into which his Posterity should be sub-divided If it was not I conceive the Fault was theirs not God's as if it would have been a Fault in God if he did not give means for all to be Saved when they had Damned themselves Thus Antisozzo has in a manner laid Salvation open in common to Elect and Non-elect to Vessels before of old ordained to Condemnation Jude 4. as well as to Vessels of Mercy for whom the Kingdom was prepared from the Foundation of the World Matt. 25 directly contrary to the Confession of the Assembly which they both have Subscribed though I find not that they ever recanted this Expression The Assembly say on the Point of God's Decree directly that none but the Elect can be Saved thus These Angels and Men their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be increased or diminished neither are any other redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only For the proof of which they quote 2 Tim. 2.19 John 13.18 17.9 6.64 65. 10.26 Rom. 8.28 I lay down my Life for the sheep and ye Pharisees ye believe not because ye are not my sheep Thus these great Men have asserted and this our Neonomians subscribe to in order to deceive the Simple to believe they are Orthodox when here 't is visible how Heterodox these two great Contenders for the New Law are plainly deviating from the Assembly in allowing a Possibility for the Non elect to be Saved But I beg for them the Mercy of God to give them the Eye-salve of his Spirit to shew them their Mistake §. XXXIV The Ninth and Tenth Heresies are scarce worth mentioning they being only some curtailed Expressions that the Antagonists to the Free Grace of God in his eternal Love to poor Sinners in Christ do take from the Writings of some of the Asserters of our Sins being fully done away by the Death of our Lord Jesus and from thence this Pharisaical Spirit quarrels at them and charges them for laying a ninth Heresie It is denied that God requires Faith as an indispensible Qualification in them whom he will Justifie by Christ's Merits How this is worded by his Antinomians he mentions not whether they deny Faith indispensibly in Infants or Lunaticks or no So that this Quarrel needs little answer seeing they know that we are as much for Faith as themselves if not more as it excludes Works in the Point of Justification but not for Faith to take the Crown off from the Head of Jesus and it self to wear the Honour of Saving us in whole or in part §. XXXV Such another is his Tenth Heresie All that a Believer can pray for is the farther Manifestation of Pardon for he knows that all his Sins are pardoned This is a manifest Breach of Charity for he knows they pray for more and though they may at some Seasons have full Assurance of being accepted in the Beloved Jesus wherein they see all their Sins were done away in his Blood when he to Sanctifie the People Suffered without the Gate Whereupon they upon Believing cry Glory to him who hath loved them and washed them from their Sins with his Blood Yet they daily pray for fresh Discoveries of the same which as to their Consciences is a Fresh Pardon or renewing of Pardon I hope my Dear Kratiste will not deny That by one Offering he hath for ever perfected those that are Sanctified and that he Sanctified the People with his own Blood when he Suffered without the Gate If so then all successive Pardons upon fresh Acts of Faith are only the Clearing up of Pardon to the Conscience that there should be no more Conscience of Sin Whereas the Grand Pardon in the Court of Heaven was as Mr. Pemble says when Christ was delivered for our Offences and raised for our Justification which is not manifest to the Conscience till Faith comes And thus this Heresie vanishes having only left us a Testimony that the Neonomians do Boggle in the point of Pardon and would hook in our Faith to be a Joynt-Saviour with Christ by being a procurer of Pardon rather than a Manifestation of it §. XXXVI It is an Amazement his 11th Heresie which is this A Believer is to work from Life and not for Life For answer If a Man be a Believer he is a Living Member of Christ and so he Works from Life in Christ Sure then this cannot be the Heresie intended here to say he works from Life Then this is his Heresie That a Believer works not for Life But how can that be Heresie to say A Believer doth not work for Life when the word saith The Gift of God is Eternal Life Rom. 6.23 If it be Gift then it is not Work'd for by us do Men call that a Gift that is wrought for that is Wages Death indeed is wrought for by Sin for the Wages of Sin which is in our best Works is Death but Life is the Free Gift of God How then can it be called Heresie to say A Believer works not for Life Antisozzo was once of another Mind I find but the Rebuker does well to conceal his Name for to call this Heresie must needs cast a sad Reflection What more substantial Truth is there than that a Believer works from Life and not to gain Life by his Works Whither shall we run if we do not maintain this for Truth That a Believer works not that he by his good Works might procure to himself Eternal Life No but he works from a Divine Principle of Life in him that he may glorifie God for the Gift of Eternal Life through his Son Jesus Christ O! how true is that of Luther Every Man hath a Pope in his Belly and how ready are we to run into the Dregs of Popery to Work for Life §. XXXVII The Twelfth is 'T is Heresie to say It 's a great Truth that God sees no Sin in a Believer I hope it is a great Truth and no Heresie that God saith I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy Transgressions and as a Cloud thy Sins Isa 44.22 And if blotted out it is to shew that God doth not see them And if God saith He has cast them into the Depth of the Sea and he has cast them behind his Back and he will remember them no more Is it not the same thing as not to see them And doth he not say He hath not beheld Iniquity in Jacob not but that they had Iniquity enough but when their Sins are covered with the Robe the fine white Linnen of Christ's Righteousness then it may be said without Imputation of Heresie 't is a great Truth and a Blessed one that God sees no Sin in a Believer Sure my Dear Kratiste had strangely forgot himself to call this glorious Truth a Heresie §. XXXVIII The Thirteenth Sin can do no real hurt to a Believer Answer If as Sin abounds Grace much more abounds which
Spirit concurring with our Spirits therein See the Assemblies Catechism §. XXIX The like sort of Heresie to this last we find well spoken to by Famous Pemble in his Treatise of Grace and Faith in fol. 22 to prove God's being reconciled to the Elect before they believe and so to take off the Clamour from Dr. Crisp as if it were Antinomian Heresie to say we believe that we may be justified declaratively Mr. Pemble argues solidly thus Now that God doth actually love the Elect before they are regenerate or can actually believe may appear thus 1. Where God is actually reconciled he actually loves but with the Elect before they actually believe God is actually reconciled therefore he loves them before their Faith The Minor is evident because before they are born a full Satisfaction and Atonement is made by Christ and accepted on God's part whereon actual Reconciliation must needs follow He was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World 2. If God did actually love the Elect before Christ's time when an actual Reconciliation was not made then much more may he actually love the Elect after the Atonement is really made by Christ's Death even before they do believe it The former is true by the Salvation of the Patriarchs therefore the latter may not well be denyed 3. Election Vocation and Faith are Fruits of God's Love to the Elect which Graces he bestows on them because he loves them Now I argue If God loved his Elect from Eternity and this Love neither increaseth nor diminisheth as in God as Mr. Pemble saith anon then it is plain that in the Righteous Judgment of God foro Dei there was never any Guilt on them after they were delighted in by Christ For God doth not take a Sinner by the Hand that is the same as he may be said not to love guilty Souls but he doth take the Elect by the Hand from Eternity As they are chosen in Christ from Eternity so they were delighted in by Christ from Eternity therefore the Elect as Elect are not guilty in the sight of God For if they were how should they be delighted in from Eternity as having Grace given them in Christ by the Father from Eternity 2 Tim. 1.9 and Prov. 8. §. XXX And now my hand is in with Mr. Pemble and because the Rebuker and others may if the Lord please see their Mistake in their hard Censure on Dr. Crisp and others to say 't is Heretical for them to say That Justification is before Faith I shall a little inlarge on this eighth Heresie 'T is well known Mr. Pemble was no Antinomian yet he saith in concurrence with Dr. Twiss and Dr. Crisp thus In foro Divino in God's sight Justification goeth before our Sanctification for even whilst the Elect are unconverted they are then actually justified and freed from all Sin by the Death of Christ and God having accepted of that Satisfaction is actually reconciled to them 2. There is Justification in foro Conscientiae in our sense which is but the revelation and certain declaration of God's former secret Act of accepting Christ's Righteousness to our Justification And why is not the out-cry of Heresie against this Good Man who asserts so plainly the actual Justification in God's sight before the Conversion of the Elect and that the Justification in our Consciences is but the revelation and declaration of the former secret Justification before God §. XXXI To the like purpose is the Confession of the Assembly at Westminster on the Article of Justification which saith Christ by his Obedience and Death did fully discharge the Debt of all those that are justified Here our Sins are called a Debt which our Rebuker makes a dangerous word and here this Debt is fully discharged when even at Christ's Death And if so then I argue with the Apostle if the Debt was discharged then Who can lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect either of Sin or Guilt It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again Sure this was no Antinomian Assembly yet they make the Debt discharged at Christ's Death §. XXXII But Mr. Pemble goes farther in this Point and saith That Faith doth not precede Participation with Christ appears 1 Our Sanctification wrought by the Spirit conveys Life and Grace into our Souls when we are void of Faith and before 't is ask'd 2. Our Justification in God's sight which was long before we were born is purchas'd for us by Christ 'T is vain to think with the Armenian That Christ's Merits only made God PLACABILEM not Placatum no the Ransom is paid and accepted all the Sins are actually pardoned this grand Transaction between God and the Mediator Jesus Christ was dispatch'd in Heaven before we had a Being yet the Benefit of it was ours and belonged to us at that time though we never knew so much till after that by Faith we apprehended it As Lands may be settled on an Infant though he knew nothing of it till he come of Age. O! what clear Testimony is here to convince the Neonomians that besides express Scripture those that the Rebuker calls Antinomians have very good Company going with them §. XXXIII Here I cannot omit from the word Placabilem to reflect on what one of the Deserters of Pinners-hall Lecture well known to the Rebuker said there about April 1693 not without great Trouble to some of the Auditory That Christ's Death was to make God PLACABLE As rank Arminianism as can be which was well answered there the sixth of June 1693 by Worthy Mr. Lawrence though the same Person was never answered there as I heard to a worse piece of Arminianism that he uttered there to the Scandal of Pinners-Hall viz. That Adam ' s first Sin was not ours or We did not Sin that first Sin that Sin only corrupted our Nature Which is clean contrary to the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom all Sinned Rom. 5.12 Now we may no longer wonder to see such Persons Symbolize with and be Champions for unsound Mr. Williams who holds That more than the Elect may be Saved Witness these words of his by way of Scorn to his Opposers in his Appendix to Gospel Truth stated It is not enough saith Mr. Williams that we own that Christ absolutely redeemed the Elect so as to purchase saving Graces as well as Benefits to be infallibly theirs unless we add that all others are in state of Devils as having no real offers of Life on Gospel terms Nor is their Salvation possible if they will Repent and Believe Here he holds it possible that others besides the Elect may Repent and Believe and so their Salvation is possible Nay herein Antisozzo whom my Dear Kratiste hath a great value for doth partly coalesce in Page 103 saying When God gave the Promise to the common Parent of Mankind there was a possibility in the thing that that means of Salvation might have been derived to all those Rivulets
But we are to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints which Faith seems to be taking wing and leaving us under that sad word of our Lord When the Son of Man cometh shall he find Faith on the Earth There being very little of it now what with open Enemies scoffing at all Revealed Religion on one side and seeming Friends though as bad Enemies on the other side that joyn Man's Obedience with Christ's Righteousness as concurrent causes or means of our Justification and Salvation and so bringing in our Gospel-Holiness as co-partner with our Lord Jesus the Alpha and Omega the First and the Last the Author and Finisher of our Salvation To whom with the Father and Blessed Spirit even to him that sits on the Throne and to the Lamb that was slain and is alive in the midst of the Throne and to the seven Spirits before the Throne be Honour Glory and Praise for ever §. CXXI Now that these plain Remarks on some of the great Truths of the Gospel which have been struck at may be beneficial to the humble Peruser to settle him on our Lord Jesus the only Foundation in order to be built up in the most holy Faith by him who buildeth all Things who is God Heb. 3.4 is the fervent Prayer of the unworthiest I say of the unworthiest in his own Eyes of any that sincerely desires to cast in his Mite to the Treasury of the Testimony of Jesus God blessed for ever §. CXXII Having taken the freedom out of love to the Truth and zeal for the Glory of God's Grace therein manifest to be a little plain with my Dear Kratiste hoping for a Blessing of the Lord thereby on his and others Souls I find my self ingaged to make some Remarks on the Reporter the first occasioner of this thus-handled Debate And first I must and do own that I humbly judge that he hath done great and good Service to the Truth by delivering his Report with much plainness and perspicuity however it be censured by the Adversary and I take it that he deserves Thanks of Thousands besides my self who make the Truths of the Everlasting Gospel their daily Study for his ingenious Vindication of his Report from the Slander of its being called false by the Rebuker §. CXXIII But two Things wherein I take him to have exceeded I hope may be rectified that is his hard pressure on my Dear Kratiste and his tart Passages on Dr. Crisp As for the Rebuker was it not enough when the Reported had sufficiently foiled him nay and had laid him so flat on his Back as to be for ever unable to stand upright again in that Cause by clearing his Report from being false But when he had him down sure he should not have prest him to Death or worse by his Printing such a Letter as tax'd him not only with Buffoonry but with being by fits delirous and to charge him with denying Christ's Satisfaction for our Sins §. CXXIV As for the first I that have known him above Twenty Years never heard before or saw the least Tendency to those unhappy Fits Though upon inquiry of the ground of such a Charge 't is said The Writer knew well what he said But however this I take to be too severe a Reprimand for his Rebuke considering how terrible a blemish it is to so eminent a Person 's Ministry to be tax'd with being delirous O how few can be free if every Transport shall lay a Man under such a Censure Therefore this I would advise the Reporter to be humbled before the Lord for considering how in many things we offend all §. CXXV As for the Reporter's Argument That the Rebuker denies Christ's Satisfaction for Sin because he saith Christ's Death was for our good and it was impossible it should be more and that therein he Justâ—fies the Socinians I answer this Conclusion That he denies Christ s Satisfaction hereby looks like a strain upon the words beyond the meaning of the Rebuker for it seems apparent in this Rebuke especialâ—y in his other Writings That he expresly owns Christ's Satisfaction for Sin Though in that Expression of his in Fol. 37. he hath unhappily gratified the Socinians too far by saying It is impossible that Christ's dying in our place and stead should signifie any more than for our Good God forbid that my dear Kratiste should mean by that word only for our Good as the Socinians do That Christ's dying was only for our good as an Example or to confirm his good Doctrine only No He means I hope That Christ by his Death took away the Sins of all the Elect That he bare their Sins and bare them away into a Land of Forgetfulness never to be remembred more as our Scape goat That he suffered for their Sins That he wash'd them from their Sins in his Blood And so he died for our Good that we should have the Good and Benefit of his taking away our Sins and of his becoming a Propitiation for us a Sin-offering for us a Ransom to the Father for us and also himself to be ours the Lord our Righteousness for which let us ascribe Honour and Glory to him continually for that he hath loved us and washed us from our Sins in his Blood §. CXXVI Then for the Reporter's Tartness against Dr. Crisp I am Amazed so florid a Person should so far blemish his Discourses be so Dis-ingenious to the Doctor as to say He believes there is somewhat Dangerous in the Doctor 's Writings in Page 87. of his Vindication and not to give one Instance of it His words being these If there is any thing Dangerous in the Doctor 's Writings as I believe there is It would have been fair to have given one dangerous Passage at least but for want of that I turned to some of the most severe Passages of Mr. Williams's against the Doctor and to Dr Chancy's Apology for the Doctor to see what was so dangerous and I found in P. 37. of Gospel Truth Mr. Williams had loaded the Doctor thus Reader how horrid a sound must it have to a Christian Ear to say A Christ odious to God abhorred by the Father Here Mr. Williams speaks as if Dr. Crisp had said these words A Christ odious to God abhorred by the Father But Mr. Williams deals unjustly herein for as to the word A Christ odious there is not such an Expression in the Doctor and as for abhorred by the Father the Doctor s words are Christ is as it were abhorred by the Father But suppose it were as Mr. Williams brings it in How much more Horrid a Sound is it to say Christ is odious to God than to say Christ is made Sin by God himself If we had due Thoughts of the Horridness of Sin and that Christ was made Sin that is by Imputation we should think it as much a Debasing of our Lord Jesus to be made Sin by God as to be accounted Odious or Abhorred
the Scripture foreseeing what distinctions and evasions would be made the Holy Ghost to fortifie and compleat the matter sums up all in the last Verse and saith He poured out his Soul unto death and he BARE the Sin of many Here is another word for bearing and the proper word it is for bearing away Chete rabbim nasa the Sin of many he bare Now put all these together and can the Wit of Man or Wisdom of Angels find out Words more plain and full more clear and nervous for Christ's bearing our Sins our very Sins The blessed Lord knowing what shifts windings and turnings would be made to evacuate to exinanitiate this great Point of Christ's being made Sin and bearing our Sins therefore in his Grace and Wisdom to stop all mouths he reiterates the Expression and delineates the matter with all the Flowery Varugation to invite our â—ttention and consent that can be imagined and so to obviate the Objections of Men of corrupt Minds that cannot endure this sound Doctrine That Christ bare our very Sins therefore the Lord saith The Loâ—d laid our Iniquity on him Hiphgiya b-o yavon and again He shall bear their Iniquities Iâ—ball yavonoth am and again His Soul was made a Sin-Offering and he bare the Sin of many All full home to the Point And that which makes it most conspicuous is God's making Christ Asham in ver 10. we render it When thou shalt make his â—oul an Offering for Sin But the Bishop knows full well that Asham in the Hebrew is the proper word for Guilt So that the strict rendring that which we make to be Thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin which in Hebrew is Tasim naphsh-o Asham it is Thou shalt constitute his Soul Guilt where Guilt we may easily see is put for Guilt-Offering but the very words are Thou shalt constitute his Soul Guilt that is God himself in laying our Sins and our Iniquities and our Transgressions on his Dear Son he therein did constitute or make the Soul of Christ to be Guilt or a Guilt-Offering which directly answers that direful word of the Apostle God made him to be Sin for us And now is all this by our new sort of Divinity dwindled to his bearing of Punishment only Dr. Harris of the Famous Assembly at Westminster was very free in this Case and saith This would look like Injustice in God to punish his Son as guilty if he had not laid on him or imputed to him those Sins that deserved that Punishment §. CXLIII There are many other Scriptures that shew plainly that Christ bare the very Sins of the Elect that 's a famous one where God's Name is proclaimed Exod. 34.6 there he stiles himself Jehovah God Merciful and Gracious c. forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Here 's the Name of the Blessed Jehovah at length but it is to be noted the word in the Hebrew which is by our Translators rendred Forgiving is nose which is properly bearing and so is used at least 100 times in Scripture and is the same word as is in Isa 53. last he Bare the Sin of many 't is nasa chete Rabbim And 't is to be lamented that our Translators should not as well translate it so here in Exod. 34. as in Isa 53.12 so that the plain Name of God is among other glorious Titles he is nose yavon c. bearing Iniquity Transgression and Sin that is our Lord Jesus Jehovah our Righâ—eousness he is Gracious and Merciful in this that he hath borne away our Iniquity Transgression and Sin Here lies the transcendent â—ender Mercy and the Riches of God's Grace that the Lord Jesus hath â—orn and born away our Iniquity our very Iniquity so saith the Blessed God but this cannot go down in the shallow Reason of poor Man till God shine with the glorious Light of the Spirit to convince him and enable him to believe it because God faith it The like Expression we have in Psal 32 1. Blessed is the Man whose Transgression is forgiven it is the same word for forgiven 't is nesu O the Blessedness of the Man whose Transgressions are born away that is by Christ who bare the Sin of many so in Verse 5. I said I will confess my Transgressions unto thee and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin it is in Hebrew ve attah nasatha yavon chattash-i and thou hast born away the Iniquity of my Sin He did not only beare the very Sin but he bare also the Iniquity of it all the Iniquity that was in his Sin in his great and crying Sins all the Guilt and Obliquity in it God saith of it that it was borne away let Man mince it as he pleases God saith It is borne away So in many more Scriptures nose is translated forgiving whereas the proper rendring is it is borne away As for the proper word for forgive that we have in 1 Kings 8.30 in Solomon's Prayer salachta When thou hearest forgive which in the Hebrew is ve-shamayta ve-salachta and thou hearest and do thou forgive Thus we have plenty of Testimonies in the Old Testament that the very Sins of God's People were born away §. CXLIV The New Testament concurs in the same way of expressing Christ's taking away our very Sins as in 1 John 3 5. The Son of God was manifested to take away our Sins He not only bare the Punishment but he bare the very Sins and he bare them so effectually as to take them away and therefore he is called The Lamb of God that taketh away the Sin of the World John 1.29 How could he take them away if he bare only the Punishment upon account of the Guilt laid on him on the Offenders compliance whereas the Fault is denied to be laid on him So that with our New Divinity he took away Faultless Sin which in most Mens Opinions must be no Sin at all But the Scripture is plain He took away Sin he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.26 So that to insist on Christ's bearing Punishment for Sin and not bearing the Sin it self is not Scripture Dialect we shall lose the Gospel and our Christian Religion if we forsake Scripture Terms especially in this great Case of Christ's being made Sin and bearing our Sin and taking it quite away so as never by God to be remembred more for these are his words their Sins and their Iniquities I will remember no more Heb 9.22 and repeated for the Confirmation of that which Flesh and Blood cannot receive in Heb. 10.17 Now can any one imagine that when our Lord Jesus took away Sin by his Death and Oblation of himself on the Cross that he left the Guilt or the Fault behind This is Nonsense to take away Faultless Sin we should be but little the better for the Death of Christ If he left the Guilt or Fault for us to remove by Repentance or any of our good Works which at best are so far
Penalty of Sin may be inflicted there 's a necessity that the Guilt of Sin be imputed Now to talk of Guilt imputed and not the Fault is Nonsense For what Guilt is there where there is no Fault Did Christ bare Sin and Guilt without Fault Then he bare faultless Sin and faultless Guilt which is ridiculous Well but my Dear Kratiste goes on currently for his Antinomians and saith It 's impossible indeed that we should personally have committed Adam 's Sin or performed that very Obedience which Christ performed but not impossible that the Disobedience of the one or Obedience of the other should be reckoned AS committed and performed by us How doth this agree with his equal Astonishment and Indignation at the horrid Opinion to say That the Fault of Sin was laid upon Christ O! that he would humbly own his hasty heat O! that he might recover himself and return to the Truths he owned in Antisozzo and not call it an horrid Opinion That the Fault was laid on Christ when himself owns the Guilt was lest he exasperate his tart Answerers to call him not only an Ecclesiastical Droll but a Terrae Filius Droll to talk of Guilt without Fault This might possibly occasion that severe Reflection of Fits in the Rebuker not fit to be mentioned but meliora speramus we hope better Things and such as accompany Salvation by his freeing himself from halting in the Point of Christ's Satisfaction which the Reporter chargeth him with §. CIX I proceed to convince if it may please God my Dear Kratiste of his unbenign Temper in his treating the Opposers of Mr. Williams in Pa. 60. O! how unlike are those Passages to any thing we find of our beloved Lord and Master Jesus the meek and lowly who had no Guile in his Mouth and who being reviled reviled not again But so it fares not with the Rebuker who though he was not reviled in the Report yet he Banters and Jeers his Friends that concur not with him in Page 60 with this Expression speaking of his Opposers he saith of them They will make no farther Contest with Mr. Williams I mistake saith the Rebuker but private Whisperings and evil Surmizes and insinuated Slanders and clandestine Reproaches may be multiplyed while Mr. Williams lives O what a dire Charge is here in this climax and constellation of Accusations Here are Whisperings Surmises Slanders and Reproaches and these epethited with being private evil insinuated and clandestine Nay 't is to be feared they will feed upon his Carcase See here what Cannibals he makes all the Gospel-Ministers that cannot that ought not to concur with Mr. Williams his unsound stating of Gospel-Truth May not Men write and plead for the Truth which it is obvious Mr. Williams hath wronged as on that Text Phil. 3.9 but they must be invidiously loaded as above O my Dear Kratiste I beseech the Lord to mollifie your Temper and to give you an humble broken Gospel-Sense of your too much giving way through the Temptation of the Floridness of your Stile to an excess of Carnal Passion in your Rebuke Doth not the blessed Apostle tell us in 2 Tim. 4.2 that his beloved Timothy though but a Young Divine that he should rebuke with all long-suffering How much more is it a Duty for the Elder Divines to exercise long suffering yea all long-suffering in their Rebukes cujus contrarium we see Some talk of having a Commission from all the Systematical Divines as Antisozzo had but I fear you have exceeded that as well as the Apostle's Admonition in your Rebuke to the Report §. CX Are all accounted by the Rebuker as Cannibals that write against Mr. Williams How then shall I escape who put my Mite into the Treasury of pleading for Free Grace Every one hath not a Face of Brass neither doth God say to all Contenders for the Truth as he did to Ezekiel in Ezek. 3.9 As an Adamant harder than a Flint have I made thy Forehead therefore fear them not and must we not therefore plead for Truth for fear of being called Man-Eaters I hope my Dear Kratiste will remember what Antisozzo saith in his Preface That Austin would have every Man that can hold a Pen write against Pelagius that sworn Enemy to free discriminating effectual Grace And if so why may not the Reporter or any Pen-Man write against Mr. Williams and all those Forty Nine Vouchers who declares That a degree of our Gospel-Obedience to a Law that admits Sin doth concur to our Justification quite contrary to the Scripture which saith We are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Are we bound to contend earnestly for the Faith and will you load with multiplyed Sarcasms those that cannot swallow such distastful Morsels as he cuts out Such as this That our being found in Christ Phil. 3.9 is principally meant of being found in our own Gospel-Holiness Than which nothing is a greater misprision of Treason against the Righteousness of Christ imputed to Sinners for their Justification O! that God would shew that such prophane words do eat as doth a Gangreen What bring in our Holiness to sit jigg by joul with Christ's perfect Righteousness And for opposing this shall the Servants of the Lord be accounted Cannibals to feed on Mr. Williams his Flesh §. CXI The next hard word bestowed on Free-Grace maintainers is calling them Bigots nay Bigots that never will forgive That is because they do and must contend for the Truth therefore they are accounted implacable Though I am bound to forgive all Injuries done to my self am I ever bound to suffer the Truth to be invaded and silently to sit down satisfied with it Was not meek Moses in a Transport when Aaron made the Calf yet not implacable Must many whole Churches of our Lord Jesus be called unforgiving Bigots for holding fast the Faith once delivered to the Saints Is not the Spirit to war against Fleshly Principles as long as they war against the Spirit O! that my Dear Kratiste might obtain to descend from his lofty strain and follow our dear Lord who dyed for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps in being meek and lowly of Heart and not fly into Astonishment and Indignation for being mildly opposed §. CXII O! how unlike is this treatment of this Rebuker to the treatment our blessed Lord Jesus gave to his Disciples when instead of watching with him when he was under the dreadful conflict in his Agony and instead of praying with him they fell a snoring Did he scour them off as our Rebuker has done No he sweetly gently mildly reproves them with an Excuse The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak Nay when they call'd for Fire from Heaven on the Samaritans doth he call them wild Monsters as our Rebuker No but tenderly reproves them Ye know not what Spirit ye are of He doth not cast Fire-brands Arrows and Death at them calling them horrid
Hereticks that fill with equal Astonishment and Indignation as of late we see in the froth of my Dear Kratiste §. CXIII I now must write in Tears this next Paragraph and O that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears over my Dear Kratiste to see that a Good Man and Eminent should be guilty of the following Passage which I fear hath been tragical and bloody O what is poor Man when the Lord leaves him to the exercise of his meer Wit and Reason The Rebuker turns quick and plays at sharp with the Manuscriptor and accosts him for saying What a Negative of the same import with an Affirmative Whereby the Manuscriptor reflected on Mr. Williams for his former asserting no Change of Persons between Christ and Believers and saying afterwards that he meant this No Change doth allow that he was for a Change on which the Manuscriptor saith What a Negative of the same import with an Affirmative Upon which the Rebuker lets fly and fastens his Talons on him with this Answer I make no question but he had heard of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Marriage and no Marriage grating on his tender Conscience Here we must take the word tender to be Ironically spoken by the Rebuker O! how can he look on this Passage without blushing and a few Tears if the Lord graciously give a due Sense of the Uncharitableness of it when he sees the direful Consequence of it the Lord 's taking the blessed holy Servant of his this object of your boasting over a repented of miscarriage from this World to himself And who knows but such a Reflection as this of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might hasten his Death to be wounded so in the House of his Friends by a Brother in the Presbyterian Ministry If the Righteous fall seven times a day how can you look God in the Face with Peace while you insult in 〈…〉 â—ner over one you cannot but own God had raised up aâ—â—er his â—ail and raised to a higher pitch of Zeal for the Glory of God and for the publishing his Free Grace in the Gospel through our Lord Jesus Christ Is such a Retort like the moving of the Spirit of God in a Christian who should in love gentleness and meekness do every Thing especially when writing a Tract relating to the great and glorious Truths of the Gospel to the Glory of God in the Name of the Lord Jesus Was this in the Name of Jesus who when reviled reviled not again to criminate a Servant of the Lord Jesus in the Ministry of the Gospel We have heard of a Cham that discovered what he should have concealed and of the Brand yea black Curse that is upon all his Seed to this day if the black Ethiopians be his Seed as is most probable O blessed Lord let not the like be on the Seed of my Kratiste The Apostle tells us Ye have heard of the Patience of Job but draws a Vail over his Passion and saith farther upon it and the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender Mercy O that the Rebuker were like him But the tender Mercies of some are cruel What would and it may be thereby kill a Man whom God had both wounded and healed The Lord give a due sense and forgive §. CXIV Again We have heard of the mocking of Ishmael Gen. 21. of which the Apostle saith He that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit Gal. 4. So that in God's sight a mocking fleering jibing taunting Spirit though done with the smartest Wit is accounted Persecution and if it be to those born after the Spirit it may issue in great Judgment The Dragon was cast into a bottomless Pit that cast water out of his Mouth to swallow the Woman Rev. 12. 20.3 I beseech the Lord that such mocking may not be laid to the Charge of the Rebuker in the great day of the Lord when he cometh to convince not only the ungodly of their ungodly Deeds but of their hard Speeches O that he might lay it to his own Soul now that it may not be laid to his Charge then God hath taken this aspersed Servant from the malevolent Aspersion of Man and I hope the Blood of Jesus applyed to by Faith with Repentance may prevent this Man's Blood from crying for Vengeance Which I pray his Adversaries may flee for to the hope set before them and that they take heed how they secretly Joab like stab by vituperation any of the Servants of the Lord for the time to come O! how ill might it look if any should return a worse Reflection than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on some that lift up their Heads very high being held up by the Chin by mighty swimmers But the Lord rebuke their uncharitable Spirit is the best return I can make §. CXV I am amazed or as in a Dream to see the prevaricating of the Rebuker in Page 61 where speaking of Mr. Williams's Gospel-Truth stated c. he saith Reader thou hast heard much noise about that Book and of the Subscription to it by some Ministers I could wish thou wouldst be so just to the Subscribers as to view with thine own Eyes how far the Subscription extended It was no more than this They judged that he had in all that was material fully and rightly stated the Truths and Errors therein mentioned I viewed this over and over never suspecting a plain untruth in the Rebuker but took it for granted that this was all that he had subscribed to That he judged that Mr. Williams had in all that was material done as there is declared But being provoked to be just to him and see with my own Eyes I turned to the Subscription and to my amazement found the old saying useful 'T is good to tell Money after ones Father for he fell far short of saying the Truth and the whole Truth of the Subscription for it extended far beyond what he saith it extended to For there to set off the Book he stiles Mr. Williams our Reverend Brother and such a Character to the Book is no small extolling it that he is by Forty Nine Divines called our Reverend Brother whereof my Dear Kratiste is one of the first three But looking forward with mine own Eyes I found he went ten times farther in celebrating the excellency of that Piece which made such a Noise a Noise that hath sounded into the Low Countries to indamage the Truth as I have heard and that is this We do account say the Forty Nine that he hath done considerable Service to the Church of Christ And what could they say more of Calvin Melancthon Luther Nay very little more of St. Paul's Epistles I wish they said as much of some passages therein Christ made Sin and made a Curse §. CXVI But with mine own Eyes with the help of Free Grace Spectacles not Arminian ones I find