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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39120	Vindiciæ justificationis gratuitæ = Justification without conditions, or, The free justification of a sinner : explained, confirmed, and vindicated, from the exceptions, objections, and seeming absurdities, which are cast upon it, by the assertors of conditional justification : more especially from the attempts of Mr. B. Woodbridge in his sermon, entituled (Justification by faith), of Mr. Cranford in his Epistle to the reader, and of Mr. Baxter in some passages, which relate to the same matter : wherein also, the absoluteness of the New Covenant is proved, and the arguments against it, are disproved / by W. Eyre ...	Eyre, William, 1612 or 13-1670.; Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1654 (1654)	Wing E3947A; ESTC R40198	198,474	230

it being in terminis in the Text. I dare say no man that is called a Christian did ever deny it and therefore he might have spared his pains in transcribing any more places of Scripture for confirmation of it But I do much marvel That so learned a man as Mr. W. who pretends to be more then ordinarily accurate should take in hand a controverted Text and never open the Terms nor state the Question which he meant to handle for though it be a sinful curiosity for men by Dicotomies and Tricotomies Divisions and Subdivisions to mince and crumble the Scriptures till it hath lost the sense yet surely a workman that needs not to be ashamed ought rightly to divide the Word of Truth explain things that are obscure and dubious and where divers senses are given as he knows there are of this Text to disprove the false and confirm that which he conceives is true § 3. There is a vaste distance between the Apostles Proposition a man is justified by Faith and Mr. Woodbridges Inference Ergo Justification doth in no sence precede Faith Justification by Faith and Justification before Faith are not opposita but diversa though they differ yet they are not contradictory to each other The Scriptures which prove the former intend no strife or quarrel against the latter in a word The proof of the one doth not disprove the other The Scripture which he made his theam Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God c concludes nothing at all against Justification before Faith For 1 we may without any violence to the Text place the Comma after justified as thus Being justified by Faith we have peace with God This reading is agreeable both to the Apostles scope and to the Context His scope here was not to shew the efficacy of Faith in our Justification but what benefits we have by the death of Christ the first of which is Justification and the consequent thereof is peace with God Again the Illative Particle Therefore shews that this place is a Corollary or Deduction from the words immediately foregoing which ascribed our Justification wholly to the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ Chap. 4 ult The Apostle thence infers Being justified q. d. Seeing we are justified freely without works by the death of Christ by Faith we have peace with God the Lord powerfully drawing our hearts to believe this we have boldness and confidence towards God the cause of fear being taken away or as the Syriack and vulgar Latin read it Let us have peace with God let us by Faith improve this Grace for the establishing of our hearts in perfect peace Now according to this reading his own Text will give in evidence against him That Faith is not the cause or antecedent but an effect and consequent of our Justification procured and obtained by the death of Christ. But 2 if we take the words as commonly they are read the sence comes all to one scil That being justified by Christ who is the sole object of our Faith we have peace with God who by the Faith which he creates in us causeth us to enjoy this reconciliation by vertue whereof our Conscience is so firmly grounded that we are not moved by any temptation or beaten down by any terror The Work of Faith is not to procure our Justification but to beget peace in our Consciences So then the words being rightly understood they neither deny Justification before Faith nor assert Justification by the act or habit of Faith which Mr. W. would conclude from thence § 4. The next Scripture whose suffrage is desired against us is Gal. 2.16 We have believed in Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ. Where sayes Mr. W. Justification is expresly made a Consequent of Faith To which I Answer 1 That this doth no more infer That we are not justified before we believe then that of our Saviour Matth. 5.44 45. Love your enemies c. that ye may be the children of your Father in Heaven infers That works do go before adoption contrary to Eph. 1.5 6. 1 Joh. 3.3 the phrase that ye may be there is as much as that ye may be manifested and declared that ye may shew your selves or that all men may know that ye are the children of God by practising a duty so much above the reach of Nature and Morality A like place we have Rom. 3.26 God set forth his Son to declare his Righteousness that he might be just Now shall we hence infer That God was not just before or that Gods justice was a consequent of his sending Christ Now if we can understand that clause that he might be just That he might be known and acknowledged to be just Why may we not as well take this of the Apostle that we might be justified in the same construction that we might know that we are justified and live in the comfort and enjoyment of it So that not the Being of our Justification but the Knowledge and Feeling of it is a consequent of Faith Things in Scripture are then said to be when they are known to be so John 15.8 our Saviour tells the Disciples That if they did bear much fruit they should be his Disciples i. e. They should be known and manifested to be his Disciples as Chap. 13.35 Our Saviour is said at his Resurrection to have become the Son of God Acts 13.33 Because then as the Apostle speaks he was powerfully declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.3 Again things are sa●d not to be which do not appear as Melchisedec is said to be without Father and Mother c. Heb. 7.3 Because his Linage and Pedigree is not known so we are said to be justified or not justified according as this Grace is revealed to us But 2 in the Text it is We have believed that we might be justified by Faith so that from hence it can be inferred onely That we are not justified by Faith before believing and that the sentence of Justification is not terminated in our Consciences before we do believe § 5. His next Proof is grounded upon the order of the words Rom. 8.30 As glory saith he follows Justification so doth Justification follow Vocation unto Faith Whereunto I answer 〈◊〉 That the order of words in Scripture do not shew the order and dependance of the things themselves The Jews have a Proverb Non esse prius aut posterius in Scriptura The first and last must not be strictly urged in Scripture for that is not always set first which is first in Nature If we should reason from the order of words in Scripture we should make many absurdities as 1 Sam. 6.14 It is said that they clave the Wood of the Cart and offered the Kine for a burnt offering unto the Lord And then in the next Verse it follows That the Levites took down the Ark out of the Cart as

or adulti yet to all the Elect to whom the effects of the Covenant and Seals do onely really belong it is real and absolute It is no other then the Sentence of God himself declaring his non-imputation of sin unto them and their deliverance from death by Jesus Christ § 12. 2. Internally in foro Conscientiae at their effectual Vocation when the Lord by the Preaching of the Gospel doth powerfully perswade their hearts to believe in Christ for the Elect themselves before Faith have no knowledge or comfort either of Gods gracious volitions towards them or of Christs undertakings and purchases in their behalf In which respect they are said to be without Christ and without God in the world Eph. 2.12 and Gal. 4.1 They are compared to an Heir under age who differs nothing from a Servant though he be the Lord of all By Faith we come to see that everlasting love wherewith we were loved and that plenteous Redemption which Christ hath wrought for us for which cause Faith is called The evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 And God is said thereby to reveal his Righteousness from Heaven to us Rom. 1.17 And to reveal his Son in us Gal. 1.16 Now in this sence men are said to be justified by the act of Faith in regard Faith is the medium or Instrument whereby the Sentence of Forgiveness is terminated in their Consciences which is daily made more plain and legible by the operation of the Spirit sealing and witnessing unto them their peace and reconciliation with God Whereas unbelievers look on God as their enemy and consequently all their life time are held in bondage through the fear of wrath A true Believer hath peace liberty and boldness towards God he looks upon all the Promises as his own inheritance interprets the Providences of God even those which Reason would construe in another sence to be Fruits of Love and not of Wrath. § 12. Now because this Declarative Sentence by Faith is like the name written in the White Stone Revel 2.17 Which no man knoweth saving he that hath it Many whom the Lord doth justifie are accounted by the world to be but Hypocrites others again are justified of men who are not justified in the sight of God the Lord therefore hath another way of justifying his people to wit In foro mundi when he shall publickly and in the hearing of the whole world pronounce that gracious sentence Come ye blessed of my Father c. Matth. 25.34 Whereunto some have referred those words of the Apostle Acts 3.19 Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. But who so pleaseth to consult with Erasmus Beza and Ludovicus de Dieu upon the place shall finde there is a great mistake in our English Translators and that no such thing was intended there by the Holy Ghost I grant that the sins of the Elect may be said to be then blotted out not that the remission of their sins shall be put off or is not compleat till the last day and till they have performed all the conditions required of them but because this gracious sentence shall be then publickly declared and shall bring forth its Eternal Effect of Life and Glory And in this sence I conceive those Scriptures may be understood which speak of our Justification as a future thing as Rom. 3.30 2.13 c. § 13. Now though we have ascribed Justification unto several times or periods yet do we not make many Justifications Declared Justification whether it be in foro Ecclesiae in foro Conscientiae or in foro mundi is not another from that in the minde of God but the same variously revealed as an Acquittance in the heart of the Creditor and in a Paper a pardon in the heart of a Prince and inrolled is one and the same this manifested and the other secret and though there are never so many Copies written forth in several hands they do not make many Acquittances or many Pardons being but the Transcripts of one Original So though God doth at sundry times and in divers manners declare his well-pleasedness towards his people yet is their Justification but one and the same which is perfect and compleat at once being his fixed and immutable will not to deal with them according to their sins but as Just and Righteous Persons By that which hath been said it doth appear in what sence we assert The Justification of Gods Elect before they believe Now what little weight there is in those Objections which are commonly brought against this Assertion will be more manifest when we have examined Mr. Woodbridges Treatise Whos 's first quarrel against us is for that as he conceives we give too little unto Faith P. 2. But as it is no disparagement to the Blood of Christ that it doth not move and incline God to love us or to will not to punish us so it is no disparagement to Faith to say That it doth not concur with the Blood of Christ in obtaining our Justification but that by apprehending the Gospel it reveals and evidenceth to us that Justification which we have in Christ the proof whereof is the task of the next Chapter wherein I doubt not but I shall be able through the help of God to put by all those wretched consequences which Mr. W. hath endeavored to father upon this Position That Faith serves to evidence to us our Justification CHAP. VIII Wherein Mr. Woodbridges Exceptions against our saying That Faith or the act of believing doth justifie no otherwise then as it reveals and evidenceth our Justification are Answered THe first Charge which he brings against this Gloss as he calls it is That it is guilty of a contradiction to the Holy Ghost It is well known sayes he that the Apostle in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians sets himself on purpose to assert the Doctrine of Justification by Faith in opposition to Works The Question between him and the Jews was not Whether we are declared to be justified by Faith or Works but whether we are justified by Faith or Works in the sight of God or before God And he concludes That it is by Faith and not by Works c. Though all this be granted yet it proves no contradiction to the Holy Ghost in our Assertion We acknowledge that the Question between the Apostle and the Jews was not about the declaring of our Justification nor about the time when we are justified no nor about the condition upon which we are justified but concerning the matter of our Justification or the Righteousness whereby we are justified or by which we are accounted righteous Now the result of his dispute is That we are justified by Faith and not by Works but then the Question will be How Faith is to be taken whether sensu proprio or metonymico whether we are to understand it

READER THe great Work of them who are Embassadors for Christ to beseech men in his stead to be reconciled unto God is to reveal the Will and Love of the Father in making him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him The manifestation of the Excellency Fulness Sufficiency and absolute preheminence of that Righteousness so wrought out from the Councel of the Will of God dispensed in a Covenant of Grace is that which in the pursuit and discharge of the Trust committed to them they cheifly through the strength of God do or ought to lift up themselves unto In this Labor of the Gospel hath the Author of the ensuing Treatise evinced his Fellowship and Communion by the travel of his minde accompanied with those advantages of Abilities and Learning which make such undertakings acceptable and useful which he hath laid out therein The persons occasion and other circumstances related unto in this Discourse I am utterly unacquainted withal but onely by the light which concerning them it self holds out unto me which being not a sufficient bottom for a Judgement of this notoriety I am not called no more then desired to deliver my Thoughts concerning them Every mans work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is Of the Matter treated on herein various are the Thoughts of Learned Men those doubtless seem to have the advantage who walk in a professed compliance with the design of God to give the Son of his Love with his Love and Grace in him the preheminence in all things To deliver my Thoughts concerning the severals argued and disputed in this Treatise neither the minute of time whereunto for this expression of my self I am confined will admit me nor doth my present aim require Especially considering that I have at large delivered my self to the main Head of the whole in my Book of the Perseverance of the Saints and Answer to Mr. John Goodwin on that subject now almost cleared off the Press For the present I shall only say That there being too great evidence of very welcome entertainment and acceptance given by many to an almost pure Socinian Justification and Exposition of the Covenant of Grace even amongst them into whose hearts God seems to have shined in some measure to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ all solid learned sober endeavors for the Vindication of the absoluteness freedom independency and preheminence of that Grace in Jesus Christ whereby we are saved will doubtless finde acceptance with the Children of Gospel-Wisdom and all that love the glory of him that bought us Amongst such Labors and Endeavors Christ an Reader I commend to thy consideration the ensuing Treatise and commit thee to the Lord. Westminster Nov. 7. 1653. JOHN OWEN VINDICIAE Justificationis Gratuitae Justification without Conditions OR The Free Justification of a Sinner Explained Confirmed and Vindicated from the Exceptions Objections and seeming Absurdities which are cast upon it by the Assertors of Conditional Justification More especially from the Attempts Of Mr. B. Woodbridge in his Sermon Entituled Justification by Faith Of Mr. Cranford in his Epistle to the Reader and of Mr. Baxter in some Passages which relate to the same Matter Wherein also the Absoluteness of the New Covenant is proved and the Arguments against it are disproved By W. EYRE Minister of the Gospel and Pastor of a Church in the City of New Sarum Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Dei gratia non erit gratia ullo modo nisi gratuita fuerit omni modo Aug. de pec Orig. l. 2. c. 24. LONDON Printed for R. I. and are to be sold by Edward Forrest Book-seller in Oxford 1654. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE PARLIAMENT OF THE Commonwealth OF ENGLAND Most Noble Senators THe design of this Dedication is not to call in your help and assistance to the Cause here depending it being sufficiently guarded by a higher power to wit By that Living Word which is sharper then any two edged Sword and which is able by it self to overthrow and dissipate those deep and subtile Reasonings which men oppose against it That Doctrine which is armed with the Authority thereof will be sure to stand though men oppose it but that which is destitute of this support will be as sure to fall though men protect it Although I think you to be as fit as any company of men upon the face of the Earth to umpire Differences of this nature knowing that many of you have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senses exercised to discern between Truth and Error yet to be Judges in matters of Faith is an honor which I dare not give you and which I hope you dare not take Indeed as you are Christians you ought to judge for your selves and not like those Horns which gave their power to the Beast give up your Faith to the Votes of others how Godly or Learned soever they are accounted but to make your own Judgements in Matters of Religion a Rule or Standard for the Faith of others and to compel them to believe what you conceive is Truth were to assume a power more then God who though he doth effectually move and perswade mens hearts yet he doth not necessitate them to believe and embrace the Truth whose example may instruct us that Religion ought to be propagated by conviction and not by compulsion It is remarkable that they who ascribed unto Magistrates a Definitive and Coercive Power in Spirituals have when Magistrates would not serve their turns denied the power which they have in Temporals refusing contrary to the Rules of Christ to own them pray for them or to yeeld obedience to their lawful commands as if none must hold the Sword but such as will use it to fight their quarrel and to effect that by force of Arms which they themselves cannot do by strength of Argument Though blessed be God we now have the countenance and protection of the Magistrate yet we seek not to engage his power to extirpate or to cut off them that do differ from us We desire no other liberty for our selves then what we are willing should be given unto our Brethren Viz. To believe and worship God according to the Light which he hath given us humbly to declare our Judgements in Matters of Faith and with meekness to Reason out the things wherein they and we do differ from the Word of God For my own part I look upon it as a special Mercy for which we ow suitable acknowledgements both to God and you that although we live in times wherein the Truth is opposed and blasphemed more then ever before yet the Faithful have liberty to write and speak in defence thereof

the Magistrate to put them to silence but by sound doctrine i. e. by clear and demonstrative Proofs from the Holy Scripture Titus 1.9 11. 6. And lastly If every Christian ought to give a Reason of the hope that is in him as it is enjoyned 1 Pet. 3.15 and as it was wont to be publickly practised in the Primitive Churches much more ought a Minister of Christ who should be apt to teach 1 Tim. 3.2 to be willing to satisfie his hearers concerning the Doctrine which he hath delivered objection 1 § 4. Object 1. All that I have heard objected against this practise is of little moment As first some have alledged That the Disciples came privately to our Saviour to ask him Questions Mark 10.10 Mark 9.28 To which I Answer Answ. 1. Though it were in a house yet it was before all his Disciples some did put to him these Questions before the rest and I suppose That they who dissent from us in this matter do look upon all that come unto our Churches to be Disciples 2. The Negative is weakly concluded from the Affirmative It doth not follow That because they came unto him privately therefore they might have asked him these Questions in a Publick place seeing our Saviour never forbad them to do this thing before the people Surely he that so readily made answer to all the Cavils of his enemies would not have refused to satisfie the Doubts Cases or Questions of his own Disciples wheresoever they had put them to him 3. Though Questions which are meerly for private satisfaction should be privately proposed yet such as tend to the edifying of others and to the clearing of such things as are openly delivered are most conveniently moved in the Publick Assemblies But 4. what is this instance to a Ministers witnessing against false and Erroneous Doctrines which are vented amongst the people committed to his charge Object 2. Others have alledged That the Apostle reprehends objection 2 perverse disputings 1 Tim. 6.5 Answ. True and justly too But will it follow from hence That all Publick Disputations and Reasonings about matters of Faith are perverse Disputings Was the Apostle to be charged with perverseness when he reasoned both with Jews and Gentiles as his manner was Those perverse Disputings vers 4. are called strifes of words but such is not the matter which we do differ about which on all hands is confessed to be of very great moment Object 3. Some have objected that prohibition of the Apostle objection 3 Rom. 14.1 Receive him that is weak in the faith but not to doubtful Disputations Answ. 1. The scope of the Apostle was not to prohibite Disputations concerning matters of Faith before such as are weak but to exhort stronger Christians to be tender and charitable to their weaker Brethren whom he would have them to receive scil Into Church Communion and to own in the Fellowship of the Gospel although they were not so fully informed as themselves in the Doctrine of Christian Liberty concerning the distinction of Meats days and other Mosaical Observations Our Translators in the Margent render the last Clause Receive him not to judge his doubtful thoughts q. d. Do not judge him an unbeliever because of his Doubts and Scruples about these indifferent matters or do not perplex and intangle him with Niceties least his Faith in the main be utterly subverted There is a vast difference between those adiaphora which the Apostle speaks of and the points which are in difference between us Mr. Cranford says well That these Controversies concerning our Justification are no strife about Goats Wooll 2. This prohibition makes as much against Preaching of those points which do stumble the weak as against the discussing of them by way of a Conference whatsoever is necessary to be taught the people is as necessary to be tryed and examined by them objection 4 § 5. Object 4. It hath been also alledged which doth cast the greatest odium upon this practise That these Publick Disputations do thwart with those Precepts which require us to seek and follow after Peace as Rom. 12.18 14.19 15. 2. Eph. 4.3 Ans. For my own part I see not the least contrariety between them It was the Judgment of a great Divine Haec unica eaque sola via est qua ad concordiam proximè perveniri potest c. This is the one and onely way whereby we may most suddenly attain to concord if whatsoever things may be or are commonly said for any Opinion or against it be truly propounded in the Churches so that the people be allowed free judgement in all things c. In my Opinion they take a wrong course to make Peace that go about to stop mens mouths and never satisfie their Judgements for from hence innumerable Discords must needs arise Me thinks Christians who are sensible of their many mistakes should not be so strait laced as to resolve to be at Peace with none but such as will jurare in verba Say as we do A late Writer sayes well Why may not Christians and Schollars write plainly against one anothers Judgement with a loving consent So say I Why may we not Reason against each others Opinions in a friendly manner But 2 if Discord and Dissention should arise by this means yet is it not a Natural but an Accidental Effect thereof And thus the Gospel it self doth sometimes cause disturbance as our Saviour foretold Matth. 10.34 35. But is the Gospel to be charged with these Dissentions Or ought we therefore to forbear to Preach the Gospel The proper cause of these Dissentions are mens own corruptions it argues monstrous pride when men cannot suffer their Opinions to be discussed land examined by the Word but strait wayes their Passions are up in arms and hold them for their Enemies that do differ from them It is a sign they are more tender of their own credit then of the truths of Christ. 3. Though Peace be a Jewel of great price yet that Peace is far too dear which costs us the loss of Truth I mean of any Saving Necessary and Fundamental Truth For though in some lesser points In quibus salvâ fide qua Christiani sumus ignoratur verum as Augustine speaks we may for peace sake have our faith or perswasions to our selves Rom. 14.22 Yet sure in those great and weighty matters of the Gospel which are either Foundations or else are adjacent to the Foundation as these Controversies about Justification are it being articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae as Luther calls it we ought not out of love to Peace to betray the Truth It is better that Offences should come then that any vital truth should be lost or imbezelled it is far more eligible to have truth without peace then peace without saving truth The wisdom which is from above is first pure and then peaceable All those Precepts which do call for

Aphorisms who denies That Christs obedience is the material the imputation of his Righteousness the formal cause of our Justification or that Faith is the Instrument by which we do receive it he plainly ascribes the same kinde of causality unto Christ and Faith making them to differ onely secundum magis minus that Christ is the sine qua non principalis and Faith the sine qua non minus principalis he might have listed sin in the same rank which too is a sine qua non of our Justification That Faith and works in a larger sence are meritorious causes of Life and Blessedness Now we say with Mr. Cr. 1 That God is the efficient cause or the onely Justifier that he hath no motive or inducement but his own Grace and Love to will not to punish us and to give to us his Son thorow whom we have Redemption● and Deliverance from the curse of the Law We say too 2 that Christ is the onely meritorious cause of our Justification taking Justification pro re volita for a transient effect of the Will of God that Jesus Christ hath by his death and satisfaction fully procured and merited our Discharge and Absolution from the penalty of the Law which we deserved by sin For which cause he is said to have purged our sins by himself i. e. Without the help and assistance of other means Heb. 1.3 There are many who ore tenùs in word do acknowledge That Christ is the meritorious cause of our Justification that in deed do deny it The Papists in the Councel of Trent say That God is the efficient the glory of God the final the death of Christ the meritorious cause of our Justification But yet we know that they allow not this effect unto it unless other things do concur on our parts they say That Faith Charity c. do Impetrare remissionem suo quidem modo mereri Obtain and after a sort merit forgiveness though not by their own worth and dignity yet by vertue of Gods Covenant and Promise Too many of our Protestants setting aside the word merit which yet Mr. B. thinks may be admitted do tread directly in their steps they ascribe as much unto works as Papists do It is a poor requital unto Jesus Christ to call him the Meritorious cause of our Justification and in the mean while to deny the merit of his death as to the immediate purchases thereof and to ascribe at least a partial meritoriousness to other things 3 I shall go further with Mr. Cr. I freely grant him which I believe Mr. W. will stick at That Faith is the Instrument by which we receive and apply the Righteousness of Christ unto our selves whereby the gratious sentence of God acquitting us from our sins is conveyed and terminated in our Consciences We say indeed That Faith doth not concur to our Justification as a proper Physical Instrument which is a less principal Efficient cause Mr. Rutherford saith well That Faith is not the Organical or Instrumental cause either of Christs satisfaction or of Gods acceptation thereof on our behalf By believing we do not cause either our Saviour to satisfie for our sins or God to accept of his satisfaction Every true Believer is perswaded That God hath laid aside his wrath and displeasure towards him for his sins having received a sufficient ransom and satisfaction for them in the death of his Son Sed hoc fides non facit saith he sed objectum jam factum praesupponit Faith is a Receptive not an Effective Instrument an Instrument not to procure but to receive Justification and Salvation which is freely given us in Jesus Christ. It is called an Instrumental cause of our Justification taking Justification passively not actively or in reference to that passive Application whereby a man applies the Righteousness of Christ to himself but not to that active Application whereby God applyeth it to a man which is onely in the minde of God Therefore Calvin calls Faith Opus passivum a passive work § 4. Mr. Cr. proceeds This Doctrine saith he hath in all ages been opposed and obscured sometimes by open Enemies sometimes by professed Friends and such as would be accounted the great Pleaders for Free-grace It is most true That this Article of Free Justification hath and will be a Bone of Contention to the worlds end It is the cheif cause of all those contests and quarrels which have arisen between the Children of the Free-woman and the Children of the Bond-woman Mr. Fox hath well observed It is so strange to carnal Reason so dark to the World it hath so many enemies that except the Spirit of God from above do reveal it Learning cannot reach it Wisdom is offended Nature is astonished Devils do not know it Men do persecute it Satan labors for nothing more then that he may either quite bereave men of the knowledge of this truth or else corrupt the simplicity of it It is not unknown what batteries were raised against it in the very infancy of the Church how the Wits and Passions of men conspired to hinder it what monstrous consequences were charged upon the Doctrine and what odious practises were fathered upon them that did profess it never was any truth opposed with so much malice and bitterness as this hath been and by them especially that were most devout and zealous But when it could not be withstood and stifled Satan endeavored then to deprave and adulterate it by mixing of the Law with the Gospel our own Righteousness with Christs which corruption the Apostle hath strenuously opposed in all his Epistles and more especially in that to the Romans and Galatians where he excludes all and singular works of ours from sharing in the matter of our Justification For the eluding of whose Authority carnal Reason hath found out sundry shifts and distinctions As that the Apostle excludes onely works of Nature but not of Grace Legal but not Evangelical works and that our works though they are not Physical yet they may come in as Moral causes of our Justification It is certain That the most dangerous attempts against this Doctrine have been within the Church and by such as Mr. Cr. calls Professed Friends who have done so much the more mischief in regard they were least apt to be suspected Justification by works was generally exploded amongst us whilest it appeared under the names of Popery and Arminianism which since hath found an easie admittance being vented by some of better note such as would be accounted Pleaders for Free-grace § 5. Mr. Woodbridges Discourse saith Mr. Cr. deals not with the Errors of Papists Socinians Arminians but with Antinomian Error How unjustly our Doctrine is called Antinomian hath been shewn before and Mr. Cr. may be pleased to take notice That Mr. Rutherford accounts the Opinion we oppose the very cheif of the Arminians Socinians and Papists Errors about Justification to wit That

of Grace and not those works which we do by the aid of Grace But Mr. Pemble answers well This distinction of works done without grace and works done by grace was devised by one that had neither wit nor grace being a meer trick to elude the force of such Scriptures as do indefinitely exclude all works from our Justification without distinguishing either of the time when they are done whether before or after o● of the aid and help whereby they are done whether by Nature or by Grace Others say that when the Apostle denies That we are justified by works he means that we are not justified by the works of the Law but yet by works required in the Gospel such as are Faith and Faithful actions we may be justified To which I answer 1 That the Apostle speaks indefinitely now the rule is Non est distinguendum ubi Lex non distinguit An indefinite Proposition is equivalent to a universal A man is not justified by works is as much as if he had said A man is not justified by any works of his own 2 The Apostle excludes all works from our Justification which do make the reward to be a due debt Rom. 4.4 5. Now the works required in the Gospel supposing it to be a Conditional Covenant when they are performed do make the thing covenanted a due debt which the promiser is bound to give no less then works required in the Law 3 He denies expresly that Abraham was justified by faithful actions which he performed by the help and assistance of Gods Spirit Rom 4.2 4 They are the same works for the substance which are commanded in the Law and the Gospel there is no Precept enjoyned us in the New Testament which is not also commanded us in the Moral Law though the Law doth not expresly command us to believe in Christ yet virtually and by consequence it doth The Law requires us to believe whatsoever God shall reveal or propose to us to be believed and consequently to believe in Christ when God in his Gospel shall reveal him to us There is no reason therefore to interpret this Proposition A man is not justified by works He is not justified by Legal but by Evangelical works seeing they are for substance one and the same 5 There would be no such opposition between Justification by Works and Justification by Faith as the Apostle makes if we were justified by Evangelical works of our own performing All his disputing about Justification would amount but to meer Logomachy or strife of words for there was never any man so sottish as to think that a sinner can be justified by Legal works unless the Law be mitigated and the rigor thereof be in part remitted The Apostle doth not dispute against Justification by works which we cannot perform but by works which men presume they are able to perform He excludes not onely perfect works but all manner of works that are wrought by us § 7. 2. If the Righteousness whereby we are justified be a perfect Righteousness then we are not justified by our Obedience to Gospel precepts But the Righteousness whereby we are justified is a perfect Righteousness Ergo. The Sequel is evident because our Obedience to Gospel precepts is imperfect and defective at least in degrees we do not believe love and obey so perfectly as we ought the best of us may say with him in the Gospel Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Mark 9.24 And when we have done our utmost that we are but unprofitable servants Luke 17.10 Now this imperfection and defect in our Faith and other vertues being defectus debiti in esse is sinful and culpable for which cause our Saviour oftentimes sharply reproved it Matth. 6.30 8.26 14.31 16.8 c. And we are oftentimes exhorted to increase our Faith to abound in duties of Obedience and to perfect holiness Luke 17.5 1 Thes. 4.1 2 Cor. 7 1. In this last place the Apostle hints that the imperfection of our holiness ariseth from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit and consequently it is a defiled and sinful imperfection The Assumption that we are not justified by an imperfect righteousness needs not I suppose any long proof for surely God will not account that for perfect justice which is not so indeed for as the Apostle sayes well The judgement of God is according to truth Rom. 2.2 It is certain God will not justifie any man without Righteousness and it is as certain That God will not account that to be perfect Righteousness which is imperfect and sinful to say That God doth not account our imperfect holiness to be Righteousness judicio justitiae but onely judicio misericordiae is a meer shift which serves but to set the attributes of God at variance between themselves which in the Justification of a sinner do kiss and embrace each other Psal. 85.10 When God judgeth according to mercy he judgeth according to truth his merciful judgement is a just and a righteous judgement the mercy of God is shewn not in accounting a sinner perfectly righteous for that Righteousness which is imperfect but in accounting to him that Righteousness which is not his own the perfect Righteousness of the Mediator In this judgement of God Justice and Mercy do both meet Justice in that he will not justifie a sinner without a perfect Righteousness Mercy in that he will accept him for such a Righteousness which is neither in him nor performed by him but by his surety the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of our Protestant Divines do call Inherent holiness Evangelical Righteousness in respect of the principle from whence it flows A heart purified by Faith and to distinguish it from that Legal Righteousness which Reprobates and Unbelievers have attained to being but the fruit of a Natural Conscience I am sure it is no Protestant Doctrine that Inherent Sanctification which on all hands is acknowledged to be imperfect and defective is that Evangelical Righteousness whereby we are justified in the sight of God which must needs be such a Righteousness as God himself sitting on the Throne of his Justice can finde no fault with at all but doth present the person that hath it just and perfect before Gods Tribunal 3. If the Righteousness whereby we are justified be the Righteousness of God then we are not justified by our Obedience to Gospel precepts but the Righteousness whereby we are justified is the Righteousness of God Ergo. The Sequel is clear because our Obedience to Gospel precepts is not that Righteousness which the Scripture calls the Righteousness of God For though we receive it from God it being the gift of his Grace yet it is every where called ours as our Faith Matth. 9.2 22. Rom. 1.8 Hab. 2.4 Jam. 1.3 Our Charity 2 Cor. 8.8 24 1 Cor. 16.24 Philem. v. 1 7. Our Hope Phil. 1.20 1 Thes. 2.19 Our good Works Matth. 5.16 Revel 2.2 Our Patience Luke 21.19 2 Thes. 1.4 Revel

men have affirmed that the person of the Spirit dwels in the Saints from those Texts John 14.16 17 26.15.26 2 Tim. 1.14 Rom. 8.11 1 Cor. 6.19.3.16 Yet none that are sober ever affirmed that the person of the Spirit dwelleth in us in such a manner as to make us one person with himselfe or to communicate his personal Properties to us so that I may say of this Argument as Maldonate of a certain Text in the Gospel hic locus facilior esset si nemo cum exposuisset it had been more plain and perspicuous if these distinctions had been omitted I see not how a man could imagine any other sence then this That God according to his gracious Covenant doth in his appointed time give or send his Spirit in the preaching of the Gospell to work Faith in all those that are ordained to life So that the Spirit is the cause and Faith the effect It matters not how he is given whether Personally or Operatively for if the Spirit which works Faith be given us by vertue of the New Covenant then some benefit of the Covenant is bestowed upon us before we beleeve Quod erat demonstrandum § 5. Though the Spirit be not given us as he saith one atome of time before we beleeve yet that weakens not the force of the Argument it is enough for my purpose that it hath a precedency in order of nature though not of time and that Faith is not before the Spirit for then Faith is not the condition of the Covenant seeing the condition goes before the thing conditioned and consequently that conditional Promise If thou beleeve c. is not the tenor of the New Covenant Either he must say 1 That the Spirit doth not work Faith and that it is a work of Nature to wit of our own Free will contrary to innumerable Scriptures Or 2 That the Spirit which works Faith is not given us by vertue of the New Covenant which was disproved by comparing Joh. 6.45 with Jer. 31.34 is contrary to those Scriptures which affirmed that all spiritual blessings are given us in and through Christ Eph. 1.3 Rom. 8.32 Or 3 that there is some other condition of the Covenant besides and before Faith as they that make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingenuity and towardlinesse of nature the condition of conversion or 4 that there are two New Covenants one absolute and the other conditional one wherein Faith is promised without condition the other wherein all things else are promised upon condition of Faith of which more in its place § 6. Whereas he chargeth me with often abusing that received maxime Posita causa ponitur effectus Leting passe his uncivil language I say 1 that in our discourse I did not so much as mention it nor at any time else but with such cautions and limitations as Artists give understanding it of causa proxima completa and then I conceive causa posita in actu the effect must necessarily follow 2 I cannot see that it is any abuse to apply it to the death of Christ in effecting our Justification or deliverance from the curse his death and satisfaction being the adequate and immediate cause therof for when the debt is paid the obl●gation is no longer in force 3 Though I understood this maxime never so well it would little advantage Mr. Woodbridges cause That Faith is the condition of having the Spirit in our first conversion unlesse it would prove that the cause is produced by its immedate effect § 7. That which follows is altogether impertinent as a man saith he doth first build himselfe an house and then dwels in it so Christ by his Spirit doth build organ●ze and prepare the Soule to be an house unto himselfe and then by the same Spirit dwels in it immediately What is this to prove that no man hath interest in the Covenant before he beleeves or that the Spirit which workes Faith is not given us before Faith We grant that Christ by his Spirit doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 build or prepare the Soule to be his house and then dwels in it vouchsafes more sensible effects of his presence but is not that organizing preparing act of the Spirit one benefit of the Covenant and is not the Spirit in that act the cause of Faith if so then wee have an interest in the Covenant before Faith for he that hath jus in re doubtlesse hath jus ad rem when wee have the benefits of the Covenant it cannot bee denied but wee have a right and title to them I find that Mr. Burges mentions this answer but saith he it is not safe to go this way for that grand promise Ezek. 36.26 Doth evidently argue the habits or internall principles of grace are before the actions of grace § 8. His next passage gives us little evidence of a heart prepared and organized by the Spirit of Christ it being false and slanderous This saith he is that which I would have spoken publickly in answer to the Argument if Mr. E. had not been beyond measure obstreperous 1 I dare say such as know Mr. Woodbridges tongue and forehead will not easily beleeve that he would be hindred from speaking his whole mind But 2 my innocency in this matter hath been cleared by persons more worthy to be beleeved then Mr. W. especially when be speaks in his owne cause 3 I shall adde that I verily beleeve he then spake near as many words I am sure as much to the purpose as this which he hath Printed I well remember some passages which are here omirted as that saying anima fabricat sibi domicilium the Soul formes the Body and then dwels in it as the soul works first efficiently that afterwards it may act formally so doth the spirit in our conversion c. 4 If he spake no more it was his owne fault for all that were present doe know that the onely answer I could get unto divers Syllogismes was I deny all But this he intended rather to vilifie me then to excuse himselfe CHAP. XVII Concerning the Covenant wherein Faith is promised and by vertue whereof it is given to us MR. W. in the next place propoundes this Question Whether Faith it selfe be not given to us by vertue of the Covenant made with us Which he answers negatively Faith is not given us by vertue of the Covenant made with us but by vertue of the Covenant made with Christ His Answer implies that there are two distinct Covenants of Grace one made with Christ and the other with us which will need a clearer evidence then yet he hath given us We deny not but Faith yea and all other blessings are promised in the Covenant which was made with Christ the promise of giving him a seed and that this seed shall be blessed doth include no lesse All the Promises both of this life and that which is to come are but so many explications of the grand

the Covenant but as the means by which we are brought into Covenant It being so crudely asserted a bare denial might serve the turn But 1 I shall appeal to the indifferent Reader whether it doth not sound very harshly That the same words should be formally both a precept and a promise and that God should require a condition of us and yet promise to work it in us How shall we distinguish between precepts and promises Mr. W may be pleased to consider what some Grand Assertors of Conditions have said thereof 2 I would ask whether this promise of Faith be not a part of the New Covenant All the promises of God do belong either to the Covenant of Works or to the Covenant of Grace It is no part of the Covenant of Works Ergo It is a part of the Covenant of Grace Now if the promise be a part of the New Covenant the thing promised is an effect of the Covenant or a benefit given by vertue of it 3 I would ask whether the promise of Faith be not an effect of Christs death If it be then is it an effect of the Covenant already made for all the effects of his death are effects of the Covenant which was confirmed by his death who for this cause is called the Covenant Isa. 42.6 49.8 implying That all the benefits of the Covenant are the fruits and purchases of his death and that Christ hath not purchased any thing for us but what is promised in the Covenant the effects of the Covenant and the effects of Christs death are of equal latitude 4 The Scripture no where affirms That Faith is promised as a means to bring us into Covenant or to invest us with a right and title thereunto That which gives men interest in the Covenant is the good pleasure of God willing those blessings to them and the purchase which Christ hath made in their behalf who hath performed whatsoever was necessary by Divine constitution in order to our having of them We grant That Faith is the means whereby we come to know our interest in the Covenant and in all the benefits thereof But their saying That hereby we have or do obtain our interest and title to the Covenant hath not any ground that I finde in the Written Word If any shall infer it from hence because it is said Believe and thou shalt be saved they may as well make Baptism Sanctification Perseverance c. to which the promise of Salvation is sometimes annexed means to bring us into Covenant or to invest us with a right and title to the benefits of it and consequently no man shall have any interest in the Covenant as long as he lives and till these conditions be performed To conclude If the promise of Faith be a part of the Covenant as hath been shewed then is it not a means to bring us into Covenant or to invest us with a title to the benefits of it because it is impossible that the same thing should be the means or cause of it self CHAP. XVIII Wherein Mr. Woodbridges Exposition of the New Covenant mentioned Jere. 31.33 and in other places is further examined THe Tenor of the New Covenant in the Prophet whose words are punctually cited by the Apostle Heb. 8. runs thus This is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people and c. But now Mr. W. renders it thus This is the Covenant which I will make with the House of Israel when I shall write my Laws in their hearts I will be their God c. or This is the Covenant which I will make saith the Lord that giveth his Laws into their mindes and writeth them in their hearts c. I know not what can be called wresting of the Scripture if this be not If men may take the liberty to chop and change to adde or diminish from the Word at their pleasure nothing can certainly be concluded thence nay the Scripture might be made a shelter for the foulest Errors It savors not of a spirit that trembles at the Word and believes that threatning Revel 22.18 to make so bold with the Oracles of God The word when is neither in nor agreeable to the Hebrew or Greek Text though he would make his Reader believe that it is in both The Verbs in the first clause are not in the Present but Future tense as in the rest which follow Besides his Paraphrase chargeth the Holy Ghost with a gross tautalogy if not a flat contradiction The time of making this Covenant is signified in these words After those days which undoubtedly ought to be referred unto the days of the Messiah in opposition to the times before when the Grace of this Covenant was not so clearly revealed so that it was needless he should adde When I put my Laws c. And if God makes not his Covenant with Spiritual Israel till he writes his Laws in their hearts then the former clause After those dayes must either stand for nothing or else imply a falshood In a word The unsoundness of this gloss doth appear from hence that these words are not onely here but in many other places mentioned as a distinct promise of the New Covenant and not as a bare connotation of the time or a Periphrasis of the person that makes the Covenant as Mr. W. carries it See Deut. 30.6 Ezek. 36.26 27. Jere. 32.38 39. where that promise which Mr. W. calls The matter or substance of the Covenant on Gods part is put first and the other which he calls the Condition is made as it were the Consequence of the former § 2. The Scriptures he hath brought to countenance his new found interpretation of the Covenant will by no means shelter it as Jere. 24.7 I will give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart Where says he the condition on the peoples part of the Lords being their God is their returning with their whole heart The affirmation is not so clear as not to need a proof that promise I will give them a heart to know me is as hath been shewed one principal blessing of the New Covenant the immediate effect whereof is Mens returning unto God with their whole heart Now to call their returning unto God the condition of Gods being their God is as unhappy a mistake as his That set the Cart before the horse Could they have returned to God unless God had returned to them Are not Faith and Repentance the fruits of our Reconciliation by the blood of Christ God having given us his Son hath with him given us all things else Rom. 8.32 Mr. ●alvin calls this blessing of Gods being our God Causam

things whatsoever which we stand in need of and are good for us Now I say that Promise or Covenant by vertue whereof we obtain both Grace and Glory good things present and future is not conditional to us I say to us for to Christ it was conditional though to us it be free to him it was a Covenant of Works though to us it be a Covenant of pure Grace there is not so much as one blessing doth descend to us but he hath dearly bought it even with the price of his own blood for which cause he is called the Mediator Witness and Surety of the New Covenant § 2. 2. When we say the New Covenant is not conditional we understand a condition in its proper and genuine sense as the Jurists use it in reference to mens contracts and bargains A condition saith Dr. Cawel is a rate manner or Law annexed to mens acts or grants staying and suspending the same and making them uncertain whether they shall take effect or no. And our English Papinian Conditio dicitur cum quid in casum incertum qui potest tendere ad esse aut non esse confertur To the same purpose the Expositor of Law terms A condition is a restraint or bridle annexed and joyned to a promise by the performance of which it is ratified and takes effect and by the non-performance of it it becomes voide the person to whom it is made shall receive no commodity or advantage by it Hence is that Maxime amongst Lawyers Conditio ad impleri debet priusquàm sequatur effectus i. e. The condition must be performed b●fore the Grant or Promise becomes valid In this sense we say The Covenant which God made with Adam was conditional God annexed to the promise of Life the condition of Obedience Do this and thou shalt live The stability and success of that promise did depend upon his performing of the condition he failing in his part the promise became voide Now we deny that the blessings of the New Covenant do depend upon this or any other condition to be performed by us Lawyers do distinguish of a twofold condition 1 Antecedent and 2 Consequent The Antecedent condition being performed doth get or gain the thing or estate made upon condition the Consequent condition doth keep and continue it As for instance If I fell a man a Farm on condition he shall pay me five hundred pounds present and forty shillings nay be it but six pence per annum for the future the payment of the five hundred pounds is the Antecedent condition which gives him possession of the Farm the forty shillings or six pence per annum is the Subsequent condition and that continues his possession and if he fail in this latter the Estate is forfeited and in Law I may re-enter upon the Farm as if no such bargain had been made between us Now we say further That the Blessings of the New Covenant require not onely no Antecedent but no Subsequent condition to be performed by us there is nothing on our parts that procures our Right and Interest nor yet that continues and maintains our interest in them The Lord Jesus is both the Author and the Finisher of our Salvation it is by and through him that we are made Sons and doe continue Sons are made Righteous and doe continue Righteous that we Obtain and do Injoy all the effects of the New Covenant § 3. I am not ignorant that the word Condition is sometimes taken improperly for that which is meerly an Antecedent though it contributes not the least efficiency either natural or morall towards the production of that which follows it A condition properly taken is a moral efficient cause which produceth its effect by vertue of some compact agreement or constitution between persons omnis conditio antecedens est effectiva a condition properly so called is effective of that which is promised upon condition Now I say not onely conditions in a proper sense but all certaine and constant Antecedents though they are not expressed or included in their Federal constitution so as that the Promise doth depend upon them may in a vulgar sense be called conditions of those things that follow them and in this sense our Divines doe commonly call one benefit of the Covenant a condition of the another as that which is given first of that which is given after Thus Dr. Twisse makes inherent holinesse to be causa dispositiva or the sine qua non not of Justification but of Salvation or Glorification because the one alwaies precedes the other Many other do expresse themselves in the same manner It is evident that some benefits of the New Covenant in their execution and accomplishment doe follow others though we have a right unto them all at once for as much as that flowes immediately from the purchase which Christ hath made yet we have not possession of them all at once but in that order and manner as God is pleased to bestow them Christ hath procured both Grace and Glory for his Elect yet he gives Grace i. e. Gracious Quallifications as Knowledge Faith Love c. before he brings them to the possession of Glory in which sense I conceive it is that the Scripture annexeth Salvation unto Faith and other works of inherent Holinesse Matth. 5. pr. Heb. 12.14 c. because these are certain and infallible Antecedents in all that shall be saved none who live to years of understanding are saved but they that doe beleeve the Gospell and shew forth the fruits of it in a suitable conversation If in this sence onely Faith and Repentance be called conditions of the Covenant to wit because they are wrought in all those that do injoy the ful effect of the Covenant I will not contend § 4 Yet I think it fit rather to forbear this expression 1 Because it is so improper to call a part of the Covenant the condition of it Chamier though he often useth the expression yet hee acknowledgeth that Faith is called a condition verbis minus propriis And a little after Fidei conditio non est antecedens sed consequens non est causa salutis sed instrumentum apprehendendi gratiam i. e. Faith is not a proper antecedent condition but an improper or consequent condition it is not a cause of salvation but only the instrument whereby we receive and apply it Mr. Rutherford himselfe though he cals them Libertines and Antinomians who say the Covenant of Grace is not conditionall yet almost in the same breath he hath let fall these words To buy without mony and to have a sight of sin is the condition of our having the water of Life but the truth is it is an improper condition for both wages and worke is Free Grace I confesse improper locutions ought to be borne with when they serve to illustrate truth but this I conceive doth exceedingly darken it 2 Because of the advantage