Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	abraham_n	faith_n	work_n	983	5	7.3635	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39674	Planelogia, a succinct and seasonable discourse of the occasions, causes, nature, rise, growth, and remedies of mental errors written some months since, and now made publick, both for the healing and prevention of the sins and calamities which have broken in this way upon the churches of Christ, to the great scandal of religion, hardening of the wicked, and obstruction of Reformation : whereunto are subjoined by way of appendix : I. Vindiciarum vindex, being a succinct, but full answer to Mr. Philip Cary's weak and impertinent exceptions to my Vindiciæ legis & fæderis, II. a synopsis of ancient and modern Antinomian errors, with scriptural arguments and reasons against them, III. a sermon composed for the preventing and healing of rents and divisions in the churches of Christ / by John Flavell ... ; with an epistle by several divines, relating to Dr. Crisp's works.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1691 (1691)	Wing F1175; ESTC R21865	194,574	498

to confound Law and Gospel Adam's and Christ's Covenant but the distinction betwixt them is his own therefore my assumption was just That this blood was typically the blood of Christ and that the Holy Ghost signified the one by the other is plain from Heb. 9. 7 8. And I never met with that man that scrupled it before Mr. Cary. So then my first Argument to prove Abraham's Covenant of Circumcision to be the Covenant of Grace and not an Adam's Covenant or any part thereof stands firm after Mr. C's passionate Reply which I hope the Lord will pardon to him though he had scarce Charity enough left to desire a pardon for his Friend who had neither wronged the Truth nor him Argument II. My second Argument was this If Circumcision was the seal of the Righteousness of Faith it did not pertain to the Covenant of Works for the Righteousness of Faith and Works are opposite But Circumcision was the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 11. Ergo. The sum of what he answers to this p. 72 73 c. as far as I can pick his true sense out of a multitude of needless words is this He confesses this Argument seems very plausible but however Abraham was a Believer before Circumcision and tho indeed it sealed the Righteousness of Faith to him yet it sealed it to him only as the Father of Believers and denies that ever Jacob or Isaac or any other enrolled in that Covenant were sealed by it but to all the rest beside Abraham it was rather a token of servitude and bondage This is the sum and substance of his Reply But Sir let me ask you two or three plain Questions 1. What is the reason you silently slide over the Question I asked you p. 41. of my Vindiciae c Did you find it an hot Iron which you durst not touch 'T is like you did My Question was this Had Adam 's Covenant a seal of the righteousness of faith annexed to it as this had Rom. 4. 11 The righteousness of faith is evangelical righteousness and this Circumcision sealed Say not it was to Abraham only that it sealed it for 't is an injurious restriction put upon the Seal of a Covenant which extended to the Fathers as well as to Abraham however you admit that it sealed evangelical righteousness to Abraham but I hope you will not say that a Seal of the Covenant of Works for so you make Circumcision to be ever did or could seal evangelical righteousness to any individual person in the World I find you a man of great confidence but certainly here it failed you not one word in Reply to this 2. I told you your distinction was invented by Bellarmine and shew'd you where it was confuted by Dr. Ames but not a word to that 3. I show'd That the extending of that Seal to all Believers as well as Abraham is most agreeable to the drift and scope of the Apostle's Argument which is to prove that both Iews and Gentiles are justified by Faith as Abraham was and that the ground of ●ustification is common to both and that how great soever Abraham was yet in this case he hath found nothing whereof to glory And is not your Exposition a notable one to prove the community of the priviledge of Justification because the Seal of it was peculiar to Abraham alone p. 47 48. Sir You have spent words enough upon this Head to tire your Reader But why can I not meet with one word among them that fairly advances to grapple with my Argument or answer the important Questions before you upon which the matter depends If this be all you have to say I must tell you You are a weak manager of a bad Cause which is the less hazard to Truth Argument III. In the Covenant of Circumcision Gen. 17. God makes over himself to Abraham and his Seed to be their God or gives them a special interest in himself But in the Covenant of Works God doth not since the Fall make over himself to any to be their God by way of special interest Therefore the Covenant of Circumcision cannot be the Covenant of Works The sum of your Reply in p. 76. is under two Heads 1. You boldly tell me That God doth in the Covenant of Works make over himself to Sinners to be their God by way of special interest but it being upon such hard terms that it 's utterly impossible for Sinners that way to attain unto life he hath therefore been pleased to abolish that and make a new Covenant and bring Exod. 20. 2. to prove it This is new and strange Divinity with me 1. That God should become a People's God by way of special interest by vertue of the broken Covenant of Works This wholly alters the nature of that Covenant for then it was a Law that could give life contrary to Gal. 3. 21. unless you can suppose a Soul that 's totally dead in Sin to have a special interest in God as his God 2. This Answer of yours yields the Controversy about the nature of the Sinai Law for this very Concession of yours is the Medium by which our Divines prove it to be a Covenant of Grace 3. This Concession of yours confounds the two Covenants by communicating the essential property and prime privilege of the Covenant of Grace to Adam's Covenant of Works Either therefore expunge Ier. 31. 33. as a Covenant of Grace I will be their God and they shall be my people or allow that in Gen. 17. 7. to be specifically the same and that Exod. 20. though more obscurely delivered 4. You assert That God may actually become a Peoples God by way of special interest and yet the salvation of that People be suspended upon impossible terms You sent them before to Purgatory but by this you must send them directly to Hell for if the salvation of God's peculiar People be upon impossible terms 't is certain they cannot be saved And lastly It is an horrid reflection upon the Wisdom and Goodness of God who never did or will make any Covenant wherein he takes fallen Men to be his peculiar People and make over himself to be their God and yet not make provision for their Salvation in the same Covenant but leave their Salvation for many Ages upon hard and impossible terms i. e. leave them under damnation 2. I told you in my Vindiciae c. p. 49. that you were fain to cut Abraham's Covenant Gen. 17. into two parts and make the first to be the pure Covenant of Grace which is the promisory part to the 9th verse and the Restipulation as you call it p. 205. to be as pure a Covenant of Works Which I truly said was a bold Action and in so calling it I gave it a softer name than the nature of it deserved The sum of what you reply to this is 1. By denying the matter of fact and charging me with misrepresentation and in

ΠΛΑΝΗΛΟΓΙΑ A SUCCINCT and SEASONABLE DISCOURSE OF THE Occasions Causes Nature Rise Growth and Remedies of MENTAL ERRORS Written some Months since and now made publick both for the healing and prevention of the Sins and Calamities which have broken in this way upon the Churches of Christ to the great scandal of Religion hardening of the Wicked and obstruction of Reformation Whereunto are subjoined by way of Appendix I. Vindiciarum Vindex Being a Succinct but Full Answer to Mr. Philip Cary's weak and impertinent Exceptions to my Vindiciae Legis Foederis II. A Synopsis of Ancient and Modern Antinomian Errors with Scriptural Arguments and Reasons against them III A SERMON composed for the preventing and healing of Rents and Divisions in the Churches of Christ. By IOHN FLAVELL Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon With an EPISTLE by several Divines Relating to Dr. CRISP's Works LONDON Printed by R. Roberts for Tho. Cockerill at the Three-Leggs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market 1691. THE Reverend Author of the ensuing Treatises having in them explained and defended several Gospel-Truths unto which divers things in the Writings of the Reverend Dr. Crisp deceased do seem very opposite Whereas some of us who subscribed a Paper the design whereof was only to testify That we believed certain Writings of the Doctor 's never before Published were faithfully transcribed by his Son the Publisher of them which Paper is now by the Bookseller prefixed to the whole Volume containing a large Preface which we never saw till after the publication together with all the Doctor 's former Works that were published many years before And are hereupon by some weak People misunderstood as if by that Certificate we intended an Approbation of all that is contained in that Volume We declare we had no such intention As the Paper we subscribed hath no word in it that gives any such intimation But are well pleased these later Writings are Publish'd in reference whereto We only certified our belief which we fixedly retain of the Publisher's fidelity as they contain many passages in them that may in some measure remedy the hard and hurtful construction that many expressions were more liable to in the former whereof the Doctor seem'd apprehensive himself when in the beginning of his Discourse on Tit. 2. 11 12. he speaks thus Beloved I am jealous of you with an holy jealousy 1 Cor. 11. 2 3. Lest after the sweet wooing of you in Christ's Name that you might be espoused unto him I say I am jealous and fear lest as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty namely bewitching her to a presumptuous licentious adventuring on God's gentleness while she tasted the forbidden Fruit so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in him namely by presuming too much upon him and adventuring to continue in Sin in hope that Grace may abound For the preventing of which dangerous miscarriage which hath been the dangerous lot of many Thousands I thought good to step in with this Text which I am persuaded will prove a seasonable warning to some at least And this Pio●● caution of the Author 〈◊〉 lest he should be misunderstood gives us some grounds to believe that be intended them not in the more exceptionable 〈◊〉 'T is best if any unwary Reader receive hurt that he receive his healing also from the same hand and whereas a Paper was Printed upon this occasion soon after the Publication of the Doctor 's Works We willingly adopt so much of it as is requisite to our present purpose which is to this effect Some who Subscribed this Certificate saw only the Paper it self to which subscription was desired never having perused the Works of Dr. Crisp. The Certificate only concerned the Son not the Father and certified only concerning the Son That they who should subscribe it believed him in this to deal truly that he was not a Falsarius that he would not say that was his Father's which was not so a Paper so sober so modest was taken by it self scarce refusable by a Friend The Son's Preface some that subscribed this Certificate saw not nor had any notice or the least imagination of its Contents otherwise the part of a Friend had certainly been done as well in advising against much of the Preface as in subseribing the Certificate For the Works of this Reverend Person themselves as it no way concern'd the subscribing this Certificate to know what they were so from the opinion that went of the Author among many good Men That he was a Learned Pious Good Man it was supposed they were likely to have in them many good and useful things to which it was only needful to think them his not to think them perfect We may in some respect judge of Books as of Men i. e. reckon that though divers very valuable Men have had remarkable failings yet that upon the whole 't is better they have lived and been known in the World than that they should not have lived or have lived obscure The truth is which we have often considered that though the great Doctrines of Christian Religion do make a most coherent comely Scheme which every one should labour to comprehend and digest in his mind yet when the Gospel first becomes effectual for the changing mens hearts 't is by God's blessing this or that passage which drops the most discern not the series and connection of Truths at first and too little afterwards Vpon that view of Dr. Crisp's Writings we have had since the Publication we find there are many things said in them with that good savour quickness and spirit as to be very apt to make good impressions upon mens hearts and do judge that being greatly affected with the Grace of God to Sinners himself his Sermons did thereupon run much in that strain All our minds are little and incomprehensive we cannot receive the weight and impression of all necessary things at once but with some inequality so that when the Seal goes deeper in some part 't is the shallower in some others If some parts of Dr. Crisp's Works be more liable to exception the danger of hurt thereby seems in some measure obviated in some other As when he says p. 46 vol. 1. Sanctification of Life is an inseparable Companion with the Justification of a Person by the Free-Grace of Christ. And Vol. 4. p. 93. That in respect of the Rules of Righteousness or the Matter of Obedience we are under the Law still or else we are Lawless to live every Man as seems good in his own eyes which I know no true Christian does so much as think In like manner whereas Vol. 2. Serm. 15. and perhaps elsewhere the Doctor seems to be against evidencing our Justification and Union to Christ by our Sanctification and new Obedience we have the truth of God in this matter plainly deliver'd by him Vol. 4. p. 36. when he teacheth that our Obedience is a comfortable evidence of our

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