the Sin of many by the Bishop's saying This makes us apt to lessen the Divine Perfections and our just sense of the difference of Good and Evil and our Obligations to all sorts of Duties Cujus contrarium Nothing more contrary For what can honour more the Glory of God's Holiness and the Infiniteness of his Grace and Goodness than his sending his own Eternal Son to undergo that horrid Task by his own consent of bearing our Sins that we might be free And what greater Argument of the difference of Good and Evil than Christ's suffering so great an Evil as the bearing our Sins that we might have so great a Good as Reconciliation to God Pardon and Eternal Salvation thereby And what greater spur to all the Duties of Holiness than our being delivered from all our Enemies Sin Death and Hell by the precious Blood of his Dear Son O! what an ingagement is this to serve him without fear all the days of our Lives And this Love of God in Christ being shed abroad in our Hearts will constrain us so to do much more than all the thundring Terrors of the Law which only work Condemnation But this Grace of God bringing Salvation this teaches effectually to deny ungodliness and to live righteously c. Therefore I humbly conceive the Bishop is out in saying It makes us apt to lessen the Divine Perfections whereas all the Torments in Hell of all final Unbelievers to all Eternity cannot so heighten and glorifie the Justice and Holiness of God as our Lord Jesus shedding his precious Blood which is called the Blood of God doth heighten and glorifie both his Holiness and his Grace to all that believe in this Lord Jesus and accept of him and this way of Salvation by him and him alone §. CLIV. But the frightful Charge against Dr. Crisp is That this Change of Persons makes Christ the Sinner then Christ is the Murderer and the Adulterer not David I answer Could not Christ bear the Sin and be the reputed Criminal without his being really and personally the Sinner What more common among Men than for a Surety to bear the burden of that Debt which he never contracted a penny of yet lyes in Goal for the whole and before he comes out pays the whole So our Lord Jesus standing in our place paid the whole as the voluntary Surety in our stead and yet was no more the Murderer than David was the Christ But he took David's Person on him and put himself on David to be his Righteousness as David sweetly sings O God my Righteousness Psal 4.1 But the great Jealousie is That Men think if Christ did really bear the Sins of the Elect the very Murder and Adultery of David c. that this did defile and taint the Holy Nature of Jesus Christ and so they would infer that the Free Grace Teachers would be saved by a defiled polluted Saviour Whereas there is nothing more inconsistent for there is none that believes the infinite incomprehensible Holiness and Purity of our Lord Jesus Holy with all the perfection of Holiness as God his Eternal Father is Holy but must conclude it is impossible that his Holy Nature should be tainted or polluted by the Sins of the Elect charged upon him and lying upon him for if instead of bearing the Sins only of all that the Father had given to him he being God-Man he had born the Sins of Ten Thousand Worlds full of Sinners they could not have defiled his Holy Nature there being an infinite disproportion between his infinite Holiness and Man's finite Sins so that they could no more defile him than a Viper's or a Toad's spitting Poyson against the Sun can defile the Sun Therefore I say with boldness If we believe our Lord Jesus to be true God and consider the infinite Purity of this Holy God our Lord Jesus Christ in our Humane Nature we cannot conceive that this Humane Nature could possibly be tainted or contaminated by his being made Sin for us and by bearing our Sin for the same Scripture that saith God made him to be Sin for us saith also He knew no Sin that is so as to be in his Holy Person guilty of any Sin of his own or to allow of any Sin to go unpunished §. CLV It would do well for all that stumble at our Sins our very Sins being by God laid on Christ and he as our Surety made Sin for us and that think that this will lessen the Divine Perfections and our Sense of the difference of Good and Evil to consider that our Lord Jesus is called by the same Name as the Sacrifices of old were called that had the Sins of the People laid on them they were called Sin so is our Lord Jesus Nay he compares himself to the Serpent Was the Serpent cursed beyond all the Beasts of the Field Christ is said to be made a Curse for us Did the Brazen Serpent lifted up heal all that look'd to it of their Stings of the Fiery Serpents So saith our Lord Jesus As the Serpent was lifted up shall the Son of Man be That whosoever believeth in him that being taken for looking to him and being Saved he shall not perish but have everlasting Life Can any sober Christian think that God himself would lessen the Divine Perfections of his Nature or of his Son Jesus who is one with himself Whom he charges all Men to Honour as they Honour the Father by his giving up his Son to Death for us all and by putting our Sins on him and giving the Name of Sin and comparing him to the Serpent for being a Curse We should rather from hence learn the Infinite Love of the Father and the Son and his Infinite Hatred of Sin insomuch as nothing could expiate it or take out the Stain of it from us but the Blood of him that was God §. CLVI And because our whole Concern to all Eternity depends on God's making Christ to be Sin for us and thereby glorifying the Divine Perfections of his Wisdom Holiness and Goodness not lessening them as is intimated I think it may to some be useful to give an Instance or two of the Sacrifices that had the Sins of the People laid on them how they as Types of Christ were called Sin they are in near 100 places called Sin and Guilt and yet at the same time they were called Most Holy as in Lev. 6.17 it is said of the Meat-offering It is most Holy as the Sin-offering and the Trespass-offering and more plainly in v. 25. This is the Law of the sin-offering it shall be killed before the Lord It is most Holy Nay so Holy it was that in Verse 27. it is said Whosoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy Now though these were so Holy yet it is to be observed that in both these places the 17th and 25th Verses that the word which we translate Sin-offering is in the Original only Sin the word being Chattath
of which you may find whole Sermons on that Text Tit. 2.12 The Grace of God teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live godly righteously and soberly So that from his Doctrine there is no Reason to make that an unpardonable Sin to assert the necessity of Regeneration and as little Reason to do it on account of his Conversation which through the Grace of God was by the Report even of his Enemies untainted yea exemplarily holy as several at this day in this City can witness For farther Satisfaction be pleased to read him on the Sermon intituled Free Grace the Teacher of good Works where he saith in Fol. 35 Good Works are necessary ex parte Dei ex parte Rei ex parte nostri on the part of God on account of the Thing it self and on our own account O! that it might please God to fill my Dear Kratiste's Bosom with fervent Charity to prevent for the future his charging a fervent Servant of our Lord Jesus as if it were an unpardonable Sin against such an one to urge the necessity of Holiness Though still I take it to be an unaccountable Contradiction to the Gospel and the Free Grace of God in Christ whereby we are saved for any to assert the necessity of our Holiness so as that it shall come in to have any share with our Lord Jesus in the saving us for in that respect we must always say with David Psal 62. He only is my Rock and my Salvation and in Psal 71.16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy Righteousness of thine only There must not come in one Rag of our own no not so much as to wrap about a cut Finger 'T is only the fine white Linnen of Christ's Righteousness can recommend us acceptable to God with which the good Lord cloath us §. XCV The next excursion to be lamented in my Dear Kratiste is his branding all that dissent from the Writings of Mr. Williams to be whaffling Whelps that can bark and not bite In Fol. 58 he speaking of Exceptions that were made or to be made against Mr. William's Writings saith thus Was ever a poor Creature thus tyed to a Stake to be baited by the English Molossi and by every whaffling Whelp that could bark though not bite This is very hard Language against his dissenting Brethren in the Ministry I cannot now wonder at what an Eminent Person told me lately That the Rebuker had better have cut off his Fingers than to have written that which he calls A Faithful Rebuke Was it ever heard of that a Gentleman a Scholar a Divine one Sagacious to an high degree should so far indulge his Heat as to call the Reverends Mr. Cole and Mr. Mather now with the Lord at Rest dying in the Joy and Comfort of opposing Mr. Williams's Errors and to call Hundreds of Able Divines in this Kingdom and in effect to call all the reformed Churches abroad and our Reformers at home that made the Homilies wherein they do oppose his Errors to call them all whaffling Whelps that can bark and not bite O! that there might be a due Reflection then there would be smiting on the Breast and saying What have I done to reflect so indecently on the Servants of the most High lest our Lord Jesus cast him to the Ground with a Saul Saul why persecutest thou me §. XCVI O how sad is it that my Dear Kratiste should so far ingage himself in such a Cause as he should think might need such Railings as suit only to a Rabshakeh not a Protestant Divine This is the way to have Ismaels Character his Hand against every Man and every Man's Hand against him O! that the Lord would cause him upon a Melius Inquirendum to pour some Oyl upon this Vinegar of whaffling Whelps and that he would follow Holy Austin and retract such Language and own Humanum est errare One would stand in admiration at such an Expression from one that would surely be accounted a lover and learner of our Lord Jesus who was meek and lowly and so far from calling any of his followers whaffling Whelps that he called Judas his betrayer Friend Mat. 26.50 and when he was reviled he reviled not again and when he was forced to chide his Disciples how sweetly doth he do it Ye know not what Spirit ye are of And so I suppose may be said of this Rebuker §. XCVII What if Paul and Barnabas differed so that they parted one from another did Paul call the other a Whelp a whaffling Whelp Sure our faithful Rebuker when the Lord shall be pleased to convince him of his excess herein he will go and bewail this before the Lord that he hath opened the Mouths of Scorners who may say we may well call these Parsons a parcel of pitiful Fellows for you see how one of the first Rank calls his Brethren Whelps whereas the Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle towards all 2 Tim. 2.24 How happy would it be if all that fear the Lord would learn of Abraham who said to Lot Let there be no strife between thee and me for we be Brethren §. XCVIII He having provoked the Reporter now he fears his Friend Mr. Williams whom he has taken this Pains for may be set in the Pillory there to be palted with rotten Eggs and all this because it had been propounded that he should give Satisfaction about what might be excepted against him And I pray where can the hurt of this be that he should be desired to satisfie those that object against him Is this palting him with rotten Eggs If he be to be palted with Eggs of his own laying that are not very sound I know one that hath got together about a hundred out of his Nest of Man made Righteous besides what are laid in his Gospel-Truth If it should happen that some of these be cast on him and defile him it is not his Friends flattering can make him clean 't is only his going into the Fountain of Life the Lord Jesus can take away all the uncleanness that such Eggs will bring upon him I will cast none of them at him but only break three of them before him which I am sure have a worse savour than the rottenest Egg in the Town these I take out of Fol. 140 of Gospel-Truth where he saith The respect to Glory which our good Works have they are as Seed to the Harvest that 's one and as the Foundation to the Building that s a second and as Work to Wages there 's a third So that he makes our good Works to be our Christ Jesus I begin with his second as being most of the Romish scent Our good Works have the same respect to Glory that the Foundation hath to the Building Was ever any thing more Popish Doth not the Scripture say I lay in Zion for a Foundation a Stone a tryed Stone Isa
and Arminianism through the great Mercy of God to this Nation hath been kept alive and warm in all Parliaments since 1628 even in the Reign of King James the Second and there is no doubt of losing it in this Reign wherein His Majesty hath given good Proof that he is neither Papist nor Arminian nor inclining thereto Now whether the Quotations in this Treatise do not shew that some mentioned therein go against the Orthodox Church judge ye and the Lord give you VVisdom to withstand Thus hoping for a favourable Construction of my Endeavour pro modulo si non pro voto to vindicate the Truths of the Gospel I beg the Lord's Blessing on you and am Your Humble Servant Hananiel Philalethes 28 July 1698. To my Dear Kratiste the Author of the Rebuke and Vilifier of Dr. Crisp SIR I Cannot but be troubled that in your declining days you should inflame the Reckoning as you have done in your Rebuke to the Grief of your best Friends among whom my self am particularly concerned that you should so violently let fly against those Truths of the Gospel which have solaced the Souls of Thousands as held forth by the Doctor whom you have very ungravely treated as an Heterodox wild Monster to the Eternal Infamy of his Name and Family what in you lay I hope e're this God hath caused you often to mourn over your intemperate Management of your Rebuke and lest you should come short therein that I may provoke you seriously thereto I think it necessary to lay before you the Character I had lately from a Worthy Minister of the Gospel and Friend of yours concerning him you have so unmercifully traduced which was given by one that sometimes in the height of his Zeal was as bitter as any against Dr. Crisp except your self that is by Mr. Richard Baxter upon his Death-Bed but two days before he dyed as this Friend of yours assured me once and again that Mr. Baxter told him and he related it to you very lately as thus that Mr. Baxter said to your Friend There has been a great deal of Talk about Dr. Crisp but I look upon him to have been a Godly Holy Man and that he was Sound and Orthodox and that he brought in more Souls to Christ than any of us but this was his Fault said Mr. Baxter that being a Popular Man and mightily flock'd after he would preach Extempore Sermons which exposed him to deliver Things undigested which needed to be corrected but for the main he was Sound and Orthodox For which Testimony I thanking the Relater desired him to give me it in Writing in ipsissimis Verbis but being prudent he desired Excuse and repeated the same again to me and afterwards to others I told him as to the Extempore Sermons that was a great Mistake to my knowledge and I was glad God had convinced so great an Enemy to the Doctor Now if this be true as there is not the least grain of ground to doubt it coming from a Faithful Holy Minister then surely Dr. Crisp was not such an one as my Kratiste hath blackned him to be God having provided for the embalming his Memory with sweet Odours even from his gain-sayers when launching into Eternity to give an account of their hard Speeches unrepented of I hope it may please the Lord by his Holy Spirit striking in with this and other Occurrences to lower the top-sails of my good Friend before he brings you to the brink of Eternity when your Natural Parts will signifie nothing and that you may have more Time than Mr. B had to testifie to the World your high prizing the Free Grace of God in Christ as held out by many besides Dr. Crisp as in the ensuing Treatise and that you may testifie to the World also that your Father in Law Mr. King mistook in his Prophesie saying as I am told That his Son in Law your self had good Parts but his Pride would undo him But I hope and pray the contrary viz. That God would undo him only of Natural self and do him up again by the renewing of the Spirit To his Grace I commend you and am Your real Friend a Happy tho' Vnworthy Branch of the Doctor Hananiel Philalethes 28 July 1698. To all that love our Lord Jesus in Sincerity Grace Mercy and Peace with Growth therein while they peruse a few Remarks on a Rebuke to a Report concerning some Differences between the Congregational Ministers and Presbyterian wherein the Rebuker to Vindicate Mr. Williams hath bespattered not only Dr. Crisp and others he calls Antinomians but some great Doctrines of the Gospel which are Establish'd by Law in the Homilies and which by Act of Parliament are to be Read in Parish Churches when there is no Sermon SECTION I. I Who account my self a Happy though Unworthy Branch of the said Doctor finding in the abovesaid Rebuke that the Author has flown into frothy and bitter Invectives against the Reporter Mr. Lob for a very Modest Account he had given of the Differences among some Ministers and that the Rebuker hath branded Dr. Crisp and his Sermons with Crispian Heresies c. though mostly consonant with the Scripture and the Judgment of Thousands of serious Christians but chiefly I finding the great Doctrine of the Free Grace of God in Christ as asserted by the great Reformers to be in the said Rebuke obscured whereby Socinianism and Arminianism gets ground and being incouraged by Augustine in Antisozzo his saying That all Men that can handle a Pen are obliged to say somewhat against the Enemies to the Free Effectual Grace of God I therefore think it my Duty for the Honour of our Lord Jesus to spend a few Hours in some necessary Remarks on the said Rebuke and though but in a mean manner yet humbly to offer this Mite of my Testimony to the Truth so far as the Lord shall guide me which I humbly implore his assistance in by detecting several Blemishes cast on the Truth in the said Rebuke which I premise with that saying of our Lord Jesus Wisdom is justified of her Children §. II. So I desire these Remarks may be which begin with noteing the Sarcasms or Taunts the Rebuker casts on Mr. Lob for his Report which first entrance shews with what an unbeseeming Spirit he manages his Design To which I may say Do Men gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles By their Fruits you shall know them Can any expect our Lord Jesus should be honoured in such a Discourse which begins with treating a Reverend Minister with such opprobrious Language as in the two first Pages to cast these Eleven Reflections on him As Prevaricating Partial A Learned Divine In a Jeer. Insolent Scribler A Huff Little Fooleries Fire-balls So he calls his Papers Poyson Pedantick Great Wit In a Scoff To which I Remark That doleful is the Consideration that God should suffer an Eminent Person a Reverend Divine of the First Rate in the
nevertheless is no Encouragement to any to Sin but a Devil and if all works for good to those that love God then though Sin may bring dreadful Chastisements they are for good and not for real hurt to a Believer not that we are to continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid §. XXXIX The Fourteenth God is not displeased with his People nor angry with the Persons of Believers for their Sins I answer God saith whom he loves he loves to the end whom he loves he may Rebuke and Chasten and yet not be angry with them he is angry with the Wicked every day but as to his People he is God and changes not and his Kindness endures for ever This is such a Maxim that 't is the conclusion of every Verse of the 136th Psalm we translate it His Mercy endures for ever but the word is chasdo his Kindness 't is that which endures for ever I know the Rebuker loves a learned Testimony from Man to concur with the Word of God take it then from one never accounted an Antinomian though in this as great an one as Dr. Crisp nay such another as the Apostle Paul I say in this particular concerning the Unchangeableness of God's Love to his People even Famous Pemble who saith thus in his Tract of Grace and Faith Fol. 22. I would have you saith he learn a Distinction between God's Love in it self and its Manifestation to us The first is PERPETVAL from all to all Eternity without CHANGE Increase or Lessening towards every one of the Elect But the Manifestation of this to our Consciences begins in time at our Conversion We may truly say that God's Love to us when he decreed to Save us is one and the same without Addition with that which he manifests to us when he glorifies us if not say I there is a Change in God That holy Flame of Love burns as hot to us now as then his Love to their Persons is from Everlasting the same nor doth their Sinfulness lessen it though it may hide it nor their Sanctity increase it because God in loving their Persons never considered them otherwise than as most perfectly Holy and Vnblameable in Christ God approves of their Persons while he disallows their Corruptions and when his fiercest Wrath was shewed against their Sins in the Person of Christ then did God most compassionately love the Persons both of Christ and of all the Elect. O! that our New-law Men would or could well weigh these Passages highly consistent with the Unchangeable unvariable immutable Nature of God This Testimony though but Humane is founded on good Ground I the Lord change not Had Dr. Crisp written this then we had had an Out-cry of Notorious Antinomian Heresie But we must wait at the Throne of Grace in behalf of Opposers for 't is God alone gives Eye-salve to see into the Mystery of the unsearchable Riches of his Grace to poor Sinners in Christ that their Sinfulness doth not lessen his Love to the Elect though he still hates Sin in them as much as if they were Damned to Eternal Burnings for every Sin which is due to them but they are borne and suffered for by our Blessed Lord Jesus the Just for the Unjust by his once Suffering for Sins even for all and every Sin of those given to him from Eternity that he might bring us to God To whom be Glory for ever §. XL. The Fifteenth Heresie as he calls it is Legal Convictions before Saving Faith are no more than Sin it 's but the filthy Conscience polluting Guilt of Sin Answer Surely my Dear Kratiste forgot himself here or rather the Word of God which he should ever steer his Course by Doth not the Scripture say plainly Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 And doth not the Apostle shew what he got by his Legal Convictions before Faith that the Law wrought in him all manner of Concupiscence Rom. 7. I was alive without the Law but when the Command came when Legal Convictions came Sin revived and I died and Sin taking occasion by the Command or by Legal Convictions wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence Here we see the Fruit of Legal Convictions O! how ill doth it become such as would be accounted Ministers of the Gospel to run thus to Moses and to talk at that rate as if any Work of ours before true Faith were ought but Sin and if Sin it must be Conscience-polluting And where is the Heresie now If there be Sin in our best Duties after Faith or else why was the High Priest to have a Plate of Gold on his Fore-head to take away the Iniquity of their Holy Things what then are Works before Faith but Conscience-polluting I desire my Kratiste to take another Turn with the Reverend Assembly and see what they say of this viz. Works done by Vnregenerate Men because they proceed not from an Heart purified by Faith they are sinful Titus 1.15 To the Defiled and Vnbelieving is nothing pure §. XLI The Sixteenth All imperfect Holiness is Sin This methinks the Rebuker may blush to mention for an Heresie seeing the Scripture saith He that errs in one point is guilty of all and Cursed is he that continues not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them So that the discontinuance a moment from doing all things commanded in the Law brings a Curse if there be but the least Deviation from the perfect Rule So that if our Holiness be in the least short of the full Requirement of the Law it brings a Curse which it could not do if it were not Sin But here lies the Core the Heart of the Armenian Spirit as I take it That God accepts imperfect Holiness for Christ's sake in the stead of perfect As for the first part that God accepts imperfect Holiness for Christ's sake the Orthodox do hold but it is only as Christ hath taken away the Sin of the Imperfection by his once offering himself for all the Sins of the Elect but God never accepts it as perfect or in the stead of perfect that would be to accept it for what it is not much less doth God accept us for our imperfect Holiness Besides the Scripture saith All our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags What is that but Sin And the Assembly say The best Works wrought by us are defiled and if so then 't is no Heresie to say All imperfect Holiness is Sin And one would wonder how it should enter into the Thoughts of these Antagonists to subscribe what they have done of the Assemblies Confession and yet assert that to be Heresie which is owned by them for solid Truth §. XLII The seventeenth Heresie is to say Turn ye Turn ye why will you dye is but the triumph of the Law over a dead Sinner Answer The bare outward Call to Sinners to turn you will grant is not sufficient to turn them for they are by Nature dead
Spirit Could she and Christ be one Spirit Could she have the Comeliness of Christ upon her and not appear in his Person How could her Name as well as his be the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 33.16 23.6 if she did not take upon her the Person and Condition of Christ Or how else could she be called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 O that we did more taste the Sweetness and Comfort of this Relation and Condition every day then instead of calling it uncooth and novel we should give Glory to God for his Infinite Rich Grace to marry us to his Son Jesus and be ravished with his amazing Love to make such vile Creatures as we are in our selves in whose Flesh as the Apostle saith in Rom. 7. dwells no good thing that we should be Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones which is to take his Person and Condition with a witness What new coyned business is it to say Christ and Believers are one that they take his Person and he theirs when the Scripture so frequently speaks of I in them and they in me I the Surety they the Discharged I standing in their stead taking their Sins on me and so sustaining their Persons Thus they taking his Person and Condition are made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 O that we could well conceive and receive this that we could feed and feast on this Marrow and Fatness of the Gospel every day and drink deep draughts of this Unsearchable Rich Grace of God then we should adore his Goodness and not call it a Monster or a wild monstrous Sense this Change of Persons §. LXVII For the Conclusion the Rebuker is pleased to leave the dreadful Tail of his wild Monster in his Comment on the Doctor 's Scripture Assertion in these words And now you have it that Change of Persons which the Doctor affirms and Mr. Williams denies which had he not he had denied his Redeemer and betrayed the Gospel Here 's a deadly Sting in this Tail a very malignant one for it is neither better nor worse than to say the Doctor by his wild monstrous Sense of the Change of Persons has denyed his Redeemer and betrayed the Gospel Bona verba easily and dangerously enough said but not at all proved I am sure he that denies Christ being made of God Sin for us very Sin not the shadow or shell of Sin and that denies our being made the Righteousness of God the very Righteousness of God-Man Jesus Christ in him he by having our very Sins laid on him he therein sustaining our Persons and we by having his very Righteousness imputed to us and being upon us whereby we stand in his Person and appear Righteous in the sight of God as he is Righteous as being cloathed with his Righteousness he is the denyer of Christ and betrayer of the Gospel nay he wholly evacuates and exinanitiates the Gospel For what Benefit can we have by Christ's Death if our Sins were not made his and laid on him and he made Sin for us Or by his Righteousness if it be not made ours given to us and we appear in it in and through Jesus Christ before God How could the Apostle say of any Man 1 John 3.7 He is Righteous as God is Righteous but by his believing in Christ where his Faith is accounted to him for Righteousness As Abraham's Faith justified him not his Act of Faith barely but the Act taking in the Object of it viz. Christ's Righteousness and so he truly doth Righteousness that believes in the Lord Jesus his Righteousness and Strength and thus doing Righteousness he becomes Righteous as he is Righteous and to deny this is to betray the Gospel in order to bring in our own Righteousness to joyn it with Christs as it were by the Works of the Law Rom. 9.32 Or how are we accepted in the Beloved if we do not appear in his Person before God and so sustain his Person Is this a denying Christ and betraying the Gospel O that God would anoint Mens Eyes with the Collirium the Eye-Salve of the Spirit then they would be able to bear the light of the Glory of God as it shines on and in poor Creatures in the Face of Christ to make Righteous as he is Righteous and not dazzle them to make them call this betraying the Gospel §. LXVIII It may do well for all Calumniators to consider the Judgment that God inflicted on the Children at Bethel that mock'd Elisha saying Come up thou bald Head Come up thou bald Head which is a thousand times less detracting than to say thou denyer of Christ and betrayer of the Gospel whereupon there came out of the Forest two She-Bears and tare in pieces 42 of them Which was a far less Judgment than what God has inflicted on some to leave them to write against the Truth and thereby to harden themselves and grieve the Godly So far as the Rebuker has dipt his Pen in Gall in this kind I only say The Lord rebuke thee Is not this a Brand pluck'd out of the Fire What! call a faithful fervent Servant of our Lord Jesus the Air of whose Sermons carries such a favour of Love and Honour to our Lord Jesus and such a Zeal for Holiness that his very Enemies even Mr. Williams could say he believed he was a Holy Man I say for my Dear Kratiste to call such an one A wild monstrous denyer of his Redeemer and betrayer of the Gospel has a dismal Aspect as if God had left such if not to the hardening their Heart against the Truth yet to such an high towering Opinion of themselves in order to the greater humbling them that for their falling into such contemptuous Language they may be made contemptible by some sharp Pen. We read that Michael when contending with the Devil about the Body of Moses he durst not bring a railing Accusation against him but said The Lord rebuke thee And so I beseech the Lord in Mercy to do to all that call the Advancers of Free Grace in Christ by such virulent Names as we have seen §. LXIX In Page 41 our Dear Kratiste seems mighty angry with the Reporter Mr. L. for saying It 's impossible to establish the Doctrine of Justification on its true and proper Basis any otherwise than by clearing the Point of Commutation of Persons And yet the Rebuker himself owns this to be Articulus stantis vel cadentis Ecclesiae Then sure it ought to be cleared And how can that be That the Holy Innocent Jesus should be made Sin and the Unholy the Nocent Sinners should be made the Righteousness of God but by a Commutation of Persons He standing in our stead being our Surety sustaining our Persons on the Cross suffering for us as Calvin Luther Twiss Pemble Harris with a multitude more do affirm whom the Rebuker will own to be of the First Form of Learned Holy Divines not Apocryphal Tobiases and we
for my part if I did not look on the Lord Jesus as sustaining my Person on the Cross and sustaining it every moment not only by his common Providence but in himself and by himself as Flesh of my Flesh I must look on my self as I am in my self a lost wretched forlorn Creature to be miserable in Hell to all Eternity But I flee for refuge to him to be kept in this Faith I in them holy Father and thou in me that they may be perfect in one John 17. That is in himself the blessed Lord Jesus sustaining our persons to whom be Glory for ever §. XCI I come now to his Postscript which is sharp and stinging to purpose as if he had not sufficiently degraded Dr. Crisp in the body of the Rebuke he blackens him by comparing the Doctor to Apocryphal Tobias and Mr. Williams to Canonical Daniel thus All this is nothing but a tryal of Skill between the Apocryphal Story of Tobias and the Canonical History of Daniel Tobias and Daniel being the first Names of the Doctor and Mr. Williams as much as to say all the Doctor 's Sermons are Apocryphal Stories but Mr. Williams s Books of Gospel-Truth are Canonical History To which I may return there is also the Canonical History of Tobias and there is the Apocryphal Story of Daniel relating the filthiness of the Elders with Susanna For instance Tobijah which signifies my good Lord hath near as honourable a memorial put upon him in Canonical Scripture as Daniel God my Judge 'T is true Daniel is called O greatly beloved and God grant that our Daniel may be so also upon a due sense of his Miscarriages in his Books and Converse It is also true in Zach. 6.10 14. of Tobias he was to take Silver and Gold and make Crowns And 't is said The Crowns shall be for Helem and Tobiah c. Here was a Crown for Tobijah signifying the Crown of Righteousness and I question not but your traduced Tobijah hath been wearing one before the Throne and before the Lamb and casting it down before him this Fifty Five Years Here were several Crowns made and I hope one remains for my Dear Kratiste for the blessed Jesus pardons and so overlooks innumerable Failings and will give a Crown of Righteousness to all that love him that will submit to his Righteousness Then for the Apocryphal Story 'T is true Tobiah is brought in with his Dog following him but no Dogs barking at him Such Things are reserved for these latter days But how is Daniel brought in He like my dear Kratiste comes in giving a faithful Rebuke to a sad Report of a Lascivious Elder and saith O thou Elder that art waxen old in Wickedness thy Sins are come to light §. XCII What Issue have we of this tryal of Skill Is your Tobias the more Apocryphal because his Name is in the Apocrypha And is your Daniel the more Canonical in his Writings because his Name-sake was 〈◊〉 Man greatly beloved Or on the other side may not your Tobias have a Crown given him as well as Tobijah had one And may not your Elder have a severe Rebuke given him as well as Daniel's Apocryphal Elder had one For every one shall receive according to his own Work So that this Apocryphal Witticism might have been spared for any honour it can bring to your Daniel or dishonour to Tobias But this is plain evidence that the Rebuker hereby declares that he takes all the Discourses of Dr. Crisp of the Free Grace of God in Christ to be Apocryphal Stories and all that Mr. Williams hath writ is Canonical History especially his Gospel-Truth stated which is supported by himself and Forty Eight more Vouchers This must pass for Canonical though he makes room therein for more to be saved than ever God chose in Christ and though he saith to this purpose That God hath set up a New Law that doth not require SINLESS Obedience §. XCIII In the next place he treats the Doctor more roughly if not prophanely for he calls the asserting the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and Faith the unpardonable Sin against the Doctor whereas we know of no unpardonable Sin but that against the Holy Ghost which some in opposing clear Gospel Free-Grace come very near unless they do it ignorantly But to talk of an unpardonable Sin against the Doctor and that for asserting what the Doctor never denyed is a strange strain of Wrath against his Memory His words are these in Pa. 56 57 That although the express Word of God doth express the necessity of Regeneration to our entring into the Kingdom of God and requires Repentance that our Sins may be blotted out and Faith in Christ that we may be justified This the Rebuker calls the Brethrens fully bearing Testimony against the Antinomians and adds that their asserting this is the unpardonable Sin against Dr. Crisp The Rebuker means that Mr. Lob accounts this Testimony of the Rebuker to be the unpardonable Sin against Dr. Crisp which I may say is Gratis dictum sed non gratiosé It is freely said but not graciously I do not see what could be spoken with more malignity to say it is never to be forgiven by Dr. Crisp's Vindicators to say Regeneration Repentance and Faith are necessary Sure my dear Kratiste cannot be thought not to have read Dr. Crisp where he may find this Charge That the Doctor accounts it a horrid Crime to assert Faith Repentance and Regeneration necessary to be most false I appeal to the Rebuker's Conscieâ—ce for I 〈◊〉 not but he hath read the Doctor 's Sermons or Dr. Chancy's Quotations where he brings in Dr. Crisp saying in express words quite contrary to this Charge and fully owning the need of Sanctification c. In Fol. 46 Dr. Crisp saith thus There is no Person that is a Believer but after he hath received Christ he is created in Christ Jesus unto good Works that he should walk in them I say he that sprinkleth them with clean Water that they may become clean from all their Filthiness writes his Law in their inward parts So that I say mark well my words That Sanctification of Life is an inseparable companion with the Justification of a Person by the Grace of Christ Now can any Thing be more clear than that it is no unpardonable Sin with Dr. Crisp to assert the necessity of Regeneration Repentance and Holiness For that he saith Sanctification which includes them all is inseparable from Justification that one is never without the other As much as to say with the Apostle Christ who is made of God to us Righteousness for Justification he is at the same time made of God to us Sanctification §. XCIV Now methinks 't is strange that he should be branded with your Titles of Apocryphal wild Monster Crispian Heterodoxy especially to blast him in the business of Holiness Repentance c. who so strenuously hath asserted its inseparableness from Justification
for ever §. CXXXII Dr. Castle to confirm the Version of maas to be reprobavit he hath reprobated he brings Proofs from Jer. 6.30 Isa 35 15. Prov. 15.32 Ezek. 21.10 13. Jer. 14 19. in which last Proof are these words ha-maos maasta eth Jehudah which in English is in reprobating hast thou reprobated Judah which Montanus renders Nunquid reprobando reprobasti Jehudah whether or no in reprobating hast thou reprobated Judah which we translate only thus Hast thou utterly rejected Judah By the same Rule what our Translation of maasta or timeas is in Psal 89.38 thou hast abhorred Montanus renders it thou hast reprobated thy Christ which is proof sufficient to shew his Father's Wrath and abhorring of him Dr. Castle goes on to Prov. 3.11 and Isa 54.6 where is this word The Lord hath called thee as a Woman forsaken and grieved in Spirit and a Wife of youth when thou wast refused saith thy God The word for when refused is ci timeas which Montanus renders quia reprobata fuisti because thou wast reprobated §. CXXXIII O Blessed thrice blessed word to us poor Gentiles that when we were reprobated when we were refused that then our Lord Jesus should say Thy Maker is thine Husband and the Lord hath called thee as a Wife of Youth when thou hadst been forsaken and refused or reprobated and in lieu of it that he should say of himself to God as Psal 89.38 timeas meshi che-cha thou hast reprobated or abhorred thine anointed one That we poor Gentiles might become a Wife of Youth the Lord Jesus stands in our place as forsaken as refused as abhorred of the Lord or as Montanus and Dr. Castle renders it the I §. CXXXIV A little farther in the Lexicon the Chaldee word means the Doctor renders Comâ—utruit saetuit faetor Putor Corruptio faetens most dreadful words all of them to be used by our Lord Jesus concerning himself when under the forsaking of God and yet all this far short of his being made Sin for us and a Curse And if we at any time feel any thing of the Sting of Sin in our Consciences to cry out with Heman Psal 88.6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest Pit in Darkness in the Deeps Thy Wrath lyeth hard upon me We may thence think of the dreadful Horrour on the Soul of our Lord Jesus when all the Sins of all the Elect were stinging and gashing him which made him Sweat great Clodders of Blood in a cold Night upon the approach of that dreadful Hour and Power of Darkness upon him in the Garden a little before he felt the weight of God's wrathful Indignation as Mr. Williams calls it when on the Cross he was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him O how should we instead of quarrelling at the Expression Prize and Adore our blessed Lord Jesus who willingly underwent the being thus treated by his ever dear and tender Father for our sakes so as to be thus stricken smitten of God and afflicted to be thus wounded bruised and oppressed and that by the Pleasure of the Lord for our Iniquities for our Transgressions and for our Sins Isa 53. laid on him by the Lord O adorable Grace to us in this thus punishing the Son of God for us §. CXXXV Lastly I must make an Apology for my Dear Kratiste the Rebuker to clear him of the Load that the Reporter has laid on him accounting him an Ambodexter one while for Dr. Crisp and one while against him for him by affixing his Name to the Re-printing the Doctor 's Sermons and in his Argument to vindicate him in his Preface to Mr. Flavel's Book and now against him with a Vengeance treating him as an Apocryphal wild Monster of Nonsence in his Faithful or Frightful Rebuke to which in defence of the Rebuker I may plead That when he favoured Dr. C it was soon after he had been vindicating Dr. Owen against the Charge of the Rector of St. George's for which he had the deserved Applause of many Thousands But he having lately fallen in with the Neonomian or New-law Doctrine from Mr. Williams or rather lying under some unaccountable Engagements to him after some severe Reprimands of him now to the saddening his best Friends he seems to discard his first Love which seemed warm to clear Gospel Free Grace through the Blood of Jesus to Justifie and Save us and to take up with Mr. Williams his sâ—me Degrees of our Obedience in the Matter of our Justification Hence let him that stands take heed lest he fall by looking to him that is able and has promis'd to settle strengthen and establish §. CXXXVI Then my Dear Kratiste could own in terminis we work from Life not for Life but now this he Ranks among the Antinomian Heresies or Heterodoxies though it is in it self a Nonsensical Contradiction to say a Man may work and not do it from Life Can a dead Man work And dead we are till quickned in Christ Then he could say in Antisozzo Page 205. How God might be said to need Sins to set forth the Persecution of that Blessed Attribute of God his Sin pardoning Grace which is as high a piece of Antinomianism to say God needs Sins as any passage in Dr. Crisp's Sermons But now he can vindicate that Popish Assertion in Mr. Williams That Glory hath the same Conâ—exion with Good Works as the Building hath to the Foundation That is That our good Works are instead of Christ who is the Foundation that our Glory is built on Now the Apology I make is That then Dr. Owen the Mirror of the Age for Learning one honoured by all Christians hereabout he was living and it was the way for Antisozzo then living in an obscure Village to get a General Acceptation among the most refined Christians about the City to write consonantly to the Doctor when traduced as aforesaid But now Mr. Williams hath by 49 Vouchers been set up for the great Champion of the New-Law Doctrine bringing in our Obedience into our Justification instead of being Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus This might be a Temptation to the Rebuker to strain his Wit in the vindicating him by casting Dirt on the Apocryphal Tobias and thereby he might hope to exalt his own Name But God hath let most of his Friends and I hope himself too see how much he has failed to the Grief of all that love my Dear Kratiste as I do §. CXXXVII Wherefore I beseech the Lord he may seriously apply the Advice of our blessed Lord Jesus to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.2 I know saith he thy Works and thy Labour and for my Names sake thou hast laboured Witness Antisozzo c Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first Love Remember therefore whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first Works So let Kratiste do in putting forth the remainder
Eph. 5.30 And he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Is not this one Spirit one Person Is the blessed Holy Spirit the Third Person in the Trinity Is he a Person and are not Christ and his believing Members becoming one Spirit are they not become thereby one Person Why else are they called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 Is this novel uncooth and unintelligible to my Dear Kratiste a Master in Israel Need Christ and they go into his Mothers Womb to become one Person §. XLVII As for Legal Vnion before Faith I know of none unless he means a faederal Union such as Children of believing Parents have or bare nominal Christians have Sure these may be distinguish'd without Offence from such as have a Mystical Union by Faith without any Heresie attending it Thus we conclude the 21 Antinomian Heresies which have met with a Presbyterian Lash as the Great Apostle Paul did with the like from the Jews They appear not so formidable as the Neonomians would make them but rather some of them shine forth with brighter clearness for great Gospel-Truths by their being so set forth This I am comfortably satisfied in that God hath by the late Abuse put on Evangelical Truths held out by the branded Dr. Crisp Mr. Cole and many others he hath inlightened many Souls thereby and I wait in assured hope that God will in his blessed time which is hastening make the Light of the Sun of Righteousness shining in the Gospel to be as the Light of seven Days when Men will not put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light Which the Good Lord for the sake of thy dying and interceding Son our Lord Jesus do thou hasten §. XLVIII In the mean time to our grave Rebuker I say Kratiste Theophile most excellent Sir take heed you be not a Theomaikos a Fighter against God while you design to justifie a Man whom you cannot vindicate with Honour till he renounce some Expressions in his Books which fight directly against the Gospel especially that Soul-endangering one in his Preface to Gospel-Truth stated which is this I affirm that the Righteousness of God Phil. 3.9 principally intends the Gospel-Holiness of a Person justified by Christ's Righteousness Which is an Interpretation that is directly opposite to all sound Protestants Judgments From such Interpreters of a Gospel-Truth the Lord in Mercy deliver all his People and from being a Champion for such an Interpreter the Lord deliver the Rebuker and all his 49 Vouchers §. XLIX In Page 27 he bewails the Case and saith And thus the Breach became beyond the Vnited Brethrens making up He means I suppose beyond their Power of making up that is because these Antinomian Heresies were not recanted And no wonder that it was beyond their Power to make up the breach that these Points made for how can Truth and Error coalesce If the Poor Presbyterians as he calls them do insist on the renouncing these 21 Doctrines as Heresies which have much of the Marrow of the Gospel in them as appears from plain Scripture and sound Authors already quoted they may enjoy their Repose in their own benighted Sentiments but may not imagine that they who are clearlyer inlightened in the Mysteries of the Gospel having tasted the good old Wine of God's Everlasting Love of Electing them in Christ that they will come to the new Wine of a pretended New Law given them by Christ That we performing Gospel-Obedience with our sincere indeavours to fulfil that New Law of Faith Love Repentance Holiness and perseverance therein this though imperfect in its self shall be accepted instead of perfect by Vertue of the Righteousness and Merits of our Lord Jesus Which in effect is to say that we are not saved by Grace but Christ hath merited that we should save our selves §. L. That this is their meaning appears by what Mr. Williams who seems to be their general Mouth has said in his Preface to Man made Righteous by Christ's Obedience Where he rebukes his Antinomians for owning no Law of God that admitted of faulty Obedience and by way of Contempt to Mr. Cole c. he saith They own no Law but the Law of Works which admitted nothing short of perfect sinless Obedience So that he looks on it as an horrid Error to hold that no Law is given by God that admitted of Obedience that had Sin in it Which shews plainly that they hold that God has set up a Law in the room of the Moral Law and that this their New Law which they have invented for God and wretchedly impute to God it doth admit of Sin in the Obedience to it than which there cannot be a more horrid Affront offered to the Holy God viz. That God should set up a Law that allows Sin Now if contradicting such Doctrine as this is accounted Antinomianism then to be freed from their Slanders we must rob God of his Honour nay deny him to be God to comply with their Doctrine of charging on God his making a Law that allows Sin in our Obedience to it For I dare be bold to say in Contradiction to such an Assertion and in Zeal to the pure Holy Nature of God God never did nay never can and that 's a bold word but true if God be God and Holiness his Nature he never can make a Law that admits of any thing but Sinless Obedience For God saith he cannot behold Iniquity and for any Man or number of Men or for any Angels of Heaven to talk at that rate for God to make a Law that admits of Sin let him be accursed To talk of a Law that admits of Sin is to make the Maker of such a wooden Law to be little better than a wooden God It is enough to make ones Flesh to tremble and Spirit rise into a rage against the bold strokes of some Ungodly Pens that corrupt the Gospel and Minds of Men to talk of a Law of the Holy God that admits any thing of Sin Mr. Williams and his Justifiers have subscribed to the Assemblies Confession of Faith and they say upon the Head of Repentance There is no Sin so small but it deserves Damnation and they justifie it by that Scripture The Wages of Sin is Death But our Neonomians our New-Law Men bring in God making a Law that admits of Faulty Obedience or Obedience that is not Sinless which is all one with Faulty Obedience Now my Dear Kratiste this Man's Champion pray where is this accounted for And if not how can it be expected that the Breach between the Orthodox and these should be made up Offences will come but woe to that Man by whom they come To such a Man as would impose a Law allowing Sinning Obedience And if Sinning then it hath Sin in it and if so and that the Assembly say right from the Wages of Sin being Death the least Sin never so small deserves Damnation then they will bring in God making a Law in complying with
which Men shall be damned For Men shall be damned for Sinning Obedience so far as the Law hath Power over any Man and if they are saved it cannot be by a Sinning Complyance with their New Law but meerly of Grace on account of the perfect Holy Law of God which admits of nothing but Sinless Obedience by its being fulfilled by our Lord Jesus for us and by his Blood taking away our Sins in coming short of the Holy Law of God Now if our Rebuker will continue rebuking I would pray he would imploy his Talent in rebuking such Doctrines as bring in a Law of God that allows of Sin rather than on saying We work from Life and not for Life Whereas 't is a mad sort of Work for Life to work under their New Law that allows Sinning Obedience §. LI. In Page 31 Mr. Williams is brought in with an Ecce Homo Behold the Man by the Rebuker in magnifying his Soundness in the great Point of Christ's Satisfaction and saith I will speak a great Word NONE no none not the Apostle Paul himself has ever more clearly stated this Truth of Christ's Satisfaction than Mr. Williams saith my Kratiste for which I refer you to his Gospel-Truth Chap. 2. where Mr. Williams saith Though our Sins were imputed to Christ with respect to the Guilt thereof so that he by the Father 's Appointment and his own Consent became obliged as Mediator to bear the Punishment of our Iniquities and he did bear those Punishments to the full Satisfaction of Justice Here 's a great Word None ever more clearly stated c. for this great Confession of Mr. Williams and I am glad he owns our Guilt was imputed to Christ so much of our Sins was imputed But we have a Proverb That some Cows will give a good mess of Milk and kick it all down and spill it when they have done so our great Truth-stater hath in a few Lines kick'd all this down For though he allowed that our Sins were imputed to Christ as to the Guilt of them and that he bare the Punishments yet he warily hides the Socinian here and forbears saying Christ bare the Sins 't is only the Guilt of them was imputed and the Punishment borne This 't is true he owns but what became of the very Sins if Christ did not bear them We know what God saith of them He laid on him the Iniquity of us all and he bare our Sins in his Body on the Tree but if Dr. Crisp or Mr. Cole say so 't is Antinomianism But what saith the Admired Gospel stater after his none more clearly stating this Truth Why he plainly denies Christ's bearing our Sins for within four Lines after his extolled vindicating the Doctrine of Satisfaction he hath these words It is an Error saith Mr. Williams that he laid all the very Sins of the Elect on Christ Is not this a Man to be admired that in flat opposition to the Scripture denies God's laying the Sins of the Elect on Christ For to say he did not lay the very Sins on Christ is to give God the Lye in plain English for the Scripture saith plainly without a Trope or Figure The Lord laid on him the Iniquity of us all Did God lay our Iniquity on Christ and not our very Iniquity Did he bear the Sins of many and not their very Sins Will he have so much audaciousness as to make God a Cheat To make us believe he laid our Sins on Christ but when it comes to the up-shot it is not our Sins not our very Sins but somewhat like our Sins that is Guilt imputed and Punishment borne but for the very Sins they were not laid §. LII I confess 't is much to find from such a Pen That God imputed the Guilt of our Sins to Christ but if he comes after and saith he means by Guilt imputed as he saith of Sins laid on Christ 't is not the very Guilt where are we then We must stand to his Courtesie for not saying so He may better say so of Guilt imputed than of Sins laid because Sins laid is very Scripture whereas Guilt imputed is a borrowed Term. Therefore I beseech my Dear Kratiste to stay his Admiration of him in saying None has ever more clearly stated this Truth for fear it be found that none has more sullied it For what can the rankest Socinian say more in derogation to the Truth of Christ's Satisfaction for our Sins than to say 'T is an Error to say our very Sins were laid on Christ Nay such an Error as I fear my Dear Kratiste can sublimate by his Art of Bespattering to make it to be the Dregs of Antinomianism to say our very Sins were laid on Christ §. LIII Let us see a little what Consequence he makes of this Error Why then Christ was the Murderer saith Mr. Williams Christ was the Blasphemer Adulterer c. And for this Dr. Crisp must be arraigned with the Dregs of Antinomianism laid to his Charge as if he was the Author of such horrid Expressions that Christ was such an one in himself whereas he hath excellent Authority both Humane and Divine for all that he has asserted If Dr. Crisp had said that Christ was made Sin and a Curse and the Scripture had been silent therein Mr. Williams and his Champion might have had Ground for the Accusation But if so why should not Dr. Luther come in for a Snack and Dr. Calvin for a Lash But as the Case is Dr. Paul the Apostle must have the severest Stroke for saying God made our Lord Jesus Sin for us and a Curse But because for Shame they will not charge him with gross Blasphemy for so saying they will distinguish away the force of the Words by saying he meant that Christ bore the Punishment and not the very Sins but left the Sinner to bear them §. LIV. And farther that Dr. Crisp may not bear all the Load that these Rigid Gentlemen lay on him I shall give some Humane Testimonies which concur with him though they have had abundance from Dr. Chancy and others which must needs convince their Conscience they being many of them unanswered but for the present purpose they must have some of them again therefore let us see what Mr. Calvin saith on Gal. 3.13 It is thus Two Things are here to be considered not only in the Person of Christ but also in his Humanity One is That he was the Lamb of God without Spot full of Blessing and Grace The other That he took our Person therefore he was a Sinner and under the Curse not so much in himself as in us O my Dear Kratiste why do you not spend some of your Talent on this uncouth novel unintelligible Stuff of this Great Person as well as on the Apochryphal Story of Tobias And when your Hand is in pray let Bold Martin Luther have a taste of your sowre Sauce on his sweet Meat which he gives you on Gal. 3.14