have God for their own God which with him the vilest if Elect have their Sins can do them no hurt at all and in that regard there is no cause of fear from any of their Sins that ever they have committed Beloved I conceive this may seem harsh to some Spirits especially to such as misconceive the drift at which I aim which is not to encourage any one unto Sin but to ease the Consciences of the distressed I desire you to resolve with your selves this one thing and I beseech you kick not against the Truth There is not one sin nor all the sins together of any one Believer that can possibly do that Believer any hurt real hurt I mean and therefore he ought not to be afraid of them I will make it appear And goes on for five Pages to prove it Now Reader can this one line make all the rest safe There is no more said by him it 's in a Doctrinal way stated and not in a use to wounded Consciences He oft says it elsewhere without so much as this and he saith this to avoid the Odium not to guide his Discourse and it 's no other than if a man were proving a quarter of an hour â—…o a whole company very apt to drink poysoned Wine if this Poyson be drank it will do no harm to them that drink it but yet should once say I prove this all this while but it 's for the sake of them that have drank the Poyson but not to encourage you to drink the Poyson yet be you all assured that when it 's drank it cannot harm you more than them C. It 's to evince the damning nature of sin is taken away A. But that 's a gross Error thô Pardon will prevent its effects Yet hear D. C's own words p. 511. No you will say no condemnation in Hell but yet as there is remainders of Sin in Gods own People so there will some Evil or other fall upon the commission of Sin Mark c. and in many words answers it Now sin is condemned to the Believer it can do no hurt at all to him for what hurt can that do which is carried into the Land of Forgetfulness and this he oft affirms was when Christ died Reader I 'll tell thee on what Principles Dr. Crisp affirms that Sin can do no hurt Take his words 1. God hath no more to lay to the charge of such a person Elect thô a Murtherer than he hath to lay to the charge of a Saint in Glory p. 364. and the Lord hath not one Sin to charge on an elect person from the first moment of conception to the last moment of Life 2. A man doth sin against God God reckons not his Sin to be his he reckons it to be Christs therefore he cannot reckon it his see p. 270. Except God will be offended where there is no Cause to be offended he will not be offended with a Believer because he doth not find the Sin of the Believer to be the Believer's own Sin but he finds it to be the Sin of Christ p. 15. Now Reader judge how vain Mr. C's Excuses be and how injurious his Censures What Mr. C. p. 15. pleads for Dr. Crisp's saying that Graces and Holiness cannot do us the least good is as vain and false viz. that he is only against setting them in the place of Christ for he reckons they are put in Christ's place thô they be affirmed but as Means or Conditions antecedently necessary by divine appointment to obtain any Blessings for the sake of Christs Merits His Principles are 1. That Faith is not so much as the Instrument by which we are united to Christ or justified p. 616. 2. That Christ brings us all good things when we are ungodly and so it 's in vain to do any thing to obtain these p. 41 42. yea that we had a full Title before we are born 3. He saith p. 45 46. It 's a received Conceit among many that our Obedience is the way to Heaven and thô it be not say they the cause of reigning yet it is via ad regnum the way to the Kingdom But all this Sanctification is not a jot the way of that justified person unto Heaven 4. Salvation is not the End of any good work we do 5. No Believer should have the least thought in his Heart of promoting or advancing himself or any end of his own by doing what he doth Consider these with many such and what good can Faith or Holiness do us See my Book c. 13 14. Read the Preface to Mr. Flavel's Blow at the Root which Mr. Mather subscribed Reader distinguish 1. between the Righteousness for which we are justified and the way of applying it to us 2. between a Law by which Christ's Merits are applied and that Obedience whereto is our meriting Righteousness 3. between the Precepts included in the Gospel taken in a large sence and what are its proper Conditions 4. Free Grace as it gives Faith and Pardon and as it 's a Liberty to condemn the Believer and justifie the Unbeliever 5. between the Promises of Grace and Promises to Grace 6. The Gospel as a means to quicken us and as a Charter of Benefits and thou wilt Answer Mr. C's Arguments FINIS The Reasons of my Sermon at P. H. above a year since Why I printed my Book about six months since Vulgar Objections against my Book answered The History thereof is worth the buying Mr. Parkhurst lately reprinted it Part of the Controversie between Mr. C. and me stated which appears fully in his Principles as in the following Book The Method Election asserted The Law not abrogated Christ's Righteousness the sole meritorious Cause or material Righteousness in Iustification and it is applied to Believers Gospel-Conditions not the Righteousness for which we are justified nor of the same nature as legal Works Gospel-Conditions no way meritorious of Iustification or Salvation nor other workingconditions but a meer conformity to the Gospel way of receiving the Gifts of Christ. A moral specifick difference between true Grace and meer moral Endowments The First Grace absolutely given Christs Righteousness is imputed Iustified by Faith before Works Gospel â—…ons no 〈◊〉 of Iustification Iustification by Faith alone as the 〈◊〉 Receiving Condition All Elect Believers shall persevere Christ not opposed but exâ—…ted Free Grace honour'd and not oppos'd Holiness not compared with Christ nor Works sâ—…t in 〈◊〉 place The 〈◊〉 of the Eleâ—… â—…f God be considered as meer Proprietor The state of fallen Men as GOD is considered a paternal Ruler A plain account of my Iudgment by Questions and Answers Popish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arminian Iustification as our Divines state it Mr. C's first Principle Mr. C's 2d Principle Mr. C's 3d Principle The word Law of Grace same as the Covenant How for a new Law and yet no new Gospel Heb. 11. 4 6. Gen. 4. 7 11. How the Gospel is not a Law How the Gospel is
is only a causa sine qua non which is no Cause 2. Or that his Righteousness is not the sole meritorious or material Cause of our Pardon which in judicial acts are the same 3. Or that Christ's Sufferings are not immediately applied to our Pardon 4. Or that Pardon is by any act of ours as a joynt meritorious Cause with Christ each of which I hope the following Passages will clear me in P. 16. I affirm When we are pardoned the whole meritorious Cause of Pardon is the Atonement of Christ and what is required of Sinners is only a meetness to receive the Effects of it P. 39. I affirm That Justification and all other Benefits be the Fruits of Christ's Righteousness as the only meritorious Cause of them P. 40. We are for the sake of Christ's Righteousness delivered from the guilt of Sin and entituled to Life and accepted with God against all excluding Bars P. 41. Christ was he by whose Merits he forgives us but he never was forgiven we are forgiven and never had Merits of our own to forgive our selves And it 's enough that we were pardoned and adopted for his sake when we deserved endless Woe and are never capable of making the least atonement P. 43. Faith owns the Foundation of our Plea to be in Christ from whom are derived to us that Pardon and Right to Life which are the effects of his Righteousness for this we are justified for that Righteousness which is in Christ we are acquitted and adopted the efficient Merit is in him the Effect of the judicial Absolution for that Merit is in us The Righteousness is still in Christ for the sake whereof we are absolved or justified God hath for Christ's sake forgiven us but not for the sake of what is in ourselves c. and now being absolved or made righteous in a Law sence we have as much matter of glorying as absolved acquitted Sinners can have We are justified by his Righteousness that is for that we are forgiven and also entituled to Life which we had forfeited our selves but we are not made innocent nor so esteemed we are not accounted them who made the atonement we still take hold of Christ's Righteousness that by it we may be forgiven and this is our Blessedness and our Gospel-Righteousness which all such refuse who reject Redeeming Love from a Conceit of their own Merits or refuse the Terms of the Gospel which by the Promise do make us capable of being justified and saved for the Merits of Christ yet these still remain his Merits though thus beneficial to us in their Application as the procuring cause of all our Good P. 44. We still need Pardon and continue justified by the efficacy of the Righteousness of another and must look to Christ as the only Subject of it all our days Our justified state is a continuance of the blessed Effects of the Righteousness of Christ from first to last that Cause is still productive of Supplies as our Guilt returns or Necessities and Capacities renew or grow but our Redemption is ever in Christ. P. 249. Pardon is not the Effect of those Graces but of the Promise in the Virtue of Christ's Blood or of his Blood applied for Forgiveness by the Promise Reader if thou regardest Truth dost not thou find Christ's Sufferings to be a real Cause of Pardon a sole meritorious or material Cause all other Causes of that kind excluded and these Sufferings and Christ's Righteousness immediately applied See p. 247. We are justified only by Christ's Merits as the sole procuring Cause or Righteousness for which we are justified V. Mr. C. p. 21. The use of Christ's Sufferings is to compound with God for Sinners upon the account of the Old Law and put a Bar upon his Proceedings according to that and procure another Law by the Righteousness whereof we are justified which Righteousness is our own inherent Righteousness and not Christs And p. 30. Faith doth not justifie us by applying Christ's Righteousness c. but by its own Vertue as being a Righteousness it self c. but Christ's Righteousness hath nothing to do here it 's our own Faith and Repentance is the Righteousness in conformity to the Rule of Promise and that 's Latin for the New Law So p. 15. We are not at all entituled to this Blessing by Christ but by our own Obedience you mean c. Repl. I am represented as if I thought 1. That Christ served only to excuse us from perfect Obedience but that our Pardon and Glory given by the Promise were not the immediate Effects of his Merits 2. That he merited only that we might merit by our Faith 3. That our Faith and Repentance are the meritorious Cause of our Pardon and Glory by the New Law and so that Gospel-Conditions are of the same use to our Justification as Works were under the Law that is to be the Righteousness for which we are justified and saved All which I disown and expresly declare 1. That Christ hath satisfied Justice and merited Pardon and Glory these have their Being only on his account and he hath a Right to give them 2. When the Sinner partakes of these Mercies he partakes of them as the fruits of his Death and for his sake 3. God in Christ as our Ruler hath declared a Way and Order how he will dispense these Benefits to us and enjoyns our compliance with that Order If we believe tho' Faith be his Gift he will forgive for Christ's sake otherwise he declares he will not 4. Gospel-Conditions have no other use to our Interest in these Benefits than a complyance with this stated Rule of the Distribution of Pardon and Glory which are merited by Christ and given only for his sake This is my plain meaning in all he hath objected against consult my words in the Epistle and what I have repeated in the last Head and these following in my Book Cap. 7. p. 39. 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 P. 1. I affirm The whole meritorious Cause and Price of Justification Adoption and Eternal Life were perfect when Christ finished the Work of Satisfaction Cap. 3 p. 16. I affirm That when we are pardoned the whole meritorious Cause of that Pardon is that atonement and what is required of Sinners is only a Meetness to receive the Effects of it Cap. 10. p. 84. I deny that preparatory Qualifications do merit True Grace and that Faith or Repentance do merit an Interest in Christ. I say their whole use depends on Christ's Ordination P. 45. we are reputed righteous for the sake of what Christ did and not for the merit of what we have done P. 61. I deny the performance of the Conditions of the Covenant to be
Death made with Men doth not consist in that viz. That we are justified before God and saved by Faith as it apprehends the Merit of Christ but in this that the Demand of perfect legal Righteousness being abrogated God accounts Faith it self and the imperfect Obedience of Faith for or instead of the perfect Obedience of the Law and graciously judgeth this worthy of the Reward of Eternal Life Which they justly brand as the Socinian Notion Reader I declare against this Error and have affirmed that Faith alone receives Christ and his Merits 2. That it 's the Righteousness of Christ alone which is the Meritorious or Material Cause of Justification 3. That our Faith Repentance or Works are not a jot of the material or meritorious Righteousness by or for which we are Justified They say Christ died that we might be saved if we believe I say Christ died that the Elect should believe and believing have Life through his Name To any one that knows the five Points wherein the Arminian Controversie consists I have said enough fully to acquit me I am positive for absolute certain Election for Christ's not dying alike for all For the Elect he died to secure their actual Reconciliation for others his Death is sufficient and real Offers of Salvation are made to them on the Terms of the Gospel notwithstanding their being condemned by the Law Again I say Man is corrupt and without the Grace of God he cannot believe All the Elect shall be though without violence brought by efficacious Grace to believe and finally persevere All which I oft assert in my Book An Account of some of Mr. C's Principles which he hath set up in opposition to mine I shall begin with Three of them and consider them together Mr. C. p. 24. The Essence of the Gospel is altogether Promise and Free Gift P. 28. The Gospel hath no Law-Sanction of its own but it only establisheth the Sanction of the Law by way of Promise to all that are saved P. 33. The Gospel as such is no Law hath no Sanction c. Which and many more places I may contract into this as his First Principle That the Gospel is in no sence a Law nor includes in it as any part thereof either any Precept nor any Promise upon any Condition on our part nor any Threatning If thou doubt the word Precept should not be added know the words above fully assert it And p. 23. he tells us The Precept of Faith is a Precept of the Law of Nature Mr. C. affirms p. 34. Whatsoever befalls Sinners retaining their sinful state and rejecting Grace is from the Law and not from the Gospel To talk of a Gospel-Threat is a Cataâ—…hresis at best and nothing else can save it from being a Bull. His Second Principles is The Gospel hath no Threatnings When my Question answer'd by him p. 32. was this Doth God promiscuously dispense these viz. Forgiveness Adoption Glory or any other promised Benefit given upon God's Terms I say Doth God dispense these without any regard to our being Believers or no Or whether our Faith be true or no Mr. C. answers I would know whether if God distribute his Free Grace to poor wretched worthless Creatures according to his Election and distinguishing Mercy doth he do it blindly because he finds no Reason in them Whence I may call this His Third Principle That God forgives adopts and glorifies Sinners without any respect to their being true Believers or no and Election and distinguishing Mercy be the only Rule by which he forgives adopts and glorifies Sinners as well as gives the First Grace To put the better gloss upon his Principle he saith p. 13. Doth God dispense Faith blindly c A. The Question was not whether God gave Faith absolutely but whether he gave Forgiveness and Glory promiscuously Nay he knows I oft-times affirm the former And in p. 21. he reviles me for saying That there must be a Work of the Spirit for conformity to the Rule of the Promise in the person to be pardoned Yea this third Principle must follow and is but the same as That the Gospel is no Law or stated Rule of Forgiveness Adoption and Glory And he affirms that Faith is a Precept of the Law and denies that any Precept of the Law is a Rule of Happiness with a Sanction p. 22 23. Repl. Not to insist how in the first Point in what he saith of the Sanction he excludes Forgiveness of Sin altogether yea and as he words it may bind the penal Curse on us He opposeth in these three Principles what he calls my 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 15th Paradoxes but had he considered the 4th and 13th he had answered his few seeming Arguments and prevented his gross misrepresentation of my Principles There he might have seen that I assert 1. There is a Certainty that the Elect shall obey the Terms of the Gospel and be infallibly saved 2. That it is Christ's Righteousness which is the alone meritorious Cause of a Believer's Justification and Salvation and that our complyance with the Terms of the Gospel by the Grace of God is no more than our answering that Rule by which God bestows on us Justification and Salvation for the Satisfaction and Merits of Christ. He that cannot distinguish between the Righteousness for which we are saved and a complyance with that Rectoral Method wherein God doth save us for that Righteousness and the Interest arising from that method complied with had better sit still than meddle with these Disputes Reader tho' I did not once call the Gospel a Law in all my Book and only said in my Preface that the Apostle called it a Law of Faith with respect to what I had discoursed yet because the whole of Mr. C's Book runs on this I shall insist most on this Head 1. by explaining the word Law then 2. in what sence it is not a Law 3. shew in what sence it is a Law which I shall prove c. 4. answer his Objections 5. produce some Testimonies 1. As to the name or word Law It hath pleased God to call the way of his application of Grace to fallen Sinners by various names and by that variety to help our Apprehensions which one name would not so well contribute to It 's called a Law a Covenant a Testament a Promise a Word c. none of them exclude the others and are easily reduced to each other A Promise of God that sets down an Order in conferring Benefits wherein he enjoins any Duty on Mans part in that Order hath the nature of a Law yea tho' he engage to enable the Person to do that Duty We must also consider that God in some respects varies these Terms from their common use among men both his Dominion and his Grace abating their rigid Sence He calls it a Law but yet his Mercy resolves thereby to confer such Benefits as brings the Law
Pardon c. p. 21. Repl. 1. Here and p. 28. he confounds a Promise of Grace and Promises made to Grace 2. He affirms that the whole of the Gospel-Covenant is but one Promise and this I suppose is the first Promise in the Sentence against the Serpent Hereby he blasts all the fuller Discoveries of it by the Prophets yea and Christ himself as if all the Conditional Proposals of Covenant-Benefits on Terms of Duty were Additions injuriously added to the first Promise 3. He wretchedly mistakes the nature of that first Promise as if it excluded all Terms of our Saving Interest in the Blessings of it Whereas it did imply them If you take the words as a Promise of Christ that he should in our nature overcome Satan then it belong'd to all Mankind to whom it 's promulgated even the rejecters of it Acts 13. 32 46. and as such gives no Interest in the Effects of it to any man If you take them as importing the Saving Benefits to the Seed of the Woman then there must be some change in them who are by Nature the Seed of the Serpent as well as the most wicked otherwise all the natural Seed of Eve have the same Saving Benefits which is thus evidenced When God renewed the Promise to Abraham and his Seed that Seed the Apostle tells you were Believers Rom. 4. 11 16 27. and as I have said before Faith must be then enjoyned for by Faith Abel's Sacrifice was more acceptable than Cain's and God's Words to Cain were the Redeemer's Language and the use of Sacrifices imports that God revealed more of his Will to them by way of Precept than is there recorded 4. And what can he mean by things distinct from the Promise If that Faith and Repentance are promised I had oft affirmed it If that as Acts in Man they are not distinct from the Promise it 's unfit to reflect on If that they may not be Terms of Pardon conjoyned therewith in one promissory Series it 's against the scope of the Bible and sure if that hinder not Pardon to be the cause of them it will not exclude them to be Terms of Pardon 5. But what strange Divinity is this 1. that Pardon is the Condition of Faith 2. Pardon is the cause of Faith How is Pardon and these at once as he affirms i. e. in order of Nature and yet Faith is the consequent yea effect of Pardon But to come to the point Is not this to burlesque the Scripture We believe that we may be justified Gal. 2. 16 That is we be justified that we may believe We are justified by Faith Rom. 5. 1. that is we are made Believers by Justification We repent for the remission of sins Luke 33. that is we have remission of Sins that we may repent One Reason at least should have been offered for these contradictions I suppose all that would be offered is that Christ cannot work Faith in us till we are pardoned which the whole Scripture is against and God hath provided for it by Divine ordination in that Christ's Merits are admitted effectual to the working and and accepting of this Grace before these Merits are applied for Forgiveness which is fully expressed in his own revealed Method whereby he commands and works Faith in order to Forgiveness Yea he will not I hope deny lest he spoil his Argument p. 28. that Union with Christ is before Pardon in order of Nature And is not that an Effect of Christ's Merits Yea the Gospel-offers Spirits operation of Faith c. are so 6. How long must I stay for an Answer if I ask what kind of Cause is Pardon It 's well if it be not hisprocatartick 7. Is not this a new and singular Gospel Consult the former Testimonies Need I mind thee that Dr. Owens saith p. 306. We require Evangelical Faith in order of Nature antecedently to our Iustification c R. Mr. Cl. p. 134. Norton c. say the same the Synod of Dort is oft positive Mr. Bulkley p. 321. gives nine Reasons to prove that Faith is an antecedent Condition of Iustification and saith the denyal of it is some of the new Light which the old Age of the Church hath brought forth Mr. Sheppard proves the same p. 221 to 240. Mr. C's Father saith Faithunites the Soul to Christ p. 144. It accepts of a whole Christ with a whole Heart p. 154. It 's a receiving Christ in all his Offices p. 132. Faith hath an influence into a Sinner's Justification p. 122. Faith is constituted and ordained of God in the Covenant of Grace as a necessary and indispensible means for attaining this end in adult persons p. 123. And he answers his Son's Objections as to Infants The Assembly affirm That Justification is a Benefit flowing from Vocation wherein Faith is wrought but of this hereafter It 's well if he call not all these Enemies to the Grace of God as p. 8. Mr. C. near a kin to this is his Banter on me p. 21. because I had said that Election was not formally our Pardon nor a legal grant of it but that by Divine Appointment there was to interpose between the decree of Pardon and the actual Pardon of the Elect a Gospel-Promise of this Pardon and a work of the Spirit on Men for a conformity to the Rule of that Promise He tells me I would have Christ to stand as a Medicin in the Apothecary's shop for some body or other when the Physician prescribes it Nay it 's not an absolute sick Patient neither it 's one the Apothecary hath in a manner cured before c. And before the person be pardoned he must be in a very sound and safe condition c. and there must be inherent Righteousness in the person to be pardoned c. Add this and much of this kind up and down in his Book to his fifth Principle viz. That Pardon is the cause of Faith c. and then we have his sixth Principle That we are pardoned before the Spirit do at all work any change upon the Soul in effectual Vocation or we are not called or converted in order of Nature before we are justified This is fully the sence of the Letter from the City p. 25 30 c. Repl. 1. A Legal Grant is a term out of Mr. C's Element or he would not confound it with a Decree and what he speaks of the Promise Tit. 1. will appear not to be eternal but before many Ages and not to exclude Gospel-Conditions in their use for our personal Interest in Pardon 2. Is there not a fulness in Christ for Sinners before they make use of it 3. All Sinners are ungodly in a Gospel sence when God comes to call them effectually in order to Pardon and they are ungodly in a legal sence when God doth pardon them or they would not need Pardon 4. Yet they are not unconvinced Unbelievers that are the Objects of God's pardoning
disswade me from a Reply assuring me it was at best needless with their Advice I had complied but that I find the Ignorant believe his Misrepresentation of my Principle It 's amazing what Eye they read with if they read at all What 's become of Truth or Ingenuity that Professors dare affix these Doctrines to me which I a thousand times disown and never can ascribe any Passages to ground them on but are still forced to cry This is your meaning against my plain words and entire Scheme as thou wilt see in this Reply Mr. C. saith I juggle and equivocate when I declare I still speak my mind and must be the most inconsistent Fool if it were not so But what should induce me to juggle or equivocate I value not the Purses of any and in God's Cause I fear not the Abilities of the whole Party yea by more of God's presence I shall be reconciled to their fiery and clamorous Tongues which is their only formidable strength tho' the liberty they take doth not evidence a good Cause or a Christian Spirit They give out that I oft meet with Noblemen about a great Affair when I never spake with one of these Noblemen nor ever was once in any Meeting about that matter They assert Mr. How said he had not put his Hand to my Book but that I assured him Mr. M. would do the same when Mr. H affirms he never said any such thing but that after he had signed he desired me to ask Mr. M's Hand Others say that Hands were affixt without their leave which is too gross to reply to Nay they turn the effects of my sinking Distempers to my reproach the worst I wish them is Forgiveness and more Charity and Wisdom Obj. They say some of the first Subscribers did not read the whole Book A. The whole substance of the Book is in the Truths and Errors which they did peruse Obj. Do not some of the Subscribers recant A. Tho' they have been abused yet the only one that to me seem'd willing that his Name had been left out and that only because of the noise I offer'd to publish that he desir'd it but he hath forborn any such desire Two of these Authors pretend to great Piety in their Party above others the Lord encrease it in all but I am perswaded they call many Serious ones of their Party who live under the power of the contrary Truth and understand not the Errors of those for whose persons they may have regard There be a far greater number of humble meek heavenly Christians that abhor these Errors which they observe to alter much the Christian Calm and tender Frame of such that I hope are upright in the Substance And I heartily desire all of us would lay these Texts to Heart 1 Cor. 13. Though I have all Faith and have not Charity I am nothing Iam. 1. 26. If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his Tongue but deceiveth his own Heart that man's Religion is vain Iam. 3. 13 to 18. But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated And it 's evident notwithstanding what Mr. C. saith of Passions p. 12. that a holy Fear with a siducial Consent to Christ tâ—…ds more to make a man's state safe and his walk exact than sudden Confidence or easie Perswasions It 's true Assurance should be endeavoured in our working out our Salvation with trembling and with fear yet Mr. Sedgwick was a man I 'll believe before Mr. C. or the Letter and he saith In my Conscience this is the general Opinion of ungodly men they hear Christ died to take away Sin and to make Peace for Sinners and therefore they will take no thought after Christ but will live basely and boldly in their sinful ways c. but Christ never yet made such a Reconciliation that all Sinners whatsoever though they live in Unbelief and Impenitency shall share in it but only penitent Sinners and believing Sinners S. of Cov. p. 258. I shall represent the true state of the points in debate that if any men will engage me to Edification and with Truth they may be directed The Controversie with Dr. C. my Book doth it so plainly that I hope all may see it there but the present Specimen more especially shall refer to Mr. C. who differs from many that help the noise though they will not see it 1. It is not whether a certain number of Sinners are of Free Grace elected to Faith and Iustification which I affirm but whether the Elect are required by the Gospel to believe that they may be justified which Mr. C. denies and I affirm 2. It is not whether the Gospel be such a Law as that Acts of Obedience to it stand in the place of legal Works so as that for them we are saved which I deny but whether the Gospel doth assure Salvation for Christ's Merits to such as obey it and threaten an exclusion from this Salvation against all such as disobey it This Mr. C. denies and I affirm 3. It is not whether we are justified by our Faith or any Act of ours as if they as Works or Qualifications were a jot of that Righteousness for which or by which we are justified this I deny but whether God hath fixed this as the Revealed Gospel-Rule that a man must be a penitent Believer whom God will justifie for Christ's Righteousness This Mr. C. denies and I affirm 4. It is not whether the Faith and Forgiveness of the Elect be the Fruits of Election and Distinguishing Mercy which I affirm but whether God hath a revealed Rule by which as Paternal Ruler he gives Pardon and Glory to Believers for Christ's sake and judicially withholds them from others whom he condemns not for their being unelected but for their final Impenitency and Unbelief This Mr. C. denies and I affirm To other of his Citations under his Third Principle add this p. 32. If you understand Judicial in respect of any Duty Grace or Qualification found in us tho' wrought by the Spirit I abhor it 5. It is not whether we are immediately justified upon believing before any Works which follow the first Act of Saving Faith this I affirm but whether if Faith should be ineffectual to Acts of sincere Holiness and to prevent Apostacy and utter Ungodliness would we be subject to Condemnation by the Gospel-Rule This Mr. C. denies and I affirm 6. It is not whether Holiness or Good Works are necessary to Salvation this they and I affirm but whether God doth require them as indispensible means of obtaining the possession of Salvation through Christ and declares that the total want of them and much more their Contraries shall expose to Misery This Mr. C. must deny and the Necessity they speak of is only a Physical Necessity not a moral Note 〈◊〉 two last Questions refer to the Adult that have time 7. It is not
of Christ. I have already instanced that I denied any Grace or Work to be any Cause at all 9th Head also that Christ's Righteousness is the sole meritorious Cause or Matter of our Justification which is imputed to us 4 5 6 Heads and that our Works follow Faith and Pardon and neither Faith nor Works are any Price Atonement or moving or procuring Cause 6 11 Heads and elsewhere yea and that we are to renounce a Thought of this Do I then oppose Christ or compare any Holiness with him I shall add Cap. 19. p. 198. I own we should esteem the sincere Holiness of a Believer's Heart and Actions to be Dung if compared with Christ as meritorious of Justification And p. 202. Who must not own that compared with Christ the best thing in us is vile yea compared with his Righteousness And p. 210. We must teach the best man to renounce all the Grace he hath and Good he doth as it being the least atonement for Sin or least purchase of Life or any addition of Merit to Christ or sharing in what is peculiar to him And Cap. 21. p. 225. I condemn any that preach that our best Obedience doth not deserve Wrath by the Law or that it doth not need Forgiveness or is any Supplement of Christ's Righteousness yea or to neglect to call men to renounce all in themselves as any atonement for Sin or cause of Pardon and that we must look to Christ as the only Propitiation Purchaser of all our Blessings and Cause of the acceptance of our Persons and Performances Reader I have given thee a few of those many places Having finish'd this first point propos'd I will appeal to thy Conscience whether I can with any shadow of Justice be charged with those Principles which this Brother fixeth upon me I hope he did not wilfully expose me in the face of such Evidence The words in my Preface lead not to the least suspicion yea are positive to the contrary and therefore how he saith this is my sence when I must not only equivocate but grosly contradict my self and that in places where I state the Question must encrease the Wonder Neither is there the least pretence except that I assert that though Pardon and Salvation are all Free Gifts and the Merits of Christ are imputed as the sole meritorious Cause of all yet God as our Ruler hath appointed a Method in the Gospel for the dispensing of them and doth confer them in that Method and ordains a Gospel-Ministry in a consistency therewith and in a subserviency thereto This Scheme any man may see in my very Preface and morethrough the whole Book 2. I shall attempt if possible to make my sence intelligible to the most vulgar Apprehension to this end I premise 1. God may be considered in his Dispensations towards fallen men as a meer Proprietor and Benefactor and not as Rector or Ruler and so men must be considered meerly as Creature-Objects of his Benefits and not at all as rational Subjects to be now governed and hereafter judged If you look at God thus absolutely conferring Benefits then the way is this He eternally elects to Glory a certain number of men whom he sore saw undone by Adam's Fall he appoints his Son to undertake their recovery as the sole covenanting Party with him in the Covenant of Redemption he was to satisfie Justice merit Glory and make them physically meet for it This is all true and sometimes prophetically declared thus and the event as to the Elect is as certain as if God dealt no otherwise with Man on this side Death But if this be the whole Method of GOD with Men as some account it how much of the Bible is unintelligible and vain how much is contradicted and a great part of God's manifold Wisdom obscured and denied which shines forth in his present Paternal Dominion as Redeemer 2. God may be considered as a Ruler Proprietor and Benefactor conjunctly We may look at him as communicating his Benefits in a way of Government and that in many things not exclusive of his absolute Propriety That this is his Method I have proved in my Book Cap. 8 13 20. and other Chapters and may hereafter more confirm it Herein God connects Benefits with Duties offers Pardon and Glory upon Terms deals with Men as Subjects whom he now governs and will hereafter judge without respect of Persons and to that end hath set down his Rules by which he now sentenceâ—…h by the Word and will at the great day do it by the Person of Christ all which suppose Christ's Merits and the Ability to obey and Benefits given for his sake alone It 's true he discovers his absolute Propriety in not giving the same Means or the same internal Grace to all which will no doubt fully appear to be equal He doth also discover himself peculiarly beneficent to his Elect for whom Christ merited all and infallibly brings about his purpose concerning them by making them obedient to the Conditions of whatever saving Benefits his Gospel promiseth upon Conditions But yet he dispenseth the promised Benefits as a just Rector or Ruler according to the Offers made to all Pursuant hereto our Ministry is appointed to propose Blessings to all in the same way and upon the same Terms and to assure all that upon those Terms and no other they shall obtain those Benefits for the sake of Christ. Can any think we dare make the same Offers to the Devils as to every man or to the Damned as we can to all men alive Dare we say to them after Death If you will now believe you shall yet be saved turn now and you shall yet live On the other hand dare we say to an Elect Unbeliever if we knew him Elect thou shalt be forgiven though thou dost not believe thy Unbelief is no Bar to thy Salvation by any Threatning of God declared against thee Is Sentence past on all men in Adam or on the Elect in Christ's Person that God deals with neither in a way of Government as in any state of Trial for Eternity There 's an end of that Preaching which God hath fitted and most blessed to the conversion of Souls if this be true Mr. Chancy's Father in Doct. of Iustific p. 117. Mind you your Duty God hath ordained the End with the Means and therefore though it were revealed to thee from Heaven that thou shalt certainly be saved yet I might truly say to thee except thou believe and repent thou shalt perish c. The Offer of Christ in the Gospel this shews what he would have us to do even to repent and believe Mr. Norton Orth. Evang. shews They might say to a Judas If thou believe thou shalt be saved and to a John If thou believe not thou shalt be damned p. 89 90. Having premised these things I shall familiarly deliver my real Thoughts as to what men ignorantly accuse me of and pitch upon Forgiveness of