sinful and vain and no Saving Benefit is dispenced to any of us by this Rule 2. The Gospel includes the Moral Preceptive part of the first Law with some additional Precepts which suppose our Apostate state as Faith in an atoneing Saviour and Repentance for Sin These could not be enjoyned as Duties on innocent Man by a Rule of Happiness and Misery nor could they be necessary to his Right to Life because they would suppose him a Sinner The Gospel is taken in a large sence when I say it includes all the Moral Precepts but yet the Gospel doth so and they are the Commands of Christ as Redeemer to whom all Judgment is committed as well as the Law of the Creator 3. The Gospel hath another Sanction to the Preceptive part of the Law than the Covenant of Works had Though nothing be abated in the Rule of Sin and Duty yet Blessings are promised to lower degrees of Duty and a continuance in a state of Deuth with a barr to the Blessing are not threatned against every degree of Sin as the Covenant of Works did Can any doubt this to be the Grace of the Gospel-Promise Doth it promise Life to all Men however vile and impenitent they be Or doth it threaten Damnation or a Continuance of it on any true penitent believing godly Man because he is imperfect This Change of the Sanction supposeth the Death of Christ and his honouring the Law by his perfect Obedience wherein God hath provided for his own Glory while he promiseth Life by Forgiveness to imperfect Man and yet he insists on some degree of Obedience to which of his mere Grace he enableth us This the Covenant of Redemption secures to the Elect tho' the Grant therein is pleadable only by Christ as the stipulating Party for us and our personal Claim depends on the Gospel-Covenant whereof Christ is Mediator 4. This Gospel-Sanction determines as certain a Rule of Happiness and Misery as the Law of Works did though it be not the same For while it promiseth Pardon to all believing repenting Sinners and declares a barr to pardon to the impenitent Rejecters of Christ and Gospel-Grace it fixeth true Repentance and Faith unfeigned to be the Terms of Pardon So when it promiseth Heaven to the sincerely holy persevering Believer it fixeth sincere Holiness and perseverance in Faith as the Terms of possessing Heaven Hence the Use of Faith Holiness c. to these Benefits is not from their Conformity to the Precept but their Conformity to the Rule of the Promise Our applying Christ's Righteousness and relying on it would no more Justifie us than our sincere Holiness would Save us were it not for this Gospel-Promise That God will Justifie for Christ's sake all such as believe 5. Hence by Gospel-Grace there is a great difference between perfect Faith and utter Unbelief between sincere Holiness and formal Profaneness or Wickedness True Love to God and prevailing Enmity imperfect spiritual Duties and rebellious Neglects c. By the Law of Works nothing was Holiness but what was perfectly so c. But read the Bible if thou doubtest whether there is not a true Faith Holiness Love c. which be short of Perfection 6. God in the dispensing of Gospel-promised Blessings doth judicially determine a Conformity to this Rule of the Promise When he forgives he judicially declareth a Man hath true Faith when he admits into Heaven he judicially declares a Man sincerely Holy and Persevering As upon a view of his Guests he cast out him that had not on the Wedding-Garment viz. True-uniting Faith so he judicially determined That they who were not cast out but admitted to share in the Marriage Feast viz. made Partakers of Union with Christ and the Benefits thereof had True Faith and not a mere Profession As by keeping out the foolish Virgins for not having Oyl in their Lamps viz. the Spirit of Grace and persevering Holiness so by admitting the wise Virgins he judicially declared they had a Spirit of Grace and persevering Holiness Can any think that Forgiving Adopting Glorifying or the conveyance of every other promised Benefit given on God's Terms are not judicial Acts of God as Rector If so doth he dispence these blindly and promiseuously without any regard to our being Believers c. or no Or whether our Faith be true or no Any one would blush to affirm it With respect to what 's above declared the Gospel is called a Law of Faith a Law of Liberty c. and it especially insists on that sincerity of Grace and Holiness which the Rule of the Promise makes necessary in its Description of the Person whom it makes Partaker of its included Benefit And the main of our Ministry consisteth in pressing Men to answer the Rule of the Gospel-Promises and disswading Men from those things which the Gospel threatens shall hinder their Interest in all or any of its Benefits with an Aggravation of their Misery if they be final Rejecters of its Grace We call Men to be reconeiled to God upon which we know God will be at peace with them These things will help thy Conceptions still remembring that the Merits of Christ are the cause of this Gospel-Ordination His Righteousness imputed is the cause for which we are justified and saved when we do answer the Gospel-Rule And I exclude not this Righteousness when I affirm That the Righteousness of God Phil. 3. 9. principally intends the Gospel-Holiness of a Person justified by Christ's Righteousness both which by Faith in Christ all his Members shall be perfect in The Grace of God is hereby stated as free as is consistent with his Government and Judicial Rectoral Distribution of Rewards and Punishments and none need the Riches of Grace more than I. Reader Note That in this Book I still speak of the Adult and not Infants When I say The Difference is not I state my own Concessions and mean not that the Doctor is in all these of my mind Thou must expect to take up my full sence by a view of several Chapters and not only one because sundry Chapters referr to the same Points more or less And forget not That though the Doctor oft in his Book speaks to Men as Believers yet every thing is true of the Elect viz. They have as much a Title to all Saving Blessings only they do not know it This was his Judgment I have carefully avoided any Reflexion on Reverend Dr. Crisp whom I believe a holy Man and abstained exposing many things according to the Advantage offered if by any means this Book may become useful to such as most need it That the Father of Lights would lead us into all Truth and Love is the Prayer of thy Servant in the Gospel London May 4. 1692. D. Williams ERRATA PAge 3. Line 7. add 365. p. 5. l. 8. for ew r. we p. 8. l. 15. for 289. r. 274. p. 10. l. 17. r. Propogation p. 28. l. 4 for Chaist r. Christ p. 38.
and certainly possess Salvation Yea as that Covenant was not made with the Elect though for the Elect so they have nothing to do as a Condition of this Covenant And to this all absolute Promises and Prophecies of Grace are reducible they being a Transcript hereof This Dr. Owen makes to be a distinct Covenant from the Covenant of Grace See his Treatise of Justif. pag. 268 269. 2. By Covenant of Grace I mean the way that God hath ordained to apply to Sinners that Salvation which is prepared by Christ and which he will enable the Elect to comply with Q. 2. What is intended by Condition A. I shall answer in the words of worthy Mr. Flavel Discourse of Errors pag. 248. An Antecedent Condition signifies no more than an Act of ours which though it be neither perfect in every degree nor in the least meritorious of the Benefit conferred nor performed in our own natural strength yet according to the Constitution of the Covenant it is required of us in order to the Blessings consequent thereupon by virtue of the Promise And consequently the Benefits and Mercies granted in this order are and must be suspended by the Donor or Desposer of them till it be performed such a Condition we affirm Faith to be Some call this a Consequent Condition but they mean not Consequent to the Benefit promised but Consequent to Christ's undertaking to enable us to do it Reader I would have thee note 1. The Conditions do not merit the Blessings promised 2. The Conditions are not uncertain for Christ hath undertaken that the Elect shall perform them 3. They are performed by Grace and not by Natural Power 4. They are performed by Men and not by Christ though it is by Christ that any are enabled to perform them It 's not Christ repents or believes in a Saviour but Men themselves 5. It 's from God's Will in the Promise that they are made to be Conditions he connected the Benefit and the Duty though he chose Conditions that were fit yet their fitness would not have availed to our interest in the Benefits unless he had promised that they should so avail A penitent Believer had not been saved but for the Promise though it 's unlike a God to have saved any that were not such 6. These Conditions are our Duty by God's Command and not less so by being made Terms of the Benefit in the Divine Grant 7. The Covenant though Conditional is a Disposition of Grace There 's Grace in giving ability to perform the Condition as well as in bestowing the Benefits God's enjoyning one in order to the other makes not the Benefit to be less of Grace but it is a display of God's Wisdom in conferring the Benefit suitably to the nature and state of Men in this Life whose Eternal Condition is not eternally decided but are in a state of Tryal yea the Conditions are but a meetness to receive the Blessings 8. The reason why we use the word Condition is because it best suits with Man's Relation to God in his present dealings with us as his Subjects in tryal for Eternity Christ as a Priest hath merited all but as a King or a Priest upon his Throne he dispenceth all He enjoyns the Conditions in order to the Benefits and makes the Benefits Motives to our Compliance with the Conditions He treats with Men as his Subjects whom he will now Rule and hereafter Judge Now what word is so proper to express the Duties as enjoyned Means of Benefits like this word Conditions The word Conditions is of the same nature as Terms of the Gospel There be few Authors of Note even of any Persuasion but they make use of this word in my sence as Ames Twiss Rutherford Hooker of New-England Norton Preston Owen Synod of New-England the Assembly of Divines c. And I know none have reason to scruple it except such as think we are United to Christ and Justified before we are Born To such indeed all such Terms are improper because they deny God's dispensing of Saving Benefits in a way of Government Q. 3. What is intended by the Benefits of the Covenant A. The good Things or Privileges promised to such as by Grace are enabled to comply with the Terms of the Covenant especially whatever is essential to our felicity Q. 4. Wherein do the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace differ from Conditions in the Covenant of Innocency or Works as vulgarly called For both lie in doingsomething though not the same thing nor to the same ends A. 1. The Conditions of the Covenant of Grace are performed by the Grace of Christ freely given to Sinners The Conditions of the Covenant of Innocency were performed by a strength due to and inherent in our innocent Nature 2. The principal Conditions of the Covenant of Grace express the guilt and misery of them that perform them Repentance owns our Filth and Guilt and Faith in a Redeemer expresseth our sinful and lost State neither of these could have place in our legal Righteousness as being utterly inconsistent with an Innocent Condition Nor can they have much room in Heaven where we shall be perfect whereas the Terms of the Covenant of Works implied nothing but Innocency and Happiness 3. The Conditions of the Covenant of Grace make us capable of no Happiness except what Christ hath bought and prepared for us his Blood is the Price of all But the happiness granted to sinless Obedience was immediately from the Creator and knew no Atonement or Mediator 4. The Blessings promised on the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace are meerly of Grace They be for another's sake and not our own they are given to such as are condemned by the Covenant of Works and that are still condemnable by the Law for the Imperfection of the performed Gospel-Conditions yea it 's Forgiveness which renders these Persons blessed Rom. 4. 7. whereas the sinless Obedience of innocent Adam made the Reward to be of Debt Rom. 4. 4. which we as being happy by Pardon must renounce 5. The Use and Interest of Gospel-Conditions is not from the conformity of them to the Preceptive part of the Law though in a degree there be that but from their Conformity to the Rule of the Grace of the Promise The Promise of Pardon through Christ being to the penitent Believer and no other Repentance and Faith become necessary and useful Conditions of this Pardon by the Order of God in that gracious Promise But by the Covenant of Works the meer Work gave an Interest in the Reward as it was Obedience to the Precept by a Sanction that had Goodness but no such Grace in it On these accounts I shall never fear that the Conditionality of the Covenant of Grace should turn it into a Covenant of Works till I see it proved That God can promise and apply no Benefit purchased by Christ to a poor Sinner upon the Condition of any Action he commands and freely enableth the
Sinner to perform The Judgment-Day is past and a State of Tryal is over when-ever this is proved These things I have premised that if possible I may remove the Mistakes which govern the Minds of some well-meaning people The Truth TRUTH I shall express it in the words of the Assembly The Grace of God is manifested in the Second Covenant in that he freely provideth and offereth to Sinners a Mediator and Life and Salvation by him 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 unto all Obedience as the Evidence of the Truth of their Faiâ—h and Thankfulness to God and as the way which he hath appointed them to Salvation Large Catech. Quest. How is the Grace of God manifested in the Second Covenant 1. Thou canst not but observe that the Assembly did judge 1. That though God hath provided a Mediator for Sinners yet they have no interest in him till they believe 2. That the Covenant is Conditional They scruple not to call Faith the Condition of our Interest in Christ and of Salvation by him 3. That Christ and Salvation are offered to all Sinners on the same Condition though God effectually enable the Elect to obey the Condition ERROUR The Covenant of Grace hath no Condition to be performed on Man's part though in the strength of Christ Neither is Faith it self the Condition of this Covenant but all the saving Benefits of this Covenant are actually ours before we are born Neither are we required so much as to believe that we may come to have an Interest in the Covenant Benefits Proved that this is Doctor Crisp 's Opinion The Doctor spends more than a Sermon to prove this And saith P. 81. There is not any Condition in this Covenant Mark what I say I know I shall go against the Strain of some c. P. 82. Observe I pray you and you shall plainly perceive that Man hath no Tye upon him to perform any thing whatsoever on his Part as a Condition that must be observed on his Part and there is not one Bond or Obligation upon Man to the fulfilling of the Covenant or partaking of the Benefits of it P. 84. He puts this Objection Though Works be not the Condition of the Covenant yet we hope you will yield Faith is the Condition of the Covenant He answers I must needs tell you directly that Faith is not the Condition of the Covenant But the Reader may suppose the Doctor only means there be no meritorious Conditions No he excludes all things wrought by Men or in Men as necessary to their Interest in the Covenant Blessings For he tells us P. 81. That after we are in Covenant with God he will bestow these things upon us as Effects of the Covenant And P. 83. The Covenant in the actual Substance of it is made good to a Man before he can do any thing i. e. from Eternity and in the Womb. Elsewhere he says Before our Eyes be opened c. P. 600. c. Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not whether God hath promised and Christ engaged in the Covenant of Redemption that the Elect shall believe and possess Christ c. This I affirm 2. Nor whether there be any Duty on Man's Part as a Condition of Christ's Undertaking or of the Certainty of the Things undertaken in that Covenant This I deny 3. Nor whether the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace be performed in our own Strength or be uncertain as to the Elect. This I deny 4. Nor whether the Performance of the Conditions move God to enact offer or appoint this Covenant whereby the Grace of Christ is applied This I deny and add That God enacted this Covenant before we were born and offers an Interest in it on its proper Terms to Men when Sinners 5. Nor whether the Performance of the Conditions of the Covenant be a purchasing Price or meritorious of the Benefits promised on such Conditions This I deny for Christ alone paid the Price and it 's the Covenant Promise gives the Interest in the Benefits to such as perform the Conditions 6. Nor whether the first Grace by which we are enabled to perform the Condition be absolutely given This I affirm though that be dispensed ordinarily in a due use of Means and in a way discountenancing idleness and fit Encouragement given to the Use of Means 7. Nor whether all the Conditions of the Covenant be of the same Use to the same Purpose or alike compleat Terms of the principal Benefits This I deny for Faith is supposed to all other Conditions and by Faith we are united to Christ c. 8. Nor whether upon Performance of the Conditions the Covenant Grant become not as absolute and the Right to the Benefit no longer suspended This I affirm for the Promise conveys the title as soon as the terms of the Grant are answered The real Difference 1. Whether the Elect have an actual Interest in the saving Benefits of the Covenant of Grace while they live in Unbelief This the Doctor affirms and I deny Of which see Chap. 10 11 12. 2. Whether God doth not offer the saving Benefits of the Covenant upon official Terms as believe and thou shalt be saved This I affirm and the Doctor denies 3. Whether the beneficial Privileges of the Covenant be not suspended on Terms of Duty as Doth not God forbear to pardon us till we believe This I affirm and the Doctor denies 4. Whether God doth engage to bestow the promised Benefits of the Covenant on all such who through Grace perform the Conditions This I affirm and the Doctor denies All may be reduced to this Whether our believing Confent to the Covenant of Grace be absolutely necessary by God's Command and Promise to our Interest in the saving Benefits of that Covenant This the Doctor denies and I affirm The Truth Confirmed 1. Each of the Benefits of the Covenant are offered to Men on condition and not absolutely in relation to God as his People is so Lev. 26. 3 12. If ye walk in my Statutes and keep my Commandments I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my People That this refers to the New Covenant Relation is plain by 2 Cor. 6. 16. So is Union to Christ with a Communion in the Benefits proceeding therefrom Mat. 22. 2 3 9 10 11. They must come to the Wedding-Supper or have no share in it So is it of Pardon of Sin Acceptance to Life Adoption and Salvation Rom. 10. 9. If thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jelus and shalt believe in thine Heart c. thou shalt be saved Rom. 4. 25. To whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord. Gal. 3. 7. They which are of Faith are the Children of Abraham See more of this in
their partaking of the Virtue of his Mediation in their Justification Adoption and Sanctification and whatever in this life manifests their Union with him So that in their Judgment it 's the Virtue of Christ's Mediation operates on us and not that the Mediatorial Righteousness is in us The Elders at the Savoy c. 11. a. 1. say Those whom God effectually Calleth he also freely Justifieth not by infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and by accounting and accepting their Persons as Righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone c. Again they add By imputing Christ's Active and Passive Obedience unto them The same say the Assemb Conf. ch 11. a. 1. Thou seest it s Christ s Righteousness is imputed for Pardon and not infused The Elders at the Savoy inform us also ch 27. a 1. All Saints that are united to Christ although they are not thereby made One Person with him have Fellowship in his Graces Sufferings and Glory c. and have Communion in each other's Gifts and Graces Thou findest they judge we are not One Person with Christ by our Union and it 's a Fellowship for our good we have by Christ's Graces Glory and Sufferings but they are in him as the Subject and not in us And ch 19. a. 6. they declare The Law is useful to Believers to shew them the Corruption of their Natures and Lives It s plain then with them we are not without Spot or Blemish The Assemb Conf. ch 32. a. 1. and the Elders at the Savoy ch 31. a. 1. agree That it 's after Death our Souls are made perfect in Holiness One of the Speeches condemned by the New-England Synod was this If Christ be my Sanctification what need I look to any thing else in my self to evidence my Justification To which they Answer This Position is unsound because it holds forth Christ to be my Sanctification so as that I need not look to any inherent Holiness in my self whereas Christ is said to be my Sanctification because he worketh Sanctification in us p. 20. p. 63. They observe it as an Errour That Christ is our Sanctification in the same sort as he is our Justification They elsewhere condemn such as made Christ the subject of our Graces Dr. Owen of Justification pag. 509 510. disowns That it can be said we are as Righteous as Christ And then asserts To say we are as Righteous as Christ is to make Comparison between the Personal Righteousness of Christ and Our Personal Righteousness if the Comparison be of things of the same kind But this is foolish and impious for notwithstanding our Personal Righteousness we are sinful he knew no Sin And if the Comparison be between Christ's Personal Inherent Righteousness and Righteousness imputed to us Inhesion and Imputation be things of divers kinds and thus it 's fond and of no consequence Christ was Actively Righteous we are Passively so c. The Righteousness of Christ as it was his Personally was the Righteousness of the Son of God in which respect it had in it self an infinite Perfection and Value But it is imputed to us only with respect to our Personal Want not as it was satisfactory for all but as our Souls stand in need of it c. From the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ it follows only that those to whom it is imputed are redeemed and saved not at all that they are Redeemers or Saviours And pag. 242 243. Imputation is not the Transmission or Transfusion of the Righteousness of another viz. Christ into them that are to be Justified that they should become perfectly and inherently Righteous thereby for it is impossible that the Righteousness of one should be transfused into another to become his subjectively and inherently And the Doctor adds That the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us as unto its Effects hath this sound sence namely The Effects of it are made ours by reason of that Imputation It is so imputed so reckoned unto us of God as that he really communicates all the Effects of it unto us See pag. 310 311. What can be spoken more oppositely to Dr. Crisp I might add Mr. Norton of New-England who tells us Orth. Evang. p. 305. Though Christ obeyed the Law formally yet it 's not the formal working of Obedience or doing of the Command but the good Virtue and Efficacy thereof that is imputed to the Believer What heaps of Testimonies could I produce But I confine my self to these few The Ground of the Doctor 's Mistake Because Christ suffered in our stead that the fruit of his Suffering might be our deliverance from suffering and our being saved at last therefore he thinks there is a Change of Person Because we are made the Righteousness of God that is Partakers of Forgiveness and a Right to Life through Christ's Atonement for us which be Mercies so eminently the Contrivance and Gift of God therefore he thinks the very Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ is subjectively in us Because we are accepted with God for Christ's sake therefore he thinks we have the perfect Cause of that Acceptance viz. All Loveliness upon our selves Because the Church is now without spot so as for Christ's sake to be accepted and not detested by God and is on the account of the beginning 's of God's Image pleasing to Christ and will hereafter be perfectly sanctified without the least blemish or any such thing therefore he thinks it 's now without Blemish or Imperfection Because Christ's perfect Righteousness is Security for our Pardon and inviolable Right to Glory therefore he thinks we are as Righteous as he as to Justification and Sanctification too Because Christ is made of God to us Wisdom Sanctification c. therefore he thinks we are as Holy as he whereas the meaning of that place is That Christ is appointed and given to enlighten renew and redeem us by his Merits and by his Spirit If this be not the sence of it we are as wise as Christ for he is made to us wisdom Reader Observe that the Doctor thinks all these great things are true of every elect Person whiles in his Blood and unregenerate state as much as of any Believer who indeed hath the privilege to know it CHAP. VIII Of the Conditionality of the Covenant of Grace THis being a Point of great Concern I shall premise an Enquiry into some Particulars for explaining the Subject of this Chapter Q. 1. What is the Covenant of Grace A. 1. It is not the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and Spirit as one Party and the Eternal Word the Lord Jesus as the other Party Were this Covenant understood I think many well-meaning People would be undeceived In that Covenant all the causes of Man's Salvation are adjusted and secured all Satisfaction and Merit are on Christ as his Undertaking yea it 's provided there That the Elect shall obey the Terms of Life
the Chapters of Union Justification c. And note that it's Injustice to add new Terms of any of these Benefits if they be ours by the Covenant as absolute before 2. If the Covenant be not conditional as to the disposing of these Benefits it would follow 1. That all to whom the Offers are made have an Interest in them or it is not a serious Offer no nor a true Offer as not containing a real and mutual Connexion between the Benefit and the Duty 2. Faith it self is no more necessary to our first Interest in these Benefits than any other Grace nay than Unbelief Let no body object it 's a Sign for so is any other Grace yea so might be the Description of Paul by his Name by his Abode yea by his Sin viz. A Persecutor Paul the Persecutor of such an Age and Place would serve as well to evidence him a justified Man as his Faith Abundance of such Consequences to the very overturning of the Gospel and all Religion are unavoidable 3. Men are said to enter into Covenant with God Deut. 29. 12 13. To make a Covenant Psal. 50. 5. To keep Covenant Psal. 103. 18. To perform the Covenant 2 Chron. 34. 31. Take hold of the Covenant Isa. 56. 46. To lye to God in their Hearts not being right with God when they enter into Covenant with him Psal. 78. 36 37. They for sake the Covenant Dan. 11. 30. Broken the everlasting Covenant Isa. 24. 5. See also Jer. 50. 5. Shall joyn themselves to the Lord in a Covenant not to be forgotten Ezek. 20. 37. I will cause you to pass under the Rod and will bring you into the Bond of the Covenant All these Expressions are convincing that there is a Restipulation on Man's part and that it 's a Covenant with respect to that mutual Stipulation between God and us To suppose the Covenant to be the sole Act of God and an Act that 's meerly absolute renders all these Phrases impertinent and impossible Can we be said to make or keep the Covenant which is only God's absolute Grant It was his Act to appoint this Covenant and to enable us to make and keep it It 's his Act to restipulate on his Part but to deny it to be conditional as to the very Benefits is to make God to be the sole Party Covenanting c. 4. Consider the Seals of the Covenant viz. Baptism and the Lord's Supper and you will easily judge that they do not Seal absolutely but conditionally if absolutely then every one that partake thereof are saved If they Seal conditionally the Covenant must be conditional for by them the Covenant is renewed and the Benefits exhibited according to the Tenure of the Covenant it Self They do not Seal to us that we have the Grace to which the Benefit is promised but they seal the Benefits of the Covenant on supposition we have that Grace Hence 1 Pet. 3. 21. Baptism that saves us is not the putting away the Filth of the Flesh i. e. outward Washing but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God i. e. The upright Consent of the Heart to the Vow and Profession made in Baptism If Men would consider that a meer elect Person though by Revelation known to be elect yet whiles unregenerate is not entitled to the Lord's Supper sure they cannot but inferr That this Person hath not an actual Interest in the Covenant and all its Benefits whiles he continues so 5. I might shew that Unbelief and whatever are Sins contrary to the Terms of the Covenant are the only Hinderances to a Sinner's Interest in the Benefits of the Covenant and by these we are said to reject and refuse the Covenant The Scripture is full in this it lays Mens want of Forgiveness on their Unbelief as the culpable Cause c. It 's needless to shew how this infers the Covenant-Benefits are conditional 6. The Gospel promise being the way which Christ appoints to dispense saving Benefits to Sinners must have the same Rules with the Covenant of Grace This Gospel is his Testament and the same with this Covenant the Benefits are the same and the Covenant cannot be a disposition of these Benefits in a way contrary to this Gospel but this Gospel or Covenant tells us 1. That there is a Promise of the first Gâ—aâ—â— made to Christ for the Elect and by the Virtue of that Promise the Elect do consent to the Covenant 2. This Gospel or Covenant is the Means whereby that Faith is wrought 3. This Gospel commands and by the Power of the Spirit works that Faith in order to saving Benefits which Benefits it promiseth to such as do thus believe and to no other 4. This Gospel or Covenant invests Believers in those saving Benefits 5. It secures the Perseverance of Believers in that true Faith and the necessary Effects and Operations of it and thereby secures those Benefits as unforfeited But Christ never bequeathed or promised in the Gospel a Pardon or Salvation to the Unbelievers nor the Continuance of that Pardon or Salvation but on Supposition that this Faith perseveres and if the Gospel Promise say no such things I am sure the Covenant did not 7. The Account of the Covenant which seems most for its Absoluteness implies this conditional Connexion of the required Grace and the promised Benefits Jer. 31. 31 32 33. Heb. 8. 10 11 12. Heb. 10. 16 17. Jer. 32. 40. Ezra 11. 19 20 c. There be others that referr to the Restauration of the Captivity I 'll fix on that Jer. 31. 31. I 'll make a new Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah 33. After those days I will put my Laws in their inward Parts and write it in their Hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my People and they shall teach no more every Man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them for I will forgive their Iniquities and remember their Sins no more This is quoted Heb. 8. 10 12. and 10. 16 17. To understand this we must consider 1. Whom is this Covenant made with 2. What cannot be inferred from this Scheme of the Covenant 1. Whom is this Covenant made with It 's with the House of Judah and Israel not the Men in present being but Men to be hereafter It 's after those Days I will make it So that it was after the Mosaick Covenant was to expire Ver. 32. and it could not be the only Covenant of Grace for that had its Being from the Fall And the sincere Israelites did not lose the Advantages of it by the Mosaick Dispensation as the Apostle Argues Gal. 3. 17. The Point before us is to know who this Israel and Judah be 1. They are either the natural Jews to be alive in those Days which this Promise refers to 2. Or true Believers who are inwardly Israel
Rom. 9. 6. 1. If it terminate on the natural Jews it 's the strongest Text for the Conversion of that People and describes the Extent of it viz. to all The Manner of it viz. by an immediate Influence for the most part and forgiving their Iniquities refers to their Sin in crucifying Christ for which that Blindness came upon them that is here removed If you take it in this Sence yet here is a Law written in the Heart which includes Faith in order to God's being their God and the Remission of their Sins 2. If true Believers or they that are inwardly Israel be meant as Rom. 2. 9. then it 's plain that there is Faith in all such who are the Parties with whom God makes this Covenant They are the Children of Abraham by Faith Gal. 3. 7. and no Unbelievers are Israel in this Notion If you take it thus the Text imports Perseverance great Sanctification and high Improvements in Holiness and Knowledge great Nearness to and Amity with God c. as the Benefits secured and reserved for the New-Testament-Times and all these to multitudes 2. It cannot be inferred from this Scheme of the new Covenant that as the Doctor would have it God doth not require any Duty as the Condition of the Benefits which he promiseth to give for here 's Gods Law written in the Heart before our Relation to him as his People or the Pardon of Sins and though this Text includes the Effects and Materials of the Covenant yet it doth not describe the whole Form of the Covenant for in other Places God requires the new Heart as a Condition of Life Ezek. 18. 31. Cast away from you all your Transgressions and make you a new Heart and a new Spirit for why will you die O House of Israel But turn and live Jer. 7. 23. c. Yea our Ministry which is the Ministry of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3. 6. is to preach Faith and Repentance for the Remission of Sin We are to promise the Benefits of the Covenant to all that submit to the Terms of it and to declare that all who refuse the Terms shall therefore be excluded from the Benefits as you 'll see Chap. 10 11 12 21. Testimonies You have already seen that the Assembly say the Covenant of Grace is conditional and Faith is a Condition of our Interest in Christ and Salvation and these are offered to Sinners on that Condition The Congregational Elders at the Savoy affirm as much Chap. 7. a. 3. The Lord was pleased to make a second Covenant commonly called the Covenant of Grace wherein he freely offers Life and Salvation by Jesus Christ requiring of them Faith in him that they may be saved You see they think there 's in the Covenant an Offer of Life if Men will believe and God requires Faith that we may obtain this Life The New England Synod confutes Errour 28. which was this To affirm there must be Faith on Man's Part to receive the Covenant is to undermine Christ. This the Synod say is contrary to Mar. 16. 16. Errour 38. was That there can be no closing with Christ in a Promise that hath a Condition expressed The Synod say this is erroneous and contrary to Isa. 55. 1. Mat. 11. 28. Mar. 1. 5. and adds If the Gospel it self be laid down in a conditional Promise if the Apostles and Prophets laid hold on such Promises to help to Union then there may be a true closing with Christ in a Promise that hath Qualfications and Conditions expressed So they brand as Errour 48. That conditional Promises are legal And Errour 81. Where Faith is held forth by the Ministry as the Condition of the Covenant of Grace on Man's Part c. there is not sufficient Bread which the Synod thus confutes This Position seems to deny Faith to be a Condition at all or at all active and so if Condition in this place signifie a Qualification in Man wrought by the Holy Ghost without which the Promises do not belong to Men. This is contrary to Joh. 6. 48. Doctor Owen saith Treat of Justif. P. 264. That Christ undertook that those who were to be taken into this Covenant should receive Grace enabling them to comply with the Terms of it fulfill its Conditions and yield the Obedience which God required therein How frequently doth he assert that our Interest in the Benefits of the Covenant depends on our answering the Terms of the Gospel 270 303 c. 351. He informs us A Covenant doth not operate by meer Sovereignty it becomes not a Covenant without the Consent of them with whom it is made Wherefore saith he no Benefit accrues unto any or Freedom from the old Covenant by this Constitution unless he hath actually complied with it hath chosen it and is interessed in it thereby Mr. Norton Orth. Evang. 172. affirms That the Gospel holds forth Salvation before Faith indefinitely not definitely Generally not Particularly Conditionally to every one not Absolutely to any one Hence this indefinite Proposition Whosoever believeth shall be saved containeth a Command and a singular or particular Conditional Promise c. He often proves Faith to be the First Condition See Turretin Instit. Theol. pars 2. p. 203. where he proves the Covenant of Grace to be Conditional How poor is the number that denies it The Ground of the Doctor 's Mistake He thinks every thing is a Price to buy a Benefit which is a compliance with the way God hath ordained to bestow the Gift whereas there 's a buying without Price which is our Acceptance of Life upon the Terms of God's Offer Isa. 55. 1. He thinks because God hath promised to Christ That the Elect shall believe therefore God cannot make Faith a Condition of any other Blessing which he resolves to bestow in order after Faith He thinks because Christ is given to be a Covenant that is he is appointed as a Surety to see the great Ends of the Covenant accomplished and secured therefore there is nothing required from Men as the way of their Interest in the Benefits of the Covenant though under the influence of Christ. He thinks because Christ is appointed to work Faith in order to Union and other Benefits therefore we must have an actual Interest in Christ and those Benefits before this Faith is wrought He thinks because all Grace after Union comes from Christ as our actual Head therefore Christ by his Spirit can work no Grace in us as our designed Head He thinks because God sovereignly decreed what Benefits he would bestow therefore he hath as our Ruler stated no rectoral Method of bestowing those Benefits Because the Covenant is everlasting as to future therefore he judged there can be no Condition on Man's part not remembring that the Covenant secures our perseverance in performing those Conditions CHAP. IX Of the Nature of Saving Faith TRUTH I Shall express this in the words of the Assembly and Congregational Elders at the Savoy Confes.
of Faith ch 14. a. 2. Declarat ch 14. a. 2. of Saving Faith By this Grace a Christian believeth to be true whatever is revealed in the Word for the Authority of God speaking therein and acteth differently upon that which each particular Passage thereof containeth yielding Obedience to the Commands Trembling at the Threatnings and Embracing the Promises of God for this Life and that which is to come But the principal Acts of Saving Faith are Accepting Receiving and Resting upon Christ alone for Justification Sanctification and Eternal Life by virtue of the Covenant of Grace Reader weigh this sound Account of Faith Which if it were regarded and no Essential part of it excluded when Faith is considered as a Condition of any Gospel-Benefit How much vain Disputes would be prevented as well as Danger to poor Souls And one would think no Man need prove That it is not Saving Faith when any Essential part of it is wanting And that it must be Saving Faith when we mention Faith as the Condition or Moral Instrument of any Saving Benefit ERROUR Saving Faith is nothing but our Persuasion or absolute Concluding within our selves That our Sins are pardoned and that Christ is ours Proved that this is Doctor Crisp 's Opinion The Doctor tells us pag. 493. The whole Essence of Faith is nothing else but the Echo of the Heart answering the foregoing Voice of the Spirit and Word of Grace Thy Sins are forgiven thee saith the Spirit and Word of Grace My Sins are forgiven me saith Faith And the Soul that can assume thus from the Spirit and Word of Grace hath the whole Essence of Believing When the Doctor pag. 107. puts a Man on examining his Faith he hath these words How do I know I believe in Christ He Answers Do I rest my Heart upon this Truth Do I receive it as a Truth that I do believe Or do I reject it and will not receive it Then I do not believe But if you sit down and rest upon this Truth and receive it and do in reality believe it then you may absolutely conclude Christ is yours And pag. 296. If the Lord I say again give to any to believe this Truth That it is his Iniquity the Lord hath laid on Christ God himself cannot charge one Sin on that Man And pag. 158. he makes the difference betwixt a strong and weak Believer to consist in the Degree of this Persuasion See more in chap. 10 11. Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not whether Assurance be attainable in this Life as the Effect of Faith 2. Nor whether a Sinner ought to apply yea doth personally apply the general Offers of Christ and Life by his own Compliance with the Terms of the Gospel For upon a true Acceptance of a whole Christ he is mine in virtue of the Gospel Promise which God will perform in giving Christ and Life to all that accept of him as he is proposed for our Acceptance 3. Nor whether a convinced Sinner hath at first a more especial regard to Christ's Priestly Offices and Sufferings as what are more sensibly fitted to his guilty State 4. Nor whether every thing recorded in the Scriptures must not be dwelt on with the same regard concern and assurance as the Essentials of the Covenant of Life 5. Nor whether Faith contain in it a reliance on Christ as the only Saviour and on his Satisfaction and Merits as what alone purchased our Pardon and Acceptance as well as it includes the realizing Assent to the Truth and unfeigned fiducial Consent to and Acceptance of a whole Christ in all his Offices All these I affirm The real Difference 1. Whether the whole Essence of Saving Faith consists in an Inward Persuasion or Assurance that our Sins are pardoned and Christ is ours This the Doctor affirms and I deny yea I deny that it is at all of the Essence of Saving Faith 2. Whether Saving Faith include not in its nature that powerful efficacious Assent to the Word and fiducial consenting Acceptance of Christ as Prophet Priest and King with a Reliance on his Merits and obediential Regards to God as the TRUTH above-mentioned doth express This the Doctor denies and I affirm The Truth confirmed 1. Faith is not an Assurance or Inward Persuasion That Christ is ours and our Sins are pardoned For 1. Men may have this Persuasion who do not savingly believe They in Mat. 7. 22. had this when they cried Lord Lord open to us Neither did the foolish Virgins seem without it Mal. 25. 1 2. Yea it's what the most profligate Sinners grow secure by to their own Destruction and this upon the general Word of Grace 2. Many true Believers have not this Persuasion let common Experience be consulted 3. Such as have had Assurance do by the Doctor 's Opinion fall into the Sin of damning Unbelief whenever they doubt their Interest in Christ and especially if they conclude that they have not this Interest A sad Doom on many pious Souls 4. This Persuasion should suppose an Interest in Christ and doth not give it It 's a false Conclusion That Christ is mine before he is so And must the great term of Life be a Lye We are to examine our selves whether we be in the Faith and so whether Christ be in us before we assure our selves that he is in us 2 Cor. 13. 5. And where hath God made this Proposition My Sins are laid upon Christ to be the Object of Saving Faith This Proposition is not God nor Christ nor any part of the Scripture unless you suppose a General Redemption and that to the actual Pardon of every Sinner And as the Word of Grace promiseth Pardon to none but a Believer so the Spirit speaks it to none but to the Believer as a Believer 2. Saving Faith includes the Essentials expressed in the above-mentioned Truth as Assent Trust Consenting Acceptance of Christ Reliance c. This appears 1. Faith can be no less than the Soul's Answer to the Call of God in our effectual Vocation And to this all those things are necessary 2 Pet. 1. 3. 2. The Scriptures describe Saving Faith by all these Acts It 's the Evidence of things not seen and Substance of things hoped for Heb. 11. 1. It 's a Receiving of Christ Joh. 1. 12. which must be as God gives him and that is a Witness a Leader and Commander of the People Isa. 55. 4. Acts 3. 26. to bless us in turning every one of you from his iniquity Rom. 15. 12. In him shall the Gentiles trust Isa. 44. 5. One shall say I am the Lord's and another shall subscribe with his Hand unto the Lord which express consent 3. Christ cannot be received as a Saviour nor as the Way of a Sinner to God if Faith include not these Great things He is not a Saviour if you exclude any of his Offices and as an intire Saviour we must receive him Mat. 1. 21. Can any Man receive
unto such and such Persons before he did put any Qualifications into them But I say farther that God gives actual Possession of this Christ and this Christ takes Possession of that Person before there be any Qualification Obj. When are the Elect united to Christ A. The Doctor tells you Before they are born P. 617. See P. 597 609 611 c. Of coming to Christ against your Wills See the end of this Chapter Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not whether God hath decreed that all the Elect shall be united to Christ. 2. Nor whether God hath appointed and Christ agreed in the Covenant of Redemption to be in time the Saviour of the Elect and that whatChrist did and suffered pursuant to that Covenant was intended for the saving Good of the Elect. 3. Nor whether all the Power by which we believe and the Spirit who works Faith in us be purchased and given by Christ. 4. Nor whether Christ's giving us the Spirit of Grace do begin this Union and the Spirit given in order to saving Operations produceth this Faith whereby the Union is consummated 5. Nor whether Faith unites to Christ by Divine Ordination and not by its own Power or Merit or as a Physical Act. All these I affirm The Real Difference 1. Whether the Elect are actually united to Christ before they are born This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether the Elect are united to Christ till they are effectually called and truly believe This the Doctor denies and I affirm The Truth Confirmed 1. The Scriptures expresly affirm all uncalled unregenerate Unbelievers to be united to Christ and in a State of Separation from him The believing Ephesians were before Conversion without Christ Eph. 2. 12. Were they always united to Christ of whom Paul saith Rom. 16. 7. They were in Christ before me Or was Paul himself always in Christ Were not the Romans out of Christ while a wild Olive-Tree and untill they were grafted into the true Olive-Tree w ich they were upon their Conversion Rom. 11. 17 19. 2. The Spirit of Christ and Faith in him are the things whereby God hath ordained us to be united with Christ By one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. Christ dwells in our Hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. on which account we are said to receive Christ Col. 2. 8. And are Children of God by Faith Gal. 3. 26. 3. The want of this Union is denounced against all such as have not the Spirit and are Unbelievers Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his i. e. Let the Man be elect or not be the Man who he will if he hath not the Spirit he is not Christ's in this Union And it 's the Design of that Parable Mat. 22. 3. to 13. that they who accept not of the Invitation or do not sincerely and spiritually consent to Christ's Offer shall not be united to Christ or partake of the Marriage Supper 4. The necessary immediate Effects of Union are plainly wanting in all such as have not the Spirit and want Faith He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. Can any unbelieving Wretch pretend to have one Spirit with Christ whiles his Inclinations Purposes and Carriage are so contrary Again If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. q. d. Let the Man be who he will he is not united to Christ if he be not a new Creature I hope none will doubt he is no new Creature who is carnal who is a Stranger to the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4 24. When the Scriptures describe any Person in Christ Jesus they tell us they at least in purpose have crucified the Flesh with the Affections thereof Gal. 5. 24 and they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom 8 1. It 's not they that have crucified the Flesh are in Chrâ—st which some might say would render it only a manifesting Sign of their In-being in Christ but these Texts do exclude all others from a present Share in this Union The like Places might be multiplied As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3. 27. If Christ be in you the Body is dead because of Sin c. Rom 8 9 10 But alas these and the like are not only wanting in Unbelievers but the direct contrary thereto prevalently reign in them and each of these Contraries do by a Gospel Rule subject Men to those Miseries as are inconsistent with the Members of Christ As If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die to be carnally minded is Death c. Rom. 3. 8. 6 14. 5. Union with Christ is determined to our effectual Calling This is the Means and Season of that Blessing God is faithful by whom ye are called into the Fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 9. Hence the Instruments of our Vocation are said to espouse us to Christ 2 Cor. 11. 2. To beget them for him 1 Cor. 4. 15. This Privilege is peculiar to Christ's regenerate Seed and impossible to any that are not so 6. Unbelievers are not Members of the Catholick invisible Church which is the Body of Christ By one Spirit you are all baptized into one Body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. There is a present effectual Working in every Part of this Body Eph. 4. 16. It 's by the Spirit 's Operation we are Parts of this Holy Temple and fellow Citizens with the Saints Eph. 2. from 18. to 22. Every Member hath a Measure of Faith and Grace Rom. 12. 3 4 5. None of these can be true of Men dead in Sin Nor can they be Members of Christ that are not Members of his Body 1 Cor. 12. 27. 7. Should they that are united to Christ apostatize from Faith they would thereby forfeit and lose this Union If any cease to be Believers they would cease to be Members of Christ. This is the Scope of Joh. 15. 2 3 4 5 6. If a Man abide not in me he is cast forth as a Branch and is withered Every Branch in me that beareth not Fruit he taketh away And is it not apparent that Apostacy sinks a Man into no more Unbelief than what prevailed before he believed at all 8. The opposite Errour would reconcile what the Spirit of God declares inconsistent The Apostle in vain asketh What Concord hath Christ with Belial or what Part hath he that believeth with an Infidel and what Agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols c. 2 Cor. 6. 15 16 17. By this Opinion Christ and Belial can be and dwell quietly in one Man for many Years and he that believeth and an Infidel have the same part in the highest Privilege viz. Union with Christ. In Uncleanness God receives all alike and
shall proceed to the Proof of the Truth which is comprehended under these Heads 1. Sinners have much to do in order to Salvation There be few Leaves in the Bible but argue this It 's the Scope of all the Revelations of God to Men since the Fall It 's true we have nothing to do in a way of Atonement or Purchace but it is as true we have much to do in order to our Participation of what Christ hath purchased We must repent that our Sins may be blotted out Act 3. 19. We must believe that we may be saved c. Our Lord is express if you know these things happy are you if you do them Joh. 13. 17. All Gospel-discoveries are made known for the Obedience of Faith Rom. 16. 26. And Christ will take Vengeance on all them who obey not the Gospel neither Christ nor Gospel will secure them 2 Thes. 1. 8. The Revelations of God to Men are not a bare Description of Duty and Benefits but an Injunction of Duty in a Connexion with Benefits Rom. 10. 9. If thou confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with thy Heart thou shalt be saved 2. I could shew there 's no one saving Benefit granted to a Sinner but on supposition of his Doing See much of this Chap. 8. 10 11 12. and Ch. 21 22. Christ never intended the Application of his Merits for our Privileges without ordering them as Motives to Duty on our Part. 3. The Influences of the Spirit of God and God's Institutions have no Causality in our Salvation if Men have nothing to do in order to be saved It 's plain that Salvation is ascribed to the Spirit and also to the Means of Grace Neither of them are the Atonement or Price of Salvation therefore they must save as they operate on the Soul in order to its Actings Rom. 1. 16. 1. Cor. 1. 21. And this must be as it answers the way appointed for our Participation of Life 4. On what account is it said that we believe to the saving of our Souls Heb. 10. 39. and Repentance to Salvation is the Expression of the Spirit of God 2 Cor. 7. 10. What Sence can be affixed to these and the like Phrases as they are opposed to their Contraries as destructive if Men do nothing towards their Salvation See Jam. 2. 14. Can Faith save him Yea and I may ask 5. What meaneth the Holy Ghost when he saith In so doing thou shalt save thy self and them that hear thee 1 Tim. 4. 16. Sure the Argument is not strong if it be true we can do nothing for Salvation 6. The Destruction of Sinners under the Gospel is still laid on not Doing they are condemned by the Law but they remain condemned and their Ruine is fixed and so they are twice dead for want of doing somewhat Ye will not come to me that you might have Life Joh. 5. 40. How oft is the Ruine of Souls laid on not Turning not Repenting c. 7. If Men have nothing to do for Salvation then Christ hath no Rule to judge them who lived under the Gospel I hope none will say the judicial Sentence will pass on Men as elected or not elected Doth it agree to the Proceedings of that Tribunal at that Day to say Thou shalt be damned because thou wert not elected Is this the Account the Scripture gives Doth it not proceed on the Difference in Mens Carriage and Tempers See the Parable of the Talents They who improved their Talents were saved he that hid it in a Napkin was therefore damned Mat. 25. 21 24 28. Consider any Description of the last Day and you 'll find God saves and damns with a Respect to Mens Neglects and Compliance with his Gospel 8. I could easily demonstrate that if Men have nothing to do in order to Salvation the Ministery of Christ and his Apostles the Ministery most apt and most blessed to Souls to this very day is all a Vanity and Falshood they are cold Pleadings with Sinners that are not backed with Life and Death Remove saving Benefits and undoing Dangers from being Arguments to Compliance with the Will of Christ and any Man may read the Success of such a Ministery and to use these Arguments to persuade Men to repent and believe if we have nothing to do for Heaven is a manifest Falshood and Trifling It 's awful to consider how inconsistent some Mens Application is with their Doctrine though it 's well their Uses to the Unconverted have so much Truth in them 2. True Holiness sincere Obedience or good Works and Perseverance are the Way to Heaven and so necessary to the Salvation of a Believer that without them he cannot be saved and continuing in them he shall be saved This might be evidenced by many Reasons 1. It is not saving Faith which is not operative to these Effects It ceaseth to be true whenever it wholly fails of purifying the Heart and working by Love Many affirm That all Graces are seminally in Faith as in their Principle Such must grant that as Faith justifies us at first in receiving and relying on Christ so it continues to justifie us by continuing those Acts and exerting it self in those other Operations which are essential to its Nature And thus some expound Jam. 2. 20 24. 2. Obedience good Works and Perseverance preserve us from those contrary Evils which do subject Men to Condemnation I keep my Body under least by any Means when I have preached to others I my self be a cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 27. I shall add to this in some following Heads 3. The Gospel-Constitution doth by its Promises and Threatnings make Persevering Holiness Obedience or Good Works the necessary way to Heaven These are not only a Natural but a Moral meetness for Heaven That this Point may be clear I shall 1. Shew that the Gospel-Constitution contains Promises and Threatnings which affect all of us as a Rule of Happiness and Misery it 's so to the Elect yea Believers as well as others 2. That by this Constitution Persevering Holiness Sincere Obedience or Good Works are necessary to Salvation 1. The Gospel-Constitution contains Promises and Threatnings which affect all of us as a Rule of Happiness and Misery By these God governs Men and Mens Hopes or Fears should be directed by these as their Rule Dr. Crisp not observing this hath run into those Mistakes which open a door to all Licentiousness though he intended it not His whole Scheme implies That Christ doth not distribute Blessings or Punishments by any Rule that referrs to the Actings of Men. I have proved the contrary chap. 8 c. For if the Covenant of Grace be Conditional and Faith and Repentance are Necessary to Forgiveness c. the Substance of this must be granted But I add a few Reasons more 1. Most of the Promises and Threatnings in the Bible that referr to the State of Souls are Evangelical Promises and Threats They are not the Sanction of the
5 15 16 17 18 19. It 's the same with Churches see the 2d and 3d. Chap. of the Revelations IV. Men should govern their Expectations and Fears according to the Conformity of their Hearts and Behaviour to the Rule of the Promise It 's Unbelief not to expect the Good promised when we answer the Condition of it It 's obstinate Hardness and Security not to expect the threatned Evil when we are guilty of the Sin or Neglect threatned There 's no grounded Hopes or Fears but this way all else are Enthusiastick The End of God in these Declarations of his Will are not otherwise complied with God often condemns all Hopes as vain that are not thus regulated and by this Rule the Servants of God governed themselves I need not cite Texts for things so plain V. God is better pleased with his People in the exercise of Grace and Holiness than when they neglect these and do the contrary What Notions have Men of God of Grace and Sin that they should need Proof for this Is it not by the Exercise of Grace and Holiness that we approve our selves to God 2 Tim. 2. 15 Is it not With such Sacrifices God is well-pleased Heb. 13. 16. Was it not by his Faith and Divine Walk that Enoch pleased God Heb. 11. 5. What meaneth the Apostle You have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God 1 Thes. 4. 1. The Saint's Charity is called An Odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable well-pleasing to God We are charged to walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing Col. 1. 10. Of the Obedience of Children he saith This is well-pleasing to the Lord. What great things of this Nature are spoken of Prayer Praises and other Good VVorks VVhereas God is fretted grieved vexed provoked to anger and abhorrence by our Sins and Neglects How can we apprehend that God is as well pleased with us when testifying our Enmity as our Love when rejecting his Authority as doing his Will Are the Fruits of the Spirit alike to him as the Fruits of the Flesh And can the Image of the Devil render us as grateful as his own Image and the Life of his Son Obj. It 's for Christ's Incense these are accepted Ans. But Christ's Incense will not be applied to our Sins but to our Graces and Duties and that shews they are more pleasing to God than our Sins be And again They are these Graces and Duties which are accepted for the sake of Christ His Incense will not be denied to them and thereby they are well-pleasing to the Lord and tend to render us so Davenant de Justitia Actuali and Others say much more VI. The Holiness Graces Perseverance Obedience and Good Works of Believers do them much Good and are profitable to them Read over what I have proved at large and canst thou doubt whether they benefit us when they are the VVay to Heaven the Means of Happiness c. A wise Man may be profitable to himself though not to God Job 22. 2. Godliness is profitable to all things having the promises of this life and that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. These Things are profitable to Men Tit. 3. 8. Not only to other Men but principally to our selves Though I have all Faith if I have not Charity I am nothing and whatever else I suffer yet without this it profiteth me nothing 1 Cor. 13. 2 3. Circumcision or Uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7. 19. Sure that 's something In keeping these there is great Reward Psal. 19. 11. Glory Honour and Peace to every one that doth good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of Persons with God Rom. 2. 10 11. Nehemiah and Hezekiah pleaded a false Plea if it were true there 's nothing to be gotten The Care of Saints to adapt their Actings to the Rule of the Promise is a very needless thing So run that ye may obtain 1 Cor. 9. 24. If a Man strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully 1 Tim. 2. 5. The Galatians must be but little moved when told Ch. 3 4. Are ye so foolish c. Have ye suffered so many things in vain for all is in vain Is Peace of Conscience nothing Is inward Rejoycing nothing Yet how Paul came by these he tells you 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our Rejoycing is this The Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity not with Fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World His Directions for inward Joy and Peace you have Gal. 6. 4. Let every Man prove his own Work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone I shall not trouble thee with Reasons to prove that Grace Holiness and Obedience are useful to prevent Evil. I leave it to thy Experience if thou art a good Man and referr it to what thou wilt feel hereafter i thou art a bad Man If there were no more these do prevent Sin which in Chap. 17. I hope to prove is not so innocent as to do us no harm Reader To summ up all I appeal to thee 1. Whether God doth require any more of any Sinners for Salvation than that they believe in Christ repent of Sin persevere in true Holiness sincere Obedience or good Works internal and external and if we do so can we perish hath not Christ provided all else and doth not the Promise secure Life upon doing these 2. If any Sinner believe not and repent not hath Christ ever promised to save him Will any decree or the Merits of Christ secure him Again if any penitent Believer shall apostatize prove ungodly and unfruitful hate God or neglect to love God and his Neighbour wholly c. Shall this Man be saved Hath not Christ determined the contrary Will his first Faith save him A Resolution of these two things according to the very Scope of the Word will decide the Main of this Controversie These assert the Rule of Christ's rectoral Distributions and the Decree comes not in opposition to the Methods of his Government by which we are to govern our Hopes and Fears TESTIMONIES The Assembly Confess Chap. 19. a. 6. and the Elders at the Savoy declare Chap. 19. a. 6. The Promises of the Law in like manner shew them God's Approbation of Obedience and what Blessings they may expect upon the Performance thereof although not as due to them by the Law as a Covenant of Works so a Man's doing and refraining from Evil because the Law encourageth to the one and deterreth from the other is no Evidence of his being under the Law and not under Grace Both the Assembly and the Elders say Chap. 15. a. 6. The Persons of Believers being accepted through Christ their good Works also are accepted in him not as though they were in this Life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in his Sight but
he looking upon them in his Son is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere although accompanied with many Imperfections Both also tell us Chap. 18. a. 2. That the Promises are made to Graces The Elders Chap. 15. a. 2. say That Believers Sinning are renewed through Repentance to Salvation Of the Necessity and Benefit of Faith I have given their Judgment before The Assembly and Elders Chap. 1. a. 7. tell us Those things which are necessary to be known believed and observed for Salvation are clearly propounded The Assembly's Large Catechism Q. How doth Christ execute the Office of a King A. Among other things they say In rewarding their Obedience and correcting them for their Sins Q. How is the Grace of God manifested in the second Covenant A. Among other things Requiring Faith as the Condition of their Interest in him c. Giving his Spirit to his Elect c. to enable them unto all holy Obedience as the Evidence of the Truth of their Faith and as the Way which he hath appointed them to Salvation Q. What hath God required that we may escape the Wrath and Curse c. A. That we may escape the Wrath and Curse of God c. He requireth of us Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus and the diligent Use of the Means c. You see they think Obedience and Good Works are rewardable that the Exercise of Graces do us much Good that Obedience is the Way to Salvation that we have much to do and that to escape the Wrath and Curse I shall transcribe part of the New-England Synod's Confutation of that Speech of the Antimonians If I am Holy I am never the better accepted of God If I be unholy I am never the worse This I am sure of be that elected me must save me To this the Synod answer This Expression imports that though a Man's Conversation be never so holy and gracious yet he can expect never the more Manifestation of Gods Kindness and Love to him Contrary to P. 50. ult and Joh. 14. 21. It implies That though a Man's Conversation be never so vile yet he needs not fear nor expect any Expression of God's Displeasure and Anger to break forth against him contrary to 2 Chron. 15. 2. And in a Word it imports That God neither loved Righteousness nor hated Sin and did take no Delight in the Obedience of his People Contrary to Psal. 45. 6 7. and 147. c. It 's true the Foundation of Election remaineth sure but it 's as true that whom he chooseth he purposeth to bring to Salvation through Sanctification of he Spirit 2 Thes. 2. 13 14. The 19th Errour of Mr. H. All Commands in the Word are Law and are not a Way of Life Errour 43. the Synod Confutes is The Spirit acts most in the Saints when they endeavour least Errour 48. Conditional Promises are legal Errour 50. It 's Poverty of Spirit when we have Grace yet to see we have none in our selves Doctor Owen Of Justif. P. 222. We grant that 1. God doth indispensibly require of him a justified Person personal Obedience which may be called his Evangelical Righteousness 2. That God doth approve of and accept in Christ his Righteousness so performed 3. That hereby that Faith whereby we are justified is evidenced proved manifested in the Sight of God and Men. 4. That this Righteousness is pleadable unto an Acquitment against any Charge from Satan the World or our own Consciences 5. That upon it we shall be declared righteous at the last Day and without it none shall be And if any shall think meet from hence to conclude unto an Evangelical Justification or call God's Acceptance of our Righteousness by that Name I shall by no means contend with them Where-ever this Enquiry is made not c. but how a Man that professeth Evangelical Faith in Christ shall be tried judged and whereon as such he shall be justified We grant that it is and must be by his own personal sincere Obedience P. 156. It is commonly said Faith and new Obedience are the Condition of the new Covenant c. If no more be intended but that God in and by the new Covenant doth indispensibly require these things of us in order to his own Glory and our full Enjoyment of all the Benefits of it it is unquestionably true P. 158. our whole Obedience through his gracious Appointment hath a rewardable Condecency with respect unto eternal Life P. 207. These Duties are so far necessary unto the Continuation of our Justification as that a justified State cannot consist with the Sins and Vices that are opposite unto them So the Apostle affirms If we live after the Flesh we shall die P. 208. If this be that which is intended in this Position That our own Obedience and good Works are the Condition of the Continuation of our Justification namely that God doth indispensibly require good Works and Obedience in all that are justified so that a justified State is inconsistent with the Neglect of them it is readily granted The Ground of Doctor Crisp 's Mistake He thinks because God eternally intended us all Benefits in the way he determined therefore he appoints nothing to Men as the Means of partaking of those Benefits Whereas this way Christ himself may as well be excluded by the Decrees he not being the Cause of Election but the Means of effecting it and all Endeavours for Life Health Estates c. may be as well prevented for God hath determined how long we shall live how rich we shall be c. Because a Sinner can obtain nothing by virtue of the Covenant of Works therefore what a Believer doth can avail nothing by the Grace of the new Covenant Because Christ hath merited all things as a Priest with a Right and Purpose to bestow them on the Elect therefore he can fix on no way to bestow them on his elect Subjects as Motives to obey him as a King Because he hath delivered us from the legal Rule of Misery and Happiness therefore he hath no Promises or Threats to govern us by in this State of Trial. Because Christ is the only Way of Atonement and Purchase therefore there can be no other way of his own ordaining to obtain the Effects of his Purchase Because we can merit nothing as of debt for doing therefore we can of Grace receive no Benefit by doing though God doth promise it Because we can do nothing for Life with a Thought of buying it therefore we may do nothing for Life as the End that moves us in the Use of indispensibly required Means Because God of his Mercy saves us at last therefore he shall not in the mean while duly govern us in order to Salvation Because we cannot merit Pardon therefore God can order no Grace or Duty to be through Christ rewardable with any other Blessing CHAP. XIV Of intending our Souls Good by Duties we perform TRUTH THough we ought
the Prophets even Isaiah himself yea Christ and his Apostles were all Legal Preachers The Law in this sence is that which Converts Comforts Healeth Saveth c Whatever is spoken in Praise of the Word of the Truth of the Commandments of God and Christ are spoken of the Law in this sence And it is the same with the Gospel as I have proved chap. 20. And they are Enemies to Christ and Souls that disdain to be such Legal Preachers 2. But there is a Legal Preaching which is opposed to the Gospel and this indeed is a Crime the word being used as a Reproach this must be intended if Men understand what they speak of And to that this Chapter refers TRUTH Legal Preaching is to Preach the Law as a Covenant of Innocency or Works or to Preach the Mosaick or jewish-Jewish-Covenant of Peculiarity But it is not Legal Preaching to require and persuade to Faith Holiness or Duties by Promises and Threatnings according to the Grace of the Gospel and direct Men to fear and hope accordingly ERROUR Legal Preaching is to call People to act any Grace or do any Duty as a required Means of Salvation or inward Peace or to threaten them with Death or any Affliction to cause Fear if they commit the grossest Sins and backsside and fall away or to promise them any Blessing upon their Obedience to the Commandments of Christ or urge the Threatnings to persuade Sinners to believe and repent Proved that this is Doctor Crisp's Opinion P. 616. If Persons are not united to Christ and do not partake of Justification before they do believe c. then mark what will follow That there will be bringing to life again the Covenant of Works c. Obj. How doth this follow I Answer Thus you must of necessity press upon your selves these Terms or such like I must do that I may have Life in Christ I must believe there is no Life till I do believe Now if their be Believing first then there is Doing before Living P. 561 562. This likewise batters to the ground that way of urging Men to holiness which some hold forth That if Men do not these and these good Works and leave these and these Sins then they must come under the wrath of God c. The Love of God constrains the Faithful and not the Fear of Wrath a sense of being delivered from it not a fear of Wrath to come P. 559 560. Obj. Some will say The Preaching of the Terrours of the Law and the Wrath of God and Damnation and Hell-fire unto Men is a safer way to take Men off from Sin than to preach Gracc and Forgiveness before-hand c. A. I say If we preach Wrath and Damnation we must either make them believe they lyc under the Wrath and that Wrath shall come or we must make them believe that though there be Wrath yet it shall not fall upon them Now if we tell them of Wrath and Damnation and say they are secure from them and they belong not to them to what purpose do we tell them of Wrath we had as good hold our tongues c. And he shews how it 's bringing back the Covenant of Works to tell them that God will be angry with them if they commit Sin or do not such and such Duties Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not Whether it is Legal Preaching to preach Duties or Holiness as if Men must perfectly believe and obey or they shall unavoidably perish 2. Nor That it 's Legal Preaching to denounce Wrath and Hell as Miseries from which there is no relief by Christ in the way of the Gospel 3. Nor That it is Legal Preaching to press Men to Faith Repentance and other Duties as if they were to be performed in their own strength without the Grace of Christ and Influences of the Spirit 4. Nor That it is Legal Preaching to promise Salvation to any Action if the Performer thereof be Unregenerate Unbelieving and Impenitent 5. Nor That it is too much Legal Preaching to be always pressing the Duties of the Law of Nature but to neglect Preaching Faith in Christ and Repentance Regeneration c. and so to neglect to make the Person Offices Sufferings and Intercession of Christ as also our Relation to him and Dependance on him as Mediatour with other Gospel-Mysteries known to their Hearers 6. Nor That it 's Legal Preaching to preach that our Faith Holiness or Good Works stand in the same place now as Perfect Obedience did under the Law viz. To render the Reward to be of Debt or be the Meritorious Righteousness for which we are Justified 7. Or That it is Legal to preach that our best Obedience doth not deserve Wrath by the Law as a Rule of Misery and Happiness Or That it doth not need Forgiveness or is any Supplement of Christ's Righteousness yea or to neglect to call Men to renounce all in themselves as any Atonement for Sin or Cause of Pardon and to look to Christ as the only Propitiation Purchaser of all our Blessings and Cause of the Acceptance of our Persons and Performances 8. Nor That it is Legal Preaching to omit to urge Men to Obedience by Gospel Motives as what Christ Suffered the Love of God in him the Benefits afforded by him the Helps he vouchsafes the Relations he admits us to and the like 9. Nor That it is Legal to shew Men their Misery and Sinfulness and not to inform them of the Gospel-way of Salvation 10. Nor That it is too Legal to neglect to improve holy Souls to an ingenuous Obedience from Love to God as well as a holy Fear 11. Nor that it is Legal to encourage such Fear as imports a Life of Torment destructive to our Hopes and Joy Or as if every Miscarriage should over-turn Assurance though the dominion of Sin be not justly suspected 12. Nor that it is Legal Preaching to assert Judaism or the Mosaic Pedagogie viz. to press Circumcision Sacrifices a Covenant of Peculiarity Jewish Priesthood Sabbath or an Abuse of the Law in Opposition to Christ our Saviour who is the End of all Types c. All these I affirm These indeed make up that Preaching of the Law which is opposed to Christ to Grace and to the Gospel The real Difference 1. Whether it 's Legal Preaching to require People to Repent and Believe that their Iniquities may be forgiven for Christ's sake This I deny and the Doctor affirms against the scope of the Gospel as I have proved chap. 8. 10 12 20 c. 2. Whether it be Legal Preaching to press Holiness and Gospel Obedience as necessary to the Salvation of a Justified Person This the Doctor affirms and I deny upon Reasons given chap. 8. 13. 17. 3. Whether it be Legal to threaten such Penalties as are short of Damnation against such Offences as are consistent with Sincerity and yet avoidable by serious care and diligence This the Doctor affirms and I deny for which see
Union with Christ as if we were One Natural Person with him His Difinition of the New Creature as if it stood only in our New Relation to Christ. P. 90. The strange difference he makes between the way of Salvation before Christ's time and since P. 254 255 256 258. Their Sins were pardoned on Condition of Doing not given for all Sins at once much Dust left and they were subject to Lashes for Sin but now the Covenant is contrary in all these respects How contrary to the Sense of the Assembly and Elders at the Savoy ch 11. a. 6. The Justification of Believers under the Old Testament was in all these respects one and the same with the Justification of Believers under the New Testament He forgets that most of his Proofs be fetch'd from the Old Testament as Ezek. 16 c. Jacob loved in the Womb c. and seems not to distinguish the Covenant of Grace and that of Peculiarity But these with other Errours I pass by THE APPENDIX I Shall here repeat what I delivered in Pinners-Hall-Lecture which some Persons seemed greatly to resent and I leave it to any impartial Man to judge from what I have described as Dr. Crisp's Opinion whether I charged Men of his Persuasion with Falshood After I had fully acquitted Men of my Judgment from Pelagianism Socinianism and Arminianism which the Antinomians accuse us of I added with these Men It 's not enough that we hold That we were from Eternity elected to Grace and Glory unless we add That we were actually United to Christ and Justified from Eternity and in the Womb. It 's not enough that we say Christ did in the Covenant of Redemption undertake to save the Elect in his appointed way and time unless we add That there is no other Covenant for the Application of Christ's Benefits wherein God requires Faith and Repentance as the indispensible Means of our Pardon It is not enough that we own That Christ absolutely Redeemed the Elect so as to purchase Saving Graces as well as Benefits to be infallibly theirs unless we add That all others are in state of Devils as having no real Offers of Life on Gospel-Terms nor is their Salvation possible if they will repent and believe It will not please them that we affirm The Punishment of our Sins yea the Guilt of them as an Obligation to Punishment were laid upon Christ our Sponsor unless we add That our Sins themselves in their blot and filthiness were also transacted on Christ. It is not enough that we own That the Righteousness of Christ avails us as much as if it were personally our own yea was always intended for us and is so imputed to us as to be the Foundation of and Security for our Pardon and Right to Life and no Atonement for Sin or purchasing Price of Life can be demanded from us unless we also add That God esteemed us to have done and suffered what Christ did and suffered It sufficeth not that we say That we are Justified only by Christ's Merits as the sole procuring Cause or Righteousness for which we are Justified unless we deny That Faith and Repentance are the indispensibly required Conditions or Qualifications of those Persons to whom the Merits of Christ are applied for Justification It will not serve that we assert That Justifying Faith must be a Reliance on Christ as Priest and sole Atonement unless we deny That Faith must be also a fiducial Acceptance of a whole Saviour i. e. of Christ as Prophet Priest and King It 's not enough that we say We are upon Repenting and Believing put into a Justified state hefore any other Work unless we add That our Obedience to particular Precepts do not benefit us and that God doth not judicially approve of our sincere Actings as according to the Rule of the Gospel-Promises of those Benefits It is not enough that we say The absolute Promises are made to Christ for the be nefit of the Elect and pleadable by him unless we deny That the Gospel is an authoritative Command on Men to Believe and that under the Gospel-Sanction of Life and Death So that he that believes stall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned It will not please that we say That Christ purchased all Grace for us and by his Spirit worketh all Grace in us unless we add That he Believed Repented and did all for us so as we have nothing to do in order to Salvation It 's not sufficient that we own The Grace by which we do any Duty is from Christ and the Good promised to any Duty is for the sake of Christ unless we deny the ordained Connexion betwixt that Duty and that Benefit They say We set up Man's Righteousness if we tell Men that they must be holy and do good and take comfort therein as an Evidence of Grace and of their Title to Christ and as answering the Rule of the Gospel-Promises though we assert They must be Members of Christ and accepted through him or they cannot partake of any Saving Benefits thereby It is not right that we say God sees no Sin in Believers so as to cast them out of Covenant nor out of a Justified-state for it unless we add That God sees no Sin at all in them as theirs when they most offend It 's not enough that we affirm That Sin committed shall not eventually damn a Believer because he shall by the Spirit be brought to Repentance unless we add God is never angry with Believers for Sin nor ever corrects them as guilty of it With these we are Legal Preachers if we urge Faith and Repentance in order to Pardon though we declare that Faith and Repentance are the Gifts of Christ and Pardon is not the Effect of these Graces but of the Promise in the virtue of Christ's Blood or of his Blood applied for Forgiveness by the Promise We are Legal Preachers if we perswade to Holiness as the way of Salvation by the Ordination of Christ though we affirm that it is no way out of Christ nor but with a respect to Christ for whom it is accepted as what answers the Rule of the Gospel-Promise How are we decried as Legal if we urge Threatnings though as Motives to close with Christ and to walk in him Which being used to this end and the threatned Evil being avoidable on Gospel-Terms and pressed on fallen Man for his recovery they are Gospel and not Legal Threatnings It 's not enough That we assert and press Assurance unless we affirm That Justifying Faith is nothing but Assurance It 's not enough we say That we need the Spirit to discover to us our inherent Grace and to assist Conscience in it's Sentence That Grace is inherent unless we add That we must not try our State and conclude of it by Gospel-Marks of Sanctification but depend on an inward Voice of the Spirit saying Thy Sins are forgiven which we must believe if it agree but to the general Word viz. Christ came to save Sinners and believing this is all that Saving Faith the Gospel speaks of Herein I have in part described the state of the Case between them and us It 's true there are some small Differences among the Orthodox in Wording some of these things But shall we hereby give Advantage to such Errours as overturn the Gospel and Dominion of Christ under the abused Pretext of Exalting Christ and Free Grace Bear with this which for the sake of Christ and dying Religion I have ventur'd to declare not for the Irritation of any but the Edification of all especially some mistaken well-meaning People Conscience binds me not to palliate though I fore-see Reproach from some who would do well to remember the Caution the Spirit of God thought needful to such as boasted of a Faith without Works and still it appears too pertinent If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this man's rereligion is vain Jam. 2. 26. SOME General Heads THE Elect are Children of Wrath till effectually called Page 4 The filth of Sin not transacted on Christ p. 10 The Act of laying Sins on Christ is not the discharge of the Elect p. 17 Mens Sins their own and not Christ's Sins p. 25 Our Sins laid on Christ before he was nailed to the Cross p. 29 Christ not abhorred by the Father p. 33 No change of Person between Christ and the Elect p. 41 Christ's Mediatorial Righteousness not subjectively in us and how imputed p. 42 Believers not as Holy as Christ p. 46 The Covenant of Grace explained and what a Condition is p. 53 57. The Covenant of Grace Conditional p. 63 Faith not a Perswasion that my Sins are pardoned c. p. 75 Prevailing Enmity a Hindrance to our present Interest in Christ p. 85 The Elect not united to Christ without Faith p. 93 What Union with Christ is p. 100 Justification not before Faith p. 105 Repentance necessary to Pardon p. 114 Sinners have much to do to be saved p. 129 The Gospel hath Threats and Promises p. 133 Holiness and Good Works necessary to Salvation p. 139 They are profitable and God pleased c p. 142 143 144 Our own Good should be intended p. 155 Assurance by Gospel-Marks and not by an inward Voice p. 165 God Chargeth Sin on Men and they should repent for repeated Pardon p. 175 Sin may hurt Believers p. 184 God afflicts for Sin p. 192 Sincere Holiness not Dung p. 199 102 Christ doth not repent c. for us p. 211 Conditional Proposals of Benefit on terms of Duty Gospel-Preaching p. 213 To excite Fear in sense of Danger not Legal Preaching p. 228 Christ more Exalted by the former Truths than by Dr. Crisp's Opinions p. 235 The Free Grace of God not honoured by Doctor Crisp though more Freeness be asserted by him than by these Truths p. 239 Part of a Sermon at Pinner's-Hall Anno 1691. The Edition of Dr. Crisp's Works I refer to is the last Anno 1690. FINIS