Scripture of the Old Testament and New by the Law and Testimony And by it they know that they are not misguided because if any of them that peep and matter that pretend Visions and Revelations speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them These men though they do not plainly speak out their meaning yet would have us to understand them that the Spirit did by Enthusiasms and Revelations move them and guide them so infallibly that they need not the Scripture nor the instruction of the Ministry which what is it else but to revive and call up again that abomination of the Familists long since condemned to Hell the place of its just desert Just I say for take away the written Word of God and then every fancy of a dreaming Elder and doting Sister shall be the Rule of mens godly conversations Object A Law may be acknowledged and a written Law and yet not the Law of Moses not the Moral Law What then why the Law of Christ not the old but the new Commandment the precepts taught by Christ and his Apostles Well but the question is Whether that the subject matter of this new Commandment and of the old be not in both the same viz. Teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts to live righteously godly and soberly in this present world If so Then why should it not be indifferent to alleage the precepts of Moses and the Prophets to prove and press a duty of holiness as the precept of Christ and his Apostles ex gr. If we be agreed that it is the duty of a justified person to honor his Father and Mother what need we jangle about words and quarel about quotations whether we press it out of Exod. 20. or from Eph. 6. since both Texts do preach and press the same duty Is it not the same God who spake to the Fathers by the Prophets and to their Children by Christ and his Apostles Nay more do we not see it that those Precepts of holiness which by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles are taught in the New Testament are taken out of Moses and the Prophets yea and pressed upon the Conscience by this reason Because it is the Law and the Prophets What can be more plain then that Text of our Savior Mat. 7. 12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets So Saint Peter Be ye holy in all maner of conversation for it is written Be ye holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1. 16. mark that Because it is written By it you see that the Apostle presseth a duty by a Text of Scripture fetcht from the Law So Saint Paul Eph. 6. 1 2. presseth the duty of obedience upon Children and proveth it to be right by citing the 5. Commandment of the Moral Law What will these men say to that Text of Saint James Jam. 2. 8. If ye fulfil the Royal Law ye shall do well But if ye have respect of persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the Law as Transgressors What convinced as Transgressors and yet not bound to obedience Is there any Transgression where no obligation to obedience And is the Moral Law notwithstanding all this abolished Hath it none Office in the time of the Gospel Are we false Teachers who in imitation of Christ and his Apostles do call men to the practise of these holy duties which we finde contained in the Law No we teach the truth of God and in the right way of God Except it be that Christ and his Apostles were ignorant of the way or except these men have received a new Gospel and another dispensation of the grace of God hitherto unknown and unrevealed CHAP. II. Touching the Motives of the Law whether these also be abolished So that to propose the expectation of reward as an invitation to good works and to deter men from sin by the fear of punishment be altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine of Grace NOt only the precepts of the Law are bequarrelled by those men but also the Arguments of perswasion In doing good-works and living a godly and holy life we must not at all look to any Reward from God But must do good works meerly in reference to Gods Glory and the good of others Otherwise our service will be meerly mercenary Grant indeed that we must do good works for these ends Grant also That in the obtaining of these ends there is a full Satisfaction to a Godly and a Gracious Heart And yet why may we not encourage our selves to cheerfulness in our Obedience by having an eye to the Recompence of Reward which God hath gromised Doth not the Scripture propound a Reward for our encouragement And why doth the Scripture propound it but that we should believe it and by believing be put forward to work cheerfully Is it not set down as an act of Moses Faith and a point of his praise That he had an eye to the Recompence of Reward Heb. 11. 25. Doth not the same Apostle shew this That our blessed Saviour by the Joy that was set before Him did stir up himself to go on cheerfully to the end of his undertakings Heb. 12. 2. Nay is not this in part acknowledged by Dr. Crisp he having set down this for a Doctrine That the laying of sin upon Christ is the Lords own Act giveth this reason for it Because none else could give to Christ a proportionable reward And Christ had an eye to some good consideration and for the proof of this he citeth Heb. 12. 2. And God saith he to put him on propoundeth rewards unto him c. Now then if thus it was with Christ why may it not be lawful for the Christian to help his weakness by having an eye to the recompence of reward Will they say that this sevice is mercenary So they do indeed but without any just reason mercenary service is commonly measured by carthly profits and preferments when a man so looketh at them that where there is no hope of such a reward he doth let fall the duty to which he is called Self-seeking is then unlawful and sinful when Self is the ultimate end of our desire But he that in feeking the good of his body and soul serveth Christ i. e. so desireth his own good that he may serve Christ is acceptable to God and approved of man This being so Why are we blamed for pressing men to holiness and encouraging them in it by putting them in minde of that reward which is provided These men flye out upon such exhortations This is not to preach Free-grace this is to bring in Popery and to teach men to hang their Salvation upon their merits to expect their reward for their Works sake No such matter it is not Popery to preach the expectation of a reward upon the conscionable performance of duties enjoyned If it be surely Christ and his
AN EXAMINATION Of the chief Points of ANTINOMIANISM Collected out of some LECTVRES lately Preached in the Church of Antholines Parish LONDON And now drawn together into a Body and published for the Benefit of all that love the holy Truth of God By Thomas Bedford B. D. Vnto which is annexed An Examination of a Pamphlet lately published Intituled The Compassionate Samaritan Handling the Power of the Magistrate in the compulsion of Conscience By the same Author 2 TIM. 1. 9. The Law is for the lawless 2 PET. 2. 1. There shall be false Teachers who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies And many shall follow their lascivious ways by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of LONDON Printed by John Field for Philemon Stephens and are to be sold at his Shop at the sign of the gilded Lyon in Pauls Church-yard 1647. To the Worshipful and much Honored Mr. John Turner of Hamme in the County of SURREY Esq A Sincere Lover of the Truth and an earnest Contender for the Faith which was once delivered to the SAINTS T. B. In testimony of Love and Thankfulness Dedicates the life of this his weak and unworthy Labor Together with the Apprecation of much Health and Happiness ERRATA PAge 13. line 21. for And read Answ p. 16. l. 6. for eternal r. external p. 31. l. 5. for Yea though it be r. And if it be p. 31. l. 19. for as thereof r. as there of p. 40. l. 10. for or is the meaning r. or rather is not the meaning p. 41. l. 32. for casually r. causally p. 42. l. 23. for is that it r. it is that p. 60. l. 13. for so may our r. So may not our p. 60. l. 15. for having set r. having set down Oâ—â—ober â—â— 1646. I Have to my full satisfaction perused this excellent Dissertation and Discussion of the chief Antinomian Tenents and finde it to be so solid and judicious pious profitable and seasonable in our distracted Times and finally so adorned and sweetned with modesty gaullass sobriely and Christian charity that I alow it and approve it well worthy the Printing and Publishing not doubting but that it will be very effectual to stablish all in the Truth who have already embraced it and to convince if not perswade all those who in simplicity and through meer error of their judgement are contrary minded JOHN DOWNAMâ— THE TABLE THe Introduction Page 1. Chap. 1. Touching the Law of Moses Whether altogether abolished so that it is of no use to the Believer now in the time of the Gospel Also whether it do not binde Believers to the Duties of Holiness as well now as it did in the time of the Old Testament 9. Chap. 2. Touching the Motives of the Law Whether these also be abolished So that to propose the expectation of reward as an invitation to good Works and to deter men from sin by the fear of punishment be altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine of Grace 18. Chap. 3. A brief Answer to the Arguments of N. D. by him brought to prove Iustification before Faith i. e. before the act of Believing 25. Chap. 4. That justification is not transacted all at once nor any pre-remission of sin before it be committed 33. Chap. 5. The way of seeking resolution touching our Adoption and Iustification by signs and marks viz. The fruits of Sanctification whether it be altogether unsatisfactory 41. Chap. 6. Touching sin in the Conscience of the Believer The Doctrine of the Antinomians in this Point examined and found insufficient to satisfie the Conscience The right way of satisfying the Conscience and of taking away the scruple of sin set down 58. The Arguments of the Compassionate Samaritan touching the Power of the Magistrate in the compulsion of Conscience Examined 73. The Introduction Isaiah 53. 11. By his knowledge shall my Righteous Servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities A Farther Explication of what was said v. 10. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand in the hand of Christ shall the pleasure of the Lord Understand this touching the Bruising of the Serpents head mentioned Gen. 3. 15. consequently that Salvation of mankinde This pleasure of the Lord doth prosper in the hand of Christ which is seen in this That by his knowledge he shall justifie many This is that fruit of the Travel of his Soul in seeing whereof He i. e. Christ not God the Father as some very fondly and foolishly do apply the Text Christ I say shall be satisfied i. e. shall account himself well satisfied for all his labor and pains bestowed The Passion of Christ and the Benefit thereof these two are the subject matter of this Chapter The Benefit thereof is partly to others and partly to himself To himself that is set down ver. 12. To others in some verses foregoing The Description whereof taketh its rise from the middle of the 9. Verse Because he had done no violence c. That word Because is a trouble to Interpreters how to depend the latter clause of that Verse upon the former Vatablus saw and cuts the knot rather then unties it I conceive we shall not wrong the Text I am sure not the Truth if we joyn the former part of the verse to the 8. and begin a new period in the word Because thus v. 9. Because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him He hath put him to grief 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin Or When his soul shall make an offering for sin he shall see his Seed c. q. d. Inasmuch as notwithstanding he was altogether innocent yet he did patiently submit himself to bear whatsoever the Lord would lay upon him for the Expiation of mans sin that therefore upon his Death he should receive full satisfaction both in respect of himself and those persons whose cause he had undertaken Thus I but let the learned judge In the words of ver. 11. we have a Proposition and its Confirmation In the Proposition besides the Agent who is by God here term'd a Servant a Righteous Servant we have three things not to be so lightly passed over 1. Act in the word Shall justifie 2. Object Many 3. The Medium By his knowledge Of which somewhat more largely and yet only in reference to what just hints the words may give to the Examination of some positions of the Antinomians a Sect and a sort of men lately start up whom Satan doth make use of to be his Proctors of Prophaneness and the Abbettors of Atheism and licentious Libertinism But to the Text By his knowledge The Medium stands first in the Text and if you will let us first begin with it By his knowledg And what is that To make way for Answer I lay down this That the pronoun His must be passive like that in Psal. 90. 11. Thy fear i. e. The fear of
all How then shall any one know whether his part and portion be in that Many or not Ans. Surely say we by the work of Grace in the heart by the Spirit of Sanctification which doth always go along with the Spirit of Adoption and the work of Justification This hath passed for a Truth without any opposition till of late The Antinomians cannot away with inherent Qualifications No certainty can be gathered from the say these men Against whom see the Ancient Truth maintained and the New way convinced of insufficiency Chap. 5. For he shall bear their iniquities This is the Confirmation of the Proposition He shall justifie because He shall bea By bearing iniquities we understand Suffering the punishment due to their sin as a Sacrifice to make an Atonement to satisfie the Justice of God and so to take away the sin of man Hence then we see that Justification is transacted by Christ and he is said to justifie many Not by the way of Instruction as say the Socinians viz. Propounding the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Covenant of Grace in which is contained the way and maner of Justification In this sense the Apostles to say nothing of Moses and the Prophets might be said to justifie many inasmuch as they had an eminent service in publishing the Gospel to the world but doubtless Christ had no partners in the Justification of these many So then not by the Instruction is it but by the way of Acquittance and Absolution This is plain but that is farther to be enquired How cometh sin to trouble and vex the conscience if it be taken away Hath Christ born yea born away for so we understand the word bear he doth not only ferre but auferre so bear them as to bear them away Hath Christ born them away and are they brought back again Here again we must Conflict with these Antinomians Old Truths do not please them they have a New way for this also the unsufficiency whereof together with the right way of satisfying the Conscience and taking away the scruple of sin see fully explicated Chap. 6. According to this Method have I finished my Meditations upon this Text of Scripture chosen of purpose to examine the Truth or Falshood of some Points of Antinomianism An Enterprise to which I confess I had bound my self by Vow and Promise made to God in the day of some distress which had befaln me To the performance of which Vow I was engaged by obtaining at the hand of God the gracious grant of my desire which with all thankfulness I do acknowledge and by mine experience can witness That an holy and religious Vow is a ready mean to obtain of God the gracious grant of our just desires Holy and Religious I account that which is framed according to the Rules of Religion One special Rule of Religion is That each Christian in his place and calling do set himself with the best of his abilities to that work which the present times may shew to be most necessary for the advancement of Gods glory I in my place of the Ministery what could I do rather or more tending to this end then to set my self to oppose the present Errors which darken the Truth of God and defile the Purity of our holy Profession This Error of Antinomianism I chese to deal in because I conceived it one of the most dangerous Doctrines that are broached in these days Satan doth never more harm then when he is transformed into an Angel of Light Nor is any Error more dangerous then that by which Christian Liberty is used as an occasion to the Flesh by which the care and conscience of the Law the Rule of Holiness is weakned and worn away by which the Soul and Conscience is steeled and stiffned against the sense and remorse of sin and sinfulness In this I have done what I could If not with strength enough to convince or cleerness enough to perswade yet with a sincere heart and a desire to do good God is my witness And I bless God both for his Assistance enabling me to do what I have done and also for those blessed opportunities which his Providence hath afforded me to do mine endeavor in the course of my Ministery to set forth the Truth of God and to seek the glory of his Name AN EXAMINATION Of the chief Points of ANTINOMIANISM CHAP. I. Touching the Law of Moses Whether altogether abolished so that it is of no use to the Believer now in the time of the Gospel Also whether it do not binde Believers to the Duties of Holiness as well now as it did in the time of the Old Testament THere is a Generation of men risen up again in this last Age of the Church who would gladly banish the Preaching of the Law and all legal Duties out of the Church of Christ The Law say they is abolished the Conscience of the Christian is not bound to the Law they are false Teachers who call men to the practise of the Law and the Duties therein contained This Doctrine of theirs is a word that will eat as doth a Canker till it hath fretted out all care of Holiness and good Works if not prevented Let it not then be thought impertinent this being the time of their infection if by examining their Grounds and discovering the weakness and unsoundness of them I seek what lyeth in me to prevent the further spreading of this evil The Antixomian this name is given him for that he opposeth the Preaching and pressing of the Law he I say buildeth upon these and the like Texts Rom. 6. 14. 7. 4. 10. 4. Gal. 3. 10. 5. 1. whence they argue to this effect If Believers be not under the Law nay if dead to the Law by the body of Christ and so delivered from the Law whereupon Christ is termed the end of the Law Then to call them back again to the Law and the dominion thereof is to draw them from Christ and from that Liberty which Christ hath purchased for them whereas the Apostle doth charge the Galatians to stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free and not to suffer themselves to be again entangled in the yoke of Bondage Thus they as I finde by that Book of Ro Town Intituled The Assertion of Grace or A ' Defence of the Doctrine of free Justification For clearing of this our Divines distinguish The Law of Moses delivered to the Church of Israel was partly Moral partly Ceremonial Moral so called because it was the Rule of good maners toward God and toward man And it is to be considered either in respect of the Substance or the Circumstance In respect of the Substance it is the comprehension of those Duties of Holiness which God had either imprinted in the heart or revealed to the ear of Adam and his Posterity in that Age of the Church which lived before the writing of the Law And so it is the
Doctrine of Good and Evil of Good and so the Rule of an holy life of Evil and so the revealer of Sin and Transgression This was the substance of that which we call the Moral Law The Circumstance of it was That it was made the condition of a Covenant for Life and Salvation and so required of all them that were under the Covenant and expected life and salvation by it of them I say it required complete and perfect obedience otherwise no hope to obtain their expectation Nay more it exacted this obedience under a Curse so that in case of disobedience not only shall they fail of Life but come under the condemnation of Death and this was that that proved the ruine of man In the constitution of the Church of Israel the Ceremonial Law was added This set down that Form of Worship and Service of God in the right observation whereof they might finde both Expiation of their Offences and Acceptation of their Obedience This consisted in many Rites and Ceremonies Sacrifices and Ordinances all limited to the observation of Times when of Places where and of Persons by whom these were to be performed ex gr. No Sacrifice might be offered but upon one Altar Nor by any person but by one of the Family of Aaron No Circumcision but upon the Eighth day Nor Passover eaten but on the Fourteenth of the first or second Moneth and this no where but at Jerusalem Three times a year must every Male appear before the Lord and every Woman at her Purification make a journey thither so that this became a yoke of Bondage to the Church of Israel especially in the latter Age thereof when they of that Nation were scattered among the Heathen and lived in places far remote from the Temple of Jerusalem This then is the yoke of Moses Law No hope to escape the Curse of the Moral Law but by those expiations prescribed in the Ceremonial Law No hope of acceptance in what they endeavored in the way of Obedience except they attend upon and seek it in those services appointed No nor those services accepted but in a most exact observation of all the circumstances which the Law set down From this yoke it is which Christ by his death hath freed the Christian And in this liberty it is that St. Paul would have have them stand fast that they be not entangled again in that former yoke of Bondage So then the Ceremonies of Moses Law are quite taken away by Christ the Sacrifice of whose Death is become the only expiation for all Transgressions and the only way and mean of Acceptation in the performance of all duties whatsoever Yea the Moral part of Moses Law is taken away in respect of the circumstance thereof it is no more the condition of the Covenant for Life and Death Not of life and so Justification may be had without it Not of death and so no fear of Condemnation by it provided alway that by Faith men lay hold upon Christ keep close to him and walk according to those Rules of Holiness that he hath prescribed for in so doing we obtain what the Law promised Life and Salvation By him we escape what the Law threatned Death and Condemnation So then though the Law be taken away in respect of this Circumstantial use thereof as a condition yet not in respect of that Substantial consideration viz. as the Doctrine and Direction of Good and Evil Nay in this respect it is reassumed and re-established by Christ In the former consideration of it it is that the Apostle saith Romans 10. 4. That Christ is the end of the Law i. e. he hath done that for man which the Law would but could not The Law would bring man to life and salvation This is the primary end and intention of it but the Law could not in respect of mans weakness Rom. 8. 3. This Christ hath done and so is become the end of the Law for Righteousness and Justification to every one that believeth In the same circumstantial consideration of the Law it is that the Apostle saith Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the Law and Rom. 7. 4. We are dead to the Law and so delivered from it viz. as it was the condition of the Covenant And that this is the meaning of it is plain by this That it is set down as a reason to prove that sin shall not have dominion over us viz. to binde us to condemnation in case of defectiveness and failings Because saith he ye are not under the Law but under Grace not under that condition of full and perfect Obedience in which if any defects were found sin did presently dominier and threaten death But under a condition in which not only sincerity of obedience is accepted though it be imperfect but also help and assistance in doing the Duties is afforded So that with much cheerfulness may we strive against the raign of Sin and that over-masterful sway which heretofore it had in us and over us Yet this doth not prove but that still we are under the Doctrine and Direction of the Law for Duties of Holiness Yea those duties which by the grace of Christs Spirit we are enabled to perform for this must be acknowledged That though the Law requireth many Duties of Holiness and Sanctification yet is it only the Spirit of Christ which enableth us to perform them these I say are justly termed the Works of the Law because done in relation to the Law though not in the capacity of a condition as in the Covenant of Works yet in the capacity of a Rule and Square of Direction and a Duty of Holiness Object They Reply That St. Paul saith Gal. 3. 10. They that are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse So that either the Law is abrogated even in respect of the Works thereof or else neither is the Curse abrogated if Christians be tyed to the Works they are not freed from the Curse True if they will be of the Works of the Law they shall be under the Curse But what is it to be of the Works of the Law Is it to take directions from the Law for our ways and walkings Is it to yield obedience to the Law No It is to seek Justification and Salvation by the merit of Works done in obedience to the Law This is plain to him that readeth the former Verses to be of Faith is to seek Salvation by the Gospel i. e. by believing in Christ and so To be of the Works of the Law is to seek salvation by them Now then such who will seek salvation by the Works of the Law are under the Curse saith St. Paul Good reason because they cannot satisfie the perfection of the Law And he that will challenge any thing in the way of Iustice must be content to suffer the penalty if he come short of the perfection which the Rule requireth Object Nay but say they The Law is not made for a Righteous
man 1 Tim. 1. 9. consequently belongs not to the Believer who is justified by Faith in Christ And the Believer indeed is justified but not a righteous man not in that sense of the word in which St. Paul doth use it in that Text The Righteous man is there opposed to the lawless and disobedient and so must be understood of one that seeketh to conform himself and all his actions to the Rule of the Law for such a man the Law is not made The Law what is that The Rule of the Law No but the threatning of the Law the Curse and Condemnation This is not made for the Righteous and so ought not to be applied against him but against the lawless and disobedient against them that will walk without Law and boldly bear themselves in the disobedience of the Law Against these is the Law made and against them are the threatnings and curses of the Law to be applyed This is the right use of the Law The which saith St. Paul is good if a man use it lawfully i. e. if he do not abuse it by mis-application Now then though St. Paul saith The Law is not made for a Righteous man yet saith he not It is not made for a justified person Nor doth he say The Law is of no use for a Righteous man It is not a Iudge to curse and condemn him but is it not a Teacher to instruct him a Counsellor to direct him Is it not a Guide to conduct him a Goad to quicken him and put him on if he slacken his pace in the path of Holiness Doubtless it is Was it not useful yea needful for Adam in Paradise though a righteous man So then I hold it a manifest truth That though the Believer by his Justification and Adoption be freed from the Curse of the Law yet not from the Counsel and Command of that Law Object It is Replyed That to Justifie and Condemn are as proper to the Law as to Counsel or Command If the Law may not command sub paenâ nor condemn proculpâ then doth it cease to be a Law nor hath it any binding power at all I answer That to justifie and condemn are indeed as proper to the Law as to counsel and command while the Law standeth as a condition of life and salvation but in that sense we confess it abrogated yet is not the binding power of it ceased still are we bound to walk in obedience to it because it is enjoyned as the Commandment of him who hath redeemed us from the Curse thereof Nay I adde this further That we are bound to walk by the direction of the Law not only ex debito gratitudinis in the way of thankfulness but also ex obligatione peccati to decline the guilt of sin Sinful it is in the justified person to neglect the counsel and command of the Law I would gladly ask these men Whether the justified person be exempt from sinning yea or not I finde it charged upon them That no action of a Believer after his Iustification is sin and I perceive that they do shift and shuffle in the business The Question is not Whether the sin of the justified person shall be charged upon him to endanger his salvation but Whether the act be sin in him or not Whether his Iustification do bring with it such a charter of priviledge and prerogative as doth exempt him from committing sin I confess the Text of St. John saith He that is born of God sinneth not 1 Joh. 3. 9. And yet they know that the same Apostle saith If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves 1 Joh. 1. 8. And St. James saith In many things we offend all Iam. 3. 2. If all then the justified also which is yet more plain by that of our Savior who prescribing a Form of Prayer for the Adopted Sons of God such who with confidence may call God Father teacheth them to pray for the pardon of sin and preservation from sin Doth he teach them to dissemble to pray for the pardon of a sin and yet there is no sin committed to pray for the preservation of their souls from Satans tentation and yet there is no danger of being drawn into sin May we not rather hereupon conclude in the words of St. John If we say that we have not sinned we make him Christ in that Form of Prayer a lyar and his word is not in us So that upon necessity that other Text which seemeth to cross the current of the Scripture and saith of the Regenerate That he sinneth not must be understood as some do understand that of Balaam He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob Numb. 23. 21. not of any at all but of some particular sin The Text of Balaam say some hath particular relation to the sin of Idolatry from which Israel at that time was free though not long after entangled by the counsel of Balaam And the Text of St. John hath an eye to presumptuous sin or rather to the sin of total and final Apostacy the sin unto death from which the Regenerate is preserved by that seed of God which remaineth in him from this sin I grant he is preserved and in this respect he sinneth not Not so in respect of other sins witness not only the Adultery of David which displeased the Lord or the act of Peter denying his Lord and Master in which his Faith was next door to failing and called for the Prayer of Christ to preserve him These you will say were before the Passion of Christ but witness that faultering of Peter and dissimulation of Barnabas for which St. Paul did openly reprehend them Gal. 2. 11. Well then if it be granted That the justified person may sin yea and doth sin there must then be a Law of Holiness which shall binde him to carefulness in such and such particulars for where there is no Law there is no Transgression nor can any man be concluded a sinner in case of negligence where there is no bond of duty Neither may we rest in this which they will not stick to grant The Law of the Spirit The Law written in the heart This is not enough there must be also another Law written in Tables and to be read by the eye to be heard by the ear Else how shall it be known to the rest of the Congregation whether this man doth not swerve from the Law written in the heart yea or not Nay how shall the believer himself be sure that he doth not swerve from the right way wherein he ought to walk Even in Paradice God appointed an Eternal precept of obedience for tryal beside that Law and Light of Nature which was written in Adams heart Much more needful is it now The Spirit I grant is the Justified mans Guide and Teacher That Vnction which they have received doth teach them all things But he teacheth them by the Word by the Word the written Word of Prophecy by the
else Saint Paul was deceived He saith If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8. 13. and again He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption Gal. 6. 8. If you will exempt him from all possibility of sinning and from all possibility of living after the flesh Then I grant he need not fear death and Hell But if such only be true Believers I suppose you must go out of the World to seek for your true Believers Consequently since it cannot justly and truly be said either that Believers need not the threats of the Law or that they need not fear them it is fit that they should hear them and have them pressed upon the conscience The threats I say and therefore much more the precepts and duties of the Moral Law This we teach and thus we practise For by Faith we do not make void the Law nay we do establish it saith the Apostle Rom. 3. 31. Our Faith in Christ doth give us an interest in the Promise of life and salvation But our Conformity to Christ in holiness and the daily growth and increase thereof is that which doth by degrees fit and fashion us for it Well therefore saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthines of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God CHAP. III. A brief Answer to the Arguments of H. D. by him brought to prove Justification before Faith i. e. before the act of Believing Arg. 1. INfants are justified yet do they not believe Rom. 10. 17. therefore some are justified before they believe Answ. This Instance of Infants is not to the point in hand as not in the case of Apostacy and falling from Grace maintained by the Arminians * So neither in this point of Iustification before Faith maintained by the Antinomians For why That Iustification which is in question consisteth in the Remission of actual Transgressions Not so that which Infants receive in their Infancy They are as yet guilty of no more but Original Sin And it is enough for them that the guilt of that is removed of Actual Sin they shall then receive the Remission when they stand in need of it and are fitted for it Objection But whatsoever Infants do receive they receive it without Faith Sol. Hic aqua haeret And Divines do not all agree in expediting themselves Some do not stick to affirm That Infants have Faith I grant it is an hard matter to prove the Negative viz. That Infants have not Faith That Text of Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by Hearing is not fully to the purpose If Hearing be restrained to the Ear then all that are born deaf are excluded if extended to any way of acquainting man with the will of God even by the workings of the Spirit who shall exclude Infants As hard a matter it is to prove that Infants have Faith especially if Faith be defined by knowledge perswasion or confidence It is said of Iohn Baptist that he was filled with the holy Ghost This sheweth that Infants are capable of the Spirit but it doth not thereupon follow that they do believe Because though in its actings the Spirit depend not upon the faculties of the soul and their fitness yet doth it not usually prevent them Nor be the actings of Grace ordinarily found but where Age hath added some perfection to the Abilities of Nature All that can be said in this point is this That Infants do receive together with their Iustification the principle of Faith viz. The Spirit of Faith as he is called 2 Cor. 4. 13. This is that which some do call The Seed of Faith or Seminal Faith nor can the term be refused since it is grounded on the phrase of Scripture 1 Pet. 1. 23. and Iohn 3. 9. And so it may be said that Infants have Faith as they have Reason in Actu primo though not in Actu secundo in the seed though not in the flower And this is enough to make them capable of that Iustification which they receive in their infancy consequently though they have it without and before actual Faith yet not before Seminal Faith not before the seed the root the Spirit of Faith 2. Arg. He that is in Christ is Iustified and so Iustified before he do believe Because none can believe before he be in Christ Faith is the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. Answ. Grant indeed None can believe before he be in Christ though that Text do not prove it yet he may believe so soon as he is in Christ and full as soon for time as he is Iustified and for order before he be Iustified for understanding whereof know That in the first moment of our Vnion with Christ the Soul hath a Communion of all that floweth from Christ both for Grace and Glory But how In the vertue and power of a Root and Seed from this Union floweth both Grace to enable the soul to do good actions and also Glory to crown and reward each good act that is wrought but each in his own order Ex. gr. The plant engrafted into the stock receiveth from it both sap and fruit Or thus from the vertue of life in the soul doth proceed a power both of Feeding and of Growing not both of them in the same maner for Feeding cometh as an Act Growing as an Effect yea an Effect of this Act so is it here To Believe and To be Justified come from our Union with Christ as indeed all that we have and all that we hope for is from him and without him we can do nothing And in that Union are they folded up as in the root and seed But still to be considered in their natural order in which one is the cause of the other and therefore to be considered in order of Nature before the other what say we that Glorification no less then Iustification doth flow from that Union will you then say that he that is in Christ is glorified yea glorified before he do believe Surely no As none is glorified before he be Iustified so neither is he justified before he be called Rom. 8. 30. In which call if Faith be not included it will not be effectual Thus every thing trust be considered in its own order All these Grace and Glory Faith and the Fruits thereof are rolled up as in a Root and bestowed upon us in our first Union but the explicite production and application of each to the Christian soul is in a just order 3. and 4. Arg. All the Elect of God are Iustified before God for why They cannot be charged with any thing Rom. 8. 33. Their Sins are taken away Isa. 53. 6. Ioh. 1. 29. 1. Pet. 2. 24. And this before they believe For some of them do not yet believe Answer All the Elect of God even they that yet have no being in the World yet when they are look't upon as justified
the sacrament yet do not finde that peace of Conscience which is expected Sol. It may be so But do they withal rest upon it as an Ordinance of the spirit to apply the blood of Christ and so to seal unto the soul the Assurance of peace and pardon Do they I say rest in it or do they expect to receive their Assurance by some irradiation and immediate revelation of the spirit This is the error of some Others are careless in their walking afterward They forget that Caveat of the Psalmist The Lord will speak peace to his people But let them not return again to folly Psa. 85. 8. What wonder if the re-admission of sin into the soul renew the sting and terror of Conscience Satan re-entring brings seven other spirits worse then himself Hence commonly the terror afterward is greater then before Impossible it is that the soul should finde sweetness insin desire it delight in it And the Conscience not fear and tremble at the thought of Hel and the wrath of God Corol. To close up all Is the Conscience terrified See the way to finde remedy and how thou maist provide for comfort Not in the Antinomian way viz. by a violent perswasion of this That thy sin was long since laid upon Christ in the day of his Passion But by seeking for the Application of his blood in the Word and Sacraments Prepare thee for the worthy receiving of them by renewing thy Repentance By Faith look upon Christ in the Sacrament hear him speaking in the word as the assured remedy of all spiritual diseases and distresses carefully watch against future Tentations take heed of relapsing into sin Remember that as Christ hath joyned these two Petitions Forgive us our Trespasses and Lead us not into Tentation so hath he bound up the comfort of the former in the cautelous observation of the latter Whoso doth not watch against Tentation loseth all comfort of Remission THE ARGUMENTS OF The Compassionate Samaritan Touching the Power of the Magistrate in the compulsion of Conscience Examined THe intent and scope of the Book is to shew That the Magistrate ought not to punish any for the profession of his Conscience by Conscience he meaneth the mans present judgement and opinion though it be contrary to what is determined by Authority His Arguments be these 1. Because punishment is not due to what is necessitated 2. Because no man can presume of infallibility 3. Because the Magistrate ought not to compel any man to sin The first Argument VVHere there is a necessity there ought to be no punishment Because punishment is the just recompence of voluntary Actions not of necessitated But every man is necessitated to be of that opinion which he holdeth Nor can he chuse but be of that judgement whatsoever it is Because his reason doth necessarily enforce him to it while it concludeth the Position to be true or false Ans. Grant indeed Where there is a necessity there ought to be no punishment if there be no concurrence of the will Or if that necessitation proceed not from a faulty cause ex gr. The spider is by instinct of nature necessitated to make poison as the Bee to make honey The sinew that shrank in Jacobs thigh or the joynt that is dislocated necessitateth a man to halt he cannot chuse Yet here is no punishment due because here is no concurrence of the will nor is this necessitation from a faulty cause But now when drunkenness doth necessitate some to lust and others to wrath Or rather when corruption doth necessitate wicked men and Angels to sin such is their present condition they can do nothing but sin Yet is not this necessitation an excuse to save from punishment because this is not from natural instinct but from voluntary consent it is from a faulty cause so that it is not always true that where there is a necessity there ought to be no punishment Consequently we must inquire Whence this necessity viz. That he cannot chuse but be of that opinion whence I say it cometh Whether from a faulty or a faultless cause He saith His reason concludeth it to be so and so And hereby he is necessitated to be of this opinion He cannot believe otherwise then his reason guideth him Nor indeed is it fit he should during the time that reason so concludeth But then enquire farther whence is it that his reason doth so conclude Is it from the clearness of the Argument Or from the cloudiness of his understanding In some things there is such clearness in the Argument and such evidence in the light thereof that the judgement cannot but rest in it ex gr. The Articles of the Christian Faith and the Duties of the Moral Law The truth of the one the equity of the other is so clear that reason cannot but see the evidence and conclude accordingly But in respect of some other things though no less true and good in themselves there may be such cloudiness and darkness in the understanding that it cannot apprehend the evidence and force of that Argument and Reason which is aleaged and so for the present it is hindred in yielding assent to them But then the next enquiry is what may be the ground or spring of this darkness and obscurity Whether weakness and ignorance or wilfulness and prejudice If ignorance good reason that as yet the party be excused from punishment till farther information Not so if it proceed from passion and prejudice And would you know whether it proceed from the one or from the other Consider these Rules 1. If it proceed from weakness and not from wilfulness you shall finde in the man a readiness yea a diligence to enquire and search for farther information glad he is to be instructed Not so the other he is negligent and careless to enquire he liketh his present opinion and so pleadeth Conscience when indeed it is affection and affectation that doth wholly guide him He would not be convinced of an Error least he should lose what he hopeth to receive in holding this way 2. If from ignorance and weakness it is attended with meekness and humility Not so the other he is swelling supercilious self-seeking and self-conceited ready to contemn others at no hand ready to yield no not even to know truths if he perceive that they cross the conceit which he hath taken up Whereas the weak Christian is ready to acknowledge the gifts and graces of others that are contrary minded nor will he deny any truth though he cannot as yet acknowledge this in question to be a truth and â—o subscribe unto it Nor will he as doth the other too frequently censure those that are contrary minded 3. Weakness and Ignorance causeth in him sadness and sorrow of Heart in the consideration of his own dulness Grieved he is that he cannot see what other holy Saints and servants of God do see Hence also hearty prayer that God would reveal this truth also to him that
thee to note the object not the subject as there of Fear so here of Knowledge Scientia sui By the knowledge of him as Pagnin Vatablus and Tremelius Farther we cannot go till first we enquire what it is to justifie To justifie in the Text of Scripture doth sometime signifie To endeavor the justification of a sinner by acquainting him with the way and mean thereof as Dan. 12. 3. Sometime To effect it by acquitting the party accused from the Crime and Accusation which in this work of Justification is still presupposed Whether of these two other I let pass as not so applicable to this Text whether of them I say is most proper to the Text will appear by the Confirmation when we come unto it Onwards we make use of it to enquire farther into the Medium what is meant by His knowledge For answerable to these two the word His knowledge may import 1. Medium Revelationis That Doctrine by which Christ doth reveal the way of Justification 2. Medium Operationis That Grace by which Christ doth fit man for the benefit of Justification As Medium Revelationis so the Conclusion is The Gospel is that word of Truth that rightly enformeth us in the way and maner of Justification The Gospel i. e. that part of holy Writ which teacheth us the knowledge of Christ of his Person of his Office the Covenant of Grace and the condition required The Gospel opposed to the Law q. d. Not by the Law but by the Gospel and the Doctrine of Grace shall Christ propound and acquaint mankinde with the way of gaining their Justification Not by the Law Vnderst and this not in general as comprehending the writings of the Old Testament but in special as importing the Law of Moses and this considered as the condition of that Covenant made with Israel Not the Law of Moses but the Gospel of Christ is the mean of Revelation acquainting man with the way of obtaining his Justification What then Is this Law of Moses all of it altogether abolished Is it of no use and service to the Church of God to Believers now in the Constitution of the Church of Christ Some there be that would have it so whose main endeavor is to cast the Doctrine of it out of the Church and the care thereof out of the Conscience of the Christian neither the Precepts thereof alowed to binde men nor the Motives thereof to draw men to the Duties of Holiness See their Arguments examined Chap. 1. and 2. As medium Operationis and then the Conclusion will be That Faith in Christ is the way and mean of Justification Faith I say and not Works Faith not unfitly termed the Knowledge of Christ because this alone is that which doth rightly know Christ the fulness of his Merits and Graces None but the Believer doth acknowledge Christ nay none but he doth rightly fully and perfectly know him Faith is both the Daughter and the Mother of this Knowledge the knowledge of Christ The Daughter for Faith cannot lodge in an ignorant Soul The Mother for it leadeth on to perfection of knowledge This Faith is the mean by it shall Christ work in the heart of the Believer and dispose it for Justification Not by the works of mans Righteousness but by Faith in Christ is man justified How so Because it is Medium Recipiens as the hand or mouth of the Soul to receive that Spiritual Food and Physick that doth feed and cure the Soul It receiveth Christ and the communion of his Merits and Graces for the good of the Believer The Righteousness of Christ is not unfitly compared to Food and Physick to a Garment and Plaister which do no good but in the way of Application if not applied no good by them These are received by the hand or by the mouth and this is the work of Faith and by Faith we are said to be justified as by the hand the Body is fed and clothed viz. Instrumentally Upon this ground we conceive it That in order of nature justification cannot be considered as going before the habit yea the act of Faith but rather that Faith hath the leading hand and the precedency of Consideration St. Peter termeth Salvation the end of our Faith 1 Pet. 1. 9. By this end meaneth he only the consequent benefit which followeth upon it or rather the end intended and aimed at in believing Doth not Saint Paul prescribe it to the Jaylor as a mean to bring about the end Believe and thou shalt be saved Acts 16. 31. Doth he not shew the ground and reason of it Gal. 2. 16. We knowing that a man is not justified but by Faith in Christ even we have believed q. d. we have applied our selves to the use of the means that we might obtain the end If Faith be as a mean to the end then is it not to be considered as following but as foregoing the benefit of our Justification Plausible Arguments are aleaged to overthrow this Truth but their weight and worth is more in shew then in substance See them examined Chap. 3. In the Act expressing the benefit obtained by Faith we may not pass by the Tense of the Verb but by occasion of it as Doctor Crisp upon the like occasion see his Sermons on Isa. 53. 6. enquire into the Time when it is that this Act is done The Tense of the Verb is future He shall justifie Future it was then when the Prophet spake this Whether future still is a Question Or if not when it was to be transacted whether all at once dispatched The farther explication whereof see in Chap. 4. The Object remaineth This is in the word Many Not all but only a number There be who teach that All shall be saved a point well pleasing to flesh and blood If a man might live as he list abuse his Eye and Ear his Hand and Tongue yea his Hand and his Heart his Body and Soul to the service of Sin and Satan and yet hope for Salvation by Christ But this may not be it is not All but Many All shall not be justified by Christ nor saved by him Not through any defect of the means the Merit of Christ is sufficient to save all The Gospel doth call and invite all and no doubt but whosoever believeth shall be saved But it cometh to pass through the ill-disposition and negligence of man left to himself who regardeth not to perform the condition required By the Ordinance of God in whose hand as say our Divines Christ hath left the disposing of his Merit it is appointed That the Merit of Christ shall not be dispensed to mankinde but under a condition and without the performance of that condition it is not bestowed upon any Now mankinde left to themselves are negligent and careless to look to that condition and so through their own ill-deserts are excluded from the benefit of Christs Death and Passion So then it is not All but only Many Q. If not