Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	blood_n	faith_n	sprinkle_v	2,358	5	11.3240	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63017	The re-assertion of grace, or, Vindiciæ evangelii a vindication of the Gospell-truths, from the unjust censure and undue aspersions of Antinomians : in a modest reply to Mr. Anth. Burgesses Vindiciæ legis, Mr. Rutherfords Triall and tryumph of faith, from which also Mr. Geerie and M. Bedford may receive a satisfactory answer / by Robert Towne.	Towne, Robert, 1592 or 3-1663.; Bushell, Seth, 1621-1684.; Towne, Robert, 1592 or 3-1663. Monomachia, or, A single reply to Mr. Rutherford's book ...	1654 (1654)	Wing T1980; ESTC R23436	205,592	262

are resolved to venture against the pikes of old tryed and pure truth innocency and a good conscience Well henceforth be better advised like one bemisted you have mistaken your way misrepresented your adversaries and run your credit cause and conscience into a great hazard and you may expect worse in all these without wise and timely retreat The counsel is good if it can be seasonably taken and it cometh from a friend and well-wisher M. B. page 63. This law of nature can never be abrogated And herein we may demand of the Antinomian Whether the law of nature do binde a believer or no whether he be bound to obey the dictates of his natural conscience Answ If a man were not first bound he could not be said properly to be loosed or set free It is granted yet with much limitation and in some things only that every one is bound to obey the dictates of his natural conscience and it is as true to be granted by you also that in case he hearken not at some times or in some things or in case of defect and failing or imperfection this natural law will give out sentence of condemnation for the same as Rom. 2.15 from which it is the peculiar and continual office of faith to set free and secure the conscience So that you do very improperly demand whether the law of nature do binde a believer quatenus so whereas a man believeth that he may be set at liberty in Christ In whom he in his spiritual estate towards God in the things of his peace and life is free as Christ is free with whom by a true and real union he is become one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 And so is passed from judgement of condemnation and from death to life Fidei nil proponi debet praeter meramgratiam a●que haec est ejus objectum Calv. John 5.24 And here faith doth not stand bound to give ear to the voice of either implanted or moral law for the procuring or preservation of peace and comfort but turning from both and not regarding them doth direct and confine ear eye the thoughts and meditations of the soul to that alone simple object Christ and to what he speaketh in the word of grace and salvation whose blood sprinkled and shed for remission of sins cryeth for better things then the blood of Abel This is the proper office obedience and exercise of faith So in God will I praise his word Psal 56. here will I settle my thoughts and fortifie them against the dictates and accusations of a natural conscience sense of sin reason law Satan or whatever assaileth If faith give not an acquiescence and rest to the foul in that free and full atonement by Christ and the goodness and favour of God in him it is in danger to be lost for ever And as you have given me this fair occasion so for the more simple and weak Christians sake who is little versed herein and principled otherwise let me further add That although nature do acknowledge a God and that he is to be worshipped and served Nil magis adversatur fidei quam lex ratio Luth. yet this opinion which is also seconded and much strengthened by the moral law is not without danger and is repugnant to the doctrine and knowledge of faith for nothing is more cross to faith then the law and natural reason the maine battel and dispute in a believer is between the dictates of his natural conscience confirmed by the moral law and the principles of his faith and as the law of faith doth enter and prevaile so it captivateth razeth and expelleth the natural and legal knowledge and thoughts of God and imprinteth a divers from them only suiting to the Gospel or covenant of Grace for now since the death of the Testator the covenant is so ratified and confirmed with God that he remembereth the sins of his people no more but abides fully In illa gratuita reconciliatione per obsignationem spiritus acquiescit It a gloria datur Deo non considerat fides quicqu●d in nobis vel aliis creaturis ei adversari videatur Olev and for ever pleased with them in his Son and through faith herein the conscience also is made to yeeld to it to receive and imbrace it and so is led and brought into this confidence of the quietness and peace of God towards us and hereby effecteth our assured rest in God reconciled for ever which is the true Christian Sabbath Thus every high thing exalting it self against the knowledge of God according to the Gospel is to be cast down and every thought to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And by this is glory given unto God while one thing is felt or suggested within and another is believed Let this be well marked of great and continual use in every Christian that the law implanted by nature is ever contradicting and reclaiming against the testimony of God in the word of his grace whence ariseth the difficulty and impossibility of believing save by the power and operation of God Col. 2.12 therefore in the weighty things of faith to hearken to the natural conscience or moral law will quite overthrow whole Christianity and turn aside the soul to destruction The seeds of morality and remanents of the covenant of works may be found in nature but there is no sparke nor intimation of any pure Gospel In innocency Adam was not principled to finde and receive his righteousness peace and life in another out of himself M. B. Think not that because he Christ dyed to free you from the curse of the law that therefore you are freed from the obedience Answ And do not you think nor teach that Christ came to take away the curse and condemning power from the law contrary to his own express words Mat. 5.17 18. where he saith that every jot of the Law is imperishable and in his opening and applying it afterwards he doth as command so reprove threaten and condemne 2. You will not deny but what Christ hath performed for me as my surety that I am so freed from that it may not be required of me to that end as before 3. Christ doth free us that we by his Spirit may serve freely and cheerfully and without all fear in holiness and righteousness before God all the dayes of our life Luk. 1.76 Therefore are we taken into a New covenant that giveth power and fitness so to serve wherein he promiseth the law in our hearts to put his Spirit into us to give a new heart and a new way c. which the covenant of works could not do Jer. 31. Ezek. 36.27 c. M. B. Vse of instruction against the Antinomians who must needs overthrow the directive and obligative force of the law of nature as well as of Moses Ans This is but the old slander the same false charge so often repeated It is by this

stand with a covenant of grace your own words imply that it is not then a covenant of grace as you formerly asserted M. B. page 155. How necessary it is to have this law promulged if it were possible as terribly in our congregations as it was on mount Sinai this would make the very Antinomians finde the power of the law and to be afraid to reject it Answ 1. If it were so necessary that the outward promulgation or preaching of the law should be so terrible as your wisdom requireth surely God would have it so for he hath power to do it but the special power and terror is inward and spiritual God by his convincing spirit making the heart shake and tremble in the conscience of sin and a cursed perishing condition of this terrour and consternation your Antinomian may scon have much experience as you yea more for he findeth death in that ministration by the reviving of sin Rom. 7.9 10. and therefore is dead to it as Gal. 2.19 but you say life cometh by the law and so live by doing and working an assured argument that you were never truely slain by the law 2. Would you now have the law become so terrible in your congregations why then did you reprove them that made it like a horrid Gorgon c. you mean surely this terrour only for the Antinomians not for others you thunder against your adversaries but deal gently with friends Also you dash sin out of countenance which is well but do not throw down mans righteousness but establish it rather A little after you say The Antinomian counteth sin nothing because of justification But in what sense doth he so vilifie it I dare affirme that none hateth sin more is so weary of it complaineth so of its remaining and dwelling in the flesh and the sorrow it sometime breeds him c. And yet if he make light of it how can he prize justification from it he that accounteth nothing of sin cannot rightly esteem of a Saviour to save from it therefore contrarily our counting all things loss and dung even our best works legal zeal reformation and worship because mingled and defiled with the leprosie of sin for the excellent knowledge sake of Christ Jesus our desire ever to be found in him not having our own righteousness to know nothing but Christ crucified c. do argue sin to be our greatest and most fearful evil to our apprehensions but it is not so with you and your disciples who seldome or never preach or desire to hear of a Saviour of free justification and do so wrangle with the doctrine of grace and faith And lastly it is confessed that by faith in the blood of Jesus and the grace of justification raigning in the conscience sin Satan and hell be conquered defied and triumphed over Who can lay any thing to their charge Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ c. he that envyeth this in others is to be pitied because of his poor condition What account do you make of a debt you know is discharged It troubleth you little in reference to danger by suite or law Lastly That phrase of Gods not seeing sin in a believer is still an eye-sore to you and many other And to add this to the former It argueth that you make nothing of sin For 1. If you hated it you would seek to get your soul cleansed from it 2. If you loved God you would not come and appear in his sight untill you were washed from it seeing it is unto him so hateful and abominable that he cannot endure the sight of it and therefore calleth upon his people to wash and make them clean and then to come Or yet 3. If you feared God and stood in true aw of him knowing how terrible he and his presence is where he seeth and marketh iniquity for who may abide it Psal 130.3 or who then can stand you durst not abide in his fight without that faith and assurance that the blood of his Son Jesus hath washed and cleansed you from all your sinnes If as that Martyr said the vaile were taken off Moses face such a glory and dreadful Majesty would break forth as would confound your spirits and be intolerable your sins being set in the light of his countenance then you would not deal with God without faith in the blood of Christ Extrae Christum horrendum est imo de Deo cogitare Calv. nor durst entertaine a thought of him out of Christ in whom iniquity is done away never to be remembred any more Then you cry out Oh blessed man whose iniquities are for given and whose sin is covered and so use your own words say all that ever you preached or writ against this is false you knew not what you said Thus a day of temptation and trouble may come in which you all who have disparaged and despised this may be brought to acknowledge and embrace it as an useful and most acceptable truth of God full of soul-consolation which in your wretched security is now loathed and rejected the law is so mitigated and modified in your opinion and Ministery that Sinai is your Sion you are not afraid to stand there LECT XVII Exod. 20.1 And God spake c. M. B. THe Antinomian pleads for the universal abrogation of the law Answ He is an Antinomian that doth so but you cannot finde the adversaries you deal with guilty of such a crime yet you are no fit advocate to patronize or defend the law for it is abrogated by your self if that be true as it is most certaine that lex non damnans non est lex a law without power to condemn is no law for the law you would establish hath no condemning power as you say therefore the law is by you abrogated How fully satisfactory is Luther to any reasonable man Non quod lex pereat imo manet vivit regnat in impiis sed pius est legi mortuus sicut peccato diabolo Inferno mortuus est quae tamen manent mundus ac impii ea habebunt Ideo cum Sophistae intelligunt legem abrogari tu intellige paulum quemlibet Christianum universae legi abrogari mori tamen legem manere Sophisters do understand and take the law to be abrogated but the truth is the Christian is abrogated and dead to it and yet the law remaineth entire Henceforth correct your self and cease to slander or mistake your poor brethren and without cause so to embitter your words with gall and servour of spirit and the Lord forgive you What further is spoken in this Sermon against the Antinomians is either chargeable upon Islebius or some other not known to me or 2. Is grounded upon a meer mistake of our tenets or is answered elsewhere so that to avoide prolixity I meddle with no more LECT XVIII Mat. 5.21 22. Yee have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt

take away sin ours now is That he is come and hath done it he loved us and hath washed us from our sins Rev. 15. they had the promise of this but we the performance This might content an indifferent mind The Sun of righteousness was not risen in their dayes Mal. 4.2 I hear of another of better abilities and helps who is much ingaged in this controversie and hath promised to vindicate both the Hony Comb and D. Crisp I shall not prevent him What D. Crisp asserteth is solid and clear neither do you bring any thing of any great force to overthrow it I perceive his Scriptures and reasons to prove them two distinct Covenants carry such light and weight in them that you have little mind to meddle with them And to the judicious yourdealing her is neither satisfactory nor son You tell of a heap of fulshoods and much errour in few lines but make not one truely to appear Also you cannot justifie your charge afterward for he saith not that all the legall sacrifices were onely for sinnes of meere ignorance but alledging that place Numb 15.28 and ver 20. The soul that sinneth presumptuously shall dye Here saith the Doctor is a sacrifice for sins of ignorance but that soul that sinneth presumptuously shall dye no sacrifice for that The Scripture is plain and will bear him out in all that he inferreth from it See your many errours and mistakes in this 1. He saith Here Numb 15.28 is a sacrifice for sins of ignorance and so there is but your charge is that he saith All legall Sacrifices were for sins of meer ignorance 2. That they were onely for those sins 3. You put in the word meer which he useth not Is this candid or as a Minister let me aske Was there not divers sinnes for which no sacrifices could be admitted and againe was not pardon of sin sued out upon those sacrifices that God required If you grant those two as the evidence of truth in them will prevail and inforce so farre then I see no cause herein to except against the Doctor Mr. B. Obj. Christ the true satifice was represented in every sacrifice and all the vertue and benefit to come from Christs blood and then could not that take away all sin as well as some Answ It 's true Christ was represented and sufficient vertue from his blood to take away that sin the party then was guilty of and was troubled with but the blood of Christ was not held out in every particular sacrifice to expiate all sins present past and to come as in the time of the Gospel Even as the brazen serpent was erected to cure as they were wounded and in the sense of their fear and smart made use of it therefore you are too rash in saying Unless the Antinomian Author were a Socinian he can never expedite himself Mr. B. In the new Testament is there not the sin against the Holy Ghost for which no pardon is promised Answ What is this against the Doctor or to the point in hand The Doctor speaketh of the sins of the Elect of God for who else receive forgiveness and of the manner of Gods dispensing pardon to them how differing it was from this under the Gospel but the sin against the holy Ghost is unpardonable and therefore the Elect are kept from falling into it Moreover as I conceive The differences which the Doctor insisteth on are to be understood in regard of the application of the sacrifice and blood of Christ and that not onely on mans part through faith but on Gods part also in his Ordinances and manner of administration The Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews brings all or the main and most differences between the Churches state before and after Christs death unto the condition of the conscience which could not be peaceable comfortable and joyfull under the old Testament because there was still on Gods part new remembrance of sin and so also sacrifices appointed to be offered upon the commission of fresh and new sinnes And God did not appear unto them neither could they in conscience so receive and apprehend him as actually satisfied and reconciled till after their sacrifices but now Christ by one sacrifice and offering of himself hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified so there is no remembrance of sin for God hath said that in his Son he is well pleased and that for ever So that the opposition is not onely as you say between Christ and those legall sacrifices being considered and used without him or without faith in his blood for so they were effectuall to take away no sin at all whenas yet it is said in many places of the Epistle to the Hebrews that they did though not to the perfecting of the conscience in that there was a remembrance of sin again but it is evident to be between the estate of the Church in the dayes of Moses and now after Christs resurrection which is the time of reformation Christ by his eternal spirit having offered himself without spot to God by his blood to purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God And hereby all may see how insolid impertinent and vain all your reply is First The blood of Christ in the vertue and efficacy of it did extend and reach unto those times also and did cleanse from all sin but God did so carry it that he was pleased to reveal and apply this his grace unto them as they needed All pardons by Christ were purchased which they had but these unsearchable riches of forgiveness peace favour adoption and inheritance were manifested and dispensed by some and some as Fathers do things of worth by small pittances at once unto their Children Secondly It 's true in this is no difference between the faithfull Jews then and Christians now that all the good God did to either was onely for his own names sake and no good in them and so are prevented by him in being made his people freely and of free grace Yet while God did govern his Church under the Law most of his favours and good thing he after they became his did tender dispense and communicate upon antecedent conditions So that although they were Children and free yet their state and manner of education was servile And in the way of their obedience therefore they received their peace the conscience whereof gave them boldness towards God And yet if God veiled his Paternity graciousness and favour as somtimes Parents do not shew the like pleasant countenance to their Children when they have not carried themselves dutifully It will not follow then that God ceaseth to love them but is wise in the opportune manifestation of his love Thus it is a perpetuall truth indeed That Christs sacrifice was as efficacious to those before his death as those after viz. to procure and purchase all things necessary to salvation but these treasures being in the Fathers keeping he did dispose and

Sion-Colledge But this I am bold to say that this is not that Law or Doctrine which came first out of Gods Sion Isa 2. If you teach thus then no man can dare to beleive or receive remission of sins through Christs blood till he be sure he finde first the presence of good works and when will that be that a man can finde good works before he believe or what are the good works he must so necessarily finde and unto which the pardon is promised you might have done wisely and it had been a special work of charity to have given instance in some and then to have shewed both how those good works may be done in the state of unbelief and also how they may be certainly known to be good before faith O poor sinful and trembling soul into what an inextricable labyrinth will this bring thee and when thou shalt be deeply plunged into temptation how to prevent thy fearful desperation by this doctrine is utterly impossible 2. By this you will make people look more to good works then to Christ present and formed in the heart the only hope of glory Col. 1.27 And he that hath Christ hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life whatever works he may pretend to have 1 Joh. 5.12 3. Yea a legal Ministery exhorting to duties performances and conformity to the Law of works will be held sufficient and men need not be bid to examine themselves whether they be in the faith and Christ dwell in them or no 2 Cor. 13.5 but whether they have store of good works and so they may be sure of pardon and salvation But Sir If you will have your Doctrine to have a free passage why do you not prove clear and confirm it your word will not bear and warrant a Tenet of this weighty importance and consequence Where finde you God speaking to the work or not rather to the worker and if the promise be made also to him of pardon or life it is for his faith or rather for Christs sake in whom all the promises are yea and Amon unto the glory of God 2 Cor. 1.20 Gal. 3.16 On that ever such a Doctrine should see the Sun be heard out of any our Pulpits and be suffered to pass the Press and with such applause to be published That good works must necessarily be present when we be justified and God should so respect and love them that he promiseth pardon and eternal life to them or to their presence you mean sure to the man for their presence sake for if they be so good and holy Etiam bona opera egent remissione they need no pardon or if they were not first pardoned by what art become they good If you say yet you will have Christ present too he need but stand as a cypher the promise is not to his presence but to the presence of holy duties Mr. B. Lastly Their ground is still upon that false bottom because our sins are laid upon Christ Answ You need wish to have your words well taken if you dare not build upon it as an infallible verity that your sins are laid on Christ yet others dare and the bottom is firm even a sure Rock when you have done all You add May they not be laid upon us in other respects to heal us and to know how bitter a thing it is to sin against God Answ 1. If the laying of sin on us will heal us what did make us sick or sore the wound is by sin 2. Then our health is not by laying them on Christ and discharging of us or by faith in him by the means of whose stripes we are healed Isa 53.5 2. That phrase of Gods laying of sin upon the justified in any respect is no Scripture-phrase but it is full of danger and most agreeable to the principles of reason a natural conscience and the Law 3. How bitter sin is may best be seen when we see and consider it upon Christ who under the heavy weight of it sweating water and blood cryed so out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me I grant the afflicted conscience knoweth some little of it and if ever God lay sin upon you and let you not see it laid on Christ for your full and final discharge it will then be intolerable Mr. B. 4. In denying them to be signes or testimonies of grace or Christ dwelling in us And here one would wonder to see how laborious an Author is to prove that no inherent grace can be signs c. Answ 1. They can be made no further evidences then it is evident and plain that they arise from true faith and then I must first know that I have faith and be assured I am justified else all such signs will leave me uncertain and may prove to be counterfeits For as this Argument holdeth not Here is light therefore the Sun is up for all light is not from the Sun the Moon and the Candle have proper lights also so all that we call graces and holy duties come not from faith nor are not only found to be in him who is in a justified estate and therefore cannot convincingly argue such an estate VVhat can you instance in being materially good that was not in Paul while he was a Pharisee who was blameless as touching the Law I fear me that it contenteth us that we know teach and profess a Christ crucified and come not to finde Christ truly formed and dwelling in the heart whose presence is the only light peace consolation and rest to the Soul and that is the reason of our eying and requiring of works and graces for testimonies and assurances of a good estate M. B. In answering the Author We may shew briefly how many weak props this discourse leaneth upon 1. In confounding the instrumental evidencing with the efficient Not holy works say they but the Spirit How he doth oppose subordinates Answ The Spirit and works are not subordinate for as is shewed works may be where the Spirit of adoption and faith is not 2. Neither can they be subordinate except the Spirit do infallibly reveal and confirm a good estate by them which you cannot make good Again you say Every man is in darkness and like Hagar seeth not a fountain till his eyes be opened Answ That is true but where do you read that our duties or works do open the eyes and clear this unto us The opening of the eyes is a good work indeed but it is Gods work and not ours Eph. 1.17 M. B. We say that a Christian in time of darkness and temptation is not to go by signs c. Answ And out of darkness and temptation what need is there to put them to that use will you light a candle at noon-day when there is light enough 2. when there is no temptation occasioning the questioning of faith or the estate what need is there to prove either M. B. 3. His arguments go

last day Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was hungry and ye gave me meat c. Matth. 25.34 35. but the promise of inheriting is to them in that they were elected to it from eternity and prepared for it by the righteousness of faith were found in Christ and heirs annexed with him and these works in ministering to the necessities of the Saints did flow from their hearts and fervent love unto Christ and declare the truth of their faith and of their Adoption and Election It is for the weak and simple sort that I have been thus large M. B. When we deal with adversaries especially Papists in disputation then we ought to speak exactly Answ You now deal with a friend however you slander and account of us but with whomever you deal or in what case soever you nor I cannot be too exact and careful in our words and expressions nor may we use more liberty at one time then other Yet it is true learned men are found in their disputes more distinct and clear for as the Fan cleanseth the barn-floor so opposition inforceth them unto it and so I think you clearer in these controversal Lectures then ordinary but if we be not distinct clear and so●i● in every Sermon that so our hearers may be rightly instructed throughly established and well able to answer the objections of the tempter and of his own thoughts which are not so easily satisfied as an adversary of flesh and blood without us a little failing herein may occasion much danger in the time of inward dispute and conflict of conscience One thought of the necessity of a work or of the presence of any thing but Christ may prove the sinking and the casting away of the soule for ever Let me add two more considerations and I have done First That many who have not the true faith and be not of the slock of Christ yet may and do flourish in good works are full of pity and compassion honest and sober in life true and just in their dealings careful in performing duties and zealous in their religious way now if you teach thus as you do in this book 1. That good works are necessary to salvation in regard of their presence 2. Good works are the way to heaven and salvation 3. Our holy duties have a promise of pardon and eternal life 4. There is some kinde of Analogical relation between good works and heaven comparatively with evil works 5. Our goodness is a motive moving God to favor and bless us as a King is moved to prefer one that daily saluteth him 6. To every good action thou doest there is a promise of eternal life 7. Good works be conditions without which a man cannot be saved 8. They are necessary by way of comfort to our selves and the like Will not such Doctrine hearten and encourage them in their way make them bless and speak peace falsly unto themselves and conclude that their case and estate is safe and good to say nothing of a hundred more fearful consequences and dangerous effects of it And Secondly consider how this kinde of teaching doth sute and agree well with the principles of nature and answereth the dictates and requirings of every natural conscience therefore ponder that of Luther Omnibus propria est qui salutis n●go io kumanam ra●ione in consilium adhibent It is saith he the property of all those who consult with reason in the matter of salvation to be offended at the doctrine of the mercy and grace of God for although God himself did preach this doctrine concerning the free promise of his mercy unto our first Parents in Paradise and in ages after did illustrate and confirm it c. yet this cleaveth and sticketh firmly within us that we confess God indeed to be merciful yet reason thus judgeth that they alone do obtain mercy who give themselvs to righteousness or in whom something may be found worthy of some kinde of respect Humana sapi●ntia oss●nditur eo si grat●ae predicatione c. more then is in others and afterward The wisedom of man saith he is offended as if by the preaching of grace the justice of God is abolished and that they were affraid least carnal security and sinful licentiousness would be bred among men So ignorant are we by nature of the true nature and efficacy of the doctrine of heavenly grace and salvation M. B. Good works are necessary upon these grounds 1 They are the fruit end of Christs death Tit. 2.14 Tthere are two things in our sins 1. the guilt and that Christ doth redeem us from 2. the filth and that he doth purifie us from Answ It is the filthiness and loathsomness of sin that maketh us odious and guilty if God abhor us it is because of the vile and evil nature of sin which Christs blood doth cleanse and purifie us from that so a way may be made in divine justice for our reconciliation and acceptance Guilt is an effect of justice in the Law not holding the sinner innocent but binding it over to the curse and death till it be purged and washed Rev. 1.5 He hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood M. B. 2. There is some kinde of analogical relation between them and heaven comparatively with evil works so in those places where it is said If we confess our sins he is faithful and also just to forgive us our iniquities 1 Ioh. 1. So 2 Tim. 4.8 A crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge c. Answ You tell of an ordinability of works and say that evil works cannot be ordained to eternal life but good may a very dark expression who ever read of ordination of works to heaven or hell but of the worker and secondly there can be no ordinability in good works nor by them to life unless you can make it to appear that God hath any respect unto them either in ordaining or accepting us unto eternal life but in this case good works and grace are made directly opposite and contrary one to the other If by grace c. not by works Rom. 11.6 the soul is become ordinable by free grace but not disposed by works 2. In your first Scripture 1 Ioh. 1.9 There is mention made of no work but only of confession of sin And is that such a good work Judas confessed that he had sinned If there be any ordinability in it it is not because of any goodness in the act of confession simply but because God hath purposed and promised in that way or after that order to dispence and give his pardon and so this place maketh directly against you for it is by the knowledg and confession of sin and not by any good thing the soule findeth or acknowledgeth in it self that its ordinability is effected And whereas you observe that God is not only faithful but

preach it at Rome also If the Law would have served and Paul had known also this your liberty and chose to use either law or Gospel he needed not to shun nor shrinke in the preaching of it for every mans heart is principled to approve and receive that doctrine having the seeds and effect of the law naturally in his bosome but the Gospel is supernatural and the soul is indisposed to receive it of it self yea and strongly by assed and inclined against that way of peace and life revealed by it for it maketh void rejecteth and casteth downe all the excellencies of man his free-will strength righteousness wisdome goodness as being vanity folly weakness sin and vile with God so to prepare and make way in the soul to bring in and commend Gods grace to be all-sufficient and that Christ alone may be exalted and rejoyced in Hence the mystery of the Gospel was to the Gentiles foolishness and to the Iew a stumbling-block 1 Cor. 1.23 Also it is more then evident that this word of the Gospel was the instrument of converting all those Churches to whom Paul writ as his Epistles do testifie as besides these mentioned places to the Romans Corinthians and Ephesians you may also see in Gal. 1.6.8.9 Col. 1.5 Phil. 1.5 who were called into the fellowship of the Gospel But what need the lighting of a Candle at noon-day unless it be still dark Saturday with us The second remarkable place is 1 Pet. 1.23 25. Being born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever and vers 25. he expounds himself saying And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you If need were a cloud of expositors might be here produced to evince and confirm it that this instrumental word of regeneration is not the Law but the Gospel It is true some tell us of a twofold regeneration or rather a twofold sense of the word by the one the soul cometh to a second new being and by the other it hath the image of God reinstamped on it And of a regeneration of Faith and another of holiness of nature and life but I would trouble none with these distinctions yet this I add that Melancthon upon Iohn observeth that Christ calleth our justification regeneration and indeed it is a new creation and the putting of the soul into a new and happy condition for thereby it hath reconciliation and peace with God Rom. 5. 2. And there is a twofold healing 1. Of our spiritual estates and thus we are said to be healed by the stripes of Christ Isa 53.5 who is the repairer of this breach and as for that wound of conscience in that day when sin doth bite and sting and the law accuse and terrifie none other plaister can cure it but the blood of Christ who by his eternal spirit offered himself to purge and purifie the conscience Heb. 9.14 and this is done by the application of faith for health or salvation is onely in Christ and in nothing else you can name And as Moses lifted up the Serpent so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life John 3.14 15. 2. There is an inchoate and partial healing of our natures hearts and lives which is effected by the Spirit of Christ renewing and changing all and every member of his mystical body whereof he is the head but as the Moral Law is not the instrument to reveal and hold forth Christ crucified so Faith by which the soul comes to be sensibly healed and having communion with Christ to receive vertue from him this Faith is onely instrumentally by the Gospel which is preached to all for the obedience of Faith Rom. 16.25 26. And if our inheritance come by the law in part or in whole then Faith is made void and the promise made of no effect Rom. 4.14 3. And lastly Conversion may be taken 1. for the change of the condition as when who was in bondage is enlarged set free delivered out of the hands of his enemies and of far off is made near as Iohn 8.36 Ephes 2.13 Col. 1.21 or 2. for the turning of the heart to God Act. 26.18 To turn them from Satan to God If thou wilt return return unto me 3. For the change and alteration in the soul when God sanctifieth a man throughout c. 4. A man may change his religion as did the Jewish-Proselytes and his outward way and manner of life being refined and reformed according to the letter of the law as the Pharisee Luke 18. Now to apply all Hence I infer and say that it is never read in the Scripture that the soul was made spiritually free and estated in grace and favour by the preaching of the Moral Law but the office of it is to arrest convince shut up the soul under sin the curse and condemnation Gal. 3.22 the law and the Gospel are the two keys that Christ gave that by the one sinners might be shut and bound and by the other set free and brought forth Mat. 18.18 2. Neither did the Law instrumentally convert and turn the heart to God for Christ is the way to the Father his blood and cross slayeth the enmity that is between divine justice and the sinner and removeth all lets whatever did hinder or separate and so openeth a free way for access Heb. 10.19 20. and his righteousness is the melius terminus bond or mean of union between God and the soul bringing them into a sure and everlasting covenant of peace he is first King of righteousness and after that King of Salem that is of peace Heb. 7.2 Now Christ his death and resurrection with the fruits and benefits thereof are the subject and peculiar treasures of the Gospel whereof Paul was made a Minister that he might preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ Eph. 3.7 9. further God cannot be com'd unto known nor enjoyed nisi in Christo suo but in Christ And he gaineth and draweth the soul with cords of love he appears gratious and merciful to poor sinners beaten downe humbled and brought to deaths door in the conscience of sin else the soul being afraid of him would with Adam flee away and hide it self from him hence passim men are exhorted to turne to the Lord because he is gratious and merciful Joel 2.13 Psal 86.5 Hos 6.12 We are to hold forth God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and not imputing their sins unto them and as Ambassadours for Christ we pray men in Christs stead to be reconciled unto to God 2 Cor. 5.18 20. Now this cannot be by the ministery of the Law by which cometh the knowledge of sin for it worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 threatneth with the curse and death Gal. 3.10 And thus the Law doth by the will and appointment of God to force man out of himself to destroy all self-confidence