Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	believe_v	church_n	infallible_a	2,870	5	9.5232	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39120	Vindiciæ justificationis gratuitæ = Justification without conditions, or, The free justification of a sinner : explained, confirmed, and vindicated, from the exceptions, objections, and seeming absurdities, which are cast upon it, by the assertors of conditional justification : more especially from the attempts of Mr. B. Woodbridge in his sermon, entituled (Justification by faith), of Mr. Cranford in his Epistle to the reader, and of Mr. Baxter in some passages, which relate to the same matter : wherein also, the absoluteness of the New Covenant is proved, and the arguments against it, are disproved / by W. Eyre ...	Eyre, William, 1612 or 13-1670.; Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1654 (1654)	Wing E3947A; ESTC R40198	198,474	230

to all the consequences of his debts In this sence our Formal Justification is by the gracious sentence of the Gospel terminated upon our Consciences but otherwise intrinsecally and formally the payment of our debt is our real discharge I shall grant him That the death of Christ doth justifie us onely virtually but yet I affirm That the satisfaction in his death being performed and accepted for us doth justifie us formally for the actual payment of a debt is that which formally makes him that was the debtor no debtor And therefore Christ dying for us or for our sins his reconciling us to God and our being justified are Synonima's in Scripture phrase Rom. 5.8 9 10. Object But against this some have alledged that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.21 where he saith That Christ was made sin for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we might be made he doth not say that thereby we are made the Righteousness of God in him Whence they would infer That the laying of our sins on Christ is onely an Antecedent which tends to the procuring of our Justification and not the same formally Whereunto we Answer 1 That this phrase that we might be or be made doth not alwayes signifie the final but sometimes the formal cause As when it is said That light is let in that darkness might be expelled where the immission of light is formally the expulsion of darkness 2 Though the imputation of our sins to Christ and of his Righteousness to us do differ yet the imputation of sin to him and non-imputation of it unto us is but one and the same act of God which was when God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them before the word of Reconciliation was given and therefore before they believed Vers. 19. 3 Though the imputation of our sin to Christ and so the non-imputation thereof to us have an antecedency in respect of imputation of Righteousness to us yet it is of nature onely and not of time For though it be objected That we were not then and therefore Righteousness could not be imputed unto us yet it follows not They might as well object Our sins were not then Ergo They could not be imputed unto Christ whereas in this business of Justification God calleth things that are not as though they were But if Mr. W. had shewn what it is that formally justifies us besides the satisfaction made in Christs death somewhat more might have been spoken to it § 7. The close of this Paragraph is such a dirty puddle that I intended to have stept over it in silence seeing it is so hard to touch pitch or pollution and not be defiled with it but yet for their sakes that do not know 〈◊〉 I shall stay the Reader a little whilest I wash off that dirt which he hath thrown upon me and others They are credulous souls I will assure you that will be drawn by such decoyes as these into Schism and Faction to the hardning and discomforting of more hearts in one hour then the Opinion it self should it obtain will do good to while the world stands I dare not allow my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to pay him in his own coyn having perswaded my heart to follow better examples even his who when he was reviled reviled not again 1 Pet. 2.23 And theirs who being reproached returned blessing 1 Cor. 4.12 In these few words there are a heap of slanders packt together both against my self and others and which is more grievous to be born against the truths and ways of God which we adhere to 1. They that do embrace this Doctrine which I have taught are aspersed with credulity and levity I do verily believe there is not one of my charge but is able to say as the Samaritans John 4.42 We believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves c. I dare say they are better setled then to be shaken with the sophistry of this Assailant I am sure both they and many more will bear me witness how frequently I do admonish them of taking up matters of Faith upon trust and credit it being Idolatry in a high degree to give the most Spiritual Worship of God viz. Our Faith to a weak and sinful man He that believes a truth upon a Humane account is no better Christian then he that doth believe a lie Let the prudent judge whether they are not more justly obnoxious to this censure of abusing the credulity of simple souls who will not endure that their hearers should bring their Doctrines to the touchstone The tyranny and usurpation of the Popish Priests is far more excusable then the affected domination of some of ours for they believe that their Church is infallible and cannot erre ours confess that they are fallible and may erre and yet expect subscription to their Dictates no less then to the Canon it self It is held a piaculum to question or debate what ever they say 2. It is but an unhandsome character he hath given my Arguments which he calls decoyes The Apostle I take it hath Englished his French Eph. 4.14 The sleight of men who lie in wait to deceive I dare say he knows me better then in cold blood to accuse me of driving on such a devillish trade as wittingly to deceive mens precious souls And therefore I shall call in no other Compurgator then his own Conscience § 8. As for his charge of Schisme and Faction I am not carefull to answer it being the usuall foam of passionate men who when they want Arguments to convince fall to downright railing Schisme sayes a learned man in the common manage of the word is a meer Theologicall Scar-crow wherewith they who uphold a party in Religion seek to fright away others from enquiring into and closing with that which they doe oppose Both this and the other are most frequently in their mouthes who are deepest in the guilt that is imported by them Ahab by his sins brought down Plagues and Judgements upon Israel yet he cals Elijah the troubler of Israel 1 King 18.17 Athalia was the cheifest Traytor and yet she was the first that cryed out Treason 2 King 11.14 Tertullus was the Orator of the tumult yet he inveighs against Paul as a Ring leader of Sedition Act. 24.5 6. the Church of Rome which hath fallen from the purity of the Catholique Faith brands them for Schismaticks who refuse to continue in the same Apostasie Amongst our selves the late Innovators aspersed all those with Faction and Schisme who would not prostitute their Consciences to the Wils of men and to this day ignorant and prophane persons think all them to be Factious and Schismaticks who live more strictly and religiously then themselves I must needs say they are lesse to be blamed seeing Professors and Ministers do give them such an evill example § 9. I confesse though in common use Schisme and

Faction are but ridiculous termes yet the things themselves are reall evils the one being an offence against Civill and the other against Ecclesiasticall peace If this Author had shewn wherein I had offended against either of them I doubt not but I should have cleared my selfe at a just Tribunal For 1. I have ever been so far from factious Combinations or attempting any thing against the Civil Peace that as I verily beleeve it hath not been the least cause of my troubles that I have alwayes prayed for and pressed subjection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the ●owers in being had others of my calling done the like the disaffections of the people against the present Government had not been so great as yet they are in these parts 2. As for Schisme I know no ground that he hath to charge me with it for Schisme cannot be but where communion is or ought to be held now to my best remembrance I never refused to hold Christian comunimon with any person or persons with whom by the Rules of Christ I conceived I ought It is true we receive not all within that Parochial circuit wherein we live unto communion in Church Priviledges because either they refuse to make Profession of their Faith and to declare their subjection to the Ordinances of Jesus Christ and so they separate from us and not we from them or else they are such as in their practises do contradict the profession which they seem to make like them Tit. 1.16 And as for Members of other Churches we are ready to give them the right hand of fellowship unlesse the person or the Church to which he belongs lyes under the guilt of any publick scandal If he doth accuse me of Sch●sm because I have refrained going to some Lectures that are preached in this City I doubt not but the wise will be satisfied with a just Apology I doe not conceive that Christians are bound to frequent every Lecture that is preached near them the obligation to this Duty must needs be determined by Christian prudence and we ought to follow that which we conceive hath the greatest tendency to Edification Now I confesse I have rather chosen to deprive my selfe of that benefit which sometime I might injoy then to wound my Conscience by keeping of silence when I hear the Truths and Servants of God declaimed against Dr. Jackson a man large enough in the point of communion grants that there is just cause to separate from the communion of a visible Church our practise doth not amount so high when we are urged or constrained to professe or beleive some points of Doctrine or to adventure upon some Practises which are contrary to the Rule of Faith or Love of God and in case we are utterly deprived of freedome of Conscience in professing what we inwardly beleeve for which he cites 1 Cor. 7.23 Yee are bought with a price be yee not Servants of men For sayes he although we were perswaded that we might communicate with such a Church without evident danger of damnation yet in as much as we cannot communicate with it upon any better termes then Servants and Bondslaves doe with their Masters we are bound in Conscience and religious discretion when lawfull occasions or opportunities are offered to use our Liberty and seek to our Freedom rather then to live in bondage Let them allow us that liberty which we offer to them to discusse and examine the Doctrines which they do deliver and if they shall be found erroneous to professe against them I shall not often decline such opportunities § 10. But says Mr. W. the contending about this matter will harden and discomfort more soules in an houre then the opinion it selfe will doe good to while the world stands 1. It seems he is of Curcaelleus his mind that the matter in question is of so small concernment that it ought not to breed a controversie I marvel then he should offer himselfe a Champion on either part especially in a place where he had so little to doe and where his humility might suppose there were others as able as himselfe to defend the notion which he stickles for No man will imagine that he ingaged in this controversie upon conscientious principles if he judgeth the Point in question to be of little moment For my part I cannot looke upon that as such a trifle which doth so nearly concern the glory of Gods Grace the vertue and efficacy of Christs Blood upon which alone poor Souls can with confidence and security build their hopes of Eternall life 2. I have shewed before that the Doctrine it selfe is guiltlesse both of hardning and discomforting the soules of men and if these effects doe insue the pressing of it in a Christian way they are accidental and consequently ought not to be charged upon the Tenent I know none that are discomforted by these Debates but such as the Apostle speaks of Who are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth For having pinned their Faith on the sleeves of others they are jealous of their credit least they should be thought to have builded on a sandy foundation CHAP. XVI Of Mr. Woodbridges Answer to the third Objection which he hath framed concerning our being in Covenant with God before beleiving THis last he scoffingly cals the great Argument which as he hath proposed it was none of mine We fell upon our discourse of the Covenant upon his saying that Christ was not justified according to the tenor of the New Covenant whereunto I replyed If the New Covenant were made with Christ then Christ was justified according to the tenor of the New Covenant But the New Covenant was made with Christ Ergo. He denyed the Assumption But by the way let me give the Reader the Reason of the Sequel which is as followeth The New Covenant containes all the Promises which God hath made to the Head and the Members both to Christ Personal and to Christ Mystical the same Covenant is conditional to him and absolute to us a Covenant of Works to him but a Covenant of Grace to us Now if it be one and the same Covenant by which Christ and we are Justified though in a far different manner scil he by Works and we by Grace he by his own Righteousnesse and we by his then his Justification was by vertue of the New Covenant that we are justified by We read but of one Covenant that was made with Christ by and according unto which he was justified when he had paid the debt which he had undertaken To confirme the Assumption That the New Covenant was made with Christ I alleadged 1 the Judgement of the late Assembly who in their larger Catechisme have laid down this Proposition in terminis The Covenant of Grace was made with Christ as the second Adam and in him with all the Elect as his seed First he denied the Allegation though I beleeve at

within them that they have quite forgotten nay some have utterly denied the Christ without them that God-man who is the onely Propitiation for our sins How much cause then my Brethren have we of continuall thankfulnesse unto our God who in so generall a defection hath been pleased to keep us that we are not led aside with the deceivablenesse of this unrighteousnesse and to lead us to that rock which is above us For how ever the world doth account of Pharisisme yet they that have any acquaintance with the mind of God know there can be hardly named a greater sin then the establishing our own● righteousnesse It is the good pleasure of God for which everlasting praise be given unto him to reveale those things unto babes which are hiden from the wise and prudent The Gospel hath been and will be a mystery to the worlds end Humane reason cannot conceive how men should buy without mony or become rich by stripping and emptying of themselves attain unto righteousnesse by renouncing and abhorring their own righteousnesses Hence it is that the Doctrine of an unconditionate Covenant and the Free Justification of a sinner is looked upon by our learned Rabbies as such a foolish and ridiculous conceit A great Master in our Israel speaks strangely of it Unconditionate promises saith he beget onely an irrational fallacious foundationless Faith which the bigger it swells the more dangerous it proves And a little after he calls the Faith and Hope begotten by such promises A dependance on some fatal chain some Necromantick trick of believing thou shalt be saved and thou shalt be saved nay on Satan himself some responce of his Oracle c. And not much before It is a miracle says he that they who believe this Doctrine of unconditional Pr●mises are yet restrained from making this so natural a use of it from running into all the riots in the World I remember a good Note of his from John 7.48 That the greatest Schollars are not always the soundest Christians We see Christianity is not Book-Learning nor is Faith attained to by strength of parts I should might I be so bold humbly ask this Learned Doctor Whether the Faith and Hope of all the Saints we read of in the Scripture were an irrational fallacious and foundationless Faith Now let him shew us any one of them that in his addresses unto God did ever plead a Conditional Promise● That of Hezekiah 2 King 20.3 is of a peculiar consideration I remember Luther calls it Stulti loquium Hezekiae Others that excuse it say That Hezekiah draws his Argument not from his own works but from Gods he reasons from what God had done for him that he would do more and bestow the mercy which then he needed But besides him from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation we do not finde that any of Gods people have used any other plea unto God or have had any other support for their Hope and Confidence then his free promises of Grace and Mercy not onely the woman of Canaan the Publican and such as they were but Abraham Jacob Moses David Paul c. have all of them Fled for refuge unto these promises their Faith never knew any other bottom or foundation besides this Is it an irrational thing to receive life as a gift and not as wages It were very strange if the Mercy and Faithfulness of God should not be as sure a Foundation to relie upon as our own Works I will be bold to say Whosoever do build upon other Foundations besides the free Promise of Mercy they will have no better success then he who built his house upon the Sand Matth. 7.27 They may perchance when it is too late experiment the fallacy they have put upon their own souls The Doctor is as much mistaken in the use of the point as he is in the Doctrine to say That the natural use of it is to run into all the ri●●s in the world he might have taken notice where the Holy Ghost makes another use of it Tit. 2.11 Luke 1.74 2 Cor. 7.1 And right reason would have suggested that the freer the Promise is the more is the love and bounty of the Promiser shewn Now Love naturally begets Love Publicans saith our Saviour will love those that love them and can a man believe so great a benefit as the free remission of his sins and not love him that hath remitted them Possibly a man that hath received this Grace but in the notion may draw such untoward conclusions from it but for any true Believer to sin upon this ground is as impossible as that light should become darkness 1 John 3.3 9. I must confess the loose and unev●n walking of many Professors hath given too much occasion unto Adversaries to Blaspheme this Doctrine And though it be unjust in them to charge the faults of Professors upon their Profession yet you cannot but see how much it concerns them who have hope of Salvation through Christ alone to vindicate the honor of this Grace and by their exemplariness in wel-doing to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men The vindication of this Doctrine lies as much upon private Christians as it doth upon Ministers the strongest Arguments against it are but the Suppositions and Consequences of carnal Reason which are soonest confuted by a holy Conversation in which respect illiterate men may be irrefragable Disputants and women may nonplus the learnedst Doctor And therefore whilest I am in this Tabernacle I shall not cease to stir you up by putting you in remembrance of these things though you know them and are established in the present truth Some of you know how unwillingly I undertook this Publick Imployment being more inclined to the Truel then the Sword to build up my Hearers in their most Holy Faith then to engage in Controversies against Oppos●rs And truly nothing could have induced me to it but the tendency of the Work to your Edification that the simplicity of the Gospel may abide amongst you and that you may stand fast in the Truth which you have received being able to answer the cavils of them that do oppose it It was not least in my eye That our honest Neighbors who by the evil arts of some that affect preheminence have been prejudiced and disaffected towards us may see and satisfie themselves Whether we believe and contend for any other Faith then that which was once delivered ●nto the Saints for surely they will have but little comfort in separating from us without a cause I must needs tell them their account at last will not be with joy who have rejected the counsel of God against themselves Whatsoever success this Discourse may finde with others I doubt not but it will be an acceptable service unto you I desire that it may provoke you to be more instant in Prayer for me that ●tterance may be given me and that my

though it be never so impure and wicked yet he is justified for all if he doth believe the Promises of the Gospel So that they held the necessity of Faith such as it was they made it as our Adversaries do the condition of Justification 2. Antinomianism is such an Error as doth oppose or is contrary to the Law of God But surely this is not such it offers no manner of injury unto the Law seeing that whensoever the Elect are justified they are not justified without Righteousness and such a Righteousness as doth fully answer the Law of God in respect both of the satisfaction and obedience which it doth require We say that God cannot justifie a person without Righteousness for then he should do that himself which he forbids to us and professeth his detestation of Exod. 23.7 Isa 5.23 Deut. 25.1 Prov. 17.15 If God could have dispensed with his Law in this behalf Christ needed not to have died the end of his coming was to bring in Everlasting Righteousness Whomsoever God doth justifie they have justice one way or other for otherwise the God of Truth should call darkness light and evil good they whom he accounteth just are just and righteous But yet we say That Faith is not that R●ghteousness that makes them so either in whole or in part but the perfect Righteousness of Christ which is put upon them Now to say That God imputes this Righteousness unto men before they believe is no ways contrary to the Law seeing the Law prescribes not the rules of this imputation it is altogether besides the cognizance of the Law So that if it prove an Error it must be an Anti-Evangelical and not an Antinomian Error But I doubt not but I shall be able to acquit it from this as well as from that other imputation CHAP. IV. Containing some Animadversions upon Mr. Cranfords Epistle to the Reader MR. W. for the better grace of his Book hath obtained a Commendatory Epistle from Mr. Cr. wherein some things are delivered contrary to truth and most injurious to them whom Mr. W. hath made his Adversaries It s true he begins his Epistle with a deserved Commendation of the Doctrine of Justification That it exceedingly illustrates the glorious riches of Gods Free-grace and magnifies his Justice is the onely support of comfort to a wounded Conscience takes away from man the cause of boastings and is altogether above the invention and credulity of Reason Wherein I do cordially concur with him accounting it as Luther did the Sun which enlightens the Church the Paradise and Heaven of the Soul therefore it was not without cause that our first Reformers so earnestly contended for it it being as they have well observed the sum of the Gospel and of all the benefits which we have by Christ the principal point of the Doctrine of Salvation the pure knowledge whereof doth preserve the Church How much short of them in this particular is the zeal of some amongst our late Reformers who have scoffingly called it the Antinomians common place Mr. Cranfords Testimony therefore to the singular excellency of this Doctrine is so much the more welcome seeing there are so few that have it in a right esteem though as he and much more as Mr. W. hath stated it the beauty and lustre of it is not a little obscured It looseth all those praises which in Mr. Cranfords Parenthesis are ascribed unto it For 1 how doth the riches of Gods grace appear if our Justification doth depend upon terms and conditions performed by us For as Mr. Walker hath noted Whatsoever is covenanted and promised upon a condition to be performed is not absolutely free nor freely given They are not justified by Grace who are justified upon the performance of conditions 2 What support is this for a wounded Conscience to tell him that is conscious of his extream weakness and inability That God will forgive his sins if he do perform such and such conditions which he is no more able to do then to remove a mountain Mr. Calvin hath well observed Nisi fidem tremere ac vacillare volumus c. That unless we would have our faith to be always wavering and trembling it ought to rest onely upon the free promise of Grace in Jesus Christ And he gives this Reason for it Quoniam conditionalis promissio c. Because a conditional promise which sends us to our own works promiseth us life no otherwise then if it were placed in our own power Nor 3 doth this take from men the cause of boasting Boasting saith the Apostle is not excluded by works call them by what name you will either Legal or Evangelical if they are our works they give to us occasion of boasting for to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of Grace but of Debt a work or condition whensoever it is performed makes the thing covenanted a due debt which the performer may demand and the promiser is bound to give 4 It is not above the invention and credulity of Reason That God should justifie a Righteous man but that God should justifie sinners and meerly upon the account of anothers righteousness as heretofore it seemed foolishness both to Jews and Gentiles so ever since it hath been a stumbling block to the wisdom of the flesh it is such a mystery as will never contemper with the most rational principles of the natural man Hence have arisen all those jarrings and contendings against this truth in regard of its disproportion unto carnal Reason which believes no other Gospel but hoc fac vives § 2. The Doctrine of the Gospel sayes Mr. Cr. concerning the Justification of a believing sinner is plainly delivered in the Scripture But by his favor the Scripture no where calls Believers sinners nor yet makes Believers the adequate subjects of Justification It is most true That all Believers are justified and it is as false that men are Believers before they are justified An unjustified Believer and a justified Sinner are expressions palpably guilty of Self-contradiction We read in Scripture of Gods justifying the ungodly reconciling the world and enemies to himself and of his quickning them that are dead in trespasses and sins Now Believers as hath been hinted are never called ungodly or enemies to God they are no where said to be dead in trespasses and sins they have their name from their better part and from that esteem that God hath of them who beholds them holy and righteous without any spot or blemish of sin § 3. In the next place Mr. Cr. gives us in a List of all the causes which do concur unto our Justification in the enumeration whereof he will finde the Author he commends at a greater distance from him then those whom he opposeth He may if he please compare his Doctrine with Mr. Baxter● Notions whom Mr. W. follows at the very heels Thes. 56.26 73 c. in his

Predestination If Gods decree be absolute Nemo vigilet nemo j●junet nemo libidini contradicet c. The Papists say It follows That if we be justified by Faith onely then we need not do good works The Remonstrants and their followers say That if a Believer cannot fall from Grace then need he not fear to commit any sin whatsoever Nor do these Consequences flow any whit more naturally from our Tenent then they do from these Doth it follow That because all the Elect are by means of Christs death actually reconciled unto God and freed from the condemnation of the Law That therefore men may live as they list that they need not hear believe and obey the Gospel How doth this sow pillows under mens elbows or lull asleep in security more then the Doctrine of absolute Election Seeing as all men are not elected so neither are all men reconciled unto God nor can any man know That he is elected and reconciled unto God but by and thorow Faith which Faith is wrought in men by the Preaching of the Word and doth certainly produce a holy life § 7. I confess I am yet to seek of the Reason of his other Deduction That this Assertion of actual reconciliation before Faith overthrows the comfort of true Believers and destroyes the ground nature use and end of Faith Is it an uncomfortable Doctrine to tell men That we are not sharers with Christ in effecting of our peace with God and in procuring the pardon of our sins and that Christ hath finished this work before we knew it Is it not much more comfortable to poor souls that Christ hath absolutely and by himself obtained forgiveness for sinners then that he hath procured this Gr●●e but conditionally upon condition we perform such and such 〈◊〉 for which we have no strength or ability in our selves Whence have the Saints drawn all their comfort Surely not from Faith or any other work of theirs but by Faith from Christ and from the perfection and al-sufficiency of his Sacrifice Not onely the Protestants but the Papists themselves though in the Schools they contend for the dignity and congruity of works that they are Moral causes or necessary conditions of Justification and Salvation yet on their death beds they utterly renounce them they exhort men in distress of Conscience to roul themselves wholly upon Jesus Christ. In a form prescribed for visiting of the sick the Priest or Minister was enjoyned to put these Questions to the sick party Dost thou believe to come to glory not by thy own merits but by the vertue and merit of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ And dost thou believe That our Lord Jesus Christ did die for our salvation and that none can be saved by his own merits or by any other means but by the merit of his passion Whereunto when the sick person answered affirmatively I do believe it the Priest is bid to exhort him in this wise Go to therefore as long as thy soul remaineth in thee place thy whole confidence in his death onely have confidence in no other thing commit thy self wholly to his death with this alone cover thy self wholly intermingle thy self wholly wrap thy whole self in his death c. Dangerous saith Bernard is the habitation of those that trust in their own works And in another place Ubi tuta c. What safe ●est or security can the weak soul finde but in the wounds of his Saviour As he is mighty to save so dwell I there with most safety Parisiensis in his Book of Divine Rhetorick Thou must beware saith he in thy striving with God that thou dost not build upon a weak foundation which he doth that trusts in his own works Gerson often inculcates this That before the tribunal of God we must onely plead the merits of Christ Bishop Gardner though he would not have this gap to be opened to the people yet he acknowledged it to be the most comfortable Doctrine to such as were in his condition he being then on his death bed Which is the more to be observed because in his life time he had stickled so much for our Adversaries Conditional Justification Bellarmine himself when he had written divers Books for Justification by Inherent Righteousness in the end concludes That for fear of vain-glory and by reason of the uncertainty of our own works Tutissimum est c. It is the safest way to place all our trust in the Mercy of God and of Jesus Christ so that we may say as Moses Their rock is not as our rock our Enemies themselves being Judges Deut. 32.31 § 8. Mr. Cr. hath not the least reason to charge us with destroying the Ground of Faith for the Ground of Faith is either Fundamentum Quod or Fundamentum Quo. Material and Personal or else Doctrinal and Ministerial We say with all true Christians That the onely Material or Personal Foundation whereupon a poor soul can build securely for Life and Justification is Jesus Christ Now the Doctrinal Foundation whereby our Faith is united to the former we affirm with Calvin and many more that it is Gratuita misericordiae in Christo promissio The free promise of Mercy in opposition to those Conditional Promises which send men partly to Christ and partly to their own works and therefore our Adversaries are much more obnoxious to this Censure of Destroying the Ground of Faith who allow it no other support then Conditional Promises whereby mens hope and confidence is made to lean more upon themselves then it doth on Christ much more upon their own works then it doth upon his Righteousness The forementioned Author hath well observed That if our Faith doth relie never so little upon our own works it cannot possibly stand fast that soul will never attain to any setled assurance of his Salvation that builds his Faith upon such a sandy foundation § 9. The nature of Faith receives not the least prejudice by our Doctrine for if we define it as most of our old Protestant Divines have done Certa indubitata persuasio A firm and certain perswasion of the favor of God and the pardon of our sins it confirms our Tenent for mens sins must be pardoned before they can believe it or else of necessity they must believe a lie All men know that the object doth precede the act unless it be when the act gives a being to the object Or if we make it to be fiducia the trust or reliance of the soul upon Jesus Christ it receives no small encouragement from this consideration That Christ hath finished whatsoever was necessary by Divine appointment for the Justification of sinners not expecting the least condition to be performed by us for that end Our Faith is never so impregnable as when it rests entirely upon Jesus Christ. And as for the ends and uses of Faith which are cheifly to give us boldness and