produced to prove it To my second Argument recited p. 94. where I argued from God's Covenant with Abraham and proved it to be conditional and yet by you acknowledged to be a pure Gospel-covenant all that you say is That you have dispatched that before in your Discourse about the Covenant of Circumcision and therefore will say nothing to it here In saying nothing to it here you have said as much as you did before in the place you refer to and therefore finding nothing said here or there I conclude you can say nothing to it at all My third Argument was this If all the Promises of the Gospel be absolute and unconditional then they do not properly belong to the New Covenant That cannot properly and strictly be a Covenant which is not a mutual Compact and in which there is no restipulation nor reobligation 't is a naked Promise not a Covenant To this you answer three things In the first branch of your Answer you impudently beg the Question by saying That you have proved already in your Replies to my former Arguments that the New Covenant is wholly free and absolute Upon this absurd Petitio Principii you make bold to invert my Argument thus in your second Reply If all the Promises of the Gospel be wholly absolute and unconditional they do properly and truly belong to the New Covenant But so they are Therefore c. Oh rare Disputant In the last place in opposition to the Sequel of my Major Proposition you tell me you will oppose the Judgment of Dr. Owen on Heb. 8. 10. where he saith That a Covenant properly is a Compact or Agreement on certain terms stipulated by two or more Parties c. and that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used it signifies a Covenant improperly c. If you call this an opposition to the Sequel of my Major either your Brains or mine do want Hellebore Doth he not say the very same thing I do that there must be a restipulation in â— proper Covenant And as for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he saith signifieth a Covenant improperly but propâ—rly is a Testamentary Disposition I fully concur with him therein But I hope a Testamentary Disposition may have a Condition in it to be sure such a one as I assert Faith here to be which is the free gift of God and in this sense I shewed you before where the Doctor yields Faith to be the Condition of the New Covenant My fourth Argument was this If all the Promises of the New Covenant be absolute and unconditional and have no respect nor relation to any grace wrought in us or duty done by us then the trial of our Interest in Christ by marks and signs of Grace is not our duty nor can we take comfort in Sanctification as it is an evidence of our Justification c. Your Answer is That at this rate I may prove quidlibet à quolibet for it doth not follow that because the New Covenant is absolute therefore it hath no respect nor relation to any Grace wrought in us nor Duty done by us or that we may not justly take comfort in Sanctification as an evidence of our Justification If I had a mind to learn the art of proving quidlibet à quolibet and make my self ridiculous to others by such foolish attempts I know no Book in the World fitter to instruct me therein than yours Certainly you have the knack of it and gave us an instance of it but now in confuting the Sequel of my Major by an Aldegation out of Dr. Owen which expresly confirms and establishes it But to the Point I would willingly know how it is possible for Sanctification to be a true and certain mark and sign of Justification when according to the Antinomian Principle which you here too much comprobate and espouse a man may be justified before he believe yea before he is a man even from the time of Christ's death and as others of them speak from eternity A true mark and sign must be proper to and inseparable from that which it signifies Now if that be true which you said before That after Christ's fulfilling of the Law in his own person c. nothing can remain but to declare this to men to incline them to believe and accept it and to prescribe in what way they shall come to inherit eternal life If this be all that can remain to us then nothing but the Declarations and Prescriptions of the Gospel which are things without us can remain to be marks and signs of Justification to us and consequently all those to whom those Declarations and Prescriptions are made and given have therein the marks and evidences of their Justification But I am truly weary of such stuff I am sure the Apostle places Vocation before Iustification Rom. 8. 30. Whom he called them he justified And without an immediate Testimony from Heaven I know not how to evidence and prove my Justification but from and by my faith and other parts of Sanctification whereby I apprehended and applied the Righteousness of Christ if you can prove it from the Declarations and Prescriptions of the Gospel I cannot My Fifth and last Argument ran thus If the Covenant of Grace be altogether absolute and unconditional requiring nothing to be done on our part to entitle us to its benefits then it cannot be man's duty in entring Covenant with God to deliberate the terms count the cost or give his consent by word or writing to the terms of this Covenant for where there are no terms at all as in absolute Promises there are none there can be none to deliberate But I shewed you this is man's duty from clear and undeniable Scriptures c. You say by way of answer hereunto that you must tell me that the Scriptures do make a plain distinction betwixt the New and Everlasting Covenant which God hath been pleased to make with Sinners in Jesus Christ and the return of that sincere and dutiful obedience which he requires of us by way of answer thereunto 2. You say there are many things which tho promised in the Covenant and wrought in us by the Grace of God are yet duties indispensably required of us in order to the participation of the full end of the Covenant in glory and in respect hereof we are indeed to deliberate the terms count the cost and give up our selves solemnly to him with sincere resolutions c. But then you thought I had understood there had been a vast difference betwixt God's Covenant with us and our Covenant with God citing Ezek. 16. 59 60 61. where God promiseth to give them their Sisters for Daughters but not by their Covenant And with this you compare Psal. 89. My Covenant will I not break where you say we find a plain distinction betwixt God's Covenant with them and their duty to God And lastly you say p. 105.
that are his mystically considered and is properly made with all Believers in Christ and therefore it is called their Covenant Zech. 9. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners out of the Pit wherein is no water So when God entred into the Covenant of Grace with Abraham Gen. 17. 7. I will establish my Covenant saith he between me and thee thy Seed after thee So when he took the People of Israel into this Covenant Ezek. 16. 8. I sware unto thee saith he and entred into a Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine This Covenant of Grace made with Believers in Christ is not the same nor must it be confounded with the Covenant of Redemption made with Christ before the World began They are two distinct Covenants for in the Covenant of Grace into which Believers are taken there is a Mediator and this Mediator is Christ himself but in the other Covenant of Redemption there neither was nor could be any Mediator which manifestly distinguishes them Besides In the Covenant of Grace Christ bequeaths manifold and rich Legacies as he is the Testator but no man gives a Legacy to himself This Covenant is really and properly made with every Believer as he is a Member of Jesus Christ the Head and they are truly and properly federates with God the Covenant binds them to their Duties and encourages them therein by promises of strength to be deriv'd from Christ to enable them thereunto 2. We thankfully acknowledge That the glory of the New Covenant is chiefly discovered in the Promises thereof upon the best Promises it is established And all the Promises are reducible to the Covenant They meet and center in it as the Rivers in the Sea or Beams in the Sun But yet we cannot say that nothing but Promises is contain'd in this Covenant for there are Duties required by it as well as Mercies promised in it Nor may we say That those Duties required by it are required only to be performed by Christ and not by us but they are required to be performed by us in his strength Nor is it Christ that repents and believes for us but we our selves are to believe and repent in the strength of his Grace And till we do so actually in our own persons we have no part or portion in the Blessings and Mercies of this Covenant If Christ by believing for us give us an actual Right and Title to the Promises and Blessings of the New Covenant then it will unavoidably follow 1. That men who never repented for one sin in all their lives may be nay certainly are pardoned as much as the greatest Penitents in the World because though they never repented themselves yet Christ repented for them expresly contrary to his own words Luke 13. 3. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And contrary to his own established Order Luke 29. 47. Acts 3. 19. 2. It will also follow That Unbelievers who never had union with Christ by one vital act of Faith in all their lives may be nay certainly shall be saved as well as those that are actual Believers because though they be Unbelievers in themselves yet Christ believed for them expresly contrary to Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned John 3. 36. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And Luke 12. 46. He will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portion with unbelievers 3. It will also follow from hence That men may continue in a state of disobedience all their days and yet may be sav'd as well as the most obedient Souls in the World expresly contrary to Eph. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience And Rom. 2. 8. But unto them that are contentioâ—s and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath And 1 Pet. 4. 17. What shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel of God! This Language sounds strange and harsh to the Ears of Christians a repenting Christ saving the impenitent Sinner A believing Christ saving Unbelievers An obeying Christ saving obstinate and disobedient Wretches Whither doth such Doctrine tend but to encourage and fix men in their impenitence unbelief and disobedience But the Lord grant no poor Sinner in the World may trust to this or build his hopes of Eternal Life upon such a loose sandy foundation as this is Reader All that Christ hath done without thee will not cannot be effectual to thy Salvation unless Repentance Faith and Obedience be wrought by the Spirit in thy Soul 'T is Christ in thee that is the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Beware therefore on what ground thou buildest for Eternity Error X. They deny Sanctification to be the evidence of Iustification and deridingly tell us This is to light a Candle to the Sun and the darker our Sanctification is the brighter our Iustification is Refutation I am not at all surprized at this strange and absonous Language 'T is a false and dangerous Conclusion yet such as naturally results from and by a kind of necessity follows out of their other Errors For if the Elect be all justified from Eternity and that neither Repentance Faith or Obedience be required of us in the Covenant of Grace but were all required of and performed by Christ who repented believed and obeyed for us then indeed I cannot understand what relation our Sanctification hath to our Justification or how it should be an evidence mark or sign thereof or what regard is due from Christians to any Grace or Work of the Spirit wrought in them to clear up their Interest in Christ to them For we being in Christ and in state of Justification before we were naturally born we must necessarily be so before we be regenerated or new-born and consequently no work of Grace wrought in us or holy Duties performed by us can be evidential of that which from Eternity was done before them and without them 1. I grant indeed That many vain Professors do cheat and deceive themselves by false unscriptural signs and evidences as well as by true ones misapplied 2. I grant also That by reason of the deceitfulness of the Heart instability of the Thoughts similar works of common Grace in Hypocrites Distractions of the World Wiles of Satan weakness of Grace and prevalency of Corruptions the clearing up of our Justification by our Sanctification is a work that meets with great and manifold Difficulties which are the things that most Christians complain of 3. I also grant That the evidence of our Sanctification in this or any other method is not essential and absolutely necessary to the being of a Christian. A man may live in Christ and yet not know his interest in him or relation to him Isa. 50. 10. Some Christians like Children in the Cradle
being in Christ and on that as well as on many accounts necessary The difference between him and other good men seems to lie not so much in the things which the one or other of them believe as about their order and reference to one another where 't is true there may be very material difference but we reckon That notwithstanding what is more controversible in these Writings there are much more material things wherein they cannot but agree and would have come much nearer each other even in these things if they did take some words or terms which come into use on the one or the other hand in the same sense but when one uses a word in one sense another uses the same word or understands it being used in quite another sense here seems a vast disagreement which proves at length to be verbal only and really none at all As let by Condition be meant a deserving Cause in which case 't is well known Civillians are not wont to take it and the one side would never use it concerning any good Act that can be done by us or good Habit that is wrought in us in order to our present acceptance with God or final Salvation Let be meant by it somewhat that by the constitution of the Gospel-Covenant and in the nature of the thing is requisite to our present and eternal well-being without the least notion of desert but utmost abhorrence of any such notion in this case and the other side would as little refuse it But what need is there for contending at all about a Law-term about the proper or present use whereof there is so little agreement between them it seems best to serve and them it offends Let it go and they will well enough understand one another Again Let Justification be taken for that which is compleat entire and full as it results at last from all its Causes and Concurrents and on the one hand it would never be denied Christ's righteousness justifies us at the Bar of God in the Day of Iudgment as the only deserving cause or affirmed that our Faith Repentance Sincerity do justifie us there as any cause at all Let Iustification be meant only of being justified in this or that particular respect As for instance against this particular Accusation of never having been a Believer and the honest mistaken Prefacer would never have said O horrid upon it s being said Christ's Righteousness doth not justify us in this case For he very well knows Christ's Righteousness will justifie no man that never was a Believer but that which must immediately justifie him against this particular Accusation must be proving that he did sincerely believe which shews his interest in Christ's Righteousness which then is the only deserving cause of his full entire Iustification There is an Expression in Vol. 1. p. 46. That Salvation is not the end of any good work we do which is like that of another we are to act from Life not for Life Neither of which are to be rigidly taken as 't is likely they were never meant in the strict sense For the former this Reverent Author gives us himself the handle for a gentle interpretation in what he presently subjoyns where he makes the end of our good works to be the manifestation of our Obedience and Subjection the setting forth the praise of the glory of the Grace of God which seems to imply that he meant the foregoing negation in a comparative not in an absolute sense understanding the glory of God to be more principal and so that by end he meant the very ultimate end so for the other 't is likely it was meant that we should not act or work for life only without aiming and endeavouring that we might come to work from life also For it is not with any tolerable charity supposable that one would deliberately say the one or the other of these in the rigid sense of the words or that he would not upon consideration presently unsay it being calmly reasoned with For it were in effect to abandon Humane Nature and to sin against a very Fundamental Law of our Creation not to intend our own felicity it were to make our first and most deeply Fundamental Duty in one great essential branch of it our sin viz. To take the Lord for our God For to take him for our God most essentially includes our taking him for our supream good which we all know is included in the notion of the last end it were to make it unlawful to strive against all sin and particularly against sinful oversion from God wherein lies the very death of the Soul or the sum of its misery or to strive after perfect conformity to God in holiness and the full fruition of him wherein its final blessedness doth principally conâ—ist It were to teach us to violate the great Precepts of the Gospel Repent that your sins may be blotted out Strive to enter in at the strait Gate Work out your salvation with fear and trembling To obliterate the Paterns and Precedents set before us in the Gospel We have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified I beat down my body lest I should be a castaway That thou mayest save thy self and them that hear thee It were to suppose one bound to do more for the salvation of others than our own salvation We are required to save others with fear plucking them out of the fire Nay we were not by this rule strictly understood so much as to pray for our own salvation which is a doing of somewhat when no doubt we are to pray for the success of the Gospel to this purpose on behalf of other meâ— T were to make all the threatnings of Eternal Death and promises of Eternal Life we find in the Gospel of our Blesâ—ed Lord useless as motives to shun the one and obtain the other For they can be motives no way but as the escaping of the former and the attainment of the other have with us the places and consideration of an end It makes what is mentioned in the Scripture as the Character and commendation of the most eminent Saints a fault as of Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. That they sought the better and Heavenly Countrey and declared plainly that they did so which necessarily implies their making it their end But let none be so harsh as to think of any good man that he intended any thing of all this if every passage that falls from us be stretch'd and tortured with utmost severity we shall find little to do besides accusing others and defending our selves as long as we live A Spirit of meekness and love will do more to our Common Peace than all the Disputations in the World Vpon the whole We are so well assured of the peaceful healing temper of the present Author of these Treatises That we are persuaded he designed such a course of managing the Controversies wherein he hath concerned himself as
not on the one hand to injure the memory of the Dead and on the other to prevent hurt or danger to the Living Nor do we say thus much of him as if he sought or did need any Letters of Recommendation from us but as counting this Testimony to Truth and this expression of respect to him a Debt to the spontaneous payment whereof nothing more was requisite besides such a fair occasion as the Providence of God hath now laid before us inviting us thereunto John Howe Vin. Alsop Nath. Mather Increase Mather John Turner Rich. Bures Tho. Powel AN EPISTLE TO THE READER Candid Reader CEnsure not this Treatise of ERRORS as an Error in my Prudentials in sending it forth at such an improper time as this I should never spontaneously have awakened sleeping Controversies after God's severe castigation of his people for them and in the most proper and hopeful season for their Redintegration And beside what I have formerly said I think fit here to add That if the attacque had been general and not so immediately and particularly upon that Post or Quarter I was set to defend I should with Elihu have modestly waited till some abler and more skilful hand had undertaken the defence of this Cause If ever I felt a temptation to envy the happiness of my Brethren it hath been whilst I saw them quietly feeding their Flocks and my self forced 〈◊〉 some part of my precious 〈…〉 time devoted to the 〈…〉 combating with unquiet and erring Brâ—thren But I see I must not be my own chuser Notwithstanding I hope and am in some measure persuaded That publick benefit will redound to the Church from this irksâ—me Labour of mine And that this strife will spread no further but the Malady be cured by an Antidote growing in the very place where it began And that the Christian Camp will not take a general Alarm from such a â—ingle Duel The Book now in thy hands consisteth of Four parts viz. 1. A general Discourse of the Causes and Cures of Errors very necessary at all times especially at this time for the reduction and establishment of seduced and staggering Christians and nothing of that nature having occurred to my observation among the manifold Polemical Tracts that are extant I thought it might be of some use to the Churches of Christ in such a vertigenous Age as we live in and the blessing of the Lord go forth with it for benefit and establishment 2. Next thou hast here the Controversies moved by my Antagonist first about the Mosaick Law complexly taken which he boldly pronounces to be an Adam's Covenant of works And secondly about God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. which he also makes the same with that God made with Adam in Paradise and affirms Circumcision expresly called a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith to be the Seal of the said Covenant of Works first made with Adam 3. Finding my Adversary in the pursuit of his design running into many Antinomian delirations to the reproach and damage of the Cause he contends for I thought it necessary to take the principal Errors of Antinomianism into examination especially at such a time as this when they seem to spring afresh to the hazard of God's Truth and the Churches Peace wherein I have dealt with becoming-modesty and plainness if haply I might be any way instrumental in my plain and home way of Argumentation to detect the falsity and dangerous nature of those notions which some good men have vented and preserve the sounder part of the Church from so dangerous a contagion 4. In the next place I think it necessary to advertise the Reader That whereas in my first Appendix under that head of the Conditionality of the New Covenant I have asserted Faith to be the Condition of it and do acknowledg p. 246. that the word Condition is variously used among Iurists yet I do not use in any sense which implies or insinuates that there is any such condition in the New Covenant as that in Adam's Covenant was consisting in perfect personal and perpetual obedience or any thing in its own nature meritorious of the benefits promised or capable to be performed by us in our own strength but plainly that it be an act of ours tho' done in God's strength which must be necessarily done before we can be actually justified or saved and so there is found in it the true suspending nature of a condition which is the thing I contend for when I affirm Faith is the condition of the New Covenant How many senses soever may be given of this word Condition this is the determinate sense in which I use it throughout this Controversy And whosoever denies the suspending Nature of Faith with respect to actual Justification pleads according to my understanding for the actual Justification of Infidels And thus I find a Condition defined by Navar Iohan. Baptist. Petrus de Perus c. Conditio est Suspensio alicujus dispositionis tantisper dum aliquid futurum fiat And again Conditio est quidam futurus eventus in quem dispositio suspenditur Once more My Reader possibly may be stumbled at my calling Faith sometimes the Instrument and sometimes the Condition of our Justification when there is so great a Controversy depending among Learned Men with respect to the use of both those terms I therefore desire the Reader to take notice That I dive not into that Controversy here much less presume to determine it but finding both those Notions equally opposed by our Antinomians who reject our actual Justification by Faith either way and allow to Faith no other use in our actual Justification but only to manifest to us what was done from Eternity I do therefore use both those terms viz. the Conditionality and Instrumentality of Faith with respect unto our Justification and shew in what sense those terms are useful in this Controversy and are accommodate enough to the design and purpose for which I use them how repugnant soever they are in that particular wherein the Learned contend about the Use and Application of them To be plain when I say Faith justifies us as an Organ or Instrument my only meaning is that it receives or apprehends the Righteousness of Christ by which we are justified and so speaking to the Quomodo or manner of our Justification I say with the general Suffrage of Divines we are justified instrumentally by Faith But in our Controversy with the Antinomians where another different Question is moved about the Quando or time of our actual Justification there I affirm that we are actually justified at the time of our believing and not before and this being the Act upon which our Justification is suspended I call Faith the Condition of our Justification This I desire may be observed lest in my use of both those terms my Reader should think either that I am not aware of the Controversy depending about those terms or that I do herein manifest the vacillancy of
my Judgment as if I leaned sometime to one side and sometime to another I speak not here ad idem as they do in that Contest but when I call it a Condition of Justification my meaning is that no Man is justified until he believe And when I call it an Instrument my meaning is that it is the Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith which doth justify us when we believe And so I find the Generality of our Divines calling Faith sometimes a Condition and sometimes an Instrument of our Justification as here I do And if there be any Expression my Reader shall meet with which is less accurate and may be capable of another sense I crave that Candor from him that he interpret it according to this my declared Intention 5. Lastly I have added to the former a short plain practical Sermon to promote the Peace and Unity of the Churches of Christ and prevent their Relapse into past Follies In all the Parts of this Discourse I have sincerely aimed at the Purity and Peace of the Church of God and he greatly mistakes that takes me for a Man of Contention 'T is true I am here contending with my Brethren but pure necessity brought me in an unpleasing irksomeness hath attended me through it and an hearty desire and serious motion for Peace amongst all the professed Members of Christ shall close and finish it Let all Litigations of this nature at least in this Critical Juncture be suspended by common Consent since they waste our time hinder our Communion imbitter our Spirits impoverish practical Godliness grieve the Spirit of God and good Men make sport for our Common Enemies who warm their own Fingers at the Fire of our Contentions and place more Trust in our dividing Lusts than they do in their own feeble Arguments or castrated Penal Laws to effect our Ruin It is my grief the Lord knows to see the delightful Communion the Saints once enjoyed whilst they walked together under the same Ordinances of God now dissolved in such a sad and scandalous Degree by the Impressions of erroneous Opinions made both upon their Heads and Hearts I do therefore heartily joyn with Budaeus in his pious Wish That God would give his People as much Constancy in retaining the Truths they once received as they had Joy and Comfort at their first Reception of them I must in this occasion declare my just Jealousy that the Non-improvement of our Baptismal Covenant unto the great and solemn Ends thereof in our Mortification Vivification and regular Communion with the Church of Christ into which Society we were matriculated by it is at this day punished upon Professors in those fiery Heats and fierce Oppositions unto which God seemeth to have penally delivered us at this day For my own part it is my fixed Resolution to provoke no good man if I can help it But if their own intemperate Zeal shall provoke them in pursuit of their Errors to destroy the very nature of God's Covenant of Grace with Abraham and his Seed and I have a plain call as here I had at once to defend God's Truths and my Peoples Souls against them I will earnestly contend in the Cause of Truth whilst I can move my Tongue or make use of the Pen of the Scribe Reader I shall appeal to thee if thou be wise and impartial Whether any man that understands the Covenant of God renewed with Abraham which is the grand Charter by which we and our Children hold and enjoy the most invaluable Privileges can endure to see it dissolved and utterly destroyed by making it an abolished Adam's Covenant of Works and stand by as an unconcerned Spectator when challenged and provoked to speak in defence thereof Is there any thing found in God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. to make it an abolished Covenant of Works which doth not as injuriously bear upon and strike at the very life of the Covenant of Grace in the last and best Edition of it under which the whole Church of God now stands What is that thing I would fain know in God's Covenant with Abraham Is it the Promissory part of it I will be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee Gen. 17. 7 God forbid for the essential and sweetest part of the New Covenant is contained in that Promise Ier. 31. 33. Heb. 8. 10. Yet thou wilt find my Antagonist here forced to assert God may become a Peoples God in a special manner by virtue of the abolished Covenant of Works and such he makes this Covenant to be Or does the Restipulation Abraham and his were here required to make unto God even to walk before him and be perfect doth this make it an Adam's Covenant of Works Surely no. For as God there requires perfection of Abraham so Christ requires the same perfection of all New-covenant Foederates now Matth. 5. 48. Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect which is altogether as much as ever God required of Abraham and his in Gen. 17. 1. Take Perfection in what sense you will either for a positive Perfection consisting in truth and sincerity or a comparative Perfection consisting in the growth and more eminent degrees of Grace or a superlative Perfection which all New-covenant Foederates strive after here Phil. 3. 12 13 and shall certainly attain in Heaven Heb. 12. 23. In this also the Covenant with Abraham and with us are truly and substantially one and the same Or doth my mistaken Friend imagine that God required this Perfection of Abraham and his as in the First Covenant he required it from Adam and all his viz. to be performed and maintained in his own strength under penalty of the Curse but now though Christ command perfection yet what duty lies in any command answerable strength for it lies in the Promise Very well and was it not so then compare the Command Deuter. 10. 16. Circumcise therefore the fore-skins of your hearts with the answerable gracious Promise to enable them so to do Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy God Or lastly Did Circumcision the Sign and Seal added to Abraham's Covenant make it an Adam's Covenant of Works That 's equally impossible with the former for no man but such a daring Man as I am concerned with will dare to say that a Seal of the righteousness of Faith as Circumcision was Rom. 4. 11. can make the Covenant to which it is affixed and which I have shewn in all the other substantial parts the very same with that we are now under to become an Adam's Covenant of Works These things I have here superadded to leave as little as is possible behind me to be an occasion of further trouble and contention Let all strife therefore in so plain a case be ended Contentious Spirits are not the most excellent Spirits among Christians Fire and so Contention is
faith consider'd and answer'd 206. Dr. Edw. Reynolds's Opinion about the Law 207 213. The Position about Abraham's Covenant being a Covenant of Grace defended 213. The first Argument for the proof of it 214. Mr. C's Reply answer'd 215. His distinction of A Covenant of Works and The Covenant of Works overthrown 217 218. The second Argument for the proof of it 220. Mr. C's Reply answer'd 221. Third Argument 222. Mr. C's Reply answer'd 223. The Covenants not made with Abraham in Gen. 17. 225 228. Circumcision did not oblige all men on whom it passed to keep the whole Law of Moses for Righteousness 230. Fourth Argument 231. Circumcision in its direct end taught them the corruption of Nature by sin and the mortification of sin by the Spirit 231. Mr. C's Reply answer'd 232. His Arguments to prove the Sinai Covenant a Covenant of Works likewise answered 233. Cutting off in Gen. 17. 14. not the same with the death threatned to Adam ibid. How faith reckon'd to Abraham for Righteousness while he was in Vncircumcision 234. How the Sinai Covenant is a Bondage Covenant 236. Dr. Crisp's Iudgment 237. Of the Conditionality of the New Covenant 242. The Question stated 243. What the word Condition signifies 245. Antecedent and consequent Conditions 246. No condition of the Covenant with respect to its first sanction with Christ 247. but hath an antecedent Condition with respect to the application of its benefits unto men 248. Which is Faith as organically consider'd 249. The Opinions of Orthodox Divines in this Question cited 250. That the Covenant is Conditional proved from M. C's own Concessions 256. Christ hath not perform'd the Condition for us 262. Tho he works Faith in us by his Spirit 263. A Condition does not imply merit 264. Arguments to prove the conditionality of the Covenant 266. First Argument 267. Second Argument 268. Third Argument ibid. Fourth Argument 270. Fifth Argument 272. Mr. Cary's Reply to it 273. The answer 274. The Reasons of my Faith and Practice in the Baptism of Infants 278. in several Theses Thes. 1. God hath dealt with his Church and People in the way of a Covenant and will do so to the end of the World 281. Thes. 2. After the Cessation of the first Covenant as a Covenant of Life God hath published a Second Covenant of Grace by Iesus Christ 283. When the Covenant of Grace took place 284. Thes. 3. Tho the primordial Light of this Covenant of Grace was comparatively weak and obscure yet God from the first publication of it hath been heightning its Privileges and amplifying its Glory in the after Editions and will more and more illustrate it to the end of the World 287. Thes. 4. It is past all doubt that the Infant-seed of Abraham under the second Edition of the Covenant of Grace were taken into God's gracious Covenant had the Seal of that Covenant applied to them and were thereby added to the visible Church 289. Thes. 5. That Rom. 11. 17. is a clear proof that believing Parents and their Seed are ingrafted into the room of the Jews who were broken off 290 291. Thes. 6. Suitably hereunto when a Christian Church was constituted the Children of such believing Parents were declared foederally holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. That the Promise which was seal'd to them by Circumcision is now seal'd by Baptism Act. 2. 39. 292. Thes. 7. The change of the Token and Seal of the Covenant from Circumcision to Baptism will by no means infer the change of the Covenants especially when the latter comes into the place of and serves to the same use and end with the former Col. 2. 11. p. 295. A Postscript to Mr. Cary 297. Some absurdities chargeable upon him 300. The Contents of the Second Appendix Or The Rise and Growth of Antinomianism THe rise of Antinomianism Ap. 2. 308. The Abuse of Free-grace chargable upon good as well as wicked Men 311. By what means some good Men may be drawn to such dangerous Opinions 313 314 315 316. A Catalogue of Ten Antinomian errors 318. which are all contrary to the current of the Scriptures 323. and to the experience of Saints 325. Error 1. That Iustification is an eternal Act of God and so perfectly abolishes Sin in our Persons that we are as clear from Sin as Christ himself 328. Sense of the Orthodox about it 328 329. This proved to be irrational 332. Vnscriptural 335. Injurious to Iesus Christ 338. and injurious to the Souls of Men 340. Error 2. That Iustification by Faith is only the manifestation to us of what was really and actually done before Reasons against it 341 ad 350. Error 3. That Men ought not to doubt of their Faith or question whether they believe or no. Reasons against it 351 ad 354. Error 4. That Believers are not bound to confess their Sins or pray for the Pardon of them From whence will follow either 1. That there is no Sin in Believers 355. Or 2. That Sin in them is inconsiderable 357. Or 3. That it is not the Will of God they should confess and mourn over them which is refuted 358 Error 5. That God sees no Sin in Believers 360. This proved to be injurious to God's Omniscience 361. To be inconsistent with his providential Dispensations 362. To have no foundation in Scripture 363. To clash with their other Principles 365. Error 6. That God is not angry with the Elect for their Sins 365. How the Antinomians led into this Error 366. Three Concessions about God's Corrections of his People 368. God lays his Corrections on his People 369. And for their Sins 371. These Corrections consistent with his satisfi'd Iustice 373 Error 7. That by God's laying our Iniquities upon Christ he became as sinful as we and we as compleatly righteous as he That not only the Punishment of Sin but the Sin it self was laid upon Christ 375 376. Four Concessions 377 378. Sin simply considered did not become the Sin of Christ 379. We are not as compleatly Righteous as Christ 384. Error 8. Neither Believers own Sins nor the Sins of others can do them hurt Nor must they do any Duty for their own Good Salvation or eternal Reward 389. That Believers sins do them no hurt refuted ibid. Sin consider'd formally 392. Effectively 392. Reductively 393. That Believers ought to do no Duty for their own good or with an Eye to their reward refuted 395. Self-ends either Corrupt or Spiritual 397. This Error injurious to the Souls of Men ibid. Error 9. The new Covenant is not made with us but Christ for us The Covenant is wholly a promise without any Condition on our parts That Faith Repentance Obedience are Conditions on Christ's part and that he performs them for us 398. Refuted 399. The Covenant of Redemption and of Grace distinguished ibid. Christ did not believe and repent for us 401. Error 10. They deny Sanctification to be the evidence of Iustification 404. Refuted ibid. The Contents of the Sermon about
dwelleth in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. Upon which Scriptural Grounds and Reasons it is that we affirm Faith to be an Antecedent Condition or Causa sine quâ non to the saving benefits of the new Covenant and that it must go before them at least in order of nature which is that we mean when we say Faith is the antecedent Condition of the New Covenant And those that deny it to be so as the Antinomians do who talk of actual and personal Justification from Eternity or at least from the death of Christ must consequently assert the actual Justification of Infidels and not only disturb but destroy the whole order of the Gospel and open the Sluces and Flood-gates to all manner of licentiousness And thus our Pious and Learned Divines generally affirm Faith to be the condition of the Covenant So Mr. Ieremiah Burroughs Faith saith he hath the great honour above all other Graces to be the Condition of the second Covenant therefore certainly it is some great matter that Faith enables us to do Whatsoever keeps Covenant with God brings strength though it self be never so weak as Sampson â—s Hair What is weaker than a little Hair Yet because the keeping that was keeping Covenant with God therefore even a little Hair was so great strength to Sampson Faith then that is the Condition of the Covenant in which all Grace and Mercy is contained if it be kept it will cause strength indeed to do great things And as this excellent Man Mr. Burroughs is in this sense for the Conditionality of the New Covenant so are the most Learned and Eminent of our own Divines Dr. Edward Reynold's assigning the differences betwixt the two Covenants gives this for one They differ in the Condition saith he there Legal Obedience here only Faith and the certain consequent thereof Repentance There is difference likewise in he manner of performing these Conditions For now God himself begins first to work upon us and in us before we move or stir towards him He doth not only command us and leave us to our created strength to obey the Command but he furnisheth us with his own Grace and Spirit to obey the Command Of the same judgment is Dr. Owen Are we able saith he of our selves to fulfil the Condition of the New Covenant Is it not as easie for a Man by his own strength to fulfil the whole Law as to repent and believe the Promise of the Gospel This then is one main difference of these two Covenants That the Lord did in the Old only require the Condition now in the New he also effects it in all the foederates to whom the Covenant is extended This is the Man you pretend to be against Conditions Mr. William Pemble opening the nature of the two Covenants saith The Law offers Life unto Man upon condition of perfect Obedience the Gospel offers Life unto Man upon another condition to wit of Repentance and Faith in Christ. And after his proofs for it saith From whence we conclude firmly That the difference between the Law and the Gospel assigned by our Divines is most certain and agreeable to the Scriptures viz. That the Law gives Life unto the just upon condition of perfect obedience in all things the Gospel gives Life unto sinners upon condition they repent and believe in Christ Jesus Learned and judicious Mr. William Perkins thus The Covenant of Grace is that whereby God freely promising Christ and his Benefits exacts again of Man that he would by Faith receive Christ. And again in the Covenant of Grace two things must be considered the Substance thereof and the Condition The Substance of the Covenant is That Righteousness and Life Everlasting is given to God's Church and People by Christ. The Condition is That we for our parts are by Faith to receive the foresaid Benefits and this Condition is by Grace as well as the Substance That Learned Humble and Painful Minister of Christ Mr. Iohn Ball stating the difference betwixt the two Covenants shews that in the Covenant at Sinai in the Covenant with Abraham and that with David that in all these Covenant expressures there are for substance the same Evangelical conditions of Faith and Sincerity Dr. Davenant thus In the Covenant of the Gospel it is otherwise for in this Covenant to the obtainment of Reconciliation Justification and Liâ—e Eternal there is no other condition required than of true and lively Faith Iohn 3. 16. Therefore Justification and the right to Eternal Life doth depend on the Condition of Faith alone Dr. Downame harmonizeth with the rest in these words That which is the only Condition of the Covenant of Grace by that alone we are justified But Faith is the Condition of the Covenant of Grace which is therefore called Lex Fidei Our Writers saith he distinguishing the two Covenants of God that is the Law and the Gospel whereof one is the Covenant of Works the other the Covenant of Grace do teach That the Law of Works is that which to Justification requireth works as the Condition thereof The Law of Faith that which to Justification requireth Faith as the Condition thereof The former saith Do this and thou shalt live the latter Believe in Christ and thou shalt be saved But what stand I upon particular though renowned names You may see a whole Constellation of our sound and famous Divines in the Assembly thus expressing themselves about this Point The Grace of God say they is manifested in the second Covenant in that he freely provideth and offereth to sinners a Mediator and Life and Salvation by him and requiring Faith as the Condition to interest them in him promiseth and giveth his Holy Spirit to all his Elect to work in them that Faith with all other saving Graces and to enable them to all holy Obedience as the evidence of the truth of their Faith c. I could even tire the Reader with the Testimonies of eminent foreign Divines as Cameron de triplici foedere Thes. 82. Vrsinus Paraeus explicatio Catech. Quest 18. de foedere Wendeline Christian Theology Lib. 1. cap. 19. Thes. 9. Poliander Rivet Wallaeus and Thysius the four learned Professors at Leyden Synops Disp. 23. Sect. 27 c. And as for those Ancient and Modern Divines whom the Antinomians have corrupted and misrepresented the Reader may see them all vindicated and their concurrence with those I have named evidenced by that Learned and Pious Mr. Iohn Graile in his Modest Vindication of the Doctrine of Conditions in the Covenant of Grace from p. 58. onward a Man whose name and memory is precious with me not only upon the account of that excellent Sermon he Preached and those fervent Prayers he poured out many years since at my Ordination but for that Learned and Judicious Treatise of his against Mr. Eyre wherein he hath cast great light upon this Controversy as excellent Mr. Baxter and
among them do hold those Errors but speculatively whilst the Truth lies nearer their hearts and will not suffer them to reduce their own Opinions into practice Now as to their Errors about Justification the most that I have read do make Iustification to be an immanent and eternal act of God and do affirm the Elect were justified before themselves or the World had a being Others come lower and affirm the Elect were justified at the time of Christ's death With these Dr. Crisp harmonizes Error II. That Justification by Faith is no more but a manifestation to us of what was really done before we had a being Hence Mr. Saltmarsh thus defines Faith It is saith he a being perswaded more or less of Christ's love to us so that when we believe that which was hid before doth then appear God saith another cannot charge one sin upon that man who believes this truth That God laid his Iniquities upon Christ. Error III. That men ought not to doubt of their Faith or question Whether they believe or no. Nay That we ought no more to question our Faith than to question Christ. Saltm Of Free-grace p. 92 95. Error IV. That Believers are not bound to confess Sin mourn for it or pray for the forgiveness of it because it was pardoned before it was committed and pardoned Sin is no Sin See Eaton 's Honey-comb p. 446 447. Error V. They say that God sees no Sin in Believers whatsoever Sins they commit Some of them as Mr. Town and Mr. Eaton speak out and tell us That God can see no Adultery no Lying no Blasphemy no Cozening in Believers For though Believers do fall into such Enormities yet all their Sins being pardoned from Eternity they are no Sins in them Town 's Assertions 96 97 98. Eaton's Honey-comb chap. 7. p. 136 137. with others of a more pious Character than they Error VI. That God is not angry with the Elect nor doth he smite them for their Sins and to say that he doth so is an injurious Reflection upon the Justice of God This is avouched generally in all their Writings Error VII They tell us That by God's laying our Iniquities upon Christ he became as compleatly sinful as we and we as compleatly righteous as Christ. Vide Dr. Crisp p. 270. Error VIII Upon the same ground it is that they affirm That Believers need not fear either their own Sins or the Sins of others for that neither their own nor any other mens Sins can do them any hurt nor must they do any duty for their own Salvation Error IX They will not allow the New Covenant to be made properly with us but with Christ for us and that this Covenant is all of it a Promise having no Condition on our part They do not absolutely deny that Faith Repentance and Obedience are Conditions in the New Covenant but say They are not Conditions on our part but Christ's and that he repented believed and obeyed for us Saltmarsh of Free-grace p. 126 127. Error X. They speak very slightingly of trying our selves by marks and signs of Grace Saltmarsh often calls it a weak low carnal way but the New-England Antinomians or Libertines call it a fundamental Error to make Sanctification an evidence of Justification that it is to light a Candle to the Sun that it darkens our Justification and that the darker our Sanctification is the brighter our Justification is See their Book entitled Rise Reign Error 72. In this Breviate or summary Account of Antinomian Doctrines I have only singled out and touched some of their principal Mistakes and Error into which some of them run much farther than others But I look upon such Doctrines to be in themselves of a very dangerous nature and the malignity and contagion would certainly spread much farther into the World than it doth had not God provided two powerful Antidotes to resist the malignity Viz. 1. The scope and current of Scripture 2. The experience and practice of the Saints 1. These Doctrines run cross to the scope and current of the Scriptures which constantly speak of all unregenerate Persons without exception of the very Elect themselves during that state as Children of wrath even as others without Christ and under condemnation They frequently discover God's Anger and tell us his castigatory Rods of affliction are laid upon them for their Sins They represent Sin as the greatest Evil most opposite to the Glory of God and good of the Saints and are therefore filled with Cautions and Threatnings to prevent their sinning They call the Saint frequently and earnestly not only to mourn for their Sins before the Lord but to pray for the pardon or remission of them in the blood of Christ. They give us a far different account of saving Faith and do not place it in a persuasion more or less of Christ's love to us or a manifestation in our Consciences of the actual remission of our Sins before we had a being but in our receiving Christ as the Gospel offers him for righteousness and life They frequently call the People of God to the examination and trial of their Interest in Christ by marks and signs and accordingly furnish them with variety of such marks from the divers parts or branches of Sanctification in themselves They earnestly and every-where press Believers to strictness and constancy in the duties of Religion as the way wherein God would have them to walk They infer Duties from Privileges and therefore the Antinomian Dialect is a wild note which the generality of serious Christians do easily distinguish from the Scripture-stile and Language 2. The Experience and Practice of the Saints recorded in Scripture as well as our Contemporaries or those whose Lives are recorded for our imitation do greatly secure us from the spreading malignity of Antinomianism Converse with the living or read the Histories of dead Saints and you shall find That in their Addresses to God they still bless and praise him for that great and wonderful change of state which was made upon them when they first believed in Christ and on their believing passed from death to life freely acknowledging before God they were before their conversion equal in sin and misery with the vilest Wretches in the World They heartily mourn for their daily Sins fear nothing more than Sin no Afflictions in the World go so near their heart as Sin doth They mourn for the hardness of their hearts that they can mourn no more for Sin They acknowledge the Rods of God that are upon them are not only the evidences of his displeasure against them for their Sins but the fruits of their uneven walking with him And that the greatest of their Afflictions is less than the least of their Iniquities deserve They fall at their Father's feet as oft as they fall into sin humbly and earnestly suing for pardon through the Blood of Christ. They are not only sensible that God sees Sin in them but that he seeth such
and so great evils in them as makes them admire at his patience that they are not consumed in their Iniquities They find cause enough to suspect their own sincerity doubt the truth of their Faith and of their Graces and are therefore frequent and serious in the trial and examination of their own states by Scripture-marks and signs They urge the Commands and Threatnings as well as the Promises upon their own hearts to promote Sanctification Excite themselves to duty and watchfulness against Sin They also encourage themselves by the rewards of obedience knowing their labour is not in vain in the Lord. And all this while they look not for that in themselves which is only to be found in Christ nor for that in the Law which is only to be found in the Gospel nor for that on Earth which is only to be found in Heaven This is the way that they take And he that shall tell them their Sins can do them no hurt or their Duties do them no good speaks to them not only as a Barbarian in a Language they understand not but in such a Language as their Souls detest and abhor Moreover The zeal and love of Christ and his Glory being kindled in their Souls they have not patience to hear such Doctrines as so greatly derogate from his Glory under a pretence of honouring and exalting him It wounds and grieves their very hearts to see the World hardned in their prejudices against Reformation and a gap opened to all licentiousness But notwithstanding this double Antidote and Security we find by daily experience such Doctrines too much obtaining in the professing World For my own part He that searches my Heart and Reins is witness I would rather chuse to have my right hand wither and my tongue rot within my mouth than to speak one word or write one line to cloud or diminish the Free-grace of God Let it arise and shine in its Meridian Glory None owes more to it or expects more from it than I do And what I shall write in this Controversy is to vindicate it from those Doctrines and Opinions which under pretence of exalting it do really militate against it To begin therefore with the first and leading Error Error I. That the Iustification of Sinners is an immanent and eternal act of God not only preceding all acts of sin but the very existence of the sinner himself and so perfectly abolishing sin in our persons that we are as clean from sin as Christ himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some of them have spoken To stop the progress of this Error I shall 1. Lay down the Sentence of the Orthodox about it 2. Offer some Reasons for the refutation of it 1. That which I take to be the truth agreed upon and asserted by sound reformed Divines touching Gospel-Justification is by them made clear to the World in these following Scriptural distinctions of it Justification may be considered under a twofold respect or habitude 1. According to God's Eternal Decree Or 2. According to the execution thereof in time 1. According to God's Eternal Decree and Purpose and in this respect Grace is said to be given us in Christ before the World began 2 Tim. 1. 9. And we are said to be predestinated to the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ Eph. 1. 5. 2. According to the execution thereof in time So they again distinguish it by considering it two ways 1. In its Impetration by Christ. 2. In its Application to us That very mercy or privilege of Justification which God from all Eternity purely out of his benevolent Love purposed and decreed for his Elect was also in time purchased for them by the death of Christ Rom. 5. 9 10. where we are said to be justified by his Blood and he is said to have made peace through the Blood of his Cross to reconcile all things to himself Col. 1. 20. to be delivered for our Offences and raised again for our Justification Rom. 4. 25. Once more That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses 2 Cor. 5. 19. God the Father had in the death of Christ a foundation of reconciliation whereby he became propitious to his Elect that he might absolve and justify them Again 2. It must be considered in its application to us which application is made in this Life at the time of our effectual Calling When an elect Sinner is united to Christ by Faith and so passeth from Death to Life from a state of Condemnation into a state of Absolution and Favour this is our actual Justification Rom. 5. 1. Acts 13. 39. Iohn 5. 24. which actual Justification is again considered two ways 1. Universally and in General as to the State of the Person 2. Specially and Particularly as to the Acts of Sin As soon as we are received into Communion with Christ and his Righteousness is imputed by God and received by Faith immediately we pass from a state of Death and Condemnation to a state of Life and Justification and all Sins already committed are remitted without Exception or Revocation and not only so but a Remedy is given us in the Righteousness of Christ against Sins to come and tho these special and particular Sins we afterward fall into do need particular Pardons yet by renewed Acts of Faith and Repentance the Believer applies to himself the Righteousness of Christ and they are pardoned Again they carefully distinguish betwixt 1. It 's Application by God to our Persons And 2. It 's Declaration or Manifestation in us and to us Which Manifestation or Declaration is either 1. Private in the Conscience of a Believer Or 2. Publick at the Bar of Judgment And thus Justification is many ways distinguished And notwithstanding all this it is still actus indivisus an undivided act not on our part for it is iterated in many acts but on God's part who at once decreed it and on Christ's part who by one Offering purchased it and at the time of our Vocation universally applied it as to the state of the Person justified and that so effectually as no future Sin shall bring that Person any more under Condemnation In this Sentence or Judgment the Generality of Reformed Orthodox Divines are agreed and the want of distinguishing as they according to Scripture have distinguished hath led the Antinomians into this first Error about Justification and that Error hath led them into most of the other Errors That this Doctrine of theirs which teaches that Men are justified actually and compleatly before they have a being is an Error and hath no solid Foundation to support it may be evidenced by these three Reasons 1. Because it is Irrational 2. Because it is Unscriptural 3. Because it is Injurious to Christ and the Souls of Men. It is Irrational to imagine that Men are actually justified before they have a Being by an immanent Act or Decree of God Many things have been urged upon this
account to confute and destroy this Fancy and much more may be rationally urged against it Let the following Particulars be weighed in the Balance of Reason 1. Can we rationally suppose that Pardon and Acceptance can be affirmed or predicated of that which is not Reason tells us Non entis nulla sunt accidentia That which is not can neither be condemned nor justified But before the Creation or before a Man's particular Conception he was not and therefore could not in his own Person be the Subject of Justification Where there is no Law there is no Sin Where there is no Sin there is no Punishment Where there is neither Sin nor Punishment there can be no Guilt for Guilt is an Obligation to Punishment And where there 's neither Law nor Sin nor Obligation to Punishment there can be no Justification He that is not capable of a Charge is not capable of a Discharge What remains then but that either the Elect must exist from Eternity or be justified in time 'T is true future Beings may be considered as in the purpose and decree of God from Eternity or as in the Intention of Christ who died intentionally for the Sins of the Elect and rose again for their Justification But neither the Decree of God nor the Death of Christ takes place upon any Man for his actual Justification until he personally exist For the Object of Justification is a Sinner actually ungodly Rom. 4. 5. but so no Man is or can be from Eternity In Election men are considered without respect to Good or Evil done by them Rom. 9. 11. not so in actual Justification 2. In Justification there is a Change made upon the state of the Person Rom. 5. 8 9. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. By Justification men pass from a state of Death to a state of Life Ioh. 5. 24. But the Decree or Purpose of God in it self makes no such actual change upon the state of any person It hath indeed the nature of an Universal Cause but an Universal Cause produceth nothing without particulars If our state be changed it is not by an immanent act of God Hence no such thing doth transire A mere velle non punire or intention to justify us in due time and order makes no change on our state till that time come and the particular Causes have wrought A Prince may have a purpose or intention to pardon a Law-condemned Traitor and free him from that Condemnation in due time but whilst the Law that condemned him stands in its full force and power against him he is not justified or acquitted notwithstanding that gracious intention but stands still condemned So is it with us till by Faith we are implanted into Christ. 'T is true Christ is a surety for all his and hath satisfied the debt He is a common Head to all his as Adam was to all his Children Rom. 5. 19. But as the Sin of Adam condemns none but those that are in him so the Righteousness of Christ actually justifies none but those that are in him and none are actually in him but Believers Therefore till we believe no actual change passeth or can pass upon our state So that this Hypothesis is contrary to Reason As this Opinion is Irrational so it is Unscriptural For 1. The Scripture frequently speaks of Remission or Justification as a future act and therefore not from Eternity Rom. 4. 23 24. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him c. And Gal. 3. 8. The Scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the Heathen through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham The Gospel was preached many years before the Gentiles were justified but if they were justified from Eternity how was the Gospel preached before their Justification 2. The Scripture leaves all Unbelievers without distinction under condemnation and wrath The Curse of the Law lies upon them till they believe Iohn 3. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already And Eph. 2. 3 12 13. The very Elect themselves were by nature the Children of wrath even as others They were at that time or during that state of nature which takes in all that whole space betwixt their conception and conversion without Christ without hope without God in the World But if this Opinion be true that the Elect were justified from Eternity or from the time of Christ's death then it cannot be true that the Elect by nature are Children of Wrath without Christ without Hope without God in the World except these two may consist together which is absolutely impossible that Children of Wrath without God Christ or Hope are actually discharged from their Sins and Dangers by a free and gracious act of Justification But doth not the Scripture say Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect If none can charge the Elect then God hath discharged them God hath not actually discharged them as they are Elect but as they are justified Elect for so runs that Text and clears it self in the very next words It is God that justifieth When God hath actually justified an Elect Person none can charge him 3. 'T is cross to the Scripture-order of Justification which places it not only after Christ's death in the place last cited Rom. 8. 33. but also after our actual vocation as is plain vers 30. Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Is it absurd to place Vocation before Predestination or Glorification before Justification sure then it must be absurd also to place Justification before Vocation the one as well as the other confounds and breaks the Scripture-order You may as well say men shall be glorified that were never justified as say they may be justified before they believed or existed So that you see the notion of Justification from Eternity or before our actual existence and effectual Vocation is a notion as repugnant to sacred Scripture as it is to sound Reason And as it is found repugnant to Reason and Scripture so it is highly injurious to Jesus Christ and the Souls of Men. 1. It greatly injures the Lord Jesus Christ and robs him of the glory of being our Saviour For if the Elect be justified from Eternity Christ cannot be the Saviour of the Elect as most assuredly he is for if Christ save them he must save them as persons subject to perishing either de facto or de jure But if the Elect were justified from Eternity they could in neither respect be subject to perishing for he that was eternally justified was never condemned nor capable of condemnation and he that never was or could be condemned could never be subject to perishing and he that never was nor could be subject
saving benefits and privileges of the Children of God Iohn 1. 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name So that unless the Antinomians can prove that receiving of Christ and personal persuasion of pardon be one and the same thing and consequently that all Believers in the World are persuaded or assured that their sins are pardoned and reject from the number of Believers all tempted deserted dark and doubting Christians this persuasion they speak of is not nor can it be the act of Faith which justifies the person of a Sinner before God That which I think led our Antinomians into this Error was an unfound and unwary definition of Faith which in their youth they had imbibed from their Catechisms and other Systems passing without contradiction or scruple in those days which though it were a mistake and hath abundantly been proved to be so in latter days yet our Antinomians will not part with a notion so serviceable to the support of their darling Opinion of Eternal Justification Reason IV. A Man may be strongly persuaded of the Love of God to his Soul and of the pardon of his Sin and yet have no interest in Christ nor be in a pardoned State This was the Case of the Pharisees and others Luke 18. 9. Rev. 3. 17. Therefore this persuasion cannot be justifying Faith If a persuasion be that that justifies the persuaded person then the Pharisees and the Laodiceans were justified Oh! How common and easie is it for the worst of Men to be strongly persuaded of their good condition whilst humble serious Christians doubt and stagger I know not what such Doctrine as this is useful for but to beget and strengthen that sin of presumption which sends down multitudes to Hell out of the professing World For what is more common amongst the most carnal and unsanctified part of the World not only such as are meerly moral but even the most flagitious and prophane than to support themselves by false persuasions of their good estate When they are asked in order to their conviction what hopes of Salvation they have and how they are founded Their common answer is Christ died for Sinners and that they are persuaded that whatever he hath done for any other he hath done it for them as well as others But such a persuasion cometh not of him that called them and is of dangerous consequence Reason V. This Doctrine is certainly unfound because it confounds the distinction betwixt Dogmatical and Saving Faith and makes it all one to believe an Axiom or Proposition and to believe savingly in Christ to Eternal Life What is it to believe that God lay'd our iniquities upon Christ more than the mere assent of the understanding to a Scripture Axiom or Proposition without any consent of the will to receive Jesus Christ as the Gospel offers him And this is no more than what any unregenerated person may do yea the very Devils themselves assent to the truth of Scripture Axioms and Propositions as well as Men Iam. 2. 19. Thou believest there is one God thou doest well the Devils also believe and tremble What is this more than a Scripture-Axiom or Proposition God lay'd the iniquity of us all upon Christ Isa. 53. 6 And yet saith Dr. Crisp p. 296. God cannot charge one Sin upon that Man that believes this Truth That God lay'd his iniquities upon Christ. The assent of the understanding may be and often is given to a Scripture Proposition whil'st the Heart and Will remain carnal and utterly averse to Jesus Christ. I may believe Dogmatically that the iniquities of Men were lay'd upon Christ and persuade my self presumptively that mine as well as other Mens were lay'd upon him and yet remain a perfect Stranger to all saving Union and Communion with him Reason VI. This Opinion cannot be true because it takes away the only support that bears up the Soul of a Believer in times of temptation and desertion For how will you comfort such a distressed Soul that saith and saith truly I have no persuasion that Christ is mine or that my sins are pardoned but I am heartily willing to cast my poor sin-burthened Soul upon him that he may be mine I do not certainly know that he died intentionally for me but I lye at his feet cleave to him wait at the door of hope I stay and trust upon him though I walk in darkness and have no light Now let such Doctrine as this be Preached to a Soul in this condition and we may be sure 't is the condition of many thousands belonging to Christ I say bring this Doctrine to them and tell them That unless they be persuaded of the Love of God and that God lay'd their iniquities on Christ except they have some manifestation that their persons were justified from eternity their accepting of Christ consent of their Wills waiting at his Feet c. signifies nothing if they believe not that their particular sins were lay'd upon Christ and are pardoned to them by him they are still unbelievers and have no part or portion in him Whatever pretences of spiritual comfort and relief the Antinomian Doctrine makes you see by this it really deprives a very great if not the greatest number of God's people of their best and sweetest relief in days of darkness and spiritual distress So that this Doctrine which makes manifestation and assurance the very essence of justifying faith appears hereby to be both a false and very dangerous Doctrine And yet there is as much or more danger to the Souls of Men in their III. Error That Men ought not to doubt of their Faith or question whether they believe or no. Nay That they ought no more to question their Faith than to question Christ. Refutation What an easie way to Heaven is the Antinomian way Were it but as true and safe to the Soul as it is easie and pleasing to the Flesh who would not embrace it What a charm of the Devil is prepared in these two Propositions Be but persuaded more or less of Christ's Love to thy Soul saith Mr. Saltmarsh and that 's justifying Faith Here 's a snare of the Devil lay'd for the Souls of Men. And then 2. to make it fast and sure upon the Soul and effectually to prevent the discovery of their Error tell them they need no more to doubt or question their Faith than to question Christ and the work is done to all intents Now that this is an Error and a very dangerous one will appear by the following Reasons Reason I. The questioning and examining of our Faith is a commanded Scripture-duty 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves c. And 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure Let him that â—nketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. The second Epistle of
to Babylon against the very Grammar of the Text and the Truth of the History And so again that place Isa. 58. 8. The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward through ignorance of the word read re-reward that is a double reward to his people But these are small matters compared with those grosser abuses of Scripture by the ignorant and unlearned which prejudice Truth and too much countenance Popish Reproaches The Remedies The proper way to prevent and remedy this mischief is not by depriving any Man of his just Liberty either to read or judge for himself what God speaks in his Word and think that way to cure Errors that were the same thing as to cut off the Head to cure an Head-ach Leave that sinful policy with the false Religion Let those only that know they do evil be afraid of coming to the light But the proper course of preventing the mischiefs that come this way is by labouring to bound and contain Christians within those limits Christ himself hath set unto this liberty which he hath granted them And these are such as follow Limitation I. Tho' Christ have indulged to the meanest and weakest Christian a liberty to read and judge of the Scriptures for himself yet he hath neither thereby nor therewith granted him a liberty publickly to Expound and Preach the Word to others That 's quite another thing Every Man that can read the Scriptures and judge of their sense is not thereby presently made Christ's Commission-Officer publickly and authoritatively to Preach and Inculcate the same to others Two things are requisite to such an employment viz. Proper Qualifications 1 Tim. 3. And a solemn Call or designation Rom. 10. 14 15. The Ministry is a distinct Office Acts 20. 17 28. 1 Thes. 5. 12. and none but qualified and ordained persons can Authoritatively Preach the Word 2 Tim. 1. 6. 1 Tim. 4. 14. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Christians may privately edify one another by reading the Scriptures communicating their sense one to another of them admonishing counselling reproving one another in a private fraternal way at seasons wherein they interfere not with more publick Duties But for every one that hath confidence enough and the ignorant usually are best stock'd with it to assume a liberty without due Qualification or Call to Expound and give the Sense of Scriptures and pour forth his crude and unstudied Notions as the pure sense and meaning of God's Spirit in the Scriptures this is what Christ never allowed and through this Flood-gate Errors have broken in and overflowed the Church of God to the great scandal of Religion and confirmation of Popish Enemies Limitation II. Though there be no part of Scripture shut up or restrained from the knowledg or use of any Christian yet Jesus Christ hath recommended to Christians of different abilities the study of some parts of Scripture rather than others as more proper and agreeable to their Age and Stature in Religion Christians are by the Apostle rank'd into three Classes Fathers Young-men and Little Children 1 Iohn 2. 13. and accordingly the Wisdom of Christ hath directed to that sort of food which is proper to either For there is in the Word all sorts of Food suitable to all Ages in Christ there 's both Milk for Babes and strong Meat for grown Christians Heb. 5. 13 14. Those that are unskilful in the Word of Righteousnes should feed upon Milk that is the easie plain but most nutritive and pleasant practical Doctrines of the Gospel But strong Meat saith he that is the more abstruse deep and mysterious truths belongeth to them that are of full Age even those who by reason of use have their Senses exercised to discern both good and evil that is Truth and Error To the same purpose he speaks 1 Cor. 3. 2. I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it Art thou a weak unstudied Christian a Babe in Christ Then the easier and more nutritive Milk of plain Gospel-Doctrine is fitter for thee and will do thee more good than the stronger Meat of profound and more mysterious Points or the Bones of Controversy which are too hard for thee to deal with God hath blessed this Age with great variety of sound and allowed Expositors in our own Language by the diligent study of which and prayer for the illumination and guidance of the Spirit you may not only attain unto the true sense and meaning of the more plain and obvious but also unto greâ—ter knowledg and clearer insight into the more obscure and controverted parts of Scripture Cause III. There is also another evil disposition in the Subject rendring it easily receptive of Errors and that is spiritual SLOTHFVLNESS and carelesness in a due and serious search of the whole Scripture with a sedate and rational consideration of every part and particle therein which may give us any though the least light to understand the mind of God in those obscure and difficult points we search after the knowledg of Truth lies deep as the rich Veins of Gold do Prov. 2. If we will get the treasure we must not only beg as he directs vers 3. but dig also vers 4. else as he speaks Prov. 14. 23. The talk of the lips tends only to poverty We are not to take up with that which lies uppermost and next at hand upon the surface of the Text but to search with the most sedate and considerative mind into all parts of the written Word examining every Text which hath any respect to the truth we are searching for heedfully to observe the Scope Antecedents and Consequents and to value every Apex Tittle and Iota for each of these are of Divine Authority Matt. 5. 18. and sometimes greater weight is laid upon a small word yea upon the addition or change of a Letter in a word as appears in the names of Abram and Sarai It will require some strength of mind and great sedulity to lay all parts of Scripture before us and to compare words with words and things with things as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2. 13. comparing spiritual things with spiritual And though it be true that some important Doctrines as that of Iustification by Faith are methodically disposed and throughly clear'd and setled in one and the same Context yet it is as true that very many other points of Faith and Duty are not so digested but are delivered sparsinì here a little and there a little as he speaks Isa. 28. 10. You must not think to find all that belongs to one Head or Point of Faith or Duty lay'd together in a System or common place in Scripture but scattered abroad in several pieces some in the Old Testament and some in the New at a great distance one from another Now in our searches and inquiries after the full and satisfying knowledg of the Will of God in such Points it is necessary that the whole Word of God be throughly
by it but to convince them of Sin and of the necessity of a Saviour and yet the Law be a Covenant of Works intentionally as well as materially considered and that in respect of God's special designation and appointment If God designed and appointed it in his Sinai dispensation to be to them an Adam's Covenant of Works then certainly they were not out as you say they were when they sought Righteousness by the works of it nor could that mistake of theirs be the ground of the Controversy betwixt the Apostle and them For it seems it was no mistake being by God's intention as well as its own primitive nature promulged at Sinai as a true Adam's Covenant Secondly You deny the Law was added to the Promise and ask me why it might not be added to the first Covenant to re-inforce that I answer Because the scope of the place will not bear it nor any good Expositor countenance such a fancy You make the Sinai Law to be the same with that first Covenant and by so expounding the Apostle you make him say either that the same thing was added to it self which must in your own Phrase be by a Correspondency of Identity or else that there are two distinct Covenants of Works when indeed there is but one and that the latter was added to the former This is your way of Expounding Scripture when driven to a streight by dint of Argument Nothing beside such a pure necessity could drive you upon such an Absurdity It was added to the promise saith Dr. Reynolds by way of subserviency and attendance the better to advance and make effectual the Covenant it self Mr. Strong upon the two Covenants saith the Apostle's meaning is that the Law was added as an Appendix to the Promise But it may be you had rather hear Dr. Crisp's Exposition than his for you say had it been added to the Promise it would have given life The Doctor will at once give you the true sense of the Text and with it a full answer to your Objection Though Life saith he be not the end of the Law yet there are other sufficient uses of it requiring the promulgation thereof It was published to be an Appendix to the Gospel Gal. 3. 19. And this supposes 1. The priority of the Gospel to the Law 2. The principality of the Promise of Life by Christ above the Law 3. The Consistence of the Law and Gospel They may well stand one by another as an House and the addition to it may That it was with such an intention added to the Promise I have met with no Man that had front enough to deny or scruple it before you And that the Iews did mistake its chief scope and use from whence we denominate it a Covenant of Grace the generality of Godly and Learned Divines constantly affirm See Mr. Anth. Burgess de Lege p. 227. Bolton's Bounds p. 160 161. Mr. Samuel Mather on the Types p. 11. with multitudes more whose citations would even weary the Reader And what you urge from Mr. Poole's Annotations on 2 Cor. 3. 6 7. it makes nothing at all to your purpose For it is manifest the Annotator there takes the Moral Law in it self strictly taken and as set in opposition to the Gospel which it never was since the Fall but by the ignorance and infidelity of unregenerate Men. You also labour to shelter your erroneous fancy under the authority of Dr. Owen but you manifestly abuse him in your Citation for in that very place you refer to he speaks strictly of the Covenant of Works made with Adam in Paradise and plainly distinguishes it from the Sinai Covenant which sufficiently shews his judgment in this point For these are his own words which you suppressed in the Citation As to the Sinai Covenant and the New Testament with their privileges thence emerging they belong not to our present Argument This Paragraph you wilfully omit that you might include that which his words plainly exclude In the same place he tells you that David and Abraham's Covenant was for essence the Covenant of Grace notwithstanding the variations made in it But you take and leave as best suits your design Once more in p. 16 17 c. of my Vindiciae Legis you find your self pinched with another Dilemma from Lev. 26. 40 41 46. whence I plainly proved That there is a Promise of Pardon found in the Sinai dispensation to penitent sinners That this Promise was given at Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses is undeniable from vers 46. That it contained the Relief of a gracious remission to penitent sinners is as undeniable from vers 40 41. If you say this Promise belongs to Moses his dispensation as verse 46. tells you it did then there is remission of Sins found in the Sinai Laws If you say it only refers to Abraham's Covenant of Grace then that Covenant of Grace appears to be conditional which you utterly deny Now what is your Reply to this 1. You object my own words in the Method of Grace p. 326. as if you had never read the just and fair Vindication I had before given you of them p. 134 135. of my first Reply to you At this rate Men may continue Controversies to the Worlds end Sir there are many Witnesses that you are very well acquainted with my Method of Grace 2. You say p. 31. of your Reply That that Covenant could not be conditional because a Condition implies merit either of congruity or condignity This is a further discovery of your ignorance of the nature of Conditions as well as Covenants But that Point belonging to the last Head of Controversy between us I shall refer it thither It were easie for me to instance in many more Absurdities which Mr. C. cannot eluctate and to prove them upon him as easily as to name them But I will not press him too far what hath been named and proved already is more than enough to convince the Reader that my first Argument is left standing in its full force and strength against him viz. Argument I. That Proposition can never be true which necessarily draws many and horrid gross absurdities after it by just consequence But so doth this Ergo. Argument II. My next Argument Vindiciae c. p. 27. is as secure as the first It was this If Adam's Covenant had one end namely the Happiness and Justification of Men by their own Obedience and the Law at Sinai had quite another end namely to bring Sinners to Christ by Faith for their Righteousness the one to keep him within himself the other to take him quite out of himself then the Sinai Law cannot possibly be the same with Adam's Covenant of Works in Paradise But so stands the Case Rom. 10. 4. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Therefore they cannot be the same but two different Covenants All that touches this Argument is but
Mr. Woodbridge have also done But alas what evidence is sufficient to satisfy ignorant and obstinate Men Sir it pities me to see the lamentable confusion you are in You are forced by the evidence of truth to yield and own the substance of what I contend for You have yielded the Covenant to be consequently Conditional in p. 84. of your Reply You have also as plainly yielded that the Application of Pardoning Mercy unto our Souls is in order of nature consequent unto believing p. 31. of your Reply From both which concessions in your own words recited this Conclusion is evident and unavoidable viz. That no adult person notwithstanding God's Eternal Election and Christ's meritorious death and satisfaction according to the Constitution and Order of the New Covenant can either be justified in this World or saved in the World to come unless he first believe For if the Application of Pardoning Mercy unto our Souls is in order of Nature consequent unto believing as you truly affirm it to be then according to the Constitution and Order of the New Covenant no application of pardoning Mercy can be made to our Souls before we believe And if it be evident as you say it is p. 84. that unto a full and compleat enjoyment of all the Promises of the Covenant Faith on our part is required then as no Man can be actually justified in this World so neither can he be saved before or without Faith in the World to come And if you did but see the true suspending nature of Faith which you plainly yield in these two concessions you would quickly grant the conditional nature of it For what is the proper nature and true notion of a Condition but to suspend the benefits and grants of that Covenant in which it is so inserted And thus the Controversy betwixt us is fairly issued But I doubt you understand not what you have here written or are troubled with a very bad memory Because I find you in a far different note from this in p. 103. of your Reply where you say That if Iesus Christ fulfilled the Law and purchased Heaven and Happiness for Men as all true Protestants hitherto have taught then nothing can remain but to declare this to them to incline them to believe and accept it and to prescribe in what way and by what means they shall finally come to inherit Eternal Life To affirm therefore that Faith and Repentance are the Conditions of the New Covenant required of us in point of Duty antecedent to the benefit of the Promise doth necessarily suppose that Christ hath not done all for us nor purchased a right to Life for any but only made way that they may have it upon certain terms or as some say he hath merited that we might merit But the Conditions of the Covenant are not to be performed by the Head and Members both Gal. 4. 4. Christ therefore having in our stead performed the Conditions of Life there remains nothing but a Promise and the Obedience of Children as the fruit and effect thereof to them that believe in him together with means of obtaining the full possession which here we want Either these passages I have here cited and compared were fetched at a great distance of time out of Authors differing as much in judgment as you and I do and so the dissonancy of them is the meer effect of oblivion and incogitancy Or else your Intellectuals are more confused and weak than I am willing to suspect them to be For if the application of Pardoning Mercy to our Souls is in order of Nature consequent to Believing as you truly say it was then certainly notwithstanding Christ's fulfilling the Law and purchasing Heaven and Happiness for Men something else must remain to be done besides declaring this to them to incline them to believe and accept it or prescribing to them in what way they shall finally come to inherit Eternal Life For besides those declarations and prescriptions you talk of Faith it self must be wrought in the Souls of Men or else Pardoning Mercy is not in order of Nature consequent unto believing as you said it was For all the external Declarations and Prescriptions in the World are not Faith it self but only the means to beget it which may or may not become effectual to that end Secondly Whereas you say that this senseless notion is consequent upon the Doctrine of all true Protestants you therein grosly abuse them and make all the true Protestants in the World guilty of worse than Arminian or Antinomian dotage The Antinomian indeed makes our actual justification to be nothing else but the manifestation or declaration of our Justification from Eternity or the time of Christ's death And the Arminian tells us That the Declaration of the Gospel to Men is sufficient to bring them to Faith by the assisting Grace of the Spirit But your notion is worse than the very dregs of both and yet you tack it as a just consequent to the Doctrine of all true Protestants Thirdly You say That to affirm Faith and Repentance to be the Conditions of the New Covenant required of us in point of Duty antecedent to the benefit of the Promise doth necessarily suppose that Christ hath not done all for us nor purchased a right to Life for any but only made way that they may have it upon certain terms or merited that we might merit Here Sir you vilely abuse all those worthy Divines before mentioned who have made Faith the Condition of the New Covenant pinning upon them both Popery and Iudaism Popery yea the dregs of Popery in supposing their Doctrine necessarily implies that Christ hath merited that we might merit And Iudaism to the height in saying their Doctrine necessarily supposes that Christ hath not purchased a right of Life to any What can a Iew say more Ah Mr. C. can you read the words I have recited out of blessed Burroughs Owen Pemble Perkins Davenant Downame yea the whole Assembly of Reverend and Holy Divines with multitudes more who have all with one mouth asserted Faith to be the Condition of the New Covenant required on Man's part in point of Duty and that Men must believe before they can be justified which is the very same thing with what I say That it is antecedent to the benefit of the Promise and not tremble to think of the direful charges you here draw against them The Lord forgive your rash presumption Fourthly Whereas you say Christ hath in our stead performed the Conditions of life and that there remains nothing but a Promise c. you therein speak at the highest dialect of Antinomianism Hath not Christ by his Life and Death performed the Conditions of Life in our stead yet you your self confess that pardoning Mercy is in order of nature consequent to our believing certainly then there is something more to be done beside the mere making or being of a Promise there must be the effect
of the Promise in our hearts yea the effects of those absolute Promises of the first Grace Ezek. 36. Ier. 32. Or else notwithstanding Christ's performance of Redemption on his part we can neither be justified nor saved For I don't think you intend to lay the Conditions of Repentance or believing upon Christ who in the New Covenant hath laid them upon us tho in the same Covenant he graciously undertakes to work them in us and yet your words sound in that wild Antinomian Note But I suppose you take my Notion to be as self-repugnant as your own when I say Faith is an antecedent Condition to Justification because I also say this Grace is also supernaturally wrought in us and is not of our selves This staggers you and is the very stone you stumble at all along this Controversie for in your sense p. 34. every Condition is meritorious by condignity or congruity First What do I say more in all this than what those Worthies before-mentioned do expresly affirm Doth not Dr. Owen the man whom you deservedly value make Conditions both in Adam's Covenant and the New with this difference that Adam's Covenant required them but the New Covenant effects them in all the Foederates Sir We take it for no contradiction to assert That the planting of the Principle and the assisting and exciting of the Acts of Faith are the proper Works of the Spirit of God and are also contained in the absolute Promises of the New Covenant Ezek. 36. 26 27. Ier. 32. 39 40. And yet Faith notwithstanding this is truly and properly our work and duty and that upon our believing or not believing we have or have not an actual interest in Christ Righteousness and Life For though the Author of Faith be the Spirit of God yet believing is properly our Act and an Act required of us by a plain Command 1 Iohn 3. 23. This is the Command of God That ye believe And if its being wrought in God's strength makes it cease to be our Work I would fain know what Exposition you would give of that place Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your own Salvation c. for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do And as this Faith is truly and properly our work though wrought in God's strength for it is not God but we that do believe so it is wrought in us by him by your own confession before the application of pardoning Mercy which is consequent in order of nature thereunto and therefore hath the true nature of an antecedent Condition which is that I contend for and did you but understand your own words you would not contend against Oh but say you p. 34. every Condition is meritorious either by way of congruity or condignity This is your ignorance of the nature of a Condition with which I find you as unacquainted as with the nature of a Covenant A Condition whilst unperformed only suspends the act of the Law or Testament it being the will of the Testator Legislator or Donor that his Law or Testament should act or effect when the Condition is performed and not before but it is not essential to a Condition to be a meritorious or impulsive cause moving him to bestow the benefit for the sake thereof A man freely gives another out of his love and bounty such an Estate or Sum of Money which he shall enjoy if he live to such a year or day and not before is this quando dies veniet this appointed time the meritorious or impulsive cause of the gift surely no man will say it but that it is a causa sine quâ non or a Condition suspending the enjoyment of the gift no man will deny that knows what the nature of a Condition is An act meritorious by way of Congruity is that to which a reward is not due out of strict justice but out of decency or some kind of meetness Merit of condignity is a voluntary action for which a reward is due to a man out of justice and cannot be denied him without injustice Our Faith is truly the Condition of the New Covenant and yet we detest the meritoriousness of it in either sense But you object my words to me in my Method of Grace where I assert the impossibility of believing without the efficacy of supernatural Grace p. 102 103. Sir I own the words you quote and am bold to challenge the most envious Eye that shall read those lines to shew me the least repugnancy betwixt what I said there and what I have said in my Vindiciae Legis c. p. 9. of the Prolegomena and p. 61. of that Book You shew your good-will to make an advantagious thrust but your Weapon is too short and can draw no blood But leaving these weak and impertinent Cavils let us come to your Solution of my Arguments p. 98. by which I proved the Conditionality of the New Covenant My first Argument was this If we cannot be justified or saved till we believe and are justified when we believe Then Faith is the Condition on which those consequent Benefits are suspended c. The sum of your Answer without denying distinguishing or limiting one Proposition is this That here Faith is properly put into the room of perfect Obedience and is to do what perfect Obedience was to do under the Law whereas say you Faith is only appointed as an Instrument to receive and apply the Righteousness of Christ which is the alone matter of our Justification before God and Faith it self is not our Righteousness as it would be if it were a Condition p. 105 106. Not to note the weakness and impertinence of this Answer I shall only take notice of what you here allow and grant That Faith is appointed as an Instrument to receive and apply the Righteousness of Christ which is the alone matter of our Iustification before God Whence I infer three Conclusions First That we cannot be justified before God till we believe except you can prove that the unaccepted and unapplied Righteousness of Christ doth actually justify our persons before God Secondly That the justification of our persons before God is and must be suspended as by a non-performed Condition untill we actually believe Which two Conclusions yield up your Cause to my Argument which you here seem to oppose Thirdly That hereby you perfectly renounce and destroy your Antinomian Fancy before-mentioned That if Christ have fulfilled the Law and purchased Heaven for men nothing can remain but to declare this to them c. for it seems by this they must receive and apply Christ's Righteousness by Faith or they cannot be justified you say not declaratively in their own Consciences but before God And thus instead of answering you have confirmed and yielded my first Argument and only oppose your own Mistakes not the sense or force of my Arguments in all that you say to it or the Scriptures
or commit murther God sees no sin in him with much more of the same Bran which I will not transcribe But others there be whose Judgments are unhappily tainted and leavened with these loose Doctrines yet being in the main godly persons they dare not take liberty to sin or live in the neglect of known duties though their Principles too much incline that way But though they dare not others will who imbibe corrupt notions from them and the renowned Piety of the Authors will be no antidote against the danger but make the Poison operate the more powerfully by receiving it in such a vehicle Now it is highly probable such men as these might be charmed into such dangerous Opinions upon such accounts as these 1. 'T is like some of them might have felt in themselves the anguish of a perplexed Conscience under sin and not being able to live with these terrors of the Law and dismal fears of Conscience might too hastily snatch at those Doctrines which promise them relief and ease as I noted before in the 5th Cause of my Treatise of Errors And that this is not a guess at random will appear from the very Title-page of Mr. Saltmarsh's marsh's Book of Free-grace where as an inducement to the Reader to swallow his Antinomian Doctrine he shews him this curious Bait. It is saith he an experiment of Iesus Christ upon one who hath been in the bondage of a troubled Conscience at times for the space of about twelve years till now upon a clearer discovery of Iesus Christ in the Gospel c. 2. Others have been induced to espouse these Opinions from the excess of their Zeal against the Errors of the Papists who have notoriously corrupted the Doctrine of Iustification by Free-grace decried imputed and exalted inberent Righteousness above it The Papists have designedly and industriously sealed up the Scriptures from the People lest they should there discover those sovereign and effectual Remedies which God hath provided for their distressed Consciences in the riches of his own Grace and the meritorious Death of Christ and so all their Masses Pilgrimages Auricular Confessions with all their dear Indulgences should lie upon their hands as stale and cheap Commodities Oh said Stephen Gardiner let not this gap of Free-grce be opâ—ned to the People But as soon as the Light of Reformation had discovered the Free-grace of God to Sinners which is indeed the only effectual remedy of distressed Consciences and by the same Light the horrid Cheats of the Man of Sin were discovered all good men who were enlightened by the Reformation justly and deeply abhorred Popery as the Enemy of the Grace of God and true Peace of Conscience and fixed themselves upon the sound and comfortable Doctrines of Justification by Faith through the alone Righteousness of Christ. Mean while thankfully acknowledging that they which believe ought also to maintain good Works But others there were transported by an indiscreet Zeal who have almost bended the Grace of God as far too much the other way and have both spoken and written many things very unbecoming the Grace of God and tending to looseness and neglect of Duty 3. 'T is manifest that others of them have been ingulphed and suckt into those dangerous Quick-sands of Antinomian Errors by separating the Spirit from the written Word If once a man pretend the Spirit without the Scriptures to be his Rule whither will not his own deluding Fancies carry him under a vain and sinful pretence of the Spirit In the Year 1528. when Helsar Traier and Seekler were confuted by Hallerus and their Errors about Oaths Magistrates and Paedo-baptism were detected by him and by Colvius at Bern that which they had to say for themselves was That the Spirit taught them otherwise than the letter of the Scriptures speaks So dangerous it is to separate what God hath conjoined and father our own Fancies upon the Holy Spirit 4. And it is not unlike but a comparative weakness and injudiciousness of mind meeting with a fervent zeal for Christ and his Glory may induce others to espouse such taking and plausible tho pernicious Doctrines They are not aware of the dangerous Consequences of the Opinions they embrace and what looseness may be occasioned by them I speak not of Occasions taken but given by such Opinions and Expressions A good Man will draw excellent Inferences of duty from the very same Doctrine Instance that of the shortness of time from whence the Apostle infers abstinence strictness and diligence 1 Cor. 7. 29. but the Epicure infers all manner of dissolute and licentious practices Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 1 Cor. 15 22. The best Doctrines are this way liable to abuse But let all good men beware of such Opinions and Expressions as give an handle to wicked men to abuse the Grace of God which haply the Author himself dare not do and may strongly hope others may not do but if the Principle will yield it 't is in vain to think corrupt Nature will not catch at it and make a vile use and dangerous improvement of it For example If such a Principle as this be asserted for a truth before the World That men need not fear that any or all the Sins they commit shall do them any hurt let the Author or any man in the World warn and caution Readers as the Antinomian Author of that Expression hath done not to abuse this Doctrine 't is to no purpose The Doctrine it self is full of dangerous Consequents and wicked men have the best skill to infer and draw them forth to cherish and countenance their Lusts that which the Author might design for the relief of the distressed quickly turns it self into poison in the bowels of the wicked nor can we excuse it by saying any Gospel-truth may be thus abused for this is none of that number but a Principle that gives offence to the godly and encouragement to the ungodly And so much as to the rise and occasion of Antinomian Errors II. In the next place let us view some of the chief Doctrines commonly called Antinomian amongst which there will be found a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the radical and most prolifique Error from which most of the rest are spawned and procreated Error I. I shall begin with the dangerous mistake of the Antinomians in the Doctrine of Iustification The Article of Justification is deservedly stiled by our Divines Articulus stantis vel cadentis Religionis the very Pillar of the Christian Religion In two things however I must do the Antinomians right 1. In acknowledging that though their Errors about Justification be great and dangerous yet they are not so much about the substance as about the mode of a Sinner's Justification An Error far inferior to the Error of the Papists who depress the Righteousness of Christ and exalt their own inherent Righteousness in the business of Justification â— I am bound in charity to believe that some
to perishing can never truly and properly be said to be saved If it be said the Elect were not justified till the death of Christ I demand then what became of all them that died before the death of Christ If they were not justified they could not be glorified for this is sure from Rom. 8. 30. That the whole number of the glorified in Heaven is made up of such as were justified on Earth Let men take heed therefore lest under pretence of exalting Christ they bereave him of the glory of being the Saviour of his Elect. 2. It bereaves him of another glorious Royalty The Scripture every-where makes our Justification the result and fruit of the meritorious death of Christ Rom. 3. 24 25. Rom. 8. 3 4. 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. Gal. 3. 13 14. Eph. 1. 7. But if men were justified from Eterternity how is their Justification the fruit and result of the blood of the Cross as it plainly appears from these Scriptures to be Nay 3. This Opinion leaves no place for the satisfaction of Justice by the Blood of Christ for our Sins He did not die according to this Opinion to pay our debts And here Antinomianism and Socinianism meet and congratulate each other For if there were no debts owing to the Justice of God from Eternity Christ could not die to pay them and 't is manifest there were no debts due to God's Justice from Eternity on the account of his Elect if the Elect were from Eternity justified unless you will say a person may be justified and yet his debts not paid for all Justification dissolves the obligation to punishment If there were any debts for Christ to pay by his Blood they must either be his own debts or the Elect's To say they were his own is a blasphemous reproach to him and according to this Opinion we cannot say they were the Elect's for if they were justified from Eternity their debts were discharged and their bonds cancell'd from Eternity So that this Opinion leaves nothing to the Blood of Christ to discharge or make satisfaction for 2. And as it hath been proved to be highly injurious to the Lord Jesus so it is greatly injurious to the Souls of men as it naturally leads them into all those wild and licentious Opinions which naturally flow from it as from the radical prolifique Error whence most of the rest derive themselves as will immediately appear in the II. Error That Iustification by Faith is no more but the manifestation to us of what was really and actually done before Or a being persuaded more or less of Christ's love to us And that when persons do believe that which was hid before doth then only appear to them Refutation As the former Error dangerously corrupts the Doctrine of Justification so this corrupts the Doctrine of Faith and therefore deserves to be exploded by all Christians That there is a manifestation and discovery of the special love of God and our own saving concernment in the death of Christ to some Christians at some times cannot be denied St. Paul could say Gal. 2. 20 21. Christ loved him and gave himself for him but to say that this is the justifying act of Faith whereby a Sinner passeth from condemnation and death into the state of righteousness and life this I must look upon as a great Error and that for these following Reasons Reason I. Because there be multitudes of believing and justified Persons in the World who have no such manifestation evidence or assurance that God laid their Iniquities upon Christ and that he died to put away their Sins but daily conflict with strong fears and doubts whether it be so or no. There are but few among Believers that attain such a persuasion and manifestation as Antinomians make to be all that is meant in Scripture by Justification through Faith Many thousand new-born Christians live as the new-born Babe which neither knows its own Estate or Inheritance to which it is born Vivit est vitae nescius ipse suae A Soul may be in Christ and a justified state without any such persuasion or manifestation as they here speak of Isa. 50. 10. And if any shall assert the contrary he will condemn the greatest part of the Generation of God's Children Now that cannot be the saving and justifying act of Faith which is not to be found in multitudes of believing and justified Persons But manifestation or a personal persuasion of the love of God to a Man's Soul or that Christ died for him and all his Iniquities are thereby forgiven him is not to be found in multitudes of believing and justified Souls Therefore such a persuasion or manifestation is not that saving justifying Faith which the Scripture speaks of That Faith which only justifies the person of a Sinner before God must necessarily be found in all justified Believers or else a man may be justified without the least degree of justifying Faith and consequently it is not Faith alone by which a man is justified before God Reason II. That cannot be the justifying act of Faith which is not constant and abiding with the justified Person but comes and goes is frequently lost and recovered the state of the Person still remaining the same And such contingent things are these persuasions and manifestations they come and go are won and lost the state of the Person still remaining the same Iob was as much a justified Believer when he complained that God was his Enemy as when he could say I know that my Redeemer liveth The same may be said of David Heman Asaph and the greatest number of justified Believers recorded in Scripture There be two things belonging to a justified state 1. That which is essential and inseparable to wit Faith uniting the Soul to Christ. 2. That which is contingent and separable to wit evidence and persuasion of our interest in him Those Believers that walk in darkness and have no light have yet a real special interest in God as their God Isa. 50. 10. Here then you find Believers without persuasion or manifestation of God's love to them which could never be if justifying Faith consisted in a personal persuasion manifestation or evidence of the love of God and pardon of Sin to a Man's Soul That cannot be the justifying Faith spoken of in Scripture which a justified Person may live in Christ without and be as much in a state of pardon and acceptation with God when he wants it as when he hath it But such is persuasion evidence or manifestation of a man's particular interest in the love of God or the pardon of his Sins Therefore this is not the justifying Faith the Scripture speaks of Reason III. That only is justifying saving Faith which gives the Soul Right and Title to Christ and the saving benefits which come by Christ upon all the Children of God Now it is not persuasion that Christ is ours but acceptance of him that gives us interest in Christ and the
live but understand not that they live are born to a great Inheritance but have no knowledge of it or present comfort in it 4. I will further grant That the Eye of a Christian may be too intently fixed upon his own gracious qualification and being wholly taken up in the reflex Acts of Faith may too much neglect the direct Acts of Faith upon Christ to the great detriment of his Soul But all this notwithstanding The examination of our Justification by our Sanctification is not only a lawful and possible but a very excellent and necessary work and duty 'T is the course that Christians have taken in all Ages And that which God hath abundantly blessed to the joy and encouragement of their Souls He hath furnished our Souls to this end with noble self-reflecting Powers and Abilities He hath answerably furnished his Word with variety of marks and signs for the same end and use Some of these marks are exclusive to detect and bar bold presumptuous Pretenders 1 Cor. 6. 9. Rev. 21. 8 27. Some are inclusive marks to measure the strength and growth of Grace by Rom. 4. 20. And others are positive signs flowing out of the very essence of Grace or the New-Creature 1 Iohn 4. 13. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit He hath also expresly commanded us to examine and prove our selves upbraided the neglectors of that duty and enforced their duty upon them by a thundring Argument 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Iesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates In a word For this end and purpose amongst others were the Scriptures written 1 Iohn 5. 13. These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life And therefore to neglect this duty is exceeding dangerous but to deny and deride it intolerable It may justly be feared such men will be drown'd in perdition who fall into the waters by making a bridge over them with their own shadows For my own part I verily believe that the sweetest hours Christians enjoy in this World is when they retire into their Closets and sit there concealed from all eyes but him that made them looking now into the Bible then into their own Hearts and then up to God closely following the grand Debate about their Interest in Christ till they have brought it to the happy desired issue And now Reader for a close of all I call the Searcher of Hearts to witness That I have not intermedled with these Controversies of Antipaedobaptism and Antinomianism our of any delight I take in Polemical Studies or an unpeaceable contradicting Humour but out of pure zeal for the Glory and Truths of God for the vindication and defence whereof I have been necessarily ingaged therein And having discharged my duty thus far I now resolve to return if God will permit me to my much sweeter and more agreeable Studies Still maintaining my Christian Charity for those whom I oppose not doubting but I shall meet those in Heaven from whom I am forced in lesser things to dissent and differ upon Earth FINIS GOSPEL-UNITY Recommended to the CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN A SERMON Preached by I. F. Author of the Foregoing DISCOURSE FROM I COR. I. 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ That ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment WHEN I consider this Healing and Uniting Text and the scandalous Divisions of the Congregations to which I recommend it I could chuse rather to comment thereon with Tears than Words 'T is just matter of lamentation to think what feeble influences such Divine and Pathetical Exhortations have upon the minds and hearts of professed Christians But it is not Lamentations but proper Counsels and convictions obey'd must do the work The Primitive and Purest Churches of Christ consisted of imperfect Members who notwithstanding they were knit together by the same internal bond of the Spirit and the same external bonds of common Profession and common Danger and enjoyed extraordinary helps for uniting in the Presence and Doctrine of the Apostles among them yet quickly discovered a Schismatical Spirit dividing both in Judgment and Affection to the great Injury of Religion and Grief of the Apostle's Spirits To check and heal this growing-Evil in the Church at Corinth the Apostle addresses his Pathetical Exhortation to them and to all future Churches of Christ whom it equally concerns in the words of my Text. Now I beseech you brethren c. Where note 1. The Duty exhorted to 2. The Arguments enforcing the Duty 1. The Duty exhorted to namely Unity the Beauty Strength and Glory as well as the Duty of a Church This Unity he describes two ways 1. As it is Exclusive of its opposite Schism or Division All Rents and rash Separations are contrary to it and destructive of it I beseech you brethren that there be no Divisions or Schisms among you 2. As it is inclusive of all that belongs to it namely the Harmony and Agreement of their Judgments Hearts and Language 1. That ye all speak the same thing 2. That ye be perfectly joined together in one Mind And 3. In the same Judgment This threefold Union in Judgment Affection and Language includes all that belongs to Christian Concord makes the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of one Heart and Soul the loveliest sight this World affords Acts 2. 46 47. 2. The Arguments enforcing this Duty upon them comes next under consideration And these are Three 1. I beseech you 2. I beesech you Brethren 3. I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ. These Arguments are not of equal Force and Efficacy The first is great The second greater The last the most efficacious and irresistible of all the rest But all together should come with such Power and irresistible Efficacy upon the Judgments Consciences and Hearts of Christians as should perfectly knit them together and defeat all the Designs of Satan and his Agents without them or of their own Corruptions within them to rend asunder their Affections or Communion And first he enforces the Duty of Unity by a solemn Apostolical Obsecration and Adjuration I beseech you saith he he had Power to command them to this Duty and threaten them for the neglect of it He had in readiness to revenge all Disobedience and might have shaken that Rod over them but he chuseth rather to intreat and beseech them Now I beseech you Brethren Here you have as it were the great Apostle upon his knees before them Meekly and Pathetically entreating them to be at perfect Unity among themselves 'T is the intreaty of their Spiritual