And tells us P. 612. Our first coming to Christ is as a Coach is said to come to Town when it is but drawn to Town I shall make no further Remark on this than tell thee the Doctor distinguisheth not between what we are abstracted from the Spirit 's Influence and what we are by the Spirit 's Influence VVe are passive in effectual Vocation as that is God's Act on us but even then no Violence is offered to the VVill for the Mind dictates what it chooseth freely Under this healing VVork and that passiveness is not our coming to Christ but by the Effect of God's Act on the Mind and VVill we consent to the Call and that is our first coming and thereby we receive Christ and not before He is not forced on us but accepted from a Light that commends and a VVill that desires him VVhereas we come not a step whiles we do refuse and reject him Though I wonder why he speaks of any first coming against our VVills when his Principle is that we are united to Christ at latest in the Moment of Conception in the VVomb CHAP. XII Of Justification by Faith with a Digression about Repentance TRUTH I Have spoken of Justifying Righteousness chap. 7. Though Faith be no way a Meritorious Cause of a Sinner's Justification yet God hath promised to Justifie all such as truly Believe and requires Faith as an indispensible Qualification in all whom he will Justifie for Christ's Merits declaring That Unbelief shall not only hinder Mens knowing that they are Justified but that it is a bar to any Person 's being Justified while he continues an Unbeliever Reader Note 1. There is a Righteousness for which a Man is Justified This is only Christ's Righteousness This is the Foundation of the Promise and the Merit of the Blessing promised Nothing can add to it or mingle with it it 's sufficient and alone sufficient to satisfie Justice atone for Guilt and merit Acceptance and Life 2. There 's to be considered what the Condition of the Person is whom this Mercy is promised to He is one that hath this Grace of true Faith and exerts it into Act. This Grace is also required and commanded as indispensibly necessary to the Participation of Forgiveness Christ's Righteousness shall not be imputed to this use unless we believe And nothing shall hinder our Title to this Benefit if we do believe in Christ for the Promise is inviolable And this Faith being a Conformity to the Rule of the Promise some call it a Subordinate Righteousness not meaning any Righteousness for which Sin is forgiven for it 's Christ's Righteousness alone for which God Justifies us but it 's our answering that Rule by which Christ applieth his Righteousness for our Remission and a Right to Life and his Promise is the Ground of our Title Having premised these things for Explication of the Truth I proceed ERROUR The whole use of Faith in Justification is only to manifest that we were Justified before and Faith is no way necessary to bring a Sinner into a Justified State nor at all useful to that End Proved that this is the Dr's Opinion The Doctor p. 85. puts this Objection Is not Believing required to the Justification of the Ungodly Answ. An ungodly Person after he is Justified doth Believe But you will say It is an Act of Christ by Faith Ans. Then Christ doth not Justifie alone c. Nay I say more Christ doth Justifie a Person before he Believes c. He cannot believe that which is not and if he be not Justified before he Believes it he believeth that which is false but he is first Justified before he Believes then he believes that he is Justified The Doctor then asks But what doth Faith serve for He answers It serves for the Manifestation of that Justification which Christ put upon a Person by himself alone P. 86. We do not Believe that we may be Justified but because we are Justified P. 578. God doth add never a tittle of Pardon it self more to him that is a Believer than to that Person not yet converted to the Faith c. P. 597. I say Faith as it takes hold of Christ's Righteousness it doth not bring this Righteousness of Christ to the Soul but doth only declare the Presence of that Righteousness that was there even before Faith was He in that Page denies Faith to be so much as an Instrumental Cause of Justification In very many places he declares We are not Virtually but Actually Justified before Faith If thou ask when he thinks the Elect are Justified The Doctor tells us It 's from Eternity at Christ's death and the latest time is before we are born See p. 101 255 361 362 616 c. See more ch 1 2 3 11. Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not Whether Faith or any Grace be a jot of the meriting Righteousness for which we are Justified 2. Nor Whether Faith or any Grace add any thing to the Value of Christ's Merits These I deny yea I add That if Christ's Righteousness could be applied for Pardon to the vilest Sinner before he Believes it would Justifie him but God hath declared it shall not be applied to Unbelievers 3. Nor Whether we are Justified the same moment as we truly Believe in Christ and the Blessing is not suspended for any time longer This I affirm because God Justifies us by the Promise as his Instrument and this Promise declares that he will Justifie him that Believes It 's a Christ truly Believed in doth Justifie us and a Christ so Believed on cannot but Justifie us 4. Nor Whether an elect Person once Justified shall by Christ's care be kept in a Justified state 5. Nor Whether God hath decreed That the Elect shall certainly Believe and so be Justified 6. Nor Whether True Faith be an Infallible Sign of Justification These four last I do affirm Wherein the Real Difference is 1. Whether we are Justified before we Believe This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether the Use of Faith in Justification be only to manifest our Justification which we personally had before This the Doctor affirms and I deny and add That Faith Justifies us by receiving Christ and therein answers the Ordination of God who hath promised to Justifie the Believer by the Application of Christ's Righteousness in this gracious Effect of it upon the guilty Soul The Truth Confirmed What I have said chap. 1. Of the State of the Elect and chap. 11. Of the Necessity of Faith to Union with Christ and chap. 3 4 10. render Enlargement needless Yet I shall add 1. We are Justified by Faith is the common Language of the Holy Ghost Rom. 5. 1. Gal. 2. 16 c. What is it to be Justified by Faith if we are Justified before Faith It contributes to our being Justified or words express nothing in a case of the highest moment Rom. 3 20. God justifieth the Circumcision by Faith and the
Our Spirits witness in the light of the Spirit as 1 Cor. 9. 1. My Conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost 5. A Testimony of the Spirit giving an Evidence of Pardon without any Evidence of Grace is not according to the Word of Grace for the Word of Grace never declareth any Sinners are pardoned but believing penitent Sinners It is not as mere Sinners the Word pardoneth for it flatly condemneth and leaves Guilt on all impenitent Unbelievers as I have proved chap. 8. 12. Therefore if there should be a Voice a true Voice of God carrying it 's own Evidence saying Thy Sins are forgiven it doth at the same time and by the same Voice witness to the truth of our Grace because he forgives no other according to the Word of the Gospel And if the Spirit should say to an impenitent Soul Thou art pardoned while such it is no Promise in the Gospel nor according to it but a new Promise and not to be tried by the VVord and the Writers thereof having had more of the Spirit than any now can pretend to it 's dangerous to rest on that Voice which will not bear the Tryal by the VVord c. 6. To have the ordinary way of Assurance to be as it 's stated by the opposite Errour hath very dangerous Consequences Most Saints must quit their Hopes and Assurance for they never had this Voice though they have greater stamps of the Spirit than any I ever knew pretend to this It makes all Examination useless and vain It overturneth one of the great Uses God hath assigned to the work of his Grace on the Heart It makes Assurance impossible without this miraculous Voice which can hardly carry its Evidence to a Soul that hath no Grace at all It 's a way too far Enthusiastick to be allowed in so stated a Case 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 TESTIMONIES The Assembly in Confes. ch 18. a. 2. say It 's an Infallible Assurance of Faith founded upon the Divine Truth of the Promises of Salvation the inward Evidences of those Graces unto which these Promises are made the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God And a. 3. they tell us A Believer being enabled by the Spirit may without extraordinary Revelation in the right use of ordinary Means attain thereunto And therefore it is the Duty of every one to give all diligence to make his Calling and Election sure that thereby his heart may be enlarged in Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost c. as say the Cong Elders chap. 18. a. 3. See a. 4. Both shew how Assurance may be revived from the Graces in the Heart The Synod of New-England oft confute the contrary Errour which it seems was one that sadly troubled them Errour 44. No createâ— Work can be a manifest Sign of God's Love Errour 47. The Seal of the Spirit is limited only to the immediate witness of the Spirit nor doth ever witness to any Work of Grace or Conclusion by a Syllogism Errour 67. A Man cannot evidence his Justification by his Sanctification but he must needs build upon his Sanctification and trust to it Errour 72. It 's a Soul-damning Errour to make Sanctification an Evidence of Justification Errour 77. Sanctification is so far from evidencing a good State thâ—â— it darkens it rather and a Man may more clearly see Christ when he seeth no Sanctification than when he doth The darker my Sanctification is the brighter is my Justification The Synod shew at large how each of these are contrary to the Scriptures And one 〈◊〉 the evil Speeches they confute p. 19. I may know I am Christ's Not because I do crucifâ—â— the Lusts of the Flesh but believe in Christ that crucified my Lusts for me See Errour 63 69. The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because the Spirit of God is a Comforter therefore he cannot comfort us by helping us to see the VVork of his Grace in order to Joy in his Blessings Because the Spirit was to convince the World of Christ's Righteousness as what alone could procure Life therefore he tells Men that they have an Interest in it without shewing them any change on their Hearts Because he was to take of Christ's Fulness and shew it to his Disciples therefore he immediately speaks peace to the hearts of such as are or at least appear his resolved Enemies Because by the Spirit of Adoption we cry Abba Father therefore we need not find any love to God to know that we are his Children Because the Spirit witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God therefore he witnesseth alone without so much as revealing to our Spirits that we have the temper of Children Whereas there are many great Effects of the Spirit manifest on the Souls of them to whom the Apostle speaks Rom. 8. 11 12 14 15 16. And the design of the place is more to express our Dignity and free Access to God under a Gospel-state than mere Assurance of Forgiveness Because a Natural Man cannot perceive the Riches of the Promise and the Spirit enableth a Spiritual Man by his Teachings to perceive the nature of them therefore by an immediate Voice he discovers to the Natural Man his Propriety in them even while he is and appears Natural Because there is Imperfection in the Graces of a Saint therefore he cannot see the Sincerity of them by the help of the Spirit without an immediate Voice CHAP. XVI Of God's seeing Sin in Believers and their Guilt by it c. TRUTH THe Sins of Believers have the Loathsomness of Sin adhering to them which God seeth and accounteth the Committers guilty thereby And they ought to charge themselves therewith so as to stir up themselves to Repentance and renew their Actings of Faith on Christ for Forgiveness Nevertheless they ought not thereby to fear their being out of a Justified State further than their Falls give them just cause of suspecting that Sin hath dominion over them and that their first believing on Christ was not sincere ERROUR God seeth no Sin in Believers though he see the Fact neither doth he charge them with any Sin nor ought they to charge themselves with any Sin nor be at all sad for them nor confess repent or do any thing as a Means of their Pardon no nor in order to assuring themselves of Pardon even when they commit Murther Adultery or the grossest VVickedness Proved that this is Dr. Crisp 's Opinion Reader Note That the Doctor speaks most of this concerning a Person as Elect though he uses the word Believer sometimes because he alone knows that he is Elect by
State 2 Pet. 3. 17. Seeing you know these things beware lest you also being led away with the Errour of the Wicked fall from your own Stedfastness He will most safely walk in Love and maintain Assurance that is in awe as his Sins grow strong and his Graces decline I might shew that all God's Threats are despised if without this Fear yea his being our future Judge is slighted his wise Methods of Government are dis-regarded and one great help to our Salvation lost by opposing this Fear Fear him that can cast Soul and Body into Hell is Christ's Charge Luke 12. 5. And if thou do that which is Evil be afraid Rom. 13. 4. And if we must fear the Magistrate as the Minister of God's VVrath here much more eternal VVrath if we sin our selves into such Symptoms as the Gospel declares a Danger of eternal Damnation by for though the Gospel doth not say as the Law that all Sinners shall be damned yet it saith that all impenitent Sinners shall be damned And this we are bound to preach and not gratifie the Devil to the Ruine of Souls But they are in danger who are above this kind of Preaching and Security Libertinism and Stops to the Conversion of Sinners will prevail as this Preaching grows unfashionable Nay let me hear a Man of this Opinion preach a few Sermons and I 'll demonstrate he 'll give the Lie to his own Principle by urging Fear by some Arguments from Danger or he 'll expose himself to the Contempt of all when-ever he disswades from Sin TESTIMONIES I have recited so much belonging to this Head Chap. 1 8 11 12 13 16 17 19 20. that I need only add to the last Chapter New-England Synod condemns as Errour 32. After the Revelation of the Spirit neither Devil nor Sin can make the Soul to doubt Errour 48. Condional Promises are legal Errour 52. It 's legal to say we act in the Strength of Christ. Errour 56. A Man is not effectually converted till he hath full Assurance Errour 57. To take delight in the holy Service of God is to go a whoring from God Errour 59. A Man may not be exhorted to any Duty because he hath no power to do it Errour 70. Frequency or length of holy Duties or Trouble of Conscience for the Neglect thereof are all Signs of one under a Covenant of VVorks Errour 68. Faith justifies an Unbeliever that is that Faith that is in Christ justifieth me that have no Faith in my self Errour 76. The Devil and Nature may be the cause of a gracious Work All these that Synod confutes as also that Speech if Christ will let me sin let him look to it upon his Honour be it With these Notions so exclusive of Fear and Care were they pester'd Doctor Owen Of Justif. P. 52. assures us he had written very much of the Nature and Use of Threatnings under the Gospel and the Fear that ought to be ingenerated by them in the Hearts of Men. The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because the Law of Works made Life to be of Debt for perfect doing therefore it s legal to call Men to do what Christ commands in order to any Benefit which he promiseth by the Grace of the New Covenant to bestow on such as shall so obey him Because it 's legal to denounce Wrath as unavoidable therefore it 's legal to denounce VVrath that it may be avoided Because God is not angry with his People for Sin when he hath forgiven them it upon Repentance therefore they should not be called to fear his Anger as a disswasive from Sin or Motive to Repentance when they have sinned Because we cannot say the Elect shall at last be damned being that God will bring them to Faith and Repentance that they may be saved therefore it 's legal to tell them they shall be damned unless they believe and repent though Christ oft tells them so Because the Believer is not in a state of Wrath therefore it 's Legal to warn him against Apostacy from the Terrour of that VVrath which Apostacy would bring him under And Note Reader That all awful Expressions against Apostacy are especially directed to true Believers Because we should not destroy the Hope or Joy of an humble watchful Christian therefore it 's legal to allarm and awaken the drowsie careless backsliding Christian. CHAP. XXII Of the Exalting of Christs I Do observe that the Pretence for these Opinions is That they exalt Christ and Free Grace Under this shadow Antinomianism set up in Germany This was the great Cry in England above fifty years since The Synod of New-England expose this as one of the Speeches of them whom they call Autinomian Here is a great stir about Graces and looking to Hearts but give me Christ I seek not for Graces but for Christ I seek not for Promises but for Christ I seek not for Sanctification but for Christ Tell not me of Mediation and Duties but tell me of Christ. P. 19. Dr. Crisp very often bears upon this Point as if all he said were to advance Christ and Grace I shall therefore enquire Whether the Opinions of Dr. Crisp or the Truths I have stated do most exalt Christ and Free Grace It were enough to say That I have proved his Opinions to be Errours and what I have laid down to be Truths Then Christ is more exalted by these Truths He needs no Lyes to advance his Praise and knew how to provide the best for his own Glory by what he hath revealed But for farther Evidence I shall insert 1. How Christ is said to be exalted according to the Gospel It is not what we fancy will Exalt him but what he declares conducive to his Praise that he will accept for Glory He that will not allow Men to worship him in a way they think most devout but binds them to his own Rule to exceed which is Superstitious will less venture his Glory to our ignorant Methods whereby we are apt to diminish his real Glory when we conceit he is exalted It 's an Honour becoming his Person and Offices which is his Honour and not what seems dazling to our blind Affections His Divine Glory cannot be added to but only declared It 's only the Glory of Christ as Mediator that I shall speak of As to this Christ is exalted when every Knee bows to him Phil. 1. 11. VVhen made a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sin Act. 2. 23. VVhen his Kingdom is enlarged Ifa 49. 4 5 6. VVhen his People are filled with the fruits of Rightcousness Phil. 1. 11. VVhen their Grace is perfected 2 Thes. 1. 11 12. VVhen they suffer and act vigorously for him Phil. 1. 20. VVhen we own his Priestly and Kingly Office relying on the first as that whereby Satisfaction is made and all the Blessings for Sinners purchased yielding to the Kingly Office as that whereby he applieth the Effects of his Merits Zech. 6. 13. VVhen
their partaking of the Virtue of his Mediation in their Justification Adoption and Sanctification and whatever in this life manifests their Union with him So that in their Judgment it 's the Virtue of Christ's Mediation operates on us and not that the Mediatorial Righteousness is in us The Elders at the Savoy c. 11. a. 1. say Those whom God effectually Calleth he also freely Justifieth not by infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and by accounting and accepting their Persons as Righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone c. Again they add By imputing Christ's Active and Passive Obedience unto them The same say the Assemb Conf. ch 11. a. 1. Thou seest it s Christ s Righteousness is imputed for Pardon and not infused The Elders at the Savoy inform us also ch 27. a 1. All Saints that are united to Christ although they are not thereby made One Person with him have Fellowship in his Graces Sufferings and Glory c. and have Communion in each other's Gifts and Graces Thou findest they judge we are not One Person with Christ by our Union and it 's a Fellowship for our good we have by Christ's Graces Glory and Sufferings but they are in him as the Subject and not in us And ch 19. a. 6. they declare The Law is useful to Believers to shew them the Corruption of their Natures and Lives It s plain then with them we are not without Spot or Blemish The Assemb Conf. ch 32. a. 1. and the Elders at the Savoy ch 31. a. 1. agree That it 's after Death our Souls are made perfect in Holiness One of the Speeches condemned by the New-England Synod was this If Christ be my Sanctification what need I look to any thing else in my self to evidence my Justification To which they Answer This Position is unsound because it holds forth Christ to be my Sanctification so as that I need not look to any inherent Holiness in my self whereas Christ is said to be my Sanctification because he worketh Sanctification in us p. 20. p. 63. They observe it as an Errour That Christ is our Sanctification in the same sort as he is our Justification They elsewhere condemn such as made Christ the subject of our Graces Dr. Owen of Justification pag. 509 510. disowns That it can be said we are as Righteous as Christ And then asserts To say we are as Righteous as Christ is to make Comparison between the Personal Righteousness of Christ and Our Personal Righteousness if the Comparison be of things of the same kind But this is foolish and impious for notwithstanding our Personal Righteousness we are sinful he knew no Sin And if the Comparison be between Christ's Personal Inherent Righteousness and Righteousness imputed to us Inhesion and Imputation be things of divers kinds and thus it 's fond and of no consequence Christ was Actively Righteous we are Passively so c. The Righteousness of Christ as it was his Personally was the Righteousness of the Son of God in which respect it had in it self an infinite Perfection and Value But it is imputed to us only with respect to our Personal Want not as it was satisfactory for all but as our Souls stand in need of it c. From the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ it follows only that those to whom it is imputed are redeemed and saved not at all that they are Redeemers or Saviours And pag. 242 243. Imputation is not the Transmission or Transfusion of the Righteousness of another viz. Christ into them that are to be Justified that they should become perfectly and inherently Righteous thereby for it is impossible that the Righteousness of one should be transfused into another to become his subjectively and inherently And the Doctor adds That the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us as unto its Effects hath this sound sence namely The Effects of it are made ours by reason of that Imputation It is so imputed so reckoned unto us of God as that he really communicates all the Effects of it unto us See pag. 310 311. What can be spoken more oppositely to Dr. Crisp I might add Mr. Norton of New-England who tells us Orth. Evang. p. 305. Though Christ obeyed the Law formally yet it 's not the formal working of Obedience or doing of the Command but the good Virtue and Efficacy thereof that is imputed to the Believer What heaps of Testimonies could I produce But I confine my self to these few The Ground of the Doctor 's Mistake Because Christ suffered in our stead that the fruit of his Suffering might be our deliverance from suffering and our being saved at last therefore he thinks there is a Change of Person Because we are made the Righteousness of God that is Partakers of Forgiveness and a Right to Life through Christ's Atonement for us which be Mercies so eminently the Contrivance and Gift of God therefore he thinks the very Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ is subjectively in us Because we are accepted with God for Christ's sake therefore he thinks we have the perfect Cause of that Acceptance viz. All Loveliness upon our selves Because the Church is now without spot so as for Christ's sake to be accepted and not detested by God and is on the account of the beginning 's of God's Image pleasing to Christ and will hereafter be perfectly sanctified without the least blemish or any such thing therefore he thinks it 's now without Blemish or Imperfection Because Christ's perfect Righteousness is Security for our Pardon and inviolable Right to Glory therefore he thinks we are as Righteous as he as to Justification and Sanctification too Because Christ is made of God to us Wisdom Sanctification c. therefore he thinks we are as Holy as he whereas the meaning of that place is That Christ is appointed and given to enlighten renew and redeem us by his Merits and by his Spirit If this be not the sence of it we are as wise as Christ for he is made to us wisdom Reader Observe that the Doctor thinks all these great things are true of every elect Person whiles in his Blood and unregenerate state as much as of any Believer who indeed hath the privilege to know it CHAP. VIII Of the Conditionality of the Covenant of Grace THis being a Point of great Concern I shall premise an Enquiry into some Particulars for explaining the Subject of this Chapter Q. 1. What is the Covenant of Grace A. 1. It is not the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and Spirit as one Party and the Eternal Word the Lord Jesus as the other Party Were this Covenant understood I think many well-meaning People would be undeceived In that Covenant all the causes of Man's Salvation are adjusted and secured all Satisfaction and Merit are on Christ as his Undertaking yea it 's provided there That the Elect shall obey the Terms of Life