And tells us P. 612. Our first coming to Christ is as a Coach is said to come to Town when it is but drawn to Town I shall make no further Remark on this than tell thee the Doctor distinguisheth not between what we are abstracted from the Spirit 's Influence and what we are by the Spirit 's Influence VVe are passive in effectual Vocation as that is God's Act on us but even then no Violence is offered to the VVill for the Mind dictates what it chooseth freely Under this healing VVork and that passiveness is not our coming to Christ but by the Effect of God's Act on the Mind and VVill we consent to the Call and that is our first coming and thereby we receive Christ and not before He is not forced on us but accepted from a Light that commends and a VVill that desires him VVhereas we come not a step whiles we do refuse and reject him Though I wonder why he speaks of any first coming against our VVills when his Principle is that we are united to Christ at latest in the Moment of Conception in the VVomb CHAP. XII Of Justification by Faith with a Digression about Repentance TRUTH I Have spoken of Justifying Righteousness chap. 7. Though Faith be no way a Meritorious Cause of a Sinner's Justification yet God hath promised to Justifie all such as truly Believe and requires Faith as an indispensible Qualification in all whom he will Justifie for Christ's Merits declaring That Unbelief shall not only hinder Mens knowing that they are Justified but that it is a bar to any Person 's being Justified while he continues an Unbeliever Reader Note 1. There is a Righteousness for which a Man is Justified This is only Christ's Righteousness This is the Foundation of the Promise and the Merit of the Blessing promised Nothing can add to it or mingle with it it 's sufficient and alone sufficient to satisfie Justice atone for Guilt and merit Acceptance and Life 2. There 's to be considered what the Condition of the Person is whom this Mercy is promised to He is one that hath this Grace of true Faith and exerts it into Act. This Grace is also required and commanded as indispensibly necessary to the Participation of Forgiveness Christ's Righteousness shall not be imputed to this use unless we believe And nothing shall hinder our Title to this Benefit if we do believe in Christ for the Promise is inviolable And this Faith being a Conformity to the Rule of the Promise some call it a Subordinate Righteousness not meaning any Righteousness for which Sin is forgiven for it 's Christ's Righteousness alone for which God Justifies us but it 's our answering that Rule by which Christ applieth his Righteousness for our Remission and a Right to Life and his Promise is the Ground of our Title Having premised these things for Explication of the Truth I proceed ERROUR The whole use of Faith in Justification is only to manifest that we were Justified before and Faith is no way necessary to bring a Sinner into a Justified State nor at all useful to that End Proved that this is the Dr's Opinion The Doctor p. 85. puts this Objection Is not Believing required to the Justification of the Ungodly Answ. An ungodly Person after he is Justified doth Believe But you will say It is an Act of Christ by Faith Ans. Then Christ doth not Justifie alone c. Nay I say more Christ doth Justifie a Person before he Believes c. He cannot believe that which is not and if he be not Justified before he Believes it he believeth that which is false but he is first Justified before he Believes then he believes that he is Justified The Doctor then asks But what doth Faith serve for He answers It serves for the Manifestation of that Justification which Christ put upon a Person by himself alone P. 86. We do not Believe that we may be Justified but because we are Justified P. 578. God doth add never a tittle of Pardon it self more to him that is a Believer than to that Person not yet converted to the Faith c. P. 597. I say Faith as it takes hold of Christ's Righteousness it doth not bring this Righteousness of Christ to the Soul but doth only declare the Presence of that Righteousness that was there even before Faith was He in that Page denies Faith to be so much as an Instrumental Cause of Justification In very many places he declares We are not Virtually but Actually Justified before Faith If thou ask when he thinks the Elect are Justified The Doctor tells us It 's from Eternity at Christ's death and the latest time is before we are born See p. 101 255 361 362 616 c. See more ch 1 2 3 11. Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not Whether Faith or any Grace be a jot of the meriting Righteousness for which we are Justified 2. Nor Whether Faith or any Grace add any thing to the Value of Christ's Merits These I deny yea I add That if Christ's Righteousness could be applied for Pardon to the vilest Sinner before he Believes it would Justifie him but God hath declared it shall not be applied to Unbelievers 3. Nor Whether we are Justified the same moment as we truly Believe in Christ and the Blessing is not suspended for any time longer This I affirm because God Justifies us by the Promise as his Instrument and this Promise declares that he will Justifie him that Believes It 's a Christ truly Believed in doth Justifie us and a Christ so Believed on cannot but Justifie us 4. Nor Whether an elect Person once Justified shall by Christ's care be kept in a Justified state 5. Nor Whether God hath decreed That the Elect shall certainly Believe and so be Justified 6. Nor Whether True Faith be an Infallible Sign of Justification These four last I do affirm Wherein the Real Difference is 1. Whether we are Justified before we Believe This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether the Use of Faith in Justification be only to manifest our Justification which we personally had before This the Doctor affirms and I deny and add That Faith Justifies us by receiving Christ and therein answers the Ordination of God who hath promised to Justifie the Believer by the Application of Christ's Righteousness in this gracious Effect of it upon the guilty Soul The Truth Confirmed What I have said chap. 1. Of the State of the Elect and chap. 11. Of the Necessity of Faith to Union with Christ and chap. 3 4 10. render Enlargement needless Yet I shall add 1. We are Justified by Faith is the common Language of the Holy Ghost Rom. 5. 1. Gal. 2. 16 c. What is it to be Justified by Faith if we are Justified before Faith It contributes to our being Justified or words express nothing in a case of the highest moment Rom. 3 20. God justifieth the Circumcision by Faith and the
Union with Christ as if we were One Natural Person with him His Difinition of the New Creature as if it stood only in our New Relation to Christ. P. 90. The strange difference he makes between the way of Salvation before Christ's time and since P. 254 255 256 258. Their Sins were pardoned on Condition of Doing not given for all Sins at once much Dust left and they were subject to Lashes for Sin but now the Covenant is contrary in all these respects How contrary to the Sense of the Assembly and Elders at the Savoy ch 11. a. 6. The Justification of Believers under the Old Testament was in all these respects one and the same with the Justification of Believers under the New Testament He forgets that most of his Proofs be fetch'd from the Old Testament as Ezek. 16 c. Jacob loved in the Womb c. and seems not to distinguish the Covenant of Grace and that of Peculiarity But these with other Errours I pass by THE APPENDIX I Shall here repeat what I delivered in Pinners-Hall-Lecture which some Persons seemed greatly to resent and I leave it to any impartial Man to judge from what I have described as Dr. Crisp's Opinion whether I charged Men of his Persuasion with Falshood After I had fully acquitted Men of my Judgment from Pelagianism Socinianism and Arminianism which the Antinomians accuse us of I added with these Men It 's not enough that we hold That we were from Eternity elected to Grace and Glory unless we add That we were actually United to Christ and Justified from Eternity and in the Womb. It 's not enough that we say Christ did in the Covenant of Redemption undertake to save the Elect in his appointed way and time unless we add That there is no other Covenant for the Application of Christ's Benefits wherein God requires Faith and Repentance as the indispensible Means of our Pardon It is not enough 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 It will not please them that we affirm The Punishment of our Sins yea the Guilt of them as an Obligation to Punishment were laid upon Christ our Sponsor unless we add That our Sins themselves in their blot and filthiness were also transacted on Christ. It is not enough that we own That the Righteousness of Christ avails us as much as if it were personally our own yea was always intended for us and is so imputed to us as to be the Foundation of and Security for our Pardon and Right to Life and no Atonement for Sin or purchasing Price of Life can be demanded from us unless we also add That God esteemed us to have done and suffered what Christ did and suffered It sufficeth not that we say That we are Justified only by Christ's Merits as the sole procuring Cause or Righteousness for which we are Justified unless we deny That Faith and Repentance are the indispensibly required Conditions or Qualifications of those Persons to whom the Merits of Christ are applied for Justification It will not serve that we assert That Justifying Faith must be a Reliance on Christ as Priest and sole Atonement unless we deny That Faith must be also a fiducial Acceptance of a whole Saviour i. e. of Christ as Prophet Priest and King It 's not enough that we say We are upon Repenting and Believing put into a Justified state hefore any other Work unless we add That our Obedience to particular Precepts do not benefit us and that God doth not judicially approve of our sincere Actings as according to the Rule of the Gospel-Promises of those Benefits It is not enough that we say The absolute Promises are made to Christ for the be nefit of the Elect and pleadable by him unless we deny That the Gospel is an authoritative Command on Men to Believe and that under the Gospel-Sanction of Life and Death So that he that believes stall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned It will not please that we say That Christ purchased all Grace for us and by his Spirit worketh all Grace in us unless we add That he Believed Repented and did all for us so as we have nothing to do in order to Salvation It 's not sufficient that we own The Grace by which we do any Duty is from Christ and the Good promised to any Duty is for the sake of Christ unless we deny the ordained Connexion betwixt that Duty and that Benefit They say We set up Man's Righteousness if we tell Men that they must be holy and do good and take comfort therein as an Evidence of Grace and of their Title to Christ and as answering the Rule of the Gospel-Promises though we assert They must be Members of Christ and accepted through him or they cannot partake of any Saving Benefits thereby It is not right that we say God sees no Sin in Believers so as to cast them out of Covenant nor out of a Justified-state for it unless we add That God sees no Sin at all in them as theirs when they most offend It 's not enough that we affirm That Sin committed shall not eventually damn a Believer because he shall by the Spirit be brought to Repentance unless we add God is never angry with Believers for Sin nor ever corrects them as guilty of it With these we are Legal Preachers if we urge Faith and Repentance in order to Pardon though we declare that Faith and Repentance are the Gifts of Christ and Pardon is not the Effect of these Graces but of the Promise in the virtue of Christ's Blood or of his Blood applied for Forgiveness by the Promise We are Legal Preachers if we perswade to Holiness as the way of Salvation by the Ordination of Christ though we affirm that it is no way out of Christ nor but with a respect to Christ for whom it is accepted as what answers the Rule of the Gospel-Promise How are we decried as Legal if we urge Threatnings though as Motives to close with Christ and to walk in him Which being used to this end and the threatned Evil being avoidable on Gospel-Terms and pressed on fallen Man for his recovery they are Gospel and not Legal Threatnings It 's not enough That we assert and press Assurance unless we affirm That Justifying Faith is nothing but Assurance It 's not enough we say That we need the Spirit to discover to us our inherent Grace and to assist Conscience in it's Sentence That Grace is inherent unless we add That we must not try our State and conclude of it by Gospel-Marks of Sanctification but depend on an inward Voice of the Spirit saying Thy Sins are forgiven which we must believe if it agree but to the general Word viz. Christ came to save Sinners and believing this is all that Saving Faith the Gospel speaks of Herein I have in part described the state of the Case between them and us It 's true there are some small Differences among the Orthodox in Wording some of these things But shall we hereby give Advantage to such Errours as overturn the Gospel and Dominion of Christ under the abused Pretext of Exalting Christ and Free Grace Bear with this which for the sake of Christ and dying Religion I have ventur'd to declare not for the Irritation of any but the Edification of all especially some mistaken well-meaning People Conscience binds me not to palliate though I fore-see Reproach from some who would do well to remember the Caution the Spirit of God thought needful to such as boasted of a Faith without Works and still it appears too pertinent If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this man's rereligion is vain Jam. 2. 26. SOME General Heads THE Elect are Children of Wrath till effectually called Page 4 The filth of Sin not transacted on Christ p. 10 The Act of laying Sins on Christ is not the discharge of the Elect p. 17 Mens Sins their own and not Christ's Sins p. 25 Our Sins laid on Christ before he was nailed to the Cross p. 29 Christ not abhorred by the Father p. 33 No change of Person between Christ and the Elect p. 41 Christ's Mediatorial Righteousness not subjectively in us and how imputed p. 42 Believers not as Holy as Christ p. 46 The Covenant of Grace explained and what a Condition is p. 53 57. The Covenant of Grace Conditional p. 63 Faith not a Perswasion that my Sins are pardoned c. p. 75 Prevailing Enmity a Hindrance to our present Interest in Christ p. 85 The Elect not united to Christ without Faith p. 93 What Union with Christ is p. 100 Justification not before Faith p. 105 Repentance necessary to Pardon p. 114 Sinners have much to do to be saved p. 129 The Gospel hath Threats and Promises p. 133 Holiness and Good Works necessary to Salvation p. 139 They are profitable and God pleased c p. 142 143 144 Our own Good should be intended p. 155 Assurance by Gospel-Marks and not by an inward Voice p. 165 God Chargeth Sin on Men and they should repent for repeated Pardon p. 175 Sin may hurt Believers p. 184 God afflicts for Sin p. 192 Sincere Holiness not Dung p. 199 102 Christ doth not repent c. for us p. 211 Conditional Proposals of Benefit on terms of Duty Gospel-Preaching p. 213 To excite Fear in sense of Danger not Legal Preaching p. 228 Christ more Exalted by the former Truths than by Dr. Crisp's Opinions p. 235 The Free Grace of God not honoured by Doctor Crisp though more Freeness be asserted by him than by these Truths p. 239 Part of a Sermon at Pinner's-Hall Anno 1691. The Edition of Dr. Crisp's Works I refer to is the last Anno 1690. FINIS
l. 5. for was r. is p 62. l. 30. blot in put p. 78. l. 4. blot out I am p. 91. l. 10. add 616 617 l. 15. for 616. r. 609. p. 92. l. 5. for 618. r. 100 101 p. 93. l. 14. r. ununited 3. 98. l. 4. for Mr. r. Mrs. p. 101. l. 21. remove from freely to work p. 140. l 22. for way r. may p. 166. l. 8. for its Instrument r. joynt Agent p. 182. l. 4. for mad r. made p. 198 l. 26. for is r. as p 214. l. 16. for hears r. hear p. 208. l. 29. add to p. 217. l. 20. for 1. r. 14. p. 234. l 27. r. Meditation p. 236. l. 10. for with r. unto p. 66. l. 4. for Grant r. Grace GOSPEL-TRUTH Stated and Vindicated CHAP. I. Of the State of the Elect before effectual Calling Truth IT is certain from God's Decree of Election that the Elect shall in time be justified adopted and saved in the way God hath appointed and the whole meritorious Cause and Price of Justification Adoption and Eternal Life were perfect when Christ finished the Work of Satisfaction Nevertheless the Elect remain Children of Wrath and subject to Condemnation till they are effectually called by the Operation of the Spirit Errour The Elect are at no time of their Lives under the VVrath of God nor are they subject to Condemnation if they should die before they believe yea when they are under the Dominion of Sin and in the Practice of the grossest Villainies they are as much the Sons of God and Justified as the very Saints in Glory Proved that this is Dr. Crisp 's Opinion The Doctor tells us Pag. 363. 364. It is thought by some that in case such a Person should happen to die before God call him to Grace and give to him to believe that Person had been damned and that Elect Persons are in a damnable Estate in the time they walk in excess of Riot before they are called Let me speak freely to you and tell you that the Lord hath no more to lay to the Charge of an elect Person yet in the height of Iniquity and in the excess of Riot and committing all the Abominations that can be committed I say even then when an elect Person runs such a Course the Lord hath no more to lay to that Person 's Charge than God hath to lay to the Charge of a Believer Nay God hath no more to lay to the Charge of such a Person than he hath to lay to the Charge of a Saint triumphant in Glory Pag. 368. The Elect of God they are the Heirs of God and as they are Heirs so the first Being of them puts them into the Right of Inheritance and there is no time but such a Person is a Child of God And this is a Principle he oft asserts and labours to prove P. 354 355 365 577 578 579. But the Readers will object Sure he meaneth no more than that the Elect are sure to be justified and adopted and that Christ hath fully merited it for them but not that they are actually justified and adopted before they are called Answer The Doctor frequently endeavours to prove that we are actually justified before we are born before we are baptized before we believe before we are converted and reduceth the Sum of his Thoughts P. 374. in these VVords But when did the Lord do this Viz. Justifie us He answers He did it from Eternity in respect of Obligation but in respect of Execution he did it when Christ was on the Cross and in respect of Application he doth it while Children are in the Womb. And then shews that they do mistake who judge that God applies the Pardon of Sin at the time of Conversion In other Places he saith We are actually justified c. Wherein the Difference is not The Difference is not 1. Whether God hath eternally decreed That certain Persons freely elected by him shall certainly be justified and adopted 2. Nor whether these elect Persons are the Objects of God's Love of Good-will even while they are Sinners 3. Nor whether God continues his gracious Purpose of doing them good in his appointed ways notwithstanding their Provocations 4. Nor whether Christ hath made full Atonement for Sin and merited eternal Life for the Elect which shall be in God's time and way applied and that he left nothing to be done by us in a way of Atonement and Merit 5. Nor whether there be not a great Difference between an elect Sinner and others as to what they shall be in time All these I affirm Wherein the real Difference is 1. VVhether the Elect while uncalled are actually pardon'd and adopted to Life This the Doctor affirmeth and I deny 2. VVhether the Elect while dead in Sin and Unbelief are Children of VVrath condemned by the Law and not justi ed by the Promise This I affirm and the Doctor denies The Truth confirmed 1. The Scriptures expresly declare the Elect before they be effectually called to be Children of Wrath Eph. 2. 2 3. Enemies Col. 1. 21. Which were not my People and not Beloved Rom. 9. 25. 2. The Gospel bars all Unbelievers and dead Sinners from Pardon and Adoption and denounceth the Continuance of Condemnation against them limiting its Benefits to such as believe Joh. 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned Ver. 36. The Wrath of God abideth on him 1 Cor. 16. 22. And if any Man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such were some of you but you are justified 3. If it were not so neither the Spirit nor the VVord of God have any Influence in the saving of Sinners which so oft they are affirmed to have This is plain for these influence on our Persons in time and therefore suppose us in no State of Salvation before See Tit. 3. 5. He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Joh. 5. 34. These things I say that you may be saved 2 Thes. 2. 10. They received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved Jam. 1. 21. Receive the Word which is able to save But the want of the Gospel would be no Damage if we be Heirs in the VVomb we should be freed from VVrath if we never heard it 4. Gospel Benefits imply that there is a time when we are actually guilty and miserable There could be no Forgivenss if 〈◊〉 were not guilty Rom. 4. 7. They were at Enmity of whom the Apostle saith Now hath he reconciled Col. 2. 12. If Men were always Sons they could not be said in time to be adopted nor to pass from Death to Life 5. The Doctor may as well infer VVe are sanctified and possessed of Heaven in the VVomb for God hath elected us to these as well as to Pardon and Christ merited these also Reader Dost thou not find God justifies none but whom he calleth Rom. 8. 30. Would there be such Joy in Heaven at the
saved 5. Nor whether besides these Effects being made ours the very Righteousness of Christ is imputed to true Believers as what was always undertaken and designed for their Salvation and is now effectual to their actual Pardon and Acceptance to Life Yea is pleadable by them as their Security and is as useful to their Happiness as if themselves had done and suffered what Christ did 6. Nor whether Christ by his Righteousness merited and by his Spirit doth renew the Hearts of his Members and will in time so communicate of his Grace to them as that they shall be perfectly holy even without Spot and Blemish 7. Nor whether the Spots and Blemishes remaining in a godly Man do consist with his justified State and shall not cast him out of God's Favours All these I do affirm The real Difference The Difference lies in these Points 1. Whether there be a Change of Person between Christ and the Elect yea or betwixt Christ and Believers This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether the Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ be subjectively in us This the Doctor affirms and I deny though as it is in Christ I grant it is imputed to the saving Advantages of all his Seed as much as if it were in themselves 3. Whether we are as righteous as Christ is a proper or safe Speech This the Doctor affirms and I deny though I yield that we are for the Sake of his Righteousness delivered from the Guilt of Sin and entitled to Life yea accepted with God against all excluding Bars 4. Whether because Christ is perfectly holy can we be said to be perfect in Holiness upon the Account of any Imputation of his Holiness to us or are we so esteemed by God This the Doctor affirms and I deny 5. Whether the Elect Believer before he is perfectly holy is wholly without Spot Filth and Blemish This the Doctor affirms and I deny though I grant that for the Sake of Christ these Spots Blemishes and Filth shall not subject them to the Curse and VVrath of God nor forfeit saving Benefits The Truth Confirmed My designed Brevity prevents Enlargement on so many Points and therefore I shall only glance at each 1. There is not a Change of Person betwixt Christ and the Elect For Christ was the Saviour and never ceased to be so VVe are the Saved and not the Saviours Christ was still the Redeemer and never the Redeemed we are the Redeemed and never the Redeemers Christ was he who by his own Merits forgives us but never was forgiven we are forgiven and never had Merits of our own to forgive our selves or others Eph. 5. 25 26 27. It 's prophane Arrogance for us to pretend to his Prerogatives and it 's Blasphemy to debase him among their Number who were Enemies without Strength and Sinners for whom he was the dying Sacrifice Rom. 5. 6 8 10. It 's enough that he reserving the Peculiars of a Redeemer should agree to suffer for our Sins it 's enough that we are pardoned and adopted for his Sake when we deserved endless VVoe and are never capable of making the least Atonement 2. The Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ is not subjectively in us I do not speak now of our inherent Righteousness of which he is not only the Pattern but also is the Cause and VVorker Phil. 3. 9. The Discourse is only of that Righteousness which belongs to the Person of Christ on the Account of his fulfilling the Law of his Mediation and his Title to the Rewards promised to him as Mediator for fulfilling that Law which he did to every Iota This Righteousness is accounted to be for us and to deliver all the Elect was the end of all his Undertakings Nevertheless it is not subjectively in us because 1. It is inconsistent with the Nature of Gospel-Imputation To impute to one what is suffered by another is to esteem the one undertaken for in the Sufferings of the other and to deal with him as if himself had suffered the same things yea and had never deserved to suffer but it is not to judge that he did in his own Person suffer for that were false and a Derogation to the Honour of him who endured the Sufferings especially if he freely suffered in another's Room and for his Advantage as our Lord did Heb. 9. 15. Gal. 1. 4. Much less is Imputation an Infusion of Christ's Righteousness into us or a Putting it subjectively in us 2. The Soul in all Actings of Faith on Christ's Righteousness ought to look at this Righteousness as in Christ and not in himself who believeth 2 Pet. 1. 1. 1 Joh. 2. 12. VVould it not be strange Language to say I trust for new Pardon or Comfort to the Righteousness that was once in Christ but is now in me in me is the meritorious Cause of my Pardon In me is the Fountain to which I must look for VVashing and Healing not as it is in Christ to whom I am united but as it inheres in me as the immediate Subject of it But the Gospel directs to look to him and be saved Isa. 45. 22. Faith owns the Foundation of our Plea to be in Christ from whom are derived to us that Pardon and Right to Life which are the Effects of his Righteousness For this we are justified for that Righteousness which is in Christ we are acquitted and adopted The efficient Merit is in him the Effect of the judicial Absolution for that Merit is in us The Righteousness is still in Christ for the Sake whereof we are absolved or justified God hath for Christ's Sake forgiven us but not for the Sake of what is in our selves Eph. 4. 32. Had not he obeyed and suffered for us we could not have been absolved for the Sake of his Obedience and Sufferings And now being absolved or made righteous in a Law Sence we have as much Matter of glorying in him as absolved acquitted Sinners can have VVe are justified by his Righteousness that is for that we are forgiven and also entitled to Life which we had forfeited our selves but we are not made Innocent nor so esteemed we are not accounted them who made the Atonement VVe still take hold of or acknowledge and approve with Reliance on and Submission to the Terms of its Application of Christ's Righteousness that we by it may be forgiven and this is our Blessedness Rom. 4. 7. and our Gospel-Righteousness which all such refuse who reject redeeming Love from a Conceit of their own Merits or refuse the Terms of the Gospel which by the Promise do make us capable of being justified and saved for the Merits of Christ. Yet these still remain his Merits though thus beneficial to us in their Application as the procuring Cause of all our Good 3. If the Mediatorial Righteousness be subjectively in us we must grant all those Absurdities which the Enemies of Gospel-Imputation object and the Orthodox deny If it be in us then we may be as truly
Heathen through Faith Must not Faith be at least present It 's impossible to exert an Act by a Thing when that Thing is not 2. Faith is enjoyned as an indispensible Means of Justification by Christ and complied with by All Converts to that End Act. 16. 30. Believe and thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 9 10. If thou believe with thine heart thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth to righteousness not to Assurance only To be Justified was a Benefit which Paul and the other Converts had an Eye to in Believing Gal. 2. 16. We have believed That we may be justified by the faith of Christ. The Blessing of Justification is limited to a Believer and extended to such by such conditional and indefinite Clauses as these Rom. 4. 23 24. To us it shall be imputed for Righteousness if we Believe on him that raised up Christ from the dead Act. 10. 43. Whosoever Believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins What a gross Notion would it create That Faith should be required by God in order to a Benefit and this Faith acted by the guidance of the Spirit as a Means to partake of that Benefit and this Benefit proposed and limited to all under an express respect to that Faith and yet that Benefit is ours before Faith hath a Being 3. The Gospel denounceth and declareth All Condemned till they do Believe It declares they are so and denounceth they shall be so Joh. 3. 36. He that believeth not on the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And ver 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already Here 's the Case of all Men by the Fall They are Condemned and under Wrath. Here 's the way of Relief A Christ believed on And they that believe their Condemnation is revers'd Here 's the Case of every Man that believeth not Wrath abideth on him The Condemning Sentence remains and Men are distributed into Condemned or Justified and this as Believers or Unbelievers Oh! that any can think all this Wrath that abides is no more than want of an Assurance that we are Justified Sure it 's more danger Joh. 8. 24. If you believe not you shall die in your sins Mark 16. 18. He that believeth not shall be damned Then they must be liable to Damnation whilst in Unbelief or they could not be Damned for Unbelief To be Condemned and Justified are Opposites at once none can be both Nor can God Justifie a Man whom he then and still Condemns 4. Unbelief is the cause why Men are barred from Justiâ—â—cation and remain obnoxious to Misery Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye may have life What undid the Jews Heb. 3. 18 19. They could not enter because of Unbelief And ch 4 6 7. And if Unbelief did not obstruct Life and a Right to it the Apostle would oddly inferr ch 4. ver 1 2 3. Let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it c. for we which have believed do enter into rest How easily might I argue this Point from the Nature of Justification as it 's a judicial Act of God by a Gospel-Rule supposing Christ's Satisfaction As also from the immediate Effects of Justification which are all suspended as to Unbelievers God in all his Carriage not executing the Justifying Sentence on them but the contrary he leaves them many years Slaves to Sin and Satan void of his Spirit admitting them to no Communion with him rejecting their Prayers barring them from his Table suffering them to blaspheme and dishonour him he suffers them to remain Curses and Plagues to other Souls c. Doth God deal thus with the Justified What short of Hell is the Execution of the Curse if these be not Reader I leave it to thy self to judge whether all these things make Faith of no more use than to shew us the goodness of our state which we were as much possessed of before only we did not know it Is that all the change on believing which such great Expressions import Is our being now washed and justified 1 Cor. 6. 11. no more than we now know it Is Assurance all the motive we can honestly use with Sinners to believe Or the want of it all the Danger we have to threaten them with to any beneficial purpose against their abiding in Unbelief TESTIMONIES You have already heard the Assembly and the Congr of Elders at the Savoy Confes. chap. 11. a. 4. saying The Elect are not Justified until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ to them See ch 1. Of the State of the Elect Where I cited this Lesser Catech. Q. What Benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this Life A. They that are effectually called partake of Justification Adoption c. You see that the Assembly do suppose our Calling to our being Justified and Justification is a Benefit flowing from it In the next Answer they tell us We are Justified by receiving Christ's Righteousness by Faith alone So not before Faith The New-England Synod p. 18. thus confute that Speech of the Antinomians viz. To say we are Justified by Faith is an unsafe Speech we must say We are Justified by Christ. The Synod fully prove this is false and add To say a Man is Justified before Faith or without Faith is unsafe as contrary to the language of the Scripture Dr. Owen in his Treat of Justif. p. 299. saith It must be remembred that we require Evangelical Faith in order of Nature antecedently unto our Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us which also is the Condition of the Continuation of it This is as plain as can be and this he oft proves p. 306 c. The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because God Justifies the Ungodly that is the Man who the moment before he believed to Justification was ungodly yea and who still remains ungodly in the Eye of the Law of Works needing daily Forgiveness by Grace therefore God Justifies him who continueth wholly ungodly fifty years after Because Christ alone Justifies as he whose Satisfaction and Merits are the only Righteousness for which we are Justified therefore he thinks there is nothing else present in our Justification not considering that God Justifies the Spirit Justifies the Gospel-Promise Justifieth in sences distinct from Christ And so doth Faith though not as what meriteth yet as what the Promise requireth in all whom God will Justifie for the sake of Christ's Merits Because it 's Christ the Object of Faith Justifies therefore Faith in that Object is not requisite to Justification though it 's as plain as the Word of God can speak it 's a Christ believed on which Justifies It 's not Faith without a Christ can do it and Christ without Faith will not do it but on
of Christ can reach him Because some good Men are some times humbled and awakened by Sin as it 's an Evil therefore to them it is not an Evil. CHAP. XVIII Of God's Displeasure for Sin in the Afflictions of his People TRUTH THough God is not so angry with his People for their Sins as to cast them out of his Covenant-Favour yet by their Sins he is so displeased as for them to correct his Children though he speaks Instructions by his Rebukes ERROUR None of the Afflictions of Believers have in them the least of God's Displeasure against their Persons for their Sins Proved that this is Dr. Crisp 's Opinion He affirmeth P. 15. Except God will be offended where there is no cause to be offended he will not be offended with Believers For I say he hath no cause to be offended with the Believer because he doth not find the Sin of the Believer to be his own Sin but he finds it the Sin of Christ. P. 19 10. But are not the Afflictions of Believers for their Sins I answer No Afflictions are unto Believers from Sin not for Sin that is God doth not intend to punish them as now laying on them the desert of their Sin for that 's laid upon Christ but he doth afflict them to preserve them from sin c. So God afflicting a Believer hath no respect unto sin as if he did afflict for sin c. I say in respect of the sins committed which he thus suspects there is not the least drop of the Displeasure of God nor the fruit of such Displeasure comes near him Which he endeavours to prove The like you 'll oft find P. 170. At that instant God brings Afflictions on thee he doth not remember any Sin of thine they are not in his Thoughts P. 561. Christ being chastized for our sins there is nothing but peace belongs to us c. P. 559. If we tell Believers c. Except they perform such and such Duties Except they walk thus and thus Holily and do these and these good Works they shall come under Wrath at least God will be Angry with them What do we in this but abuse the Scriptures We undo all that Christ hath done we injure Believers we tell God Lies to his Face Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not Whether God ceaseth to love a Believer when he sinneth 2. Nor whether the Afflictions that befall a Believer proceed from the Vindictive Justice of God as an Enemy These I deny 3. Nor whether God can bless the sorest Judgments for Sins to the future good of a Believer This I affirm though were it not for our Sins God would effect that Good a milder way And I doubt whether every good Man may be said to get profit by all sorts of Affliction for every degree of Good is not equivalent to the Hurt and sometimes God punisheth Sin with Sin 4. Nor whether some sensible Calamities may fall on a good Man not so much in a way of Rebuke for Sin as to try his Graces prevent Sin or bring Glory to God by a Testimony to the Truth This I affirm Yet I believe the very Martyrs did not so glory in the joyful Cause of their Sufferings as always to neglect an humble Reflexion on what Sin of theirs might then Justifie God as a hidden cause of their Hardships The Real Difference 1. Whether God be at all displeased with Believers for their Abominations This I affirm and the Doctor denies 2. Whether God at any time or by any Afflictions expresseth his Displeasure against his People for their Sins This I affirm and the Doctor denies The Truth Confirmed Reader Know that there 's none of all this but Dr. Crisp meaneth it of the Unconverted Elect For their Sins are on Christ and off from themselves as much as Believers Their Sins do them no hurt nor is God angry with them though God saith he is angry with the wicked every day But let us consider the Points as they referr to Believers 1. I affirm God is displeased with Believers for their Abominations If he is displeased at all with them it must be for their Sins And that he is displeased yea and chat for Sin he oft affirms it he forceth his People to own it and they with bitterness bemoan and acknowlege it Psal. 60. 1 3. O God thou hast cast us off thou hast been displeased O turn thy self to us again Thou hast shewed thy people hard things thou hast made us drink the wine of astonishment 2. Sam. 11. 27. That David had done displeased the Lord. And you may read how he threatned and punished him Was not his Anger kindled against Moses Exod. 4. 14. Against his People Isa. 5. 25. 12. 11. Moses saith The Lord was angry with me Deut. 4. 21. The Lord was very angry with Aaron Deut. 9. 21. Christ was oft displeased with his Disciples How oft is God's Anger said to be provoked by his People and kindled against them He is said to turn away from his fierce anger Is it not his Anger against them which is but for a moment and to be turned away I hope the Doctor would own that it never ceaseth against Sin it self Nay his very Fury and Wrath be oft mentioned against his own Servants Read the Sixteenth of Ezekiel a Verse or two whereof is so abused by the Doctor Thou hast fretted me in all these things c. Cannot good Men grieve the Holy Ghost What doth the Church intend when she saith I ll bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Mic. 7. 9. 2. God doth by many Afflictions express his Displeasure against his People for their Sins I have in the last Chapter proved that Sins do hurt a Believer and all there spoken proves this as far as the Hand of God is in our Rebukes Besides those things Consider God is oft said to rebuke and chastize his People for Sin They are not the less Chastisements of a Father if at present grievous though afterwards they bring forth the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness The Great Promise of the Covenant doth not prevent this Psal. 89. 30 31 32 33 34. If his children for sake my law c. then will I visit their transgressions with a rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving-kindness will not I utterly take from them c. Are not these Stripes for Sin Are not these Stripes Corrections Yea and so much from God's Displeasure that it is but a not utterly that God will not take away his Loving-kindness and that it riseth no higher is for the Covenant sake How oft doth God tell us that he punisheth his Church because of their Sins committed and gives this as the Therefore What is God's visiting the transgressions of his people Was it for an innocent thing that Christ rebuked Peter Mark 8. 33. And was it not for luke-warmness that he rebuked and chastned those Laodiceans whom he