Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	apostle_n	sin_n	sting_n	5,518	5	11.9612	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41355	The marrow of modern divinity touching both the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace, with their use and end, both in the time of the Old Testament, and in the time of the New : wherein every one may cleerly see how far forth he bringeth the law into the case of justification, and so deserverh the name of legalist : and how far forth he rejecteth the law, in the case of sanctification, and so deserveth the name of Antinomist : with the middle path between them both, which by Iesus Christ leadeth to eternall life : in a dialogue, betwixt Evangelista, a minister of the Gospel, Nomista, a legalist, Antinomista, an Antinomian, and Neophytus, a young Christian / by the author, E.F. ; before the which there is prefixed the commendatory epistles of divers divines of great esteem in the citie of London ; whereunto is also added, the substance of a	Fisher, Edward, fl. 1627-1655.; Hamilton, Patrick, 1504?-1528. Patricks places.	1646 (1646)	Wing F997; ESTC R1839	130,516	286

satisfied or else I will take hold on thee ●hen answer you and say O Law bee it known unto thee that I am now marryed unto Christ and so I am under cover● and therefore if thou charge me with any debt thou must enter thine action against my husband Christ for the wife is not suable at the Law but the husband But the truth is I through him am dead to thee ô Law and thou art dead to me and therefore justice hath nothing to doe with me for it judgeth according to the Law And if it yet reply and say I but good works must be done and the commandements must bee kept if thou wilt obtain salvation Then answer you and say I am already saved before thou camest therefore I have no need of thy presence for in Christ I have all things at once neither need I any thing more that is necessary to salvation hee is my righteousnesse my treasure and my work I confesse O Law that I am neither godly nor righteous but yet this am I sure of that he is godly and righteous for me and to tell thee the truth O Law I am now with him in the bride-chamber where it maketh no matter what I am or what I have done but what Christ my sweet husband is hath done and doth for me and therefore leave off Law to dispute with me for by faith I apprehend him who hath apprehended me and put me into his bosome wherefore I will be bold to bid Moses with his Tables and all Lawyers with their books and all men with their works hold their peace and give place so that I say unto thee O Law be gon and if it will not be gon then thrust it out by force And if sin offer to take hold of you as David said his did on him Psal. 40.14 then say you unto it thy strength O sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15.56 and the Law is dead to me and therefore O sin thy strength is gon and therefore be sure thou shalt never be able to prevail against me nor doe me any hurt at all And if Satan take you by the throat and by violence draw you before Gods judgement seat then call to your husband Christ and say Lord I suffer violence make answer for me and help me and by his help you shall be enabled to plead for your selfe after this manner O God the Father I am thy Sonne Christs thou gavest me unto him and thou hast given unto him all power both in heaven and in earth and hast committed all judgement to him and therefore I will-stand to his judgement who saith He came not to judge the World but to save it and therefore hee will save me according to his office and if the jury should bring in their verdict that they have found you guilty then speak to the Iudge and say in case any must be condemned for my transgressions it must needs be Christ and not I for albeit I have committed them yet hee hath undertaken and bound himselfe to answer for them and that by his consent and good will and indeed hee hath fully satisfied for them and if all this will not serve the turne to acquit you then Adde moreover and say As a woman that is conceived with childe must not suffer death because of the childe that is within her no more must I because I have conceived Christ in mine heart though I had committed all the sins in the world And if death creep upon you and attempt to devoure you then say thy sting ô death is sin and Christ my husband hath fully vanquished sin and so deprived thee of thy sting and therefore doe I not feare any hurt that thou ô death canst do unto mee And thus you may triumph with the Apostle saying Thanks be to God who hath given mee victory through my Lord Iesus Christ. And thus have I also declared unto you how Christ in the fulnesse of time performed that which God before all time purposed and in time promised touching the helping and delivering of falne mankind and so have I also done with the law of faith Nom. Then Sir I pray you proceed to speake of the law of Christ and first let us heare what the law of Christ is The law of Christ in regard of substance and matter is all one with the law of workes or covenant of workes which matter is scattered through the whole Bible and summed up in the Decalogue or ten commandements commonly called the Morall Law containing such things as are agreeable to the minde and will of God to wit piety towards God charity towards our Neighbour and sobriety towards our selves therefore was it given of God to be a true and eternall rule of righteousnes for all men of all Nations and at all times so that Evangelicall grace directs a man to no other obedience then that wherof the law of the ten commandements is to be the rule Nom. But yet Sir I conceive that though as you say the law of Christ in regard of substance and matter be all one with the law of works yet their forms do differ Evan. True indeed for as you have heard the law of works speaketh on this wise doe this and thou shalt live and if thou doe it not thou shalt die the death but the law of Christ speaketh on this wise And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine owne bloud I said unto thee when thou wast in thy bloud live And whosoever liveth and believeth in mee shall never die Be ye therefore followers of God as deare children and walke in love as Christ hath loved us And if ye love me keep my commandements And if they breake my statutes and keep not my commandements then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take away from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to fail Thus you see that both these laws agree in saying doe this but here is the difference The one saith doe this and live and the other saith live and doe this the one saith doe this for life the other saith do this from life the one saith If thou do it not thou shalt die the other saith If thou doe it not I will chastise thee with the rod the one is to be delivered by God as hee is a creatour out of Christ onely to such as are out of Christ the other is to be delivered by God as he is a Redeemer in Christ onely to such as are in Christ Wherefore Neighbour Neophytus seeth that you are now in Christ beware you receive not the ten commandements at the hands of God out of Christ nor yet at the hands of Moses but onely at the hands of Christ and so shall you be sure to receive them as the law of Christ. Nom. But Sir may not

and so out of judgement discretion and election able to make choice of his way and therefore it was meet there should be such a covenant made with him that he might according to Gods appointment serve him after a reasonable manner Secondly it was meet there should be such a covenant made with him to shew that he was not such a Prince on earth but that he had a Soveraigne Lord therefore God set a punishment upon the breach of his commandement that man might know his inferiority and that things betwixt him and God were not as betwixt equals Thirdly it was meet there should be such a covenant made with him to shew that he had nothing by personall immediate and underived right but all by gift and gentlenesse so that you see it was an equall covenant which God out of his prerogative royall made with mankind in Adam before his fall Nom. Well Sir I do perceive that Adam and all mankind in him were created most holy Evan. Yea and most happy too for God placed him in paradise in the middest of all delightfull pleasures and contents wherein he did enjoy most near and sweet communion with his Creator in whose presence is fulnesse of joy and at whose right hand is pleasures for evermore So that if Adam had received of the tree of life by taking and eating of it while he stood in the state of Innonencie before his fall he had certainly been established in a happy estate for ever and could not have been seduced and supplanted by Sathan as some learned men do think and as Gods own words seem to imply Gen. 3.22 Nom. But it seemeth that Adam did not continue in that holy and happy estate Evan. No indeed for he disobeyed Gods expresse command in eating the forbidden fruit and so became guilty of the breach of the Covenant Nom. But Sir how could Adam who had his understanding so sound and his will so free to choose good be so disobedient to Gods expresse command Evan Though he and his will were both good yet were they mutably good so that he might either stand or fall at his own election or choice Nom. But why then did not the Lord create him immutable or why did he not so over-rule him in that action that he might not have eaten the forbidden fruit Evan. The reason why the Lord did not create him immutable was because hee would be obeyed out of judgement and free choice and not by fatall necessity and absolute determination and withall let me tell you it was not reasonable to restraine God to this point to make man such a one as would not or could not sin at all for it was at his choice to create him how he pleased but why he did not uphold him with strength of stedfast continuance that resteth hidden in Gods secret Counsell howbeit this we may certainly conclude that Adams state was such as served to take away from him all excuse for he received so much that of his own will he wrought his own destruction because that act of his was a wilfull transgression of a Law under the precepts whereof he was most justly created and unto the malediction whereof hee was as necessarily and righteously subject if he transgressed for as by being Gods creature he was to be subject to his will so by being Gods prisoner he was as justly subject to his wrath and that so much the more by how much the precept was most just the obedience more easie the transgression more unreasonable and the punishment more certaine Nom. And was Adams sinne and punishment imputed unto his whole off-spring Evan. Yea indeed for saith the Apostle Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned or in whom all have sinned that is in Adam the very truth is Adam by his fall threw down our whole nature headlong into the same destruction and drowned his whole off-spring in the same gulfe of misery and the reason is because by Gods appointment he was not to stand or fall as a single person only but as a common publike person representing all mankind to come of him therefore as all that happinesse all those gifts and endowments which were bestowed upon him were not bestowed upon him alone but also upon the whole nature of man and as that Covenant which was made with him was made with whole mankinde even so he by breaking Covenant lost all as well for us as for himselfe as he received all for himselfe and us so he lost all both for himselfe and us Nom. Then Sir it seemeth that by Adams breach of Covenant all man-kinde was brought into a miserable condition Evan. All mankind by the fall of Adam received a twofold damage first a deprivation of all originall goodnesse Secondly an habituall naturall pronenesse to all kind of wickednesse for the image of God after which they were created was forthwith blotted out and in place of wisdome righteousnesse and true holinesse came blindnesse uncleanesse falshood and injustice the very truth is our whole nature was thereby corrupted defiled deformed depraved infected made infirme fraile malignant full of venome contrary to God yea enemies and rebels unto him so that saith Luther this is the title we have received from Adam in this one thing we may glory and in nothing else at all namely that every Infant that is born into this world is wholly in the power of sinne death Sathan hell and everlasting damnation nay saith Musculus the whirlpoole of mans sinne in paradise is bottomlesse and unsearchable Nom. But Sir me thinks it is a strange thing that so small an offence as the eating of the forbidden fruit seemes to be should plunge whole mankind into such a gulfe of misery Evan. Though at the first glance it seem to be a small offence yet if you look more wishly upon the matter it will appeare to be an exceeding great offence for thereby intolerable injury was done unto God as first his dominion and authority in his holy command was violated Secondly his justice truth and power in his most righteous threatnings were despised Thirdly his most pure and perfect image wherein man was created in righteousnesse and true holinesse was utterly defaced Fourthly his glory which by an active service the creature should have brought to him was lost and despoiled nay how could there be a greater sin committed then that when Adam at ●hat one clap brake all the ten Commandements Nom. Did he break all the ten Comman●ements say you Sir I beseech you shew ●e wherein Evan. 1. He chose himself another God when he followed the Devil 2. He idolized and defiled his own belly ●s the Apostles phrase is He made his belly ●is god 3. He took the name of God in vain when ●e believed him not 4. He kept not the rest and estate where●● God had set him 5. He

Church and under the externall Covenant are called the chosen of God and the people of God But though they had been all of them believers yet as the Lord delivered it to them it would have done them no more hurt than it did them that were Nom. But Sir was the same covenant of works made with them that was made with Adam Evan. For the generall substance of the duty the Law delivered on mount Sinai and formerly engraven in mans heart was one and the same so that at mount Sinai the Lord delivered no new thing only it came more gently to Adam before his fall but after his fall came thunder with it Nom. I but Sir as your self said the ten Commandements as they were written in Adams heart were but the matter of the covenant of works and not the covenant it self till the form was annexed to them that is to say till God and man were thereupon agreed now we do not find that God and these people did agree upon any such terms at mount Sinai Evan. No say you so do you not remember that the people consented Exod. 19.8 saying All that the Lord hath spoken we will do And do you not remember that the Lord consented Levit. 18.5 saying Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgements which if a man do he shall live in them And in Deut. 27.26 saying Cursed is he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them And doth not the Apostle Paul give evidenee than these words were the form of the covenant of works when he saith Rom. 10.5 Moses describeth the righteousnesse which is of the law that the man that doth these things shall live in them when he saith Gal. 3.10 For it is writen Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them And in Deut. 4.13 Moses doth in expresse tearmes call it a Covenant saying And he declared unto you his Covenant which he commanded you to perform even ten Commandamennts and hee wrote them upon tables of stone Now this was not the Covenant of grace for Moses afterwards Deut. 5.3 speaking of this Covenant saith God made not this Covenant with your Fathers but with you And by Fathers all the Patriarkes unto Adam may be meant saith Mr. Aynsworth who had the promise of the Covenant of Christ therefore if it had been the Covenant of grace he would have said God did make this covenant with them rather then that he did not Nom. And do any of our godly and moderne witers agree with you in this point Evan. Yea indeed Polanus saith the Covenant of workes is that in which God promiseth everlasting life unto a man that in all respects performeth perfect obedience to the Law of workes adding thereunto threatnings of eternall death if hee shall not performe perfect obedience thereunto God made this Covenant in the beginning with the first man Adam whilst hee was in the first estate of integrity the same Covenant God did repeat and make againe by Moses with the people of Israel And Dr. Preston saith the Covenant of workes runs in these termes Do this and thou shalt live and I will be thy God This was the Covenant which was made with Adam and the Covenant that is expressed by M●ses in the Morall law And Mr. Walker saith that the first part of the covenant which God made with Israel at Horeb was nothing else but a renewing of the old covenant of works which God made with Adam in paradise And it is generally laid down by our Divines that we are by Christ delivered from the Law as it is a Covenant Nom. But Sir were the children of Israel at this time better able to perform the condition of the covenant of works than either Adam or any of the old Patriarks that God renewed it now with them rather then before Evan. No indeed God did not renew it with them now and not before because they were better able to keep it but because they had more need to be made acquainted what the covenant of works is then those before for though 't is true the Ten Commandements which were at first perfectly written in Adams heart were much obliterated by his fall yet some impressions and reliques thereof still remained and Adam himself was very sensible of his fall and the rest of the fathers were holpen by traditions And saith Cameron God did speak to the Patriarchs from heaven yea and he spake unto them by his Angels But now by this time sin had almost obliterated and defaced the impressions of the Law written in their hearts and by their being so long in Egypt they were so corrupted that the instructions and ordinances of their fathers were almost all worne out of mind and their fall in Adam was almost forgotten as the Apostle testifieth saying Before the time of the Law sin was in the world yet did they not impute it to themselves because there was no Law Nay in that long course of time betwixt Adam and Moses men had forgotten what was sin so that although God had made a promise of blessing to Abraham and to all his seed that would plead interest in it yet these people at this time were proud and secure and heedlesse of their estate and though sin was in them and death raigned over them yet they being without a law to evidence this sin and death unto their consciences they did not impute it unto themselves they would not own it nor charge themselves with it and so by consequence found no need of pleading the promise made to Abraham Therefore the Law entred that Adams offence and their own actuall transgression might abound So that now the Lord saw it needfull that there should be a new edition and publication of the covenant of works the sooner to compell the elect unbeleevers to come to Christ the promised seed that the grace of God in Christ to the elect beleevers might appeare the more exceeding gracious so that you see the Lords intention therein was that they by looking upon this Covenant might be put in mind what was their dutie of old when they were in Adams loines yea and what was their dutie still if they would stand to that covenant and so go the old and naturall way to work yea and hereby they were also to see what was their present infirmitie in not doing their duty that so they seeing an impossibilitie of obtaining life by that way of workes first appointed in Paradise they might be humbled and more heedfully minde the promise made to their father Abraham and hasten to lay hold on the Messiah or promised seed Nom. Then Sir it seemeth that the Lord did not renew the Covenant of workes with them to the intent that they should obtaine eternall life by their yeelding obedience to it Evan. No indeed God never made the

and therefore whereas they should first have considered what a straight rule the Law of God is and then have brought mans heart and have laid it to it they contrariwise first considered what a crooked rule mans heart is and then sought to make the Law like unto it and so indeed they expounded the Law literally teaching and holding that the righteousnesse which the Law required was but an externall righteousnesse consisting in the outward observation of the Law as you may see by the testimony of our Saviour Matth. 5. So that according to their exposition it was possible for a man to fulfill the Law perfectly and so to be justified and saved by his obedience to it Ant. But sir doe you think the Scribes and Pharisees and their seed did yield perfect obedience to the Law according to their own exposition Evan. No indeed I think very few of them if any at all Ant. Why what hopes could they then have to be justified and saved when they transgressed any of the Commandements Evan. Peter Martyr tels us that when they chanced to transgresse any of the Ten Commandements they had their sacrifices to make satisfaction as they conceived for they looked upon their sacrifices without their significations and so had a false faith in them thinking that the bare work was a sacrifice acceptable to God in a word they conceived that the blood of Buls and Goates would take away sinne And so what they wanted of fulfilling the Morall law they thought to make make up in the Ceremoniall law And thus they separated Christ from their sacrifices thinking they had discharged their duty very well when they had sacrificed and offered their offerings not considering that the imperfection of the Typicall law which as the Apostle saith made nothing perfect should have led them to find perfection in Christ but they generally rested in the work done in the Ceremoniall law even as they had done in the Morall law though they themselves were unable to do the one and the other was as unsufficient to help them And thus Israel which followed the law of righteousnesse did not attain to the law of righteousnesse because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law for they being ignorant of the righteousnesse of God and going about to stablish their own righteousnesse did not submit themselves to the righteousnesse of God Ant. Then Sir it seemeth that their ignorance was the cause of their error Evan. Yea indeed was it for this vaile of ignorance that was over their hearts or this vaile of blindnesse which was over their minds made their sight so weak and dim that they were no more able to behold the glorious beauty of the Lords holy and pure nature manifested in the Law as it was the covenant of works than the weak eye of man is able to behold the bright sun when it shineth in full strength And therefore we read that when Moses came down from the mount with the two tables wherein were wri●ten the words of the covenant of works the Ten Commandements his face did sh●ne so bright that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold it for the glory of his countenance and therefore Moses was glad to put the cloudy vaile of shadowing Ceremonies over it that so they might bee the better able to behold it Ant. But yet Si● it seemeth that the vaile of Ceremonies did not help their vaile of Ignorance Evan. No indeed for the generality of them were so addicted to the letter of the Law that they used it not as a pedagogie to Christ but 〈◊〉 justification by it and opposed Christ they terminated their eye-sight in th● shadow and did not see through it to th● subst●nce to wit to the end of the Law which is Christ. Some indeed there were which did otherwise but alas the number of them were very few especially in the future ages after Moses for their blind guides had so levened the people with their corrupt doctrine that at the time of our Saviours comming in the flesh we re●d● but of two to wit Simeon and Anna that desired him or looked for him for although all of them had in their mouths the Messiah and the blessed estate of the kingdome of David yet they dreamed that this Messiah should be some great Monarch that should come in outward pompe and power and save and deliver them from the Romans of whose bondage they were very sensible and weary but as for their spirituall bondage under the law and sinne they were not sensible of it and so indeed saw no need of deliverance from it and all because their false teachers had turned the whole Law into a Covenant of Works to be done for Justification and Salvation yea such a Covenant as they were able to keep and fulfill if no● by doing yet by making satisfaction with their sacrifices And though Jesus Christ himself for the removing of this vaile did in the fifth of Matthew take occasion truly to expound the Law as it is the Covenant of Works shewing that it did not only require externall righteousnesse but internall also of them that would bee justified by the works thereof and so removing that false glosse which the Scribes and Pharisees had put upon it Yea and though both he himselfe and his Apostles by their preaching and teaching did endeavour to let them understand that all the Sacrifices and Ceremonies did but point at him and so were of no further use Yea and though at the death of Christ the vaile of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottome to shew that the shadowes of Moses Law should vanish away at the flourishing light of the Gospel and that the mysteries of Christ which were formerly hid were now laid open Yet notwithstanding after that when the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians he saith concerning the Jewes Even to this day when Moses is read the vaile is over their hearts And though for the removing of this vaile the same Apostle as it is probobably thought did write to them that Divine and Spirituall Epistle called the Epistle to the Hebrewes wherein he plainly and fully declareth that all the Sacrifices Ceremonies and Tabernacle ordinances in the old Testament were but types of Christ and given to them that they might see Christ through them who being now exhibited and come in the fl●sh all types and shadows were to va●●sh away and give place yet notwithstanding we may say of them at this day as the Apostle did to the Corinthians untill this ●ay remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old Testament the Lord be mercifull unto them and remove it in his due time Nom. Sir as I conceive you have now spoken sufficiently both of Gods purpose and promise concerning the helping and delivering fallen mankind wherefore I beseech you let us

unto you both how it hath been wieh mee formerly and how it is with me for the present wherefore I would intreat you to tell me plainly and truly what you think of my condition Evan. Why truly I must tell you it appears to me by your relation that you have gone as far in the way of the Covenant of works as the Apostle Paul did before his conversion but yet for ought I see you have not gone the right way to the truth of the Gospell and therefore I question whether you be as yet come truly to Christ. Neo. Good Sir give me leave to speak a few words By the hearing of your discourse concerning the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace I was moved to feare that I was out of the right way but now having heard my neighbour Nomista make such an excellent relation and yet you to question whether hee bee come truly to CHRIST or no makes me to conclude absolutely that I am far from Christ surely if he upon whom the Lord hath bestowed such excellent gifts and graces and who hath lived such a godly life as I am sure he hath done be not right then woe be unto me Evan. Truly for ought I know you may be in Christ before him Nom. But I pray you Sir consider that though I am now throughly convinced that till of late I went on in the way of the Covenant of works yet seeing that at last I came to see my need of Christ and have verily believed that in what I come short of fulfilling the Law hee will help mee out me thinks I should be come truly to Christ. Evan. Verily I doe conceive that this gives you no sure evidence of your being come truly to Christ then some of your strict Papists have for it is the doctrine of the Church of Rome that if a man exercise all his power and doe his best to fulfill the Law then God for Christs sake will pardon all his infirmities and save his soule and therefore you shall see many of your Papists very strict and zealous in the performance of duties morning and evening so many Avie-Maries and so many Pater-nosters yea and many of them doe great deeds of charity and great works of hospitality and all upon such grounds and to such ends as these the Papists sayth Calvin cannot abide this saying by faith alone for they think that their own works are in part a cause of their salvation and so they make a hotch potch and mingle mangle that is neither fish nor flesh as men use to say Nom. But stay Sir I pray you are mistaken in me for though I hold that God doth accept of my doing my best to fulfill the Law yet doe I not hold with the Papists that my doings are meritorious for I believe that God accepts not of what I doe either for the work or workers sake but onely for Christs sake Evan. Yet doe you but still goe hand in hand with the Papists for though they doe hold that their works are meritorious yet they say it is by the merit of Christ that they become meritorious or as some of the moderate sort of them say our works sprinkled with the bloud of Christ become meritorious but this you are to know that as the justice of GOD requires a perfect obedience so doth it require that this perfect obedience be a personall obedience viz. it must bee the obedience of one person onely the obedience of two must not bee put together to make up a perfect obedience So that if you desire to be justified before God you must either bring to him a perfect righteousnesse of your own and wholy renounce Christ or else you must bring the perfect righteousnesse of Christ and wholy renounce your own Ant. But believe me Sir I would advise him to bring Christs and wholy renounce his own as I thank the Lord I have done Evan. You say very well for indeed the Covenant of Grace terminates it selfe onely on Christ and his righteousnesse God will have none to have a hand in the justification and salvation of a sinner but Christ onely and to say as the thing is neighbour Nomista Christ Jesus will either be a whole Saviour or no Saviour hee will either save you alone or not save you at all for among men there is given no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved sayth the Apostle Peter and Jesus Christ himselfe sayth I am the way the truth and the life and no man commeth to the father but by mee so that as Luther truly sayth besides this way Christ there is no way but wandering no verity but hypocrisie no life but eternall death and verily sayth another godly writer We can neither come to God the Father bee reconciled unto him nor have any thing to doe with him by any other way or means but onely by Jesus Christ for we shall not any where finde the favour of God true innocency righteousnesse satisfaction for sin help comfort life or salvation any where but onely in Jesus Christ he is the summe and centre of all divine and evangelicall truths and therefore as there is no knowledge or wisdome so excellent necessary or heavenly as the knowledge of Christ which made the Apostle tell the Corinthians that he determined to know nothing amongst them but onely Jesus Christ and him crucified so is there nothing to be preached unto men as an object of their faith or necessary element of their salvation which doth not some way or other either meet in Christ or refer unto Christ. Ant. O Sir you doe please me wonderous well in thus attributing all to Christ and surely Sir though of late you have not been so evangelical in your teaching as some others in this City which hath caused me to leave off hearing you to hear them yet have I formerly perceived and do now also perceive that you have more knowledge of the doctrine of free grace then many other Ministers in this City have and to tell you the truth Sir it was by your means that I was first brought to renounce mine owne righteousnesse and to cleave onely to the righteoasnesse of JESUS CHRIST and thus it was After that I had been a good while a legall professour just like my friend Nomista and heard none but your legall Preachers who built me up in works and doings as they did him and as their manner is At last a familiar acquaintance of mine who had some knowledge of the doctrine of free grace did commend you for an excellent Preacher at last prevailed with me to goe with him to hear you and your text that day I wel remember was Tit. 3.5 Not by the works of righteousnesse that we had done but according to his own mercie he saved us whence you observed and plainly proved that mans own righteousnesse had no hand in his justification and salvation whereupon you dehorted us

of the Law be an error yet it seemeth that by Luthers own confession it is but an error on the right hand Evan. But yet I tell you it is such an error that by the Apostle Pauls own confession so far forth as any man is guilty of it He makes his services his Saviours and rejects the grace of God and makes the death of Christ of none effect ond perverteth the Lords intention both in giving the Law and in giving the Gospel and keeps himselfe under the curse of the Law and maketh himself the sonne of a bond-woman a servant yea and a slave and hinders himselfe in the course of well doing and in short he goeth about an impossible thing and so loseth all his labour Nom. Why then Sir it should seeme that all my seeking to please God by my good works all my strict walking according to the Law and all my honest course of life hath rather done mee hurt then good Evan. The Apostle sayth that without faith it is impossible to please God that is sayth Calvin Whatsoever a man thinketh purposeth or doeth before hee be reconciled to God by faith in Christ is accursed and not onely of no value to righteousnesse but of certain deserving to damnation so that sayth Luther Whosoever goeth about to please God with works going before faith goeth about to please God with sin which is nothing else but to heap sin upon sin to mock God and to provoke him to wrath nay sayth the same Luther in another place If thou beest without Christ thy wisdome is double foolishnesse thy righteousnesse is double sin and iniquity and therefore though you have walked very strictly according to the Law and led an honest life yet if you have rested and put confidence therein and so come short of Christ then hath it indeed rather done you hurt then good For sayth a godly writer vertuous life according to the light of nature turneth a man farther off from God if he add not thereto the effectuall working of his Spirit and sayth Luther they which have respect onely to an honest life it were better for them to be adulterers and adulteresses and to wallow in the mire And surely for this cause it is that our Saviour tels the strict Scribes and Pharisees who sought justification by works and rejected Christ that Publicans and harlots should enter into the Kingdome of God before them And for this cause it was that I sayd for ought I know my neighbour Neophytus might bee in Christ before you Nom. But how can that be when as you know he hath confessed that he is ignorant and full of corruption and comes far short of me in gifts and graces Evan. Because as the Pharisee had more to doe before he could come at Christ then the Publican had so I conceive you have more to doe then he hath Nom. Why Sir I pray you what have I to doe or what would you advise me to doe for truly I would be contented to bee ruled by you Evan. Why that which you have to doe before you can come at Christ is to undoe all that ever you have done already that is to say whereas you have endeavoured to travail towards heaven by the way of the Covenant of works and so have gone a wrong way you must goe quite back again all the way you have gone before you can tread one step in the right way And whereas you have attempted to build up the ruines of old Adam and that upon your selfe and so like a foolish builder to build a tottering house upon the sands you must throw down and utterly demolish all that building and not leave a stone upon a stone before you can begin to build anew and whereas you have conceived that there is a sufficiencie in your selfe to justifie and save your selfe you must conclude that in that case there is not onely in you an insufficiencie but also a non-sufficiencie yea and that sufficiencie that seemed to be in you to bee your losse in plain termes you must deny your selfe as our Saviour sayth Matthew 16.24 That is You must utterly renounce all that ever you are and all that ever you have done All your knowledge and gifts all your hearing reading praying fasting weeping and mourning all your wandring in the way of works and strict walking must fall to the ground in a moment briefly whatsoever you have counted gain to you in the case of Justification you must now with the Apostle Paul count losse for CHRIST and judge it to be dung that you may win CHRIST and bee found in Him not having your own righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Neo. O but Sir What would you advise me to doe Evan. Why man what ayleth you Neo. Why Sir as you have been pleased to heare them two to declare their condition unto you so I beseech you to give me leave to doe the same and then you will perceive how it is with me Sir not long since it pleased the Lord to visit mee with a great fit of sicknesse so that indeed both in mine own judgement and in the judgement of all that came to visite mee I was sick unto death whereupon I began to consider whither my soule was to goe after its departure out of my body and I thought with my selfe that there was but two places heaven and hell and therefore it must needs goe to one of them then my wicked and sinfull life which indeed I had lived came into my minde which caused me to conclude that hell was the place provided for it which caused me to bee very fearfull and to bee very sorry that I had so lived and desired of the Lord to let me live a little longer and I would not faile to reforme my life and amend my ways and the Lord was pleased to grant mee my desire since which time though indeed t is true I have not lived so wickedly as formerly I had done yet alas I have come far short of that godly and religious life which I see other men live and especially this my neighbour Nomista and yet you seem to conceive that he is not in a good condition and therefore surely I must needs be in a miserable condition alas Sir what doe you thinke will become of me Evan. I doe perceive that although wee have by the Lords assistance our comming together opened and cleered the new and living way to eternall life yet the Lord hath not been pleased to open your eyes to see it so that you would still be going thither the old and naturall way and therefore as a further means to discover it to you I pray you consider that although in the making of the covenant of works at the first God was one party and man another yet in making it the second time God was on both sides

behalfe of all his chosen perfectly fulfilled the Law as it is the covenant of works divine justice delivered that bond in to Christ who utterly cancelled that hand-writing so that none of his chosen were to have any more to doe with it nor it with them and now you by your believing in Christ having manifested that you are one that was chosen in him before the foundation of the world his fulfilling of that covenant and cancelling of it is imputed to you and so you are acquitted and absolved from all your transgressions against that covenant either past present or to come and so you are justified as the Apostle saith Freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Ant. I pray you Sir give mee leave to speake a word by the way was not he justified before this time Evan. If he did not believe in Christ before this time as I conceive hee did not then certainly he was not justified before this time Ant. But Sir you know as the Apostle saith It is God that justifieth and God is eternall and as you have shewed Christ may be said to have fulfilled the covenant of works from all eternity and if he bee Christs now then was he Christs from all eternity and therefore as I conceive hee was justified from all eternity Evan. Indeed God is from all eternity and in respect of Gods accepting of Christs undertaking to fulfill the covenant of works he fulfilled it from all eternity and in respect of Gods electing of him he was Christs from all eternity and therefore it is true in respect of Gods decree hee was justified from all eternity and hee was justified meritoriously in the death and resurrection of Christ but yet he was not justified actually till he did actually believe in Christ for saith the Apostle By him all that believe are justified so that in the act of justifying faith and Christ must have a mutuall relation and must always concur and meet together faith as the action which apprehendeth and Christ as the object which is apprehended for neither doth Christ justifie without faith neither doth faith except it bee in Christ. Ant. Truly Sir you have indifferently well satisfied me in this point and surely I like it marvellous well that you conclude no faith justifieth but that whose object is Christ. Eva. The very truth is thuogh a man believe that God is mercifull and true of his promise and that he hath his elect number from the beginning and that he himselfe is one of that number yet if this faith doe not eye Christ if it be not in God as he is in Christ it will not serve turn for God cannot be comfortably thought upon out of Christ our mediator for if we finde not God in Christ saith Calvin salvation cannot bee known wherefore neighbour Neophytus I will say unto you as sweet Master Bradford said unto a gentlewoman in your case Thus then if you would be quiet and certain in conscience then let your faith burst forth through all things not onely that you have within you but also whatsoever is in heaven earth and hell and never rest untill it come to Christ crucified and the eternall sweete mercie and goodnesse of God in ●hrist Neo. But Sir I am not yet satisfied concerning the point you touched before and therefore I pray you proceed to shew me how far forth I am delivered from the Law as it is the covenant of works Evan. Truly as it is the covenant of works you are wholy and altogether delivered and set free from it you are dead to it and it is dead to you and if it be dead to you then it can doe you neither good nor hurt and if you be dead to it you can expect neither good nor hurt from it consider man I pray you that as I said before you are now under another covenant to wit the covenant of grace and you cannot bee under two covenants at once neither wholy nor partly and therefore as before you believed you were wholy under the covenant of works as Adam left both you and all his posterity after his fall so now since you have believed you are wholy under the covenant of grace Assure your selfe then that no Minister or Preacher of Gods Word hath any warrant to say unto you hereafter either doe this and this dutie contained in the law and avoid this and this sin forbidden in the Law and God will justifie thee and save thy soule or doe it not and Hee will condemne thee and damne thee no no you are now set free both from the commanding and condemning power of the covenant of works so that I will say unto you as the Apostle saith unto the believing Hebrews You are not come to Mount Sinai that might not be touched and that burned with fire nor unto blacknesse and darknesse and tempests but you are come unto Mount Sion the City of the living God and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant so that to speak with holy reverence God cannot by vertue of the covenant of wotks either require of you any obedience or punish you for any disobedience no he cannot by vertue of that covenant so much as threaten you or give you an angry word or shew you an angry look for indeed he can see no sin in you as a transgression of that covenant for saith the Apostle Where there is no Law there is no transgression And therfore though hereafter you doe through frailty transgresse any or all the ten Commandements yet doe you not thereby transgresse the covenant of works there is no such covenant now betwixt God and you and therefore though you shall hereafter heare such a voice as this if thou wilt be saved keep the commandements or cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are writen in the book of the Law to doe them nay though you heare the voice of thunder and a fearfull noyse nay though you see blacknesse and darknesse and feel a great tempest that is to say though you heare us that are Preachers according to our commission Lift up our voice like a trumpet in threatning hell and damnation to sinners and transgressors of the Law though these be the words of God yet are you not to thinke that they are spoken to you no no the Apostle assures you ●hat there is no condemnation to them that ●●re in Christ Jesus believe it man God never threatens eternall death after he hath once given to a man eternall life nay the truth is God never speaks to a believer out of Christ and in Christ hee speaks not a word in the terms of the covenant of works and if the Law of it selfe should presume to ●ome into your conscience and say herein and herein thou hast transgressed and broken ●●e and therefore thou owest so much and ●o much to divine Justice which must be