are so strong That the Image of God is so little restored God so much dishonoured and offended still by us c. will this reasoning perswade you Because I shall be kept by Christ's Righteousness out of Hell therefore I am as righteous as Christ though still subject to many Penal Effects of Sin and know not how much greater I may yet be subject to 5. Doth the Plea formed in this Objection fit the Mouth of any true Believer Lord I do not now need thy Forgiving me any thing nor ever was indebted to thee for abating me ought I bore the Punishment legally before I offended and paid the Debt before I contracted it Be but just towards me and I fear no Advantage thou canst have against me Let me be and do what I will or can I am out of thy reach I have in the eye of thy Law suffered what can be inflicted nay I am as righteous as Christ himself and that in equality therefore thou mayest as well and as much be offended with him as with me yea may'st as justly deny him the Reward of his Obedience as deny me any part of that Reward for I performed the Conditions in the Eye of the Law as much as he and have a right equal to his I am equally righteous with him Are these the Apprehensions of an humble broken Heart These things are as unreasonable as if Millions of Persons were liable to die for Robbery and the King and his only Son should agree that the Son should die in the room of these Millions of Criminals that they owning humbly his Kindness might be released and honoured and the Son to have the Glory of being their Redeemer and have Homage done him as such Would it not appear strange if one of these should after his escape by the Prince's Death say to the King I owe you nothing for my Life I paid you in your Son 's dying for me And to say to the Son I have done and â—uffered as much in the Eye of the Law to â—ave my Life as you did and deserved it as much as you and have as much Honour due â—o me for dying in you as you have for dying for us Millions the King and the Law look on me and all should judge me as Just a Man as your self I doubt such a Man might forâ—eit his Claim to Freedom for want of humble Thankfulness and for denying the King's Son â—he Glory of being his Redeemer Exh. With Sobriety of Mind keep an humâ—le Sense of your distance from Christ under â—he highest Privileges he advanceth you to â—dore his Grace that through his Blood you â—re Righteous as pardoned Believers but â—read comparing with him He will and it's 〈◊〉 he should In all things have the Preheminence Col. 1.18 and sure to be more righteous than us in all respects is one of those things What can be a tenderer part of his â—rerogative 11 Pro. Neither Faith nor any Work of Believers are any Righteousness that have any Share or Place with Christ's Righteousness in Justification as this is before described Our Graces do neither make Atonement nor merit Pardon of the least Sin or the conferring of the lowest Benefit No Acts of ours are a jot of our Righteousness or right to Pardon or Glory in a way of Justice Justice could not allow them that place they being Imperfect and the Actions of Sinners God hath no Eye to our Works as any procuring cause of his imputing Christ's Righteousness or of his Pardoning Absolving or Accepting us Reader Because my Enlargement on this Head is long that it may be better comprehended I shall divide it into several Heads 1. I have already told you that Justification is that Act of God whereby he imputes Christ's Righteousness to a Believer and thereupon Pardons Absolves from Condemnation Accepts and Adopts him whereby he hath a right to Glory and sentenceth him one free from Condemnation as if he had not sinned and an Heir of Glory as if he had obeyed the whole Law This is to make us Righteous as in Justification 2. In Justification thus considered the Righteousness of Christ is that which is regarded by God and influential into all as the only Merit and procuring cause his Obedience Active and Passive is the only legal Consideration on which God Pardons Absolves Adopts or gives a right to Glory yea it is Christ's very Right wherein God doth Pardon Absolve c. 3. Justification as including these Benefits stands entire as to its causes antecedently to a Believer's Interest therein it 's a Blessing purchased by Christ it 's offered to Sinners and included in the Promise a Justifying Righteousness wherein or whereby a Sinner is to be pardoned and entitled to Glory is not to be wrought out by Men it 's already fulfilled by Christ and these Effects of it are lodged in the Gospel as Christ's Deed of Gift with his Title To be applied to all that are made Partakers thereof 4. To be Justified Actually is to be made Actual Partakers of a Gospel-right to these Immunities and Privileges in Christ's Righteousness as it is imputed to us by God in the Applicatory Sentence of the Gospel-Promise We have for Christ's Obedience a right to Pardon c. given us and thereupon are pardoned and to be dealt with and defended as such 5. God in and by the Gospel hath described and determined who shall be thus actually Justified and this by descriptive Qualifications they are Sinners condemnable by the Law hence called Ungodly Rom. 4.5 but not Unbelieving Impenitent Sinners for God Justifies none but whom by the Gospel he promiseth to Justifie Now if the Gospel promised Justification to all Sinners as such or to all Impenitent Unbelieving Sinners then all Sinners all Impenitent Unbelieving Sinners would be Justified as soon as they are such and cease to be Justified when they cease to be Unbelieving Impenitent Sinners But God by his Word hath positively declared that such he will not Justifie whilst they are such but leaves them under Condemnation and the Wrath of God abides on them Iohn 3.38 God's purpose of a better State for any doth not prevent their being at present in this worser State it is his Justifying Act that changeth their Condition from a liableness to Condemnation to a Right to Impunity from destructive Evils As it was his condemning Act which altered their State from a Right to Impunity to an Obnoxiousness to ruin this Condemning Act was by the Law that Absolving Act is by the Gospel 6. Therefore whatever God by his Gospel makes necessary in a Person whom he promiseth to Justifie all that and nothing but that is absolutely necessary in the Person who shall be Justified I do not speak of what is necessary in a Person after he is Justified but what is necessary in him on whom God's Justifying Act doth terminate We may judge what is made necessary in the Person to be Justified Thus Whoever God promiseth
and that the Pardon doth not belong to the other Man for want of true Faith nay that because he hath not Faith he is subject to the threatnings denounced against Unbelievers God's present dealings with Souls according to his Gospel is a kind of virtual Sentence but at the great day he will solemnly judge according to the Gospel Rom. 2.16 Mat. 25. The Work of that day will be to Sentence Mens Faith true or false upon full evidence of its truth or falshood and to convince the World that God hath pardoned all Believers and none but Believers and to condemn publickly all Unbelievers and solemnize before all the happy State of those pardoned Believers The Case is the same as to every other Grace or Duty to which God hath promised any Benefit in the Gospel As far as God makes any Duty a necessary Condition of any Benefit by the Gospel he will Judge us according to that Duty and if we totally want it that Benefit will be with-held He that did not repent shall be denied the blotting out of Sins at that day Acts 3.19 13. Hence Men can be said to be Justified by Faith as a sort of Work no otherwise than thus That Christ adjudgeth a Man to be a Believer who is so and his Faith a true Faith and that he is to be dealt with as a true Believer according to the Gospel Promise Justification in this sense is quite another thing than Justification by Christ's Righteousness or by Faith as it connotes that Object This is not Pardoning Absolving and Accepting a guilty undone Sinner which must be upon a Righteousness adequate to the Law and satisfying to Justice no no It is but a determination of a particular Cause viz. He is a true Believer and not an unbelieving Hypocrite and yet it is of great importance to our main Cause being that God hath said Christ's Righteousness shall be imputed to none but the true Believer And if we must be judged whether we be Believers or no we must be sentenced to be Believers or Unbelievers and if we be sentenced to be Believers we are so far justified by Faith as a sort of Work and if our Faith be tried by our Words or other Works our Faith is justified by those Words and Works and we are Justified as to this Cause in trial by those Words and Works i. e. We are adjudged not to be Vnbelievers nor to be meerly such Believers whose Faith was not evidenced by such Words and Works Mat. 12.37 Iam. 2-17 21 25. The matter is the same as to any thing the Gospel indispensibly requireth and concerning which we must be judged 14. In the like manner Faith can be called our subordinate Righteousness no otherwise than as it is the performed Condition which the Gospel requireth in the person whom God promiseth to Impute the Righteousness of Christ to for Justification or actual Forgiveness and Absolution It is not the legal Righteousness the Law would Condemn any Man notwithstanding his Faith if he had not Christ's Righteousness Imputed to him It is not the Righteousness that is Imputed for Justification as that in the right whereof Pardon and Acceptance is promised or stands It is not the Merit that God regards either in making or applying the Promise It is not a Righteousness by Acceptilation which the Socinians call it that is it is not reckoned instead of a Legal or Perfect Righteousness which were to exclude Christ's Satisfaction and set it instead of his Righteousness It is not a Righteousness that makes up Christ's Righteousness or at all serves to the same End It 's not a Righteousness by or for which God justifies us i. e. God doth not Pardon or Accept us for this But Christ having a full Righteousness and promising to Impute it for Justification to all that will Believe sincerely and requiring and commanding Sinners to Believe in him with this Promise That if they will Believe they shall be justified by his Righteousness and if they Believe not they shall not be justified by his Righteousness but Die in their Sins notwithstanding the full Righteousness that is iâ— him and the Offers made to them I say a far as this Promise gives a Believer a right to the promised Benefit his Faith is that upon which he receives that right and so far the Gospel makes him Righteous by his Faith i. e. He is the Man whom the Gospel assures that Benefit to which it gives the Unbeliever no right to but directly excludes him So that this Faith is no Righteousness that is any part of Justification which is the Benefit promised and subsists entirely in its own Causes But what Righteousness it is depends wholly on the Authority Tenure and Truth of the Gospel as the instrument whereby God applies Christ's Righteousness to us for our Justification If the Gospel doth not promise to Justifie one that hath true Faith though it be imperfect then indeed Faith is no Condition nor at all a Conformity to the Gospel as defining the Condition and if the Gospel doth not by its Pormise or Sanction give any Right to the Benefit promised upon performing the Condition then indeed Faith must not be called a subordinate Righteousness But if the Gospel assures to every true Believer Justification by Christ's Righteousness then true Faith is the performed Condition and thereupon the Gospel gives him an infallible Title yea this Gospel is his Title by God's gracious will to his partaking of Justification by Christ's Righteousness yea to the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness for Justification but still it 's Christ's Righteousness that justifies and only that though it be thus assuredly applied to him that believes 15. Faith it self much less any other Grace or Work is not the Righteousness or any Part of the Righteousness wherein a Believer is accepted pardoned or glorified or stands in before the Justice of God or is it pleadable against the Law of Works or Charge of Sin It 's Christ's Righteousness alone that pleads for Believers in all these respects this answers the Law and for this we are released from the Curse By this Righteousness our Pardon and Heaven were purchased and for it they are given That there is a Pardon that there is a Glory for fallen Man is owing to Christ and that Believers have those given to them is also in Christ's Right though his Gospel assures them to Believers Yea it 's for Christ's Righteousness that the Spirit works Faith in any Person Faith puts in no Claim of Merit nor can it stand before governing Iustice nor admit a Trial before God as Creator as what entitles any to his Rewards But to the Praise of divine Grace and Wisdom our blessed Redeemer will own true Faith as that which he hath ordained to be a Means of investing us in his blessed Righteousness and what renders a Sinner certain of the Fruits of his Merits The Believer hath a Right by the Gospel to plead all Christ's
to his particular Flock is at an end Nay he is of so Rash a Spirit small Skill in the Reason of Names and lavishly disregardful of Truth in this Matter that a Nick-name must be the Effect of his giving any to such as are not of his own Faction 2. He quits all Truth and Modesty in giving us the Name of Socinians or Semi-socinians He saith our Opinions are the Off-spring of Socinianism What meaneth he by Off-spring Is it 1. only that Socinianism was the occasion thereof Or 2. That they are of the same Genuine Nature with Socinianism The last is an abominable Slander hatch'd by no good Spirit 1. The former may be pretended but then an immediate Descent must be denied Socinianism tempted weak Men to the opposite Extream of Profane Antinomianism This Extream was perceived equally â—atal to the Vitals of Practical Christianity as Socinianism and also to give Advantage to the Socinians by its wild Positions and weak Arguments consonant thereto Therefore our best Learned Divines at once to prevent the Triumph of the Socinians and the growth of Antinomianism waved many of those Terms which had obtained among the Orthodox in speaking of Christ's Satisfaction without any due regard to either of these fatal Errors Hence Dr. Owen of the Trinity and Satisfaction P. 153. It appears from what hath been spoken that in this matter of Satisfaction God is not considered as a Creditor and Sin as a Debt and the Law as an Obligation of that Debt and the Lord Christ as paying it He then shews the difference and tells us God must be considered as a Rector c. p. 113. and p. 141. There is an allusion to them the Socinian Argument to a Debt and Payment which is the most improper expression used in this matter The same you 'll find Essenius Triumphus Crucis p. 391 399. Turretin Instit. Theol. par 2. p. 264. 462. In like manner they place Satisfaction in an equivalent in many things and not the same for kind in all Essenius p. 340. Dr. Stillingfleet of Sufferings of Christ p. 244 245. Many more instances might be given 2. But our Principles are far from being the Off-spring of Socinianism as being of the same Nature with it which he meaneth They are nothing which is properly Socinian or condemned as such by either Synod or Men of Learning So far are we from being half Socinians The Socinian Principles are summarily reduced to that of the Trinity and that of Christ's Satisfaction They deny the Deity of Christ as the Son of God by eternal Generation We affirm it they deny the Personality of the Holy Ghost we affirm it The Malice of our Author cannot pretend to touch us there The Socinians deny that Christ died a proper Sacrifice for Sin we affirm it They deny that Christ's Sufferings were the Punishment of our Sins we affirm it They deny that Christ satisfied Divine Justice or died in our Place We affirm he satisfied Justice and that Christ died in our Place and in our stead He died that we might not die who were liable to die He gave his Life for ours They say Christ died for our Good not by way of Merit at all strictly We affirm that Christ properly merited all the saving Good we enjoy The Good they say Christ died for is the giving us an Example of Patience confirming his Doctrin and at highest the ratifying the Covenant wherein our own Faith and Obedience is by Acceptilation accepted instead of a perfect legal Righteousness and this exclusive of Christ's Satisfaction and Righteousness and that he attends to this is what they mean when they say Christ in some sort may be said to give us Life But we affirm that the good Christ merited is Reconciliation with God Pardon of Sins and eternal Glory c. as well as that he gave us an Example of Patience c. And we truly affirm that we have no Righteousness that answers the Law but Christ's and that Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us as that wherein we stand before a just God and is as available to us for Salvation as if we had done and suffered what Christ did and we renounce all our own Obedience and Works legal and evangelical as any Part of that Righteousness in or for which we are pardoned accepted or glorified Our very Faith and much less our Repentance or other good Works is not any merit or procuring cause of our Justification The whole use and place we assign to Faith in our Justification and to Repentance in the pardon of sin is that they are the things which the Gospel requireth in those whom God will impute the Righteousness of Christ to for actual Pardon and a Title to Eternal Glory as promising to impute Christ's Righteousness to Believers and actual Pardon to the believing Penitent as also the possession of Glory to such as persevere in Faith and Holiness and all in by and for the only Righteousness of Christ as the sole meriting enclining and procuring Cause Reader judge between us yea let the searcher of Hearts judge whether we are not wronged by this Brother I have in this Book as well as formerly shewed that by Reward is meant no more than an encouragement to a Duty established by the Gospel as a Law not whereby governing Iustice enjoineth us to work out a Righteousness as our Title to Eternal Life but a Law wherein Grace in a way of Government appoints Conditions that render us the subjects of saving Benefits as the Effects of Christ's Righteousness and to be received and enjoyed in his Right Again whereas some call Faith our subordinate Righteousness I have evidenced that they intend no more than a performed Condition of the Gospel and no way a Righteousness of the same kind or to the same End or Purpose with Christ's Righteousness Also when any of us say that we are justified by Faith as an Act Justification is then taken in quite another sense from Justification by Christ's Righteousness the last being universal as to our Persons and State the former being only of a particular Cause viz. Are we Believers and but consequently are we the Persons the Gospel promiseth to deal with as Believers Also I have shewn that Justification is entire in all its Causes and that Faith doth no more than connote us the Objects or Subjects on whom this Justification is conferred by God as a Benefit or the Object on whom the Justifying Act terminates by the Gospel If these be Semisocinian Principles I undertake to shew that all or most of the noted Protestant Confessions of Faith and the Body of our Protestant Divines of Name yea especially such as have written against Socinianism are Semisocinian Sure then our Author either reads our Principles in a false Glass or he knows no more of Socinianism than that it is a scandalous word and so fit to brand those with whose worth acceptance and usefulness he beholdeth with an envious Eye
certain Rule of Judgment and doth infallibly direct Mens Hopes Fears and Expectations Also it governs Mens Endeavours after Graces and Duties as the certain Means on our part of coming at the respective Benefits graciously promised in and by Christ to or upon those Graces or Duties But these things I have before largely insisted on This Damning Error comes to no more at last than this The Gospel-Covenant is Conditional not as to the first Grace but as to the subsequent Benefits and so that God requires us to believe and repent that we may escape the Wrath of God and that there are Promises made to Graces All which the Assembly of Divines in plain words assert therefore how many are undâ—â— Mr. M's Condemnation Nay it 's well if 〈◊〉 was Innocent when he Prefaced Mr. 〈◊〉 Book called The Blow at the Root for there all that I assert in this Point is affirmed 2 Charge He is the Man that makes the State of Believers to be undecided and in Suspence during this Life This is my Second Damning Error Reply He is very unfair in wording this who would not infer either 1. That I affirm that all true Believers are not in a State of Salvation Or 2. That an Elect Person that is brought to believe Savingly will Apostarize and Eternally Perish 3. Or that a Believer during this Life may not be assured of his Eternal Happiness But he knows in his Conscience that I do often in the plainest words assert the contrary to each of these Take a few Instances out of my Book I affirm that we are Justified the same Moment as we truly believe in Christ and the Blessing is not Suspended for any time longer And an Elect Person once Justified shall by Christ's Care be kept in a Iustified Stated Gospel-Truth stated p. 104 105. Again I affirm That Assurance is attainable in this Life as the Effect of Faith Page 74. I affirm that a Penitent Believer shall be Saved if he die before he hath time for further Obedience Again The Essential Blessings of the Gospel become the Inheritance of a Believer as soon as he is united to Christ Page 125 126. Do not say the Elect Believer will not fall away I think the same yet is it the less true that even he should Perish if he fall away Nay Doth not God by these Threats contribute to keep hi◠〈◊〉 Apostasie P. 138. See Defence P. 9. 2. I 'll give thee the Ground upon which he wordeth this Charge P. 55. I said the Reason why I use the word Condition is because it best Suits with Man's Relation to God in his present Dealings with us as Subjects in trial for Eternity And P. 136. How unsuitable is it to the present State of Mankind that Christ should govern us without Promises and Threatnings He is a King and we are his Subjects and we are 1. his Subjects in a State of trial for another World 2. We have great Remains of Sin within us and Temptations without us These are the places that give him the greatest Umbrage Now where is here that a Believer's Case is undecided 3. Let us briefly examine where the very true Difference between him and me consists for certainly therâ— is one though he thinks it the best Defence of his own Opinion to misrepresent mine or else he had gained little by calling it Damning The Difference is not 1. Whether all true Believers are in a State of Salvation 2. Whether they shall Persevere 3. Whether it be by the Influences of Christ through the Spirit that they do Persevere 4. Nor whether the Influences of the Spirit and Perseverance and the Certainty of their Salvation thereupon be the Effects of Christ's Righteousness and purchased by his Obedience All these I affirm But the real Difference is 1. Whether God require Believers to Persevere in Faith and Holiness as the means of their continuing in a State of Salvation 2. Whether it be a blameably legal Fear to be Solilicitously Cautious in resisting Temptations and striving in Christ's Strength to Persevere least we Eternally Perish 3. Whether if a Man have once believed yet if he should fall under the reigning Dominion of Sin and Corruption he ought to suspect that he is not in a State of Salvation These three I affirm and Mr. M. denies or I can make nothing of his words which thou must joyn together P. 50. If thou hast indeed believed with the Faith of the Operation of God and they Conscience knows it thou mayst then conclude assuredly That whatever thy Sins have been or whatever thy Defects and Corruptions now be yet this Righteousness of God is upon thee thou hast it and dost stand in it Reply The Faith is an Act past the Conclusion is at present whatever a Man's Corruptions be the only Evidence of the past Faith is â—he Knowledge of Conscience which is not Infallible And by the way I can prove That by his Opinion as that first Act is before Regeneration so no other or after-Act of Faith is necessary to continue our Justified State Again He exposeth such P. 63. as hold that we stand in it this Righteousness by our own Faith And P. 64. their Continuance in Obedience and the not failing of their Faith is one of the Privileges of their State and the Effect and Fruit of their having this Righteousness of Christ upon them and not the Means or Cause thereof You see the not failing of Faith is not so much as the Means of our continuing to have this Righteousness on us for of its first being on us he makes Faith a Cause P. 51 52. I need not shew how oft he calls all Fears about this Perseverance in our State Legal I have not time to argue these therefore shall only touch on each 1. God doth require Believers to Persevere in Faith and Holiness as a Means of their Continuance in a State of Salvation Rom. 11.20 22. Because of Vnbelief they were broken off and thou standest by Faith Be not high-minded but fear Towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou shalt be cut off 2 Cor. 1.24 By Faith ye stand How Conditionally is it proposed Col. 1.22 23. Now to present you Vnblameable in his sight If ye continue in the Faith and be not moved away from the Hope of the Gospel Here our Unreprovableness and Reconciliation in the Body of Christ's Flesh through Death as to Continuance is stated on this If you continue in the Faith Heb. 10.35 to 39. Now the Iust shall live by Faith but if any Man draw back my Soul shall have no Pleasure in him But we are not of them that draw back to Perdition but of them that believe to the Saving of the Soul It 's by Faith we live this Believing is to Salvation as drawing back is to Perdition How many are the Promises of Salvation to Perseverance and Threatnings of Death against Apostasie And these uttered to Believers Yea are
a great Means of their Perseverance which Divine Wisdom hath appointed Obj. Christ's Righteousness upon us keeps our Faith Ans. And yet keeping our Faith through God's Power keeps that Righteousness upon us to Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 And know that Christ's Righteousness is applied in Correspondence with the Gospel-Rule It is not upon the Apostate to give him a Right to Salvation but upon the Persevering Believer It is on the Believer for his present Right but it is in Christ for to be still applied to the Persevering Believer for his continued Right Obj. The Believer will not fall away Ans. It is not naturally Impossible but it 's by Grace that he shall not fall away But then God's Helps and Means must be used by him of which these Cautions are not the least and the Connexion between Apostasie and the loss of Salvation is never the less true and so Mr. M's Principal never the less false for if ever he draw back my Soul shall have no Pleasure in him and truly you may as well infer that Faith is not necessary to our justification at first as that Perseverance is not necessary to our continuing so For it was as sure of the Elect. even before they believed that they should be justified It 's sure of the Believer before he persevere that he shall be saved But yet if Faith be necessary to the first so Perseverance is by as express Testimony necessary to the last 2. It is not blamably legal Fear for Believers to be sollicitously cautious in resisting Temptations and sâ—riving in Christ's Strength to persevere and this lest they eternally perish hold fast that which thou hast that no Man take thy Crown Rev. 3.10 was a fit Means to beget Care in holding fast Heb. 4.1 is a Caution the Apostle comprehends himself in Let us fear left a Promise being left us any of us should seem to come short of it any appearing challenge from within themselves was matter of Fear for on Christ's Part there 's no Suspicion It 's a divine Charge Phil. 2.13 Workout your own Salvation with Trembling and Fear not only begin it so but so work it out Nay in no span of Time on this side the Grave is the best Saint exempted Pass the Time of your sojourning here in Fear and the Reason is If you call upon the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every Man's Work 1 Pet. 1. 17. These Men now tell us There is no judicial Process of Believers no Judgment by a Gospel-rule It will not be asked you what Sin you have committed or forsaken or Duty you have omitted or Good you have done but are you in Christ As if these were of no Use to determine whether we are in Christ truly or no and as if a Privilege were the proper matter of a Judicial Trial. Mr. M. may know whose these are Oh Christians Is our Race as yet run our Fight already fought or our Dangers past Are we still in Via or in Termino 3. A Man that hath once believed if he should fall under the reigning Power of Sin and Corruption ought to suspect that he is not in a State of Salvation Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye mortifie the Deed of of the Flesh by the Spirit ye shall live was a Truth directed to all the Saints at Rome and let me tell you the Dominion of Sin is a more sure Evidence that Men are now out of a State of Salvation than the Knowledge of their Consciences that they formerly believed is of their ever being in a State of Salvation For this may be a mistaken Knowledge but the other is the divine Word These Conceits are obviated Ezek. 33. 13. when I say to the righteous he shall surely live if he trust to his own Righteousness and commit Iniquity all his Righteousness shall not be remembred but for his Iniquity that he hath committed he shall surely die for it i. e. If because he began to do well and because he hath done so for a Time he ventures to give up himself to a Course of Sin he shall certainly perish for it This is the plain Sense of the Place notwithstanding Mr. M. forced Perversion of it against our expecting any Benefit upon performing any Duty The Apostle Paul thought not himself above this Rule 1 Cor. 9.11 24. I keep my Body under lest when I have preached to others I my self should be a Cast-away What a damning Sentence would Mr. M. pass on Turretin Perkins Mr. Anthony Burgess and most of our old Divines who jointly assert That if David had died before he had repented of the Murther of Vria he had been damned Nay that comfortable Text Rom. 8.1 brands his Position there 's no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit whence it 's evident That if they now walk after the Flesh they shall be condemned at least from its being inconsistent with their present being in Christ whatever they think of their former believing I will not retort damning on Mr. M's Opinion yet to such Souls who credit his Notion That whatever thy Corruptions now be if thy Conscience know that thou hast believed formerly they Salvation is safe I must in pity say thou mayest eternally perish by it For thou canst not judge now it was a true saving Act but according to the Sentence of Conscience and they Conscience may be mistaken yea if thy Corruptions now have Dominion over thee and continue so God warns thee Let no Man eeceive you with vain Words for these things the Wrath of God comes upon the Children of Disobedience Eph. 5.6 3 Charge And whether he do not in Truth disown the Imputation of our Sins unto Christ and of his Righteousness unto us It is like if he live the World will see more fully for he hath given such pregnant Indications thereof as do amount to at least just Cause of Iealousie Repl. 1. Is it come so low as a Jealousie now When he was one that under his Hand affirmed thus of me He teacheth that the Righteousness of Christ is imputed only as to Effects with a Purchase of a Conditional grant viz. This Proposition He that believeth shall be saved and they cite for it though in contrary Words Gospel Truth p. 39. where my Words are these I affirm That Christ by his Righteousness merited for all the Elect that they should in his Time and Way be certainly Partakers of its saving Effects and did not only purchase a conditional Grant of those Effects viz. That Proposition He that believeth shall be saved And 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
upon Christ alone for Justification Sanctification and eternal Life 6. His Faith wâ—nts the receiving of Christ if not wholly yet as a Prophet and Lord Whereas true Faith receives Christ Iesus the Lord Col. 2.6 7. Here 's no yielding up our selves to our Redemer's Conduct no Dedication of our selves to him as our Owner Guide and Ruler nor Consent or Engagement or Purpose of Heart to do so Whereas Gospel-Faith is such a Trust of and on Christ as includes a yielding up our selves to him to be saved by him in his way as he sets down the Terms viz. To deny our selves take up his Cross be his Followers and Disciples Isa. 44.5 Luke 19.14 27. Rom. 6.13.16 Luke 14.26 27 33. Ier. 30.21 8. Here 's no purpose of Heart to renounce the World Flesh and Devil who are Christ's Rivals and Competitors to whom we before did yield up our selves 1 Pet. 3.21 Io. 5.44 Faith is a strange Conjugal Consent wherein the Wife promiseth no Duty or Loyalty only expects all to be done for her Obj. If we trust and lean on Christ we shall do these Ans. 1. It 's as true if we do these we shall and do lean on Christ and by that rule may as well call these Faith and leave out that 2. It is not a saving Trust in Christ that doth exclude these or is without them This is plain because the Act of Gospel-Faith is oft expressed by these as well as by Trust and a Sentence of Condemnation lies still upon a Soul that wants these and is under the power of their contraries We will not have this Man to Reign over us was the Language of Unbelief and for this they were subject to Death Luke 19.14 27. 3. The Scriptures tell us of instances of a Trust and Leaning that proved destructive for want of these other things and certainly will prove so to all others Mic. 3.11 The Priests teach for hire and the Prophets divine for money yet they will lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us none evil can come upon us No doubt the Foolish Virgins had a degree of Trust in Christ but were lost for want of Oil though they looked for so much from him 4. As he wordeth it and joineth it in other places it looks to be a meer Contemplative Act which as a Man unregenerate doth with him perform so a Carnal Man may do it for indulging his Sloath and Carelesness q. d. I will now and then apply to this Meditation Christ shall do all for me I trust him to do so and therefore I am safe though I do no more yea I shall be damned if I strive to do any thing else as a means of obtaining saving Benefits though it be in Christ's Righteousness that I expect all We are warned Mat. 7.21 Not every one that crieth Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father and this was to enforce that Charge Enter in at the strait Gate 5. He ascribes too much to Faith as imperfect dead and unholy a thing as he makes it even more than I dare for a World ascribe to that which is the true Gospel-Condition P. 51. There is between our Believing and this Righteousness being upon us a reference of Causality Repl. We must be destroyers and be destroyed for saying God requires Faith suspending Pardon till we believe and by his Promise securing it to us when we believe though we expresly deny all Causal Influence and confine the Condition to the meer Frame of the Object and do leave Justification in all its Causes entire as the Benefit to be given in Christ's Right to him that is a Believer Yet our Accuser Witness and Judge can innocently cry up a Causality a real and proper Causality a mediate Causality of Justification an immediate Causality of Union with Christ which is the greater benefit P. 52. My short Legs can follow these small strides It 's a Cause of Justification but how By more than that Rule causa causae est causa causati Faith is a Cause of Vnion that Union is a Cause of Christ's Righteousness being upon us and that Righteousness being upon us is the Cause of Justification and so Faith is an influential Cause of Justification If you go forward with what Justification is the Cause of and what that is also a Cause of Faith is a Cause of even as much and in the same sort as it is of Justification and if you go backward to the next Cause of Faith and to the Cause of that and even all that is the Cause of Justification as much and in the same sort as Faith is And what kind of Cause is Faith in all It 's always with him a Phisical Cause a natural touch and clasping Yet P. 52. he saith it 's by God's Constitution and Ordination hopeful words but he soon throws it oâ—â— of â— moral Causality again and brings iâ—to the Corporeal Spicies Clasping about the Soul Here 's a Covenant-Consent without an Act considered as any way Moral a strange thing to any Man of Sense who must know that Acts are considered only as Moral Acts in every Covenant 6. He accounts all Performance of any Duty with an Expectation of any Saving Benefits as Morally connected therewith to be in a legal Manner and Spirit from legal or old Covenant Principles and unto old Covenant Ends c. P. 28 Compare p. 71. Reply I have fully proved that though nothing done by us is the Righteousness wherein we stand before a Just God or the Merit of any Good or Atonement for Sin or instead of a legal Righteousness Yet there is in the Gospel a Display of Authority though in a way of Grace and a Rectoral way fixed for giving out the Effects of Christ's Obedience in his Righteousness as Benefits encouraging to Duty And in that way we must expect them to the Glory of God's Truth and Promises and we wickedly Presume in expecting them otherwise and hereby Obedience to Christ and the Righteousness of Christ are not opposed nor old Covenant ends pursued Mr. M. saith P. 49. Faith hath no Influence no not so much as in a way of Instrumentality to confer upon us a Right and Title to Christ's Righteousness all the Influence that Faith hath is to our actual Possession of it I grant 1. That Faith is not our Justifying Righteousness 2. That Christ hath merited the Elect shall have it 3. That it is the Gospel-Promise is our Title and Charter yea 4. I deny all Causal Influence to our Possession But as to him who ascribes to Faith a Causality I would ask 1. Doth not the Gospel adjust by its Promise that it is the Believer it will invest in this Possession of Righteousness 2. Doth not this Promise entitle a Believer to this Possession and bar the Unbeliever 3. Doth Faith then no way affect our Right or Title to the Possession thereof Doth it not
justified by his blood It 's by this Blood as the procuring Cause this was the Propitiation Hence his Blood is said to cleanse us 1 Iohn 1.7 I hope you will not doubt that that of Christ for which we are justified is at least a part of Christ's Righteousness 4. If Christ's Poverty merited Riches for us then his Sufferings merited for us but Christ's Poverty merited Riches for us 2 Cor. 8.9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that thô he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich He was Owner of all Things but for a time he quitted as it were his Claim to acquire Treasures for us who has forfeited all He had not a Cottage of his own to lay his Head in that he might purchase Mansions for us 5. That in the Virtue whereof Christ intercedes for and gives out the saving Blessings we receive did merit for us but it 's in the Virtue of his Death and Sufferings that Christ intercedes for and gives out the saving Blessings we receive He is entred into the holy place Heb. 9.12 Into heaven it self v. 24. There he presents the Offering he had finished on Earth that is in the Virtue thereof he claims and expects the Blessings promised thereto and merited thereby The dispensing thereof is committed to him and each of them is given to us and received by us in the express Virtue of that Offering I shall enumerate some and shew that each is assigned to Christ's Death and Sufferings Col. 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Which Blood was shed for the remission of sins Matth. 26.28 Eph. 1.7 We have redemption through his blood Heb. 13. 12. Wherefore Iesus that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the gate Reconciliation is owing to the same cause Col. 1.21 22. Now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy c. Yea eternal Life the sum of all promised good is granted on the same account Heb. 9.15 That by means of death for the redemption of their transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Can you suppose that we have Remission Sanctification Peace and an eternal Inheritance for Christ's Death and Sufferings and that his Intercession for these and other Blessings is in the Virtue of his Blood and yet his Death merited not these 6. I might add Heb. 10.14 He hath by one offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified Which must not only prove that Christ's Death and Sufferings merited for us but that all saving Blessings are under their Influence as the meritorious Cause thereof Object Christ's Death and Sufferings were but the paying of a Debt and therefore merited nothing 1. A. Was not our Obedience a Debt Yea it was so more properly than our Sins or Punishment Sins are metaphorically called Debts but they are not Things we owe to God but are the neglect of that Obedience which we do owe to God and so oblige us to Punishment Punishments are called a Debt not as what God owes to us as a Debt or we to him but as what we are obnoxious to â—or Disobâ—dience if God is pleased to inflict them But yet he is not so obliged to Punish us as to exempt him from a Pardoning Right in the way his infinite Perfections will adjust If the Objection then will prove that Christ's Death merited nothing because it was the payment of a Debt theâ— it will more follow that Christ's Active Obedience merited nothing for that 's as much at least the paying of a Debt yea more properly The Confusion which this word Debt hath induced weak Men into especially as a Pecuniary Debt in the Doctrine oâ— Satisfaction I shall afterwards be necessitated to speak to 2. A. Christ's Death and Sufferings were Acts of Obedience in Christ and so they merited Our undergoing of Punishment would have been no Act of Obedience in us but an involuntary enduring of Vengeance It was not by a Divine Precept made our Duty but by the Sanction rendred due to us There was a Threatning whence it must be endured but no Commandment that made our being Punished an Obediential Act in us Is it an Act of our Obedience to die a Spiritual Death or to be hated and abhorred by the Lord Yea Is being eternally Damned a Duty performed to God by the Tormented But whatever our Lord Jesus suffered was obedientially and voluntarily endured It was God's Commandment to him and in him an Act of the highest Obedience to God he pleased God therein Ioh. 10.17 Therefore doth the father love me because I lay down my life He was obedient unto death Phil. 2.8 His willing subjection to God's Authority and Design herein was that which gave Life and Enâ—rgy to his Sufferings Truly Christ's Dying was the highest Act of Obedience and what we call his Active Obedience yields no Instance that equalleth this It followeth then that if Christ's Obedience could merâ—â— then his Death and Sufferings merited because they were strictly Acts of Obedience His very ensuring them was Obediential 3. A. Thô Death was due to us as Sinners yet Death was not due to Christ but as it was to be Satisfactory and Meritorious It was thus proposed to him by the Father and thus consented to by Himself He was to bear it as a Punishment for the satisfaction of Governing Justice and to merit the Pardon of Sinners his Sufferings were a Pardoning Price He had committed no Crime and therefore deserved no Punishment nor needed any Pardon But he was willing to bear the Punishment of our Crimes that thereby he might merit our Forgiveness in a way consistent with the Perfections of God and conducive to the Glory of Divine Government Hence Is. 53.5 The chastisement of our peace was upon him It on him was a Chastisement for our Peace as it s designed End True it was for Sin or it had not been necessary nor yet a Punishment but yet it was to purchase our Salvation or he had not submitted to it 4. A. The immediate Efficacy and Operation of Christ's Sufferings upon us are as they be Meritorious Christ's Death must be satisfactory to God or he would not have accounted it Meritorious of Peace to us nor granted us Benefits on the account thereof Provoked Justice and the Injury to Divine Government by Sin stood in the Sinner's way yea stood in the way of all Merit for good to us There must be a Propitiation for Sin to God and this being made to God it 's accepted as a Ransom and Price by him and so it operates on the Sinner in a way of Merit consequential of that satisfaction we are redeemed by Christ's Blood as a Redeeming Price we are saved by it as Meritorious of Salvation Thô it was also offered as an
is great I have found Healings when Wounded Strength when Weak my Prayers have had frequent Audience God hath not refused me Communion with himself mine Iniquities are removed as a Cloud I joy in Gods Favour I glory in his Fullness and have lively Hopes to be ever with him Should not that be owned by us in all which is the Consideration upon which all is given 8 Pro. The Righteousness of Christ is differently applied and operative as the Gospel distinguisheth the promised Benefits with respect to the various Conditions of such who are the Persons described in the Promises For Explication of this note 1. The Gospel Promises distinguish the Benefits that come by Christ and describe the Objects of each The Promises are various and those are all Gospel Promises that are made to fallen Man for Christ's sake To be a Promise to fallen Man and not Gospel to be for Christ's sake and not a Gospel Promise are in the nature of the thing impossible The variety of the Promises is obvious and the Persons to whom they are made not alike described Some are made to one Grace some to another Grace some on one Condition some on another Justification is promised to the Believers Pardon to the Penitent Mar. 1.4 Returns of Prayer to him that prays frequently and in Faith Iam. 5.16 Glory to the Persevering Saint Gal. 6.9 Abundant Glory or Reaping liberally to him that sows liberally that is who is abundant in fruitfulness 2 Cor. 9.6 He that hungers after Righteousness shall be filled and the like Mat. 5.2 Each of the Promises are made in Christ's Right They are but an Inventory of Christ's Claim Nay they were made with respect to his Merits If God could make a Promise of Saving Benefits to Sinners without an Eye to Christ's Satisfaction as the Consideration of making that Promise I doubt it will go too far to prove that he may perform that Promise without an Eye to his Satisfaction The same Objection will not lie against a meer Decree or Purpose to give such Benefits in and by Christ for this Purpose gives no Man right to the Benefit but the Promise doth give a right and to suppose a Sinners Right without respect to Christ's Righteousness seems to weaken the necessity of his Satisfaction and Merits who is given to be a Covenant Is. 42.6 i. e. for his sake this Covenant is made and by him confirmed and executed But how ever various the Promises are they grant in his right they be Christ's Legacies they are bequeathed by his Testament and therefore argue that the respective Blessings contained therein are his proper Goods given out by the Promises as his Donative Instrument and upon terms which the Fathers and he thought fittest to prescribe as rendring the State of the Receivers such as they judged most subservient to infinitely wise and holy purposes 3. It 's Christs Righteousness that exerts it self and operates in conferring the Benefits included in these various Promises this empties it self in all those Channels and influenceth by each of those means the Blessing conferred is a display of his Merits as the procuring Cause whatever power the thing is effected by or way it 's effected in Christ's Righteousness is applied in Pardon in Adoption in the Perseverance of Penitent Believers Gal. 3.16 This is applied in the Answer of every Prayer this is as truly in all additional degrees of Grace in some Saints as in any measure in every Saint yea in the augmented degrees of Glory as in a State of Glory Hence it 's past doubt that unless we say some Spiritual and Heavenly Benefits are given not by or for Christs Righteousness or that his Righteousness may be equally applied and yet not produce equal effects then we must conclude the Righteousness of Christ is not in the same degree applied unto all to whom it yet may be applied to saving purposes It is applied to no true Believer but that it secures to him a Deliverance from Hell an acceptance of his Person and Duties Perseverance in Faith and the Kingdom of Heaven at last But are all as greatly beloved as Daniel as mighty with God as Moses or Iacob Had he that was Ruler of five Cities as great Glory as he that was made Ruler of ten Cities Luk. 19 17 19 24. Comp. Mat. 25.28 and surely the very preheminence in these respects is owing to the Righteousness of Christ applied Rev. 1.5 Exh. Be careful and industrious to be the described objects of the several benefits you desire according as the Promises describe the Persons and to whom they are made yet expect each benefit by Christ's Righteousness when you are the described objects of those benefits according to the Gospel Ordination In vain do you expect the benefit promised if you are not the Persons to whom the Promise grants it for the Promise doth as truly exclude the wrong Person from its Blessing as it assures it to the right Person But by what doth the Promise describe you to be the Person it speak of It 's not by your Name but by your Character even your being such a one as Christ declares by the Promise he will give the Benefit to Would you be filled be then one that hungers after Righteousness Would you be pardoned for Christs sake see that you be Penitent Believers for it 's to such only Christs Righteousness is promised to be applied for Pardon Would you reap plentifully then sow plentifully for if you be of them that sow sparingly God doth not say it to you that you shall reap plentifully 2 Cor. 9.6 The like I may say of every other Promise that is Conditional for therein God moves us to duty by Benefits he induceth us to what we are more backward by what we more esteem and desire Election knows our Names the Promises appoints our Qualifications And do not think thou canst plead Christs Righteousness to obtain the Good promised if thou art not such a one as the Promise describes for in making these Promises Christ hath fixed the way how the Effects of his Righteousness shall be dispensed and by these he requires us to guide our Expectations or they do not answer the end of his Publication of them But when thou art by the Grace and Spirit of Christ the characterized Man to whom the Promise belongs expect the Blessing as the Effect of Christs Righteousness and not of thine own the Promise had not been made to thee but for that it is in his right the Blessing is conferred whenever any partake thereof which adds Sweetness as well as Certainty thereto The Spirit frames the Vessel but Christ affords the Oyl By the Operation of the Holy Ghost thou art rendred the designed Object of the Promise but look to Christ as Procurer of the Good which the Promise is to convey But more of this hereafter 9 Pro. In and by the Righteousness of Christ they that sincerely believe are upon Gods pardoning of them
a way of Satisfaction Impetration Merit or Intercession it were true but as he words it it may be very Erronious and it is to Scrue an Error he doth thus express it Hence because he finds Repentance and Faith are so necessary to our Salvation he hath in his Pulpit endeavoured to inform Men how Christ repented and that he repented for us and though he doth not-publish it in this Sermon as he did elsewhere That Christ believed for us yet you 'll see presently how much he endeavours to convince us that he did so for if he believed whilst humbled it was for us and it 's imputed to us as he oft in this Book affirms Had I Mr. M's liberty what would I call this Error for though it 's in Christ's Strength and Grace that we Repent Believe turn to God and do good Works yet if we do not these as our Personal Acts Misery will be our Portion If you not I believe not you shall die in you Sins John 8. 24. Except you not I repent you shall all perish saith Christ Luke 13. 3. I say Except your Righteousness not mine exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 5.20 Had Mr. M. been an Auditor he had not said Lord thou understandest not the Gospel it 's thou art to do these things this is the deep Counsel of God however legally thou speakest He might as well say it 's thou Christ shall perish as thou Christ art to repent 2. Faith is a prime and principal part of our Being conformable to the Image of Christ c. He is the first Pattern and original Copy of Believing P. 62 63. Reply Is Christ's Faith the Pattern of Faith in Christ I remember somewhere Dr. Goodwin speaks of God's trusting Christ till he was Incarnate and of Christ's trusting the Father since the time of his Sufferings Yea we may easily grant that Christ believed God's Promise and as a Man depended and relied on God's Power and Truth But this is no other Faith than Adam in Innocency acted than the Law of Works directed to By this account we may think better of the State of Pagans than most do for without Gospel-Revelation they may believe in God trust him and depend on him But what is this to the account the Scripture gives of Faith in Christ Did Christ come to himself as a Saviour Did he receive himself as a Crucified Redeemer Did he eat his own Flesh and drink his own Blood for Eternal Life Did he plead his own Merits and rely on his own Righteousness for Pardon and restored Peace Did he consent to be married to himself Did he look to himself for Healing Or to use Mr. M's account of Faith in this very Page Did he go out of himself unto himself for all Yea take part of his Description of Faith in Christ p. 39 40.1 The Subject of Faith is the Heart of a convinced broken-hearted Sinner c. The very Nature of Faith and the acting of the Soul in it is such as doth imply and include a Sight and Sense of Sin and Misery and a lively heart-influencing Conviction of utter Helplesness in a Man's self and unworthiness to be helped by God c. Reader Doth Christ's Faith in the Nature of it imply a Sense of utter Helplesness and Unworthiness in himself or of his Sin and Misery The Reason he gives for Justling out such as Abram and setting up Christ for the original Copy of believing in himself is this The Humane Nature of Christ lives and subsists in the second Person leaning on the Eternal Deity of the Son of God it hath its Subsistence in the Bosom of the Godhead c. and hath the Eternal Power of the Deity clasping about it P. 63. The Apostle did not know this Faith when he said that Charity was greater than Faith Well as Sublime as this Reason seems to be I will venture to say This is not that Faith in Christ which the Gospel requires of Sinners 1. I will give you a Reason of Mr. M's which besure is none of the best P. 7. Christ's dwelling in our Nature is no part of the Punishment of Sin for then the Divine Nature only is punished and not the Humane at all nor the Person It 's a bad one for what he brings it since that Assuming the Nature and dwelling in it differ and I have answered it before and it needs a great Allowance to keep it from But if the Sufferings or Acts of only one Nature be not the Sufferings or the Acts of the Person of Christ then the acting of Faith of the one Nature on the other Nature is not acting of Faith upon the Person of Christ and consequently not Gospel-Faith which is to be acted on the Person of Christ here the Humane Nature believes but that is not with him Christ that believes it believes on the Divine Nature and that with him is not Christ who is believed on What now is become of Christ's Believing even by his own Reasoning 2. The Object of Faith in Christ is God-Man Mediator a Crucified Christ c. but the Deity of the Son of God abstractedly considered is not God-Man Mediator c. Truly if our Gospel-Faith is specified by this I see not the need of Christ's Incarnation or Death yea or regard thereto 3. This leaning and especially to the purposes assigned to this Act of Christ's Humane Nature is not all that which is Essential to the Faith in Christ which the Gospel requires But why should I Scribble the little Paper left It 's like the Reasons he gave for Christ's Repenting viz. The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me and he was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief 3. He plainly discovers his Mind to be that Faith is an Act of the Soul whilst spiritually dead and unregenerate P. 61. He joins with such as say Faith is the means and way of our being made spiritually alive rather than our acting Life as being already brought into a state of Life as the Bodies Clasping hold on the Soul by the animal Spirits which are Corporeal things is rather the means of Life than an act of Life c. P. 62. Suppose that the principle of Grace begotten and created in us in Regeneration contain in it the Habit of Faith which I will not now call in question Yet c. P. 32. All our new Obedience and all the Graces of the Spirit comprized under that one word Love are the Effects and Fruits of our being justified P. 60. In Vnion by Faith which is the cause of this Union we are brought immediately into a state of Spiritual Life first Relative then Qualitative c. Repl. Here with the Arminians he denieth the habit of Faith necessary to the actings of Faith He is contrary to the Assembly of Divines who tell us That God in effectual Vocation takes away
render us the Persons whom it so entitleth thereto And is this nothing though it be not the Righteousness for which we are Justified as legal Obedience was to be 7. He ventures too far in making the Crown of Glory and Justification to be Effects of Remunerative strict Iustice as to us which is untrue notwithstanding Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us P. 12 13 15. Among many other Expressions of this kind he saith It is the Constitution of God that all the Saving Good and Blessing which shall be given us shall be given not only by Free Grace but by the Hand of Justice Reply If he mean only that the Consideration upon which all Saving Good was granted is a Righteousness that answered strict Justice I grant it But to say which he seems fully to intend that the Righteousness of Christ is so impured to us as that Benefits are actually conferred on us in a way of Remunerative Justice as to us I deny and say it is a Thousand Fold worse than they whom he Condemns durst ever have a thought of I own also it 's a Reward of Justice to Christ that Believers should be Justified and Glorified But Justification and Glory are given of meer Grace to those Believers though in a Gospel way of Government They cannot plead Now Lord I have Christ's Righteousness on me I have a Claim to these as a Debt or Reward due to me from Remunerative Justice For though Christ give the Crown in his own Right and his Right to secure that Crown yet he reserves the Claim of Justice to his own Person and we must accept of all even at God's Hand of Gift Sinners shall not have the Saviour's Plea in themselves though he will plead it for their Good There is more Spiritual Pride in this kind of Talk than many imagine â—he Gift of God is Eternal Life even when he gives it and not only as to antecedent Causes we look for the Mercy of Christ to Eternal Life Iude 21. and it 's still for Christ's sake we must intreat and expect and not for our own nor for any thing as it 's ours whatever be the Effect of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness on us 8. That which he calls telling a Story to us of the deep Counsels of the Wisdom and Grace of God how this Righteousness is upon us from its first and highest Original is in several things an unsafe Account and greatly to the Dishonour of Father Son and Spirit Some parts of it I have already considered I now shall briefly observe these things 1. He strikes at the Essential Glory of the Son of God 2. He describes the Fall of Man very Dishonourable to God 3. He much mistakes what is most properly the Glory of God 4. He leaves out Man's Acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit in the Work of Salvation 1. Mr. M. strikes at the Essential Glory of the Son of God Before I prove this I would premise 1. The Son of God as second Person in the Trinity is equal to the Father in Essence and Glory though he be of the Father as to the Mode and Manner of Subsistence Hence he hath the same Divine Perfections and Glory 2. Whatever is ascribed to Christ before he assumed the Humane Nature must be such as is consistent with his Divine Nature as the Son of God and proper thereto 3. Nothing is added to the Divine Nature as in Christ by its Union to the Humane Nature besides relation to that Humane Nature 4. The Person of the Son of God was compleat before he assumed the Humane Nature and therefore the Humane Nature is no Constitutive part of the Second Person but as Dr. Ameswell saith is only as an Adjunct If Mr. M. mean more it 's horridly Dangerous when he saith P. 8. The Humane Nature belongs to the Constitution of Christ's Person as he now is And looks the worse for his words P. 7. Christ's dwelling in our Nature is no part of the Punishment of Sin for then the Divine Nature only is punished and not the Humane at all nor the Person As if what terminated on one Nature only did not terminate on Christ's Person and by the same Rule the Acts confined to one Nature as their Principle are not the Acts of his Person unless they be the Acts of both Natures 5. Since the Incarnation we frequently meet with a Personal Communication of Properties what is proper to either of the two Natures is ascribed to Christ as God-Man as Christ died c. 6. Yet there is neither a Transfusion or Communication of the Properties of one Nature to the other nor must we ascribe to his Person any thing in any manner that would tend to the Confusion of the two Natures 7. All the Glory or Humiliation that can be justly ascribed to the Son of God as such cannot infer any Change in or Addition to him and must be confined to what is Manifestative and Relative His Glory may appear more but cannot be added to it may be obscured but it cannot be really diminished 8. Hence whatever Addition of real Glory or Afflictive Suffering belongs to Christ it is with respect to his Humane Nature This was only capable of Rewards of being Exalted of being Deferred of God's hiding his Face and Dying I shall now evidence that Mr. M. strikes at the Essential Glory of Christ as the Eternal Son of God 1. He makes Christ as the Eternal Son of God capable of an Addition to his real Glory as God P. 56. God the Father from Eternity begat his Son the Second Person in the Trinity and loving him with an infinite Love designed a special Revenue of Glory and Honour and Praise unto him as from all his Creatures in their Kind and Way so more eminently from and in a certain Number of Mankind c. The End and Vpshot and last Issue that all his Counsels about them comes to is this That they may be brought to the Acknowledgment of the Son of God c. P. 61. You see how the grand Original Design of God to bring in a Revenue of singular Honour and Praise and Glory to his Son Christ is brought about c. I shall presently repeat more Let 's consider 1. It 's plain he intends the Son of God as such It 's he as begotten from Eternity he as the Second Person in the Trinity it 's he as loved with an infinite Love yea from being so infinitely beloved as God's Eternal Son the Contrivance had its Rise The Design in the Vpshot is That he might be acknowledged to be that Son of God It cannot be meant that this Additional Glory might be designed for him as foreseen Mediator or as in Flesh for this Design is the first step and this Glory of the Son is the Original of all the Contrivance He was pursuant to this purpose made a Mediator and legal Head and he tells us to confirm this That for this end of bringing a
next principle of good Works for though it be the Meriting Cause of all as it is in Christ yet holy habits are the next Principle with the Spirits influence And above all must we cease to declare the whole Will of God to all that hear us till we know is Christ's Righteousness upon them Yea is it because they are dead in Sin before Faith that we must not press them to repent fear and love God c. The same reason will hold against pressing them to saving Faith which of themselves they can as little perform And if it be by the Word that God regenerates our Hearers Why may not the Spirit infuse Life by calling Men to Repent c. as well as to Believe and a true Principle of Life will act duly though I think not in the same order of discernable Actings in every Convert But however it 's certain that if by preaching Repentance the Spirit quickens a Soul that Soul is as sure to believe when quickned as it is to repent when it believes And so our Author makes but a spiteful Flourish when he would induce our Hearers to think we teach them amiss because we learn not of him SInce the Printing of my Answer to what Mr. M. calls my Second Damning Error viz. That I make the State of Believers to be Undecided and in Suspence during this Life I have found the word Vndecided in my Gospel Truth Stated P. 55. which I then was Ignorant of though I cast my Eye on the bottom of that very Page My words are The Covenant though Conditional is a Disposition of Grace there 's Grace in giving Ability to perform the Conditions as well as in bestowing the Benefits God's enjoyning one in order to the other makes not the Benefit to be less of Grace but it is a Display of God's Wisdom in conferring the Benefit suitably to the Nature and State of Men in this Life whose Eternal Condition is not Eternally decided but are in a State of Trial yea the Conditions are but a Meetness to receive the Blessing But as I have in my Answer shewed that I oft in Gospel Truth stated affirm That the Elect shall Persevere in Faith and that every true Saint is now in a State of Salvation So I shall only add 1. I do not here mention Believers but Men in general yea rather Unbelievers 2. By Eternally decided any Man may see that I had an Eye only to God's Iudicial Decision at Death and the more Solemn Sentence at the last Judgment when we Die our Warfare is finished and our State as Viatores is at an end 3. What meaneth all the Scripture Cautions even to Believers such as Watch c. Pass the time of your Sojourning here in Fear c. If all our State be decided so while we have many Years Temptations and Persevering Work before us as it will be beyond the Grave Alas how many are long deceived by the meer Form of Godliness and they that are Godly are called to Caution and Care on this very Consideration that they are to be judged 1 Pet. 1.17 which were useless to such as are in termino 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Rev. 2.10 See more in my Answer The Point of the Embrio was not fit for my large insisting on or I could have proved that an Embrio is not an unformed unorganized Mass or Lump c. FINIS The Five following Books have been lately published by the Author of this Discourse Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry 1. GOspel Truth Stated and Vindicated wherein some of Dr. Crisp's Opinions are considered and the opposite Truths are plainly Stated and Confirmed The Second Edition 2. A Defence of Gospel-Truth Being a Reply to Mr. Chancy 3. The Vanity of Childhood and Youth wherein the depraved Nature of Young People is Represented and Means for their Reformation proposed Being some Sermons Preached at the Request of several Young Men. 4. A Discourse shewing that Repentance of National Sins God requires if ever we expect National Mercies 5. Man made Righteous by Christ's Obedience Being two Sermons Preached at Pinners-hall with Enlargements c. Also some Remarks on Mr. Mather's Postscript c. AN Essay upon Reason and the Nature of Spirits By Dr. Burthogg Heads of Agreement assented to by the United Ministers in and about London The Fourth Volume of the Morning Exercise There will also be Extant in a few days The Second Volume of the French Book of Martyrs Published by her Majesties Royal Priviledge There is in the Press Remarks upon Bishop King's late Book concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God By the Reverend Mr. Iohn Boyse Malbranch's Search after Truth will also be published in a few Weeks
wherein I except my self Mr. M. hath done more to favour Socinianism than all those whom he accuseth 1. By calling such Semisocinians whose doctrin and Principles will approve themselves to most Men to be Orthodox Many will abate their prejudice against the real Socinian as not being so bad as the word imported 2. He falls in wholly with the Socinians in denying Christ's Incarnation to be a part of his Humiliation and deprives us of the force of one of the greatest Texts for the Deity of Christ Phil. 2.6 7. 3. He supports the Socinian Cause and one of their strongest Topicks against the Satisfaction of Christ by speaking still of God as a Creditor Sin as a Debt the Law as a Money Bond Christ as a Money Surety whereas all our Divines find it impossible to defend that Doctrin without denying this Metaphor and therefore plead that God is to be considered as a Rector Sin a Crime Sinners Criminals Christ a Sponsor in consistency with his being Redeemer Mediatour Saviour Sacrifice and Priest c. For if Sin were a Money Debt why could not God forgive it without Satisfaction as well as other Creditors do c. 4. He grants the absurdity in the sense objected by the Socinians and still opposed by our Divines viz. That we are as Righteous as Christ in equality Turretin Instit Theol. p. 714 715. proves that licet c. though we are justified by Christ's Righteousness imputed non sequitur nos non minus justos esse quam Christum it doth not follow that we are no less Righteous than Christ So doth Dr. Owen of Iustif. p. 509 510. All our celebrated Opposers of Socinianism do the same Mr. M. may say as well of these as he doth of us for denying it as they do They have a heart-hatred of standing in the Righteousness of Christ. 5. The Socinians have their whole Cause favoured against the Deity of Christ or at least the Arrians by what he asserts concerning the Person of the Son of God He makes him such a God as was capable of a real Glory to be added to him that as God he might be under God's frowns and displeasure might quit and forgo the actual enjoyment of that Love Glory and Inheritance which as Son of God he was entitled to and possessed of before his Incarnation not in a way of manifestation nor as to his Humane Nature but in reality and as to his Divine Nature in which alone he acted before his Incarnation a God capable of an acquired Right superadded to his natural Right to those very Riches Love and Glory which he enjoyed before he was Son of Man And also that the Humane Nature belongs to the Constitution of the Person of the Son of God as it is now p. 8. c. Are not these bold Strokes which I have before fully proved to be his Assertions Though Charity binds me to acknowledge that I think he designeth not to oppose the Eternal Deity of the Son of God by Assertions so unsuitable to the Divine Essence and so mistaketh what God is rather than who he is 6. I might add he blasts all the opposition made by our best Authors against Socinianism by branding even them as Semisocinians To say nothing of his representing the Doctrin of imputed Righteousness in a manner not defensible and tempting to most Mens being Socinians unless they have a better Notion of it Few will believe that we did legally do and suffer what Christ did that we are as Righteous as Christ and that the Gospel enjoineth no Duty as a Condition on us for obtaining the blessed Effects of Christ's Merits which be the only ground of his quarreling thus hotly with us Men of his suspicious temper will judge he designeth to favour Socinianism by calling us Semisocinians 12. Mr. M. Attempts to instruct us how to Preach but with an evil insinuation and in some things very contrary to Apostolical Preaching Thus your Teachers should instruct and lead you This is the Apostles direction to Titus that he should teach them that have believed to be careful to maintain good works not to teach and press sinners in their Vnbelief to fall to doing of good works first and overlook believing wholly or to postpone it after them p. 69. Repl. 1. Which teacher of his Hearers doth teach any to postpone Faith or overlook it wholly or delay it at all If by Believing he means a due accepting of a whole Christ yea do not they direct them to expect all from God through Christ and look to Christ as he in whom all fulness is But our Author is one of them who think Christ is never Preached unless his Name be mentioned and that as a Priest too His revealed Truths and enjoined Laws c. are not Preaching Christ. 2. But may one call Sinners to no Duty till they are Believers Must they not be prest to examin themselves pray read the Word hear it Preached fear God teach their Families love their Wives meditate consider strive with their Hearts resist Temptations believe the Scriptures nor relieve the Poor till they be Believers Peter was to learn of our Author to Preach for though he knew Simon Magus to be in the gall of bitterness yet he bids him then repent of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee Acts 9.22 perhaps he 'll say he believed true in such a manner as I fear some that pretend high to Faith exceed not Paul gives such an account of much of his Ministry at first to Jews and Gentiles Acts 26.20 That they should repent and turn unto God and do works meet for Repentance the Baptist was an ill Teacher and Christ's Sermon on the Mount Mat. 5. and Paul's at Lystra Acts 14.15 16. needed Mr. M's direction Paul saith to unbelievers We are Men of like Passions with you thus far he 'll agree and Preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God that made Heaven and Earth c. a good Work is pressed before they believed Here Mr. M. would have told him you Paul should not teach thus But what are his Reasons 1. They that believed in God should be charged to excel in good works therefore they that believe not in Christ should not be pressed to endeavour to set upon doing any good Work Hos. 5. 4. They must not so much as frame their doings to turn unto the Lord. 2. A few words after through Faith that Righteousness will be upon you and being upon you it will produce good Works Here it seems as I have oft heard it urged Ministers should not urge you nor you strive and labour after good Works this Righteousness will produce them but are all that I hope have Faith so abundant therein as not to need Spurs Do all that pretend to it shew that they have it by it's Fruits and how can we know them And is its being upon us the