Brethren Universal Obedience Sincerity and Singleness of Heart and all other inherent Qualifications are not Signs by which we should judge our state Serm. 16. he calls the Revealing Evidence of the Spirit and endeavours to prove this Immediate Revelation P. 473. he puts this Objection We will not deny but it is the Voice of the Spirit will satisfie the Case But suppose I hear such a Voice c. Here is the doubt If the Word it self did bear witness to this particular Voice of the Spirit then could I be satisfied this were the Voice of the Spirit of God that speaks but if the Word do not bear witness to this Voice c. I dare not trust it He Answers This Voice is always according to the Word But P. 475. he tells us The Word according to which the Spirit of the Lord speaks when he speaks Peace to his People is the Word of Grace And that Word of Grace is no more but this God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them This is the Word of Grace according to which it speaks reconciling the World to himself even the World when Men are no otherwise but merely Men of the World Reader Thou seest that the Spirit 's Voice according to the Word is no more than according to the general Account That Christ came to save Sinners And so if any Sinner have this inward Voice that Voice is according to the Word whether he be a regenerate Person or no. The Doctor in this Page and Page 476. shews That if this Voice be according to this general Rule we must not try it by any thing else or question it And adds As for Example There is the Voice of the Word of Grace we are justified freely by his Grace and there is this Voice in the Spirit of Man telling him according to this word That his Sins are forgiven him How shall I know saith he that this Voice is the Voice of the Spirit of God For Answer let me ask but this Question Is there any thing in the world of better credit than the Spirit himself And P. 474. Beware that you make not the credit of the Voice of the Spirit to depend upon the Word Obj. But he seems to allow Faith to give Assurance But I Ans. he tells us p. 491. Not as a Revealing Evidence nor as an effecting Evidence but it is a Receiving Evidence or it is an Evidence as it doth receive that Testimony which the Spirit holds out c. Faith doth take possession of that which the Spirit reveals and manifests to a Person c. It clears the Title to us though good in it self before c. And P. 493. Faith is the Echo of the Heart to the Voice of the Spirit The Doctor 's meaning is That Faith doth not evidence our Pardon as it is a Grace wrought in the Soul by the Spirit or as a holy Qualification but only as it doth assent to and rest in this inward Voice Obj. But he seems to own that Sanctification is some Evidence A. He tells us how P. 482. viz. When the Testimony of the Spirit is received by Faith and the Soul sits down satisfied with that Testimony of the Lord then also the gifts of God's Spirit do bear witness together with the Spirit of the Lord and the Faith of a Believer You see there must be Assurance first and then these do witness after not to guide our Hopes but over and above See P. 100. There 's no better way to know your Portion in Christ than on the general tender of the Gospel to conclude absolutely he is yours Wherein the difference is not 1. It is not Whether the Spirit witnesseth by his miraculous Operations to Christ and the Gospel which is a Truth and the meaning of many of the Texts which the Doctor produceth 2. Nor Whether the Spirit as a Worker of Grace in the Heart be an Earnest of Glory and Witness to our State 3. Nor Whether the Spirit witnesseth by and with the Conscience in the Manifestation of our Graces for Assurance 4. Nor Whether the Spirit of God may in some extraordinary Cases give an immediate Testimony by a Voice or some equivalent Impressions But then there is the Truth of Grace in the Heart though it was doubted before and nothing utterly inconsistent with true Grace either is in the Heart nor then appeareth to the Conscience All these I affirm The real Difference 1. Whether none attain Assurance but by the inward Voice of the Spirit pronouncing the actual Forgiveness of their Sins without manifesting their true Grace and Sanctification This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether the usual way of attaining Assurance is by the Conscience upon trial discerning and concluding through the help of the Spirit that a Man hath those Graces or Signs which describe a Man blessed and pardoned according to the Gospel This I affirm and the Doctor denies The Truth confirmed 1. This is the way which God appoints to attain Assurance 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves know ye not that Christ is in you except you be Reprobates Here we are to try What 's our great Enquiry to be about Are we in the Faith which may respect Faith inherent or the Doctrine of Faith professed He concludes they must inferr Christ is in them except they had vile Hearts or were Men as to the frame of their Hearts unapproved by God For so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure How was this to be done By adding Grace to Grace abounding therein and carefully looking that these things be in you See from ver 5. to 11. 2. This is the way whereby the Scripture-Saints were assured They concluded their Justification by Sanctification and a State of Peace by the Truth of Grace 1 Joh. 3. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren Ver. 9. And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him How was this See Ver. 18. Let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth and hereby we know c. Thus David Paul and other Saints concluded the safety of their state 3. Conscience is bound to condemn every Man in whom the contrary to these Graces do appear yea where it 's evident that they are wholly wanting It 's otherwise a seared Conscience 2 Tim. 4. 2. It is not the Candle of the Lord in Man Now there can be no Assurance where the Conscience condemns as the Apostle argueth 1 Joh. 3. 19 20 21. 4. The Spirit witnesseth with our Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 16. It doth not witness before our Spirit doth witness It is not a separate Testimony from our Spirits but it concurs with our Spirit as its Instrument
Our Spirits witness in the light of the Spirit as 1 Cor. 9. 1. My Conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost 5. A Testimony of the Spirit giving an Evidence of Pardon without any Evidence of Grace is not according to the Word of Grace for the Word of Grace never declareth any Sinners are pardoned but believing penitent Sinners It is not as mere Sinners the Word pardoneth for it flatly condemneth and leaves Guilt on all impenitent Unbelievers as I have proved chap. 8. 12. Therefore if there should be a Voice a true Voice of God carrying it 's own Evidence saying Thy Sins are forgiven it doth at the same time and by the same Voice witness to the truth of our Grace because he forgives no other according to the Word of the Gospel And if the Spirit should say to an impenitent Soul Thou art pardoned while such it is no Promise in the Gospel nor according to it but a new Promise and not to be tried by the VVord and the Writers thereof having had more of the Spirit than any now can pretend to it 's dangerous to rest on that Voice which will not bear the Tryal by the VVord c. 6. To have the ordinary way of Assurance to be as it 's stated by the opposite Errour hath very dangerous Consequences Most Saints must quit their Hopes and Assurance for they never had this Voice though they have greater stamps of the Spirit than any I ever knew pretend to this It makes all Examination useless and vain It overturneth one of the great Uses God hath assigned to the work of his Grace on the Heart It makes Assurance impossible without this miraculous Voice which can hardly carry its Evidence to a Soul that hath no Grace at all It 's a way too far Enthusiastick to be allowed in so stated a Case It gives the Devil a great advantage against Sinners to live in Sin and against honest People if once they find cause to question this Voice Yea it sets up the Spirit against it self if any can boast of Assurance by this Voice when their State is justly challengeable by the Gospel as wanting all sight of Gospel-Marks TESTIMONIES The Assembly in Confes. ch 18. a. 2. say It 's an Infallible Assurance of Faith founded upon the Divine Truth of the Promises of Salvation the inward Evidences of those Graces unto which these Promises are made the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God And a. 3. they tell us A Believer being enabled by the Spirit may without extraordinary Revelation in the right use of ordinary Means attain thereunto And therefore it is the Duty of every one to give all diligence to make his Calling and Election sure that thereby his heart may be enlarged in Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost c. as say the Cong Elders chap. 18. a. 3. See a. 4. Both shew how Assurance may be revived from the Graces in the Heart The Synod of New-England oft confute the contrary Errour which it seems was one that sadly troubled them Errour 44. No createâ— Work can be a manifest Sign of God's Love Errour 47. The Seal of the Spirit is limited only to the immediate witness of the Spirit nor doth ever witness to any Work of Grace or Conclusion by a Syllogism Errour 67. A Man cannot evidence his Justification by his Sanctification but he must needs build upon his Sanctification and trust to it Errour 72. It 's a Soul-damning Errour to make Sanctification an Evidence of Justification Errour 77. Sanctification is so far from evidencing a good State thâ—â— it darkens it rather and a Man may more clearly see Christ when he seeth no Sanctification than when he doth The darker my Sanctification is the brighter is my Justification The Synod shew at large how each of these are contrary to the Scriptures And one 〈◊〉 the evil Speeches they confute p. 19. I may know I am Christ's Not because I do crucifâ—â— the Lusts of the Flesh but believe in Christ that crucified my Lusts for me See Errour 63 69. The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because the Spirit of God is a Comforter therefore he cannot comfort us by helping us to see the VVork of his Grace in order to Joy in his Blessings Because the Spirit was to convince the World of Christ's Righteousness as what alone could procure Life therefore he tells Men that they have an Interest in it without shewing them any change on their Hearts Because he was to take of Christ's Fulness and shew it to his Disciples therefore he immediately speaks peace to the hearts of such as are or at least appear his resolved Enemies Because by the Spirit of Adoption we cry Abba Father therefore we need not find any love to God to know that we are his Children Because the Spirit witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God therefore he witnesseth alone without so much as revealing to our Spirits that we have the temper of Children Whereas there are many great Effects of the Spirit manifest on the Souls of them to whom the Apostle speaks Rom. 8. 11 12 14 15 16. And the design of the place is more to express our Dignity and free Access to God under a Gospel-state than mere Assurance of Forgiveness Because a Natural Man cannot perceive the Riches of the Promise and the Spirit enableth a Spiritual Man by his Teachings to perceive the nature of them therefore by an immediate Voice he discovers to the Natural Man his Propriety in them even while he is and appears Natural Because there is Imperfection in the Graces of a Saint therefore he cannot see the Sincerity of them by the help of the Spirit without an immediate Voice CHAP. XVI Of God's seeing Sin in Believers and their Guilt by it c. TRUTH THe Sins of Believers have the Loathsomness of Sin adhering to them which God seeth and accounteth the Committers guilty thereby And they ought to charge themselves therewith so as to stir up themselves to Repentance and renew their Actings of Faith on Christ for Forgiveness Nevertheless they ought not thereby to fear their being out of a Justified State further than their Falls give them just cause of suspecting that Sin hath dominion over them and that their first believing on Christ was not sincere ERROUR God seeth no Sin in Believers though he see the Fact neither doth he charge them with any Sin nor ought they to charge themselves with any Sin nor be at all sad for them nor confess repent or do any thing as a Means of their Pardon no nor in order to assuring themselves of Pardon even when they commit Murther Adultery or the grossest VVickedness Proved that this is Dr. Crisp 's Opinion Reader Note That the Doctor speaks most of this concerning a Person as Elect though he uses the word Believer sometimes because he alone knows that he is Elect by
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Were all Doing for Life and an Eye to gain by Service such a legal and wicked thing as some represent it sure the blessed Jesus would have admonished his Disciples and not answer them as he doth Mat. 19. 27 28 29. Then answered Peter and said unto him behold we have forsaken all and followed thee What shall we have therefore And Jesus said unto them verily c. Ye shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel c. 4. The Doctor 's Argument from the Vanity of proposing our own Gain by Labour and Duties because all is fixed and given already is to make the Decree an effectual Means to overthrow the Government of Christ and brand all his Offers to Sinners with Weakness and Falshood Should not poor Sinners pray as they can abstain from Sin consider and apply the Word with an Eye to Conversion Why doth God call them to this Should not they wait and strive to believe and repent with an Eye to Forgiveness and escaping VVrath VVhy else should God encourage them with an Offer of these upon such Terms and tell the Unbelievers that they refuse these Mercies by new Forfeitures But by the Doctor 's Scheme the Elect may be idle and the Non-elect do best when they despair for there 's no Connexion between these Benefits and these Graces or Duties And so the Non-elect are in the same Case with Devils there being no serious Offer to them nay their Case is worse than Devils for these Offers are made to them for no other Design but to increase their Condemnation Nay every Sin of their's is the Sin against the Holy Ghost that is every Sin is alike the Unpardonable Sin and not only that Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost To say no more Christ hath no Rule of distributive Justice but his own eternal Purpose and Men's Regards to his promised Benefits are all forbidden even when our Respect to them is that which subserves his Government and is supposed in all the Methods of it 5. And why should we intend the Glory of God the Service of Christ or the Good of others Are not these as determined as our own Good Hath not God fixed and secured his own Glory Doth Christ need our services more than our selves Shall any other Persons receive more Good than God hath already given and provided for them Why should we intend these in our Duties more than our own Profit the very same Reason excuseth from all and so we ought to intend nothing at all I could shew had I Room that we cannot sincerely aim at our Souls good but we therein aim at God's Glory Nor doth God ever require us to intend his Glory but in a Concurrence with an Eye to our own Salvation TESTIMONIES You have seen in the last Chapter the Assembly's and Congregational Elders Judgment and that we are not the less under Grace for being encouraged to do good by the Promises c. The Case is so plain that I shall only give the Judgment of the greater part of those Reverend Divines whose Names are set in the Front of Dr. Crisp's Works and interpreted by the VVeak to a contrary purpose than what they intended These Divines in the Preface to Mr. Flavel's Book against Antinomianism which they approve of inform us That to say Salvation is not the End of any Good VVork we do or VVe are to act from Life and not for Life were to abandon the Humane Nature it were to teach us to violate the great Precepts of the Gospel it supposeth one bound to do more for the Salvation of others than our own 't were to make all the Threatnings of Eternal Death and Promises of Eternal Life we find in the Gospel of our blessed Lord useless as Motives to shun the one or obtain the other It makes the Scripture-Characters and Commendation of the most Eminent Saints a Fault Had I seen this sooner it might have spared some of my Reasons The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because we ought not to do any thing from Carnal Self-love therefore we ought to do nothing from Rational and Spiritual Self-love Because Christ redeemed us that we may not live to our selves as our own Lords therefore we must not in obeying him regard the Rewards he promiseth us as he is our Lord. Because we must aim at God's Glory above all therefore we must not at all intend our own happiness in the enjoyment of this God Because we must aim at the good of others therefore we must not aim at our own good Because we should obey God from Gratitude and Love therefore we should not obey him from any Hope or filial Fear Because God hath engaged to give Life and Happiness to the Elect when they have finished their warfare and work therefore they must not intend the obtaining that happiness in any part of that work or warfare CHAP. XV. Of the way to attain Assurance TRUTH THe ordinary way whereby a Man attaineth a well-grounded Assurance is not by immediate objective Revelation or an inward Voice saying Thy Sins are forgiven thee But when the Believer is examining his Heart and Life by the Word the holy Spirit enlightens the Mind there to discern Faith and Love and such other Qualifications which the Gospel declareth to be infallible Signs of Regeneration And he adds such power to the Testimony of Conscience for the Truth and In-being of these Graces as begets in the Soul a joyful sense of its reconciled State and some comfortable freedom from those Fears which accompany a doubting Christian and according to the Evidence of these Graces Assurance is ordinarily strong or weak ERROUR Assurance is not attained by the Evidence of Scripture-Marks or Signs of Grace or by the Spirits discovering to us that he hath wrought in our Hearts any holy Qualifications But Assurance comes only by an inward Voice of the Spirit saying Thy Sins are forgiven thee and our believing thereupon that our Sins are forgiven Proved that this is Doctor Crisp's Opinion P. 491. Would you know that the Lord hath laid your Iniquities on Christ you must know it thus 1. Is there a Voice behind thee or within thee saying particularly to thee in thy self Thy Sins are forgiven thee Dost thou see this Voice agree with the Word of Grace that is Dost thou see it held out to most vile and wretched Creatures as thou canst be and upon this Revelation of the Mind of the Lord by his Spirit according to that Word doth the Lord give thee to receive that Testimony of the Spirit to sit down with it as satisfied that upon this thou makest full reckoning thou hast propriety in this particularly to thy self If thou dost receive that Testimony according to that Word here is thy Evidence Thou hast thy Propriety and Portion in this On this Point the Doctor spends much time Serm. 15. is to prove That Love to the
believing it P. 436 Though such Persons do act Rebellion yet the loathsomness and abominableness and hatefulness of this Rebellion is laid on the back of Christ he bears the Sin as well as the Blame and Shame c. And that 's the only reason why God can dwell with those Persons that do act the thing because all the filthiness of it is transacted from them on the back of Christ. He puts an Objection How should God know every sin the Believer doth commit and yet God not remember them He Answers after many words Though God remembers the things thou hast done yet he doth not remember them as thine c. for he remembers perfectly they are none of thine and when he pass'd them over to Christ they ceased to be thine any longer P. 364. The Lord hath not one sin to charge upon an Elect Person from the first moment of Conception to the last moment of Life no nor Original Sin is not to be laid upon him the Lord hath laid it on Christ already P. 365. Every Elect Vessel of God from the first instant of his being is as pure in the Eyes of God from the charge of Sin as he shall be in Glory P. 298. It 's the voice of a lying Spirit in your Hearts that saith That you that are Believers have yet sin wasting your Consciences and lying as a burthen too heavy for you to bear c. Obj. Was not David a Justifâ—â—â— Person and did not he bear his own sin My sins are gone over my head c. After several things he Answers I must tell you all that David speaks here he speaks from himself and all that David speaks from himself was not truth c. David might mistake that God should charge his sin upon him c. P. 213. In a word Before a Believer doth confess his sin he may be as certain of the pardon of it as after Confession I say there is as much ground to be confident of the Pardon of Sin to a Believer as soon as ever he hath committed it though he hath not made a solemn Act of Confession as to believe it after he hath performed all the Humiliation in the World c. A Believer may be assured of Pardon as soon as he commits any Sin The Sins he speaks of are Adultery and Murther P. 215. But you will say All the Promises of Pardon do run with this Proviso In case Men humble themselves In case Men do this and that then Pardon is theirs but otherwise it 's none of theirs Take heed of such Doctrine P. 52. There is nothing but Joy and Gladness Obj. But some will say Believers find it otherwise there is not such joy and gladness but they are often oppressed with sadness and heaviness of Spirit I Answer There is not one Fit of Sadness in any Believer whatsoever but he is out of the way Christ c. I say the Soul is first satisfied of Forgiveness of Sins before there is that real kindly mourning in those that are Believers P. 15. God doth no longer stand offended nor displeased though a Believer after he is a Believer do sin often And it 's no wonder for he saith a few lines after Except God will be offended where there is no cause to be offended which is Blasphemy to speak he will not be offended with Believers For I say he hath no cause to be offended with a Believer because he doth not find the sin of the Believer to be his own sin but he finds it to be the Sin of Christ. See more p. 413 416 418 419 425 c. Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not VVhether a Believer doth by new Sins fall from a Justified state 2. Nor whether God doth upon new Crimes judicially charge the Christian with those Sins he had pardoned before though he may present to his view some former Sins for his further humblings 3. Nor whether a Believer ought to question his Justified state upon any Sins that do not give just Suspicion that Sin hath dominion over him or his Faith was not true 4. Nor whether any past Sins and Sins present at his first believing be unpardoned 5. Nor whether renewed Acts of Faith Humiliation Repentance Fasting or Reformation do merit Pardon 6. Nor whether a Principle of Life given at our first Conversion will finally fail to exert it self in due Humblings for repeated Enormities and in holy Resolves 7. Nor whether the same degrees of Humblings be necessary for all Crimes and in all Persons and in all Times 8. Nor whether any gross Miscarriage should cause a Saint to condemn all past Experience and conclude his Graces to be Counterfeit Each of these I deny 9. Nor whether a Sense of Pardon ought not to affect and melt the Heart 10. Nor whether some true Penitents may not sometimes be too much dejected and overwhelmed with Sorrow for Sin 11. Nor whether a general Exercise of Faith and Repentance do not answer the Gospel-Rule of Forgiveness as to Sins of Ignorance Infirmity and Surprise These three last I affirm The Real Differences 1. Whether an Elect Sinner be at any time a guilty Person in God's Esteem This the Doctor denies and I affirm I have proved in Chap. 1 3. 7 12. 2. Whether the Remains of Sin defile us This I affirm and the Doctor denies against all Protestants who prove it of Original Sin against the Papists 3. Whether a justified Person falling into gross Enormities is defiled thereby and contracts Guilt upon himself thereby This the Doctor denies and I do affirm 4. Whether God esteems the repeated Abominations of Believers not to be their own Crimes and they not to be the Sinners but they are Christ's Sins This the Doctor affirms and I deny which I have cleared Chap. 3. and 4. and 7. 5. Whether a justified Person upon new Provocations is charged by God and ought to charge himself as guilty and defiled so as in God's appointed way to repent believe renew his Covenant and be earnest with God for Forgiveness This the Doctor denies and I afirm 6. Whether all Sins past present and to come are actually pardoned at once This the Doctor affirms and I deny 7. Whether God hath required new Exercises of Faith and Repentance for their actual Pardon This the Doctor denies and I affirm 8. Whether a Believer ought to be as assured of the Forgiveness of his repeated Provocations just when he hath committed them and before he hath humbled himself renewed Actings of Faith on Christ repeated his Covenant and prayed for Pardon for Christ's Sake as after he hath thus done This the Doctor affirms and I deny The Truth Confirmed I have said so much Chap. 3. 4 8 10 12 13. that tends to clear this Point that I shall single out now only the Substance of what was least insisted on 1. God doth see and charge a Believer with his new Enormities as his Sins and not Christ's 2
fear it before we commit it though not after Why should Saints desire Heaven to be rid of Sin Can that be a small Mischief that dishonoureth God reproacheth the Name of Christ grieves the Spirit pleases the Devil offends the Good hardens the Wicked puts the tender Heart on Mourning for it in it self yea in others Psal. 119. 136. If Sin be no hurt Grace and Holiness as the Contraries to it are not Good nothing is a Blessing as a Prevention of it Where shall I stop Yet each of these refer to the Sins of God's own People and some of them more affect their Sins than the Sins of other Men. 2. There 's great Hurt befalls God's People for committing Sin Doth not God hide his Face the Spirit abate its Influences Is not the Conscience oft seared the Heart oft less capable of Impressions by the VVord the Soul streightned in Duty great Decays in Grace and Vigour too oft never recovered this side the Grave Many are rendred incapable of Service by Reproach for Sin or by Poverty Diseases c. VVho hath not found by Sin what he must call Hurt VVhat Pains Loss of Friends Ruine on Estates Blasts on Undertakings Are VVars Plagues Fire Removal of Ordinances Famine cursed Relations c. no Hurt Sure so many will not be proselyted to this Opinion as to Transubstantiation But what can be offered for it Obj. God will order all this for the good of a Believer therefore none of these hurt him 1. A. I do not know where God hath promised ThatSin shall do us good and in its Nature it hath no aptness to Good and the best Good it can do is to prevent it self Rom. 8. 28. saith All things shall work together for good c. But it speaks of Sufferings for Christ not Sins against him and though God should over-master it to some Concurrence for Good yet it were a greater Mercy to receive that same Good by other Means 2. A. Though Sins or corrective Afflictions may be ruled to do us good yet that doth not hinder but that they do us hurt This may be evinced not only because it were a greater Mercy to have that Good another way which but for Sin we should not miss of But also 1. VVhatever God threatens to inflict that thereby he may dissuade from Sin must needs be a Hurt or Damage It is not a Threatning if it include no harm and it 's a Reproach to our God in his Government to think otherwise VVhat confounding of Promises and Threats would it inferr Doth not God intend to awe Men with some Hurt when he saith Rev. 2. 5. Remember c. or I will remove thy Candlestick out of its Place and was this no hurt when it befell them I might instance a thousand Places of this kind 2. Saints with God's Approbation bewail and deprecate Sins and Punishments for Sins as a real Hurt Why hast thou hardned our Hearts from thy Fear c. Isa. 63. 17. For the Hurt of the Daughter of my People I am black astonishment hath taken hold on me Jer. 8. 21. The Book of Lamentations Haman's David's Moans are forgotten Read Pauls Complaints of himself and others 3. God himself accounts these things to hurt his People for he calls it Patience and Long-suffering in him to forbear inflicting them He oft declares his Pity of his People when under them and a ceasing to Pity when he inflicts them Isa. 63. 9. Joel 2. 8. Jer. 13 4. The Removal of these he declares to be an Act of Mercy and Goodness Read the Prophets and you 'll find what Terms he gives these viz. Wounding Smiting Spoiling c. He oft testifieth against Insensibleness of these as evil and afflictive things and threatens to encrease them to beget a duer sence of Sin and Judgments Sure I need not add That Mercies opposite to these are Blessings and promised as such all the good in Repentance argues the Hurt we get by Sin and by the Effects of it If these things will not prove Sin brings hurt we must declare Patience in Saints to be no Grace or find a new Description of what is a Hurt in this VVorld The Doctor indeed calls us to this when Sin is made so innocent and present with-holdings of more Grace from us is a Mercy as he affirms P. 541. Let me add that by Sin a Saint's degrees of Glory may be diminished in another VVorld for sowing sparingly he shall reap sparingly and he therefore that shall break one of the least of these Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5. 19. That 's unprofitable for you Heb. 13. 17. TESTIMONIES The Assembly and Cong Elders chap. 19. a. 6 tell us The Threatnings of the Law are of use to the Regenerate to shew what even their Sins deserve and what Afflictions in this Life they may expect for them although freed from the Curse threatned in the Law Chap. 18. a. 4 True Believers may have the Assurance of Salvation divers ways shaken and diminished c. by falling into some special Sin which woundeth the Conscience and grieveth the Spirit by some vehement Temptation by God's withdrawing the Light of his Countenance Chap. 17. a. 3. Saints may fall into grievous Sins and for a time continue therein whereby they incurr God's Displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit come to be deprived of some measure of their Graces and Comforts have their Hearts hardened and their Consciences wounded hurt and scandalize others and bring temporal Judgments on themselves Turretin tells us Instit. Theol. par 2. p. 650. That a Believer falling into gross Crimes incurreth the Fatherly Indignation of God loseth a present Meetness for Glory contracts damning Guilt So that if he remain Impenitent in that State he ought to conclude himself liable to Death and certain to perish except he return Do not Divines generally conclude That if David had not repented of his gross Sins he fell into he had perished Dr. Owen as much discovers the hurt of Sins to Believers as most Men do See Mr. A. Burgess of Justification lib. 1. from 240. to 245. The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because there is no Eternal Condemnation lies against a Believer therefore there is no penal Present Affliction upon a Believer Whereas there 's much hurt below Hell and and that it is not Hell that follows the Sin of a Believer is not from the Innocency of Sin but the Grace of God that brings him to Repentance and Faith in Christ for Remission Because all Sufferings for Christ work for Good therefore all Sins against Christ can do no Harm But allow that Sins and Sufferings for Sin were included then thus it reasoneth Because God can and doth over-rule these to some good at last therefore they do no harm in the mean while nor in any degree Because a Believer is freed from the damning Curse of the Law therefore no Gospel-Threatning
Union with Christ as if we were One Natural Person with him His Difinition of the New Creature as if it stood only in our New Relation to Christ. P. 90. The strange difference he makes between the way of Salvation before Christ's time and since P. 254 255 256 258. Their Sins were pardoned on Condition of Doing not given for all Sins at once much Dust left and they were subject to Lashes for Sin but now the Covenant is contrary in all these respects How contrary to the Sense of the Assembly and Elders at the Savoy ch 11. a. 6. The Justification of Believers under the Old Testament was in all these respects one and the same with the Justification of Believers under the New Testament He forgets that most of his Proofs be fetch'd from the Old Testament as Ezek. 16 c. Jacob loved in the Womb c. and seems not to distinguish the Covenant of Grace and that of Peculiarity But these with other Errours I pass by THE APPENDIX I Shall here repeat what I delivered in Pinners-Hall-Lecture which some Persons seemed greatly to resent and I leave it to any impartial Man to judge from what I have described as Dr. Crisp's Opinion whether I charged Men of his Persuasion with Falshood After I had fully acquitted Men of my Judgment from Pelagianism Socinianism and Arminianism which the Antinomians accuse us of I added with these Men It 's not enough that we hold That we were from Eternity elected to Grace and Glory unless we add That we were actually United to Christ and Justified from Eternity and in the Womb. It 's not enough that we say Christ did in the Covenant of Redemption undertake to save the Elect in his appointed way and time unless we add That there is no other Covenant for the Application of Christ's Benefits wherein God requires Faith and Repentance as the indispensible Means of our Pardon It is not enough that we own That Christ absolutely Redeemed the Elect so as to purchase Saving Graces as well as Benefits to be infallibly theirs unless we add That all others are in state of Devils as having no real Offers of Life on Gospel-Terms nor is their Salvation possible if they will repent and believe It will not please them that we affirm The Punishment of our Sins yea the Guilt of them as an Obligation to Punishment were laid upon Christ our Sponsor unless we add That our Sins themselves in their blot and filthiness were also transacted on Christ. It is not enough that we own That the Righteousness of Christ avails us as much as if it were personally our own yea was always intended for us and is so imputed to us as to be the Foundation of and Security for our Pardon and Right to Life and no Atonement for Sin or purchasing Price of Life can be demanded from us unless we also add That God esteemed us to have done and suffered what Christ did and suffered It sufficeth not that we say That we are Justified only by Christ's Merits as the sole procuring Cause or Righteousness for which we are Justified unless we deny That Faith and Repentance are the indispensibly required Conditions or Qualifications of those Persons to whom the Merits of Christ are applied for Justification It will not serve that we assert That Justifying Faith must be a Reliance on Christ as Priest and sole Atonement unless we deny That Faith must be also a fiducial Acceptance of a whole Saviour i. e. of Christ as Prophet Priest and King It 's not enough that we say We are upon Repenting and Believing put into a Justified state hefore any other Work unless we add That our Obedience to particular Precepts do not benefit us and that God doth not judicially approve of our sincere Actings as according to the Rule of the Gospel-Promises of those Benefits It is not enough that we say The absolute Promises are made to Christ for the be nefit of the Elect and pleadable by him unless we deny That the Gospel is an authoritative Command on Men to Believe and that under the Gospel-Sanction of Life and Death So that he that believes stall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned It will not please that we say That Christ purchased all Grace for us and by his Spirit worketh all Grace in us unless we add That he Believed Repented and did all for us so as we have nothing to do in order to Salvation It 's not sufficient that we own The Grace by which we do any Duty is from Christ and the Good promised to any Duty is for the sake of Christ unless we deny the ordained Connexion betwixt that Duty and that Benefit They say We set up Man's Righteousness if we tell Men that they must be holy and do good and take comfort therein as an Evidence of Grace and of their Title to Christ and as answering the Rule of the Gospel-Promises though we assert They must be Members of Christ and accepted through him or they cannot partake of any Saving Benefits thereby It is not right that we say God sees no Sin in Believers so as to cast them out of Covenant nor out of a Justified-state for it unless we add That God sees no Sin at all in them as theirs when they most offend It 's not enough that we affirm That Sin committed shall not eventually damn a Believer because he shall by the Spirit be brought to Repentance unless we add God is never angry with Believers for Sin nor ever corrects them as guilty of it With these we are Legal Preachers if we urge Faith and Repentance in order to Pardon though we declare that Faith and Repentance are the Gifts of Christ and Pardon is not the Effect of these Graces but of the Promise in the virtue of Christ's Blood or of his Blood applied for Forgiveness by the Promise We are Legal Preachers if we perswade to Holiness as the way of Salvation by the Ordination of Christ though we affirm that it is no way out of Christ nor but with a respect to Christ for whom it is accepted as what answers the Rule of the Gospel-Promise How are we decried as Legal if we urge Threatnings though as Motives to close with Christ and to walk in him Which being used to this end and the threatned Evil being avoidable on Gospel-Terms and pressed on fallen Man for his recovery they are Gospel and not Legal Threatnings It 's not enough That we assert and press Assurance unless we affirm That Justifying Faith is nothing but Assurance It 's not enough we say That we need the Spirit to discover to us our inherent Grace and to assist Conscience in it's Sentence That Grace is inherent unless we add That we must not try our State and conclude of it by Gospel-Marks of Sanctification but depend on an inward Voice of the Spirit saying Thy Sins are forgiven which we must believe if it agree but to the general Word viz. Christ came to save Sinners and believing this is all that Saving Faith the Gospel speaks of Herein I have in part described the state of the Case between them and us It 's true there are some small Differences among the Orthodox in Wording some of these things But shall we hereby give Advantage to such Errours as overturn the Gospel and Dominion of Christ under the abused Pretext of Exalting Christ and Free Grace Bear with this which for the sake of Christ and dying Religion I have ventur'd to declare not for the Irritation of any but the Edification of all especially some mistaken well-meaning People Conscience binds me not to palliate though I fore-see Reproach from some who would do well to remember the Caution the Spirit of God thought needful to such as boasted of a Faith without Works and still it appears too pertinent If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this man's rereligion is vain Jam. 2. 26. SOME General Heads THE Elect are Children of Wrath till effectually called Page 4 The filth of Sin not transacted on Christ p. 10 The Act of laying Sins on Christ is not the discharge of the Elect p. 17 Mens Sins their own and not Christ's Sins p. 25 Our Sins laid on Christ before he was nailed to the Cross p. 29 Christ not abhorred by the Father p. 33 No change of Person between Christ and the Elect p. 41 Christ's Mediatorial Righteousness not subjectively in us and how imputed p. 42 Believers not as Holy as Christ p. 46 The Covenant of Grace explained and what a Condition is p. 53 57. The Covenant of Grace Conditional p. 63 Faith not a Perswasion that my Sins are pardoned c. p. 75 Prevailing Enmity a Hindrance to our present Interest in Christ p. 85 The Elect not united to Christ without Faith p. 93 What Union with Christ is p. 100 Justification not before Faith p. 105 Repentance necessary to Pardon p. 114 Sinners have much to do to be saved p. 129 The Gospel hath Threats and Promises p. 133 Holiness and Good Works necessary to Salvation p. 139 They are profitable and God pleased c p. 142 143 144 Our own Good should be intended p. 155 Assurance by Gospel-Marks and not by an inward Voice p. 165 God Chargeth Sin on Men and they should repent for repeated Pardon p. 175 Sin may hurt Believers p. 184 God afflicts for Sin p. 192 Sincere Holiness not Dung p. 199 102 Christ doth not repent c. for us p. 211 Conditional Proposals of Benefit on terms of Duty Gospel-Preaching p. 213 To excite Fear in sense of Danger not Legal Preaching p. 228 Christ more Exalted by the former Truths than by Dr. Crisp's Opinions p. 235 The Free Grace of God not honoured by Doctor Crisp though more Freeness be asserted by him than by these Truths p. 239 Part of a Sermon at Pinner's-Hall Anno 1691. The Edition of Dr. Crisp's Works I refer to is the last Anno 1690. FINIS