to this Law but as you do Nor do they hold that we are justified thereby as Adam should have been by perfect Obedience 3. You say Nor do I takâ— it in the Popish Sense which the Socinians and Arminians espouse R. The Popish Sense of Merit is renounced by the Socinians and Arminians as well as by you and as much for ought I can see The Popish Sense is very plain from the Council of Trent Anath 20. Cursed is he that saith the Gospel is a Promise without a Condition of observing the Command And this I am sure is your Sense You proceed 4. It is not a Law that supposeth a moral ability in Sinners to perform its Precepts c. R. It s an unreasonable Law that requires Duty of those that have no ability to perform and that Law that makes a Condition and promiseth Ability concludes not the Subject till the Power is given and when all comes to all 't is but a comprehensive Promise both of the Duty and Benefit to be received by it You say 5. It s not a Law that extinguisheth the Law of Nature which hath its special Precepts R. If the Law of Nature be the Law of Adam you say it vacates it for if it strip it of its Sanction it ceaseth to be a Law for Sanction is the Law 's Ratification as such Again 6. Neither doth this Law require any thing of us as a Condition of Christ's coming into the World nor of the first Grace to the Elect. This the Covenant of Redemption secures to the Catholick Church by Promise R. Whoever talked of our doing any thing as a Condition of Christ's coming into the World as our Redeemer but believe it as weak as you say Mr. C. is â— I le presume to tell you that you are bold to attempt to prove the Gospel to be a Law with Sanction If you allow that the first Grace is absolutely given and what is given by electing Grace is secured by Election to the Elect it s an inconsistent Principle that Redemption secures nothing but conditionally for where the absoluteness of any thing is secured it is secured so as to cease to be conditional 6. Nor is it a Law of Obedience whereto it renders any promised Blessing a Debt all is free though sure its free as to procurement or Price yet it is as sure by Promise as if it were by Debt The Price was Christ's Obedience and Sufferings all comes of Gift yet in that way which God appoints to give it R. This amounts to thus much That now you have dwindled your Law quite away for that Obedience that renders not the Promise a Debt can be no Law with Sanction for by the same Reason that the Punishment is due to me upon Disobedience the Promise is due upon Obedience You say It s sure by Promise so every promissory Covenant makes Blessings sure but that which is sure and free cannot be by Law Conditions P. 20. You give us a very long and confused account of your New Law the sum whereof is That upon Believing and Persevering in sincere Faith and Holiness Life and Salvation is promised and upon non-performance Death and Damnation threatned The Sense is Do and live the very same Essentials as to Matter and Form the Matter the Duties and Promises or Sins and Punishment the Form is the connection of these together by the Sovereign of Authority of a Law giver You say That you mean by saying The Gospel is a Law that God in Christ commands Sinners to receive Christ with a true operative Faith R. We grant the Gospel doth so command but is it a Condition required of the Creature to be performed in and by his present Abilities Must he have this first Grace given before he perform the Condition and by him that commands it Yet must this Command be a Law with Sanction No this Command carries with it to the Elect nothing but a gracious Offer and Invitation and effectual operative Means to bring a poor Sinner from under a Law with Sanction to Life and Salvation Rom. 5.1 The Wages of Sin is Death He lies under this Law-condemnation Joh. 3. He is condemned already The Gospel calls him not to come under another Condemnation but it calls him to the Gift of God What 's that Eternal Life through Jesus Christ besides God's Commands in the Gospel are gracious it s to such Duties which the same Grace promiseth and there 's no middle between being under the Law and under Grace under a gracious Command and a legal they are adversa sine medio You say vpon their believing they shall be united to Christ therefore they must first do something before Union to Christ that they may have the Benefit of Union make the Fruit good and then the Tree afterward contrary to one of the fundamental Maxims of our Lord Jesus Christ You proceed and say it threatens if any dye unbelieving impenitent c. they shall be barred from these Benefits R. The meaning is They shall die under the Condemnation of the Law they are in already as much as to say a Physician offers a Sick Patient a Remedy he refuseth it and dies of his Disease will you say the Physician brought him under a Law with Sanction Many such Instances might be given The King sends a Pardon to all the condemned Prisoners in Newgate suppose it be upon condition of Acceptance some one accept not will the Court now try him upon a new Law No there 's no further Tryal he is executed upon the Sentence before received And so are all those Places to be understood that say He that believes not shall be damned If you say by what Law I say not by a new one but by the Old Law I own as I believe there are degrees of Glory according to the degrees of the Vessels of Honour greater or lesser so there are degrees of Wrath which the Law will execute according to the degree of Sin and the Law will look upon rejection of Christ as the highest degree of Disobedience Therefore are those Expressions It shall be more tolerable for Sodom than for Corazin some shall be beaten with fewer some more Stripes some counted worthy of sorer Punishments than others but all this is by the Law not by the Gospel And Unbelief and Impenitency are Sins Judged and Condemned with all their Aggravations severely enough by that Law you need not doubt there needs no new Law to do it Your referring yourself to the Assembly will cast you for they never intended any such thing that the Gospel is a Law You say 1. Here 's the Essentials of a Law God is our Ruler and we his Subjects R. Are Ruler and Subjects the Essentials of a Law that 's strange Logick The Ruler in his legislative Power is the efficient and so in his executiâ—e in application of it to its Ends and the ruled are therefore called Subj cts because under Subjection to both
the Law is essentially distinct from both Put go on His Will revealed in a way of Governmâ—nt here 's the Precept that binds to Duty here 's a Promise made to them that comply and a Threatning denounced against such as rebel R. These look like Essentials of a Law of Works such was Adam's Law there was God's Will for Duty in a way of Government revealed a Promise to him if he complyed and a Threat denounced in case he did not Now then that Law which hath all the Essentials of a Covenant of Works is a Covenant of Works but your new Law by your Description hath all the Essentials of a Covenant of Works Therefore you say 2. This is a Law of Grace and it s made by our Redeemer for fallen Man R. Say you so 1. That which is made and executed in a way of Judicial Proceeding is not a Law of Grace for Grace and judicial Proceeding is diametrically opposite But you say it 's a Law in a way of Government by a Law therefore of Judicial Proceeding 2. You say it s made by our Redeemer Is it made with our Redeemer I suppose you must mean so because you say for fallen Man then Christ covenanted in our stead which you deny elsewhere and he is to perform the Conditions for us 3. You say All the Benefits of it are founded on Christ's Righteousness as the immediate Cause of them R. And where are the Duties founded in Man's Natural Power and Will No you l say in Election absolutely as to the first Grace Well then here 's the Benefits secured in Redemption absolutely I hope and the first Grace in Election Now if you can tell us where to get Security for after Graces and Perseverance we should have this whole Covenant absolutely secured Effectual Ability to perform the Duty i. e. the first Duty is provided for you say in Election But is after Duties provided for there if so election is the sole Covenant Condition for Duty and Redemption for Benefits Thus you may mangle the Grace of God Again you say God doth not fix on these Terms for any Worth in them or Profit to him R. It s true he did not fix on Adam's Terms for any Worth in them what proportion could the forbearing an Apple bear to eternal Life or what Profit would it have been to God if Adam had let the Apple hang on the Tree or persevered all his Days in Holiness Mr. W. The Gospel is the Instrument or Sign by which this Will of God is expressed this is not the Language of God in Adam's Law R. An Instrument in this Sense is a Law Deed or Conveyance engrossed or enrolled which is but a small adjunct to the Law The Scripture of the Old and New Testament are called Instruments because they are the enrollments of this Will of Christ and his Testament ratified by his Death and you say the Gospel is a Sign the Seals of the Covenant are Signs but the Covenant of Grace is not a Sign unless you mean it signifies God's Will and Pleasure in Government and so did Adam's Law and was the Language of it Mr. W. It sixeth that Rule of the Promise which Mr. C. p. 33. is at a loss to know R. And so are more than I for you say It s not the Promise nor the Precept where to find a Rule for the Promise in the Law I know not if it be not in Promise or Precept will you say its the connection of Precept and Promise if so it s the Rule rather of the Law forma perquam lex est is it God's Rule to dispense by or our Rule to claim by it may be you mean both Precepts and Promises are desparata at least therefore what your new Term is I suppose you do not know what it is yourself no more than your other new Rules of Sin which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and misery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Since in stead of clearing the Oustion you have confounded it I will take the true state of it from a Man that would speak his Mind more intelligeably in these Matters The Question stated Scrip. G. Justific Contr. 17. My true Sense is That the Covenant of Grace is such a Law as that the sincere Acts of Faith and Obedience and perseverance therein are the Conditions upon which eternal Life and Salvation is promised with a Penalty of eternal Death threatned upon the non-performance only I say that sincere Faith and Repentance are the moral qualifying Conditions of the Continuance of our justification and enjoyment of Heaven And this is a true Account of the Notion how yourself understands the Gospel to be a new Law as I could prove from your own Expressions even to every word here in this Account you might therefore have spared yourself and me the labour about your confused stating the Question R. Before I answer your Arguments I shall promise a few things 1. It being a great End of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Covenant of Grace to restore fallen Man and in so doing to magnifie the Law he makes full atonement for the breach of it brings in Everlasting Righteousness procures New Obedience to the perceptive part of it teacheth it by his Grace and works it by his Spirit and whereas in the Covenant of Works Obedience was the Way to and Condition of the Promise he makes the Promise the Way to and Condition of Obedience commanding no more than what he hath promised 2. When we say the Gospel is not a New Law with Sanction we deny it not to be a Testament that hath its ratification in the Death of Christ the Testator wherein also the Law of Works had its Sanction in respect of Penalty for all those that shall be saved by him as to satisfaction for their sins 3. That Rule and Government which Christ exerciseth over his Church as it comes to him by right of Redemption so that Obedience we give to him is part of that Eternal Life which he hath purchased and restored to us and both his government and our subjection thereto is of Promise and none of the least Blessings and Priviledges of the Covenant of Grace 4. As the Matter of all Precepts requiring Sanctity and Obedience of Heart and Life moral and instituted absolutely considered primarily belong to the first Law of Works and so are binding in a natural relation unto Unregenerate and Regenerate as they are the Commands of God the Creator and the least Transgression requires a Punishment due to the Breach of the whole Law So our Obedience becomes Gospel-Obedience 1. From our being restored to it in Christ the second Adam 2 In that it flows from a new Life given we must live before we can do 3. From the end of performance it 's not for Life as a Law-Reward of it but for the sake honour duty to and enjoyment of Christ and in the most grateful returns of his grace and love to us
Justice and Mercy in such a way of Salvation his Designs to magnify his Law and make it honourable to exalt his Son Jesus to be a Prince and Saviour and give Remission of Sins to exalt his free Grace in this salvation by a free justification adoption sanctification and glory and in doing this Justice should lose nothing of its due is all great and glorious Gospels 8. That in all these great and precious things there is such a connexion together that one encourageth and leadeth to another Promise leads to Duty and Duty to the receiving of Promises Grace leads to Glory and that Perseverance is as infallibly setled in electing Grace and as absolutely as the first Grace This is admirable Gospel 9. The great and clear discoveries that are made of the evil of sin of the dangers sin leads to and sinners are in and running into by continuing in sin and laying open the strict nature of the Law that it dispenseth not with the least sin it requires still perfect righteousness and holiness and sentenceth the sinner to eternal death and damnation for it and therefore it 's impossible that any flesh living by ordinary descent from Adam can be justified by the Works of the Law it 's a gracious and necessary piece of Gospel to take off a poor sinner from the love of sin and fondness of his own righteousness which every sinner by nature is apt unto and to set up the Lord Jesus as the only Name whereby he can be saved and to shew that he is able and willing to save to the uttermost whereby a sinner becomes dead to the Law and married by faith unto Jesus Christ This is in the glorious Gospel of God and our Saviour It is the light of it that shines into the heart doth this 10. It is good News and glad Tydings that the grace of God in the Gospel doth not make void the Law but establisheth it Rom. 3.31 Neither is the Law against the Promise Gal. 3.21 tho' that he that is under a Law for justification is under a Curse and that by the oeconomy of the grace of Christ in the New Covenant the Law and Gospel do sweetly harmonize 1. In that the Law hath been fulfilled in Christ as to all righteousness it hath a full Sanction as to every believer in the active and passive obedience of Christ their delivery from the curse of it being by this that he was made a curse for them all their sins are condemned in his flesh he bearing them on the Cross the Law hath its end as to all righteousness and compleat perfect holiness in Christ believers are all compleat and perfect in Christ as to the Law 2. It 's good News that Christ's death was not only the satisfying of the Law and Justice of God on the account of our sins and together with his active obedience the merit of grace and glory but that this same death of Christ was the Sanction and Ratification of all the Grace of the New Covenant as a Testament being by the death of the Testator and as a Law to Christ which he lay under by his Father's injunction to perform And this is the Sanction spoken of Hâ—b 8.6 and more fully explained c. 9.15 16 17. compared with c. 10.7 3. It 's good News to a believer that God hath provided a way for him to come into an acceptable obedience through Jesus Christ to the Law of God Lex attemperata foederi gratiae juxta illud inscripta cordi electorum jubet ea omnia quae in Evangelio proponuntur fide non ficta amplecti convenienter isti gratiae gloriae Vitam suam insti tuere Quando ergo Deus in foedere gratiae promittit pâ—ccatori electo fidem Rescipiscientiam consequenter vitam aeternam tum Lex cujus obligatio nunquam potest solvi quaeque ad omne officium sese extendit obstringit hominem ut illi veritati assentiatur promissa illa bona magnifaciat Impense desideret quaerat amplectatur Wits de Foed p. 198. because the Grace of the Gospel causeth him to love the Law and the Commands of Christ in the Gospel-way of performance He saith Oh how do I love thy law Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes and he desires that now God would grant him his Law graciously see Psal 119. For the grace of God in the Gospel writes the Law in his heart in a true love to God with all his heart and a love to the Law of God to the holiness justice and goodness of it and his great desire is now that in Christ Jesus and conformity to him God's Law may be honoured and therefore he looks upon the very performance of holy Duties accordingly as his benefit and priviledge by the grace of the Gospâ—l Christ is sanctification to him he is created in Christ Jesus to good works he is redeemed from all iniquity Tit. 2.12 13. and taught by the grace of God to deny all ungodly and worldly lusts c. from love and thankfulness to Christ to keep his Commandments and this New Gospel restored Principle of obedience is the New Commandment spoken of Joh. 13.34 1 Joh. 2.7 8. 2 Joh. 5. not that it was materially a New Command 4. Lastly It is great and good Tydings that Jesus Christ is set on the Holy Hill of Zion that he is King Head and Governour to his Church and that he hath provided particular right Laws Rules and Precepts for them to walk by according to the original design purity and intention of God's Law and that now the Law of God goes no longer out of Mount Sinai but out of Mount Zion and the Word of the Lord from the heavenly Jerusalem Isa 2.2 3. Mic. 4.1 Heb. 12.18 22 23. And it 's Gospel that all Power is not only given to Christ in his Church as King thereof but all Power in Heaven and Earth is committed to him as to governing Providence and that he shall judge the World at the last day These things are all the good Tydings of the Gospel ratified in the Covenant of Grace graciously freely and fully bestowed on us in the Gospel and upon no federal condition of our own performance either before or after conversion Arguments that the Gospel is not a New Law with Sanction Arg. 1. If Law and Gospel are specifically distinct then the Gospel is not a Law nor the Law a Gospel but Law and Gospel are specifically distinct therefore the Gospel is not a Law The consequence of the Major is undeniable to any one that understands the nature of Genus and Species The revealed offers of salvation were never but by two ways to Man by Works and by Grace that is called Law this Gospel and they are contra distinct sub proximo genere and adversa as much as homo brutum sub animali and the Law can no more be called Gospel or the Gospel a Law than a Man
Written or not which doth command or forbid any thing as the series of his Arguments and thâ—t effect which he ascribes to the Law in discovering Sin doth prove you may see much more in him to this purpose The Works of the Law are called the doing of those things Haec autem diligenter considerata manifesta indicant in hoc ver siculo appellatione legis sine Articulo intelligi omnem doctrinam scriptam aut non scriptam quae aliquid aut jubeat aut interdicat c. which the Law commands as they are done by us or not done by us not as simply commanded by the Law Now I suppose you will not call this learned Man's arguing here a Cobweb It were easie to shew upon what probable Reasons the Prepositive is added or omitted in other places of the Epistles where Law is mentioned which to avoid prolixity I must now omit It 's enough at present that it is left out in these eminent places where Justification by any Works of any Law is utterly denyed and condemned It 's frivolously objected by you that the omission of the Article here argues not because the Socinians would improve the leaving out of ὸ Joh. 1.1 against the Deity of Christ and say the word was a God not the God a God by office as one preached at P. H. whereas it s in that Text an Argument against them and there is doubtless a great force in it for as Mr. B. saith by the first words the word was in the beginning the eternal Essence of the Son is asserted 2. By the next The Word was with God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the Article is exprest and the Person of the Son is distinguished from the Person of the Father God without separation And in the third Enunciation he affirms That the Word was i. e. ver 1. Et essentialiter Deus Patri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 essâ—ntially God the same in Essence with the Father and if the Article had been added and it had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it had affirmed the Son to be the same Person with the Father It 's no small matter therefore in the declaring this divine Mystery that the Article is first added and then afterwards omitted to shew Christ is God tho' not God the Father See what an Argument yours is because the Socinians will make a false Inference from the leaving out ὸ Joh. 1.1 Therefore it must be Socianism to argue from Rom. 3.20 because the Prepositive is left out and Law used indefinitely that all Laws are understood and Justification by all Law-Works are excluded And whereas you say the Text speaks directly of the Law of Moses if you mean thereby the moral Law it was essentially the same with the Law of Innocency and the denial of Justification by one is also a denial of Justification by the other and so by all Doctrins requiring duty as Mr. Beza saith What you say of Gal. 3.11 militates against your self whereas you say Was every Law given 430 years after Abraham Is not the Apostle express in the 3 first Chapters that that Law was the Jewish Law Do you not mean Moral and Ceremonial and Judicial For of these parts were the Jewish Law or at most the Law of Nature together with it R. Were not these all Laws of Duty that God made and all comprehended in the Law of Nature requiring universal obedience to God in all things that he should ever Command But observe that Justification by Christ which is the same always in the Apostle's sense as Justification by Faith is opposed to Justification by the Law of Moses which was the way the Jews looked after partly by Sacrifice partly by their Obedience to that Law in the preceptive part and thus they followed after that Law of Righteousness Rom. 9.31 and attained it not because they sought it not by Faith sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi operibus legis as it were by the Works of the Law v. 32. Mr. Beza refuting Erasmus on that place saith Erasmus wrongs the Jews in that he thinks that they lookt upon the Salvation they had to have been by Works only the Grace of God excluded for the contrary to this Assertion appears by the Prayer of the Pharisee that the Jews had no other Opinion of Merits and Grace than now our Sophists have which conjoyn Free-will with Grace and Faith with Works And indeed this was the Stumbling-block I might go through Paul's Epistles to evince this That all sorts of Works are opposed to Grace in Justification quasi e regione perpetuo adversantur And this is the Point he deals so roundly with the Galatians about viz. Their Judaizing in joyning Works with Faith in Justification not so much the Ceremony of Circumcision which at another time he admitted of but because of the reason why now the Galatians thought Circumcision so necessary viz. as a Work of the Law therefore he testified That if they were circumcised Christ would profit them nothing and thereby they were obliged to keep the whole Law for Justification because obeying it in one point would not serve they could not be justified partly by Christ and partly by some partial obedience to the Law and there was as much reason to plead for a Mosaical imperfect obedience to joyn with the Sacrifices in Justification before Christ as there is now for an Evangelical imperfect obedience to conjoyn with Christ's Righteousness now and more Lastly Grace and Free-gifts is by all Men opposed to all conditional claim upon performance of a Duty required by any Law and the Apostle always makes this Debt Rom. 4.4 Let the conditional part be never so small it 's a Debt ex pacto Hence the Apostle placeth both eternal Life and the Righteousness by which we are justified all in free Gift to us Rom. 5.15 16 22. Yea he directly opposeth the Gospel gift of eternal life which comprehends Grace and Glory to any Law with Sanction v. last i. e. any Law that pays Death as the Wages of Sin The Wages of Sin is Death but the gift of God is eternal â—ife through Jesus Christ c. Now if your new Law makes Death the Wages of any Sin then the Gospel gift of eternal Life is opposed to it You say p. 25. The Benefits are not given us for our Faith but upon believing R. For and Upon in a Covenant sense are the the same to convey an Estate upon the payment of 5 Shillings is a Bargain and good ex pacto tho' the Estate be worth hundreds You say If a Man says I will give you a thousand Pound provided you will come and fetch it is it not free Gift I suppose it s reckoned so by him that is able and willing to fetch it But the Case may be so that if some Men offer me a thousand Pound I will not fetch it to have it and then I may not be able One may offer a thousand
Christ can't satisfie and merit for us without the Interposal of a Gospel Rule the meaning whereof is That Christ hath not legally satisfied for us till we have done something in conformity to the said Rule that may give validity to the satisfaction of Christ and make it pleadable as such so that Christ hath neither satisfied nor merited till we make up the Complement whereby it becomes legal 4. What mean you by a legal Right to Glory by Adam's Covenant If you mean by Christs satisfaction and obedience to Adam's Covenant we have our legal Right to Glory we say it for Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believes and through his Righteousness we have a Right to Glory by Adam's Covenant Christ's Righteousness is our legal Righteousness as it respects the Perfection and Justice of God in that Covenant and it s our Evangelical Righteousness as it s in the behalf of and bestowed upon undone Sinners But you say this Doctrin excludes Forgiveness Why Because it brings in Forgivness meerly upon Christ's Righteousness alone But how makes it Christ's Sufferings needless when it lays all upon the Righteousness of Christ imputed as the Matter and Form of our Justification Or how doth it deny proper satisfaction when it makes Christ's Righteousness all the satisfaction And your Doctrin makes it but an improper and remote satisfaction yea and imperfect And lastly you say it destroys Christianity This is so gross a Charge as that it is to be exploded with Detestation if the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness as our legal and evangelical Right and Title to Life and Salvation destroys Christianity we may burn our Bibles But you go on 5 You affirm That all sinned and dyed in Adam and in Christ are all made alive owning Christ's influence both real and publick as before explained R. All this is nihil ad Rhombum you own not hereby the Imputation of Adams Sin to his Posterity but that Sin and Death are only Effects of Adam's first Sin i. e. influential you own not that all Men were legally condemned in Adam as a publick federal Person standing in their stead In the same manner you always speak of the Righteousness of Christ as influential to our Forgiveness and that the imputation of it is only bestowing the Effects But whether we were in Christ before Faith as we were seminally in Adam before we were born which his federal Headship did suppose the being thus in Christ before Faith I deny R. You here grant our seminal being in Adam and that Adam's federal Headship supposed it and therefore we were seminally and federally in Adam before we were born Why speak you it not positively whether it was so or no That we were federally and seminally in Adam and that our Sin and Death was in him there we lost original Righteousness and thence the Imputation of his very first Sin to all his Posterity by vertue of our federal standing in him and by reason of our being seminally in him the corruption of the whole Nature was in him and naturally descended to us If it be so why are not the Elect as to Righteousness and Life in the same manner in the second Adam federally and seminally before they believe i. e. before they are born again in him federally as to Righteousness and seminally as to the new Nature Christ being their Righteousness and Sanctification whereas the Apostle runs the Parallel so fully and plainly as he doth Rom. 5 But all this is but shuffling the Cards to make People believe your Principles are what they are not most of whom cannot tell what you hold when you have darkened and confounded the Question by your manner of stating it You say I object against you the denying of the Doctrin of Imputation why do you not deny the Charge but only distinguish so upon it as to confirm it If your Principles are Truth why do you not speak them out but fill us with your cloudy Expressions and Distinctions which you charge us for why speak you not plainly That you deny the Suretiship of Christ as you know you do That you deny Christ to be a publick Person in the Sense as the soundest Protestants have always held him to be which last you do here in effect positively do That we were neither federally nor seminally in Christ before Believing Which if so I am sure you must deny the whole Doctrine of Imputation and what you pretend to can be no more than what the Socinians do And how can you say you are not against the Confession and I am when the Assembly saith Confess c. 8. sect 1. That Christ is ordained of God the Head and Saviour of his Church See Pinchin the Sâ—cinian and Mr. Norton's answer p. 353. Dialo I grant that all Mâ—nkind are one with Adam by a natural Union as proceeding from the same Root but I fear Mr. Forbes doth stretch out our natural Union with Adâ—m to a personal to the end that he might make Adam's personal Action to be ours by imputation Norton The scope of Mr. Forbes is to prove the Imputation of Christ's Passive Obedience and that only in his Dea h to bâ— the Matter of our Justification c. We consent to Mr. Forbs as to the Argument taken from the Comparison but dissent from him as concerning the Restrictions the Reason of the Comparison being founded upon the Conditions of the Persons and Divine Institution it holds betwixt such Acts aâ— thâ— first and second Adam acted as publick Persons Adom therefore being in that Act of Disobedience only a publ ck Person hence that Act only is imputed unto his Seed But Christ bâ—ing in all his Acts of Obedienâ—â— a publick Person hence therefore all the Acts of Christ's Obedience are imputed to his Seed As upon supposition Adam's continuing in Obedience because he had then continued a publick Person all the Acts of his Obedience even to the finishing of perfect Righteousness had been imputed to his Seed according to the nature of the Covenant of Works unto their attaining of Jusâ—ification by the Law The Uniâ—n between Adam and his Posterity was not personal nor only natural but mystical It was a Conjunction of the Person of Adam and all contained iâ— his Loyns in one Spiritual Body by the Insti ution of God whereby he was as their Head they as his Members to stand or fall with him standing or falling Mr. Norton sums up Pinchin's Errors under three Heads 1. In his denying the Imputation of the Sin of the Elect unto Christ and his suffering the Punâ—shment due thereunto contrary to 2 Cor. 5.21 Gal. 3.13 Isa 53 5 6. thereby leaving the Elect to perish in theâ—r Sin 2. Denying that Christ as Goâ—-Man Mediator obeyâ—d the Law and therewith that he obeyed it for us as our Surety contrary to Gal. 4.4 5. Matt. â— 17 18. Heb. 10.7 compared with Psal 40.8.7.8 Rom. 3.31 thereby rendring 〈…〉
particular that most worthy Divine Mr. Traughton in his Lutherus redivivus a Book worth every Christian 's having You say p. 25. Hath the gospel-Gospel-Covenant no Sanction what think you of Heb. 8.6 R. You might have said Heb. 9.15 16. I said not that the gospel-Gospel-Covenant hath no Sanction it hath a Sanction as a Testament in the Death of Christ in which the Law is satisfied for us and upon which the better absolute and clear Promises are founded and herein was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 placed the establishment of the Promises of Life and Salvation on the sure Conditions of Christ's Righteousness and not of our Performances You say What will become of Dr. Owen 's Law of Justification p. 167. R. His Law of Justification is the Law that Christ came under in doing and suffering the fulfilling God's Will for the justification of a sinner this was the Law that was in his heart for the Doctor 's words are Not that he did as a King constitute the the Law of Justification as you say for it was given and established in the first Promise and he came to put it in execution You say It 's one thing to be justified for Faith and another to be justified by it R. I say so too if it be in the Apostle's sense by Faith be in opposition to by Works but if you make Faith a Law-condition then this by becomes for and it signifies just as much as being justified by Works And thus Mr. Bulkly in your own Quotation is against you for he saith If we make the Commandment of Believing to be legal then the Promise of Life upon the Condition of Believing must be legal also And so it must needs be upon your Hypothesis that the Gospel is a Law You often say the Gospel-Law is not a Law of Works and that Paul saith so p. 26. What is so said either by the Apostle or you the Gospel is denied thereby to be a Law with Sanction or Law-Covenant for if there be no Works as Condition of it there 's nothing but Promise but where is your sincere conditional imperfect Obedience if there be no Works It 's absurd to say the first Grace is a Condition required of us because you grant it absolute You tell us what Dr. O. saith on Ps 130 p. 230. This is the inviolable Law of the Gospel i. e. believing and forgiveness are inseparably conjoyned which hath nothing of your sense in it Concerning Faith's being the Condition of a Law with Sanction he saith nothing he means no more but that they are connexed by God's constitution So there are many things connexed in the Promise as Faith and Forgiveness Faith and Repentance Faith and Love Justification and Sanctification and Glorification I could quote you a hundred places out of Dr. O. where he militates against this very Principle of yours See Dr. O. of Justifie p. 407. The Apostle speaks not one word of the Exclusion of the Merit of Works only he excludes all Works whatsoever Some think they are injuriously dealt withal when they are charged with maintaining Merit Yet those that best understand themselves and the Controversie are not so averse to any kind of merits knowing that it 's inseparable from Works Those among us who plead for Works in our Justification as they use many distinctions to explain their minds and free themselves from a co-incidence with that of the Papists they deny the name of Merit in the sense of the Church of Rome and so do the Socinians See more p. 408 409. where he shews all Works before and after Grace are excluded What you quote out of my honoured Father's Book I see nothing contradicts me if rightly understood had not your Doctrin been contrary to his tho' I hope I should defend the truth according to my light and conscience tho' against my own Father I should never have given you the least opposition but it 's not Human Authority must turn the Scales in these Matters You quote Mens transient Expressions that speak of a Gospel-law and Conditions in a sense that may be born with when they approve themselves clear in all main Points others speaking in such a Dialect in Sermons and Practical Discourses To shew that such things as God hath conjoyned Man is not to sever As for the two great Divines besides D. O. I mean Dr. Goodwin and Mr. Clarkson I know them to be expresly against your Notion of the conditionality of the Covenant and by what you quote out of them it appears to be so See Dr. Goodwin's Judgment about Condition Whether Faith be a Condition Sermon XXII p. 301. I would have this word laid aside I see both Parties speak faintly on 't Perkins on the Galatians and another There is danger in the use of it a Condition may be pleaded 2. In those Expressions if a Man believeth he shall be saved import that he that doth so shall be saved in the event which the Elect only are to whom he giveth Faith My Beloved the nature of Faith is modest it never maketh plea for it self if it were a Condition a Man might plead it before God and the making it a Condition seems to me to import as if there were an universal Grace and that it is the Condition terminateh it to this Man and not to that What Mr. Clerkson saith is nothing to your purpose for he saith The first Blessings of the Covenant are promised absolutely and subsequent Blessings are in some sense Conditional Not that God makes a conditional Bargain with us but because divine Wisdom hath made a connexion between these Blessings that they shall never be separated c. Lastly I shall give an Account of the beginning and progress of this Neonomian Error This Doctrin was first forged by the Pharisees of old who did not believe themselves justified by perfect Obedience to the moral Law their owning the Sacrifices and other Types their Gospel being a sufficient evidence that they acknowledged themselves great Sinners and far enough from perfect Obedience they only thought that Obedience that they did perform was through the merciful Nature of God accepted to Justification of Life and their Sins expiated by Sacrifices For not only the Scriptures give us full assurance of this to be truth but it were easy to shew what the Opinion of the ancient and latter Jews were in this Matter 1. They placed their Righteousness not in perfect Obedience but in sincere So Paul before his Conversion Act. 26.5.9 Chap. 23. 1. Rom. 10.9 The Jews went to establish their own Righteousness and their imperfect Obedience as such in conjunction with the attoning Sacrifices for their Justification And R. Menahem saith Scito vitam Hominis in praeceptis Know that the Life of Man in the Precepts is according to the intention that he hath in doing them But they say Faith is the cause of Blessedness and therefore the cause of eternal Life Thus the Author of Sepher Ikkarim