Unbelieving Sinners Neonom Nor the continuance of that Pardon or Salvation but upon supposition that this Faith perseveres And if the Gospel-promise say no such thing I am sure the Covenant did not p. 66. Antinom What Christ bequeathed he purchased but it seems all was done but upon condition of perseverance We must stand upon these uncertain conditions all our Days it would be some comfort if we could come to some certainty of our Pardon and Salvation after we are over the first brunt but we can't be sure we are pardoned or that we shall be saved till the last Gasp and if we happen to fall in the mean time our Pardon is gone Neonom The Account of the Covenant which seems most for it's Absoluteness implies this conditional Connexion of the required Grace and the promised Benefits Antinom Now all our Foederal Conditions are dwindled away into conditional Connexions only It is well some places seem to be for the Absoluteness of the Covenant if there be but one Text that is really for it I think we are bound to believe it But you say they imply a conditional Connexion God forbid that conditional Connexions should he turned out of the World if they should all things must be returned into the first Chaos and this would be a conditional Connexion and this Connection is between the required Grace and promised Benefit If you had said Bestowed Grace it had been more proper Or said Required Duty There 's no body hath so little Sence as to deny Cause and Effects Subjects and Adjuncts Arguments of all sorts in the Covenant of Grace in that free absolute Covenant and among the Gifts of it there is Christ and all his Effects the Spirit and its Effects Faith and it's Effects Adjuncts and Contraries This we call Relative Conditions or else things must cease to have a Being But that which we deny is Moral Foederal Conditions to be performed by us Such as these we say there 's none In the Covenant of Grace there 's no required gracious Act that is such a moral condition of any promised Benefit Neonom The places that seem to be for an absolute Covenant are Jer. 31.31 32 33. Heb. 8.10 11 12. Heb. 10.16 17. Jer. 32.40 Ezra 11.19 20. There be others that relate to the restauration of the Captivity Antinom You name Ezra 11. for one and Ezra hath not so many Chapters I suppose it 's an Erratum but I find it not among the Errata's As for the rest you insinuate as if they referr'd only to the return of the Captivity Neonom Yes I 'll pitch upon one Jer. 31.31 c. This is quoted Heb. 8.10 12. and ch 10.16 17. To understand this we must consider 1. Whom is this Covenant made with 2. What can be inferr'd from this Scheme of the Covenant 1. It 's made with the House of Judah and Israel not the Men in present being but Men to be hereafter It 's after those days I will make it so that it was after the Mosaick Covenant was to expire ver 32. D. W. p. 67. Antinom Hence then you refute your self in saying that it referr'd to the Restauration of the Captivity for then the Mosaick Covenant was in it's full force Neonom And it could not be the only Covenant of Grace for that had it's Being from the Fall and the sincere Israelites lost not the advantage of it Gal. 3.17 Antinom The Covenant of Grace had it's Being before the Fall and from the Fall it had it's Promulgation then was that first revealed state of it before it was the Mystery that lay hid in God But observe that as it was then manifested it was absolute as to us The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents Head There was no condition mentioned nor rationally supposed to be implied but Christ And it 's to be observed that this Covenant-promise was made before the Sentence was pronounced upon our Fallen Parents which Blessing was the Curse of the Serpent denounced Now as this promulgated Covenant had it's being from the Fall so it continued as the Covenant of Grace and Salvation to all the Faithful under the Old Testament The Lamb slain from the Foundations of the World or before them was looked upon as the only Foederal Condition which was exemplify'd by Sacrifices early begun in Adam's Family and continued till the Messiah came Now indeed this Covenant in the Epistle to the Hebrews is not meant in the Essential Nature of it but in the vailed state of it under the Mosaick Administration which is called by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graven in stone 2 Cor. 3.6 7. and opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Gospel unvailed Ministration which is said therefore to be New because of the full and clear Discovery that was made by the Revelation of Christ in his Coming and Ministry which was not before And in the same Sence Mount Sinai and Mount Zion is opposed in Heb. 12. And what was seen by this last Ministration It was that Christ Jesus was the Summ and Substance of the former Ministration 1. That it was a Covenant of Free-Grace the Promise given upon the condition of Redemption by the Blood of Christ which appeared to be the true intent of all the Sacrifices 2. That though so much was conditionally required yet no Duties could expiate sin or reconcile us to God And the Reason of those Duties are given us as truly though then not so fully seen was the performance of the Covenant-condition vertually in Redemption typified by Redemption out of Egypt Exod. 20. In a word the Covenant of Grace stood vailed under the Mosaick Pedagogy which stood in a conditional Command under the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments mostly Temporal and under Types and Figures Now this ministration of the Letter stood under a double Faultiness which clouded the Glory and Beauty of the Promise First A Typical and Shadowy Administration in Sacrifices by which the great condition of the Covenant was pointed at as being not yet come and Symbolically only express'd to their Faith The other Fault was the Moral Mount Sinai Vail which called for Duty as it were in the way of Foederal Condition caused them to perform Duty as under a Spirit of Bondage and in a mercenary manner through the Encouragement of Temporal Rewards and fear of Temporary Sufferings and a seeming Attribution of Demerits to the Performances And therefore the Apostle shews that the Faultiness lay here also Heb. 8.9 Not according to the Covenant I made with their Fathers c. Because they continued not in my Covenant they could not be saved by those Legal conditional Performances but by an absolute Covenant couched under that conditional Ministration being saved even as we for the Law and Legal Ministration it was weak through the Flesh Rom. 8.3 And you speak very truly that the true Israelites never lost the Spiritual Advantage of the Covenant of Grace by reason of
Preparatory by way of Causation Merit and Congruity i. e. by disposing fitting and making Men the sitter for Effectual Grace as you say as asserted by the Papists and Arminians DEBATE XI Of Union with Christ before Faith Neonom ANother Errour of his is All the Elect are Actually Vnited to Christ before they have the Spirit of Christ or at all believe in him even before they are Born yea and against their will D. W. p. 90. Antinom Your Terms are all Ambiguous you seldom use a word of two or three Syllables but you 'l have him Bifrons like Janus I pray produce your proof and I shall see which way you look most Neonom The Title of a Sermon of yours is Christ ours before gracious Qualifications D. W. p. 91. Antinom I own such a Sermon from Isa 33.6 and the design of it was to answer this Query Dr. C. p. 432. How I may be assured my part lyes here That my Sins were laid on Christ The Apostle speaks of full Assurance of Faith and of coming to the Throne of Grace with boldness I shew'd that it may be found out as the Lord hath chalked it out in his Grace and Grant not only when the Lord is pleased to hold out his Grace and Grant to a Man but also upon those Terms that he holds it out on such as the Terms of God are or Conditions if you will call them so Sure I am as the Conditions are by which they may claim Interest in Christ those conditions being granted and found the Soul may close with the Grace of God now all the difficulty lyes in this whether the Lord propounds to Men that there shall be no part in Christ nor Grace by him till they find their Spirits Souls and Bodies sanctified throughout or whether the Lord holds out the Grant of Pardon of Sin without those previous Qualifications And I say D. C. p. 433. That the Grace of saying Iniquity upon Christ is applicable by Forgiveness of Sins to Persons before there be ever the least measure of Sanctification in Works and being applyed by the Lords own Grant there may be Safety and Security in applying the same by Faith without regard to Sanctification in any measure That is in respect of making Trial thereby I seeing yet no Sanctification in Works to try by it 's certain such Pardon is to be had and that the Grace of Forgiveness is applicable before Works or a Person capable of doing them as to Elect Infants and to the Dying Thief and hath the same place in every Elect Person that doth believe forgiveness is applied to him before he can exert any of the working Fruits of Faith and being applied to him by God's Grant it may be applied to himself by Believing but because you insist on nothing in this Sermon that you particularly express I say no more of it now Neonom Sure you intend only to exclude Works and not Faith D. W. p. 91. Antinom I do not exclude Works from a ground of Assurance for I own when the Conditions are granted and found i. e. the Fruits of the Spirit in the Heart the Soul may close with the Grace of God by way of Assurance but I say also there may be an Assurance of Faith without particular respect to the said Works I say not that Works evidence not but that there is an evidence besides Neonom No you tell us of dangerous Consequences that must follow on it if Persons are not united to Christ and partake not of Justification before they believe and addeth There is not I say such a thing as an uniting or knitting Power in Faith as that Faith doth or should become an Instrument to unite a Soul to Christ Dr. C. p. 616. Antinom My Discourse was from 1 John 2. 1 2. The main design of my Discourse there is to prove That Faith is the Fruit of our Vnion to Christ I shew'd that Christ himself frames and creates that very Faith in Persons that come to him D. C. p. 614. uniting them as Members first to him their Head 2. I shew'd that a Branch must have Union with the Root before it can bring forth Fruit. Christ is the Vine we the Branches Faith part of the Fruit. Communion is a Fruit of Union Faith is a Grace of Communion Suppose that the Life spoken of is not in Persons till they believe it is Dr. C. p. 615. but this That there is no Activeness of the life of Christ in the Person that is Elected his Life is in Christ and was in Christ and reserved in Christ till the time of believing for him and then doth the Elect Person become Active in Life when Christ doth give him to believe Actually But to say that this believing should give the first Being of that Life that should be in Persons is to say There is not that Life of the Elect Persons in Christ before they do believe if this be maintained that there is no Justification at all belonging to Elect Persons till they do Actually believe in Christ or Faith be the Instrument by which they are first united dangerous Consequences must needs follow 1. That in some respect there will be a bringing to Life again the Covenant of Works Do this and live viz. for Persons to do that they may live but the Covenant of Grace gives Life first and from Life comes Doing c. But the words you refer to p. 616. For they are not there nor do I find them elsewhere Neonom He denies the presence of Faith to this end he spends much time to prove that Christ is ours before we come to him and that our not coming unto him doth not import a state of disunion with Christ. D. W. p. 614. Antinom I said Let us suppose the coming in this place is spoken of believing Ye will not come to me that you might have Life it cannot follow that although there be no Life till believing therefore there can be no Union till believing I say If it possibly might be imagined that there may not be Life from Christ till believing yet it follows not that there must be believing before this Union Suppose I say that there cannot be Life before there be believing yet there must be Union before there can be Life fetched from Christ Faith being the Fruit born as aforesaid Neonom He saith You may as soon conceive that a Man is able to see whilst he hath no Head as think a Man can have Spiritual Eyes whether the Eye of Faith to behold Christ or the Eye of Mourning to lament ones Wickedness before there be Actually the Presence and Conjunction of Christ the Head to such a Body Dr. C. p. 104. Antinom I say so and will stand to it Calvin I wonder you should find fault with that Divinity or note down that Expression for an Errour you cannot suppose that there can be any living Act performed without Life as the cause of it
be Punishment yet it 's not so by necessity of Nature 7. Hence obligation to Punishment is from the Will of the Law-giver and the Nature of the Law not from the Sinner the Law hath tyed Sin and Punishment together and it 's not Sin to be obliged to Punishment but it is for Sin obligation to Punishment is part of the Wages of Sin and not Sin in it self nor the guilt of Sin a Murderer that is cast he is guilty before Sentence or Execution not because the Law will Sentence him but because he hath committed the Fact which the Law hath forbid and therefore hath annexed a Penalty to it There 's a Privative Nature in Sin which is a contrariety to the Goodness of the Law which is the Fault therefore the Law to avenge it self makes it worthy or deserving such a Punishment and upon Tryal binds over the Sinner to it there 's hardly to be found a difference between reatus culpae poenae as Dr. O. saith but Sin committed or justly charged upon some account or other is in it self by vertue of the Constitution of the Law an obligation to Punishment being the Meritorious Cause thereof Neonom I own Christ was esteemed by Men a Transgressor and Arraigned as such Antinom If it were only so he bore Sin no otherwise than the Saints and Martyrs who also were accounted Transgressors by Men Arraigned and Condemned as such but it seems you will not own him accounted a Transgressor by God and therefore no Sin was laid upon him nor any Punishment and here you fall in roundly with the Socinians Neonom We grant also that Christ's Sufferings were as Effectual to put away Sin as if our very Sins had been transacted on him Antinom I doubt not but you will ascribe as much to your Gospel as Paul did to his there was never any Coyners of new Doctrine Papist Quaker Socinian or Arminian all Well-wishers to your Divinity in some part or other of it but will still each of them cry up your Doctrine and decry the Truth for Error and this Truth of laying Sin on Christ as vehemently as you especially in the Sence that you do Neonom But I say he became obliged as Mediator to bear the Punishment of our Iniquities Antinom If as Mediator then to take up the difference between God and us for it's Sin makes the difference and not punishment this is but the effect of the difference the High-priest the Typical Mediator was to bear the Iniquities of the People and offer a Sacrifice on which they were charged Neonom He did bear those Punishments to the full satisfaction of Justice Antinom Unless Sin be taken away in a Law sence Justice is not satisfied bearing Punishment only doth not satisfie for Sin the Law will have the Sinner or the Sin taken away therefore the Damned must suffer to Eternity because they cannot take away Sin by Suffering but Christ did more than suffer he put an end to Sin by the Sacrifice of himself Neonom Yea and to our Actual Remission when we believe Antinom It seems there 's Fundamental Potential Remission before and I doubt you will not suffer this Remission to take place without a new Law and the Righteousness thereof Neonom The Real difference lyes in these things 1. Whether Sin it self as to its filth and fault was transacted on Christ This you affirm and I deny 2. Whether Christ was made and accounted by the Father the very Transgressor the Adulterer the Blasphemer This you affirm and I deny D. W. p. 10. Antinom You might have put the Questions into one and stated it as it lyes between the Apostle Paul and you Whether God Imputed Sin to Christ at all Neonom I go on to confirm my Positions 1. To transact our Sins on Christ as opposed to Guilt is impossible for it would argue either a mistake in the Divine Mind to account him the Committer of our Sins or a Propagater of our corrupt Qualities to him which is impossible and any other way besides Imputing the guilt there is none Antinom This Argument I judge is to prove both Positions As to the First it runs thus That which is impossible cannot be done but to transact Sin as to it's Fault is impossible Ergo. As to the Major I judge the Impossibility is meant in respect of the Nature of God or the Constitution of God otherwise I know not why a Fault may not be taken away as well as Obligation to Punishment when as Fault is that for which a Man is obliged to bear Punishment For if the Fault remain the Punishment is still due The Minor you prove thus It would argue a mistake in God or suppose him a Propagator of Sin 1. It doth argue a Mistake in you to say that 's transferred from us which was never in us For the Obligation to Punishment in it's active consideration is subjectively in the Law and that cannot be taken from it it 's the Debt which the Law owes to the Sinner by reason of it's Sanction and the Punishment is the Payment 1 Joh. 3.3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wages of Sin is Death For Punishment is not the Sinners Debt but the Law 's Debt and the Sinner's Due The Sinner's Debt is doing the Duty the Law requires His Disobedience is an Offence to the Law a Fault blamed by the Preceptive part of the Law and this is Guilt Reatus culpae to which Meritum poenae doth by vertue of the Constitution belong There 's two respects in Sin 1. To the preceptive part of the Law and that is Fault 2. To the Penal part and that is Meritum Now these by reason of the Justice of the Law and the Connexion made by it's Institution between the Accusing and condemning part are inseparable before God and being but two different respects of the same individual Act it is a Fault and a Merit and a Merit because it is a Fault the Merit is a Result from the Fault and are such relata that they cannot be parted in Judgment Now then will not your Argument rebound upon your self Would it not argue a Mistake in God to lay the Merit of Punishment upon a Person that hath not any meritorious Cause of it in no respect If the Fault be not imputed how can the Merit There can be no Merit without a meritorious Cause and this is our Sins and not Christ's by way of Perpretation In laying Sin on Christ there are these things 1. The Spirit of God says it's Sin and doth not confound Sin and Punishment And it 's absurd if it should for Punishment is not Sin 2. It saith It 's our Sins not Christ's 3. That these Sins are Juridically imputed and accounted to Christ The Payments by Christ's Sufferings is his own Money not ours the Debt is imputed not the Payment A Surety is charged with and takes upon him the principal Debt but doth not take Money from him to pay
And is it not strange Gentlemen that after he had said this he should affirm a Separation Antinom And is it not strange that you cannot distinguish between Separations I may separate from a thing in one respect and not in another I may separate from another as to Communion but not as to Relation let it be Son Wife Brother c. and it 's strange you cannot understand forsaking to be but of a Relation Neonom The Lord Jesus could not be abhorred or odious to God for in him God was always well-pleased Isa 42.1 Matth. 17.5 Antinom We say the same Christ's Person in his Eternal Sonship was so All the Indignation that was testified towards him in his Humane Nature in which only he was capable of Suffering in that he became a Curse as well as Sin God saith it Neonom Mr. Calvin How horrid a Sound hath it to the Ear to say that Christ is odious to God and abhorred by the Father Calvin Methinks those new Words applyed to Christ do not sound so well and some Ears are offended at them I think it 's better to use the Scripture-Expressions Christ made Sin and Christ made a Curse for us Let us but have the thing Mr. Neonomian we will part with any Word that 's not Scriptural if you give us another that will express it as well Antinom Doth not this make as horrid a Sound in a Christian Ear that God manifested his wrathful Indignation against sin in the Person of Christ in a most awful and dreadful manner Calvin But that 's his way of expressing it he doth not like yours Antinom Then I will abdicate those Words Odious and Abhorrence and use his Words I be not fond of mine Neonom 5. Christ could not be separated from God or abhorred while his Body lay in the Grave his Soul went into Paradise Antinom No his Hypostatical Union was not dissolved nor God's Fatherly Love removed from his Person but yet at the same time he was under the Suffering of Death which was Penal for sin he finished his Soul-sufferings on the Cross but was under the Separation of Body and Soul which was part of the Threatned Indignation against Sin as also the lying of his Body in the Grave Neonom I will shew you your mistakes You do not distinguish between the Affection of Wrath and Effects of Wrath because God forsook Christ as to the usual Degrees of Comfort he thinks Christ was separated from God Antinom Sure this is a soul Mistake if he should mistake his Logick as to take the Cause to be the Effect and the Effect the Cause But I doubt you mistake your Divinity as to ascribe an affection of Wrath to God But I pray where there 's an Effect of Wrath in the Creature is not Wrath the Cause of it He that lies under the Effects of Wrath is he not under Wrath If Christ suffereth the Effects of Wrath he suffereth Wrath. I know not how any one should suffer Wrath any other way As to my Thoughts about Separation from God they are only your Imposition of Thoughts and Meanings upon me as I have told you Neonom Because he that is formally a Sinner is odious to God therefore he thinks Christ was odious to God who had on him the Punishment of Sin with the Guilt or Obligation to bear Punishment by his own Consent neither of which have any thing of the Loathsomness of Sin Antinom I will not use the Word Odious because you love not the smell of it I say therefore because a formal Sinner or Committer of sin unpardoned is the Object of God's threatned Indignation bearing the Effects of Wrath therefore an imputed Sinner is also the Object of God's threatned Indignation bearing the Effects of Wrath. You will be at the old Socinian Notion still That Christ bore but the Punishment for Sin and Guilt is only Obligation to Punishment which is absolutely false unless you mean reatus culpae for nothing is a Demerit of Punishment but reatus culpae Neonom I know not why you think Christ came not near God from the time of his Death to his Resurrection unless because of your Conceit for the Loathsomness of Sin God could not bear the sight of him Antinom Your frequent Banter and Scoffs at the Scripture-Account of the Nature of Christ's Satisfaction and of Sin I am sure is very odious and a horrid Sound to a Christian Ear. I shall not think such reasoning worthy of any thing but a Note of Contempt Calvin Mr. Neonomian you must know we can't part with this Article of our Faith That Christ was made a Curse for us no more than that That he was made Sin That Christ bore the Curse of the Law and was made a Curse for us is such a Gospel-Truth that we need no other Authority for it than what is contained in the Scripture being so expresly declared which all sound Protestants always understood of bearing the Wrath of God in his Soul and Body especially in his Soul undergoing Poena Damni and Sensus the first whereof I look to be the greatest and Cause of the other and also fully enough express'd by our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross Take Mr. Calvin in his Harmony on the Evangelists Altho' there appeared more than Humane Courage in Christ's Outcry yet it 's certain it was uttered from Extremity of Grief Verily this was his chiefest Conflict and more grievous than all his other Torments because that in his Anguishes he was not so refreshed with his Fathers Holy Favour that he did in some respect perceive him alienated from him for neither did he offer his Body only as the Price of our Reconciliation with God but in his Soul he bore the Punishment due to us and they are Men of unsavoury Spirits that slighting this part of Redemption do insist only on the external Punishments of the Flesh for as Christ satisfied for us so it was requisite that he should be set as guilty before God's Tribunal For nothing is more horrible than to perceive God as a Judge whose Wrath exceeds all Deaths Neither doth he complain Feignedly or Theatrically that he was deserted of God according to the insipid Cavils of some For the inward Grief of his Soul from the Depth of Anguish compelled him to break forth into this Outcry He did perfectly fulfill the Law endured most grievous Torments immediately in his Soul Conf. Assemb c. 8. § 4. He bore the Weight of God's Wrath and laid down his Life an Offering for sin Large Catceh p. 249. Quest What Death did Christ suffer when he Sacrificed himself Mr. Perkin's Catech. Answ A Death upon the Cross peculiar to himself alone For besides the Separation of Body and Soul he felt also the Pangs of Hell in that the whole Wrath of God due to the Sin of Man was poured forth upon him The Apostle doth not say that Christ was cursed but a Curse Calv. on Gal. 3.13 which is more for
first place For it runs thus If you receive there 's some body gives So the Giving is the Condition of Receiving Or see it thus If you be a Father you have a Son they are mutual Causes one of another but the Father is first in respect of Nature and Causality If Receiving lie upon the Condition of Giving then Receiving is not the Condition of Giving but vice versa but Receiving lies under and depends upon the Condition of Giving for if there be no Giving there can be no Receiving Neonom They judge the Covenant is conditional they scruple not to call Faith the Condition of our Interest in Christ and Salvation by him Antinom They do intend and so do we that the New Covenant is conditional and hath a great Condition Jesus Christ He is the Foederal Condition satisfactory and procurative but they mean not that Faith is a condition of the Covenant but a condition relative in the manifestation For they could not suppose Faith to be the Condition of what they make the Covenant for it 's but in the Foregoing Answer they say The Covenant of Grace was made with the Second Adam and in him with all the Elect as his Seed They speak not of any Condition of the Covenant of Grace which they give an Account of Quest 31. but speak only of the way and manner of the manifestation of the Grace of God in the Second Covenant and that they tell you it 's by Faith as a correlative receiving Condition They speak not of any Condition of the Covenant but of the manifestation of the Grace in the Covenant by the Participation thereof Neonom 3. They judge that Christ and Salvation are offered to all Sinners on the same condition though God effectually enable the Elect to obey the Condition Antinom They say he freely provideth and offereth to Sinners a Mediator and Life Is Faith the condition of God's providing a Mediator And upon the same Terms that he provideth he also offereth i. e. freely If you look for a condition here it must be of providing and offering And they say God requires and works Faith as a Condition i. e. no more in their Sence but a means of conveyance the Grace of the Second Covenant unto them Now that this is their meaning take a full confirmation their Sence fully express'd in their Confession In Ch. 11. Of Justification speaking of the Nature of Justification saith It 's not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christ alone not by imputing Faith it self the Act of believing nor any other Evangelical Obedience to them as their Righteousness but by imputing the Obedience and Satisfaction of Christ unto them they receiving and resting on him and his Righteousness by Faith which Faith they have not of themselves Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his Righteousness is the alone Instrument of Justification Thus Gentlemen you see what a Catch he hath got of the Word Condition made use of by the Assembly When they used the Word Condition it was but Aaron's Rod it 's now turned into a Serpent and every one that savours Christ aright will fly from it It is no better now than a Nehushtan and is to be brokee in pieces in the Sence of a Foederal Condition Neonom Errour The Covenant of Grace hath no Condition to be performed on Man's part though in the strength of Christ Neither is Faith it self the Condition of this Covenant but all the saving Benefits of this Covenant are actually ours before we are born Neither are we required so much as to believe that we may come to have an Interest in the Covenant-Benefits D. W. p. 59. Antinom We have told you and proved to you your Errour in saying That faith is the Condition foederally of the Covenant of Grace and we have shewed how far saving Benefits are prepared for us and ours in the Promise right before we believe yea before we are born and though it 's our Duty to believe and do believe as thereby partaking of Christ unto Salvation yet not in your Sence as a condition of a Covenent of Grace but as a promised Gift and Benefit bestowed upon us in Christ and wrought in us by him Neonom You spend more than a Sermon to prove this and say there is not any Condition in this Covenant D. C. p. 81. Anntinom In preaching on Isa 42.6 7. I shewed by way of Doctrine Dr. C. p. 81. That the Father is pleased to give Christ for a Covenant to the People and in opening it I shewed what it is for Christ to be a Covenant Where I shewed That the Lord means not a Covenant of Works but the Covenant of Grace which Covenant is mentioned Jer. 31.33 and renewed again Ezek. 36 26. and also Heb. 8.6 where you shall find this appropriated to Christ to be his great Priviledge to have the sole hand and managing of this New Covenant But now saith the Apostle He hath obtained a more excellent Ministry by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant And what is this better Covenant Mark what follows Ver. 8. Behold the days come c. Here see the substance of the Covenant I will be their God and they shall be my People Now I shew the difference between this Covenant and others all others run upon Stipulations the Promise runs altogether upon Conditions on both sides The Condition on God's Part They shall live The Condition on Man's Part That he might live he must do this And in the Old Covenant in case Man failed the Condition was broke But in this Covenant there 's no Condition on Man's part to be performed because the Covenant is everlasting Heb. 8. God saith I will be merâ—iful to your Iniquities and your Sins I will remember no more Now suppose there were Conditions for Man to perform and suppose Man did fail in those Conditions what were become of the Covenant The Covenant is frustrated as soon as the Conditions are broken Dr. C. p. 81. Obj. 1. There are many Conditions mentioned in this Covenant there must be a Law put in the Mind writ in the Heart c. Answ It is true God saith I will put my Law in your inward parts But it is not said This is a Condition to be performed on Man's part Obj. But Conditions or no Conditions a Man must have his Heart in this manner Answ I answer It 's true by way of Consequence that after we are in Covenant he will bestow those things upon us as Fruits and Effects of this Covenant but it 's not true by way of Antecedence That God will require those things at our hands before we be Partakers of this Covenant Answ 2. You shall see plainly that Man hath no tie upon him to perform any thing whatsoever in this Covenant as a Condition to be observed on his part Mark how it is in Jer. Ezek. Heb. God saith I will put it
Iniquity the Lord hath laid on Christ God himself cannot charge one Sin on that Man and he makes a difference between a strong Believer and a weak to consist in the degree of his Perswasion Dr. C. p. 158. Antinom This was a Use that I made upon that Point of laying Sin on Christ If God have laid our Iniquity upon Christ then whosoever thou art to whom the Lord will be pleased to give the believing of this Truth that the Lord hath laid thine Iniquity on Christ that laying thine Iniquity upon him is an absolute and full Discharge to thee that there neither is nor can be any Iniquity for the present nor for hereafter that can be laid to thy Charge and then follows what he hath rehearsed And if this be not true Doctrine that every Believer that by the Grace of God sees his Sins laid on Christ hath a full pardon of all Sins past present and to come so that Sin shall never be charged on him for Condemnation before God I am to seek for the Doctrine of the Gospel I quote that place Rom. 8.33 to me a very full Proof And I do affirm that the Degrees of our Faith doth stand in the Degrees of the sight of Christ's Glory and the Perswasion we have in our Hearts of our part in him And I do not say That he is no Believer that hath not this perfectly far be it from me to say so there are that are Believers that are weak in the Faith and there are Believers that are strong in the Faith the more the Light and Glory of the Gospel shines in the true Intention of God to his People the more shall they return to their rest the more shall they have Joy and Gladness Why may not a Believer then say as David did The Lord hath been very bountiful to me that I may return to my rest God hath done every thing in Christ and taken away all things that can disturb my Peace and Comfort Dr. C. p. 158. Calvin I pray Mr. Neonom let us have your Description of Saving Faith Neonom I shall express it in the Assemblies Words ch 14. A. 2. D. W. p. 72 73. By this Grace a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word from the Authority of God himself speaking therein and acteth differently upon that which each particular Passage thereof containeth yielding Obedience to the Commands trembling at the Threatnings and embracing the Promises of God for this Life and that which is to come But the principal Acts of Saving Faith are Accepting Receiving and resting upon Christ alone for Justification Sanctification and Eternal Life by vertue of the Covenant of Grace Gentlemen weigh this Account of Faith well which if it were regarded and no essential part excluded when Faith is considered as a Condition of any Gospel-benefit One would think no man need prove that it is not saving Faith when any Essential part of it is wanting and that it must be saving Faith when we mention Faith as a Condition Antinom That Reverend Assembly do here express the Essential Parts of Faith and something more as the Effects of it I take it not to be intended for a Definition wherein only Essentials are put but a Description that takes in Subjects Adjuncts Effects c. The Definition is first given A. 1. That the Grace of Faith is whereby the Elect are enabled to believe to the Saving of their Souls After they proceed to shew the Causes of it the Word and Spirit and after that its several ways of Acting and it's Effects They do in the shorter Catechism give a briefer Account of it which may be more properly called a Definition Quest 86. What is Faith in Jesus Christ Answ Faith in Jesus Christ is a Saving Grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for Salvation as he is offered to us in the Gospel And if you please to turn to Quest 31. you shall see what they mean by receiving and resting There they say Effectual Calling is the work of God's Spirit whereby convincing us of our Sin and Misery enlightning our Minds in the knowledge of Christ and renewing our Wills he doth perswade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel And in the Larger Catechism you have a full Description of Faith as Justifying Quest 72. wherein there is the Genus of it a saving Grace the principal efficient Cause the Spirit the Causa ministrant the subservient efficient Cause the Word Both Causae procreantes The Subject in whom it is wrought a sinful miserable and lost Creature really so and in his own Eyes And then you have the Material Cause the truth of the Promise of the Gospel In the Confession wherein it's more largely express'd it's whatever is revealed in the Word this is the Objective part of it and Material The Form of Saving Faith is an Impression wrought upon the Soul from the proper Efficacy of the Spirit by the Word according to the acceptable Nature and Evidence thereof The Truth must have Goodness in it because we believe many things that we fear and are averse to The Word works objectively upon the Understanding perswading it to assent and set to it's Seal that the Word is Truth and from the Goodness in that Truth it perswades the Will to embrace because Voluntas sequitur ultimum dictamen intellectus and the consenting of the Will is an Effect of the assenting of the Understanding Hence then it 's not barely believing without Ground but upon some Authority In the Confession 't is said For the Authority of God himself speaking in the Word which is believing on Christ believing in God from whence follows an awful Reverence and Regard to his Word as also the resting and depending of the Soul thereon And when it 's determined to the Grace of Justification it 's as in the Larger and Shorter Catechism it receiveth Christ and his Righteousness in the Promise and resteth thereon for Pardon of Sin Justifying Grace through the Righteousness of Christ is the Object and that which it aims at is the accepting and accounting of a Mans Person Righteous in the sight of God for Salvation which is fuller express'd in the Confession shewing what saving Faith in the largest Sence designs viz. accepting receiving and resting upon Christ alone excluding all other Foederal Conditions for Justification Sanctification and Eternal Life by vertue of the Covenant of Grace Now you see how clearly they make Faith a Perswasion and that it doth all objectively by taking in the Truth and receiving it for the Understanding receiveth and embraceth by being perswaded it takes in the Light of Truth and the Will embraceth by being perswaded and the great procatarctick Cause is the Covenant of Grace Now I see you have a clean contrary Notion of making it a Condition and moral Instrument i. e. A moral Condition of the Covenant and so a Work and as such
which Life must be our Union to Christ which according to the most Orthodox is and must be before Faith it self at least Naturâ Neonom He says We partake of the Spirit by vertue of this Vnion Calvin Yes how should Members partake of the Spirit and Life that is in the Head but by vertue of this Union and yet the Spirit unites A Branch engrafted partakes of the Spirits of the Root by vertue of an Union and the Spirits unite and knit it Neonom He saith God did not only decree to put such Qualifications into them but I say farther That God gives Actual Possession of this Christ and that Christ takes Possession of that Person before there be any Qualifications P. 618. Calvin I doubt not but Christ takes Actual Possession of us saltem naturâ before we have any holy Qualifications but as to our Actual Possession of Christ it 's better exprest that we have it by Faith although where there is Possession there is relatum correlatum Neonom The Question is not Whether God hath decreed the Vnion of the Elect Nor whether this Vnion is agreed in the Covenant of Redemption D. W. p. 92. Antinom But it is Whether the Elect have not a Union of Federal Relation in the Covenant as you call of Redemption as being a Seed in him and Covenanted with in him and he as a common Person representing them and undoubtedly is that Root or Head out of which all his Elect Seed or Members do spring Neonom Nor is it any Question whether Christ's giving us the Spirit of Grace do begin this Vnion and the Spirit given in order to Saving Operations produceth this Faith whereby the Vnion is Consummated Calvin Well well if you own so much what do you make a Controversie of this Point it seems you acknowledge the Union is begun with Christ giving his Spirit in order to Saving Operations only you say it 's consummated by our Active cleaving unto Christ by believing and he doth as good as say as much he saith There is no Activeness of this Life of Christ in the Elect till they do believe and in this sence he will say the Elect are not united viz. by Faith till they do believe as for his Notion of the Elect being in Christ before calling it hath been discours'd already and let 's not fetch things over again Antinom There is a Passive Recipiency and there is an Active Recipiency Dr. C. p. 98. there is a Passive receiving of Christ and that is so that Christ is received without any Hands but in an Active receiving of him he is not received without Hands This passive receiving of Christ is just such a receiving of him as when a froward Patient takes a purge or some bitter Physick he shuts his Teeth against it but the Physician forceth his Mouth open and pours it in down his Throat and so it works against his will by the over-ruling power of one over him Neonom For my part I like not such Similitudes and it insinuates that Men are said to receive Christ against their Wills D. W. p. 101. Dr. C. p. 612. And he said too That our first coming to Christ is as a Coach is said to come to Town when it is drawn to Town Calvin You know his meaning by those Similes and they are not to run on four Feet it 's enough they serve to illustrate that part of Truth which they are used for Mr. Antinomian means as you do as to Man's Will There 's nothing more contrary to a rebellious carnal Man than the Graee of God their Hearts are full of Enmity and Hatred to God and Truth but yet he shews you often that God gives Gifts to the Rebellious And here you see how he gives it and what he gives it may be he binds them with the cords of afflictions and opens their Eyes to see their undone condition pours into their Consciences whole Potions of the Guilt of Sin and the Laws Condemnation whereby as undone Creatures through Grace they become willing and ready to receive Christ and he becomes precious to them by the same hand of his Spirit If you should pick up odd Similes out of Sermons which it may be hath done good and God hath blessed you may expose many a good Man's Labours See holy Cranmer's and I think such were were of famous Mr. Rogers of Dedham and consider the Spirit of God allows preaching Christ to be foolishness to the World Therefore be very wary how you despise reproach or redicule in these cases lest in striking pretendedly at Men and their weakness you happen to give a slant Blow at the Spirit of God For he tells you there is such a kind of Recipiency of Christ he instanceth in Ephraim Jer. 31.18 19. And in the like Dialect Elihu speaks to Job chap. 36.8 9. If they be bound in Fetters and held in the Cords of Affliction then he sheweth them their Works and their Transgressions that they have exceeded And in the Metaphor of a Coach or Chariot the Spirit of God speaks in the Sacred Scripture and the Church saith to Christ Draw me and I shall run after thee Neonom The real difference is 1. Whether the Elect are actually united to Christ before they are born 2. Whether the Elect are united to Christ till they are effectually called and truly believe Antinom That though there be not an active Union on our Parts but by Faith so that it can't be said properly to be a Conjugal Union by mutual consent of Parties yet there is a relative Union such as between Father and Child where the Child gives not consent to this relation he is wholly passive in being brought into it God from Eternity constituted and ordained Christ and all the Elect to be as it were one Body one Lump wherein Christ is the Head and they the Members Christ the Root and they the Branches They are given to Christ John 17. To be in Christ Eph. 1. Being they are called his Seed before they are called John 10. His Seed Isa 53.11 12. Heb. 2.14 Brethren Ver. 11. He that sanctifyeth and they they that are sanctifyed are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. as some add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Body or Lump And by vertue of this Union it is that the Obedience and Satisfaction of Christ descends particularly unto them and not to the rest of Mankind Calvin The Learned Mr. Rutherford hath as follows The Faith by which as by an Instrument we are Justified Rutherford of the Covenant P. 208. presupposeth three Unions and maketh a fourth Union It presupposeth a Natural Legal Federal Union 1. Natural That Christ and we are not only both Mankind for Christ and Pharaoh and Judas are one specie naturâ true Men but one in Brotherhood He assuming the Nature of Man with a special Eye to Abraham Heb. 2.16 i. e. to the Elect and Believers for
in it's own Nature and needs a continued flux of Supply as our Graces in Sanctification As thus a Traytor pardoned by the King is not unalterably pardoned but shall be kept by the King's Care in a pardoned state Neonom Or whether God hath decreed that the Elect shall certainly believe and so be justified Antinom But hath he decreed that the Elect shall never be justified in any Sence before they believe or that Faith should be wrought as a qualifysng Condition for Justification Neonom Nor whether true Faith be an infallible sign of Justification Antinom But you make it nothing else to us if it justifies as a Condition if your Condition doth not foederally merit the Promise it 's nothing to God but an infallible Sign whereby he sees when to justifie us and to us that we are justify'd by him And what is this better than a manifestation you making it only a manifesting Condition You 're excellent good to multiply Whethers to no purpose You might bring in a 1000 Whethers more and say it 's not the Question Whether it be further to the East or West Indies nor whether Brittain be an Island or Continent Neonom I 'll come to the Point and tell you the Truth Tho' Faith be no way a meritorious Cause of a Sinners Justification yet God hath promised to justifie all such as truly believe Antinom That 's true so he hath promised to Sanctifie and glorifie them Neonom And requires Faith as an Indispensible Qualification in all whom he will justifie for Christ's merits Antinom This now is to the purpose now we see how Faith justifies as an indispensible Qualification a greater Condition than was laid upon Adam a thousand-fold For a clearer understanding the Justification of a Sinner by Faith Norton Evang. p. 110. let these Three Acts be considered the one looked at to succeed the other in Order not in Time First God actually imputes the Active and Passive Mediatory Obedience of Christ unto a Believer Rom. 4.6 therein God is freely given Secondly The Soul having before in order of Nature not in Time received Christ as its Head and Saviour by the same Faith receiveth his Obedience as the matter of it's Righteousness herein the Soul is taking Rom. 1.17 Ch. 6.11 Gal. 3 13. Thirdly God hereupon in the Court of Conscience Judicially declares and pronounceth the Sinner to be righteous and to have right unto Eternal Life by vertue of the Promise John 5.4 Rom. 3.22 30. By this Act of Grace the Person of a Sinner is Justified in himself really yet not inherently but imputatively c. Faith acknowledges 1. That we are Justified for the Righteousness sake of another viz. Christ God Man 2. Acknowledgeth our Justification is free 3. Renounceth our own Righteousness You see the Justifying Nature of Faith is Metonimically ascribed to it as the Eye is said to be the Light of the Body because it lets in the Light so Faith as the Spiritual Eye sees the glory of Christ as the Ear lets in the Justifying Promise declaratory Hence it 's said this is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent which is to acknowledge him by Faith as he is revealed Mr. Norton tells you We are justify'd by Faith alone i. e. Faith as it is justifying is not a work Rom 4.5 Nort. Evang. p. p. 208. 2 Because we are not justified by our own Righteousness i. e. The Righteousness whereof we are the Subjects 3. Because we are justified by the Righteousness of another sometimes called God's Righteousness whereof God is the Ordainer and whereof he who is God-Man is both the Worker and Subject 4. Because we are justified by a Righteousness that 's made ours by Imputation not by Infusion but as Abraham was justified 5. Because we are justifyed by a Righteousness that is actually procured before we believe our Righteousness is compared to a Garment which we put on by believing Rev. 19.8 Rom. 13.14 Gal. 3.27 yet Faith never took stitch in it Calvin That Faith justifies not as a Qualifying Condition is manifest 1. Faith as a Quality is a Work of the Law The Law commanded Faith a leading Duty in it But no Man is justified by the works of the Law Rom. 3.28 So Wolleb Willet This Proposition we are justified by Faith understood legally with the Papists is not true but blasphemous but understood correlatively is true Vosin Cat. p. 2. Q. 63. 2. That which cannot stand with Grace in Justification cannot have any Influence on Justification as such but for Faith to have any causal Influence as a Work on Justification is inconsistent with Grace The Minor is prov'd Eph. 2.8 Ergo. 3. That which gives no more to Faith in the business of our Justification than to other Works of Sanctification cannot be true but to make Faith to Justifie as a Qualification gives no more to Faith than to other Works of Sanctification Ergo. The reason is because the Scripture doth peculiarly attribute our Justification unto Faith and in a way of Opposition to all Works of Sanctification Rom. 3.28 Gal. 2.16 Chap. 3.11 4. If you say That Faith justifies only as an antecedent Condition not at all meritorious Virtute eompacti then it 's no more a Condition than our coming into the World or Acts performed by us before Faith and it gives no more to Faith than to the Works of Nature as Worldly carnal Sorrow Legal Repentance and such moral Acts as carnal and unregenerate Men daily perform such as you call your Preparatory disposing Conditions and they are the cause of Faith as much as Faith of Justification and consequently the causes of Justification Causa causae est etiam causa causati and are in in eodem genere causarum 5. Whatever justifies as a Foederal Condition is meritorious but Faith justifying as a qualifying Condition upon which Life is promised justifies as a Foederal Condition The Major is true in the account of all for the Condition need not to be adequate to the Reward in Intrinsick Value tho' it be never so small yet upon Performance of the Condition the Reward is due Debt And indeed all Conditions in Contracts and Covenants are proper meritorious Causes by vertue of the Compact and Agreement made between the Covenanters For the Minor If it justifies as a qualifying Condition it must justifie as a Foederal Condition or meer Antecedent Condition And if you say as an antecedent Condition it 's at best but Causa sine qua non which we call No Cause 6. The Scripture doth sufficiently explain it self in what it says of Justification by Faith when it says we are redeemed saved justified by Christ by his Blood by his Death c. That the Spirit of God when it says we are justified by Faith intends not any Moral or Physical Causality in Faith as a Qualification but only by vertue of it's Object Mr. Bradford the Holy Martyr reasoneth thus
them to such an end as you ascribe to them 4. Lastly You despise therein the Lord Jesus in giving that which is his place alone to your Graces and Duties Neonom All Promises and Threats in the Word directed as Motives to Obedience are foolish if we must not intend obtaining our own good by our Obedience Antinom Are they so You are not the first that hath reckoned the Gospel Foolishness and reproached the Grace of God God hath chosen these foolish things to confound such Wise Men as you are that can undertake to teach Christ a better Gospel c. Neonom How are they Arguments with the Will if we must not aim at Advantage in doing Duty Antinom It is one thing to have advantage by Gift and another thing to have such an Eye to it as to look upon our selves as Earners of it by our Work A Child that knows his Father hath settled an Inheritance upon him and will provide for him till he is of Age to take Possession is there no Motive to him to be dutiful to his Father but an intending more gain and advantage to himself Must his Father pay him for every Errand he runs and Job of Service he doth Must he look upon himself as Earning and Deserving his Dinner every day and for every Duty and Service his Father must say Oh! thank thee my Son I will remember this Service to give thee advantage for it Or else this Child will be sullen and dogged and say What pâ—ofit is there in serving my Father Such Christians as these you would make Neonom Christ calls with such Motives Mat. 11.28 Ezek. 18.32 1 Pet. 5.2 4. Antinom Mat. 11. He Invites Sinners to come to him for rest he would give it them he says not Go to your Works and Duties for Rest I am not against your taking all Motives from Christ and the Riches of his Grace but I am against Burning Incense to our own Drags as you would have us Thaâ— place of Ezekiel you mention is nothing to your purpose for turning and living there is the same thing And whereas you say What influence hath such pleas As 1 Pet. 5.2 4. 1 Tim. 2.12 Colos 3.34 Peter calls himself a Partaker i. e. by Faith of the Glory to be revealed and he chargeth other Elders to feed the Flock and take the Charge not by constraint but freely and willingly and not mercenarily but as he himself was taught by Christ Lovest thou me feed my Sheep and he saith When the chief Shepherd shall appear you shall receive a Crown of Glory which he hath purchased and promised not which they earned and gained by their working So Paul fought and ran 2 Tim. 4.7 8. not expecting to receive a Crown as due to him for Fighting and Running but as by Faith beholding it purchased for him and ensured to him in the Promise therefore he says It 's a depositum laid up for him even before his running and so for all other Believers as well as he he expected not to make an additional advantage to what he saw laid up for him already or thereby to make it surer than the Promise had already made it and as for other places where Duties are called for and ensuing Benefits promised it 's but a Connexion of the Promised Grace in the Covenant under something different Notions of particular Commands and Promises whereas Duties there are Promises and Gifts of Grace and both together Grace upon Grace from the fulness of Christ not that one hath in it a vertue to gain the other which the Spiritual Man understands and Christ dispenseth Grace in the Word of his Grace in this manner more humano which is of use to the weak many times when he teacheth them to walk as Ephraim by the Conduct of a Spirit of Bondage whilst they labour under weak and staggering Faith but such a frame and weak Understanding of the Truth ought not to be commended as a Vertue and such Weaklings are to be brought as soon as may be to more solid Understanding and higher Principles to act from and more Noble Aims and Designs to the Glory of God in Christ Neonom The Spirit of God approveth of Holy Mens regard to their own advantage Antinom Yes for the whole Gospel is a Sinners advantage or else it were sad and they must see it or else they will never embrace it but they are to see all this advantage is founded in Christ and conveyed by Promise and Free Gift to the Praise and Glory of God Eph. 1.6 7 8 12 19 20. Neonom Moses Heb. 11.26 had respect to the recompence of reward and this is given as the very cause why he esteemed the Reproach of Christ above the Treasures of Egypt Antinom I have given an account of that place already it 's said by Faith Moses did what he did by Faith refusing the World chusing and esteeming Christ his great Treasure and greater than all Riches and Honours even the Reproach and Cross of Christ for in believing he Eyed Christ himself who was his to be the great recompence of Reward he had enough to carry him through all difficulties having Christ and God in Christ and this was the reason of his Perseverance for he endured as seeing him that is Invisible he did not see him that is Invisible as a Reward of his Perseverance but he endured because he saw him Neonom Paul governed himself by these regards 1 Cor. 9.17 24. 2 Cor. 4.16 17. Antinom Paul made it his business in preaching the Gospel to obtain the Ends of the Gospel but he doth anticipate all that you would gather from his Discourse 1 Cor. 9.17 for ver 16. he saith For though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of and when he speaks of his Reward ver 18. truely it is as much as to say I look for none for my Work sake not so much as from Men my Reward is that I make it without Charge that as it comes freely from Christ so also from me he much less had any Mercenary Expectations of Reward from God c. And ver 23. and all he doth for the Gospel sake that he might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his participation of the Grace of the Gospel was as much as he looked for therefore he would not run at uncertrinty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but by Faith in the Promise as looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of his Faith Heb. 12.2 As to that place 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not what is the cause It 's in the verse preceding 14 15. The Spirit of Faith was the cause Whereby knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us also by Jesus for all things are for your selves that the abundant Grace might through the Thanksgiving of many redound to the Glory of God for which cause we faint not viz. from the abundant Grace apprehended by the Spirit of Faith and looking at things
for God to say unto the Soul I am thy Salvaiion Is it not the ordinary Gospel Voice under the Old Testament and New Neonom It hardly carries its Evidence to a Soul that hath no Grace at all Antinom You say a miraculous Voice can hardly carry its Evidence to a Soul that hath no Grace at all It is well you put in hardly for you know it was carryed to Paul in a miraculous Voice and it 's a marvellous audacious Expression to say God can hardly carry Grace and Evidence of Grace to a graceless Soul no not so much as miraculously and cannot God give Grace and evidence in the same moment of time as to the Thief on the Cross and thousands more in the Word Neonom It 's a way too far Enthusiastick to be allowed in so stated a Case Antinom You had best say the Apostle Paul in the whole 8th Chapter to the Romans and 1 Cor. 2. and Eph. 1. and in divers other places was too Enthusiastick and therefore those portions of Scripture that speak of the Revelation and Witness of the Spirit and the Assurances of Faith not to be allowed I 'll assure you you are mighty Magisterial to take upon you the decrying the Witness of the Spirit at this presumptuous rate openly and before the World What account can you give of this another day Neonom It gives the Devil a great advantage against Sinners to live in Sin and against honest People if once they find cause to question this Voice Yea it sets up the Spirit against it self if any can boast of Assurance by this Voice when their state is justly challengeable by the Gospel as wanting all Sight of Gospel Marks Antinom If the Grace of God that brings Salvation unto Sinners is the casting out of the Devil out of the Heart and the witnessing Spirit a mortifying Spirit Teacher of Holiness and the greatest Enlarger of the Heart therein as Rom. 8.15 by how much the more it works as a Comsorter as the Spirit of Adoption bringing us into the Liberty of Sons of God and shewing to us that Christ is ours and we are his yea by how much the more he makes us to see by Faith in Christ and how much the less he makes us to see in our selves but still shews us our own Vileness and Ugliness Corruptions poorness of Duties even to the loathing and abhorring of our selves if then I say God is most glorified and his Free Grace Christ is most advanced and his precious Blood and his glorious Spirit to be loved and admired and we in the best and most Gospel-frame Then all that you have here spoken is Burlesque mingled with the Enmity of your Heart vented against the Grace of the Gospel and the Spirit of God Calvin I must confess I can't tell what to say of that saying The Witness of the Spirit by the Voice of the Gospel is giving advantage to the Devil I am sure it hath a dangerous Aspect But I pray Mr. Antinomian do you condemn Signs and Marks as altogether useless towards the gaining of Assurance that he inveighs at so heavy a rate Antinom No by no means I allow the Fruits of the Spirit to be of a marvellous use as to Confirming and Comforting of our selves and very satisfactory to others that our Saviour saith hereby shall all men know that we are his Disciples and as James saith we must be convinced of mens Faith by their Work or else we can't take them to be Believers Yea we expect of every one that we admit Church-members that they should give a Reason of the Hope that is in them according to the Rule of the Gospel This Mr. Neonomian is against he will Burlesque upon it as much as he doth now at the Witness of the Spirit Calvin Why it is not possible Mr. Neonomian Sure when you admit Members into your Congregation you are very strict in Examining of them upon the Fruits of Faith that you and all your Congregation may know so far as the Judgment of a rational Charity will go that they are Disciples of Christ tho' as those Signs may deceive a mans own self so others may be deceived in those that make Profession of them Neonom I know no ground to stand so strictly upon my Admission I think if men be not grossly Ignorant or openly Scandalous they may be admitted to all Ordinances I can't try them for their Perseverance which is the greatest Mark. Calvin But I read that the Churches in the Primitive Times were made up of those that were at least to Visible appearance sanctified in Christ Jesus Neonom But the times are altered now they were Converted out of Heathenism we are all Christians Calvin Aye such as they be such as your honest People which the Devil gets a great advantage against to perswade to live in sin because of the pardoning Grace of the Gospel for whose sake you would have the Doctrine renounced and another Gospel preached I see you do not set so much by Signs and Marks but only to set them up in opposition to the Witness of the Spirit Antinom I will give you my full sence of the Doctrine of Assurance The certainty of a Thing or Proposition can be founded but upon one of these two Bottoms either upon an Artificial or Inartificial Argument so called in Logick An Argument artificial gives me sensible or rational ground for what I am assured of and it argues Things from Causes Effects Subjects Adjuncts Dissentaneities wherein are diversa opposita c. But an inartificial Argument is founded on Testimony and according to the faithfulness of him that brings it it gives more or less ground of belief This is reckoned in Logick the weakest ground of Knowledge especially being Testimonium humanum that is brought it may be a probable ground of believing but is not an Infallible one and therefore the Judgment upon it usually goes no further than Opinion that which is of a Contingency But in Theology Testimonium Divinum Divine Testimony is the greatest ground of Certainty and Assurance in the World because he that speaks is unchangeably true faithful just and holy he cannot ly Now hence it is that what Testimony comes from God himself it is to be believed because it is so without reasoning any further and is the greatest ground of Assurance in the World therefore I affirm that the Witness of God in his Word and the Spirit in the Heart firmly believed is and produceth the greatest Assurance for firmness and durability in the World This is that which ought to ly in the bottom of all our Assurance this will hold above all in the hour of Temptation when all Signs and Marks sail tho our Faith may be sometimes shaken and our Comforts and Assurances eclips'd so that our Faith may hold but as far as a Hoping or Perswasion of a Probability of our State and Condition yet as Mr. Neonomian saith as the Evidence is
exprest he means that Justification and Eternal Salvation is the Portion of such the positive is included in the negative it 's God's condemnation only from which such as are in Christ are exempted they are nevertheless condemned and censured by Men and sometimes by their own Consciences And on Ver. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect c. Who can implead such or put in an accusation against them There is nothing to accuse them of they are justified And there is none to Accuse them it is God that hath Justified them the Supream Judge hath Absolved them This seems to be taken out of Isai 50.8 9. they were Christ's words there and spoken of God's justifying him and they are every Believer's words here intended of God's justifying them and seems to be from two reasons one implied i. e. God's electing them the other express'd God's justifying and acquitting them And on Ver. 34. Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died c. His Death frees them from condemnation thereby he hath made a sufficient attonement and satisfaction for all their sins and which hath long ago satisfied in Heaven for the sins of all the Elect may very well serve to satisfie the Heart and Conscience of a believing sinner here on Earth such an one may throw down the Gantlet as the Apostle doth and challenge all the World let Conscience Carnal Reason Law Sin Hell and Devils let them all bring forth what they can it will not be sufficient for condemnation and that because of Christ's Death and Satisfaction Dr. Jacomb on Rom. 8.1 saith we read it no condemnation the Original will bear it if we read it not one condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such is the Grace of God to Believers and such is their safety in their justified estate that there is not so much as one condemnation to be passed upon them suppose a condemnatory Sentence for every Sin I 'm sure every Sin deserves such a Sentence and in point of merit 't is so many Sins so many Condemnations yet the Pardon being plenary and full every way adequate to the sinner's guilt the exemption of the pardoned person from condemnation must be plenary and full too so that if there be not one sin unpardoned there is not one condemnation to be feared This now is dreadful Antinomianism with some Men Jer. 50.20 In those days the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none 'T is an Allusion to a Man that turns over all his Bonds searcheth into all the Debt-books to see if he can find any Debt due to him from such and such a Person but upon all his searching he cannot find so much as one Debt to charge upon him so 't is with a Pardoned and Justified Sinner Imagine that God should be inquisitive to find out some guilt as lying upon him he might indeed find out enough as he is in himself but as in Christ he is Pardoned and Justified there 's nothing to be found against him therfore no Condemnation What do you think now is it an Errour to say God sees no Iniquity in his People How can any dare to Curse where God Blesseth This is to do worse than Balaam DEBATE XVII Of the Hurt that Sin may do to Believers Neonom I call to mind a most dangerous and dicentious Position of this Antinomian and that is that Sin can do no hurt to Believers D. W. p. 181. His Errour is this Errour The grossest Sins that Believers can commit cannot do them the least harm neither ought they to fear the least hurt by their own Sins nor by National Sins yea tho' themselves have had a hand therein Antinom It is strange you should charge this is an Errour upon me when as it s your own Assertion but you know the old Proverb The Thief crys Cut-purse first In the very Second Conference he had this Assertion He is there shewing that there was no need that Christ should bear any more than the Punishment of Sin saying all that endangered us was the Threatning of the Law and this upon Agreement that upon his Attonement we should be released where is the need of more The Obliquity of the Fact as against the Precept shall not hurt when the Sanction of the Law is answered and therefore he that suffers as a Sponsor for another need not sustain in himself the filthiness of the Crime to make him capable of giving satisfaction Chap. 2. p. 11. But go on to your Proof Neonom He saith they need not be afraid of their Sins they that have God for their God there is no Sin that ever they commit can possibly do them hurt Therefore as their Sins cannot hurt them so there is no cause of fear in their Sins committed c. there is not one Sin nor all the Sins together of any Believer that can possibly do that Believer any real hurt This he attempts to prove from Rom. 7. D. W. p. 181. from Dr. Cr. p. 510. Antinom He hath left out my true sense and meaning in these words on purpose as he useth to do to render my Assertions unsound Having been saying that a Believer's Sins cannot hurt them I raised this Objection Some wiâ—l be ready to say This is strange Dr. C. p. 510. all the Evils in the World that come they grow up from the sinfulness of Men. If Man be afraid of any thing he should be afraid of Sin from whence all Evils do flow A. I Answered Beloved it is true Sin naturally is a Root of all manner of Evil Fruit observe Gentlemen the wages of Sin is Death but yet I say whatever Sin in its own nature brings forth yet the Sins of God s peculiar People they that have God for their own God their Sins can do them no hurt at all and in that regard there is no cause of fear of any of their Sins that ever they have committed This may seem harsh to some Spirits that misconceive my drift that I aim at which is not to encourage any one to Sin but to ease the Consciences of the distressed there 's not one Sin nor all their Sins can do them hurt real hurt I mean they may do them supposed hurt And I suppose the Apostle Rom. 7. doth personate a scrupulous Spirit Dr. C. p. 511. that a Believer under the multitude and prevalency of Corruption who was ready to Cry out O Wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death but saith he I thank God thro' Jesus Christ q. d. till a Man look to Christ there is nothing but matter of bitterness to be seen as the certain fruits of Sin and there can be nothing but bitterness in Sin in regard of the Evil that is like to follow it but when persons can once look to Christ the case is altered What doth he thank God
our harm tho' it be so for the present in our own apprehension Neonom Because God can and doth over-rule these to some good at last therefore they do no harm in the mean while nor in any degree Antinom We speak not against the hurt of sin in its nature and natural effects nor the seeming hurt of sin and the effects of it but how evil soever it be through the grace of God over-ruling it all the seeming yea real hurt that it doth at present shall be for good and is good in the wise way and end of God tho' not apparently so yet the Promise is to be believed Neonom Because a Believer is freed from the Curse of the Law therefore no Gospel threatning of Christ can reach him Antinom Where no Curse of the Law can reach there nothing you call a Gospel threat can do a real hurt for that is not what we call so but what the wise God doth make so Neonom Because some good Men are sometimes humbled and awakened by sin as it 's an evil therefore to them it is not evil Antinom Whatever is for humbling and awakening of a sinner is good to that sinner and no real hurt that that is malum simpliciter either naturale or contristativum may be good in ordine ad finem and secundum quid as to cut off a Leg or Arm is malum naturale contristativum but in order to the saving the whole Body it 's bonum necessarium many causes act not sua facultate sed externa and that is when a thing produceth an effect by an external direction and gubernation that it hath no internal disposition to nor it may be an immediate agent might not intend or design Vt Phereo Jasoni profuit hostis qui gladio vomicam ejus aperuit quam sanare Medici non poterant The Enemy did Jason a kindness when by a thrust of a Sword he opened an Imposthumation that the Physicians could not cure So Commission of Sin through Divine Disposal and the Promise of Grace serves to lay open some latent Corruption or other in the Children of God which becomes of great benefit and advantage to them Neonom The Assembly is of my mind they say the Threatnings of the Law are of use c. Antinom But you leave out what you please c. 19. they say Although a true Believer be not under the Law as a Covenant of Works to be thereby justified or condemned yet it is of great use to them to inform them of the Will of God and the Threatnings to shew what Sin deserves Who denies all they say But observe They say a Believer is not under the Law for Condemnation Neonom But they say c. 17. Saints may through Temptation and the prevalency of Corruption fall into grievous Sins and continue therein for a time and incur God's Displeasure and grieve his Spirit and come to be deprived in some measure of their Graces and Comforts have their Hearts hardned their Consciences wounded hurt and scandalize others and bring temporal Judgments upon themselves Antinom All this is granted and yet we are not affected by it in our true sense and meaning we say Sin is hurtful and bears all manner of evil Fruits but through the Victory that we have in Christ Sin shall not bring upon us the Curse of the Law nor condemning Penal Effects Castigations proceeding from a fatherly hand are the Priviledges of his adopted Children whether it be exercised in outward Afflictions or inward Withdrawings And this is the Hurt that is all along spoken of we intend not Sin in its own Nature and those Effects that naturally proceed from it nor the Aspect it hath upon ourselves or others in all which it carries odium and mischief with it The sole reason why it hurteth not in a way of condemnation is from the Propitiation and Advocateship of Jesus Christ in whom and by whom that hurt is taken away which we speak of Calvin But Mr. Neonomian saith he hath not wronged the Doctor in this Charge nor mis represented him Repl. p. 47. Neonom I say he doth very oft say and frequently attempt to prove that Sin can do no hurt Antinom In what sense doth he speak it doth he intend Sin in its own nature hath no hurt in it or that it can do no hurt in its Penal Effects hurt must be understood in one of these senses Neonom I never designed to charge him with it in the first sense for he saith Sin is a Lion there 's its nature and a dead Lion there 's its calmness and because it 's dead it 's not to be feared it 's a Traytor that 's its nature and bound hand and foot that 's its inability to harm Antinom But you say he makes Sin innocent to the Elect that 's to change the Nature of it not to remove the Effects a Traytor may be bound and be a Traytor still tho' not to be feared Neonom He hath said too much to make it harmless to the Elect Antinom It must be harmless to the Elect so far as Christ bore Sin for them or else he bore it in vain but if the Doctor had thought Sin had no hurt in it he need not have insisted so much upon Christ's bearing Sin for us that Sin might not wound us to death Neonom I tell you I do not charge him for saying Sin as to its own Nature hath no hurt in it Antinom Where lies the fault then is it in saying Sin as to its Penal Effects can do them that are in Christ no harm Neonom He says not so and yet those are most of the hurts that come for Sin Antinom Mark Gentlemen he denies that this is his meaning he saith not those very Words and Syllables but what is it that he proves his Position by viz. There 's not one Sin or all the Sins together of a Believer can do him the least real hurt he proves it from Rom. 7. l. c. 8.1 After complaint against the remaining of Corruption in him he thanks God through Christ and saith there 's no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus pag. 511. and from Isaiah 43. p. 512. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgression c. where he saith What prejudice can that do that is blotted out Every Debt of a Believer is a cancelled Debt so that the Lord himself hath nothing to lay to a Believer's charge it is Christ was wounded for his Peoples sins Isaiah 53. It 's true our sins themselves do not speak Peace but Christ bearing sin and the wrath that these sins do deserve And again Tho' naturally sin hath a sting yet there is a victory over this sting Christ is the death of it as he took away the sting of it Now let any impartial Person judge whether this be not the Hurt of Sin which the Doctor intends and besides that you judge it to be his meaning appears 1. Because you
with a pretence to a sweetning Spirit of Meekness from the Temper which he hath manifested formerly as well as now and why he is a most incompetent Judge to pass Sentence upon my Procedure about Matters in Controversie as I do declare all the Subscribers to be and he in a more especial manner not only because he is of the Party engaged in this carnal Contention about words only as he would have the World to understand it to be since it could not be made an Imposition as at first designed but also because he always as it were hath asserted that he ne'er heard one side nor would saying That he never read Mr. Williams's Book tho' he hath subscribed to it and therefore always refused to hear or argue any Allegations against the Doctrins contained in it Now is it possible that such an one should give a true Verdict concerning Matter of Fact or pass a just Judgment upon either Party who is declaredly so byassed I could say much more of this Nature should I proceed to give a true Narrative of Behaviours and Passages that have attended the Carnality of recommending Mr. Williams his Book to the World by Subscriptions which I shall forbear to do unless I see I am provoked to it In the mean time I commend this Cause and the weak management of it on my side to the God of Truth that weighs the Spirits and judgeth righteously And in Honor to that Reverend Divine I say no more to what he hath so angrily preached and wrote but am ready notwithstanding to ascribe it to that Infirmity wherein it's possible some Men think we are too much alike and to bear a due reverend respect to him But if upon further provocations I find I am forced to vindicate my self from these Abuses and that in so doing some Men find Quod me non impune lacessunt let them thank themselves for it as they may for all that they would make me so blame-worthy in A brief Reply to what Mr. Daniel Williams hath charged Mr. J. N. with in the Preface to his Reply to Dr. C. FInding my self traduced by such as seem never to live so pleasantly as in the Fire of Contention who are ambitious to expire in the Arms of Fame and this wholly owing to what Mr. Daniel Williams hath published in the Preface to his late Book called A Defence c. It 's but needful I give the Reader a true and impartial Account of my Concern in those Matters for which I am quoted and thus treated The first Particular for which I am charged is in reference to Dr. Crisp's Works viz. Mr. Nesbit from credible Hands informs me the Assembly of Divines desired to have them burnt In answer to this I shall give the Impartial Account of this Story with the Circumstances that accompany it and then leave my Censors to be Judges how unfairly I am treated in this matter Soon after this Reverend Author had appeared by the Press in the present Controversie I told him I had been in some Company where his Opposition to Dr. C.'s Works was occasionally mentioned To which one naming to him both Place and Person replied They had been sufficiently answered by the Assembly for they burnt them The same Passage being repeated where he and several other Ministers were present it was moved That one should Write to know of Dr. W. at Oxford who was able to give a full Account of the Truth or Falshood of this Report which was accordingly done And the Answer returned and made known to this Author before his Printing was in Sum thus Tho' many of the Assembly did not approve of them yet there was no such thing as a Vote against them that ever he heard of or remembred Now why this Account from a Person that Mr. Williams was satisfied knew the whole of the Affair should be omitted and the other occasional Report printed is not easily conceivable except we knew the meaning of the Reason I had from him when expostulating his unkindness in this Action viz. the Doctor 's Answer was not so much to the purpose therefore omitted But they that know nothing of this are prone to conjecture it seem'd designed to make my Name loathsome to them by whom he can't but know I desire to be approved However I hope my Soul hath been better dieted than to improve for just Reflection what is here offered by him The next Passage is in reference to his own Book viz. Mr. N. tho' I never requested it in my House declared if Mr. M. and three more had subscribed he would not have been unwilling to do it and he desired me to add Congregational to the Divines in and about this City who forbear to subscribe only for prudential Considerations which I refused I must acknowledge the freedom and familiarity I had for some time through our near Neighbourhood in this Author's Company encouraged me often to speak my Thoughts without being requested to it and that without the least Jealousie of having what I discoursed with him in private made publick by the Press and I not once acquainted with it and I see had I come to act the part of a Plotter I had been discovered by an unsuspected Informer As to the whole of what past in this private Conference it was with me of so little moment that in a few days it was buryed in forgetfulness So that when by a Friend these Passages were queried of me I remembred neither but denyed both till some time after seriously revewing what Discourse I had with him about this Concern I remembred that at my parting from him I desired the word Congregational might be added he having before told me the Names of several of that Persuasion that were to his knowledge Cordial for what he had done As for the other Passage I have not once or twice but often solemnly protested to him I did not remember any Particular so much as like it which Answer I thought the most becoming Denial to a Man of his Character but it seems it was not to the purpose and therefore omitted Sure I am Gospel-truth when truly stated carries more Demonstration in it than to need such undue Methods and unmanly Weapons for the defence of it The last Passage is He told Mr. Hume that if one or two Passages were rectified he would subscribe my Book To which Report I shall only make this short return That I may be a Stranger to my self through the deceitfulness of my own Heart but if my Heart does not deceive me I never had such a Thought nor uttered such a Word nor is it easie to conceive the thing so much as probable for the only time I discourst with Mr. Hume of this Subject was before this Author's Defence c. was published And at that time I did expostulate with him why he would be a Subscriber to the former To which he reply'd What should I do when followed daily and prest to