Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
cause_n justification_n predestination_n vocation_n 1,605 5 13.2116 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A97232 Chonoyterion he Sion. The refinement of Zion: or, The old orthodox Protestant doctrine justified, and defended against several exceptions of the Antinomians, methodically digested into questions, wherein many weighty and important cases of conscience are handled, concerning the nature of faith and repentance, or conversion to God: of his eternal love, and beholding of sin in his dearest children: of justification from eternity, of of [sic] preparations to the acceptance of Christ, of prayer for pardon of sin, and turning to God: of the gospel covenant, aud [sic] tenders of salvation, on the termes of faith and repentance. For the establishment of the scrupulous, conviction of the erroneous, and consolation of distressed consciences. By Anthony Warton, minister of the word at Breamore in Hampshire. Warton, Anthony. 1657 (1657) Wing W987; Thomason E914_2; ESTC R207476 171,315 250

There are 5 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

but where doth he now passe sentence either of absolution or condemnation upon any that they may be said to be judged by him I answer that he doth this in his word Answ in verbo Evangelij where every true believer may find himself already justified from his sins in scriptis as the Lawyers use to speak sententia finali with such a definitive sentence as shall stand for ever and never be revoked but confirmed by Christ at the latter day This answer offered it self unto me long since when I read the former Objection and I have found since that it was no new invention or device of mine own but the old Protestant Doctrine Zanch. de attributis Dei lib. 4. cap. 2. q. 6. For thus writeth Zanchius a learned judicious and an ancient Protestant This grace whereby we are justified before God data fuit ab aeterno was given us from all eternity because he loved eternally in Christ and made us accepted unto himself in him as the Apostle saith to the Ephesians Notwithstanding we are not reipsa really justified by his grace but when we do by Faith apprehend it For neither is the arraigned person said to be absolved that is justified though the Prince have decreed that he shall be absolved until the arraigned person himself hath heard the voice of absolution and hath assented thereunto When we hear the voice of the Gospel we hear the voice of absolution when we assent thereunto we do reipsa really or indeed receive absolution or are justified Therefore the Apostle when he speaketh of this grace as we are justified thereby doth not name only grace but joyneth Faith with it as it is every where manifest in his Epistle Thus hath the most learned and judicious Zanchius opened this matter I have also of late since I penned this met with a Treatise of learned Mr. Rutherfurth The Trial Triumph of Faith p. 62. wherein I find that he fully accordeth with Zanchius his words are these Justification is a forinsecal sentence in time pronounced in the Gospel and applyed to me now and never while the instant now that I believe it 's not formally an act of the understanding to know a truth concerning my self but it 's an heart-adherence of the affection to Christ as the Saviour of sinners at the presence of which a sentence of free absolution is pronounced Suppose the Prince have it in his mind to pardon twenty malefactors his grace is the cause why they are pardoned yet are they never in Law pardoned so as they can in Law plead immunity † that is until while they can produce their Princes Royal sealed pardon Thus far Mr. Rutherfurth Mr. Gataker Two other learned Divines also whom I have lately read do thus answer the former Objection they say That justification is not an Act immanent and eternal in God Mr. Ball in his Treatise of Faith p. 89. but transient and in time inferring some change in the person justified not physical but moral in respect of state whereby it comes to passe that the person is in another condition and account then he was before This answer I conceive is the same in sense with the former For I demand What change of estate is there in him that is justified I mean not as he is also sanctified but as he is justified but this that whereas before he was guilty of eternal damnation and bound over to eternal punishment for his sins he is now absolved from the guilt of his sins and from the sentence of condemnation But where is he thus absolved now and was not so before Profecto non in mente Divinâ certainly not in Gods mind and purpose for God is unchangeable I would gladly therefore be taught and informed where this is done any where else nisi in verbo Evangelii But by Christ in his Gospel For although Christ do by his Spirit absolve the Believer in foro conscientiae suae in his own conscience yet hereby he is not justified before God but in his conscience assured of his justification as hath been before declared See Mr. Baxter who I think hath excellently unfolded this matter in his Aphorismes of justification SECT IIII. Two Reasons more proving that we were not justified ab aeterno BY this that hath been said I suppose this matter is sufficiently cleared but were it so that a satisfactory answer could not be readily given to such intricate doubts and difficulties in such high mysteries as this is Communem tamen Protestantium doctrinam relinquendam et repudiandam non esse judicarem I would judge that it were not good hereupon to depart from the common received doctrine of the Protestants that is so well grounded on the holy Scripture For besides all the former testimonies that I have alledged St. Paul reckoning up the several links of the golden chain of our salvation and setting them down in order doth not rank our Justification with our Election but placeth it after our Vocation for so he saith whom God hath predestinated them he hath called whom he hath called them he hath justified whom he hath justified them he hath glorified Now it is certain we are called in time non ab aeterno not from everlasting It followeth necessarily therefore that we were not eternally justified but at that very time when being effectually called we did believe in Christ For as the Apostle here informeth us objectum justificationis adaequatum sunt vocati the called of God that is effectually by his spirit ingrafting his word in their hearts are the adequate object of justification that is all such and only such called ones doth God justifie 'T is evident therefore from these words of St. Paul that none are actually justified until they are called The force of this Reason will not be avoided by saying That St. Paul speaketh here of a declarative justification or of justification not as it is really acted Object but only as we are by Faith assured of it Answer Fo● saint Paul speaketh here of things as they are in themselves not of the bare manifestation of them of real predestination real vocation and real glorification and therefore also of a real justification Again in this golden Chain of our salvation predestination is the first Principle or first cause of it glorification is the end or consummation of it and the means by which we do proceed from predestination to glorification are our vocation and justification Whence it followeth that the Apostle speaketh here of a real justification for the manifestation thereof unto a Believers conscience is no necessary means of his salvation A very hard and harsh sentence it would be to say That none can possibly be saved who is not assured of his salvation by having it made evident to his conscience that his sins are pardoned and that he is in the state of grace A more comfortable and truer assertion it is to say that every one though
God If therefore he whom God loveth must not be guilty of sin and there is none but he is guilty of fin unless sin be pardoned remitted unto him that is unless he be justified Hence he leaveth it to be inferred and concluded that a man is not loved of God until he is justified Answer Here are many Propositions linked together which I shall examine in order And first whereas he saith Gods love is opposed to hatred To this I answer That Love and hatred in God as also the rest of his Attributes are the same single and undivided essence of God they are not therefore opposite as they are in God but in their Effects or in their Objects in quibus contrarie operantur in which they work those things which are contrary one to another For example justification and condemnation are opposite Effects of Gods Love and of his hatred But it doth not follow hereupon that because God damneth none but obstinate sinners whom he hateth that he loveth no man unlesse he be first justified from his sins For though God doth not condemn any nor hate any but for their sins yet he doth gratis freely justifie as many as he justifieth through his grace without any merits of theirs yea contrary to the merit of their sins as St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.23 24. And this indeed the most Learned Chamier not only acknowledgeth but abundantly confirmeth by most valid testimonies of holy Scripture Probat enim justificationem effici per charitatem Dei tanquam efficientem causam For he proveth that our justification is through the love of God as the efficient cause thereof After that the kindness love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3 4 5. God commendeth his love to us that whereas we were yet sinners Christ died for us Being justified therefore by his blood we shall much more be saved now by his life Rom. 5. Seeing these things are thus alledged and delivered by Chamierus himself I wonder that he could so far forget himself as after a few lines to say Deum non amare aliter nisi remissis peccatis that God doth not lo●e us unlesse our sins be first forgiven us For if it were so How could Gods Love be said to be the efficient cause of our justification For sure I am he will not say Causam effectu suo posteriorem esse that the Cause is after its Effect In the next place whereas he saith the hatred of God is for the guilt of sin therefore as long as the guilt of sin remaineth so long must we needs be hated of God I grant that God hateth none but for sin but it doth not follow hereupon that every one is hated of God as long as the guilt of his sins doth remain For then seeing the guilt of sin in all the Elect doth go before the remission thereof Quod enim non est non remittitur for that which is not cannot be said to be forgiven it would follow that the Elect themselves as well as others were once hated of God and not beloved of him whereas the Lord himself saith That he loved them with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 Thus then it is God hateth sin in all yea in the Elect themselves but he pitied their persons and loved them from all eternity as they were his Creatures and out of this his love provided for them a Saviour Whereas then this most worthy Divine concludeth thus If therefore it behoveth him whom God loveth not to be guilty of sin but there is no man but he is guilty of sin unlesse his sin be pardoned and forgiven him that is unlesse he be justified and so leaveth it to be inferred that we must be justified before we can be loved of God That which I have said already doth sufficiently manifest the inconsequence hereof Whereunto this I add further that where thre is alike guilt we cannot alwaies infer a necessity of like condemnation As for example a Soveraign Prince or King when many of his Subjects are risen up against him in rebellion and are all alike guilty of death doth of his mercy and free grace pardon some of them but others he as freely maketh examples of his justice for terrour unto the rest of his Subjects and causeth them to be put to death Even thus it is in this present case for whereas all of us for our sins have deserved eternal death God of his grace converteth absolveth and justifieth some and others he leaveth in their sins and condemneth them according to their demerits Thus Gods love or his grace is the cause of our justification and not our justification the cause of Gods loving us as hath been shewed before and shal now by Gods grace be further proved tum ex concessis Chamieri both from that which Chamier granteth and delivereth for truth and from other places of Scripture beside those which I have already produced Lib. 22. cap. 12. de sola fide justificante Mat. 26.28 Mors Christi est vera causa justificationis saith he The death of Christ is the true cause of our justification And this indeed is most truly spoken of him for our blessed Saviour himself telleth us That he shed his blood for the remission of our sins Now how is this to be understood but that he shed his blood to purchase the pardon of our sins Eph. 1.7 For thus St. Paul also saith that we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of our sins And St. John likewise saith that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sins 1 John 1.7 Now what is this but for him to say that the forgiveness of our sins is an effect of Christs blood which he shed for us Or that I may speak in Chamier's words that Christs death is the true cause of our justification Now from hence I do first inferr that our justification cannot be the cause why God loveth us Quicquid enim est causa causae est causa causati For whatsoever is the cause of the cause is also the cause of that which is caused by that cause Now Gods love was the cause why he sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.10 Our propitiation therefore and consequently our justification which is therewith necessarily connexed or which is involved in it Rom. 3.25 cannot be the cause of Gods love for then Gods love should both be the cause and the effect of our propitiation and justification by Christ Again if Christs death be as it is indeed the true cause of our justification then we cannot be actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity Temporale enim non est causa aeterni for that which is in a definite time cannot be the cause of that which hath been for ever But Christ suffered for our sins non ab aeterno sed tempore à
Deo definito not from eternity but at that time which God had determined Gal. 4.4 His Passion therefore either must not be the cause of our justification or if we shall say that it is as this most learned Divine and all other for any thing that I know to the contrary do we must needs grant that we were not actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity but in time Lastly Whereas St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.24 25. that We are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood from hence also it followeth that our sins are actually pardoned and we justified from them in time and not from all eternity For it cannot be said of our Election and there is the same reason of every other immanent and eternal Act of God that we were elected through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus as a cause thereof For our Election is immediatly of Gods grace and not effected by any external means or for any external cause extra Deum without God himself no more then are opera ulla ejus ad intrà any of his internal acts or works For as much therefore as the Apostle teacheth That we are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood unto me it seemeth very evident that our justification can be none of the immanent and eternal works of God that are acted altogether within himself Object I know there are those that do object against this that I have said those words of St Paul 2 Thess 2.13 where he telleth them That God had from the beginning chosen them unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth But his meaning is not That sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth were any causes no nor means of their Election but of their salvation as if he should have said God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation to be enjoyed and possessed of you by being sanctified by Gods Spirit and by believing in Christ as by means leading thereunto Thus the Apostle in saying he hath chosen you unto salvation that is to obtain salvation by sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth maketh these means of their salvation not of their Election Yea not only the Orthodox Protestant Divines but Popish Doctors also do thus expound these words of St. Paul amongst whom Estius commenteth thus upon them The effects of Gods Election ordained unto salvation are hereby signified as if he should say God hath chosen you or hath taken you unto salvation by means thereunto allotted to wit through sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth Theophylact also alledged by him thus expoundeth these words God hath from the beginning that is from eternity chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit that is saith he he hath saved us in sanctifying us by the Spirit Thus our salvation is by means but our Election is the immediate work or act of God whereof there can no cause or reason be given nisi bene placitum Divinum but Gods own gracious good pleasure This that I have thus taught is the Doctrine of the most Orthodox Divines I cannot therefore but wonder what should move the most illustrious Chamier to say quòd amari mereamur à Deo per imputationem justitiae Christi et quôd inde diligamur et destinemur vitae aeternae that we deserve to be loved of God through the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and that thereupon we are beloved and allotted or elected unto eternal life This I say seemeth unto me a most strange assertion for hence it would follow that Gods Love and his Election were not free or altogether gratuitous But God speaking unto his Church and people saith dilexi te gratis I have loved thee freely And St. Paul teacheth that God hath predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will The same Apostle also saith that the Election of Gods people is of grace Now merit and free love and grace cannot stand together Christ indeed hath merited all the saving effects of Gods Love at dilectio ipsamet Dei est gratuitae but Gods love it self is not merited but free He loveth us meerly ex beneplacito suo of his good pleasure This love of his is the cause why he gave us his only begotten Son to work our salvation John 3.16 This love of his therefore must needs be the cause also of all Christs merits both of our redemption justification adoption sanctification and glorification Neither our justification therefore nor any other of these can be the cause of Gods love if we shall speak properly of his love and not of some one or other effects thereof But proceed we to the next thing wherein Chamierus dissenteth from that which is most commonly taught by other Protestants concerning our justification This learned man also teacheth contrary to the common Doctrine of the Protestants that there are no preparations unto our justification Now if it were as he saith that our justification is an eternal Act of God this would necessarily follow But seeing we are not actually justified until we do believe in Christ and are not ordinarily brought to renounce our selves and to put the whole confidence of our salvation in Christ until we be wrought upon and prepared thereunto both by the Law and the Gospel as is to be shewed in the next Question therefore seeing he produceth nothing that I have met with for confirmation of this his assertion I will leave the further examination and sifting of it unto its due place And so I come to the last thing that by the learned Chamierus is asserted in opposition to the common Doctrine of Protestants and that is That we are not justified by Faith in Christ for he speaketh expresly and saith falsum est fidem impetrare justificationem It 's false that Faith obtaineth justification For confirmation whereof he reasoneth thus If it were so then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in time which may by no means be granted For Faith it self is by it self a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which in deed and in nature is before it Which is the cause why we do say that Faith doth no otherwise justifie but relatively that is because it hath for its peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Now this is that properly that justifieth as the Church is built relatively upon the Faith of Peter that is upon Christ whom the Faith of Peter confessed That I may examine these things in order as they lie First whereas he saith If Faith should obtain our justification then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in
time I deny this consequence for from hence it followeth only that Faith goeth before our justification in order of nature or in reason but not in time because a man is justified at the same instant that he layeth hold on Christ believeth in him But he denieth that Faith goeth before our justification in any respect at all his reason is because Faith is a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which indeed and in nature is before it The first of these Propositions I do willingly grant that Faith is a part of sanctification but whereas he assumeth that there is nosanctification but it is after justification I cannot assent unto him in this For many worthy Divines do hold that sanctification is before justification their judgment therefore I might oppose unto the learned Chamiers others that hold the contrary For the clearing of this matter I do distinguish of sanctification and say that it is either habitual and so God doth sanctifie us by infusing holinesse into us or actual and so we do sanctifie our selves by renouncing the works of sin and living holily Of both these Moses speaketh when he saith Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them Lev. 20.7.8 for I am the Lord which sanctifie you When the Lord saith here Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy this must be understood of actual sanctification that is of holiness that is to be actually performed by us But whereas the Lord useth this as a reason to stir us up hereunto for I am the Lord which sanctifie you this is spoken of habitual sanctification For how doth the Lord sanctifie us but by infusing the habit or the internal grace of holinesse into us whereby we are inabled to perform the several acts of holinesse or to live holily the effectual excitation of Gods blessed Spirit herewith concurring But because these words of the Lord which I have alledged though they speak of a twofold sanctification are taken in another sense by very learned Divines than this that I have given for confirmation therefore of habitual sanctification I do alledge those words of St. Paul 1 Thess 5.23 where he prayeth that God would sanctify them wholly or throughly And those 1 Cor. 1.30 where he saith That Christ is made unto us sanctification See also 1 Pet. 1.2 Now of actual sanctification St. Paul speaketh when he saith This is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God Hereof also speaketh St. Peter in that precept of his Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts In these and in other places the Scripture speaketh of Sanctification both habitual wrought in us by God himself and of sanctification acted and wrought by us through the assistance of Gods Spirit exciting us unto holinesse Whereas then this most learned Divine saith That there is no sanctification but it is after justification this is true if it be understood of actual sanctication For we are first justified by Faith and then this Faith inflameth our hearts with the love of God and stirreth us up to glorifie him and to serve him in holiness and righteousness according to all his commandements Thus the several works of holiness and righteousness do proceed from Faith Etiamsi non elicitivè imperativè tamen though not elicitly yet imperatively Faith stirreth us up unto them For as St. Paul saith The end of the commandement is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.5 and Faith unfeigned It is true therefore that Faith and therefore justification which is thereby laid hold of and obtained is before actual sanctification For as this learned man saith well fides vera est fons et scaturigo omnium bonorum operum in fidelibus De sola fide justificante Lib. 22. cap. 12. True Faith is the fountain and source of all good works in the faithful But I cannot say that there is no sanctification but it is after justification for habitual Faith is a part of habitual anctification Now the infused habits of grace such as Faith is are before their acts If therefore it can be proved that adulti or such as are of capacity and understanding are not justified without or before actual Faith then it will inevitably follow that there is some sanctification that is not after justification Yea beside what hath been said already to prove that we are actually justified by Faith and not without it methinketh Chamierus himself doth as good as grant it when he saith Verum est proptereà nos factos in Christo justitiam Dei quòd Christo nos simus incorporati per fidem It is true that we are therefore made the righteousnesse of God in Christ because we are incorporated into him by Faith We are not then justified before Faith or before we do believe in Christ Again this most excellent Divine saith In adultis fatemur remissionem peccatorum ab inhaerente justitiâ nunquam sepaerari We confess that remission of sins is never separated from inherent righteousness in those that are grown in years But say I many of the Elect after they have the use of reason and understanding being well grown in years do yet live in sin for some time and do not serve God in righteousness until he by his grace doth afterward convert them According therefore to his own Doctrine it followeth that justification from sin at least in adultis in those that are grown in years doth not go before Faith But saith he Faith justifieth relativè as it hath for its proper peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Whence as I conceive he would have it inferred That seeing the mercy of God is eternal therefore our justification is so also and therefore before Faith Now hereunto I answer that though Christs righteousnesse be materialiter the proper object of our justification or that which is imputed to us for our justification Yet I will not deny bur that Gods mercy considered as the internal cause moving God to justify us may thus be said to be the proper and peculiar object on which our Faith relyeth for justification But it doth not follow hereupon that we were justified ab aeterno from everlasting because Gods mercy is the cause of our justification no more than that we are sanctified and glorified eternally because our sanctification and glorification are wholly of Gods mercy Quest 7. Whether any previous dispositions preparations or qualifications be required of men in the Gospel that they may be partakers of salvation by Christ SECT I. The Preparations that go before our Regeneration and Conversion THose that take upon them to be the only Preachers of
out and that they may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Object What is this say these men but to teach and preach legally when you do thus tie men to conditions for the obtaining of salvation as the Law did Answ It s true indeed we should be legal teachers if we did require of men the same conditions for the obtaining of salvation and after the same manner that the Law doth but we are far from this for the Law requireth perfect obedience to all the Commandements thereof that is to say all manner of good works as that whereby we are to be justified before God or as the cause of our salvation Now we on the contrary do teach that we are saved only and altogether by the grace of God through the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ And we say that works are necessary to our justification at leastwise to the continuance of it after a far inferior manner that is necessitate presentiae non efficientiae as duties necessarily accompanying it and going with it not as any causes meriting or working it Thus whereas the Law requireth works as causes of our justification and salvation we require Faith Repentance and such works or duties as the Gospel teacheth only as necessary conditions without which we cannot be saved For as I have proved in the former Question the Gospel indeed offereth salvation unto all by Christ but not absolutely but upon condition of their faith and repentance Where faith therefore in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance are wanting it is in vain for men to believe that they are reconciled unto God or that they are in the state of salvation which is the Doctrine now taught by Mr. D Mr. S. and many others Whereas these men then do think that all conditions are legal they are herein deceived For the difference between the Law and the Gospel is not that the one requireth conditions to be performed and the other none at all which were it so then the Gospel should be a Doctrine of licentiousness and carnal liberty but in this that the Law offereth salvation unto none but unto those that do perfectly fulfill it without failing in any the least duty therein required and commanded but the Gospel offereth pardon of all sins and transgressions unto all that believe in Christ and rise up out of their sins by repentance when they are fallen and do not still lie in them Thus the Law is a covenant of works because it promiseth salvation to none but to those that do the works therein prescribed and commanded Rom. 10.8 but the Gospel is a covenant of faith or as St. Paul calleth it the word of faith because it promiseth forgiveness of sins and salvation to all those that renouncing themselves and their own works do relie only upon Christ for salvation according to the promises of his Gospel SECT II. Both repentance and all manner of good works are commanded and required in the Gospel THis that I have already said might be sufficient for an answer unto this Question notwithstanding because many at this day by hearing of our late new Preachers and reading of their Books have their mindes and understandings so vitiated and depraved that whensoever they hear us teach the necessity of repentance unto salvation or hear us presse the practise and performance of good works upon mens Consciences presently they think that we are enemies unto the grace of God and do preach nothing but the Law For so indeed some few years since when one heard me tell my hearers that as long as any one of them did live in sin and not practise repentance it was in vain for him to believe that his sins were forgiven and that he should at the comming of Christ to judgement rise again in his own body to live eternally with Christ After he was returned home from the Church he spake aloud in the hearing of divers and said here is nothing but preaching of the Law preaching of Repentance Repent and ye shall be saved repent and Heaven Gates shall be set open for you To the intent therefore that such poor seduced souls may be brought to see their error I will handle this matter a little more fully First of all then It is certain that the Law requireth perfect obedience of us unto all the Commandements thereof and will not accept of any repentance if we fall but into any one sin or fail in any one duty but concludeth and shutteth us up under the curse of God The Doctrine of Repentance therefore as these men think is not legal Deut. 27.26 but meerly Evangelical And therefore when Christ taught the people repentance it is said that he preached not the Law but the Gospel Now it is manifest and evident also Mar. 1.15 that all manner of good works which are the fruits and effects of repentance are required and commanded in the Gospel as well as in the Law For St. Paul telleth us that we are Gods workmanship Eph. 2.10 created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he hath appointed that we should walk in them When St. Paul saith here that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works it is certain that this is the voyce not of the Law but of the Gospel For the Law neither speaketh of our new Creation in Christ Jesus that is of our Regeneration neither maketh any mention of Christ at all Christus enim non est revelationis naturalis sicut est lex Rom. 2.14 sed supernaturalis It is not the Law but the Gospel that revealeth Christ unto us It is therefore the Gospel also and not the Law that informeth us and telleth us that Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and purifie a peculiar people unto himself zealous of good works And seeing this is one end of Christs passion for as much as he hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness Luk. 1.74 75. before him all the dayes of our life And did therefore bear our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sin should live to righteousness hereupon St. Paul wrote unto Titus and said This is a faithful saying and these things I will 1 Pet. 2.24 that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God Tit. 1.8 might be careful to maintain good works And afterwards in that Chapter Vers 14. He writeth thus unto him Let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful In all these and many other places of the Gospel are good works required of us Yea I will say more they are required as necessary to our eternal salvation in Heaven though not by way of merit yet as a condition necessarily to be performed by us Eph. 2.10 and as the way wherein we are to walk