by the dominion of Sin the prevailing of Sin this I deny to be dominion in a Justified One You should have made this Proposition if a true Believer be not in Christ he shall come into Condemnation Would not this look Ridiculous Neonom And tho' the Grace of God will prevent the dominion of Sin in every Elect Believer and so keep them from Eternal Death yet true Believers may by Sin bring very great hurt to themselves in Soul and Body which they ought to fear and they may expect a share in National Judgments according as they have contributed to the common guilt Antinom Here now you add a preservation from another hurt and it 's certain that as Sin shall not hurt them as to the wages of Sin and penal effects answering the Sanction of the Law so it shall not have dominion over them which you say well in Grace hath secured them from Rom. 6. and yet you begin with a bounce in your proposition made up of impossibilities by your own concession 2. You say the grace of God prevents the dominion of Sin and so keeps them from Eternal Death as if you thought the grace of God made no use of Christ in preserving Men from Eternal Death Hath Christ not delivered us from the dominion of Sin and Eternal Death too but I find you 'l have as little to do with Christ in the Salvation of Sinners or Believers as you can 3. Notwithstanding Sin cannot bring them under Condemnation nor under its dominion the Two great real hurts of Sin yet you would seem to say something contrary to me and that is it doth do them hurt in Soul and Body which they ought to fear we tell you 1. It can do them no real hurt it may do them supposed 2. It doth them no hurt directly as to punishment or dominion it may by accident i. e. thro' the weakness of their Faith lie upon their Consciences defile them and drive them to warp from the free love and grace of God this you would call good and not hurt for you would have them put themselves under Wrath. 3. We speak of Sins past yet lying upon Conscience and driving the Soul from Christ we speak not of Sins not committed those we should fear with a fear of watchfulness and dependance on grace for strength against them and we say they are odious to the Faithful 4. We say true Believers shall have a share in National Calamities which shall not be Judicial Punishments to them but sanctified afflictions and therefore no real hurts tho' seeming ones Neonom But I will tell you wherein the difference is not Antinom What then I must run the Gantlet for my Error forward and backward with whether and neither Neonom Yes if you will know the Truth rightly stated you must know it when it is not as well as when it is as they that look for that which is lost 1. It is not whether God will preserve Elect Believers from Eternal Condemnation by keeping them from the Dominion of Sin Antinom But it is whether keeping Men from the Dominion of Sin is the proper Reason of their being kept from Condemnation Doth Mortification of Sin save Men from Condemnation or the strictest degree of Holiness It 's true that the Will of God is our Sanctification but our Sanctification did not die for us and hath no more to do in taking off Condemnation than Paul in taking off Condemnation from the Corinthians it peculiarly belongs to Christ to deliver from the Wrath to come and from all Condemnation Neonom Nor whether a justifyed Person be freed from the Curse of the Law or the Sanction of the Law of Works Antinom But it is whether he be free from the Sanction of your new Law which is a Law of Works too Neonom Nor whether a Believer should fear his Eternal Condemnation no further than his Sins bring his Sincerity in question or lead to Security or Apostacy Antinom But it is out of question Hypocrites and Apostates were never Believers 2 Whatever a Believer doth do yet you own he ought upon some Grounds or other to be delivered from the fear of Condemnation We say it ought to be grounded on the Faith of his full deliverance from Condemnation by the attonement and satisfaction of Christ You say it ought to be founded upon his Sincerity and Perseverance that when he is rid of all his Hypocrisy and hath persevered to the end of his Life he may be free from fear of Condemnation but not before 3. Where 's the true Believer but is daily complaining and not without cause enough of his Unbelief Hypocrisy Security Backsliding And if he should have no better assurance of the safety of his State and freedom from Condemnation than his own Sincerity and Perseverance he could not be freed from the fear of Condemnation in this Life nor walk comfortably an hour Neonom Nor whether God may in sovereign Mercy spare to execute those Rebukes National or Personal which a godly Man's Sins may expose him to Antinom You love to dance about in Ambiguities There is a great deal of difference between sovereign sparing Mercy and Covenant-Mercy God exerciseth sparing Mercy and long Suffering towards the worst of Men but deals with a true Believer always in a way of Covenant-mercy and whether he rebukes him or not it 's all from his Fatherly Love and Wisdom God cannot deal with him but according to his Covenant relation God indeed deals with Nations and mixt Societies of Men according to his Sovereignty but the same visible Dispensations are made Covenant-mercies to all true Believers within the compass of such Providences Neonom Nor whether God may or can over-rule the Sin of a Believer afterward to his Benefit these I affirm Antinom It 's not only out of question that he may or can over-rule the Sin of a Believer for his Benefit but that he always doth do it if he is truly belonging to God Neonom Nor whether the Afflictions of the Godly be the execution of the damnatory Curse of the Law or any satisfaction or attonement for Sins This I deny and add That Christ alone satisfied Justice Antinom But it 's a question what you mean by the damnatory Curse of the Law Is then one Curse damnatory and another not damnatory You mean Afflictions are an Execution of the Curse of the Law but are not of eternal Damnation 2. You say They are not any satisfaction and attonement but if they be execution of a Curse if but temporary it cannot be avoided but they must be satisfying and attoning in one kind or another in whole or in part 3. You add That Christ alone satisfied Justice if so then he suffered the whole penal part of Sin and this is all the Doctor saith that there remains none of it for a true believing Member of Christ to bear and what 's the reason you make such a noise when here you yield all the
he there was no Sin in him this doth plainly evince that the Anomy of Sin was accounted to him 3. That the fault of Sin is separable from the Person of the Sinner but can never be separated from the demerit without payment David's Person is freed from the fault of Murder but his Murder cannot be freed from the desert of Death Now that which Christ did especially was to make the Elect without fault before God to take off that relation which they had to the Law lying as to the blame of it God's Reconciliation to the Persons of Sinners is by taking away the fault of Sin before God and this is done by the Person of Christ bearing Sin 4. That in a Sinner which is to be pardoned whenever he receives Christ was â—aid on Christ but the fault of Sin is to be pardoned whenever he receives Christ there 's the least part of pardon that frees only from Punishment but forgives not the Fault or Offence just as a King 's Reprieving a Felon but not Pardoning him To save him from the Gallows but charge him never to see his Face 5. That without the taking away of which the Conscience of a Sinner can never be purified from Guilt was certainly laid upon and taken away by Jesus Christ Heb. 9 14. But the Fault of Sin is such without the taking away of which before God the Conscience can never be purified from Guilt Ergo the fault of Sin was laid upon Jesus Christ to take it away let a Man be sure he should never see Death yet if the fault lye upon him there will still be Guilt his Conscience will accuse he cannot have Peace towards God 6. If the Wages of Sin be in the very Nature of Sin viz. Spiritual Death and it be inseparable from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sin it self then that Death cannot be removed without taking away the Sin before God but the Wages of Sin which is Death is inseparable from the Nature of Sin in the Fault before God c. Ergo he that by Death slays our Death slays and carries away the Sin which is this Death The Apostle to the Rom. 7. calls the Body of Sin the Body of Death 2 Tim. 1.10 7. That which Essentially belongs unto Christ's Office as Mediator must be performed by Christ but bearing our Sins so as to take them away before God is Essentially belonging to Christ's Office as Mediator It 's not the Essential part of a Mediator to bear the Punishment of the wronged Party but to reconcile the Parties at variance he may save one Party from utter Ruine by bearing Punishment yet cannot reconcile them without taking away all matter of offence but it is the fault of Sin that is the cause of variance God hates it and the Sinner loves it God is not offended at the Creature because he must be punished but because it 's he who hath broke his Law therefore he punisheth him 8. If the Creature will never be Reconciled to God till it hath some prospect of God's being reconciled first by Christ taking away the fault of Sin before God then Christ bore it away but the Creature will never be reconciled to God without this prospect Ergo for the Ministry of Reconciliation as to its Efficacy is founded upon this 2 Cor. 5. And it 's there described to be God being in Christ first Reconciling the World to himself and how is he said to be so but by making Christ Sin for us who knew no Sin 9. All the Sin-offerings of the Law hold forth Christ's bearing Sin if you consider their Names the proper Sin-offering was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levit. 4.3 It was called a Sin because made Sin for us Typically as Christ Really by Imputation the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Trespass or Guilt-offering was for Sin that for the whole Congregation was such Lev. 4.15 So the Burnt-offering was designed to the taking away of Sin by bearing it that Called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Peace-offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was in order to the making Peace and Reconciliation for the Sinner therefore in the Consecration of all these there was the charging them with Sin by the laying on of the hands of them that brought them to be Offered up for them Levit. 1.3 The Hebrew Doctors say all Oblations of Beasts which particular Persons Offer of Debt or voluntarily they lay hands on them and so it was on the daily Sacrifice as Mr. A. on Numb 28.2 saith signifying that it was constituted instead of the Sinner and the Sacrifice placed in the Sinners Room thus charged with his Sins the Priest was to offer to make Atonement by to Expiate and make Reconciliation in regard of Man's Sin and God's Wrath for the same That these Sacrifices were Types of Christ our Sacrifice in beating Sin appears abundantly Heb. 9.28 Neither do we say that this bearing of Sin by Christ doth free a Person from being formally a Sinner but because we are formally Sinners therefore our Sins are thus born to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3.18 The Physical Substratum of Sin remains and in us yea the Moral macula in pravity and obliquity to be gradually removed in the Application of Christ's Blood by the Spirit of Holiness but yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before God must be taken away which is the fault blamed by the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dr. O. of Justification p. 287. proves Sin was laid on Christ as to the Guilt which we have shewed and is either the Sin it self or is so conjoined with it that it cannot be separated where there is a demerit there is a fault if Christ had a demerit to Sufferings it was for Sin though ours and subjective in us which his bearing Sin by Imputation always supposeth His Arguments are these 1. If Guilt of Sin was not Imputed to Christ Sin was not Imputed to him in any sence for the Punishment is not Sin 2. There can be no Punishment but with respect of the Guilt of Sin personally Contracted or Imputed Guilt alone gives what 's materially evil and afflictive the formal Nature of Punishment and what is Guilt but Sin manifest by Conviction whereof the Sinner is charged in foro Dei or in foro Conscientiae The first kind Christ took off by bearing it immediately the other is removed by Application in Believing 3. Christ was made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 14. but the Curse of the Law respects the Guilt of Sin only i. e. a Person manifestly faulty and a Delinquent to the Law 4. The Express Testimonies of Scripture unto this purpose cannot be avoided Isa 53.6 Psal 32.5 c. 5. This was represented in all the Sacrifices of old especially in the Great Aniversary Expiation with the Ordinance of the Scape-Goat 6. Without supposition of this it cannot be understood how Christ should be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or suffer
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He likewise vindicates the Imputation of Sin to Christ in the sense of Guilt opposed to Punishment from all these odious Consequences that you would lay upon it such as this That if our Sins be Imputed to Christ then Christ is a Sinner and Child of the Devil A. That which the Scripture affirms is that he was made Sin for us this the Greek Expositors Chrisostom Theophyl Oecumen and many others take for a Sinner but all affirm that denomination to be taken from Imputation only he had Sin Imputed to him and underwent the Punishment 2. This Imputation did not carry with it any thing of Pollution and Filth of Sin to be communicated by Transfusion 3. The Denomination of an Idolater Drunkard belongs not to him upon this account c. In Sin there are three things 1. The Offence of God which is the fault 2. Obligation unto Eternal Punishment which is the Guilt 3. The Stain or Pollution of the Soul the Inherent Vicious Inclination of the Soul Sin doth not remain in those that are Justified in the two first respects of Fault and Guilt both which are taken away by the Death of Christ But Sin doth remain in the Regenerate according to the third respect viz. the Vitious Quality and Corruption thereof inherent in the Soul Pemble of Just p. 183. fol. Pinch saith 2 Cor. 5.21 The meaning of these words is not that he was made Sin for us but as a sacrifice for sin c. Norton against Pinch p. 53. Answ He was made sin for us as we are made Righteousness i. e. by Judicial Imputation without the Violation yea with the Establishing of Justice he was made sin as he was made a Curse Gal. 3.13 the Greek word used here and there are the same But he was made a Curse by Judicial Imputation because he was the sin-offering in truth therefore he was made sin by real Imputation as the Legal Sin-Offering was made sin by Typical Imputation Likewise in Vindication of Isa 53.6 from Pinchon's false Glosses who used this Argument against Imputation Christ's sacrifice was Effectual to procure Atonement therefore sin was not imputed to him p. 4. § 46. Here is a meer non-sequitur nay the contrary consequence is true Christ appeared to put away Sin Heb. 9.26 28. was once Offered to bear the Sins of many ver 28. The Greek word used here by Paul and elsewhere by Peter 1 Pet. 2.24 signifieth to take carry bear up on high and that so as to bear away and in Allusion to the whole Burnt-offering the Person that brought the Sacrifice was to put his Hand upon the Head thereof The Apostle whilst he was speaking of the Antitype chuseth out such a word to express Christ's bearing of sin to teach us thereby that Christ did both carry up and bear the load of our sins Imputed to him on the Cross and also bear them clear away And thus Isaiah Paul and Peter sweetly agree together and Interpret one another as concerning Christ's bearing the Imputation of Guilt and Punishment of sin See more in his Refutation of that Socinian I do not see how he could be said to bear the Punishment of sin that being strictly taken if first he should not take its Guilt We all grant Christ's sufferings to be Penal but how could they have been so without Guilt Therefore having no Guilt of his own he must be lookt upon as assuming ours upon which he might be said properly to undergo Punishment And he also vindicates 2 Cor. 5.21 shewing that his being made sin is his voluntary susception of the sinners Guilt Dr. Jacomb on Rom. 8. p. 490. Etsi Peccatum interdum vocatur Victima ex Hebreor Idiotissimo c. yet the reason of the Antithesis here requires that Christ should rather be said to be made Sin for us i. e. the sinner not in himself but from the Guilt of all our sins Imputed to him of which thing that pair of Goats was a Figure Levit. 16. Beza on 2 Cor. 5.21 Quemadmodum Christus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coram Deo peccatum nostrum Execrationem sustinuit non fictè sed reverà ita fidelis fiunt Justitia Dei i. e. Justi in conspectu Dei c. i. e. As Christ being Righteousness and Holiness himself bore our Sin and Curse before God not feignedly but really so the Faithful are made the Righteousness of God Camerar upon the same place It is of singular Consolation so to Cloath Christ with our sins and to wrap him in my sins thy sins and the sins of the whole World And so to behold him bearing our Iniquities for the beholding him after this manner shall easily vanquish all the Fantastical Opinions of the Papists concerning Justification by Works for they do imagine by a certain Faith formed and adorned with Charity sins are taken away and Men are justified before God and what is this but to unwrap Christ and strip him quite out of our sins to make him Innocent and to charge and overwhelm our selves with our own sins and to look upon them not in Christ but in our selves yea what is this but to take Christ clean away and to make him unprofitable to us Luth. on Gal. 3.13 Let us receive this most sweet Doctrine and full of Comfort with Thanksgiving and assured Faith which teacheth that Christ being made a Curse for us i. e. a sinner subject to the Wrath of God did put upon him our Person and laid our sins upon his own shoulders saying I have committed the sins which all Men have committed therefore he was made a Curse indeed according to the Law not for himself but for us for unless he had taken upon himself my sins and thine and of the whole World the Law had had no right over him which condemneth none but sinners only and holdeth them under the Curse but because he had taken upon him our sins not by constraint but of his own good will it behoveth him to bear the Punishment and Wrath of God not for his own Person which was Just but for our Person Fol. 140. Spanhem saith Culpam Poenam esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adeoque se mutuo ponere tollere nec illam dari sine abnoxitate ad istam nec istam sine retentione illius absurdum est esse hominum culpae omnis propriae Imputatae expertem poenae ulli addici The sum whereof is It is absurd to say that a Man can be void of his own sin or the sin of another and yet Condemned to any Punishment Spanhem Dub. Evang. pars tert p. 117. DEBATE III. Of the Discharge of the Elect from Sins upon their being laid on Christ Neonom GEntlemen you may remember what Point was discoursed the last time we met in this Conference now Mr. Antinomian is come I pray let us proceed in order and method and if you please I will propound the subject of our Discourse because I
Sin You say the guilty Person is no Sinner formally What then a punishable Creature Do you mean a Creature capable of Suffering so is a Dog or a Cat or a Horse Or do you mean a Man under a Law If under a Law he is not punishable but as a Sinner Sin is Subjectivè formalis ratio poenae Sin is subjectively the formal Reason of Punishment So that a Man must be denominated a Sinner formally or else he is not punishable in any way of Justice Neonom In the whole Scheme of your Principles it 's Elect as Elect who cease to be Sinners When you speak of Believers you do not mean that he was a Sinner before he believed for you state the time when Christ had his Sins laid upon him D. W. p. 23. Antinom Believers of great Antiquity older than Methuselah But methinks a Man that would be taken for a great Divine and one that in tenderâ—ess to Holiness will rather with-hold the Truths of the Gospel and abscond them lest Men should take too much liberty thereby to sin I say one would think such a Man should for his Reputation sâ—ke make Conscience of speaking Truth and much more tremble at the Temptation to Bantering and exposing the great Truths of the Gospel to Scorn and Reproach How can you dare to toss tumble reproach and load this great Truth of the Gospel in the very Words of the Holy Ghost with all the odious Consequences imaginable You may value your self as you please or other Men may judge of you and your Words as they please I shall only desire you to read Job 19.27 28 29. Neonom Now I will tell you what is the Truth Antinom No no I hope we know the Truth Tell us the Eror you charge me with and if there be time we will hear the Truth afterward Neonom If you are in such haste for it you shall have it then Errour The Elect upon the Death of Christ ceased to be Sinners and ever since their Sins are none of their Sins but are the Sins of Christ and this I prove to be your Error from your own Words You put this Objection Must he not be reckoned a Sinner while he doth sin A. I answer No Tho he doth Sin yet he is not to be reckoned a Sinner but his Sins are reckoned to be taken away from him c. A Man doth sin against God God reckons not his Sin to be his he reckons it Christ's therefore he cannot reckon it his Dr. Cr. p. 8. Antinom Gentlemen I would have you observe the things that are Asserted by Mr. Neonom for I beseech you do me Justice that it appears that I speak always of the Elect as Elect and not Believers and when I mention Believers that I do not mean he was a Sinner before he believed I will read my Discourse to you taken from me as I delivered it Preaching from John 14.6 I was shewing Christ was the Way from a State of Sinfulness There is a two-fold consideration of Sinfulness from which Christ is our Way in a special manner 1. That which is called the Guilt of Sin which is indeed the Fault or a Persons being Faulty as he is a Transgressor Is 2ly The Power and over-masterfulness of Sin in Persons Christ is the way from both these 1. From the Guilt of Sin Christ is the way from the Guilt of Sin It is briefly no more but this to be â—â—d of the Guilt of Sin viz. Upon Tryal to be quitted and discharged from the Charge of Sin that is laid or may be laid to him and to be freed from it This is for a Person in Judgement to be pronounced actually innocent and a just Person as having no Sin to be charged on him This is to be free from the Guilt of Sin A Man is not free from a Fault as long as the Fault is laid to his Charge and he is then free when he is not charged with it He is only the way by which a poor Sinner may be pronounced innocent and having proved that Christ is the way to take away the Guilt of Sin which I say is the Charge of Fault by many plain places of Scripture and by the Type of the Scape Goat I came to answer this Objection But do not those that receive Christ actually commit Sin I answer Yea they do commit Sin and the Truth is themselves can do nothing but commit Sin If a Person that is a Believer hath any thing in the World he hath received that if he doth any thing that is good it is the Spirit of God that doth it not he Therefore he himself doth nothing but Sin his Soul is a Mint of Sin Dr. Cr. p. 3. 8. Now therefore judge Gentlemen whether here I say the Elect ceased to be Sinners ever since the Death of Christ If Sinners after believing much more before in respect of the Indwelling of Sin and Corruption and do not in this Sence cease to be Sinners after believing I went on Then you will say If he doth sin must not God charge it where it is all this while speaking of a Believer Must he not be reckoned to be a Sinner while he doth sin A. I answer No though he doth sin yet he is not to be reckoned a Sinner i. e. Being a pardoned Believer God doth not reckon him so and he ought by Faith to behold all his Sins taken away in Christ but his Sins are to be reckoned to be taken away from him A Man borrows 100 l. some Man will pay it for him Doth he not owe this 100 l. seeing he borrowed it I say no in case another hath paid it for him A Man doth sin against God God reckons not his Sin to be his he reckons it Christ's therefore he cannot reckon it his God hath laid it upon Christ ' Thou hast sinned Christ takes it off supposing I say thou hast received Christ Is this any other Doctrine than what John teaches 1 John 1.7 8. Chap. 2.1 2. I say in one respect they are not Sinners in another they are Sinners And is this any other Doctrine than what the Scripture and all our best Divines teach Therefore judge ye how justly now I am charged with this Error Neonom But you said If thou hast part in the Lord Christ which he thinks all unbelieving Elect have All those Transgressions of thine become actually the Transgressions of Christ and so cease to be thine Dr. C. p. 270. Antinom Is it not very unfair dealing for you to impose a wrong meaning upon my Words when I express my self so plainly If thou hast received Christ if thou hast a part in the Lord Christ who will understand these Expressions but of our active receiving and partaking of Christ though I do speak elsewhere of our having Benefit by Christ and a hidden Right in him and it hath an Influence on us and we are passive therein before we believe yet it 's not
And is it not strange Gentlemen that after he had said this he should affirm a Separation Antinom And is it not strange that you cannot distinguish between Separations I may separate from a thing in one respect and not in another I may separate from another as to Communion but not as to Relation let it be Son Wife Brother c. and it 's strange you cannot understand forsaking to be but of a Relation Neonom The Lord Jesus could not be abhorred or odious to God for in him God was always well-pleased Isa 42.1 Matth. 17.5 Antinom We say the same Christ's Person in his Eternal Sonship was so All the Indignation that was testified towards him in his Humane Nature in which only he was capable of Suffering in that he became a Curse as well as Sin God saith it Neonom Mr. Calvin How horrid a Sound hath it to the Ear to say that Christ is odious to God and abhorred by the Father Calvin Methinks those new Words applyed to Christ do not sound so well and some Ears are offended at them I think it 's better to use the Scripture-Expressions Christ made Sin and Christ made a Curse for us Let us but have the thing Mr. Neonomian we will part with any Word that 's not Scriptural if you give us another that will express it as well Antinom Doth not this make as horrid a Sound in a Christian Ear that God manifested his wrathful Indignation against sin in the Person of Christ in a most awful and dreadful manner Calvin But that 's his way of expressing it he doth not like yours Antinom Then I will abdicate those Words Odious and Abhorrence and use his Words I be not fond of mine Neonom 5. Christ could not be separated from God or abhorred while his Body lay in the Grave his Soul went into Paradise Antinom No his Hypostatical Union was not dissolved nor God's Fatherly Love removed from his Person but yet at the same time he was under the Suffering of Death which was Penal for sin he finished his Soul-sufferings on the Cross but was under the Separation of Body and Soul which was part of the Threatned Indignation against Sin as also the lying of his Body in the Grave Neonom I will shew you your mistakes You do not distinguish between the Affection of Wrath and Effects of Wrath because God forsook Christ as to the usual Degrees of Comfort he thinks Christ was separated from God Antinom Sure this is a soul Mistake if he should mistake his Logick as to take the Cause to be the Effect and the Effect the Cause But I doubt you mistake your Divinity as to ascribe an affection of Wrath to God But I pray where there 's an Effect of Wrath in the Creature is not Wrath the Cause of it He that lies under the Effects of Wrath is he not under Wrath If Christ suffereth the Effects of Wrath he suffereth Wrath. I know not how any one should suffer Wrath any other way As to my Thoughts about Separation from God they are only your Imposition of Thoughts and Meanings upon me as I have told you Neonom Because he that is formally a Sinner is odious to God therefore he thinks Christ was odious to God who had on him the Punishment of Sin with the Guilt or Obligation to bear Punishment by his own Consent neither of which have any thing of the Loathsomness of Sin Antinom I will not use the Word Odious because you love not the smell of it I say therefore because a formal Sinner or Committer of sin unpardoned is the Object of God's threatned Indignation bearing the Effects of Wrath therefore an imputed Sinner is also the Object of God's threatned Indignation bearing the Effects of Wrath. You will be at the old Socinian Notion still That Christ bore but the Punishment for Sin and Guilt is only Obligation to Punishment which is absolutely false unless you mean reatus culpae for nothing is a Demerit of Punishment but reatus culpae Neonom I know not why you think Christ came not near God from the time of his Death to his Resurrection unless because of your Conceit for the Loathsomness of Sin God could not bear the sight of him Antinom Your frequent Banter and Scoffs at the Scripture-Account of the Nature of Christ's Satisfaction and of Sin I am sure is very odious and a horrid Sound to a Christian Ear. I shall not think such reasoning worthy of any thing but a Note of Contempt Calvin Mr. Neonomian you must know we can't part with this Article of our Faith That Christ was made a Curse for us no more than that That he was made Sin That Christ bore the Curse of the Law and was made a Curse for us is such a Gospel-Truth that we need no other Authority for it than what is contained in the Scripture being so expresly declared which all sound Protestants always understood of bearing the Wrath of God in his Soul and Body especially in his Soul undergoing Poena Damni and Sensus the first whereof I look to be the greatest and Cause of the other and also fully enough express'd by our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross Take Mr. Calvin in his Harmony on the Evangelists Altho' there appeared more than Humane Courage in Christ's Outcry yet it 's certain it was uttered from Extremity of Grief Verily this was his chiefest Conflict and more grievous than all his other Torments because that in his Anguishes he was not so refreshed with his Fathers Holy Favour that he did in some respect perceive him alienated from him for neither did he offer his Body only as the Price of our Reconciliation with God but in his Soul he bore the Punishment due to us and they are Men of unsavoury Spirits that slighting this part of Redemption do insist only on the external Punishments of the Flesh for as Christ satisfied for us so it was requisite that he should be set as guilty before God's Tribunal For nothing is more horrible than to perceive God as a Judge whose Wrath exceeds all Deaths Neither doth he complain Feignedly or Theatrically that he was deserted of God according to the insipid Cavils of some For the inward Grief of his Soul from the Depth of Anguish compelled him to break forth into this Outcry He did perfectly fulfill the Law endured most grievous Torments immediately in his Soul Conf. Assemb c. 8. § 4. He bore the Weight of God's Wrath and laid down his Life an Offering for sin Large Catceh p. 249. Quest What Death did Christ suffer when he Sacrificed himself Mr. Perkin's Catech. Answ A Death upon the Cross peculiar to himself alone For besides the Separation of Body and Soul he felt also the Pangs of Hell in that the whole Wrath of God due to the Sin of Man was poured forth upon him The Apostle doth not say that Christ was cursed but a Curse Calv. on Gal. 3.13 which is more for
by the several Fruits that it doth produce Neonom Because sometimes the worst of Sinners are made Subjects of Preparatory Work and of Effectual Calling as God's Act on them therefore he thinks that these Sinners are invited to conclude they have an Interest in Christ before they do at all answer that Call D. W. p. 90. Antinom You intimate as if you thought some Sinners were more capable Subjects of Effectual Calling as to God's Act than others and that there 's a Preparatory Work distinct from God's Act in Effectual Calling which I do not think Besides I think God's Act in Effectual Calling upon a Sinner is more than a bare Invitation And I do not think or say That any Man concludes their Personal Interest in Christ because they are invited but because being invited they did come therefore not before they answer the Call by coming Neonom But his greatest cause of mistake is that he thinks the worst of Sinners if Elect have as much Interest in Christ as the greatest Saint Antinom Est Argiva Calumnia when you make it appear that I think so by what I have spoken I will answer to it and your Sarcastick Inference therefrom Neonom You may see the large Catechise Q. What is Justifying Faith They tell us That a Sinner is convinced of Sin and Misery who receiveth Christ Antinom But they tell us that that Conviction which is Saving comes by Saving Faith their words are Justifying Faith is a Saving Grace wrought in the Heart of a Sinner by the Spirit and Word of God whereby he being convinced of his Sin and Misery and of disability in himself and other Creatures to recover him out of his lost Condition not only assenteth to the Truth of the Promise of the Gospel but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his Righteousness c. And in the Shorter Catechism you may see a more particular account of Saving Convictions that they are wrought in Effectual Calling though they be not so properly of the Nature of Justifying Faith for they say Effectual Calling is the Work of God's Spirit whereby convincing us of our Sin and Misery enlightning our Minds c. He doth perswade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel You see Conviction and Illumination are both the Saving Works of the Spirit And in the Confession they 'll tell you That Saving Faith is of a larger extent as to the Object it Acts upon than meerly Justifying Saving Faith it convinceth it enlightens it justifies it sanctifies and in this sence they tell you the Nature of Saving Faith Chap. 14. whereby they are enabled to believe to the saving of their Souls and by this Faith a Christian is enabled to believe to be true what-ever is revealed in the Word and from thence comes trembling at the Word and embracing the Promises of Life c. So that this contradicts not but confirms the Doctrine of the 39 Articles That all Works before Faith even Legal Convictions are no more than Sin it 's but the filthy Conscience-polluting Guilt of Sin which Thousands have and which do not dispose the Sinner to love God but to hate him nor to seek Pardon but to seek out a Righteousness of his own Neonom Dr. O. tells us p. 133. Of Justif There is nothing in the whole Doctrine that I will more firmly adhere to than the necessity of Convictions previous to true Believing D. W. p. 89. Antinom If he mean saving believing he must mean previous sine qua non not as a Preparatory Vertue but as Sin is previous to Pardon and thereby Guilt also whereby Sin pollutes the Conscience and is both sin and misery and this may arise from a meer natural stirring of the Law or by the preaching of it which is the Death of Sin the Wrath and Curse that attends it and this may and must arise from a common Faith for a Man is not convinced of any thing that he believes not But if he mean Saving Convictions they are good Fruits and wrought in Saving Faith This he intends here For he said just before Let no Man think to understand the Gospel who knows nothing of the Law God's Constitution and the Nature of things themselves have given the Law the precedency with respect unto Sinners for by the Law is the Knowledge of Sin and Gospel Faith is the Souls acting according to the Mind of God for deliverance from that State and Condition which it is cast under by the Law and he supposeth the State of a Man under meer Legal Conviction to be a State of Death and Condemnation Neonom He saith Displicency Sorrow Fear a desire of Deliverance with other necessary Effects of true Conviction P. 102. Antinom True Convictions i. e. Saving have such Effects but observe he is there distinguishing between common Convictions which before Faith are the common Condition of Sinners more or less which is the Death they lye under He saith Temporary Faith and Legal Conviction are the Principles of all Works or Duties in Religion Antecedent unto Justification observe now what he saith which therefore we must deny to have in them any Causality thereof and so he proceeds to shew what Affections and Duties in Religion may follow thence not that they are Gospel Vertues but rather solendida peccata and they I say are so far from disposing the Natural Man to Justification by Grace that they dispose him rather to seek Justification in himself by the Works of the Law till the Law comes to be Preached in true Spirituality in the Gospel and received by Faith And he saith P. 103. That Reformation of Life and these things are where real Convictions are but yet it must be said that they are neither severally nor jointly though in the highest degree either necessary Dispositions Preparations previous Congruities in a way of Merit or Conditions of our Justification Now is not this a Marvellous measure of Presumption and palpable Design upon your Reader to take the Imperfect Sence of a Man's Discourse to justifie your Errours when you must needs see the said Discourse is point blank against you I 'll hear no more therefore of your Allegations in this point out of Dr. O. Neonom Mr. Norton speaks of Preparatory Works between the Carnal Rest of the Soul in a State of Sin and Effectual Vocation Antinom I know of no such middle State for there is but two States that of Death and that of Life that of Light and that of Darkness but the Works done before Conversion he tells you are called Preparatory by way of meer Order which he saith all the Orthodox assert for that which is plainly first in Order and Nature must be said to be so all the Sin and Wickedness as well as the common Graces and Religion performed by an Unregenerate Man are all Antecedent to his Regenerate State But saith Mr. Norton It 's contrary to the Scriptures to say they are
the Works of it and therein is a Neonomian and the rather because by that Rectoral Rule of Government which he hath usurp'd to himself and the Rule of Sin he hath judicially Sentenced all his Opposers to the Name of Antinomians or Abetters of them Insomuch that all our first Protestant Reformers and any known by the Name of Calvinists fall under his severe Censure as Ignorant Setters up of the Name of Christ and his Grace against his Government I thought it meet to call in the long-ago deceased Doctor also under what Name or Title soever he is pleased to call him whom he carries about to scare Children with and as a Trophy of his pretended Triumph that he might be made speak and the World may hear what he hath to say for himself and be acquainted how he is abused and that he may be hereafter permitted to rest quietly in his Grave and not used as Wickliff was i. e. Burnt for an Heretick so many Years after be hath been dead In a Word Shall we stand still with our Fingers in our Months in such a Day of Peace and Liberty while we are Brow-beaten or wheadled out of the great Fundamental Points of Eternal Life and Salvation which in all Ages of Antichristian Tyranny have triumph'd over the smartest Persecutions through the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of his Testimony in the Faith and Patience of the Saints who have not loved their Lives unto Death in the Heroick Defence of them against the very same sort of Opposition And who I pray will harm us now if we as strenuously defend the Truth as it is audaciously attack'd Have any of us suffered to the spoiling of our Goods in the Defence of Truth of a subordinate and subservient Nature to these and shall we suffer all this in vain and cast our selves tamely at the Feet of such a confident Invader of our most choice and precious things in the World yea our very Life in Christ What is it that affrightens us Doth the Scripture Law or Learning terrify us If so little a Foot-man can run us out of Breath how do we think to contend with Horses Dragooners I mean if they should come And if in the Land of Peace we are wearied what shall we do in the Swelling of Jordan If Popery should ever over-run us again which God forbid and we should be called to bear Testimony to these Truths at Fire and Paggot as the Famous Martyrs have done It 's to be feared now that many Protestants would provide for their Safety by flying to the Neonomian Asylum But to conclude however we shrink from the despised Truths of Christ shuffle and cut with him and sometimes huff and bounce at him or some Truth of his I am fully assured the God of Glory and all Grace who hath hitherto preserved the pure Doctrine of his Gospel not only from the impure Mixtures of Pretenders to Holiness the crafty Methodists of Satan as an Angel of Light but also from his open Rage as a roaring Lion will continue yet to maintain it against all the bâ—ting Winds of False Doctrine That Christ hath his Fan in his Hand and will thoroughly purge his Floor and that if any Man lay any other Foundation than what is laid which is Jesus Christ and continues so to do his Root shall be Rottenness and his Blossom go up as Dust I. C. Some of the Paradoxes contained in the Neonomian Scheme 1. SINS of the Elect are not forgiven immediately upon nor meerly by Christ's Enduring Sufferings but there were by Divine Appointment to interpose a Gospel Promise of Pardon the Work of the Spirit for a Conformity to the Rule of the Promise in the Person to be pardoned and a Judicial Act of Pardon by that Promise on the Person thus conformed to the Rule thereof 2. The Gospel hath another Sanction to the Preceptive Part of the Law than the Covenant of Works had Though nothing be abated in the Rule of Sin and Duty yet Blessings are Promised to Lower Degrees of Duty and a continuance in a state of Death with a Barr to the Blessing are not threatned against every Degree of Sin as the Covenant of Works did 3. This Change of the Sanction supposeth the Death of Christ and his honouring the Law by his perfect Obedience wherein God hath provided for his own Glory while he promiseth Life by Forgiveness to Imperfect Man and yet insists on some Degrees of Obedience to which of his meer Grace he enableth us 4. The Degrees of Obedience the Covenant of Redemption secures to the Elect tho' the Grant therein is pleadable only by Christ as the stipulating Party for us and our Personal Claim depends upon the Gospel Covenant whereof Christ is Mediator 5. The Gospel-Sanction determins as certain a Rule of Happiness and Misery as the Law of Works did tho' it be not the same for while it promiseth a Pardon to all believing repenting Sinners and declares a Barr to Pardon to the Impenitent Rejecters of Christ and Gospel-Grace it fixeth true Repentance and Faith unfeigned to be the Terms of Pardon 6. When it promiseth Heaven to the sincerely holy persevering Believer it fixeth sincere Holiness and Perseverance in Faith as the Terms of possessing Heaven 7. Hence the use of Faith and Holiness as to those Benefits is not fron the Conformity to the Precept but their Conformity to the Rule of the Promise 8. Our applying Christ's Righteousness and relying on it would no more Justifie us than our Holiness would Save us were it not for the Gospel-Promise God will justifie for Christ's sake all such as believe 9. God in dispensing Gospel-promised Blessings doth judicially determine a Conformity to this Rule of the Promise When he forgives he judicially declares a Man hath true Faith when he admits to Heoven he judicially declares a Man sincerely holy and persevering 10. The Wedding-Garment Matth. 22.11 is true uniting Faith 11. Forgiving Adopting Glorifying and Conveyance of every Gospel-Benefit given on God's Terms are Judicial Acts of God as a Rector if not he doth blindly and promiscuously dispense them without any regard to our being Believers 12. With respect to what is declared the Gospel is a Law of Faith and it especially insists on that Sincerity of Grace and Holiness which the Rule of the Promise makes necessary in it's Description of the Person whom it makes Partaker of it's included Benefits 13. The Merits of Christ are the Cause of this Gospel-Ordination his Righteousness Imputed is the Cause for which we are Justified and Saved when we do answer the Rule of the Gospel 14. The Righteousness of God Phil. 3.9 principally intends the Gospel Holiness of a Person justified by Christ's Righteousness both which by Faith in Christ all his Members shall be perfect in 15. The Grace of God is hereby stated as free as is Consistent with his Government and judicial rectoral Distribution of Rewards and Punishments THE Ancient Gospel
the Stomach and that the whole Mass of Blood is infected with ill Humours or the Morbid Constitution of some Parts Out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh saith our Saviour our great Physician Is it not sad when there is a poysonsom Juyce under the Lips and a Mouth full of Bitterness Rom. 3. You first charge the Ministry of some and most hereabout know what sort of Men you mean with being the Cause of Men's Security in Sin And why Because they preach the Doctrine of the Gospel in a free Justification of a Sinner by Faith without the Works of a Law according to the Apostle Paul and preach down your Doctrine of Justification by Works But you express the Effects of this dangerous Doctrine to lie in these things 1. Security in Sin A Doctrine that quickens Men that are dead in Trespasses and Sins one part of which Death is Security in Sin doth not cause Security in Sin But the Doctrine of Free Grace in Justification of a Sinner without Works of any Law doth so Eph. 2. I shall not now enlarge upon you 2. Another ill Effect is you say That it causes the mistaking the Motions of sensible Passions for Conversion This is rather the Effect of your own Doctrine wherein you lay the whole Stress of Justifying and Saving Grace upon Sensible Passions and set Men wholly to judge of their State thereby It 's marvellously to be wondred at that any Man should have the Impudency to charge those Effects upon an opposite Doctrine to his which are the natural and palpable Effects of his own and he sees so to be 3. You charge upon it the general Abatement of an exact and humble walking This Charge is likewise of the same Nature Whereas the Spirit of God hath disclaimed any true Cause of exact walking beside the Grace of God that brings Salvation and then teacheth it as hath been proved As for Humble walking what is a greater Inducement thereto than the Doctrine of Faith which ascribes all to the Gift of Grace empties us of every high Imagination and Thought It exalts Christ and makes him all and in all Whereas yours is the contrary no Doctrine tends more to the lifting up of the Creature than that of Neonomianism next to that of the Papists And no wonder say you when so many affirm such and such things Where are the many or the any that you can charge with saying these things in the same Sence you put upon them Many Expressions that taken together with their Connexion in the explained Sence of him that speaks are not only true but safe and sound but abstracted and wrested may be made to look as black as Hell You may say David saith That there is not an honest Man upon the Face of the Earth Psal 12. That he saith There is no God Psal 14. That Moses affirms God to be a Man Exod. 15.3 And in a Thousand Places in your way and manner it 's easie to charge Blasphemy upon the very Scriptures And how often Lying if Hyperbole's be not allowed to be used without Wrong to the Truth As to the particular Charges I shall speak to each in it's proper place and lay open your Prevarications Errors and false Imputations to the World Neonom In this present Testimony to the Truth of the Gospel I have studyed Plainness Pref. D. W. p. 3. and to that end oft repeated the same things in my Concessions to prevent the Mistakes of the less Intelligent tho' I could not think it fit to insist anew upon all Antinom Your Testimony is against the Truth as shall be made appear and is not to be accounted a Testimony For a Testimony is a credible Witness or Evidence As the Apostle Paul saith Our Testimony among you was believed 2 Thes 1.10 And this Testimony is with a good Conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 And Paul testified the Gospel of the Grace of God Acts 2.24 1. Your Testimony is not to the Gospel of the Grace of God but against it and therefore not materially true 2. Your Testimony is formally naught it being not accompanied with a good Conscience but with a purpose and design to deceive You pretend to do Good but you manifestly design Evil to blast the Honour of God's Free Grace as if it were a Sin-teaching Doctrine and blacken a Holy Servant of Christ who is now in Glory for Preaching the Gospel your Testimony can't be believ'd because of your manifold Prevarications Equivocations and False Teachings in this Treatise of yours And whereas you say you have studied Plainness if you mean that in some places is no better than plain Falshood in others plain Error it 's true enough Or if you mean Plainness in respect of Style it 's homely enough and hardly plain Sence But if you mean Plainness of Simplicity without double-tonguedness I utterly deny it For when you speak of things that one would think at first Glance you intend Truth by it 's nothing so No Jesuite in the World can out-do you at Equivocation and there lies your Natural Excellency You have impertinent Repetition enough your Concessions every where fall about your own Ears in your glozing Oppositions to the Truth you deny You design the rectifying the Mistakes of the Non-intelligent This is false it 's manifest you design the blinding of them more else why do you quote Dr. Owen and the Assembly for countenancing those Errors which you know they directly oppose Let but the Mistakes of the less Intelligent be removed their Stomachs will rise sufficiently against you and your Book too Neonom I have in nothing misrepresented Dr. Crisp 's Opinion nor mistaken his Sence Antinom This must be true or false and here is the turning Point of the whole Book Either Dr. Crisp was or you must be If you have not misrepresented him then according to your Representation he was so If you have misrepresented him and unjustly blackened him what are you But that which we have in hand is Falshood and Lying As to this Assertion of yours we shall prove you guilty of Falshood throughout the Book that though you have repeated some of Dr. Crisp's Words from time to time yet you have only repeated such part of his Words as might render him odious not those that give a true and can did Sence of what he intended and herein you misrepresented him and that on purpose Now the Spirit of God lays the Formal Nature of a Lie upon an Intention to deceive or to deal injuriously with others as in the Case of Doeg Though I do not design now to come to Particulars I will give one Instance wherein you in your Book and your Party do frequently expose Dr. Crisp and his Abettors such as you call Divers as also Crispians and Antinomians that he and they do assert Sin can do no hurt and you would have Men understand that he means That no Person in Christ need fear to commit Sin and that Sin
Forgiveness It was not expressed no more was the Admittance of a Surety But if God had intended the Salvation of Man by a Law of Works this might have been admitted When once a Transgressor is sentenced by the Law he falls into the Hands of Prerogative and the Prince may do with him what he pleaseth God also might have put Repentance into the Conditions of the Law of Works at first and said If thou dost not eat or repent of thy eating thou shalt have thy Reward But God never intended to accept Repentance as a Foederal Condition of any Covenant whatever nor no other Imperfect Obedience There was never but one Law of Works and to fulfilling it he always stood upon perfect sinless Obedience Neonom Vpon the Fall Life is impossible by the Law with this Sanction Antinom Yea or by any Law whatsoever with this Sanction Neonom And hence to preach it to Sinners as a way to Blessedness is sinful and vain and no saving Benefit is dispensed to any of us by this Rule Antinom To preach any Law to Sinners as a way to Blessedness in this forementioned Sence of a Law is sinful and vain and no saving Benefit is dispensed to any of us by such a Rule Therefore the preaching a new Law is as sinful and vain Neonom The Gospel includes the Moral Preceptive part of the first Law with some additional Precepts which suppose our Apostate State As Faith in an attoning Saviour and Repentance for Sin these could not be injoyned as Duties upon innocent Man by a Rule of Happiness and Misery Nor could they be necessary to his Right to Life because they would suppose him a Sinner Antinom 1. I deny that the Gospel takes in or includes any Moral Preceptive part of the Law as a Rule of Happiness and Misery with Sanction as a Foederal Condition nor any Additional Precepts which suppose our Apostate state as Faith and Repentance For it were vain to set up such a Law seeing a Law of Works proved fruitless to Man in his perfect State it 's much more likely to be of none effect we being now a Thousand times more unable to perform the old Law or a new one with Additional Precepts And it becomes not the Wisdom of God to make a Law to enjoyn new Obedience to dead Men unless he makes them alive first Moreover all the Preceptive Will of God then or afterward to be revealed was enjoyned to Man as his Duty to observe in the Law of Nature imprinted on his Heart As for Faith it was an eminent part of his Perfection and that which the Serpent first wounded him in by Temptation Repentance also is an included Duty required in every Command of God upon a Supposal of a Transgression but that Repentance or any Duties are enjoyned as a Rule of Happiness and Misery if I understand your Rule aright viz. A Foederal Condition giving Right as such since the Fall I utterly deny and the rather because any such Duties suppose him a Sinner as will be very easily made appear when need requires Neonom The Gospel is taken in a large Sence when I say it includes all the Moral Precepts But yet the Gospel doth so and they are the Commands of Christ as Redeemer to whom all Judgment is committed as well as the Law of the Creator Antinom In your Sence it 's taken in so large a Sence as to make it Gospel is Nonsence If it takes in all Moral Precepts as Foederal Conditions that 's your Sence then it sets up the Old Law again only new vamps it with some Additional Precepts You have the Old Law you say and a great deal more the Precepts of Faith and Repentance which are a Thousand Times more hard to perform by Man in his Apostate State than ever a hundred Laws would have been to Adam in his Innocency Now here is in your new Law brought in not only all the Precepts of the Old Law for Condition but the difficult Task of a Blackamore's changing his Skin and a Leopard his Spots before the Sinner hath the Benefit of the Promise so much as in any taste of pardoning Mercy which you make when he hath it the Foederal Reward for so it must be of his Conformity to the Rule 2. Christ our Redeemer gives Commands and exerts a Kingly Power in Government of his Church and hath Judgment committed to him but these are not of the Gospel Conditions of Life unto Sinners propounded in the Gospel God doth not require Obedience to the Laws of Christ in his Church as Foediral Conditions of Eternal Life Such Obedience is part of the Life promised There is the Essence of the Gospel and the Effects of the Gospel The Essence of the Gospel is altogether Promise and Free Gift the Effects of the Gospel is every Priviledge and Blessing and the Production of all Good Fruits in Service and Obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ 3. It 's true all Judgment is committed to Christ as his Reward but all that Judgment is not the Gospel viz. Whenever Christ is found in a way of Judgment to destroy not to save So the Word Preached where it proves a Savour unto Death it 's not Gospel to such in the Event 4. You say they are the Laws of a Redeemer as well as the Laws of a Creator It 's true Christ is Creator But is the Gospel a Revival of his Law as Creator in a way of Redemption If you mean so then the Ministry of the New Testament is the same to us with the Ministry of Death and Condemnation contrary to 2 Cor. 3.7 9. Neonom 3. The Gospel hath another Sanction to the preceptive part of the Law than the Covenant of Works had Antinom This is a strange Assertion For there was never any Law of God with Sanction but it was always the same Suppose that your new Law were a Reality and not a Fiction of Mens Brains as it is can there be any other Sanction than what was annex'd to the old is it not a Promise of Life upon the Condition of performing Obedience and a Denunciation of Death to the Non-performers What other Sanction have you or can you pretend to besides this Neonom Though nothing be abated in the Rule of Sin and Duty yet Blessings are promised to lower Degrees of Duty Antinom The Change you pretend to therefore is not in the Sanction but in the Condition the preceptive part or the Obedience to it required your Sanction still remains of Life or Death as in the first Covenant of Works But see how well your Scheme hangs together You say there 's nothing abated in the Rule of Sin and Duty 1. I never thought God gave a Rule of Sin therefore that 's mighty improper but let it be a Rule to judge of Sin by 2. You say There 's nothing abated of the Rule of Sin and Duty therefore nothing abated in the conditionary preceptive part of the Law And there
can be nothing abated in the Sanction it must be Life or Death Ergo There 's the same Law still and we must be saved by the Covenant of Works or not at all But 3. The Reason you give of changing the Sanction is because the Blessings are promised to lower Degrees of Duty This as I said is no Change in the Promise but in the Condition and then see how you contradict your self in the same Breath You say there 's nothing abated in the Rule and yet lower Degrees of Duty admitted How can these Lower Degrees be admitted but by the Rule of the preceptive part For the Degrees of Duty required are according to God's Commands and he requires in a Law Duty answering the Perfection of the Precept Neonom And a Continuance in a State of Death with a Barr to the Blessing are not threatned against every Degree of Sin as the Covenant of Works did Antinom This is not Sence as express'd But I take your Meaning 1. Death was threatned in the Covenant of Works but it spake not of a continuance in that State with any such Barr to a Blessing as should hinder God from the saving of Sinners But you own that Barr might be removed and was but your Covenant puts as great a Barr as that That if Men perform not the Condition they must continue in the state of Death notwithstanding all that Christ hath done to remove the Barr from the Old Covenant For their Concernment in your Sence is not now for a Righteousness to answer that but to answer the New Law which lays them under Life or Death 2. Is the Condition the same and more And the Sanction the same How is it possible it should not threaten Death to every Degree of Sin 3. It seems our Salvation is according to the Degree of Sin We must know what Sins are of such a Degree as that they are pardonable what Venial and what Mortal and if Law and Gospel are distinguished by the Degrees of Sin Gospel lies in Sin not Grace it seems for if it be from the Degree of Sin that we are saved then not from the Blood of Christ which taketh away all Sin 4. Doth God's Law admit of Sin in any Degree then I say as the Apostle saith Is the Law Sin To admit of Sin into Law is Sin No the Law is Holy Just and Good and the Promise doth not make void the Law by abating one Jot or Tittle of it but establisheth the Law Therefore the Law cannot admit of Sin Neonom Can any doubt this to be the Grace of the Gospel-Promise Antinom Yea I do not only doubt it but know and do testifie to the World according to the Grace of God given to me That it is not the Grace of the Gospel-Promise Neonom Doth it promise Life to all Men however vile and impenitent they be Antinom It promiseth and giveth Life to the vilest and most impenitent Sinners Where Grace gives Life it supposeth Men dead and not alive For Repentance is part of the Life given and to talk of giving Life to penitent Sinners is to suppose them alive before Life is given but it doth not suppose that where Christ gives Life the vilest Sinners shall remain so or impenitent Neonom Or doth it threaten Damnation or a continuance of it unto any true penitent believing Godly Man because he is Imperfect Antinom Let a Man pretend himself or be look'd upon to be never so penitent believing and Godly and seek to be justified and saved by his Works I mean such as you mention Moral Obedience Acts of Faith Penitency c. I affirm thereby he is fallen from Grace Gal. 5.4 Being fallen short of the Righteousness of God Rom. 10. And as he puts himself under a Law for Justification so a Law condemns for imperfect Obedience For I roundly assert That no Law of God with a Sanction of Life and Death upon Performance or Non-performance of Obedience doth admit of the least Imperfection in the said Obedience Therefore such are under the Curse for their Imperfections Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things And I say if your Gospel be a Law it doth denounce Damnation to the Holiest and most Godly Man upon Earth Neonom This Change of the Sanction supposeth the Death of Christ and his honouring his Law by his perfect Obedience wherein God hath provided for his own Glory while he promiseth Forgiveness to imperfect Man Antinom I have proved the Sanction is not changed But in your Law it seems the Condition is changed It was in the Old Law Perfect Obedience in the New it's Imperfect Verily it is changed for the worse for Imperfect is worse than Perfect But how comes this to pass God hath provided for his own Glory in Christ that saving of Men is upon the Conditions of Imperfect Obedience i. e. by a worse Law an unholy and unjust Law might not turn to his Dishonour God hath provided for himself you mean seeing he rashly made such a Law as he finds will not answer his Ends Justice shall have it's due in his Son and then he shall be at liberty to make a Law with such easie imperfect and sinful Conditions that Sinners may be saved Is not this admirable Stuff for Gospel Neonom And yet he insists upon some Degrees of Obedience unto which of his meer Grace he enables us Antinom He could by his Grace as well enable us to Perfect Obedience if it were for his Honour that Obedience should be the Condition But doth it make it make it ever the less a Covenant of Works Doth what you say make it of Grace For 1. Forgiveness that 's but the Reward of Life But you 'll say it 's for the sake of Christ well that 's but in respect of the Old Law that it may not condemn you whereby you are come into a capacity to stand again for Life upon new Conditions 2. You say it 's to imperfect Man But is it not the same thing to save by Perfect or Imperfect Works so Works be the Condition 3. What if Grace enables them This alters not the Case Did not God give Adam his Holiness before the Fall and enable him to do what he did Neonom This the Covenant of Redemption secures to the Elect tho' the Grant therein is pleadable only by Christ as the Stipulating Party for us Antinom As for your Notion that your Covenant of Redemption is Distinct from the Covenant of Grace I deny it and shall hereafter make it appear that the Covenant of Grace and Redemption is one and the same Covenant And for the present I tax you for saying That the Covenant of Redemption is pleadable by none but Christ Do we never plead Redemption nor the Promise made in Christ nor Christ himself What is all in the Covenant of Redemption Do we not plead it daily And what Christ stipulated in this Covenant for us may we not plead it Is not
look upon this as a Justification of this Child it being a declared Sentence of God concerning it's standing in his Favour and unchangeable Love 2. The Text is particular in the Reason of this Declaration to Rebecka ver 11. that we may see that God accomplish'd his purpose of Election in the applying of the Grace thereof without Works not so much as upon the Account of Faith as a Work because the Children were not capable of doing Good or Evil the Application of his distinguishing Love could not be upon that Account viz. Of any Condition found in them nor could the Foresight of any such thing in them be the Cause of God's Purpose in Election and shews it's one and the same Righteousness that an Infant and Adult Person is Justified by Neonom Because an Eldest Son is an Heir in the Womb therefore an Elect Person who is in time to he Adopted is an Heir in the Womb. Calvin There 's a Difference between an Heir and Adoption If you know there is an Elect Person in the Womb as Rebecka did he is a more sure Heir to Heaven than ever any great Man's Son was to an outward Estate And as to Adoption that may not be till some time after For that is the Grace of Sonship It 's one thing to be a Son and another to have the Grace of Sonship And is the calling them the Sons of God manifestly taking them into the number and endowing them with the Priviledges of the Sons of God The Relation of an Heir and the state of Adoption admit of different Considerations The State of Adoption is the grown state of an Elect Person he is put into Possession of the Estate and all Priviledges sit together with Christ in Heavenly Places as a Coheir And thus we are the Children of God by Faith Gal. 3.26 The Spirit bearing Witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God and so Heirs ex abundanti Joynt-Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Let us now hear what our approved Calvinists say in this Point that speak most particularly and distinctly to it Speak Dr. Amesius Dr. Ames The Transaction between God and Christ was a certain previous Application of our Redemption and Discharge to our Surety and to us in him which hath the Nature of a certain efficacious Pattern to that Secondary manner of Application which is compleated in us so that this is the representation of that this is produced by vertue of that Now it 's inferred hence That our Freedom from Sin and Death was not only determined in God's Decree but also granted and communicated to us in Christ before it is perceived by us Chap. 24. § 3. Mr. Rutherford pray speak you wrote against Antinomianism Sane priusque electus credit c. Certainly before an Elect Person doth believe the Wrath of God and all the Effects of his Wrath are removed from the Persons by vertue of Christ's Satisfaction Exercit. Apologet. per gratiâ p. 45. Mr. Pemble That God doth actually love the Elect before they are Regenerate or can actually believe may appear further by these Reasons 1. Where God is actually reconciled there he actually loveth for Love and Reconciliation are inseparable but with the Elect before they are converted and believe God is Actually Reconciled Ergo he loves them before Faith and Conversion The Minor is evident because before they are Born a full Atonement and Satisfaction is made for their Sins by Christ and accepted on God's part whereupon all Actual Reconciliation must needs follow 2. God did Actually Love the Elect before Christ's time when Actual Reconciliation was not yet made much more therefore after the Atonement made 3. Justification Effectual Vocation and Faith are Fruits of God's Actual Love c. De gratiâ fide p. 22. Chamier Persuasissimum est c. We are most fully perswaded that our Sins are forgiven before we believe for certainly we deny Infants to act Faith and yet their Sins are forgiven them And although it be true that our Sins be forgiven before we believe i. e. before we know it as Actual Believers we do believe the Remission of our Sins because this is proposed to us yea promised to us in the same words which we relye upon by Faith and it 's Sealed by the same Spirit whereby that word is Truth Panstr Tom. 3. lib. 13. c. 10. Antinom I think I see Mr. Baxter appear in this Cause though I suppose he is seldom in this Society Calvin I pray let us hear Sir what you say to this Point Mr. Baxter The Anabaptists bring Eph. 2.3 against Baptism of Infants and say Because they are by Nature Children of Wrath the Promise belongs not to them Ans What though we are by Nature Children of Wrath doth it follow that we may not be otherwise by Grace the state of Wrath goes first in order of Nature and whether in order of time also is not worth our disputing but may not a state of Grace immediately succeed Jeremy was Sanctified in the Womb and John Baptist and the Infants that Christ Blessed were all by Nature Children of Wrath and yet by Grace were in a better state As they come from old Adam they are Children of VVrath but as they receive of the Grace procured by the Second Adam so they are not Children of wrath If a Prince should Entail some Honours upon all your Children you might well say by Nature or as they were your Children they were not Honourable or Noble and yet by the Favour of the Prince they might be all Honourable from the VVomb The Godly at Age may say that they are still by Nature Children of wrath even when they are sure they are Children of God by Grace and they use in their Confessions to say That we by Nature are Enemies to God Fire-brands of Hell R. Baxter of Inf. Bapt. p. 110 111. Calvin I would willingly hear what the Learned and Judicious Mr. J. Cotton saith Mr. J. Cotton in Answer to that Objection made by the Anabaptist against Infant Baptism Faith comes by Hearing Ergo Infants have not Faith Ans It is no Extraordinary thing which Christ speaks concerning Infants when he saith Except you receive the Kingdom of God as little Children c. and they cannot receive it without Christ nor without Faith in Christ and yet received not Christ nor Faith by their own immediate Hearing of the Word and for the second thing which you make Essential to Union with Christ viz. a Heart fitly disposed to apprehend and receive Christ be not unwilling to understand that which is Truth The Heart is fitly disposed by Faith to apprehend or apply Christ when Faith is begotten in the Heart for by this Gift of Faith begotten in us Christ apprehends us and by the same Gift of Faith the Heart is fitly disposed to apprehend Christ even in Infants for when Faith is wrought in Infants the Heart is quickned with Spiritual Life and made a
be Punishment yet it 's not so by necessity of Nature 7. Hence obligation to Punishment is from the Will of the Law-giver and the Nature of the Law not from the Sinner the Law hath tyed Sin and Punishment together and it 's not Sin to be obliged to Punishment but it is for Sin obligation to Punishment is part of the Wages of Sin and not Sin in it self nor the guilt of Sin a Murderer that is cast he is guilty before Sentence or Execution not because the Law will Sentence him but because he hath committed the Fact which the Law hath forbid and therefore hath annexed a Penalty to it There 's a Privative Nature in Sin which is a contrariety to the Goodness of the Law which is the Fault therefore the Law to avenge it self makes it worthy or deserving such a Punishment and upon Tryal binds over the Sinner to it there 's hardly to be found a difference between reatus culpae poenae as Dr. O. saith but Sin committed or justly charged upon some account or other is in it self by vertue of the Constitution of the Law an obligation to Punishment being the Meritorious Cause thereof Neonom I own Christ was esteemed by Men a Transgressor and Arraigned as such Antinom If it were only so he bore Sin no otherwise than the Saints and Martyrs who also were accounted Transgressors by Men Arraigned and Condemned as such but it seems you will not own him accounted a Transgressor by God and therefore no Sin was laid upon him nor any Punishment and here you fall in roundly with the Socinians Neonom We grant also that Christ's Sufferings were as Effectual to put away Sin as if our very Sins had been transacted on him Antinom I doubt not but you will ascribe as much to your Gospel as Paul did to his there was never any Coyners of new Doctrine Papist Quaker Socinian or Arminian all Well-wishers to your Divinity in some part or other of it but will still each of them cry up your Doctrine and decry the Truth for Error and this Truth of laying Sin on Christ as vehemently as you especially in the Sence that you do Neonom But I say he became obliged as Mediator to bear the Punishment of our Iniquities Antinom If as Mediator then to take up the difference between God and us for it's Sin makes the difference and not punishment this is but the effect of the difference the High-priest the Typical Mediator was to bear the Iniquities of the People and offer a Sacrifice on which they were charged Neonom He did bear those Punishments to the full satisfaction of Justice Antinom Unless Sin be taken away in a Law sence Justice is not satisfied bearing Punishment only doth not satisfie for Sin the Law will have the Sinner or the Sin taken away therefore the Damned must suffer to Eternity because they cannot take away Sin by Suffering but Christ did more than suffer he put an end to Sin by the Sacrifice of himself Neonom Yea and to our Actual Remission when we believe Antinom It seems there 's Fundamental Potential Remission before and I doubt you will not suffer this Remission to take place without a new Law and the Righteousness thereof Neonom The Real difference lyes in these things 1. Whether Sin it self as to its filth and fault was transacted on Christ This you affirm and I deny 2. Whether Christ was made and accounted by the Father the very Transgressor the Adulterer the Blasphemer This you affirm and I deny D. W. p. 10. Antinom You might have put the Questions into one and stated it as it lyes between the Apostle Paul and you Whether God Imputed Sin to Christ at all Neonom I go on to confirm my Positions 1. To transact our Sins on Christ as opposed to Guilt is impossible for it would argue either a mistake in the Divine Mind to account him the Committer of our Sins or a Propagater of our corrupt Qualities to him which is impossible and any other way besides Imputing the guilt there is none Antinom This Argument I judge is to prove both Positions As to the First it runs thus That which is impossible cannot be done but to transact Sin as to it's Fault is impossible Ergo. As to the Major I judge the Impossibility is meant in respect of the Nature of God or the Constitution of God otherwise I know not why a Fault may not be taken away as well as Obligation to Punishment when as Fault is that for which a Man is obliged to bear Punishment For if the Fault remain the Punishment is still due The Minor you prove thus It would argue a mistake in God or suppose him a Propagator of Sin 1. It doth argue a Mistake in you to say that 's transferred from us which was never in us For the Obligation to Punishment in it's active consideration is subjectively in the Law and that cannot be taken from it it 's the Debt which the Law owes to the Sinner by reason of it's Sanction and the Punishment is the Payment 1 Joh. 3.3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wages of Sin is Death For Punishment is not the Sinners Debt but the Law 's Debt and the Sinner's Due The Sinner's Debt is doing the Duty the Law requires His Disobedience is an Offence to the Law a Fault blamed by the Preceptive part of the Law and this is Guilt Reatus culpae to which Meritum poenae doth by vertue of the Constitution belong There 's two respects in Sin 1. To the preceptive part of the Law and that is Fault 2. To the Penal part and that is Meritum Now these by reason of the Justice of the Law and the Connexion made by it's Institution between the Accusing and condemning part are inseparable before God and being but two different respects of the same individual Act it is a Fault and a Merit and a Merit because it is a Fault the Merit is a Result from the Fault and are such relata that they cannot be parted in Judgment Now then will not your Argument rebound upon your self Would it not argue a Mistake in God to lay the Merit of Punishment upon a Person that hath not any meritorious Cause of it in no respect If the Fault be not imputed how can the Merit There can be no Merit without a meritorious Cause and this is our Sins and not Christ's by way of Perpretation In laying Sin on Christ there are these things 1. The Spirit of God says it's Sin and doth not confound Sin and Punishment And it 's absurd if it should for Punishment is not Sin 2. It saith It 's our Sins not Christ's 3. That these Sins are Juridically imputed and accounted to Christ The Payments by Christ's Sufferings is his own Money not ours the Debt is imputed not the Payment A Surety is charged with and takes upon him the principal Debt but doth not take Money from him to pay
by the offering of Christ without Spot to God This spotless Sacrifice whereon he bore Sin and was not defiled And hereby the Conscience of Sin i. e. the Guilt of Sin which is no other than Sin charged upon the Conscience is taken away and thence the Levitical Services could not make any perfect as pertaining to Conscience but it 's the Blood of Christ that sprinkles from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.22 2. A condemning Conscience without which we stand but loathsomly before God yea while for want of Faith we apprehend God deals with us out of Christ we are very loathsom and all our Works and Services dead God loaths and abhors them Is not the Vertue of Christ's Blood compared to a Fountain to wash us in and intended especially of Justification and Pardon and the Saints to betake themselves to it under the Notion of it's cleansing Vertue in that Sence 1 John 1.7 Rev. 1.5 Guilt of Sin then is as great a Pollution as belongs to Sin It 's no other than Sin lying upon the Conscience with an Accusation 1 John 3.20 21. Greg. Nysson saith He bore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Filth of our Sin Dr. O. p. 42. Again Wherever Sin is to be purged out by Sanctification it is to be rid away by Justification but all Filth is to be rid by Sanctification that indwells Now it is manifest that the cleansing Vertue of the Blood of Christ applyed by Faith is the first Gospel-effectual Means of Sanctification and it must be the great Cause of Mortification wherein we are planted together in the likeness of his Death Rom. 6. And what did Christ in his Death but destroy the Body of Sin by carrying it away 2 Tim. 1.10 He hath by carrying away sin abolished Sin and Death slain the Enmity that lay in Hatred of God Pravity and Dominion of sin Whence was it that David was cleansed from Blood-guiltiness Was it not from it's being laid on Christ Was it not that very Filthiness of his Sin Psal 51.14 Doth he not pray to God to be washed throughly from his sin and to be cleansed from it Was not that by the Application of the Blood of Christ Doth he not mention all his Pravity Original as well as Actual from which he would be purged as with Hyssop and made whiter than Snow And wherein lies this Washing Is it not in respect of sin not in respect of Punishment he mentioneth not he explains what he means it is that radical Washing ver 9. Hide thy Face from my Sins and blot out mine Iniquity i. e. From the Face of God's Justice Then follows the Creation of a clean Heart He gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity Tit. 2.14 There is no Pravity Defilement Pollution of Sin what-ever that is so but because of it's contrariety to the preceptive part of the Law must first have it's Foundation of cleansing from Christ's bearing of it away and this Faith applying purifies the Heart from the indwelling Macula in us Whence that Promise Ezek. 36.25 The clean Water there is the Spirit working in Application of the Blood of Christ and therefore Gospel-cleansing lies chiefly in Application of Promises 2 Cor. 7.1 Neonom He took care his Body should not see Corruption Acts 2.3 he would much more abhor to take in our Pollution He was holy harmless undefiled c. Antinom All this we say over and over that he bare Sin but was not defiled with Sin nor corrupted in his Nature but the Spirit of God is not to be believed See Christ's taking away of Sin by Atonement is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.3 Neonom It was Condescension enough that he agreed to be treated as a Sinner But how odious is it to load him with Sin it felf To spit that in his Face that the worst of Men abused him with and it would justifie his Persecutors who punished him if he was really the Person your Principles renders him to be Antinom The Spirit of God renders him to be the Person that my Principles renders him to be It saith he bore our Sins in his Body on the Tree the Lord laid Iniquities on him he was made Sin for us and yet how dare you reproach the Spirit of God in such a manner To say that it 's an odious thing To say be bore the Load and Weight of all the Sins of the Elect that it is spitting in the Face of Christ doing that which the worst of Men did to him and justifying his Murderers I am surprized with great horrour to hear such things out of the Mouth of a Man that is called a Gospel Minister I pray God give you Repentance and lay not these things to your Charge But Sir you have here declared your defiance of the Date of the Imputation of our Sins to Christ and yet would pretend you hold that Doctrine by saying God laid the Punishment of Sin only upon Christ The meer Punishment of Christ I must tell you was not the bearing our Sin for the bearing the Punishment was the payment of the Debt and was his Righteousness which is Imputed unto us if Imputation of our Sins to Christ lay in nothing else they were not Imputed at all to him Punishment was laid upon him and he bore it by way of Suffering in his Humane Nature and was that Righteousness that is Imputed to us in Justification the Argument against you is this That which is Imputed to us was not Imputed to Christ but Punishment of Christ to Satisfaction for our Sins is his Righteousness Imputed to us Ergo not the Imputation of our Sins unto him If your rooted prejudices will suffer you to consider I pray weigh well that Argument you will have more by and by But you still say if Christ bore Sin he must be polluted with Sin Ans It argues not that Sin was his by perpetration or Infusion but only by Imputation they were our Sins by Perpetration and Inhesion which he bore by Imputation The Spirit of God tells us he was a Sinner in one respect and no Sinner in another as the Church of Smyrna was Poor in one respect and Rich in another Omnia diversa natura sua abstractâ sunt opposita as Poverty and Riches Sin and no Sin tamen eidem attributa ratione tantum dissentiunt as a Man may be Rich and Poor Wise and Foolish in divers respects And as to the filthiness of Sin it could not stain him he remained untouched in his Holy Nature but yet I must tell you as bearing Sin by the Sacrifices caused a Typical Uncleanness insomuch as the Bodies were Burnt without the Camp and they that Burnt them and gathered up the Ashes became Unclean such a Judicial uncleanness was Jesus Christ our Sacrifice under wherein he answered those great Types and we are not without ample proof of it especially from Heb. 13.11 Neonom Arg. 2. Had he been Esteemed the very Transgressor his
chargeable for them and Imputed to him Hence 3. If they bear their own Sins till they Actually Believe there must be an Hatred of God to such Persons till they Believe Actually which is Death and a Person may perform a Vital Act in a state wherein he is Actually Dead and at the same time 4. This must follow that there 's Believing before Union with Christ and then there must be some other Root from which this Fruit of Faith doth spring and it 's said Heb. 12. expresly Christ is the Author of our Faith I have received this Principle meerly for the vindication of the Glorious Priviledges which are proper and peculiar to Christ alone and therefore refer the being of Faith it self to Christ to this end I deliver that Elect Persons have a participation and share in Christ himself even before they do believe neither would I thereby diminish the Prerogative of Believing for there are glorious things done by Faith in Believers God hath honoured it above all meer Creatures in the World he hath made it the Conduit-pipe for the conveyance of all Peace and Comfort nay of all that strength which believers have all their Lives no Faith no Comfort no Faith no Peace of Conscience no Faith no Pleasure to walk with God The Soul lyes in Darkness while in Unbelief But still that which is proper and peculiar to Christ alone is not to be ascribed to Believing D. Cr. p. 616 617 618. Calvin Mr. Neonom We shall be the better able to take our measures if you will be pleased to state this Point aright and tell us what we may receive for undoubted Truth and what is to be Anathematized for Errour in your Judgment Neonom I 'le tell you then first what is Truth Truth The Atonement made by Christ by the Appointment of God is that for which alone the Elect are pardoned when it is applyed to them D. W. c. 3. p. 15. Antinom Pray Sir give me leave to make my Remarks as you dictate because my Memory is but short 1. You grant then that there is a compleat Atonement wrought finished and accepted by God if so there is a Fundamental Life of Justification laid up and reserved for them in Christ 2. That this precedes their Actual Justification by Faith 3. That this influenceth to Justification by Faith and is objective to Faith and Meritorious of Faith and of the Work of the Spirit working Faith Neonom But the Elect are not immediately pardoned upon Christ's being appointed to suffer for them nor as soon as the Atonement was made Antinom The Question is Whether there is not upon Christ's Atonement Pardon with God that he may be feared Or whether there be not a Life laid up for them in Christ which needs no addition to it There is a difference between Pardon and Pardoned one is the Abstract and the other the Concrete We say where there is Atonement for any there is Pardon but it follows not that because there is Pardon for any that therefore they are pardoned there may be a Pardon Sealed for a Traytor by the King and yet he not pardoned but the Law proceeds against him till the Pardon is sent down and read in Court So the Pardon is certain and finished for all the Elect but they have not the particular Pardons taken out nor pardoned till they believe Neonom Nor is that Act of laying Sins on Christ God's forgiving Act by which we are personally discharged Antinom I doubt you are too presumptuous to prescribe to God which shall be his forgiving Acts and which not if God's laying Sin on Christ be not of a pardoning and forgiving Nature to us I know not what it was did he not do it as a God pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin was it not his casting our Iniquities behind his Back And is it not this Act of God which reacheth every Elect Person unto Actual Pardon and Forgiveness Yea are we not Justified by this Act of God apprehended and applyed by Faith For is not an Act of God removing Sin from us and laying them on a Surety a Pardoning Act. Calvin I pray Sir deliver your self more distinctly for you do darken and confound things extreamly Neonom I will tell you what is not in Dispute between us in diverse particulars that you may not take up a wrong sense 1. The Question is not Whether Christ made a full Atonement for Sin Antinom Give me but the right scent of you which is hard to keep you make so many banks and turns and I will follow you as close at the Heels as I can You grant Christ made full Atonement for Sin there 's Pardon in that Atonement without Question for all God's Elect. Atonement always carries Pardon in it as its formal Nature or else it 's no Atonement Neonom 2. Nor whether that shall in time be applyed to the Elect for their Actual Remission as the Effect of it D. W. p. 16. Antinom Then there is Atonement wherein is Pardon eventually certain i. e. shall certainly be applyed and being applyed is actual Remission as the Effect therefore this Atonement is the Remission as the Cause and as the Object to be applyed Neonom 3. Nor whether we be so far Released thereupon as that God can demand no Atonement from any who shall submit to the Gospel way of Application of it Antinom It seems then if they will not submit to the Gospel way of Application God can demand some other Atonement from them I never understood before that the Suffering of the Damned was Atonement for where there 's Atonement God is at last appeased but he will never be appeased toward the Damned 2. You said but now that the application of the Atonement to the Elect in time should be I understood you certain but now you make it only conditional in case of their submission to the Gospel way of Application Neonom Nor 4thly Whether the Law be answered and God's Honour so vindicated thereby that the Sins of Men cannot hinder an Offer and Promise of Forgiveness and Life Antinom There 's a great Theological Intriegue here we must endeavour to unravel it What do you mean by answering the Law is it by Active or Passive Obedience or both and for whom for some absolutely or conditionally you tell us of a conditional Atonement and such an Atonement the Scripture is a stranger to 2. You would have us to understand the end and use of Atonement is to fence and secure God against his Law that so he might be at liberty to save Men this is to make an Atonement to Sin and not for Sin your suggestion is that God cannot in Honour offer Life and Salvation till his Law be vindicated i. e. I suppose he took out of the way and abolished that Law so another Law more practicable might be set up in the room of it this is a fine way of vindicating a Law to Abrogate it Neonom Nor whether
Kingly Office spoiling Principalities and Powers Triumphing over them on the Cross Col. 2.14 And through Death he destroyed him that hath the Power of Death even the Devil Heb. 2.14 In that place Christ is meant in all his Offices first as a Priest entred into the Holiest of all Heb. 4.14 Application is by vertue of his Intercession to obtain the Ends of his Death likewise as a Prophet he teacheth by his Spirit and Gospel the Promise of Eternal Life and the whole Mystery of his Incarnation and Sufferings and Exaltation he as a King Conquers and Subdues the Hearts of Sinners to himself and gives forth the Promise of the Father and hence there comes the Application of Pardon and that Life laid up and hid in himself Colos 3.1 2 3. And all the places mentioned by you speak but of our receiving Forgiveness so all the Offices of Christ have the Honour due unto them when we were Enemies we were Reconciled by the Death of his Son Rom. 5.10 Reconciliation was by his Atonement and therefore the Apostle saith ver 11. not only so but through Jesus Christ we have now received the Atonement viz. through all Christ in all his Offices it 's one thing to make Atonement and for God to be reconciled to us that is the accomplishment of the Reconciliation of God to the Elect considered as Sinners and another thing to Reconcile us which is done by the Gospel Ministry whereby also we receive the Atonement Dr. Davenant having shew'd many ways of Redemption saith Vltima unica ratio nos redimendi est ea quae fit per modum Justitiae c. The last and only way of Redemption is that which was by way of Justice all our Debts being paid by our Surety Jesus Christ which price being paid the great Debt is discharged 1 Pet. 1.18 Christ averts the Wrath of God from us by undergoing the Punishment undue to him to free us from our Debt Gal. 3.13 And here it is to be observed that although the Devil do detain us Captives yet the price of our Redemption viz. The Blood of Christ was Offered in satisfaction to God not to the Devil c. Deo satisfactum expiata sunt peccata nostra Dr. Davenant on Colos 1.14 Neonom Arg. 3. By the opposite Errour the Elect would have been discharged if Christ had never risen again Antinom We excepted against this Quirk before as if any Man understood not by laying Sin on Christ all things that concern the satisfaction to be made speaking of things by Synechdoches and Metonimy's as the Scripture doth mentioning sometimes the Blood of Christ sometimes his Body for all the satisfaction of Christ by Sufferings and by Metonymies the Cross of Christ for his Sufferings on the Cross Secondly Christ's Satisfaction had never been compleated if he had never rose from the Dead and then we had been still in our Sins 1 Cor. 15. and 1 Pet. 1.3 But let your Supposition go though no such thing is to be supposed make what you can of it and observe I pray was not the Sins of Believers under the Law Actually taken away before Christ either Dyed or Rose again I say if a Creditor do accept of an Insolvent Person for Paymaster and Cancel the Debtor's Bond the said Creditor cannot recover his Debt of the Principal though it may affright him fearing it is not Cancelled there 's nothing truer than that the Hand-writing of the Law that was against us which was contrary to us was taken away and Nailed to the Cross Col. 2.14 Dr. Davenant after a long Explanation of the Text saith In all these words this one thing is shewed that by vertue of the Passion of Christ dying upon the Cross the Damning Power of the Moral Law was taken away and all the Rites of the Ceremonial Law were at once abrogated The Hand-writing of the Law bound us to Obedience and bound us over to Punishment for Non-performance thereof Christ therefore our Surety by performing that exact Obedience which the Law required and undergoing the Punishment which the Law exacted of the Violators thereof did that which we were bound unto by this Hand-writing and so blotted out the Hand-writing for the Blood of him being shed who was without spot the Hand-writing of all faults are blotted out as Augustine saith Christ was made in subjection to the Law that he might redeem them that are subject to the Law Gal. 4.4 5. Dr. Davenant on the place He adds But that is to be observed this Hand-writing may be said to be blotted out two ways 1. Quoad Deum as to God Vniversaliter Sufficienter Universally and Sufficiently because there is such satisfaction given to God by the Blood of Christ because that Hand-writing of the Law cannot be exacted of any as Debtors when they fly by Faith to this Redeemer but he must absolve them 2. Particulariter efficaciter Particularly and efficaciously when it is actually blotted out from the Consciences of Individual Faithful ones who do apprehend Christ by Faith and he follows the true Spiritual sence of this Scripture most Evangelically I chuse to give the Summ of it because it decides the whole Point in Controversie most excellently according to that of the Apostle Rom. 5.1 A Man in Debt cannot have Peace so long as he sees he owes more Money than he can pay and sees he is bound in a Bond under his Hand to the payment thereof but as soon as any Person apprehends Christ by Faith immediately the Hand-writing is Cancelled in his view and he enjoys blessed peace of Conscience Here Paul excellently resolveth the Case of doubting Consciences by an admirable kind of Gradation not content with what he had said in the former Verse all your Sins are forgiven but he adds the very Hand-writing is Cancelled but it may be said Happily not so blotted out but a new Suit may arise he subjoyns therefore è medio sublatum it is taken out of the way but it may be said again it may be it 's kept and hid and hereafter may be produced yea saith the Apostle it 's Nailed to the Cross Cruci affixum it is Cancelled torn in Pieces and Nailed to the Cross this he saith we ought to believe not only that Christ hath deserved the blotting out of this Hand-writing but that it is even Actually blotted out as to our selves in particular I think Sir now I need say no more of this Debate seeing I have given you the Opinion of the Learned Dr. and of whose Opinion I know you are in the Point of Universal Redemption and I believe your other Arguments are here Answered Neonom I will alledge them for all that Arg. 4. If taking Sins of the Elect and laying them on Christ was their discharge they would be discharged before the Sufferings and Death of Christ c. D. W. p. 18. Antinom This Argument is as it were the same with the former and admits the same
Answer And would it be so absurd to say a Believer may be discharged before the Death of Christ were not the Faithful under the Old Testament discharged before the Death of Christ We say when the Charge of Sin is taken off from one and laid upon another there is a discharge real in one sence or another Generaliter but not particulariter here is a blotting out of Sin quoad Deum though not quoad Conscientiam Christ took away Sin by way of Suretiship before he did it Actually and so the Faithful before his Coming were saved Neonom If this Errour hold the Gospel Notion of Forgiveness by the Blood of Christ is destroyed D. W. p. 19. Antinom You mean I suppose if this be Truth No It confirms Gospel Forgiveness by the Blood of Christ but prove that it destroys it Neonom Forgiveness denotes a Person guilty it is a Judicial Act of God as Rector Acting by a Gospel Rule Antinom The Apostle saith He justifies by free Grace through the Redemption of Christ that he may appear just also in so doing because his Justice is satisfied He shews God justifies sitting on a Throne of Grace Grace is the Impulsive Cause so far as it consists in the Pardon of a Sinner but it is through the Righteousness of Christ to shew forth his Righteousness and in forgiving in and through the Righteousness of Christ he hath the high concurrence of Justice therein that as he is a Gracious Justifier so he is justified as Righteous by doing it in this way and whereas you say It 's a Judicial Act of God Acting by a Gospel Rule I think you should rather say It is a Gracious Act of God Acting according to the Rules of Justice therein for so the Apostle clearly describes it Rom. 3.24 25. And methinks you turn my Stomach to hear you give so pitiful a low and mean Title to God as a Rector as if he were but a Mayor of a Corporation or some little Earthly Prince Neonom And this supposeth the full and perfect Atonement made by Christ and the Grant made in Vertue thereof Antinom What have we been Disputing about all this while I am glad to see Mr. Neonomian's Ingenuity that now he grants all we Dispute about only differs in naming a thing you say the Atonement of the Wrath of God by Christ for Sinners which is in my sence Fundamentally and Really Pardon quoad Deum is full compleat and perfect and that Forgiveness supposeth it and the Grant made in the Vertue thereof if you had said it had been the Grant made in the vertue thereof I take it you had spoken your own sence fuller than to say it supposeth the Grant made in the vertue thereof unless you mean the Grant made to Christ as our Representative which comes more to our sence but let these Mistakes in Expression pass You seem to distinguish between a Discharge and a Discharge so do we you distinguish between an accepted Atonement for us and giving out the Grant and Patent to us and so do we between Impetration and Application and so do we between Forgiveness in foro Dei and Forgiveness in foro Conscientiae or Evangelii but as to that first I find you do not Love to call it Forgiveness though you think it carries the Nature of Forgiveness in it why should you represent me as such an Heretick to scare People from my Ministry upon the meer naming a thing by a word which by your own terms contain the Nature and Substance Neonom But Forgiveness supposeth a Person Guilty Antinom Christ's bearing Sin supposeth all the World is become Guilty before God and the Elect as well as others and therefore he became a Propitiation for Sin to God that we who are by Nature under the Law and thereby Condemned as Children of Adam and in our own Consciences and thereby guilty might receive Forgiveness of Sins or an Atonement both signifying the same thing by believing A Man is reus quoad Deum reus quoad Ministrationem Legis in Conscientiâ and in this sence shut up under the Law till Faith comes and then is his Personal and Particular Discharge through the Blood of Christ and this last I apprehend to be the Justification by Faith which the Apostle Paul speaks so frequently of neither do I say that this or that Man hath any part in Christ or Pardon any more than in Election and Redemption till he doth believe Neonom But you are of Opinion a Person is never guilty Antinom I never had any such Opinion if you distinguish right concerning Guilt Neonom You say Man that Sins were laid on Christ before we were Born and therefore never upon us Antinom How old are you Was not Christ's Death and Suffering almost 1700 years ago And do you not say Sins were laid then on Christ and if they were then laid on Christ they cannot return to us in the sence as they were taken off from us and therefore they are never upon us in the same manner as they are on those that are not Elect and this must be in respect of Guilt quodamodo some kind of guilt distinguish then of guilt there is guilt in respect of the Righteous Judgment of God in foro Dei and guilt that accompanies the Letter of the Law setting in with our Consciences and in that sence the Law worketh Wrath. Sins were laid upon Christ and they lye upon us but not both in the same Manner nor for the same End Neonom A Judicial Act by a Rule there is none Antinom What your new terms of Art mean I will not trouble my self my Scheme as you term it of Justification imports that God graciously pardons in a way of Manifestation of his Justice and all God's Acts are according to the Rule of his good Pleasure and Will and that 's enough Neonom For the Gospel Grant of Pardon is not to the Elect as Elect but as penitent Believers neither is the Atonement of Christ supposed to our Forgiveness Antinom Pardon as to the Nature of it belongs to Sinners as such eo nomine Faith and Penitency is given together with Remission of Sins and how can you have the Face to say I do not suppose Atonement in Forgiveness or belonging to it when it 's upon that account that you have fell so foully upon me because you think I lay too great a stress on Atonement and give too much to it in Forgiveness Neonom You own the laying of our Sins on Christ before the making of Atonement and without our Sins lay on Christ he could not justly be punished Antinom And do not you own that it's first in Nature to making Atonement and how could Christ be justly punished without he had the Merit upon him either by his own Sins or by the Sins of others but I find you own a Man may be justly punished that deserves it in no sence whatever Neonom So that our Discharge being a
Act. Orthod Evan. p. 214 215. Mr. Perkin's speaks Christ is first Justified Acquit of our Sins and we Justified in him On Gal. 3.16 Dr. Ames Our Freedom or Discharge liberatio nostra from Sin and Death was not only determined in the Decree but also granted and communicated to us in Christ before it 's perceived by us Rom. 5.10 11. Medul c. 24. The sentence of Justification was conceived in the Mind of God by the Decree of Justifying Gal. 3.8 2. It was pronounced in Christ our Head when risen from the Dead 2 Cor. 5.19 3. It 's vertually pronounced from the first relation which results from Faith wrought in the Heart Rom. 8.1.14 4. This Sentence is expresly pronounced by the Spirits witnessing with our Spirits our Reconciliation to God Rom. 5.5 C. 1. C. 27. § 9. Mr. Rutherford There is a Justification in the Mind of God Eternal and a Justification in time terminated in the Conscience of a Believer Exercit. Apologet. per gratia p. 45. He wrote against the Antinomian and therefore this Testimony you have no pretence to refuse Dr. Twiss speaks and saith The Righteousness of Christ was ours before we did believe ours I say in respect of Right because in the Intention both of the Father and the Son it was performed for us though not in respect of Possession and Enjoyment Vind. Grat. l. 1. p. 2. § 25. N. 5. p. 197. DEBATE IV. Of the Elects ceasing to be Sinners from the time their Sins were laid on Christ Neonom GEntlemen now we are come together again as we are wont to make Discovery of Truth and Error I am willing we should be very clear in this Point of Imputation For I will assure you as it 's usually understood I cannot digest it It 's the Foundation of this Antinomian Error therefore I would propound this following Question to be discussed at this time Q. Whether the Elect cease to be Sinners from the time their Sins were laid upon Christ Calvin This Question is the same with the last and it 's resolved in the Resolution of that viz. So far as the Elect are discharged by the Satisfaction of Christ so far they cease to be Sinners Neonom You are mistaken it is not the same Question there is difference between being discharged of Sin in a way of Justification and ceasing to be Sinners in respect of Sanctification Calvin Ay if that be your Meaning Do you charge Mr. Antinomian with that Errour That the Elect never sinned since Sin was laid on Christ Neonom Ay that I do and will make good my Charge too Calvin Say you so then I have no more to say Mr. Antinomian answer for your self Antinom He saith what he pleaseth of me for he hath aâ— inveterate Spirit against me However I am willing to hear â—â—at he saith I pray Sir declare your Charge in express Terms that you will not start from and then prove it Neonom I must premise some things first and then tell you what 's Truth that you may the better know the Errour and judge of it Antinom I had rather you would fall down-right upon the Errour for your way is to make long Speeches and Explications of things that others know as well as you Calvin Pray let him take his own way sometimes the furthest way about is the nearest way home they usually say Neonom I premise two things The First That Men are Sinners or not Sinners in divers respects 2. As to the Filth or Obliquity of Sin with respect to this they are more or less Sinners according to the Degree of their Innocence and Holiness D. W. p. 22. Antinom There is nothing in Sin but is Filth and Obliquity God looks upon it all as so as it stands in opposition both to Justification and Sanctification and it consists in it's Contrariety to the Moral Rectitude of the Law and the Duty required by it where there 's no Law there 's no Sin Those Actions that are gross Sins in Men are no Sins in Bruits because they are not under a Moral Law And for Degrees of Innocency I know none though there be of Holiness Neonom 2. With some as to the Guilt of Sin which refers to the Sanction of the Law against Offenders with respect to this the Offenders are more or less Sinners as they are forgiven or not forgiven Antinom With some What mean you by that some I judge they are Neonomians by the Glimpse you give of them You say the Guilt of Sin is no more than this that a Man is bound over to be punish'd whether right or wrong and a poor Creature that is tryed for Murder is guilty because he is to be hanged I thought always that he was obliged to be hanged because he was guilty and if the Law finds not the Fault upon him he is never guilty Is it Sence to say a Man is guilty being Whipt Burnt in the Hand or being Hanged never unless he hang himself Obligation to Punishment or the Punishment it self is no Sin it 's but an Effect of it founded in the Law I do not understand more or less Sinners in respect of Guilt as forgiven or not forgiven for in the sence of Guilt whether the Fault be more or less Forgiveness takes all off and all Sinners stand equally upon that account before God A Believer here on Earth is as fully forgiven as a Saint in Heaven Justification admits not of Degrees But it may be you distinguish Sinners in respect of Guilt into Forgiven and not Forgiven as Men are more eminently Sinners before Justification than after Neonom As to the Charge of the Fact which was sinful neither after-Sanctification nor Pardon will deliver a Transgressor from having been a Sinner the Fact was his Antinom I told you already the Charge of any one with sinful Fact which the Party had done makes him guilty it is a Fault and tho it be true that the Physical Act cloathed with it's moral Pravity was done by him yet God forbid that Pardon and imputed Righteousness should not deliver him from being a Transgressor I pray Is David now a Murderer and Noah a Drunkard You would seem to speak some great Thing but you thought safest to change the Tense and say from having been Neonom The first and last denominate a Man a Sinner most properly Antinom i.e. The Filth of Sin and the charge of a sinful Fact and they are near a Kin for a sinful Fact is Filth and the Filth of Sin is a sinful Fact and that 's a Fault and a Fault charged and proved or confess'd is Guilt so that it's Fault or Guilt for they are reciprocal denominates a Sinner Neonom The Second denominates a Man punishable but not a Sinner Formally Antinom This 2d is Guilt of Sin which say some is a Relation to the Sanction of the Law We say Guilt refers to the preceptive also and is Fault You say to the Sanction only and therefore I say no
his Loving Kindness shall not depart from them and all things shall work together for their good Neonom An Hundred such Consequences naturally proceed from this Error which fully tends to render Sin and Sinners Innocent Not to say what Popery is in it as if Justification did remove the Filth of Sin Antinom By such consequent Drawers as you are who will charge the greatest Truths of the Gospel with any Absurdities that are forged by carnal Reason As for danger of Popery where is most in Justification by Free Grace or Works And when you make it appear that Justification doth not take away the Guilt of Sin then you shall convince me it taketh not away Filth in that respect For I take no greater Filth to be in Sin than Guilt and that which is the Fountain of all other Filth that is in it or produced by it causeth the inherent Macula And whereas you say the Doctrine of laying Sins on Christ tends to make Sin and Sinners innocent To make Sin innocent is a contradiction Sin is never made no Sin tho' the Sinner may be made no Sinner in a Gospel Sence and your Position is dangerous Neonom I will shew the Grounds of your Mistake You think because God removes our Sins by Pardon so as to acquit us from Punishment therefore our Sins cease to be ours D. W. p. 27. Antinom That is no Pardon to acquit only from Punishment if the Fault remain so that the Person is under the Charge of it 2. Remitting of Punishment only doth not discharge us from Sin 3. Sin imputed to Christ is not imputed to us It 's a Contradiction to say that it is in the same respect and yet we say it was our Sins imputed to Christ and so it 's still We say not they are not ours imputed to Christ but they are ours by Commission and his by Imputation Neonom Because a pardoned Sinner is discharged from Condemnation therefore you think that Person is not to be denominated a Sinner from the Violation of the Precept Antinom Pardon dischargeth from the Fault it self and forgives it or else it 's no Pardon A Man may many ways escape Punishment and not have the Fault pardoned He that is pardoned is no Sinner in the Eye of the Law but we call him a pardoned Sinner and such an one ought by Faith to look upon himself as perfectly righteous before God Neonom Because Christ took upon him to make Satisfaction for Sin therefore he thinks no Filth can cleave to the Offender nor he be a Transgressor by the Offence Antinom You know I do not think so for you know I said a Believer of himself can do nothing but sin And do not you contend with me for saying Our very Righteousness is Sin polluted and unclean And you know my Meaning is that we are peâ—fect and compleat in Christ in our selves all things are polluted and unclean And I take this to be very sound Divinity I will tell yau what Luther saith There is no more Sin Death or Malediction since Christ now reigneth we daily confess also in the Creed of the Apostles which we say We believe there is an Holy Church which is indeed nothing else but as if we should say I bâ—lieve there is no Sin no Malediction no Death in the Church of God Fâ—r they 〈◊〉 do believe in Christ are no Sinners are not guilty of Death but are holy and righteous Lords over Sin and Death and living for ever But Faith only seeth this for we say I believe there is an Holy Church Luth. on Gal. 3.14 Obj. If thou wilt believe Reason and thine own Eyes thou wilt judge clean contrary for thou seest many things in the Godly which offend thee they fall into Sin are weak in Faith subject to Wrath Envy and such other Evil Affections therefore the Church is not holy Answ I deny the Consequence If I look upon my own Person or the Person of my Brother it shall never be holy But if I behold Christ who hath sanctified and cleansed his Church then it is altogether holy For he hath taken the Sins of the whole World Therefore where Sins are seen and felt there are they indeed no Sins For according to Paul's Divinity there is no Sin no Death no Malediction any more in the World but in Christ that is the Lamb of God that hath taken away the Sins of the World who is made a Curse that he might deliver us from the Curse Contrariwise according to Philosophy and Reason Sin Death and the Curse are no where else but in the World in the Flesh or in Sinners for as a Sophistical Divine can speak no otherwise of Sin than doth a Heathen Philosopher Like as the Colour saith he cleaveth to the Wall even so doth Sin in the World in the Flesh and in the Conscience Therefore it is to be purged by contrary Operations But True Divinity teacheth there is no Sin in the World any more for Christ upon whom the Father hath cast the Sins of the World hath vanquished and killed the same in his own Body He once dying for Sin and raised up again dyeth no more Therefore where-ever there 's a true Faith in Christ there is Sin abolished dead and buried but where no Faith in Christ is there Sin doth still remain And albeit the Remnants of Sin be still in the Saints because they believe not perfectly yet are they dead in that they are not imputed unto them because of Faith in Christ DEBATE V. Of the Time when our Sins were laid on Christ and continued there Neonom LET us now discourse about the Time of God's laying our Sins on Jesus Christ I take Mr. Antinomian to be unsound in this Point For he saith That the Time when our Sins were laid actually on Christ was when he was nailed to the Cross and God actually forsook him and they continued on him till the Resurrection D. W. p. 28. Antinom My Words were these Now there was a pitch'd Time wherein God did serve Execution actually upon him and that was when God did forsake this Son of his when he called him forth and served Sin upon him as the Desert of Transgression when he said My God my God c. Now was the time of Payment and Satisfying God Dr. C. p. 356. I do not say that this was the first time of his bearing Sin he bore them in the Garden and was there sorrowful unto Death and lay under Soul-sufferings but upon the Cross he finished his greatest Sufferings made payment in full and therefore the Apostle Peter ascribes his bearing of Sin mostly to that time when he was upon the Cross and under Complaint of the Punishment of Loss God's forsaking of him Besides I distinguish between the charging Sin on Christ as our Debt and the Payment of the Debt and say this was the time of Execution and Payment though I know you confound bearing Sin as a Debt and making
it shews that all Malediction was included in him This may seem hard that it may look like a Reproach to the Cross of Christ in Confession of which we glory But God was not ignorant of what kind of Death his Son should die when he said Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree But one may here object How comes it to pass that the Son in whom the Father delights should be accursed I answer Two things are here to be considered not only in the Person of Christ but also in his Humanity One is that he was the Lamb of God without spot full of Blessing and Grace The other that he took our Person therefore he was a Sinner and under the Curse not so much in himself as in us but yet it was necessary he should die in our stead which he could not do out of the Grace of God and yet he underwent his Wrath else how could he reconcile the Father to us whom he looked upon as incensed against us therefore the Will of the Father did always rest satisfied in him Again how could he free us from the Wrath of God unless he had translated it from us to him therefore he was wounded for our Sins and experienced God as an angry Judge This is the foolishness of the Cross but admired by Angels and swallows up all the Wisdom of the World We must not imagine Christ to be innocent and as a private Person as do the Schoolmen Luther on Gal. 3.14 and almost all the Fathers have done which is holy and righteous for himself only True it is that Christ is a Person most pure and unspotted but thou must not stay there for thou hast not yet Christ although thou know him to be God and Man But then thou hast him indeed when thou believest that this more pure and innocent Person is freely given unto thee of the Father to be thy Priest and Saviour yea rather thy Servant that he putting off his Innocency and Holiness and taking thy sinful Person upon him might bear thy Sin thy Death and thy Curse and might be made a Sacrifice and Curse for thee that by this means he might deliver thee from the Curse of the Law As Paul applied unto Christ that place of Moses Accursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree so may we apply unto Christ not only that whole 27th of Deut. but also may gather all the Curses of Moses's Law together and expound the same of Christ For as Christ is innocent in this general Law touching his own Person so is he also in all the rest And as he is guilty in this general Law in that he is made a Curse for us and is hanged upon the Cross as a wicked Man a Blasphemer a Murderer a Traytor even so is also guilty in all others For all the Curses of the Law are heaped together and laid upon him and therefore he did bear and suffer them in his own Body for us he was therefore not only accursed but made a Curse for us I will tell you what an Eminent New England Divine Mr. Stone MSS. no Antinomian said to this Point It may appear that Christ was made a Curse for us because he suffered the Perfection of the Second Death which he began in the Garden He began to be sorrowful Matth. 26.27 He drank the first Draught of the Cup of Wrath and afterwards it 's said He was in an Agony There was the Second upon the Cross He drank up the Bottom and Dregs of the Cup of Vengeance and said It is finished John 19.30 He was cursed of God in an eminent manner Deut. 21 22 23. compared with Gal. 3 13. If a Man be guilty of Sin worthy of Death and to be hanged for it then he is accursed otherwise not Christ was accursed hanging on the Tree and therefore it 's certain he was guilty of our Sins charged upon him being the greatest Sinner by Imputation and hence he was really cursed of God and that in an eminent manner and not only cursed but a Curse in the Abstract whereby it is most evident that he suffered the immediate Impressions of the Wrath of God and the Second Death which takes possession of the whole Man and therefore must have suffered while his Soul and Body were united or standing together he was those three Hours in the Darkness of Hell encountring the Powers of Darkness and wrestling with the Wrath of an infinite God Man by Sin having displeased such an infinite God must suffer that infinite Displeasure which Christ suffered in our room The Perfection of which second Death consisted in this that he was uttâ—rly deprived of all the Sweetness of his Fathers Love and Presence and filled with the Sence of all the Bitterness of his Wrath Psal 22.1 2. Isa 53.4 to 11. Matth 27.45 46. Gal. 3.13 in which we may attend 1. The Punishment of Loss a total Privation and Desertion in respect of Sence and Feeling of the Sweetness of his Fathers Love and Presence This Desertion appeared in that the God of Glory forsook him left him destitute and desolate God the Father hid his Face from him God would not send in any Comfort by Sun Angels Saints Psal 16.12 God did not only stand at a distance but lock'd up himself in Anger from him would not be entreated by him Psal 22.1 2. c. 2. There was not only Dereliction but Malediction Gal. 3.13 He was assailed by all the infernal Powers of Hell Luke 22.53 This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Authority of Darkness they might do their worst now they had their full Scope the greatâ—st Battel was fought upon the Cross Col. 2.15 2. He wrestled with the Fierceness of the wrath of an Angry God consuming Fire he was smitten of God Psal 69.27 Isa 50. Zech. 13.3 He was his Executioner 3. A Confluence of Plagues and Evils fell upon him and settled themselves on his Sacred Person and he was filled with them he was in the depth of them Psal 69.1 Quest What did our Saviour suffer in Soul Dr. Vsher's Div. p. 172. Answ He drank the full Cup of God's Wrath filled unto him for our sakes the whole Wrath of God due to the Sin of Man being poured forth upon him therefore in Soul he did abide unspeakable Vexations horrible Griefs painful Troubles Fear of Mind feeling as it were the very Pangs of Hell into which both before and most of all when he hanged upon the Cross he was cast which caused him before his bodily Passion so grievously to complain The Death of Christ is the last Act of his Humiliation whereby he underwent the most extreme Ames c. 22. horrible and greatest Punishments for Man's Sins § 2. It contained the greatest Punishments because it did equalize all that misery which the sins of men did deserve Hence is that Plenty of Words and Phrases whereby that Death is expressed in Scripture For it 's not called
begets Faith Phil. 10. The Apostle James ch 1.15 useth the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning Sin when it is finished or compleated brings forth Death i. e. Sin when it appears as it is it 's Death and Condemnation in the Conscience So the Word brought thus by the Spirit into the Heart the Soul is freed from Condemnation it thereby hath Life he believes to the saving of the Soul And can this be denied to be good Faith and true Faith and all the Essence of our Divine Faith it being the believing of the Word so as to close with it and receive it according to the Nature and End of it The Apostle Heb. 11.1 describes Faith by two Words Marvellous Significent in our Sence by * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illud quo subsistunt Beza 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persuasio Syr. It notes Confidence or Presence of Mind without fear So Polyb. It 's rendred Confident or confident Perswasion 2 Cor. 9.4 ch 11.17 and Heb. 3 14. where it signifies and is rendred Confident Perswasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a Subsistance The Word is besides used concerning the Person of the Father Heb. 1.3 where Christ is said to be the Character of the Father's Hypostacy we read it Personality So here Faith is said to Personate the Truth or to be the Image of it as it were in the Heart or rather things hoped for it makes them as it were present ecchoing them in the Heart the Eccho speaking the same things the Voice doth and he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Evidence or rather Demonstration of things not seen it takes up a Demonstration from God's Authority not from Sence or Reason Here Argumentum Inartific Divine Testimony is of greater Force than any Artificial Arguments can be There is also another Word whereby Faith is express'd and it's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 4.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persuasio plena certioratio Stev It 's said of Abraham He was strong in Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persuasae Intelligentiae Stev And what was his strength of Faith It was his Fulness of Perswasion or Confidence ver 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was fully perswaded of what God had promised The Word is used for Faith Col. 2.2 To all riches of the full assurance of understanding Denoting that Faith is primarily an Act of the Understanding this Word is often used for it 1 Thess 1.5 Heb. 6.11 10.22 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for plenam fidem vel persuasionem habeo Luke 1.1 Rom. 14.5 The very Greek Word for Perswasion is used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1.5 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am perswaded i. e. Do believe that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him Rom. 8.38 I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life c. i. e. This was his strong Faith Rom. 14.14 I am perswaded in the Lord Jesus that there 's nothing unclean of it self This was his Faith I will but name one place more Heb. 11.13 it 's said of those eminent Believers mentioned in that Chapter That they received not the Promises in the fulfilling of them by performance but saw them afar off and being perswaded of them saluted them in their own Hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Calvin You must own Saving Faith to be a Saving Perswasion you see or else you must deny the Scriptures and according to the Weakness and Strength of Perswasion we account our Faith is weaker or stronger yet hath it's Forma Differentia from its proper Adjuncts and Object Neonom When he puts a Man to examine his Faith he hath these Words D. W. p. 73. How do I know I believe in Christ He answers Do I rest my Heart upon his Truth Do I receive it as a Truth that I do believe Or do I reject it and will not receive it Then I do not believe it But if thou sit down and rest upon this Truth and receive it and do in reality believe it then you may absolutely conclude Christ is yours D. C. p. 107. Antinom I am sorry to see that you should have such an Aversion to these things I was preaching from Isa 42.6 7. and shewing how Christ receiveth Sinners as Sinners he never shuts out one of those Thousands that come upon the Tender of the Gospel Dr. C. p. 107. and if there be no Example of any shut out in the whole Scripture from whence fetch you that bitterness of your own Spirit that you may not that you dare not close with Christ But you will say If this taking Christ be the best Security how shall I know whether I believe or no Or how shall I know that this my taking is not counterfeit but solid and real Answ I answer by the reality of the thing Do you it indeed If you do it indeed it 's a real taking Do you not bid Men believe sincerely and indeed If a Man should ask you How do you know the Sun shines The light of the Sun doth shew it self and by it's light we know it shines How shall I know I believe There is a light in Faith that doth discover it self unto Men. The Soul that doth really close with Christ may conclude he doth so If you give 6 d. to a poor man and you say to him How do you know I have given you 6 d He will answer I have it in my Hand and feel I have it So ask your Hearts this Question How do I know I believe in Christ Do I rest my Heart upon this Truth Do I receive it as a Truth c Calvin What can you Mr. Neonomian with any face except against this Doctrine Doth not the Apostle say 1 John 5.10 He that believeth on the Son hath a witness in himself Is there any clearer Evidence of an Action than the doing it Ask a Man how he knows he can eat saith he I do eat I do taste and swallow what I eat So that Instance of the Sun shining which he gives there 's no doubt but the first Evidence the Soul hath is in Believing it self tho he tries his Faith by it's Fruits also and receives Evidence therefrom Is not Faith illustrated in Scripture by all our Senses Hearing Tasting Smelling Feeling or Touching Seeing And is there not Perception in the Exercise of all the Senses And how shall I know better that I do exercise them than by perceiving their Objects which is a Witness an Evidence a Demonstration to my self above all others that it is so The Natural Man indeed receiveth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things of the Spirit by Faith 1 Cor. 2.14 and therefore they are foolishness to him But the Spiritual Man doth i. e. by Faith Neonom He says If the Lord give to any to believe this Truth D. W. p. 74. Dr. C. p. 296. that it is his
have an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified Pardon believed is the Root of Sanctification and this cannot be without it for by Faith we are risen with Christ we are planted in the likeness of his Death and Resurrection and Faith in this Point of Christ's Resurrection is that which sets us above the Charge of Sin and Condemnation By the Resurrection of Christ Preached we are begotten to this lively believing hope and we are risen with him through this Faith of the Operation of God hence the Body of Sin is destroyed Death abolished Life and Immortality brought to light Christ by his Resurrection being discharged and justified from the Iniquities of us all which were laid upon him and which he bore in his Body upon the Tree Neonom An Inlightned Regenerate Soul cannot Act towards Christ when he is first presented to its view below these Instances Antinom No it 's the sight of Christ and taste of Christ that carries him forth to all Duties of Sanctification he having Christ in all his fulness he hath done with all his Conditions all his Righteousness is filthy Rags A Soul truely instated by a lively Faith is far above padling with his own little poor sinful Duties as conditions between him and Christ he can serve Christ obey him and his Commandments are not grievous to him neither will he think they have any such Vertue in them as to give him Right to Christ in any way of Foederal Conditionality Neonom His mistakes are because Faith is the Evidence of things unseen i. e. it assents unto unseen realities therefore he thinks that our Faith is nothing but our assent Antinom I think I understand the Import of those words as I have told you but I shewed you it 's such a work of the Spirit and Word whereby the Heart Ecchoes to the Word by such perswasion of the Truth whereby Christ and the Truth is as it were formed in us and your selves can give no account of Faith that reacheth the Essentials thereof but what we have done from the Word of God Neonom Because the Word of Grace promiseth Justification unto all true Believers therefore an assurance of my being Justified is believing whereas I must first be a Believer in order to Pardon before I justly can or ought to believe that I am pardoned Antinom The word Assurance is a word you Impose it was not in the words you alledge against me what is it the Gospel would have us believe if it be not Forgiveness of Sins Acts 13.38 Be it known unto you that through this Man is preached unto you forgiveness of Sins and by him all that believe are justified c. What do they believe It 's Forgiveness of Sins and in this Act of Faith is the Justification by Faith in that they believe forgiveness of Sins and as they are weakly or strongly perswaded through the Spirit of Grace working the Promise upon their Souls In Justification by Faith Faith is not nor cannot be before it but they are Relata quae mutua alterius constant affectione Popish School Divines do dream that Faith is a Quality cleaving in the Heart Luth. on Gal. c. 3. v. 8. without Christ This is a Devilish Errour But Christ should be so set forth that thou shouldest see nothing besides him and shouldest think that nothing can be more near unto thee or more present within thy Heart than he is for he sitteth not Idly in Heaven but is present in us C. 2. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me And here likewise you have put on Christ Faith therefore is a certain stedfast beholding which looketh upon nothing else but Christ the Conqueror of Sin and Death and the Giver of Righteousness Salvation and Eternal Life this is the cause that Paul nameth Jesus Christ so often in his Epistles almost in every Verse but he setteth him forth by the Word For otherwise he cannot be comprehended but by the Word This was lively and notably set sorth by the Brazen Serpent for Moses commanded them that were stung to do nothing else but stedfastly behold the Brazen Serpent they that did so were healed Read with great vehemency this word me and for me and so inwardly practise with thy self Id. on Gal. 2.20 that thou with a sure Faith maist conceive and print this me in thy Heart and apply it unto thy self not doubting but thou art of the number of those to whom this 〈◊〉 belongeth Also that Christ hath not only loved Peter and Paul and given himselfe for them but that the same Grace also which is comprehended in this me as well appertaineth and cometh unto us as unto them When I feel and confess my self a Sinner through Adam's Transgression why should I not say that I am made Righteous through the Righteousness of Christ especially when I hear that he loved me and gave himself for me This did Paul most stedfastly believe and therefore he speaketh these words with so great vehemency and full assurance which God grant unto us in some part at the least who hath loved us and given himself for us What is Faith The first part of Religion whereby from Knowledge I believe in God Yates Divin The first Act of Faith is passive in receiving what God gives Here may we justly say it is a poorer and meaner Act to believe than to love nay rather Passion than Action for we are first apprehended of God before we apprehend him again Phil. 3.12 This Grace is most freely Graced that it might the more frankly reflect all on God again No doubt Faith receives a full discharge makes it not we rather by Faith receive an Acquittance Sealed in the Blood of Christ than the Blood of Christ to make our own Works Meritorious which we may offer to God in payment for our selves Here lyes the Errour of Papists even in Faith iâ— self and other Graces If God will â—â—t bear half the Charges by his Co-operation Man shall undertake to Merit his own Glory and fulfill the Royal Law so abundantly that he shall have something over and above Works are the Effects of Sanctification Sanctification is the Effect of Justification P. 23. The Object of the Understanding is Truth of the Will Goodness Temble of Grace and Faith P. 111. Faith is an Assent to the Truth and Goodness of Divine Revelation wherefore we affirm that this Faith is an Act of the Understanding and of the Will both together approving and allowing the Truth and Goodness of Divine Things In which Asserâ—ion you are to note that we do not make the habit of Faith to be inherent in two Faculties but we affirm the subject is but one and the same viz the Intellectual Nature for I take it with divers of the Lerrned that these Speculations about the real distinction of Faculties in Spiritual Substances of Angels and Souls of Men are but meer subtilties in the Schools without any true ground in
the Nature of it The Understanding essentially includes the VVill and the VVill the Understanding wherefore the Oâ—ject of the Understanding and VVill are one and the same Truth and Goodness are essentially the same Faith is General or Particular P. 124. General that which is Assent to all Divine Revelations as good and true in regard of our selves Here comes in the common Work of the Spirit Particular Assent of Faith is when all things revealed by God are assented to as most true and excellent in regard of our selves when they are particularly applyed to our proper occasion and compared with all Desires and Provocations whatsoever to the contrary when we know and believe these things that are generally delivered P. 131. for our selves in application to our own use and practice as Job was counselled by his Friends so that we believe in this particular as well as that at this time as well as another 1. The Root and Fountain of this Blessed Assent is the Grace of Sanctification And 2. The Object is Twofold P. 133. The whole Will of God revealed in his Word containing all Histories Doctrine Commands Threatnings Promises c. 2. The particular Promise of Remission of Sin and everlasting Life by the Death of Christ which in one Word we call the Gospel tho both be one and the same infused Grace which respects both yet Faith as it respects these Objects the whole Will of God and a particular Promise of the Gospel admitteth of divers Considerations Names and Use Faith as it assents to the whole Will of God I call Legal because it is such a Vertue as is immediately required by the Moral Law in the same manner as Duties of the Moral Law are and as all other Moral Duties are required of us in their Degrees as parts of our inward and outward Sanctity necessary to Salvation so is this Faith commanded as a principal Grace and prime part of our Obedience to the first Command so in this respect it may be saving namely as other Graces are Faith as it assents unto the Special Promise of Grace I call Evangelical because it 's such an Act as is expresly commanded in the Gospel not revealed by the Moral Law It is called properly Saving and Justifying in regard of the Use of it through God's gracious appointment to be the only Instrument of our Justification and Salvation by Christ He defines it thus It is a Grace of Sanctification wrought by the Holy Ghost in every Regenerate Man P. 140. whereby for his own particular he trusteth perfectly on the Promise of Remission of Sins and Salvation by Christ's Righteousness The proper Act of Faith as it justifies it consisteth in Trust and Reliance for our own particular To believe the Truth of a particular Promise is to trust upon the Performance of it to me and that assent of Faith which is given to such a Promise is properly called Fiducia or Trust To assent unto such a Promise is not barely to believe that there is such a thing in the World as Remission of Sins by Christ to be bestowed upon God knows who for this is to believe the Promise not as a Promise but a History but this Assent is of the whole Heart in Trust Reliance Adherence c. That Fiducia is the Essence of Justifying Faith 1. From the Phrase of Scripture used in this business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe in upon into God Christ c. 2. From the opposition between Faith and Distrust Jam. 1.16 Rom. 2.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. From that excellent place 2 Tim. 1.12 I am perswaded he is able to keep c. Wherefore to believe the Promise is with Confidence and Trust to rely upon it P. 140. which Assent of Faith is wrought in this manner 1. A Man is enlightned to see his Sin and Misery 2. The Promise of Grace is proposed and freely offered unto him 3. Whence the Heart touched by the Spirit of Grace draws near to Christ casts himself into his Arms c. It bespeaks Christ in all Terms of Confidence and Affiance My Lord my God my Hâ—pe This Work of Faith as it doth greatly glorifie God in ascribing the whole Honour of our Salvation only to Free Grace in Christ so God doth highly honour it above all Fellow-Graces by making it the blessed Instrument of all the Comfort we enjoy in this World thereby giving us assurance of our Justification in his sight by Christ's Righteousness and a double Comfort 1. Peace of Conscience resting it self secure upon the Stability of God's Promise against the Severities of Justice the Accusations of the Law it hath wherewithall to answer even an All-sufficient Righteousness in Christ 2. That kind of Fiducia which we call Assurance of full pardon of our Sins This is the fruit of that Fiducia or trusting unto the Promise it self wherein stands the proper Act of Justifying Faith Many do stedfastly believe and rest themselves only upon Christ for Salvation who yet would give a World to be assured and fully perswaded that their sins are pardoned Whereupon they will be apt to fall back and say They do not nor can't believe at all A great mistake and that which casteth many a Conscience upon the Rack It 's a false Argument for Justifying Faith is not to be assured of Pardon but to trust wholly upon the Promise for Pardon What is Essential unto Faith is manifest That which in order of Nature seems to have the Precedency Dr. O. of Justific p. 135. is the Assent of the Mind unto that which the Psalmist betakes himself unto in the first place for relief under a sense of Sin and Trouble Psal 130.3 4. It 's declared in the Gospel that God in his Love and Grace will Pardon and Justifie guilty Sinners through the Blood and Mediation of Christ so it 's proposed Rom. 3.23.24 The Assent of the Mind hereunto as proposed in the Promise of the Gospel is the Root of Faith the Foundation of all that the Soul doth in believing nor is there any Evangelical Faith without it yet consider it Abstractedly as a meer Act of the Mind the Essence of Justifying Faith doth not consist solely therein 2. This is accompanied in sincere believing with an approbation of the way of Deliverance and Salvation proposed c. This Assent and Approbation causing the Heart to rest upon Divine Grace Wisdom and Love and apply it self thereto according to the Mind of God is the Faith whereby we are Justified and concludes in it Renunciation of all other Ways and Means of attaining Righteousness the Consent of the Will Acquiescence of the Heart in God Trust and Confidence c. Peter Martyr saith Faith is an Assent and that a firm Assent unto the words of God obtained not by Reason or Natural Demonstration but by the Authority of the Speaker and by the Power of the Holy Ghost Com. pl. part 3. p. 58. We must now declare what
that the Work must be pretty well over for Mortification and Vivifaction before Christ comes in before a Saving Interest in Christ may be had a Sinner must not touch him or the Preacher so much as offer Christ to teach them the Doctrine of Self-denial or to enable them through the Beauty and Excellency of his Grace and Love to renounce Idols Did you ever know any Sinner renounce Idols till he saw a ground and reason in Christ for it and felt his power in the Grace of the Gospel The Spirit saith The Blood of Christ cleanseth us from all Sin and accordingly the Promise of Christ is Ezek. 36.25 I will sprinkle clean Water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you and you will have a vile filthy Sinner to be washed first and have his Idols removed first and exercise one of the highest Virtues in the Christian Religion to deny himself before he dare to come to Christ or before any one must offer Christ to him and if he be offered it must be upon the condition of these Gigantine performances Neonom There cannot be an Acceptance of Christ without a renouncing Sin and Idols and denying Carnal Self and our own Merits as opposite to him And on the other hands to renounce Sin and Idols and deny our selves will not avail us without an Acceptance of Christ and reliance on him Antinom This is an old Brittish way of Arguing because Acceptance of Christ is accompanied with renouncing Idols c. therefore he may not accept Christ till he hath renounced Idols and denied himself c. Because a Man hath Arms and Legs therefore a thing must have Arms and Legs before it be a Man or because a Man is Animal risibile therefore he must be Animal risibile before he is a Man and made a Man afterwards There is one and the same cause of renouncing Sin and Acceptance of Christ and Christ is held forth in the Gospel to turn Men from Darkness to Light and the power of Sathan unto God and Sinners are even the worst to be called and invited to him to come for all those Ends and Purposes for Destruction of Sin and Life of Grace and I tell you there cannot be one of these Sins mortified or Idol renounced without Faith in the Blood of Christ I say before Faith and Acceptance of Christ Neonom I mention some things as Antecedently necessary to our renouncing Sin and Idols c. Antinom This you mean Antecedently necessary to know the true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Neonom I mean Knowledge Assent Conviction of Sin and Misery c. these are Preparatory Qualifications not that an Interest in Christ always follows these but they dispose the Soul to a hearty acceptance of Christ in opposition to all Rival Opposites and are necessary thereto in some degree Antinom I cannot understand your meaning unless this be it that Nature and Grace differ only gradually and that some Men do grow up out of a Natural condition by these degrees and some do fall off and not come to it first there must be Conviction of Sin and humbling and then follows Self-denial and renouncing Idols and then Christ comes in at last when he can be willing and these previous Qualifications must dispose the Soul for Christ this is Popery Neonom The declared design of the offers of Christ to Sinners is that they be thus willing to Accept of Christ and partake of an Interest in him Antinom The declared design of offering Christ is not to tell them they must thus prepare themselves before Christ is of use to them but that they come to Christ and receive of his Grace to furnish them with his Spirit and all gracious Effects and Operations It is the Spirit that convinceth of Sin and all Saving Convictions and Humiliations and Renunciation of Idols are included in Repentance and Mortification which are the Effects of the true Grace of God in the Heart whereby Faith is wrought and that Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for Righteousness and Life purifies the Heart and produceth Repentance Love compliance with the Commands of Christ and they are not grievous You propound wrong Methods for the Curing Diseased Souls this way will not do Neonom You mistake me still I will tell you where the difference is not 1. It is not whether there is in Christ a sufficiency of Merit and Grace to save the worst of Sinners Antinom The question is whether the Grace and Merit of Christ be not efficient in the Saving the worst of Sinners Neonom 2. Nor whether Christ is offered to the worst of Sinners if they will accept him on the Terms of the Gospel Antinom But the Question is Whether the Sinner can accept of Christ on such Terms before Christ hath wrought in them to will and do and made them willing in the Day of his Power And whether they ought not to be Invited to Christ and to receive him in the Gospel Offers for the working this willingness by efficacious Grace Neonom 3. Nor whether Sinners are not often the Objects of Gods Effectual Calling in order to an Interest in Christ Antinom God's Effectual Call is an Interest in Christ and there 's no Effectual Call can be before an Interest in Christ it 's the putting the Soul in Actual Possession of Christ and the uniting it to Christ Neonom Nor whether there may not be Knowledge Assent Convictions Humblings and feigned Resolves and yet a Soul fail of an Interest in Christ for want of true Conversion tho' they are hopeful Signs Aninom But the Question is Whether you ought to make common Grace the Foederal Condition of special and tell Souls that they cannot receive Christ in a way of special Grace till they have attained common Grace out of Christ Neonom Nor whether the degrees of Convictions and Humblings are equal in all D. W. p. 84. Antinom You should have told us whether you mean saving or common if they be saving they are wrought as an Effect of Union to Christ if common and out of Christ it 's no great matter what degree they are of for there is nothing in an unregenerate Man though never so plausible that gives him a disposition to a new Heart no more than one that 's stone dead can have in himself a disposition to Life they that are in the Graves of Sin hear the voice of the Son of God and live he quickens them that are dead Privantia non habent media there 's no medium between Death and Life Neonom Nor whether Preparatory Qualifications do Merit true Grace Antinom You should have told us what Merit ex congruo or condigno if you deny the word you assert the thing For a Foederal Condition is a Merit Virtute compacti Neonom Yea or whether Faith or Repentance do Merit an Interest in Christ This I deny and say That their
in him and the Covenant Promise gives a part before that receiving him in giving Christ for the Gift of Christ must be by nature before we can receive him Neonom 3. Whether the Soul of a Sinner as to its habitual disposition and purpose is under the Reigning Power of Enmity Rebellion and Filthiness till after he hath a Saving Interest in Christ. This you affirm and I deny Antinom I do affirm that a Sinner hath no habitual disposition or true purpose of Heart for God and is under the power of Enmity c. till he hath a Saving Faith Here you will have a Sinner free from dominion of Sin before he is under the dominion of Grace the Heart changed and Sin mortify'd without saving Interest in Christ he must be sanctified before Christ is Justification or Sanctification to him This is strange Doctrine Neonom Whether some degrees of Conviction and Humiliation of Soul be necessary Prerequisites to the Souls true Acceptance of Christ for Pardon I affirm this and you deny it Antinom We have told you what Protestants long since say That no Antecedent Qualities before the Grace of Christ and the Inspiration of his Spirit are pleasing to God or make Men meet to receive Grace but all such are Sins the rather because they are not done as God wills for Effectual Vocation is by an Interest in Christ therefore it 's vain and frivolous to talk that those things are Prerequisites that are the thing it self Neonom I shall only prove the Truth as contained in the third and fourth Question 1. That the Soul of a Sinner as to its habitual disposition and power is not under the Reigning Power of Enmity Rebellion and Filthiness till after it hath a Saving Interest in Christ 2. Effectual Vocation makes this change in the habitual disposition of the Heart and this Vocation is necessary to our Interest in Christ Antinom What is it that you would prove That which you are to prove is this That the habitual disposition of the Soul is changed as to the dominion of Sin and as to the filthiness thereof before a Saving Interest in Christ and now you shift the Terms and after you have been speaking all this while of Preparatory Works how we must be humbled have self-denial and cast off all our Idols before we have an Interest in Christ now you shuffle your Cards and say The Soul is not continued under the Reigning Power of Enmity c. till after his Interest in Christ Doth not any Man that hath half an Eye see this Juggle and forsooth you 'l prove that this disposition of habitual and reigning Enmity doth not remain till after our Interest in Christ why Because it 's taken away in our Saving Interest in Christ Is not this shifting and shuffling That all this while you make such a noise and vapour of what we have before we come to Christ It 's nothing else but what we have by Vertue of an Interest in Christ And your Argument should run thus If Effectual Calling makes this change in the habitual disposition of the Heart and is necessary antecedaneously to our Interest in Christ then this Enmity Rebellion and Filthiness is taken away before our Interest in Christ Ergo We deny the consequence for this reason Because the reigning power of Sin hath it's first blow in our Effectual Calling and then and not before we are beginning to be made holy and this Effectual Calling is our Interest in Christ Sin shall not have dominion over us because we are under Grace Christ is made to us Sanctification and we are Sanctified in Christ c. And now you shift your Hands and fay We do not lye under this Enmity till after our Saving Interest and good Reason because Christ hath slain the Enmity upon the Cross and the Doctrine of Reconciliation being received by Faith in our Effectual Calling the Enmity is slain there also the New Man put on we are Created in Christ Jesus to good Works and the depraved disposition and habit changed and now what you go about to conclude is so far from the Question that it is against you but you say P. 85. That this disposition is altered in Effectual Vocation and there can be no true coming to Christ for Pardon and especially for Sanctification without that purpose whence it appears that Effectual Vocation must be before Saving Faith in Christ and that therein the Reigning Power of Sin must be slain before Justifying Faith or any Sanctifying Grace that is the Fruit of it Neonom The Confessions are for me for they both say That this Call lyes in Enlightning the Minds Spiritually taking away the Heart of Stone giving a Heart of Flesh c. Antinom I pray take their words together they say Confes ch 10. All those whom God hath predestinated unto Life and those only mark the words I know you cannot swallow all this Article without kecking he is pleased in his Appointed and Accepted Time effectually to call by his Word and Spirit Is not this to give them Saving Interest in Christ out of that state of Sin and Death Is not this the habitual purpose and disposition of the Heart under the Reigning Power of Enmity Rebellion and Filthiness in which they are by Nature to Grace and Salvation by Jesus Christ enlightning their Minds savingly taking away the Heart of Stone giving a Heart of Flesh c. Here is terminus à quo and ad quem And now you would argue because this habitual Disposition Enmity and Reigning Power of Sin is taken away in and by our Saving Interest in Christ therefore it 's done before our Saving Interest and because that would look so grosly absurd you say therefore It doth not remain till after our Interest in Christ I pray Gentlemen judge whether this be not either very foul play or from gross Ignorance of the Rules of Right Reasoning Neonom 2. How Inconsistent with Vocation Regeneration and Conversion are Hearts of such vile disposition Antinom Death and Life Darkness and Light are inconsistent they are Privantia a natural Estate and Effectual Calling are such because this takes that out of one state into another in an instant by uniting them to Christ they thereby pass from Darkness to Light from Death to Life and the Passage from Death is the Passage into Life it 's our Death unto Sin and Life unto God through Jesus Christ Rom. 6.11 And being made free from sin you became Servants of Righteousness Ver. 18 22. Neonom That cannot he a true Faith and Acceptance that consists with such vile Dispositions c. Antinom True but are not such vile Dispositions changed in the New Creation The taking away the Heart of Stone and giving a Heart of Flesh is at once and generatio unius is corruptio alterius and Faith is now in the New Heart yea the very Essence of it Neonom Can he be said to accept of Christ who as you say
is Actually and Absolutely procured for the Elect before Faith and shall infallibly be applyed to them all in time seemeth to reach the Scope intended by the Godly Learned whose Spirits have more particularly laboured to hold forth the whole Truth in this precious part of Soul-Reconciling Doctrine and Soul-Supporting Mystery of the Gospel To say That we are Justified by vertue of a singular Promise in the Court of Conscience and in our own Persons in which sence the Scripture constantly saith We are Justified by Faith is not that I know of affirmed by any And for this he quotes Chamier Cham. Tom. 3. lib. 12 13. Sect. 18. Nobis persuasissinum est remissa esse peccata antequam Credidimus We are verily perswaded that our Sins are forgiven before we believe for we deny that Infants do believe And Perkins Perkins on Gal. 3.16 who saith Christ is first Justified i. e. Acquit of our Sins and we Justified in him And Dr. Ames saith The Transaction between God and Christ was a certain previous application of Redemption and our discharge unto our Suâ—ety Ames Medul lib. 1. c. 24. § 3. and unto us in him which to that secondary Application to be performed in us hath the respect of a kind of Efficacious pattern so that that the Application to him is the Representation of this Application to us and this is produced by vertue of that And he saith § 3. Hence our discharge liberatio nostra from Sin and Death was not only established in God's Decree but also in Christ and granted and communicated to us in him before it could be perceived by us Rom. 5.10 11. Hence the Father and the Son are said to send the Spirit to the performing of this Application John 14.16 and 16.7 And in the Chapter of Justification Am. Med. c. 27. §. 9. He tells us what the sentence of Justification is 1. It was in the Mind of God as it were conceived by him by his Decree of Justifying Gal. 3.8 2. It was in the Christ our Head pronounced when he rose from the Dead 2 Cor. 5.19 3. Virtually pronounced in that first relation which ariseth from Faith ingenerated in the Heart Rom. 8.1 4. Expresly pronounced by the Spirit witnessing with our Spirits our Reconciliation with God Rom. 5.5 Hence it appears that the Doctrine of our Justification before Faith is not an Errour but a Great and Glorious Truth and it is no prejudice to the Doctrine of Justification by Faith but the Foundation Ground and Reason of it neither is it any Door opened to Licentiousness an unbeliever having no more Confirmation or Encouragement to persist in Sin thereby than by the Doctrine of Election which gives none but as Mr. Norton saith It 's no small part of the Ministry of Reconciliation that God Imputed to Christ the Sins of the Elect before they did believe and will never Impute them unto the Elect. Neither is my speaking of Faith's taking hold of Christ's Righteousness and saying That it brings not Christ's Righteousness to us but presupposeth it given and granted such an absurdity as you would make it For Dr. Ames saith very distinctly Justifying Faith precedes Justification it self as a cause of its Effect but Faith apprehending Justification necessarily presupposeth and follows Justification as the Aâ—â— doth the Object about which it is Conversant and this I take to be the true Notion of Justification That Great Man for Holiness and Learning Chamier saith I deny that Faith is the cause of our Justification for then our Justification would not be of Grace Cham. Parstrat Tom. 3. l. 13. c. 10. Sect. 18. but of our selves but Faith is said to justifie not because it effecteth Justification but because it is effected in the Justified Person and in another place he saith Faith doth neither merit obtain or begin our Justification Lib. 22. c. 12. Sect. 5. and Sect. 9. for if it did then Faith should go before Justification both in nature and time which may in no wise be granted for Faith it self is a part of Sanctification now there is no Sanctification but after Justification which really and in its own nature is before it I think Sir I have cleared my self sufficiently from the Charge of Errour in this Point viz. That our Justification is in being before Faith And now Sir before we proceed to the other part of your Charge concerning the manner of Faith's Justifying let us hear your Arguments against Justification in any sense going before Faith Neonom One Real Difference between us is Whether we are Justified before we believe Which I deny for 1. We are Justified by Faith is the common Language of the Holy Ghost Rom. 5.1 Gal. 2.16 D. W. p. 105. Antinom We own it and say too that we are Justified by Faith and this doth not prejudice but confirm what we assert Neon Faith is enjoyned as an effectual means of Justification by Christ Antinom We deny not that Faith required in the Gospel and wrought by the Spirit is as an effectual means of Application of Justification but therefore it follows not that it 's in being before That which is not in being cannot be applyed Neonom The Gospel denounceth and declareth all condemned till they do believe Antinom The Gospel declares only their state of Condemnation under the Law the Gospel properly condemns not and we own that every one by nature is a Child of Wrath and in the sense of the Law is a condemned Person and every one is shut up under the Law as the Apostle saith till Faith comes his New-Covenant Blessedness belonging to him is not yet made manifest nor is his Nature and State changed Neonom Vnbelief is the Cause why men are barred from Justification and remain obnoxious to Misery Antinom It is God that justifies and no Sin can barr God's Act of free Mercy in pardon of a Sinner in the Pardon of Unbelief as well as of other Sins when God will justifie It 's very absurd to say Sin barrs God's Act of Pardon It 's true Unbelief influenceth a Sinner as to his own Acts and will be charged upon him as his Fault and will aggravate that Condemnation which he hath under the Law because from his own corrupt Will and Affection he will not receive Pardon and Life that is offered in the General and Indefinite Tender thereof made in the Gospel And therefore Christ saith John 5.40 Ye will not come to me that you may have Life Heb. 3.18 19. They could not enter by reason of unbelief Unbelief on our part doth keep us from Christ but hinders not on God's part that effectually draws all the Elect justifying of them and working Faith in them Rom. 8.29 30. Eph. 1. The whole Unregenerate state is a Barr till God break it by Regeneration which is a free Work of Grace as Justification is an Act of Grace and must be found where-ever a Sinner is Justifyed by Faith and that in
Question if it be not Faith it self that is meant The Context is so far from relieving our Understandings that it contributeth to our unavoidable Deceit and Ignorance Read over the Texts and put but Christ's Righteousness every where instead of the word Faith and see what a Scandalous Paraphrase you will make the Scripture is not so audaciously to be corrected Calvin Now I shall shew you how by the Orthodox Protestants this Doctrine of Neonomanism hath been opposed as Antichristian and Destructive to the Grace of God Pemble's Treat of Justif c. 2. p. 164. fol. The Learned Mr. Pemble gives the Anatomy of this Doctrine after that he had shewed that Faustus Socinus Michael Servetus Christophorus Ostodorus and Arminius were the Forgers next to the Jesuits and Propagators of this Doctrine Armin. saith he branches out his Opinion in three distinct Propositions 1. Justitia Christi Imputata nobis Christ's Righteousness is Imputed to us 2. Justitia Christi non Imputata in Justitiam the Righteousness of Christ is not Imputed for Righteousness 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere Imputatur in Justitiam Believing it self is Imputed for Righteousness We now meddle with the last more roundly expressed Ipsum fidei Actum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere Dito Imputari in Justitiam Armin. Epist ad Hippolitum idque sensu proprio non Metonymecè The same is the Opinion of his Fellows the Remonstrants of Voetius Peter Bertius Episcopius c. with whom Bellarmine agrees in the Interp. of Rom. 4. de Justific c. 17. lib. 1. In summ their Opinion runs thus God in the Legal Covenant required exact Gbedience of his Commandment but now in the Covenant of Grace he requires Faith which in his gracious estimations stands instead of that Obedience to the Moral Law which we ought to perform Which comes to pass by the Merit of Christ for whose sake God accounts our imperfect Faith to be perfect Obedience This Assertion exactly Neonomianism and in place thereof we defend this Proposition God doth not Justifie a Man by Faith properly imputing unto him Faith in Christ for his perfect Obedience to the Law and therefore accounting him Just and Innocent in his sight which we prove by these Reasons I 'll but name them 1. We are not Justified by any Work of our own though given by Grace but believing is an act of our own Ergo not by believing The Major is manifest by Scripture which teach we are saved by Grace Eph. 2.5 Tit. 3.6 Rom. 11.6 The Minor is evident that Faith is a Work of ours for though John 6.29 Christ saith this is the Work of God c. yet our Adversaries will not conclude thence that Faith is God's Work within us and not our Work by his help for they 'l say It 's not God believes and Christ repents c. They have two shifts 1. We are not Justified by any Work of our own done by our own strength but by the Aid of Grace A. This distinction of Works done without Grace and Works done by Grace was devised by one that had neither Wit nor Grace being a trick to elude the force of such Scriptures as exclude them indefinitely to our Justification c. Wherefore it s without all ground in Scripture thus to Interpret these Propositions A Man is not Justified by Works i. e. by Works done by the Power of Nature before and without Grace A Man is Justified by Grace i. e. by Works done by Aid of Grace 2. They say We are not Justified by any Works of our own i. e. by any Works of the Law but by a Work of the Gospel such as Faith is we may be Justified by there 's no ground in Scripture for this distinction nor in reason for both tell us that Works commanded in the Law and in the Gospel are one and the same for the substance of them Luke 10.27 Deut. 6.5 What Sin against the Gospel that is not a Transgression of the Law Is Charity one doth not the Law command it Is Faith one doth not the Law enjoyn the same Obj. But it commands not Faith in Christ A. It doth for that which commands us in general to believe commands us to believe whatever God shall make known to us Arg. 2. God only accounts that perfect Righteousness of the Law which is so in deed and in truth but Faith is not the perfect fulfilling of the Law Ergo Here our Neonomians will except and say They differ from the Arminians in saying That Christ only hath merited that our Imperfect Righteousness shall be accepted instead of perfect which hath worser absurdity in it as shall appear Arg. 3. We are not Justified by two Righteousnesses existing in two divers Subjects but if we are Justified by Christ's Righteousness and the VVork of Faith we are Justified by two Righteousnesses existing in two Subjects Ergo. I shall only leave with you the Opinion of the Orthodox Protestants concerning Justification by Faith who have strenuosly opposed the Papists Socinians Arminians and Neonomians in this Point He is Justified by Faith who excludes the Righteousness of VVorks Calv. Instit lib. 3. c. 111 de Justific fidei and apprehends the Righteousness of Christ wherewith being cloathed in the sight of God he appears not as a Sinner but Justified So that we Interpret Justification simply an Acceptance whereby God doth account us for Righteous Ones who are received into his Favour and we say That it i. e. Acceptio Acceptance is placed in the Remission of Sins and Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ Justification hath two parts Remission of Sins and Imputation of Christ's Righteousness Mr. Perkins in the Order and Causes of Salv. c. 37. p. 81. Remission of Sins is that part of Justification whereby he that believes is freed from the Guilt and Punishment by the Passion of Christ Colos 1.21 22. 1 Pet. 2.24 Imputation of Righteousness is the other part of Justification whereby such as believe having the Guilt of their Sins covered are accounted Just in the fight of God through the Righteousness of Christ 2 Cor. 5.21 Psal 32.1 Rom. 4. tot cap. Phil. 3.8 9. The form of Justification is as it were a kind of Translation of the Believers Sins unto Christ and again Christ's Righteousness unto the Believer by a Reciprocal and Mutual Imputation Justification is the Gracious Sentence of God whereby for the sake of Christ apprehended by Faith Ames Medul c. 27. he absolves a Believer from Sin and Death and counts him Righteous Rom. 3.22 24. § 17 18. Christ is the adequate Object of Faith as it justifies Faith also upon no other account justifies but as it apprehends that Righteousness for which we are justified and that Righteousness is not in the Truth of any Axiom to which we give Assent but in Christ alone who was made Sin for us that we may be the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Hence those Sermons in
if we have Faith to see it and yet I still shew how great a thing Salvation is and good Works in a due manner of Performance from true Principles and a right End I shewed that our Perseverance depends not on our Works and that I am ready to maintain I say God hath settled all things that appertain to Life and Godliness in his Son Jesus Christ and upon you for his own sake and setled Everlastingly and Vnchangeably upon you so that there can be nothing to make them more secure than the Grant of God himself hath made them I shew'd that a good Child knowing he is Heir and hath the Estate setled on him doth not obey his Parents in order to a better Security for the Estate than he hath he serves not now to get his Fathers Land but to Honour and Glorifie his Father that hath so freely setled the Estate upon him VVithout respect to good or evil the Lord hath Everlastingly established all that ever he meant to do i. e. good or evil of ours and in us The Lord doth nothing upon Conditions in his People D. Cr. p. 652. as if he did refer himself still to these Conditions and did suspend what he did intend to do to his People till he did perceive how they carry themselves to him All that I aim at is this that it is not a vain thing to yield due Obedience to any thing that God requires though the Lord intend not ye shall by your Obedience gain Life Neonom He saith When you Fast Pray Mourn keep the Sabbath c. your Eye should be simply to the Glory of God and not to gain that which is already ours in Christ c. Antinom All this I say still If in these Duties we think and propose to our selves to obtain Life we are acted by the Righteousness of the Law which is opposed to the Righteousness of Faith c. D. Cr. 134. Neonom He saith let subduing of Sin alone for Peace D. Cr. p. 13. Antinom It is an easie thing to expose Sermons and any continued Discourses to Contempt if Men will pick out here and there an Expression and not shew the reason and dependance thereof My words are How much filthiness is there in all your wrâ—stlings I say how many defects and infirmities might you see Could you chuse but fall foul upon your own Spirits for these infirmities and defects of your best performances seeing the wages of Sin is Death what can you run to then none but Christ none but Christ whilst your acts in respect of filthiness proclaims nothing but VVar Christ alone and his Blood proclaims nothing but Peace Therefore I will give you this hint by the way when I speak of the power of Christ subduing Sin because from the power of it in Man they are apt to think their peace depends upon their subduing of their Sin If their Sins be subdued then they have peace let subduing of Sin alone for Peace let Christ have that which is his due it is he alone that speaks peace he is our Peace I mean not that subduing of Sin should be let alone but doing it for such an end that belongs to Christ alone If you fetch your peace from any thing in the VVorld but Christ you will fetch it from where it is not Dr. C. p. 13. Neonom He saith I must tell you there is not any thing you perform when you have attained the highest pitch that hath any prevalency or availableness to produce or bring forth the least good unto your selves D. Cr. p. 150. Antinom I say there is nothing you can do by which you ought to expect any Grace to your selves in doing it My meaning was that our bare Duties are not available to good in themselves Paul may Plant c. but God must give the Encrease we may Eat Drink and Sleep but not expect good from the things themselves as in Efficacy so in respect of purchase and procurement what doth our Righteousness profit God therefore I add the words of the Apostle you are not your own you are bought with a price Christ hath redeemed us that we should not henceforth live to our selves but unto Christ that died for us Though some look at this as a discouragement yet there is a Spirit of Ingenuity in a Believer that he will be as Industrious to glorifie God and to do good to Men as if he did it for himself Neonom He saith If a Soul get under full-sail filled with a stiff gale of the Spirit when Floods of meltings flow from it if they can cry mightily c. hereby they think they shall get pardon settle Spiritual Civil and Spiritual Healings c. D. W. from D. Cr. p. 235 236. Antinom I was shewing how Man's Righteousness is exalted above what is meet sometimes when Duties are accompanied with Christ's Assistances by his Spirit and said to clear it up That it 's true indeed whilst a Believers Heart is over-cast with gross Vapours and is more than ordinary dull in Hearing flyes low and slow in Praying and is somewhat stiff and untoward in Fasting without measure such Righteousness goes usually for Loss and Dung But if a Soul get under full-sail fill'd with a stiff gale of the Spirit c. Then follows what he rehearseth and then it follows such courses some think will turn away and reconcile God to a Person of People But under favour the attributing of such Efficacy to this Righteousness though thus assisted by Christ's Spirit is more than is meer though Christ be Explicitly owned as the Author of such Assistances And this is a failing very ordinary among Believers to ascribe an Atoning Efficacy to their Duties especially when performed in the best manner when it is hard to keep their Hearts in the right frame not so duely considered that their Persons and Services when seemingly best performed have all their Acceptation in Christ and they are apt to think that they procure more at the Hands of God when they seem to be carried forth more than when they see as it were a withdrawment of those Assistances and so spoil their best Duties for want of due thorow Renunciation of their own Righteousness and that of their best Duties whereas God never intended that any of our best Graces or Duties should be of an Atoning Nature to Rob Christ of the Glory of his Atonement It may be Mr. Neonomian you never had any such Experience of the working of Corruption in your best Duties for the low esteem you have of Christ's Righteousness and the high valuation you have of your own as appears by these Discourses But know that the more we are carried forth in Duty the greater is our Temptation to Spiritual Pride and Selfulness Neonom His common phrase is We must not work for Life but from Life D. W. p. 124. Antinom Yes and it 's a great Gospel Principle being rightly understood we must not work for
for Salvation is the Genus both of Justification Sanctification and Glory And in the same kind as you make Faith and Repentance necessary to Justification so you may make your Sincerity and Perseverance You do but tire out your selves and us in an ambiguous Word in which you would not have us know your meaning but he must and cannot be mistaken in it Neonom He hath as well promised Heaven to the Godly Man as Pardon to the Believer Antinom As if a Believer were not a Godly Man and Heaven were not promised to him A Believer is a Godly Man and the Promise of all things that appertain to Life and Godliness through the Knowledge of him that hath called him to Glory and Vertue Glory and Vertue are promised to him 2 Pet. 1.3 Neonom And our Perseverance in Holiness and Obedience is as truly our way to Glory as the Scriptures can describe Antinom It 's one thing to be a way in the Covenant-state and another thing to be a way to it Salvation hath it's ways of Degrees in it Sanctification is but a degree of Glorification When we are changed into the Image of Christ it 's from Glory to Glory by the Spirit of God 2 Cor. 3.6 Neonom Nothing of these merit Heaven but he that merited Heaven hath peremptorily appointed these to bring us thither Heb. 6.10 11 12. Antinom He that merited the End hath merited the Means and the means to work in such a way as shall not rob him of the Honour of his Merits He hath not merited that we should deserve but he must have the Honour of all our Salvation The things spoken of Heb. 6.10 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehended in Salvation He spake of false-hearted Professors before now he was perswaded better things of them that to them true Salvation did belong and that through Grace that bringeth Salvation they had truth of Faith and Love to his Name which they shewed in their Love to his Saints and therefore encourageth them in the Stability of the Promises from the Truth and Justice of God that made them and that they should not fail of all in God's Order and therefore exhorts them to full Assurance of Hope that God who gave Grace will give Glory and will with-hold no good thing and therefore encourageth to persist in Faith and Hope and the true Fruits thereof from the Grace of God they had received and the stability thereof as he exhorts to the Practice of Christian Duties Heb. 13.1 2 3 4 5. and Ver. 5. For he hath said he will never leave thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say The Lord is my helper Is not this Salvation And that there 's Rewards in Grace it 's not denyed but they are all to Christ and his Members not upon the attaining of Conditionating Qualifications And we deny not but the Lord Jesus exhorts to Labour and Diligence and Perseverance and rebukes Slothfulness and all these are Benefits for so I call all Covenant Duties that are connext to Promises but all within the Covenant The obtaining a Covenant-state or continuance in it is not to be ascribed to them but they are to be assigned to our Salvation and to the Fulness Perpetuity and Permanency of the Covenant Neonom Christ declares in the Gospel they shall miss of Heaven and Eternally perish who are Apostates Vngodly Disobedient and Vnprofitable This is not the Doom of the Law D. W. p. 138. Antinom That 's false doth not the Spirit of God say in the Gospel The Law is made for the Lawless and Disobedient 1 Tim. 1.9 and that it dooms whatever thing is contrary to Sound Doctrine Denunciations against Sin and Sinners in the Gospel is but telling the Sence and Judgment of the Law The Gospel qua talis cannot doom any to Death it being only the offer of a Remedy those that embrace it not it leaves them as it found them it found them dead and so it leaves them and their further penalty is from the Law of being more inexcuseable for their rejecting the Remedy and saith to them How will he escape that neglects so great Salvation i. e. How will they escape that Condemnation that they are under already Neonom It 's not against every imperfect degree of Godliness but Vngodliness It 's not every defect of Obedience but Disobedience not against every neglect of Fruitfulness but such as argues a dead and barren State Antinom These are such as are under the Law and whatever the Word of God saith to them it 's the Law denouncing their Doom and by your own Doctrine they are not come into the Bounds of a Gospel-Covenant having not performed the Conditions of sincere Obedience On the other hand you own that these Dooms and Threatnings do not belong to those in Covenant tho' they have Sins and Failings and Falls yet the Gospel doth not doom them nor the Threats belong to them because the Gospel admits imperfect and sinful Obedience But the Law condemns the least Sin even in God's Children and the Gospel admits of no Sin nor approves of it but is to save us from it Neonom Art thou so unskilful in the Word as not to remember Heb. 10.38 39 If any Man draw back Is this a Threatning or not Is it not true of all Persons Do not say the Elect Believer will not fall away I think the same But yet is it the less true that even he shall perish if he fall away Antinom I wish you and I were more skilful in the Word than we are Will you have such Expressions as these to be part of the Covenant of Grace which are Sentences of Death to Hypocrites and Unbelievers Christ will send away many such at the last Day with I know you not depart from me c. Will you say that will be preaching the Gospel to them and giving them a Law of Grace No no when Christ judgeth as Judge of all the World he will judge but by one Law under which those will fall who have not obeyed the Gospel though their Punishment will be the more higthned in that they have refused the Remedy There are many things in the Scripture as Declarations of Truths of one kind or another Description of Persons Histories Miracles c. Discriminations of Persons and Things which are not to be reckoned the Essentials of the Covenant of Grace but for the Bene esse of it the Usefulness and Advantage of those to whom it doth belong If we make every Work in the Scripture spoken of to be a Condition of the Covenant of Grace we shall not tell where to find it Neonom Salvation is promised to Perseverance Rev. 2.10 2 Tim. 4.7 Antinom Perseverance is Salvation and in the Promise is an Assurance of the Connexion of all Salvation one part to another for every one that is saved is saved with all Salvation and it 's an Encouragement and Motive to the Saints to hold on their
Antinom Very good then sure if the Spirit be an Earnest of Glory it 's an Evidence of Glory for what is a greater Evidence of a state than an Earnest Yea you say it 's also a Witness of our state if it be a Witness it is by a Testimony and if it bear Testimony and such an one as we take to be a Witness to our state it is something to this purpose Christ is thine thy Sins are Forgiven it must witness something that may beget in the Soul a joyful sence of its reconciled state there contrary to you Assurance must come in the immediate objective Revelation of the Spirit by the Spirits speaking in the Promise believed God is thy God Christ is thine thy Sins are taken away or something to this purpose Neither is this absurd to say the Spirit speaks thus ordinarily by a Voice because it is so interpretatively the Lord speaks when he causeth his Word to speak effectually unto the Heart and whatever Truth of God is made efficacious by the Spirit the Spirit speaks by it If any word of Promise become a truely comforting Word the Spirit as Comforter speaks by it you have granted us here in a manner as much as we can desire in this Point excepting an Equivocating Expression viz. as a Worker of Grace and whatever Evasion you have there this I will say that you make the Spirit an Evidence in its Efficiency it self as an Efficient whereas Signs and Marks are but Evidences as Effects And is not the Spirit received in its first sensible Efficiency in and by the Promise a great Evidence Gal. 3.3 2 Pet. 1.3 Neonom Nor whether the Spirit witnesseth by and with the Conscience in the manifestation of our Graces for Assurance Calvin It is a strange thing that you should make such a loud Cry in the World against a Man for Errour when you in a manner say the same thing and the Word of God asserts it so positively that the Spirit is the Comforter and witnesseth with our Spirits that we are his Children and you say as the Worker of Grace i. e. of all Grace and therefore of this Grace and if it works it must be by some Word of Peace that it speaks and is believed and you say it witnesses by and with the Conscience the Conscience speaking in and by the Spirit and how is the Conscience made to speak Peace more than by the sprinkling of the Blood of Christ whereby an Evil Condemning Conscience is taken away what manifestation of Grace works Peace most the manifestation of the Grace of Christ or of our Graces And these must appear to be the Graces of Christ and slow from him or else they are no Graces the Witness of the Spirit and the Intelligible believed Voice of the Spirit particularly applying the Declaration of the Gospel of Peace must be in all and is the most settled ground of all comfortable Assurance Neonom Nor whether the Spirit of God may in some Extraordinary Cases give an immediate Testimony by a Voice or some Equivalent Impressions D. W. p. 164. Antinom 1. You grant that sometimes the Spirit may witness by Voice or Equivalent Impressions 2. The Extraordinary Cases you here speak of must be meant of some not so usual in an ordinary way 3. I would know whether then the Spirit is to be believed and how its Voice may be distinguished from the Voice of a False Spirit 4. Whether when you speak of a Voice you mean an Articulate sound or such a still Voice as the Spirit speaks by which is an Impression of Gospel Truth with a particular application to the Soul this as you say is Equivalent to a Voice and it is the Eccho of the Word of Promise in the Heart and this is not an Extraordinary nor unusual way bringing Souls to settled Peace and Comfort Neonom But then there was the Truth of Grace though it was doubted before and nothing utterly inconsistent with true Grace either in the Heart nor then appeareth to the Conscience Antinom So that there is first a Witness from our selves before there 's Witness from the Spirit but how comes it that this Witness from our selves hath not Credit enough with it to be believed For if it hath whence comes doubting Here 's truth of Grace and nothing appears to the contrary and yet the Person doubts Doth any Man doubt of any thing when he apprehends nothing to the contrary And you say there 's the Truth of Grace before the Spirit witnesseth who wrought this truth of Grace do you not say that it witnesseth to our state as a Worker of Grace Neonom I will tell you where the true difference lyes 1. Whether none attain Assurance but by the Inward Voice of the Spirit pronouncing the Actual Forgiveness of Sins without manifesting their true Grace and Sanctification This you affirm and I deny Antinom You should have made the first Question whether any Assurance is attainable till Death because Perseverance is one of your Infallible Marks and all others signifie nothing unless we can take up upon that and that must run out to the last moment before we can 2. We affirm that there can be no Assurance without knowledge that our Sins are Forgiven assign an Assurance without it if you can and your Assurance from marks must come to this if it be Assurance 3. This must be by the Spirits pronouncing of it or no way when you have found all that you can it 's God must speak peace or else it will never be and Peace of Reconciliation however you Banter God's Reconciling the World and the Spirits bringing home the Word of Reconciliation 4. Who ever spake of the Spirits manifesting Forgiveness without manifestation of the whole Grace of God that brings Salvation in Sanctification as well as Justification both comes under the Witness of the Spirit and therefore you are besides the Question and state it not right Neonom The next Question is Whether the usual way of attaining Assurance is by the Conscience upon Tryal 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 you deny Antinom 1. That I deny Sanctification to be a sign of Justification is false for that which is an undoubted Effect is a sign of the Cause and an Argument of it to conclude it by 2. It 's not the Question whether it be not the usual way of attaining Assurance de facto such Gospel Preachers as you are still putting them upon this way and telling them there 's no other safe way 3. The Question is whether this be the only way Whether another way ought not to go first Neonom I will now confirm the Truth by some Arguments 1. This is the way that God appoints to attain Assurance 2 Cor. 13.5 2 Pet. 1.10 Antinom This is one way who denies it and a Duty
to the purpose you have answered it all yourself in your second Whether viz. That God doth not upon new Crimes judicially charge the Christian with those Sins he had pardoned before tho' he may present to his view some former Sins for his further Humblings And so he doth those new Crimes you speak of God presents them to this view for his further Humblings And I will add in order to the quickning his Addresses to the Throne of Grace in the Faith of Forgiveness and drawing forth and enlarging his Heart in the Love of the Lord Jesus in sense of his Love seeing much is forgiven him Neonom Humiliation Confession Sorrow for Sin new Resolutions and looking to Christ for Healing are the Duties of Saints upon new Faults in order to repeated Acts of Forgiveness c. Antinom That these are our Duties at all times even when we fall not into notorious Relapses we deny not even when and whilst we live in the Faith of our present Pardon and Forgiveness and upon our Relapses our Recovery is by the same Faith which carries us forth to performance of these Duties in order to the mortifying Corruption and giving glory to God in all his Attributes for strengthning Power against Sin and Joy in the Holy Ghost which comfort in believing in restoring of Joy and Gladness in the sense of our Justification and Salvation by Christ is the Forgiveness intended Neonom If a Man were thrice stung must he not thrice look to the brazen Serpent D. W. p. 176. Antinom No doubt of it the brazen Serpent was a Type of Christ and looking to it was the Type of a Sinner's Faith When a Sinner hath Christ in Justification his Life is in him and he must live by the Faith of the Son of God God renews the Expressions and Manifestations of his free Pardon unto Believers from time to time accordingly it 's received by Faith to our daily healing and comfort the vertue of Christ remains the same it 's our Faith is repeated Neonom Believers ought to be more assured of Pardon and joyful after the renewed Acts of Repentance and Faith D. W. p. 177. Antinom They ought not to take up their assurance from their own Performances but from the free Grace in the Promise received by Faith and ought not to suspend Faith till they have repented and humbled themselves this were to pray and repent in Unbelief which makes it all vain and void Neonom It 's otherwise against that wise Order which God hath stated for a due Reverence to him Numb 12.14 Antinom God hath no Order of due Reverence to him established in the Covenant of Grace but Paternal and that 's by a Spirit of Adoption as a Son honoureth his Father and there 's none of this without Faith in the Fatherly Love and Compassion of the Father God hath nowhere ordered that his Children should put themselves into the Hands of his severe Justice when they have sinned and conclude themselves unjustified for a considerable time before they look to Christ for healing they that were stung in the Wilderness did not go to use a great many Medicines first but were immediately to apply themselves to the brazen Serpent for healing So should Believers upon all their falls Miriams being shut out of the Camp seven days was no Argument that God had not forgotten her before the seven days were up God makes some of his People in their falls Examples to others as to outward Afflictions of which they had in the days of the old Testament a more penal Aspect and more Judicial than we ought to make them to have in the days of clearer Gospel-grace as I can make appear divers ways Neonom The People of God have had those sad Fits which you condemn when Sin greatly breaks out they do well become them Paul calls a contrary frame under Guilt a being puffed up 1 Cor. 5.2 Antinom You basely slander the Doctor in making as if he were an Enemy to the serious Gospel remorse of God's Children from a right Principle and due Frame as we have made appear 2 Paul nowhere calls Faith in pardoning Mercy a puffing up that 's from a Spirit of Security and Insensibleness which we have in the Acts of Sin and after till the renewing our Acts of Faith 3. Paul nowhere commends a guilty Frame or Sadness meerly from Guilt But 2 Cor. 7.10 in the Case you mention absolutely condemns such sadness and sorrow as you commend as such which is contrary to true godly Sorrow Sorrow from Guilt only is according to the World and works Death Neonom Consider God remits or binds in Heaven according to what his Church doth justly on Earth either the Pardon of the Non-repenting Offender is suspended or Censures are vain D. W. p. 178. Antinom God's remitting or binding in Heaven is variously understood not to enlarge now upon it I do not apprehend that a justified Person falling into Sin and censured justly by a Church is therefore unjustified before God if so he is fallen from Grace in the highest sense Nor if he be a Hypocrite and in his Hypocrisy be reconciled to the Church in his Hypocrisy that therefore he is justified in Heaven or in foro Dei no I distinguish between forum Dei and Ecclesia a Man may be righteous before God and not before the Church vice versa but I apprehend to bind in Heaven what the Church doth justly on Earth is to confirm and bless his own Ordinances to their designed end and purpose either to the bringing home a lapsed justified Person or to discover him to be a Hypocrite and therefore they shall not be in vain Neonom Need I give you David 's experience Psal 32.3 5. When I keep silence my bones waxed old Antinom That place is impertinently quoted if you read the whole Psalm you will find that it begins with the true Gospel-blessedness of a Believer and after tells you what a miserable condition he was in when he fell under guilt and acted not faith concerning his justified and pardoned state the frame he speaks of as contrary to his sadness was a frame of Faith and Prayer and what was his faith acted upon but on the forgiveness of his sins as Ver. 1 2. Neonom The Assembly and Congregational Elders do both declare God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified D. W. p. 178. Antinom The Assembly saith Christ by his Obedience and Death Assemb Confess c. 11. s 3. did fully discharge the Debt of all those that are thus justified and did make a proper real and full satisfaction to his Father's Justice on their behalf And they say in Answer to that Question Larger Catech. Q. 70. What is Justification A. Justification is an Act of God's free Grace unto sinners in which he pardoneth all their sins therefore them that shall be committed as well as those that are committed already accepteth their persons righteous
exprest he means that Justification and Eternal Salvation is the Portion of such the positive is included in the negative it 's God's condemnation only from which such as are in Christ are exempted they are nevertheless condemned and censured by Men and sometimes by their own Consciences And on Ver. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect c. Who can implead such or put in an accusation against them There is nothing to accuse them of they are justified And there is none to Accuse them it is God that hath Justified them the Supream Judge hath Absolved them This seems to be taken out of Isai 50.8 9. they were Christ's words there and spoken of God's justifying him and they are every Believer's words here intended of God's justifying them and seems to be from two reasons one implied i. e. God's electing them the other express'd God's justifying and acquitting them And on Ver. 34. Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died c. His Death frees them from condemnation thereby he hath made a sufficient attonement and satisfaction for all their sins and which hath long ago satisfied in Heaven for the sins of all the Elect may very well serve to satisfie the Heart and Conscience of a believing sinner here on Earth such an one may throw down the Gantlet as the Apostle doth and challenge all the World let Conscience Carnal Reason Law Sin Hell and Devils let them all bring forth what they can it will not be sufficient for condemnation and that because of Christ's Death and Satisfaction Dr. Jacomb on Rom. 8.1 saith we read it no condemnation the Original will bear it if we read it not one condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such is the Grace of God to Believers and such is their safety in their justified estate that there is not so much as one condemnation to be passed upon them suppose a condemnatory Sentence for every Sin I 'm sure every Sin deserves such a Sentence and in point of merit 't is so many Sins so many Condemnations yet the Pardon being plenary and full every way adequate to the sinner's guilt the exemption of the pardoned person from condemnation must be plenary and full too so that if there be not one sin unpardoned there is not one condemnation to be feared This now is dreadful Antinomianism with some Men Jer. 50.20 In those days the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none 'T is an Allusion to a Man that turns over all his Bonds searcheth into all the Debt-books to see if he can find any Debt due to him from such and such a Person but upon all his searching he cannot find so much as one Debt to charge upon him so 't is with a Pardoned and Justified Sinner Imagine that God should be inquisitive to find out some guilt as lying upon him he might indeed find out enough as he is in himself but as in Christ he is Pardoned and Justified there 's nothing to be found against him therfore no Condemnation What do you think now is it an Errour to say God sees no Iniquity in his People How can any dare to Curse where God Blesseth This is to do worse than Balaam DEBATE XVII Of the Hurt that Sin may do to Believers Neonom I call to mind a most dangerous and dicentious Position of this Antinomian and that is that Sin can do no hurt to Believers D. W. p. 181. His Errour is this Errour The grossest Sins that Believers can commit cannot do them the least harm neither ought they to fear the least hurt by their own Sins nor by National Sins yea tho' themselves have had a hand therein Antinom It is strange you should charge this is an Errour upon me when as it s your own Assertion but you know the old Proverb The Thief crys Cut-purse first In the very Second Conference he had this Assertion He is there shewing that there was no need that Christ should bear any more than the Punishment of Sin saying all that endangered us was the Threatning of the Law and this upon Agreement that upon his Attonement we should be released where is the need of more The Obliquity of the Fact as against the Precept shall not hurt when the Sanction of the Law is answered and therefore he that suffers as a Sponsor for another need not sustain in himself the filthiness of the Crime to make him capable of giving satisfaction Chap. 2. p. 11. But go on to your Proof Neonom He saith they need not be afraid of their Sins they that have God for their God there is no Sin that ever they commit can possibly do them hurt Therefore as their Sins cannot hurt them so there is no cause of fear in their Sins committed c. there is not one Sin nor all the Sins together of any Believer that can possibly do that Believer any real hurt This he attempts to prove from Rom. 7. D. W. p. 181. from Dr. Cr. p. 510. Antinom He hath left out my true sense and meaning in these words on purpose as he useth to do to render my Assertions unsound Having been saying that a Believer's Sins cannot hurt them I raised this Objection Some wiâ—l be ready to say This is strange Dr. C. p. 510. all the Evils in the World that come they grow up from the sinfulness of Men. If Man be afraid of any thing he should be afraid of Sin from whence all Evils do flow A. I Answered Beloved it is true Sin naturally is a Root of all manner of Evil Fruit observe Gentlemen the wages of Sin is Death but yet I say whatever Sin in its own nature brings forth yet the Sins of God s peculiar People they that have God for their own God their Sins can do them no hurt at all and in that regard there is no cause of fear of any of their Sins that ever they have committed This may seem harsh to some Spirits that misconceive my drift that I aim at which is not to encourage any one to Sin but to ease the Consciences of the distressed there 's not one Sin nor all their Sins can do them hurt real hurt I mean they may do them supposed hurt And I suppose the Apostle Rom. 7. doth personate a scrupulous Spirit Dr. C. p. 511. that a Believer under the multitude and prevalency of Corruption who was ready to Cry out O Wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death but saith he I thank God thro' Jesus Christ q. d. till a Man look to Christ there is nothing but matter of bitterness to be seen as the certain fruits of Sin and there can be nothing but bitterness in Sin in regard of the Evil that is like to follow it but when persons can once look to Christ the case is altered What doth he thank God
for He thanks God tho' naturally a Body of Death grew up by Sin yet there is no prejudice can come to him thro' Christ Ch. 8. 1. There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ c. No you will say no Condemnation in Hell but yet there is the remainder of Sin in God's own people so there will some Evil or other fall upon the Commission of Sin But mark what the Apostle saith Vers 3 4. The Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of Sin and Death c. Here Christ stands for the deliverance of his People from Condemnation from Eternal Wrath say some Yea but saith the Apostle We are delivered from the Law of Sin and Death what is the Law of Sin but what the Law may do to persons for those Sins which are committed by them Now what can Sin do when it is Condemned c. 'T is true indeed every Sin is a great Debt and we commit Sins daily and hourly against the Lord Dr. C. p. 512. and the Torments of Hell are the merit of the least Sin in the World for I speak not this to Extâ—nuate any Sin but to shew the greatness of God's Grace and to ease upon good grounds distressed Consciences Therefore such as look upon these Sins as uncancelled and these Debts as true Debts it is true so long theâ—e Sins may work a Horrour and Trembling in Persons but for Believers that are Members of Christ they may Read fairly all the Sins that ever they have committed they may Read also the desert of these Transgressions which should be executed and inflicted on them if they were not cancelled and blotted out Isa 43. I even I am he c. It is true our Sins themselves do not speak Peace but Christ bearing the Sin and Wrath that these Sins do deserve speaks Peace to every Believer Dr. C. p. 513. see 1 Cor. 15.56 57. Tho' naturally Sin hath a Sting yet there is a Victory over this Sting Christ is the death of it and he took away the Sting of it It is true before Men come to see the light of the Gospel of Christ their Sins stare in their Faces seeming to Spit Fire at them but as Children will put one of their Company into a hideous posture causing every one that knows it not to run from him so Sin is set up by Satan with a terrible Visage as it were to Spit Fire in the Faces of the Godly and Faithful and seems very threatning and dreadful but they are to know there is no fear from the Sins of Believers all the terrour and fearfulness of Sin Christ hath drunk it and in the drinking of it Christ himself was Crucified and in that regard I say all the terrour and ghastliness and hideousness as it is represented by Satan is spent and Sin it self is dead It is true indeed a living Roaring Lion is a Terrible Creature but in a dead Lion there is no more fear than there is in a stick or stone to him that knows he is dead While Sin is alive it is fearful and terrible and deadly but when Sin it self is dead then there is no more terrour in it than there is in a dead Lion Thus I speak of Sin not as it smiles upon a Man with a promising Countenance Dr. C. p. 513. before it be committed for so it is most dreadful and odious to the Faithful as that which Crucified their sweetest Lord But as committed and lying upon the Conscience of a Believer endeavouring to drive him to deny the free Grace and Love of God and the Alsufficiency of Christ for in this regard it is Crucified by Christ and so a Believer need not be afraid of Sin the Hand-writing of Ordinances is taken away and they that are Christs have Crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Calvin Mr. Antinom hath sufficiently cleared himself in this point for he hath told us of the odious nature of Sin it self the natural hurt and evil effects of it he hath abundantly shewed the hurt he means and speaks of is the penal effects of Sin in its condemning power which condemning nature is taken away in the Atonement made by Christ he speaks of Sins past that lie upon Conscience so as to drive Men from Christ and the free pardoning Grace of God he speaks not of Sin as it comes with alluring smiles to tempt us to the committing of them for so he saith they are most dreadful and odious to the Faithful as that which Crucified our dearest Lord. Besides all this he hath made it appear that you your self have made an Assertion which no way falls short nay to me it 's far more Condemnable than any Expression that you have charged him with under this Head For he speaks only of the effects of Sin which he saith are taken away as you do there in our Sponsor's Answering the Penal Sanction so far you Justifie all he saith but you say that the Obliquity of the Fact as against the Precept which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin it self shall not hurt so that it must needs follow that all the hurt of Sin is only in the Punishment nay that Sin in its proper nature and filthiness hath no hurt in it and that we need not the Blood of Christ in Justification to take it away Now how comes Sin as Sin and Fault to be pardoned for there is no more of Sin pardoned than Christ bore but you say there was no need of his bearing it no more then as to the punishment and then the Obliquity and Fault will do no hurt Turpe est Doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum I think Gentlemen we may dismiss this Point the matter of Charge proving so false an Accusation I shall not have patience to hear him any further upon it and I think Gentlemen you are ashamed of it as well as I. Antinom Pray Mr. Calvinist have a little Patience and hear what he saith to this Point how and in what sense he understands the hurt of Sin Calvin Well I will do what I can with my self but you must Whip the Top with him he will put me out of Breath in Answering his Impertinences I pray then go on and tell us what you call truth in your usual Dogmatizing way Neonom Truth its true of Believers that if Sin should have dominion over them they would thereby come to Condemnation D. W. p. 180. Antinom How can you make a Truth upon Supposition of that which will never be I can call that nothing but a Rule of Falshood in Logick tho' there 's a Connexion of Antecedent and Consequence Si homo sit Leo est etiam Quadrupes such Propositions are Childish When the Sky falls we shall catch Larks throw the Peth of a Quill over the House and it will be a Silver Spoon But it may be you mean
Doctor intends unless you equivocate as you are want to do Neonom You do not understand me I perceive I will tell you the real difference 1. It 's whether according to the Gospel-rule if a Believer should yield up himself to the dominion of Sin he should perish This I affirm and the Doctor denies against plain Texts directed to Believers Antinom 1. A denunciation of Death and Damnation is neither a Rule nor Gospel it 's very absurd to say that is a Rule if you live after the Flesh it 's but a condemnation of what 's contrary to the Rule and a denunciation upon a supposing of that Abberration from the Rule Suppositions are not always Positions that the thing supposed is ever in being and they are used by way of Argumentation because the Antecedent can't be therefore the Consequent can't be or because the Consequent can't be therefore the Antecedent can't be vice versa There 's in this kind of Arguing A Ponere or Tollere in respect of one part of the Proposition to take away or establish the other as now in the Proposition you boast of If a true Believer for so you should say yield up himself to the dominion of Sin he shall Perish but a true Believer shall not yield up himself to the Dominion of Sin therefore he shall not perish Make but the Proposition into a Syllogism that it may argue and it will prove that a true Believer shall not Perish because he shall not yield up himself to the dominion of Sin Rom. 6.12.14 2. I deny that the Apostle there speaks Chap. 8.13 of true Believers but useth an Argument to unhinge and loose Professors from vain hopes and to shew that they are not in Christ For vers 8. he saith They that are in the Flesh can't please God to such as are in the Flesh he opposeth them that are in the Spirit and having the Spirit of Christ are his Therefore he saith All such are Debtors to live after the Spirit and not after the Flesh for if ye that are Professors to live after the Spirit do really live after the Flesh you are in a perishing state you are in the Flesh Now the Apostle's arguing looks two ways 1. To prove they that are in Christ shall not die they that shall not live after the Flesh shall not die but a Believer in Christ shall not live after the Flesh Ergo he shall not dy 2. by way of discovery He that lives after the Flesh is in the Flesh and can't please God and therefore must die in that state if it continue But you or I live so therefore the Apostle speaks it by way of trial of the Truth of our state and in-being in Christ 3. Where is it that the Doctor speaks so favourably as you would have him of the dominion of Sin You have not referred to the place The nearest is pag. 429. where he hath these words Forget every thing that seems worthy in you or done by you and let all your triumphing and glorying be in the free Grace of God in Christ and look upon yourself only in that and nothing else as the Martyr did None but Christ none but Christ If you have more ability than others in doing let it not come into your Thoughts as an inducement to think better of yourself as if you were more accepted of God or pleasing in his sight Are you sinful in respect of the prevalency of Corruption Are the Temptations of Satan mighty Let it not come into your Thoughts that you are worse or less than others for Iniquity shall not part Christ and thee if thou be once joined to him Where is here the saying that if Sin hath dominion over a Believer he shall not perish But this is all along your way to forge the Horse-shooe first and then nail it to what Foot you please Neonom Whether a Believer falling into such Sins as Idolatry Murther c. ought not to aw his Soul against Security with lively Thoughts of Damnation and if he continue long herein ought not he to suspect the state of his Soul as in danger This I affirm and the Doctor denies Thereby he renders the Gospel-threatnings as urged by the Spirit on the hearts of Believers to be all foolish Antinom Where doth the Doctor lay down this Position by way of affirming or denying It 's only a Chimera of your own We leave such Believers to your management till the Grace of God change their Hearts and teach them better things 1. It 's very rare to find such true Believers that fall into such Sins and live securely in them 2. If nothing but lively thoughts of Damnation will keep him from such Sins and Security in them I shall leave him under the Sanction of your Gospel till it shall please God to call him into his Grace And surely he ought to suspect his state if nothing rowseth him but lively Thoughts of Damnation I should rather have said killing Thoughts of Damnation for when the Law comes Sin revives and the Sinner dies in the thoughts of Damnation But this is one of your new Terms of Art the lively Thoughts of Damnation it 's like your Rule of Sin c. And such stuff is your speaking of the urging of Gospel threatnings by the Spirit on the hearts of Believers as if Threatnings were Gospel or the Spirit of Grace and Adoption did work that way upon the hearts of Believers to produce Holiness viz. by urging Gospel-threatnings I am sure your Positions are exceeding foolish and absurd Neonom Whether Christ is at liberty sharply to afflict a justified Person for provoking Sins tho' he be secured against Soul-destroying Judgments This I affirm and the Doctor denies Antinom You affirm That Christ satisfied Justice therefore as your Afflictions are not expiatory in whole or part therefore they are not for Sin in that sense that you urge for Sin And who is it that says Christ is not at liberty to afflict them for Sin in another sense Sin being the cause and the root of all evil Fruits that spring up in the Faithful Therefore there must be mortifying of it as well as satisfying for it God doth not afflict his Children for Sin by way of satisfaction but for the mortifying of it and who saith Christ is not at liberty so to do And thus you go on imposing upon us what you please Neonom Whether a Believer falling into great Sins ought to fear God's present Rebukes for such Sins This I affirm and the Doctor denies Antinom He ought patiently to bear present Rebukes it 's not proper to say he should fear them yea he ought always to maintain a filial fear of God and his Goodness not to live in a slavish fear and avoid Sin for fear of the lash he ought always to have a due Gospel fear to preserve him from Sin even when he doth not fall into great Sins and if its only the fear of punishment that
keeps Men from Sin or reforms them when fallâ—n into it there 's no true grace of God in the Heart David saith God's Rod and Staff comforted him Neonom Whether great Offences be a real hurt to a Believer and brings on him much present harm This I affirm and the Doctor denies The Case of National Sins is concluded in these Antinom Here how you come to fight with a Man of Clouts which you yourself have made for we said not that Sin is no hurt for if so why should our whole Doctrin be to shew that it needs healing It 's the hurt of the Daughter of Zion why is it said that we are healed by the stripes of Christ And that Sin even remaining in God's People makes the best of God's Peoples Services and Duties as Dross and Dung by reason of its mixture with them which you condemn for an Error We say pag. 509. let us not be mistaken We do not say we must not be afraid to Sin but that they that have God for their God need not be afraid of the Sins they have committed in regard of the penal Effects But that Sin naturally is a Root bringing forth all manner of evil Fruit The Wages of Sin is Death We distinguish of fear a natural fear an affection in Men by Nature that they cannot be freed from there 's a religious and godly fear which is an awful reverence of the Majesty of God and keeping a convenient distance such as the Creature ought to keep it 's opposed to Sauciness And there 's a turbulent fear a fear of disquietness that which the Lord endeavours to take off from his People All such fear the Apostle saith hath Bondage and perfect Love casts it out And the same Apostle saith as I say These things I write unto you that ye sin not But if any Man sin i. e. hath committed Sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is a propitiation for our Sins 1 Joh. 2.1 2. Therefore you charge us falsly to say our meaning is That Sin in it self is no hurt and in its Nature doth no hurt But we say as you That Christ satisfied Justice for Sin and over-rules the hurt of it for our good so that through Grace it doth us no real hurt Christ hath taken away the sting of Sin and the Condemnation of Sin The real hurt of Sin lies in the dominion of Sin and in the penal effects of it they that have God for their God can't give up themselves to the dominion of Sin they can't have a love for it because they are under grace and as to the penal Effects they are taken away by Christ or else his satisfaction to Justice was imperfect Now all other Effects of sin as hiding God's Face his paternal Chastisements in outward Afflictions ecclipsing our graces and duties come under a Promise that tho' they are not joyous but grievous to a gracious Mind yet they shall through God's grace disposing them tend to our good in making us the more Partakers of God's Holiness to mortify sin to humble us and empty us of our selves and to bring us to an higher exaltation of Christ and dependance upon him yea to more watchfulness carefulness and circumspection in our ways Hence God's People have their frequent complaints against Sin as to its indwelling and hindring them from doing the good they would groan under the body of Sin and desire Heaven to be altogether rid of it c. But when we say sin cannot do us real hurt and we should not be afraid of it we mean only of sins already fallen into that the disturbing disquieting guilt of them should not lye upon our Consciences to obstruct our Comforts and rejoycing in Christ they should not drive us from Christ to deny the love and free grace of God and the alsufficiency of Christ for if he that hath God for his God lyes continually under an embondaging fear of sins past he would always labour under a servile slavish frame of spirit without comfort all his days We need not repeat what hath been said to vindicate ourselves from this unjust Charge Neonom I 'll tell you your Mistakes Because there is no Eternal Condemnation lyes against a Believer therefore there is no penal present Affliction D. W. p. 189. Antinom It 's all condemnation Christ hath taken away its condemnation that makes Hell and if God's People be under it here they must have a degree of it Christ died in vain as to our present state if it were not to take away condemnation from us here we cannot be justified before God and lye under condemnation too Is a Believer only justified from future condemnation and not present And it 's no mistake to say Because a Man is freed from Eternal Condemnation therefore present Afflictions are not penal but it 's a necessary consequence Why did Christ bear our Sorrows and carry our Griefs but that our Afflictions should not be penal Neonom Whereas there 's much hurt below Hell 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 Antinom I thought there had been no hurt lower than Hell I suppose you mean there 's much hurt on this side Hell but Improprieties are natural to you Condemnation for Sin in this Life is much hurt and a degree of Hell and is the same in kind and therefore if God's People be not freed from it here they cannot expect to be freed from the lower Hell 2. The reason why Hell you say follows not the Sin of a Believer is not the innocency of Sin this is one of the black-mouthed Charges you lay upon us that we make Sin innocent because we say Sin was laid on Christ and he hath born all the Penal Effects of Sin Why say you not the same of the Apostle who saith the strength of Sin is taken away and the sting of Death whereby it or lesser afflictions can't hurt is taken away These abominable Reproaches fall not on Man so much as upon the Truths of the Gospel which Christ hath a Controversie with you for And that Hell follows not the Sin of a Believer you say is from the grace God and why may it not be from the grace of God that no Penal Effects follow the Sin of a Believer That grace that prevents or delivers from the greater evil will also from the lesser Neonom Because all Sufferings for Christ work for good therefore all Sins against Christ can do no harm Antinom All Sufferings of a Believer from the Hand of Christ as well as such as are in a way of Persecution for Christ shall work for their good and therefore whatever befalls them by reason of sin shall be for their good and whatever is for our good according to the wise disposing of God is not for
our harm tho' it be so for the present in our own apprehension Neonom 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 Antinom We speak not against the hurt of sin in its nature and natural effects nor the seeming hurt of sin and the effects of it but how evil soever it be through the grace of God over-ruling it all the seeming yea real hurt that it doth at present shall be for good and is good in the wise way and end of God tho' not apparently so yet the Promise is to be believed Neonom Because a Believer is freed from the Curse of the Law therefore no Gospel threatning of Christ can reach him Antinom Where no Curse of the Law can reach there nothing you call a Gospel threat can do a real hurt for that is not what we call so but what the wise God doth make so Neonom Because some good Men are sometimes humbled and awakened by sin as it 's an evil therefore to them it is not evil Antinom Whatever is for humbling and awakening of a sinner is good to that sinner and no real hurt that that is malum simpliciter either naturale or contristativum may be good in ordine ad finem and secundum quid as to cut off a Leg or Arm is malum naturale contristativum but in order to the saving the whole Body it 's bonum necessarium many causes act not sua facultate sed externa and that is when a thing produceth an effect by an external direction and gubernation that it hath no internal disposition to nor it may be an immediate agent might not intend or design Vt Phereo Jasoni profuit hostis qui gladio vomicam ejus aperuit quam sanare Medici non poterant The Enemy did Jason a kindness when by a thrust of a Sword he opened an Imposthumation that the Physicians could not cure So Commission of Sin through Divine Disposal and the Promise of Grace serves to lay open some latent Corruption or other in the Children of God which becomes of great benefit and advantage to them Neonom The Assembly is of my mind they say the Threatnings of the Law are of use c. Antinom But you leave out what you please c. 19. they say Although a true Believer be not under the Law as a Covenant of Works to be thereby justified or condemned yet it is of great use to them to inform them of the Will of God and the Threatnings to shew what Sin deserves Who denies all they say But observe They say a Believer is not under the Law for Condemnation Neonom But they say c. 17. Saints may through Temptation and the prevalency of Corruption fall into grievous Sins and continue therein for a time and incur God's Displeasure and grieve his Spirit and come to be deprived in some measure of their Graces and Comforts have their Hearts hardned their Consciences wounded hurt and scandalize others and bring temporal Judgments upon themselves Antinom All this is granted and yet we are not affected by it in our true sense and meaning we say Sin is hurtful and bears all manner of evil Fruits but through the Victory that we have in Christ Sin shall not bring upon us the Curse of the Law nor condemning Penal Effects Castigations proceeding from a fatherly hand are the Priviledges of his adopted Children whether it be exercised in outward Afflictions or inward Withdrawings And this is the Hurt that is all along spoken of we intend not Sin in its own Nature and those Effects that naturally proceed from it nor the Aspect it hath upon ourselves or others in all which it carries odium and mischief with it The sole reason why it hurteth not in a way of condemnation is from the Propitiation and Advocateship of Jesus Christ in whom and by whom that hurt is taken away which we speak of Calvin But Mr. Neonomian saith he hath not wronged the Doctor in this Charge nor mis represented him Repl. p. 47. Neonom I say he doth very oft say and frequently attempt to prove that Sin can do no hurt Antinom In what sense doth he speak it doth he intend Sin in its own nature hath no hurt in it or that it can do no hurt in its Penal Effects hurt must be understood in one of these senses Neonom I never designed to charge him with it in the first sense for he saith Sin is a Lion there 's its nature and a dead Lion there 's its calmness and because it 's dead it 's not to be feared it 's a Traytor that 's its nature and bound hand and foot that 's its inability to harm Antinom But you say he makes Sin innocent to the Elect that 's to change the Nature of it not to remove the Effects a Traytor may be bound and be a Traytor still tho' not to be feared Neonom He hath said too much to make it harmless to the Elect Antinom It must be harmless to the Elect so far as Christ bore Sin for them or else he bore it in vain but if the Doctor had thought Sin had no hurt in it he need not have insisted so much upon Christ's bearing Sin for us that Sin might not wound us to death Neonom I tell you I do not charge him for saying Sin as to its own Nature hath no hurt in it Antinom Where lies the fault then is it in saying Sin as to its Penal Effects can do them that are in Christ no harm Neonom He says not so and yet those are most of the hurts that come for Sin Antinom Mark Gentlemen he denies that this is his meaning he saith not those very Words and Syllables but what is it that he proves his Position by viz. There 's not one Sin or all the Sins together of a Believer can do him the least real hurt he proves it from Rom. 7. l. c. 8.1 After complaint against the remaining of Corruption in him he thanks God through Christ and saith there 's no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus pag. 511. and from Isaiah 43. p. 512. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgression c. where he saith What prejudice can that do that is blotted out Every Debt of a Believer is a cancelled Debt so that the Lord himself hath nothing to lay to a Believer's charge it is Christ was wounded for his Peoples sins Isaiah 53. It 's true our sins themselves do not speak Peace but Christ bearing sin and the wrath that these sins do deserve And again Tho' naturally sin hath a sting yet there is a victory over this sting Christ is the death of it as he took away the sting of it Now let any impartial Person judge whether this be not the Hurt of Sin which the Doctor intends and besides that you judge it to be his meaning appears 1. Because you
say he means not this Hurt in respect of the Nature of Sin and if so it must be in respect of the real pernicious Effects of Sin for a Believer sees Hurt in Sin and complains of it but as to its Nature which is odious in itself or to its Effects 2. It appears that you judge his meaning is such because you say that by his Doctrin of Christ beaâ—ing Sin he makes Sin innocent to the Elect Whereby 1. You make the nocency of Sin to lye in the punishment of it and thereby justifie Dr. Crisp's Expression how unproper soever it be or erroneous 2. You say totidem verbis that Penal Effects of Sin are most of the hurt that comes by it according to what Doctrin we have already charged you with supra The great sign of the truth of Grace that is usually given is the fear and hatred of Sin from the very nature of it its contrariety to God and his Law and that its the greatest sign of an Hypocrite to abstain from it only for fear of Wrath and Hell And 3. You tell us upon what Principles he goes 1. That God hath no Sin to charge upon an Elect Person tho' a Man sins God reckons not his Sin to him c. Whereby you shew where your grudge is it 's against the Doctrin of Imputation more than against the Doctor for any thing he hath said As for your Instance about poisoned Wine you say yourself he speaks not by way of Exhortation but Doctrinally therefore exhorts none to take poisoned Wine but cautions them against it again and again and as for any that have through weakness and inadvertency he tells them their Antidote as the Apostle John 1st Epist c. 2. 1. My little children these things I write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is a propitiation for our sins DEBATE XVIII Of God's Displeasure for Sin in the Afflictions of his People Neonom THE next great Antinomian Errour is That none of the Afflictions of Believers have in them the least of God's displeasure against their Persons for their Sins D. W. p. 190 191. Antinom We must proceed in our ordinary Method let us know what you ground your Charge upon Neonom He affirmeth p. 15. Except God will be offended when there is no cause to be offended he will not be offended with Believers because he doth not find the Sin of a Believer to be his own Sin but the Sin of Christ Antinom But he in the next words quotes places of Scripture to prove what he saith He hath made him Sin for us he hath laid upon him the Iniquities of us all the Blood of Jâ—sus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin he bare our Sins in his Body c. and from these he Argues thus If he bear our Sins he must bear the displeasure for them and he did bear the Indignation of the Lord and if so he did bear it all or but part If he did not bear all the Indignation of the Lord then he doth not save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him as Heb. 4. I say not to the uttermost because here is some Indignation and Displeasure left behind and for lack of taking this Indignation upon himself it lights and falls upon Believers So that either you must say Christ is an imperfect Saviour having left some scattering of Wrath behind that will fall on the head of a Believer Or else you will say he is a perfect Saviour and takes away all God's displeasure then there remains none of it upon the person of a Believer Now why had you not Answered his Argument for what he said yea why had you not brought in the next Objection made to clear up his meaning but quote only so much as may leave your Reader under Prejudice Object Yet you will say Is not God displeased and offended at the Sins of Believers when they do commit them Hath Christ taken away the offence of Sin by his Death Answ No therefore do not mistake your self there may be easily a mistake for lack of serious pondering the words I speak I have not said God is not offended with the Sins a Believer doth commit but that God stands not offended with the Persons of Believers for the Sins committed by them he hath that everlasting Indignation against Sin as ever And as there is the same contrariety in Sin against his nature so there is the same contrariety in God's nature unto Sin All contrarieties have a mutual contrariety against each other as Water and Fire c. As Sin is contrary to the nature of God so there is an Abhorrency of God to that Sinfulness here see with what ground you could say that Dr. C. makes Sin Innocent but there is no Offence of God to the Person that commits that Sin because the Offence of God for that Sin hath spent it self upon the Person of Christ there remains none of it to light upon the person of a Believer Christ having born all this Offence for Sin Tho' in our Natures and in the Sinfulness of them there is matter of displeasure yet in Christ for all this God is well pleased with us And yet there is none of God's Indignation against Sin lost in all this for he is satisfied for this his Offence in his Son more than in our own Persons Neonom And he saith p. 18. But are not the Afflictions for their Sins Antinom Come I will tell you he Answers that Objection He saith I Answer No Afflictions are unto Believers fâ—om Sin but not for Sin What is the meaning of that will you say This God in Afflicting Believers doth not intend to punish them as now laying on them the desert of their Sin for that is laid upon Christ but he doth Afflict them in part to be a help to preserve them from Sin I say all Afflictions to Believers are to keep them from Sin rather than Punishment unto them for Sin Neonom P. 170. He saith That at that Instant when God brings Afflictions upon them he doth not remember any Sins of theirs they are not in his Thoughts Antinom That which he Asserts is from plain Texts of Scripture how dare you Banter and Expose so great a Truth as this it is in that great place Jer. 31.33 declared to be the great promise of the Gospel by the Spirit of God Heb. 10.16 17. God saith He remembers our Sins no more you say he doth who are we to believe God or you Neonom He saith Christ being Chastened for our our Sins there 's nothing but Peace belongs to us P. 170. Antinom The Words were thus I see the Scripture runs wholy in this strain and is so full in nothing as in this that he hath generally discharged the Sins of Believers Oh then take heed of falling into the Errour of the Papists that say that God hath taken
the difference is not 1. It is not whether God ceaseth to love a Believer when he sinneth Antinom That is the thing which we say That God hath an unchangeable love to the Persons of Believers and cannot love and hate at the same time and to ascribe changeable Passions or Affections unto God is a kin to the Heresy of Anthropomorphites Neonom Nor whether the Afflictions that befal a Believer proceed from the vindicative Justice of God as an Enemy Antinom We agree with you in it why do you condemn us as erroneous This is the great thing we plead for Neonom Nor whether God can bless the sorest Judgments for Sins to the future good of a Believer This I affirm Antinom I do not only say he can but that he doth so always and not only for his future but present good tho' the Believer may not yet know it for the present Neonom Tho' were it not for our sins God would effect that good a milder way Antinom This is strange talk for the good is the taking away or rooting up of our sins if you understand by and for sin from sin we differ not as I weed my Garden why for the Weeds i. e. from the Weeds to pluck them out were it not for Weeds it would not weed it but if you say its revenge upon the good Herbs it 's false it 's for their good Neonom And I doubt whether every good Man may be said to get profit by all sorts of Afflictions for every degree of Good is not equivalent to the hurt and sometimes God punisheth sin with sin D. W. p. 191. Antinom Now instead of a Believer it s a good Man some of your good Men that have as much Faith as they brought into the World with them nor by all sorts of Afflictions it seems there 's some can't have good in them towards God's Children and every degree of good may not be equivalent in the same kind as the gaining a greater measure of Contentment Weanedness from the World submission to the will of God you say it 's not equivalent to the losing my House and all my Goods by Fire in an instant And what if God suffers his People to fall a first and second time and third too how can you dare to say that the hurt it doth them is greater than the good It 's enough that God's rectoral Rule of Government of them is that all things shall work together for their good and tho' Sin hath no good in it self yet through Gods wise disposal it shall work for good Neonom Nor whether some sensible Calamities may fall on a good Man not so much in a way of Rebuke for Sin as to try his Graces prevent Sin or bring glory to God by a Testimony of Truth Antinom These are very good Reasons you have added let me add For his increase and growth in grace Neonom Yet I believe the very Martyrs did not so glory in the joyful cause of their Sufferings as always to neglect an humble Reflection on what sin of theirs might justifie God as a hidden cause of their hardship Antinom There 's none of God's Children but as they own themselves less than the least of his Mercies so own that by the Last of their sins they have deserved the greatest Calamities but truly a Martyr could never go joyfully to Sufferings if he thought God call'd him to it to punish him for his sins to expiate some hidden sins this would be sad Martyrdom No the Apostles rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ they had no suspicion it was a punishment of them for their Sins As to a humble reflexion upon sin and what it deserves in it self yea and we for it if God should deal with us according to our sinful Deserts I think others of God's professed Children as well as Martyrs have it or else they have little grace in their Hearts and little Acquaintance with the pardoning grace and mercy of God Neonom I will shew you the real difference whether God be at all displeased with Believers for their Abominations This I affirm and the Doctor denies D. W. p. 192. Antinom You should have told us what you mean by God's being displeased whether you mean an immanent displeasure of his divine Justice or a providential Carriage towards them which they are apt to call God's displeasure through Temptation 2. When you speak of God's displeasure towards Believers whether you mean their Persons or their Sins we say God is never displeased with their Persons they being reconciled unto God by the death of his Son and in Christ God is fully and everlastingly well pleased with them Indeed in the way of your Scheme there 's something in what you say the righteousness of the new Law being imperfect and therefore there is room left to expiate our Sins and Imperfections in obedience by our Sufferings 3. You make strange kind of Believers such it seems as fall ordinarily into great Abominations act and live in I suppose sins of the greatest magnitude the Doctor means a better sort of Believers Neonom Whether God at any time or by any Afflictions expresseth his displeasure against his People for their sins This I affirm and the Doctor denies Antinom You need have made but one Whether of both these unless you distinguish between God's displeasure and expressing his displeasure as between immanent and transient Acts and what signifies your affirming or denying when there 's no consistency in yourself and all your Affirmations and Denyals are in equivocal Expressions For you grant God casts not Believers out of Covenant favour he ceaseth not to love them when they Sin Nor do Afflictions proceed from his vindicative Justice That he can make Afflictions for their future good We say he doth do it and for their present good too And that they may fall upon a Believer to prevent Sin and try his Graces we say they do so always more or less Let all this be told a Believer in an Affliction and he will say Blessed be God I find all this that befalleth me is from a gracious God in Covenant God is not displeased but deals with me as a tender Father Neonom I will confirm the Truth You must know that there is none of all this but Dr. C. meaneth it of the unconverted Elect for their Sins are off from themselves as much as Believers their Sins do them no hurt nor is God angry with them tho' God saith He is angry with the Wicked every day Antinom Solomon saith Prov. 14.22 Do they not err that devise evil And that Violence covereth the Mouth of the Wicked Ch. 10.11 And that he that hideth Hatred with lying Lips and he that uttereth a Slander is a Fool vers 18 You thought by that time all your Concessions were put together that the Error you charged the Doctor with was dwindled away and it would not blacken him enough according
is a false Conclusion that Christ is mine before he is so and must the great Terms of Life be a Lie We are to examine our selves whether we are in the Faith or not 2 Cor. 13.5 Where hath God made this Proposition My sins are laid on Christ Vnless you are for general Redemption the Word of Grace promiseth Pardon to none but a Believer and the Spirit speaks to none but a Believer Antinom In all things we receive of Gift there must be a right of Donation first if we take before it 's given it 's Theft and unless I am perswaded that the giving Hand is reached out I can't receive We have our first Earnest for Blessedness in the Perswasion of Faith in the very Act of it and it 's Non sence to talk any way of partaking of Christ but by the Spirit and Faith And he that in an Act of believing at first finds Christ in the true Perswasion of Faith doth not nor cannot say of Christ he is his before he is so The Soul cannot be too nimble for Christ and if he that believeth not makes God a Liar what are those that perswade to Unbelief That Faith in it's very Act is an Evidence is no hinderance to the Trial and Examination of our selves by the Fruit of Faith besides And though the Proposition in the Gospel be an indefinite Proposition yet the Application by Faith in a Sinner ought to be particular and fiducial or else the Faith of Believers will be no more than that of others that believe only that Christ came to save Sinners and if the Promise of Pardon were not to Sinners as such it were not Pardon and if a Man upon Trial must first find by Signs that he doth believe before he lay claim to Pardon Sinners would be in a sad condition But this is the comfort that as the Promise of Pardon is the great Encouragement to believing so believing it self is the receiving and perceiving of it And the Soul saith or should by Faith He loved me and gave himself for me At the sight of Christ it saith My Lord and my God If the Lord speak to a Believer in believing by his Word and Spirit Thy Sins are forgiven it 's not said so to one that is a Believer first Relata are simul naturâ The Promise of Paternity is not a Promise or Gift to one that 's a Father first nor Sonship to one that is a Son first God promiseth himself to be a Father to them that are Loammi And how gross is that Assertion That the Spirit speaks it to none but to a Believer as a Believer Doth not the Spirit speak Peace before we receive it by an Act of Faith Doth not this cause us to believe it 's the Light causeth the Eye to see It 's the Light shining into the dark Unbelieving Heart that perswades the Heart it 's God that saith to the Soul I am thy Salvation before we can believe it Neonom The Second thing that I will prove is that Saving Faith hath the Essentials expressed in the above-mentioned Truth as Assent Trust Consenting Acceptance of Christ Reliance c. Antinom You said before that Inward Perswasion of the Pardon of Sin was no Part of Saving Faith And said in the next that it contained Assent to the Word Fiducial Consent and Acceptance of Christ A Man therefore may understand you that tho it contained it yet it was not of it's Essence Now you seem to say these are Essentials if you do not you hide your self again in the Word Include If you say These be Essentials which you name we say so too but allow not yours c. and all these Essentials are in the Word Perswasion Assent is the Perswasion of the Understanding Consent the Perswasion of the Will to the Truths and good things propounded the Promise whereby the Soul relies upon Christ therein for himself particularizeth Christ and all Blessings to himself as his and now go on and prove all that you said before to be false Neonom You are mistaken I will prove my Position true and then see where your Errour will be 1. Faith can be no less than the Souls Answer to the Call of God c. Antinom We say it is so and he bids us believe but it 's not Faith as such for all Obedience is an answer to the Call of God Neonom The Scripture describes Saving Faith by all these Acts it 's the evidence of things not seen Substance of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 Receiving of Christ John 1.12 Isa 55.4 Acts 13.26 Rom. 15.12 Isa 44.5 Antinom This we say it is Evidence and Substance of things at a distance is a full Perswasion of them according to the Nature of them such a Perswasion as carries the whole Soul forth to God to rest and rely upon him having Union with Christ thereby bringing him in all his Excellencies into our Souls and taking him for our own Doth a Man believe any good thing promised and doth not he catch at it for himself if he have any savour of it If the Promise of Pardon present it self to us doth a Man believe till he appropriate it to himself saying It is mine though an unworthy Sinner If a condemned Prisoner hears a Pardon is come out for some he may believe that but till he believes he is one it 's no Comfort to him tho there may be hopes at least he is in it Neonom Christ can't be received as a Saviour without these Antinom It 's very true he is never received as such till I receive him as my Saviour and believe him to be so in some measure and this I am bound to do to receive him by confident Perswasion and resting upon him Neonom A Faith without these Essentials could never produce those great Effects as are ascribed to Faith to purifie the Heart Acts 15.9 to be a shield against Temptations Eph. 6.16 works by Love Gal. 5.6 sanctifies us Acts 26.18 By Faith we are risen with Christ Col. 2.12 Antinom It 's certain that no Faith can do it but such as makes a particular Application by a perswasion of the Love of God or Interest in Christ Pardon of Sins and Reconciliation to God through him that can produce the Effects spoken of this will purifie the Heart from an evil guilty Conscience to serve the Living God this will be a Shield against the most Mortal Darts of Satan that he shoots at our state by bringing in Law Condemnations Hereby Love to God is produced in the Soul and we Act towards God and our Neighbours in Love hereby we are brought to true Obedience such as the Law required at first for the Principle to Love the Lord our God with all our Hearts Soul and Strength and therefore the Apostle saith Love is the Sum of all Obedience as our Saviour said It 's the fulfilling of the Law through this Grace of the Spirit for by receiving Forgiveness of Sin we