy had been more like a General 's Word of Command but let it go for the Neonomian Word of Command a Barriere about Divine Justice his Sentence is this I would have I your General a Bar a Barriere about the Divine Justice that Men may not dare to represent him or it for better sense as a Tyrant in making so many millions to damn them eternally to damn them without respect had to their demerits This is plain Arminius or worse and such as I never suspected from my Dear Kratiste to justifie the general out cry of corrupted Natural Religion What did God make us to damn us How could we help our first Parents Sin But doth not the Scripture say In Adam all dyed for that or in whom all have sinned and by the offence of one judgment came upon all Men to condemnation Rom. 5. And will you now run with the Herd and cry God made Millions to damn them as a Tyrant without respect to their Demerits because they are condemned in Adam Now I see some Reason why the Rebuker said once in the Pulpit in Pinners Hall We did not sin Adam ' s Sin But I am sure he must own that in Adam all dyed then he must own with Augustine In Adam all are damned Damnati antequam nati Damned before Born and yet God no Tyrant but Holy and Just as well as Gracious and Merciful Hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same lump to make a hundred Chamber-pots and but five drinking Vessels Shall proud insolent Man teach God what Vessels of Wrath prepared of old to this Condemnation to make Jude 4. and what Vessels of Mercy Or whom he will to have Mercy on and whom he will to harden O that Men were wise and not to set Barriers of their divising God hath set his Barriere and let Men stand and adore and tremble at that word What if God willing to shew his Wrath and to make his Power known endured with much long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath fitted for destruction Is God by saucy prophane Man to be called a Tyrant for shewing his Wrath on Vessels of Wrath before of old ordained to this Condemnation having fitted themselves by their Sin in Adam for this destruction Shall we say it is without their own Demerits when God saith in Adam all dyed O that Men were wise to Sobriety and would not think to jostle God out of his Throne Let us adore Free Rich Sovereign Grace that is published in the Gospel that whoever will may take the water of Life freely Rev. 22.17 All in the sound of the Gospel being invited to come to Christ and they shall find rest for their weary Souls Those that charge God as a Tyrant for damning Millions without respect to their Demerits when they are lost and condemned in Adam will not condemn a Temporal Prince for a Tyrant to take and sieze the Estate of a Traytor condemned and to take it from all his Posterity ever after to the Worlds end And shall Man be justified as no Tyrant and God be charged so arrogantly Let us adhere to God's Barriere that in Adam all sinned and the Wages of that Sin is Damnation to all that have not an Interest in Christ §. LXXXI In his hedge about Justification I take notice of his indispensable Bulwark that is That Faith be made indispensably necessary to it in all the Adult Here one might ask what precise time should be fixed for the Adult it being an odd word and unscriptural The Scripture saith He that believes shall be saved he that believes not is condemned already And if there be not the Seed of Faith in Infants before they dye which God alone gives as Sanctification in the Womb or afterwards when he pleaseth I know not how according to the Scripture our only Rule to judge by they can be saved if they have not the Seed of Faith in Sanctification Would you have one way for Infants to be saved and another for the Adult when Christ alone is the Way the Truth and Life But passing by that it may be ask'd what kind of Faith is it that is to be so necessary There is bare assent to the Truth and this many call a Faith sufficient provided they live good Lives as they call it but this Faith the Devils have and tremble Then there is Historical Faith and Temporary Faith There is above and beyond these a Faith of assurance which some make absolutely necessary I would hope he means none of these but a Faith of adherence to the Lord Jesus for Life and Salvation by him and him alone of relying on him trusting to him renouncing our selves and our best performances as loss and dung in the matter of Justification or as any cause of our Salvation This might have given some Light into his indispensably necessary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the Doctrine of Justification I fear there lyes a snare in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this indispensably necessary Some and those mighty Friends to the Arminians make Faith necessary as a Cause or Co dition that stands in the place of Works of the Law Some make it a Condition as joined with Repentance and pers verance in Gospel-Obedience and so put it in the place of Christ's Righteousness imputed to us and make Faith as it is our Work to be imputed to us for Righteousness And so the Hedge is become a hodge-podge of our Gospel Righteousness joyned with Christ's Righteousness under the notion of Faith a Condition O how good is it for us to fence our selves with God's Word that the Foundation of God stands sure Whom he did foreknow them he did predestinate and them he called and them he justified and them he glorified Here 's not a word of what we do that we predestinate we call we justifie or we glorifie our selves 't is God doth all And if instead of our pleading to justifie and glorifie our selves we would indeavour to justifie and glorifie God for his free justifying and glorifying us through and for the sake only of his dearly beloved Son our Dear and Blessed Lord and Saviour it would be much better than to make a pother about the Conditionality of Faith when all is of Grace But I hope in this indispensably necessary Faith to Justification he doth not exclude some mixture of doubting with Faith though he names not the least allowance for that and yet where is the Faith
Perfection in himself in that he owns all the Sins of Believers to be his Sins as in Psal 40.7 compared with the 12th Verse he saith Lo I come to do thy will O God Then it follows Mine Iniquities have taken hold of me so that I am not able to look up They are more than the hairs of mine head This is spoken by our Lord Jesus as is plain in Heb. 10.9 here he owns they are his Iniquities How were they his but as he sustained the Persons of all the Elect and so was a reputed Criminal in their stead and their Sins being by the Lord laid on him he takes them on himself as his own Iniquities and saith They are more than the Hairs of his Head And again in Psal 69.4 5. Christ saith Then I restored that which I took not away O God thou knowest my Foolishness and my Sins are not hid from thee Then it follows The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up Which is plain of Christ So that our Foolishness and Sins being laid on him he calls them his and saith right for they were really his though but by Imputation as a Debt is really a Sureties though he be but a Surety yet that 's enough and so our Lord Jesus found it when he was in his Agony Sweating clodders of Blood and on the Cross crying My God why c. sure he did not cry out so terribly for faultless Sin but as a reputed Criminal for real Sin laid on him §. XXV The Fourth Heresie as he calls it is As to the Elect there never was any Guilt upon them in respect of the Righteous Judgment of God in foro Dei but that which accompanied the Letter of the Law setting in with Conscience Where he pick'd up this Offensive passage he shews not but that it goes among his abominable Doctrines this he declares Now how far this is Heresie we will at present only consult Famous Twiss who was no Antinomian and see what he says of Pardon in the sight of God before Faith nay from Eternity as it was an Immanent Act of God Twiss de Electione Sect. 25. Fol. 294. he proves Forgiveness to be before Faith even at Christ's Death nay from Eternity His words are these Quanam erit illa peccatorum remissio quae fidem consequitur This is his Question then he answers as follows Remissio enim peccatorum si Quidditatem inspicias nihil aliud est quam aut punitionis negatio aut volitionis puniendi negatio sit ergo peccata remittere nihil aliud quam nolle punire at hoc nolle punire ut actus immanens in Deo fuit ab aeterno nec fidem consequitur nec Spiritus Sancti operatione in nobis terminare deprehenditur Quod vero operatione Spiritus Sancti nobis hac parte per fidem contingit aliud esse non poterat quam SENSVS Gratiae Dei Ex quibus conficitur non potentialem tantum sed actualem peccatorum remissionem Christum morte suâ à Patre impetrasse nobis paucis concludimus immediatam mortis Christi effectionem esse expiationem Peccatorum Sive pro peccatis plenariam Satisfactionem quae quidem nobis non innotescit nisi per Fidem Spiritus Sancti operationem Which is to this purpose What is that Forgiveness of Sins which follows Faith Which he answers thus Forgiveness of Sins if you consider the Quiddity or Essence of it is nothing else but either a denying of Punishment or denying a Will to punish Therefore to remit or forgive Sins is nothing else but not to will to punish Now this not to will to punish as it is an immanent Act in God it was from Eternity neither doth it follow Faith neither is it held to terminate by the Operation of the Holy Spirit in us but what belongs to us by the Operation of the Holy Spirit in this matter can be nothing else but a SENSE of the Grace of God from which it is gathered not a Potential only but also an Actual Remission of Sins Christ obtained of the Father for us at his Death In short We conclude the immediate Effect of Christ's Death to be Expiation of Sins or a full Satisfaction for Sins which truly is not made known to us but by Faith and the Operation of the Holy Spirit Here you see this Famous Doctor evacuates your charging it to be an Antinomian Heresie to say in foro Dei there never was Guilt on the Elect in respect of God's Righteous Judgment and to make good your Charge I hope you will not call him an Heterodox Apochryphal Antinomian §. XXVI His fifth Heresie he charges as Antinomian is that Vnion to Christ is before Faith at least Naturâ and we partake of the Spirit by vertue of that Vnion It is to admiration that this firm solid Truth should be called Heresie Can any thing be more clear than that Faith is a Fruit of Union to Christ unless it be a dead Faith Can a Branch bring out Grapes before it is united to the Vine Christ Jesus Doth he not say Without me you can do nothing I would ask whence can a living Faith come but from Vnion to Jesus Christ Can it spring out of corrupt Nature and so bring us to Christ A dead Branch may be tyed to the Vine but a living Branch grows out of the Vine The Apostle was of the mind that Christ first takes hold of us before we can by Faith take hold of him according to Phil. 3.12 I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus Here he was first apprehended of Christ as Dr. Manton told us well at Pinners-Hall and from thence infer'd as well he might that all that partake of Christ are first apprehended of him and so he unites himself to them before they can act Faith on him which is their apprehending him They must make Christians to be Monsters that make them to live as Members of Christ by Faith before they are united to him How can a Man possibly that is dead in Sins by Nature come to believe in Christ unless Christ comes first and quickens him by uniting himself to the Soul Hence the Apostle said It pleased God to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1.16 Till then he was a zealous persecuting Pharisee and could have not only called all Christ's Disciples Antinomians but have slaughtered them too as some now slay their Names but when Christ took hold of him and God revealed his Son in him then he conferred not with Flesh and Blood but in the way that they counted Heresie he worshipped the God of his Fathers believing what is written Acts 24.14 The second Adam is the quickening Spirit and quickens all his Seed before they can live You who were dead in Sins hath he quickned Sure here was Union of Christ to them thereby quickening them when dead in Sins before they could put forth any living Act of
Spirit concurring with our Spirits therein See the Assemblies Catechism §. XXIX The like sort of Heresie to this last we find well spoken to by Famous Pemble in his Treatise of Grace and Faith in fol. 22 to prove God's being reconciled to the Elect before they believe and so to take off the Clamour from Dr. Crisp as if it were Antinomian Heresie to say we believe that we may be justified declaratively Mr. Pemble argues solidly thus Now that God doth actually love the Elect before they are regenerate or can actually believe may appear thus 1. Where God is actually reconciled he actually loves but with the Elect before they actually believe God is actually reconciled therefore he loves them before their Faith The Minor is evident because before they are born a full Satisfaction and Atonement is made by Christ and accepted on God's part whereon actual Reconciliation must needs follow He was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World 2. If God did actually love the Elect before Christ's time when an actual Reconciliation was not made then much more may he actually love the Elect after the Atonement is really made by Christ's Death even before they do believe it The former is true by the Salvation of the Patriarchs therefore the latter may not well be denyed 3. Election Vocation and Faith are Fruits of God's Love to the Elect which Graces he bestows on them because he loves them Now I argue If God loved his Elect from Eternity and this Love neither increaseth nor diminisheth as in God as Mr. Pemble saith anon then it is plain that in the Righteous Judgment of God foro Dei there was never any Guilt on them after they were delighted in by Christ For God doth not take a Sinner by the Hand that is the same as he may be said not to love guilty Souls but he doth take the Elect by the Hand from Eternity As they are chosen in Christ from Eternity so they were delighted in by Christ from Eternity therefore the Elect as Elect are not guilty in the sight of God For if they were how should they be delighted in from Eternity as having Grace given them in Christ by the Father from Eternity 2 Tim. 1.9 and Prov. 8. §. XXX And now my hand is in with Mr. Pemble and because the Rebuker and others may if the Lord please see their Mistake in their hard Censure on Dr. Crisp and others to say 't is Heretical for them to say That Justification is before Faith I shall a little inlarge on this eighth Heresie 'T is well known Mr. Pemble was no Antinomian yet he saith in concurrence with Dr. Twiss and Dr. Crisp thus In foro Divino in God's sight Justification goeth before our Sanctification for even whilst the Elect are unconverted they are then actually justified and freed from all Sin by the Death of Christ and God having accepted of that Satisfaction is actually reconciled to them 2. There is Justification in foro Conscientiae in our sense which is but the revelation and certain declaration of God's former secret Act of accepting Christ's Righteousness to our Justification And why is not the out-cry of Heresie against this Good Man who asserts so plainly the actual Justification in God's sight before the Conversion of the Elect and that the Justification in our Consciences is but the revelation and declaration of the former secret Justification before God §. XXXI To the like purpose is the Confession of the Assembly at Westminster on the Article of Justification which saith Christ by his Obedience and Death did fully discharge the Debt of all those that are justified Here our Sins are called a Debt which our Rebuker makes a dangerous word and here this Debt is fully discharged when even at Christ's Death And if so then I argue with the Apostle if the Debt was discharged then Who can lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect either of Sin or Guilt It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again Sure this was no Antinomian Assembly yet they make the Debt discharged at Christ's Death §. XXXII But Mr. Pemble goes farther in this Point and saith That Faith doth not precede Participation with Christ appears 1 Our Sanctification wrought by the Spirit conveys Life and Grace into our Souls when we are void of Faith and before 't is ask'd 2. Our Justification in God's sight which was long before we were born is purchas'd for us by Christ 'T is vain to think with the Armenian That Christ's Merits only made God PLACABILEM not Placatum no the Ransom is paid and accepted all the Sins are actually pardoned this grand Transaction between God and the Mediator Jesus Christ was dispatch'd in Heaven before we had a Being yet the Benefit of it was ours and belonged to us at that time though we never knew so much till after that by Faith we apprehended it As Lands may be settled on an Infant though he knew nothing of it till he come of Age. O! what clear Testimony is here to convince the Neonomians that besides express Scripture those that the Rebuker calls Antinomians have very good Company going with them §. XXXIII Here I cannot omit from the word Placabilem to reflect on what one of the Deserters of Pinners-hall Lecture well known to the Rebuker said there about April 1693 not without great Trouble to some of the Auditory That Christ's Death was to make God PLACABLE As rank Arminianism as can be which was well answered there the sixth of June 1693 by Worthy Mr. Lawrence though the same Person was never answered there as I heard to a worse piece of Arminianism that he uttered there to the Scandal of Pinners-Hall viz. That Adam ' s first Sin was not ours or We did not Sin that first Sin that Sin only corrupted our Nature Which is clean contrary to the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom all Sinned Rom. 5.12 Now we may no longer wonder to see such Persons Symbolize with and be Champions for unsound Mr. Williams who holds That more than the Elect may be Saved Witness these words of his by way of Scorn to his Opposers in his Appendix to Gospel Truth stated It is not enough saith Mr. Williams that we own that Christ absolutely redeemed the Elect so as to purchase saving Graces as well as Benefits to be infallibly theirs unless we add that all others are in state of Devils as having no real offers of Life on Gospel terms Nor is their Salvation possible if they will Repent and Believe Here he holds it possible that others besides the Elect may Repent and Believe and so their Salvation is possible Nay herein Antisozzo whom my Dear Kratiste hath a great value for doth partly coalesce in Page 103 saying When God gave the Promise to the common Parent of Mankind there was a possibility in the thing that that means of Salvation might have been derived to all those Rivulets
into which his Posterity should be sub-divided If it was not I conceive the Fault was theirs not God's as if it would have been a Fault in God if he did not give means for all to be Saved when they had Damned themselves Thus Antisozzo has in a manner laid Salvation open in common to Elect and Non-elect to Vessels before of old ordained to Condemnation Jude 4. as well as to Vessels of Mercy for whom the Kingdom was prepared from the Foundation of the World Matt. 25 directly contrary to the Confession of the Assembly which they both have Subscribed though I find not that they ever recanted this Expression The Assembly say on the Point of God's Decree directly that none but the Elect can be Saved thus These Angels and Men their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be increased or diminished neither are any other redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only For the proof of which they quote 2 Tim. 2.19 John 13.18 17.9 6.64 65. 10.26 Rom. 8.28 I lay down my Life for the sheep and ye Pharisees ye believe not because ye are not my sheep Thus these great Men have asserted and this our Neonomians subscribe to in order to deceive the Simple to believe they are Orthodox when here 't is visible how Heterodox these two great Contenders for the New Law are plainly deviating from the Assembly in allowing a Possibility for the Non elect to be Saved But I beg for them the Mercy of God to give them the Eye-salve of his Spirit to shew them their Mistake §. XXXIV The Ninth and Tenth Heresies are scarce worth mentioning they being only some curtailed Expressions that the Antagonists to the Free Grace of God in his eternal Love to poor Sinners in Christ do take from the Writings of some of the Asserters of our Sins being fully done away by the Death of our Lord Jesus and from thence this Pharisaical Spirit quarrels at them and charges them for laying a ninth Heresie It is denied that God requires Faith as an indispensible Qualification in them whom he will Justifie by Christ's Merits How this is worded by his Antinomians he mentions not whether they deny Faith indispensibly in Infants or Lunaticks or no So that this Quarrel needs little answer seeing they know that we are as much for Faith as themselves if not more as it excludes Works in the Point of Justification but not for Faith to take the Crown off from the Head of Jesus and it self to wear the Honour of Saving us in whole or in part §. XXXV Such another is his Tenth Heresie All that a Believer can pray for is the farther Manifestation of Pardon for he knows that all his Sins are pardoned This is a manifest Breach of Charity for he knows they pray for more and though they may at some Seasons have full Assurance of being accepted in the Beloved Jesus wherein they see all their Sins were done away in his Blood when he to Sanctifie the People Suffered without the Gate Whereupon they upon Believing cry Glory to him who hath loved them and washed them from their Sins with his Blood Yet they daily pray for fresh Discoveries of the same which as to their Consciences is a Fresh Pardon or renewing of Pardon I hope my Dear Kratiste will not deny That by one Offering he hath for ever perfected those that are Sanctified and that he Sanctified the People with his own Blood when he Suffered without the Gate If so then all successive Pardons upon fresh Acts of Faith are only the Clearing up of Pardon to the Conscience that there should be no more Conscience of Sin Whereas the Grand Pardon in the Court of Heaven was as Mr. Pemble says when Christ was delivered for our Offences and raised for our Justification which is not manifest to the Conscience till Faith comes And thus this Heresie vanishes having only left us a Testimony that the Neonomians do Boggle in the point of Pardon and would hook in our Faith to be a Joynt-Saviour with Christ by being a procurer of Pardon rather than a Manifestation of it §. XXXVI It is an Amazement his 11th Heresie which is this A Believer is to work from Life and not for Life For answer If a Man be a Believer he is a Living Member of Christ and so he Works from Life in Christ Sure then this cannot be the Heresie intended here to say he works from Life Then this is his Heresie That a Believer works not for Life But how can that be Heresie to say A Believer doth not work for Life when the word saith The Gift of God is Eternal Life Rom. 6.23 If it be Gift then it is not Work'd for by us do Men call that a Gift that is wrought for that is Wages Death indeed is wrought for by Sin for the Wages of Sin which is in our best Works is Death but Life is the Free Gift of God How then can it be called Heresie to say A Believer works not for Life Antisozzo was once of another Mind I find but the Rebuker does well to conceal his Name for to call this Heresie must needs cast a sad Reflection What more substantial Truth is there than that a Believer works from Life and not to gain Life by his Works Whither shall we run if we do not maintain this for Truth That a Believer works not that he by his good Works might procure to himself Eternal Life No but he works from a Divine Principle of Life in him that he may glorifie God for the Gift of Eternal Life through his Son Jesus Christ O! how true is that of Luther Every Man hath a Pope in his Belly and how ready are we to run into the Dregs of Popery to Work for Life §. XXXVII The Twelfth is 'T is Heresie to say It 's a great Truth that God sees no Sin in a Believer I hope it is a great Truth and no Heresie that God saith I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy Transgressions and as a Cloud thy Sins Isa 44.22 And if blotted out it is to shew that God doth not see them And if God saith He has cast them into the Depth of the Sea and he has cast them behind his Back and he will remember them no more Is it not the same thing as not to see them And doth he not say He hath not beheld Iniquity in Jacob not but that they had Iniquity enough but when their Sins are covered with the Robe the fine white Linnen of Christ's Righteousness then it may be said without Imputation of Heresie 't is a great Truth and a Blessed one that God sees no Sin in a Believer Sure my Dear Kratiste had strangely forgot himself to call this glorious Truth a Heresie §. XXXVIII The Thirteenth Sin can do no real hurt to a Believer Answer If as Sin abounds Grace much more abounds which
Spirit Could she and Christ be one Spirit Could she have the Comeliness of Christ upon her and not appear in his Person How could her Name as well as his be the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 33.16 23.6 if she did not take upon her the Person and Condition of Christ Or how else could she be called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 O that we did more taste the Sweetness and Comfort of this Relation and Condition every day then instead of calling it uncooth and novel we should give Glory to God for his Infinite Rich Grace to marry us to his Son Jesus and be ravished with his amazing Love to make such vile Creatures as we are in our selves in whose Flesh as the Apostle saith in Rom. 7. dwells no good thing that we should be Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones which is to take his Person and Condition with a witness What new coyned business is it to say Christ and Believers are one that they take his Person and he theirs when the Scripture so frequently speaks of I in them and they in me I the Surety they the Discharged I standing in their stead taking their Sins on me and so sustaining their Persons Thus they taking his Person and Condition are made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 O that we could well conceive and receive this that we could feed and feast on this Marrow and Fatness of the Gospel every day and drink deep draughts of this Unsearchable Rich Grace of God then we should adore his Goodness and not call it a Monster or a wild monstrous Sense this Change of Persons §. LXVII For the Conclusion the Rebuker is pleased to leave the dreadful Tail of his wild Monster in his Comment on the Doctor 's Scripture Assertion in these words And now you have it that Change of Persons which the Doctor affirms and Mr. Williams denies which had he not he had denied his Redeemer and betrayed the Gospel Here 's a deadly Sting in this Tail a very malignant one for it is neither better nor worse than to say the Doctor by his wild monstrous Sense of the Change of Persons has denyed his Redeemer and betrayed the Gospel Bona verba easily and dangerously enough said but not at all proved I am sure he that denies Christ being made of God Sin for us very Sin not the shadow or shell of Sin and that denies our being made the Righteousness of God the very Righteousness of God-Man Jesus Christ in him he by having our very Sins laid on him he therein sustaining our Persons and we by having his very Righteousness imputed to us and being upon us whereby we stand in his Person and appear Righteous in the sight of God as he is Righteous as being cloathed with his Righteousness he is the denyer of Christ and betrayer of the Gospel nay he wholly evacuates and exinanitiates the Gospel For what Benefit can we have by Christ's Death if our Sins were not made his and laid on him and he made Sin for us Or by his Righteousness if it be not made ours given to us and we appear in it in and through Jesus Christ before God How could the Apostle say of any Man 1 John 3.7 He is Righteous as God is Righteous but by his believing in Christ where his Faith is accounted to him for Righteousness As Abraham's Faith justified him not his Act of Faith barely but the Act taking in the Object of it viz. Christ's Righteousness and so he truly doth Righteousness that believes in the Lord Jesus his Righteousness and Strength and thus doing Righteousness he becomes Righteous as he is Righteous and to deny this is to betray the Gospel in order to bring in our own Righteousness to joyn it with Christs as it were by the Works of the Law Rom. 9.32 Or how are we accepted in the Beloved if we do not appear in his Person before God and so sustain his Person Is this a denying Christ and betraying the Gospel O that God would anoint Mens Eyes with the Collirium the Eye-Salve of the Spirit then they would be able to bear the light of the Glory of God as it shines on and in poor Creatures in the Face of Christ to make Righteous as he is Righteous and not dazzle them to make them call this betraying the Gospel §. LXVIII It may do well for all Calumniators to consider the Judgment that God inflicted on the Children at Bethel that mock'd Elisha saying Come up thou bald Head Come up thou bald Head which is a thousand times less detracting than to say thou denyer of Christ and betrayer of the Gospel whereupon there came out of the Forest two She-Bears and tare in pieces 42 of them Which was a far less Judgment than what God has inflicted on some to leave them to write against the Truth and thereby to harden themselves and grieve the Godly So far as the Rebuker has dipt his Pen in Gall in this kind I only say The Lord rebuke thee Is not this a Brand pluck'd out of the Fire What! call a faithful fervent Servant of our Lord Jesus the Air of whose Sermons carries such a favour of Love and Honour to our Lord Jesus and such a Zeal for Holiness that his very Enemies even Mr. Williams could say he believed he was a Holy Man I say for my Dear Kratiste to call such an one A wild monstrous denyer of his Redeemer and betrayer of the Gospel has a dismal Aspect as if God had left such if not to the hardening their Heart against the Truth yet to such an high towering Opinion of themselves in order to the greater humbling them that for their falling into such contemptuous Language they may be made contemptible by some sharp Pen. We read that Michael when contending with the Devil about the Body of Moses he durst not bring a railing Accusation against him but said The Lord rebuke thee And so I beseech the Lord in Mercy to do to all that call the Advancers of Free Grace in Christ by such virulent Names as we have seen §. LXIX In Page 41 our Dear Kratiste seems mighty angry with the Reporter Mr. L. for saying It 's impossible to establish the Doctrine of Justification on its true and proper Basis any otherwise than by clearing the Point of Commutation of Persons And yet the Rebuker himself owns this to be Articulus stantis vel cadentis Ecclesiae Then sure it ought to be cleared And how can that be That the Holy Innocent Jesus should be made Sin and the Unholy the Nocent Sinners should be made the Righteousness of God but by a Commutation of Persons He standing in our stead being our Surety sustaining our Persons on the Cross suffering for us as Calvin Luther Twiss Pemble Harris with a multitude more do affirm whom the Rebuker will own to be of the First Form of Learned Holy Divines not Apocryphal Tobiases and we
28.16 Is not that our Lord Jesus of whom the Apostle saith Other Foundation can no Man lay And Christ saith On this Rock I will build my Church And shall we now have this Egg laid That our good Works are the Foundation to the building us up unto Glory Sure this rotten Egg can never be endured in the Nostrils of any good Christian The first is like it as one Egg can be to another That our good Works have the same respect to Glory that the Seed hath to the Harvest Now every one knows that the Harvest grows immediately from the Seed and if we had no Harvest of Glory but what grows out of the Seed of our Works it would be a very dark dunghil Glory for our best Righteousness as to getting us Glory is but as menstruous Rags But for our Comfort the Scripture saith One sows and another reaps Christ hath in Infinite Grace sowed his Body as a grain of Wheat in the Earth John 12.24 out of which all our Glory must grow O how contrary is his Assertion to the whole Gospel which saith We are saved by Grace and not of Works lest any Man should boast Our Glory is so far from being the Harvest of our Works that the Apostle saith He hath saved us not according to our Works of Righteousness which we have done 2. Tim. 1.9 Neither for our Works nor according to them O how sad is it that my Dear Kratiste should by his Hand together with Forty Eight more midwife this rotten Egg into the World The third is of the same brood That Glory is the Wages of our Works which is diametrically opposite to the Apostle who wholly excludes Works saying in Rom. 11.6 If it be by Grace it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace But if it be of Works it is no more of Grace And the Apostle concludes to the shame of self-justiciaries Rom. 3.27 Where is boasting then it is excluded By what Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith So that Mr. Williams must not lay this Egg at the Apostle's Gate it being as rotten an one as any in the whole Council of Trent But one dash of the Rebuker's Pen That he hath accounted for what he hath written by subscribing the Assemblies Confession shall cleanse him from all whereas his subscribing that without his recanting this is but like some of the Clergy in Antisozzo that snatch up the Pen to subscribe the Articles of the Church of England and to their shame immediately preach against some of them in advancing Man's Free-will in opposition to God's Free Irresistible Grace and denying particular Election and the like For which we may mourn and say Proh Dolor §. XCIX It is not to be unminded how the Rebuker slides off the three first Conditions on which Mr. Williams his acceptance was to be grounded which are these If he concur in the Doctrine of Justification and the Change of Persons between Christ and Believers and Christ's undergoing the Father's displeasure for our Sins These he saith in 58 I will not mention to save Time and Paper A great Husband of Time and Paper But would not Time and Paper have been better imployed by far in setting these three Points in a true Light than to talk of whaffling Whelps and rotten Eggs I fear there are greater Reasons than to save Time and Paper that he waves them It being judged by many from his Writings that he is not extraordinary tight in the Point of Justification and therefore being conscious thereof he might not be free to expose himself by declaring his Judgment therein as to the Conditionality of Faith and New Obedience and how far our Works have any concern in our Justification notwithstanding the Scripture saith We are justified freely by his Grace And it may justly be suspected that he who could say We did not sin Adam 's Sin so denying the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might as well say That that Sin of his was not ours and so we not concerned in it so as to be condemned for it And thence might as well say that Christ's Righteousness which he performed in obeying and suffering the Law is not ours it was only wrought for our Good and so we not justified by God's imputing it to us but that we have only the Effects of it or this is the main viz. Pardon of our Sins if we repent and believe and walk in holy Obedience and so continue to the end of our Lives thereby denying assurance till the last breath and then for the sake of Christ's Righteousness on our sincere performance of our Duty we shall have Heaven and Happiness as his Gospel-Truth stated and before him Mr. R. B. But if this be current how can the Scripture be true that we are justified freely by his Grace and that we are justified by his Blood that he was raised for our Justification without one word of our Gospel-Obedience concurring thereto it being not according to Works of Righteousness which we have done And whereas the Word saith we are justified by Faith all sound Protestants the Assemblies Confession and the Doctrine of the Church of England do uno ore with one mouth agree that it is not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere it is not our Act of Faith justifies us but the Object of Faith that Righteousness of Christ which he wrought out for us which we lay hold on and receive by Faith It is that Righteousness made ours given to us by God and reckoned by God to us which alone doth justifie us on which account it is said It is God that justifies Rom. 8. But this my Kratiste waves lest he should bewray it is feared some halting in this as the Reporter saith he has done in the Point of Christ's Satisfaction Or else if he be right in it himself and if he had declared it he must have left his Friend Mr. D. W. in the Ditch who is sadly tardy in this case §. C. As to his second Point that he waves The Change of Persons between Christ and Believers this he might be allowed for he had said enough and too much of that in ridiculing it before with Christ's wearing a Mask a Vizor c. when he bare the Persons of the Elect in himself For which I beseech the Lord to give him Repentance and Pardon §. CI. But as to the third of Christ's bearing the Father's displeasure for our Sins he having said little or nothing of that before it might have been expected he should have said somewhat of it now if it had been only to confirm his Friend Mr. Williams who had abused the Doctor when he took the Doctor to task about it But this is so fully handled by Dr. Chancy and such full Evidence brought in by him of our Lord Jesus his undergoing the displeasure of God and sustaining the Wrath of God for our Sins when by God himself they were laid upon him
run very clear Streams from the Fountain of Israel and they as I quoted before out of the first part of the Sermon of Salvation are wonderful clear for such a Change as the Doctor affirms and Mr. Williams denies saying So that Christ is now the Righteousness of all them that truly do believe in him He for them paid their Ransom by his Death he for them fulfilled the Law in his Life so that now IN HIM and BY HIM every true Christian Man may be called a fulfiller of the Law This Golden Sentence which might be for an Ornament in Gold Letters in every House in England doth fully vindicate to a Tittle Dr. Crisp's Change of Persons Christ himself is their Righteousness he paid Ransom for them they were fulfillers of the Law in him and by him What can be more full to the Point I hope the Bishop will not charge these great Men the Composers of this Sermon as he has done the Doctor with an imaginary unproved Change §. CLI One word more to the Bishop's Argument to prove that it is but an imaginary Notion to think that we are compleatly Righteous by the Righteousness of Christ without any act of ours which Argument of his is in these words I could easily prove that in all the Transactions between God and Mankind some Conditions were required on our side in order to his favour So it was in the State of Innocency so it continued after Man's Fall as it appears by those words of God to Cain If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted if thou dost not well Sin lyeth at the door Gen. 4.7 'T is strange so great a Man should offer so weak an Argument to argue from a state of Innocency or from the state of Reprobate Cain or from the Covenant of Works what belongs to the Elect under the Covenant of Grace and under the Gospel where Works and Grace are made opposite Terms If of Works then no more of Grace saith the Apostle Was not Abel first accepted and then his Offering Is not the first Promise all of Grace He Christ shall bruise thine the Devil's Head And is not the last Promise the like Whoever will let him take of the Water of Life freely But by the Bishop's Doctrine a clever way is made to overthrow the whole Gospel To you is born a Saviour and to subvert the Orthodox Doctrine of the Church of England at once by bringing from the Dead the Covenant of Works to be saved by our doing well and not by Christ's doing and dying for us Whereas Abel's Sacrifice was accepted he himself being first accepted and his Sacrifice being offered in Faith but Cain and his Sacrifice rejected being not offered in Faith not looking to Jesus alone for Salvation by him The Bishop seems to run counter diametrically against the Apostle who argues strenuously Not of Works of no sort kind or degree lest any boast and by the Deeds of the Law shall no Flesh he justified He sums it up in Eph. 2. By Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Not of Works lest any boast And Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Thus the Scripture is plain against this Argument of the Bishop That our performing of Conditions must be in order to gain God's Favour §. CLII. Then for the Doctrine of the Church see what that saith of Conditions or of any Works of ours to gain God's Favour In the second Sermon of Salvation the good Christians of those days that were singed by the Popish Fires in Queen Maries days they tell us So that the true understanding this Doctrine That we be justified by Faith freely without Works or that we be justified by Faith in Christ only is not that this our own Act to believe in Christ or this our Faith in Christ which is within us doth justifie us A Sentence fit to be ingraven in every Church in England in order to take Men from trusting to their Repentance or good Works The like again is in the same Sermon as followeth We must renounce the Merit of Faith Hope Charity and all other Vertues and good Deeds And we must trust only in God's Mercy and that Sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus once offered As great and as goodly a Vertue as lively Faith is yet it putteth us from it self and remitteth and appointeth us unto Christ for to have only by him Remission of our Sins Observe these Eminent Stars of the first Magnitude in the Heaven of that Church of Old they are so far from bringing in our Repentance Charity and good Deeds or any act of ours to obtain Favour with God which the Bishop pleads for that they exclude Faith it self as having any hand in justifying us any farther than as it remitteth us to Christ But alas how is our Gold become Dross How are our great Men fallen from the Pure Primitive Doctrines of the Church of England And though they live splendidly by subscribing to these Doctrines yet in their Preaching and Writing they miserably warp as here in part from them Witness the setting up some Acts of ours to be done in order to obtain God's Favour And because God treated with Adam on account of Do and live therefore 't is supposed monstrously that Men when dead in Sins must work for Life or as the Bishop The Ministry of Reconciliation in St. Paul is wholly founded on Conditions on our side which he calls Acts of ours and may as well be called our good Works And all this because the Apostle pray'd them to be reconciled to God which cannot well be construed to be more than to pray them to accept the Reconciliation which God had made of Sinners to himself by Christ at his Death For if as the Apostle saith God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself then the Work was done when Christ cryed out on the Cross It is finished And if the word of Reconciliation was committed to the Apostles to publish to the World the Reconciliation that God had made of Sinners to himself by Christ what could his Embassadors mean in praying Sinners to be reconciled to God but to accept of what he had mentioned before of the act done long before viz. That God had reconciled Sinners to himself by Christ and to let them know that they were some of the reconciled ones if they would accept thereof and take these Waters of Life freely and so accept the Exhortation as Titus did 2 Cor. 8.17 §. CLIII O! how sad is it to eclipse the glorious Gospel Truth That our Sins were laid by God on Christ as the Doctor insists on it while the Bishop is pleased to load it with such very bad Consequences as might deter the weak and unconsidering from believing the plainest Positions in the Scripture viz. That the Lord laid on him the Iniquity of us all and he bare
absolutely free If some poor Souls have not power to put forth clear direct Acts of Faith on the Lord Jesus for Righteousness and Life by him if they have strong desires after him and hunger and thirst after his Righteousness to be fed with it as their alone true Food shall they not be filled Though their fears make them cry out of their Unbelief I hope my Dear Kratiste doth not intend that his Thorny Hedge as he called it about God's Justice that this shall keep such out No if you will put your Thorny Briars before him in the way of his Free Salvation to poor miserable lost Sinners that come to him in the Name of the Lord Jesus he will pass through and burn them up Isa 27.4 §. LXXXII But methinks our Hedger has left a wide gap open which I overlook'd in page 46 where he makes light of a Surety of our Lord Jesus his paying our Debts as our Surety and bids us have a care of that notion at least not to insist so strictly upon it For which instead of Scripture he quotes one that he calls a Learned Author probably Mr. Baxter saying thus None need think themselves obliged to maintain that Opinion That Christ paid a rigid and proper Satisfaction for the Sins of Men under the Notion of a Debt And why forsooth because the Socinians Arguments are level'd against it This Learned Man might say the like concerning the Notion of Christ being God Essential because the Socinians Arguments are alike level'd against that Notion But what saith Kratiste of this Arminian Caution against the rigid and proper Satisfaction of Christ for the Sins of Men under the Notion of a Debt He saith thus I wish I were worthy to advise this confident Man Mr. Lob not to insist so strictly on that Notion of a Debt and Debtor And on that occasion he brings in his Learned nameless Author O how would some Men triumph over an Antagonist to have him under Correction as the Rebuker seems here to be But I lament over him Some Persons question his owning Christ's making a full proper Satisfaction I wish that he had not given too much occasion by such passages as these not to insist so strictly on it that Christ paid a rigid proper Satisfaction for Sins What he means by so strictly I know not but I am sure we cannot be too strict in insisting on Christ's proper Satisfaction This so strictly seems at first only to loosen the stake in the Hedge and by and by it must be pulled up and Satisfaction must be evacuated For if Christ did not make a full proper and that which they may call a rigid Satisfaction then he made not a compleat Satisfaction and if not a compleat one then how is it called Satisfaction O! why should we not insist strictly on that which is one of the most comfortable Notions in all the Book of God in all the Revelation of Grace by Jesus Christ That our Lord Jesus paid our Debts Why doth our Lord Jesus bid us pray to the Father to forgive us our Debts if he had not made Satisfaction to the Father and paid them Would you have God forgive our Debts without receiving Satisfaction That 's Socinian Language indeed and you pretend to be much against them But it must not be a Pecuniary Debt you say Who ever said our Debts to God were Pecuniary that is That we owe God so much in Mill'd Money or in Guineas Yet we may and do owe God that which is a better Coyn than any ever made in the Tower and that is perfectly Pure Holy Spiritual Heavenly Obedience to his Holy Law and we owe God Satisfaction for our Disobedience to the same And tho' Leather Farthings or Copper may go in some poor Kingdoms as Shells in Guyny go for Money and in richer Kingdoms the chief Payments are in Gold and Silver yet in the Kingdom of Heaven no Payment passes there but perfect spotless Obedience and is not that as much a Debt to God as any Pecuniary Debt between Man and Man And who ever paid that but our Lord Jesus in his doing and dying for us But why not insist on that Notion of a Debt and Debtor May we not without a Rebuke insist on that which Christ insists upon in Matth. 5.25 26. He insists strictly on a proper rigid Satisfaction there and saith Agree with thine Adversary quickly lest he at any time deliver thee to the Judge c. Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost Farthing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last Farthing plainly shewing that God will never abate a Sinner one Farthing that has not agreed by the way that has not fled to Christ his Surety who hath paid to the last Farthing And this we may be sure of God never made a Composition with Christ to take Ten Shillings in the Pound for our Debts no nor Nineteen Shillings and Eleven Pence Three Farthings for it is said plainly in Rom. 8. God spared not his Son no not one Farthing Therefore 't is Socinian Language I conceive to prohibit Mens looking to Christ as satisfying for us under the Notion of a Debt and Debtor This puts me in mind of Christ's Speech and sweet Rebuke to Peter which I hope may have a sweet influence on our Rebuker for his Caution Simon I have somewhat to say to thee Luke 7.40 There was a certain Creditor had two Debtors the one ought five hundred Pence the other fifty Will any one say now that our Debt to God must not come under the Notion of a Pecuniary Debt when in these two Instances from the Lips of our Lord Jesus nothing is more plain than that God makes use of this Notion Why then should we be cautioned against it I must confess my self much ashamed that my Dear Kratiste should be found thus in the Camp of the Enemies of our Lord Jesus who would not have us insist strictly on a rigid proper Satisfaction O whether shall we drive if we let loose this sheet Anchor of the Gospel The Ship will split in a thousand pieces and the Arminians and Socinians will run away with all the broken pieces but not have one plank to carry them safe ashore O! let us never let go this Notion of Christ our Suâ—ety paying our Debt Doth not our Lord Jesus set it off with wonderful Consolation to all that truly believe in him by saying He came not to be ministred to but to minister and to give his Life a Ransom for many What is a Ransom but the paying a Debt that is agreed upon for the redeeming a Slave Now this Debt our Lord Jesus paid or else it could not be said to be a Ransom So that 't is no hazardous Thing but a strong Duty for us to insist on Christ's Satisfaction under the Notion of a Debt §. LXXXIII And O that my Dear Kratiste and the Neonomian Brethren would or could return to the simplicity