of her many subtractions and purloynings from the diuine truth is strangled and become stone-dead and on the other side to charge the reformed Church of hauing the dead fayth because she teacheth iustification by faith onely with outworkes but behold a wonder that any sonnes of this our deare mother Church should proue so vnnaturall and vnreasonable as and that most impudently though withall cunningly euen pretending the doctrine of the Church of England to be for them and they for it a thing too vsuall to impute vnto her the dead fayth as whereof she is the teacher while vnto the doctrine of iustification by fayth onely she addeth and presseth the doctrine and practise of sanctification not onely as a frute but as a duty springing from the same From which impious and senselesse reproach while we shall purge our mother wee shall with one bush stop two gapps both the wide mouth of Mother Babell crying out against vs that by teaching Iustification by faith onely we destroy sanctification and the impudent mouthes of the misbegotten homebred bratts that exclaime we destroy the iustification of the true liuing fayth And this done we shall by Gods grace eyther so conuince these men as to pull them from their dead fayth or make it so euident to all men as they shall confesse the dead fayth of Belial or of Baal to be with these men and the liuing fayth to be onely on our side Now the occasion of our taking this taske vpon vs is this there is a new sprung-vp opinion which not onely in this City but in some parts of the Country spreading like a Cancer or gangrene hath infected many poysoning them with a schismaticall spirit and not only alienating their minds from but opening their mouthes against our Congregations and Ministers so as they scoffe and scandalize euen the soundest and sincearest preaching of the word of God They deny any vse at all of the morall law so farre as to be a rule of life and christian conuersation after that a man is once brought to be a beleeuer in Christ They allow the law no further vse then as to bee a Schoolemaster to bring vs to Christ and then farewell law And if Ministers Preach and presse the duties of sanctification these Antinomians ieare at them yea and rayle on them to their very faces calling them Anabaptists and telling them that they preach the dead fayth and that such goodly doctrines are good for nothing but to carry men to Hell And for my part I should not haue beleeued there had bene such mouthes of blasphemy in the world had not mine cares bene witnesses of them And for a further proofe hereof to make it euident to others also besides other writings which the ringleaders of this Antinomian or lawlesse sect of Belial conuey and scatter among their Disciples a letter written with the chiefe ringleaders own hand for ex vngue leonem but consigned or subscribed with the name of one of his prime she-Disciples and sent to one Mr. T. may suffice to manifest their virulent spirits to all the world The copie whereof is here affixed verbatim onely I haue forborne to set downe the parties name at large but onely the first letters of her name concealing the Masters name who is the inditer and writer altogether And I follow therein the example of holy Ierom who writing to Ctesiphon against the Pelagians Hieroinmus ad Ctesiphontem aduersus Pelagianos sayth No mans name is particularly touched in this small worke wee haue spoken against the Master of a peruerse opinion who if he shall be angry and shall write againe hee shall like the mouse bee bewrayed by his owne discouery and expose himselfe to receiue yet greater wounds in a set pitcht field And let me also aduertise the reader concerning this letter as also of others of the like kinde which I haue seene that howsoeuer it hath poyson enough in it yet it is so ministred in a goulden cup so couered ouer with clowdy and obscure words and so tempered with sugared phrases of scripture as that both his Disciples may with the lesse suspition and more delight drinke it downe and his iust aduersaries may haue lesse cause to cast it in his dish or to quarrell him and bring him in Quorum for it And that this was the ancient guise of Hereticks the same Hierom tels vs in the same place where speaking to the Pelagian he saith Nosti c. Thou knowst what thou teachest thy Disciples priuately expressing one thing with thy mouth and concealing another in thy conscience and to vs who are strangers none of thy Disciples thou speakest by Parables but to thine owne scholars thou vnfoldest thy mysteries and this thou boastest thou dost according to the scriptures because it is sayd Iesus spake to the people abroad in parables and to the Disciples within dores hee sayth To you it is giuen to know the mysteries of the kingdome of heauen but to them it is not giuen And againe Sola haec haeresis c. This onely is heresie which blusheth to speake in publike what it feares not to teach in priuate The rage of the schollars vttereth the silence of the Masters That which they haue heard in the chambers they preach on the house tops that if they shall please their hearers it may bee attributed to the praise of their Masters if it displease the fault may bee the scholars not the masters Ideo creuit c. Thus hath your heresie increased and you haue deceiued many because you alwayes teach and alwayes deny Sententias vestras prodidisse superass est c Hieron It is the Churches victory when you speake plainely what your opinion is To shew your opinions is to subdue them So Hierome Now let me appeale to the consciences of the Disciples of such Masters as we speake of whither they doe not deliuer their documents and lessons in plainer termes and more perspicuous amplification in their priuate schole or chamber by word of mouth then they do or dare do publikly in their loose papers and pamphlets Let them tell me wherein they differ or come short of the Pelagians in the guise of broaching and venting their opinions noted by Ierome And this is the nature and practise of all heresie which serpent-like walkes with a doubled gate and like the snaile puts forth her hornes slowly to proue her way but vpon the least resistance quickly puls them in againe or iugler-like playing fast and loose with his spectators or like lying Fame which for feare is sparing at first till spreading it selfe it finde credit and intertainement in the world Yet the quicke sighted Reader shall finde this letter to be not altogether so euen spun but that it hath many knobbs and knots of grosse errour which is euer vneuen and neuer but vnlike it selfe sufficiently bewraying a poysonous minde and virulent spirit in the author 2 Tim. 3.5 c. being of the number
3.6 9. Where he concludes that the iustified man not onely cannot sin but also abstaineth from all appearance of euill These are his very words And hence is that cursed heresie of the Pelagians and Pontificians reuiued by the Antinomians that there is such a prefection in this life as a man may liue altogether without all sin for all his sins of vniust are made iust saith he The nomination whereof is a sufficient confutation For in many things we sin all Iam. 3.2 And if we say wee haue no sin wee deceiue our selues and the trueth is not in vs. 1 Ioh. 1.8 4d I note another falsehood where he sayth By fayth onely with out workes freely I am perfectly holy and righteous from all spot of sin in the sight of God and why because only true faith seeth this and only true fayth inioyes this How are we iustified by faith freely because only true fayth seeth this What if true fayth while during the time of some temptation the exercise of it is suspended do not see nor inioy the fruite of iustification must we therefore passe sentence vpon our selues that we are not iustified nay certainly we are therefore iustified from all sin because God not imputing sin seeth no sin in vs and not because we see and inioy our reconciliation and peace with God For though God be continually pacified towards his faithfull children in Christ yet doe not they allwayes by the act of fayth see and inioy Gods fauour towards them This was Dauids case and is and may be the case of euery child of God Yet whensoeuer wee doe see and enioy our iustification by hauing peace with God through Christ we doe by the eye and apprehension of fayth see and enioy it But our seeing and enioying is not the cause that wee are iustified but the consequent effect and fruit of it being apprehended by fayth 3ly For his 3d Position therein stand his Triarian forces here his files are so doubled and the rankes are so closse that it seemes to be impregnable impenetrable But howsoeuer they stand thicke without yet they are thin and hollow within so that being but once by a wedge diuided they are able no longer to abide the field Therefore obseruing it well I finde sundry aduantages to bee taken First from his commending of fayth in the efficacy of it that it infallibly inflames the heart with true loue making the true beleeuer to breake off his former corrupt conuersation c. Secondly that hee vseth one word twice to wit Declaratiue obedience Declaratiue and a free and cherefull walking in all Gods will and Commandements declaratiuely to manward Which may seeme to some to be eyther idle or a riddle but we shall declare the mystery of it by and by In the meane time all this hitherto in his 3d position hath no other appearance but of sound and orthodox doctrine agreeable to the Scriptures and so to the doctrine of our Church if there bee no more in it then what the outer rinde makes show of For what Protestant Church or what one sound Protestant of our Church doth not teach or beleeue that that most noble and diuine Lady grace of true sauing and liuing fayth doth infallibly to vse his owne word inflame the heart with loue which makes the true beleeuer to breake off from and mortifie his former corrupt and profane conuersation and brings forth a declaratiue obedience and redinesse to euery good worke and a free and cheerfull walking in all Gods will and Commandements declaratiuâ— to manward which is true sanctification Herein we all agree Whereis the difference then Yea but the author comes afterwards in the same position and although he protest these his positions to be the Protestant fayth and the established doctrine of our Church he proclaimes a defyance against the blind zealous dead fayth as meerely opposite to this his true liuely iustifying fayth And this dead fayth whose is it by whom is it taught by whom intertained Euen by the vniuersall bulke and body of our Church which he deuides into two sides the left side consisting of profane sensuall hoggs and the right side of zealous Anabaptisticall Doggs as he stiles them Now if the case stand so that all those protestants generally whom he calls doggs and hoggs doe hold the selfe-same doctrine in truth as the author setts downe in words and yet theirs is the blind zealous dead faith and his the truely liuely iustifying faith it concernes vs a little more narrowly to examine his words to see whither some mysticall sense bee not couched in them or whither hee hath dealt not so candidly nor so ingeniously as by his roauing and rauing language may iustly bee suspected but hath kept vp some reseruations as precious pearles which if hee should vent among so many hoggs and doggs as he liues amongst hee might iustly feare lest the one sort should and that worthily trample them vnder their feete and the other turne vpon him and all to teare him But now it being brought to the vpshot whither hee or we haue the true liuing iustifying fayth hee must permit vs perforce we bringing our warrant from God to makâ— a priuy search and to rifle his Cabbinet to see whither hee haue this Pearle of the Kingdome yea or no. Nor are wee ingaged to doe this in regard onely of our faith towards God as wee are Christans but also of our fidelity and loyalty to our King the Lords Annoynted as wee are subiects for asmuch as hee challengeth all men that hee that will bee a loyall subiect to his Protestant King ought to embrace this doctrine of fayth which he onely the A per se Doctor doth teach Wherein then is the maine difference betweene vs that makes his the onely true liuely iustifying fayth and ours the blinde zealous dead fayth Surely in this that his fayth is so liuely actiue vigorous and potent perfect and compleat that of it selfe it produceth all the fruites of sanctification without hauing any thing to doe with the word of God especially the morall law as a rule of our actions or as a glasse of our imperfections when as wee on the other side acknowledge that our fayth at the best estate during this life is not so perfect and euery way compleat but as a lampe it needeth the continuall supply of the holy oyle of Gods spirit of grace to cause it to flame forth the more in the workes of sanctification which grace of the spirit is ministred and supplyed vnto vs by the Ministry of the word of God as the Oyle-pipe through which it runneth and for as much as in the state of grace and fayth we know but in part and prophesie in part and consequently our fayth is imperfect being mingled with much ignorance therfore we haue need of the Morall law wherof both the old and new Testament are a large commentary both as a rule whereby to frame our thoughts words and workes and also as a
it to be a duty as one of their Disciples saide Away with this scuruy sanctification and putting all vpon an imaginary fayth and perfection in Christ it becommeth so much the more plausible to flesh and blood which is so prone and ready to listen after any doctrine that giues liberty to their vntamed lusts So that when such Disciples heare their teachers say Beleeue onely and so be merry in Christ sing care away to the duety of sanctification away with mortification Repent no more for yee are perfectly iustified God seeth no sin in you yee are perfectly saued and the like no maruell if being carnall and they hypocriticall persons they catch at such doctrines as may nuzzle them in their carnall lusts as is too apparent by the fruite which groweth necessarily from such a roote of bitternesse whereby many are defiled For perswade a man once that being in Christ and so iustified from all his sins Montanistae omnem panitentiae virtutem è medio sustulerunt Hieronead Marcellinam Et lib. 2. aduâ—rsus Iouinianum se Centuria 2. c. 5. hee hath no more neede of repentance and what a flood-gate is opened to all impiety when there is noe more conscience of sin Thus they reuiue the heresie of the Montanistes who denied repentance to be needefull This they ground vpon Heb. 6.11 Not laying againe the foundation of repentance from dead works Whence they conclude that beleeuers haue no more to doe with repentances where as the Apostle there speakes of the Doctrine not of the practise of repentance reprouing those Hebrewes that they were no better proficients iâ— Christs schoole when instead of being able to teach others they were still A B C darians hauing need to be catichized in the very common rudiments knowne Principles of Religion as Heb. 5.12 Againe they say that they are as pure from all sin in Christ and as perfect in righteousnesse and holinesse as Christ himselfe is alledging that in Iohn 1 Iohn 4.17 Herein is our loue made perfect that we haue boldnesse in the day of iudgement because as hee is so are we in this world Hence they conclude such absolute perfection to bee in the beleeuer as in Christ now glorified in heauen And therefore when they say that a beleeuer is perfectly saued in this life they expresse themselues in plaine words to meane that a beleeuer is perfectly glorified in this life and that there is noe difference betweene our state here and in heauen but onely in our sense and apprehension I should not I confesse haue beleeued that euer any man endued with common sense and reason would haue so much as once conceiued much lesse uttered such a senselesse and monstrous Paradox had I not my selfe heard one of their Antinomian Ministers affirme so much to me and others together For I asking him what difference there was betweene the state of grace here and that of glory here after hee answered none at all but in our sense and apprehension And thereupon another Minister asking him whither we were perfectly glorified in this life he answered wee were whereupon I abhorring such an insolent and Luciferian speech presently auoyded his company and further speech To this height of pride are they come who teach the empty and windy faith of Iustification against Sanctification the fruit of a true liuely fayth But are wee perfectly glorified in this life so as it differs not from that in heauen but in our sense and apprehension Then when a iustified man sinneth it is but in his sense and apprehension if that or rather they are in this poynt without sense apprehension of sin Then when wee are afflicted diseased and the like it is not so indeede but onely in our sense and apprehension because a man perfectly glorified can neyther sin nor suffer any sorrow diseases or death Yea our fayth is no more the foundation of things hoped for and the euidence of things not seene we haue no longer hope of eternall life but in our sense and apprehension For wee are already possessed of the thing hoped for we are already perfectly glorified O senselesse stupidity But they vrge As he is so are wee in this world he is pure perfect vndefiled therefore are we so to Therefore say they wee are so perfect as wee cannot be more But St Paul sheweth plainely the meaning of St Iohn saying 2 Cor. 3 8. But we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory euen as by the spirit of the Lord. Now though from hence they would inferre that we haue the same image of Christs glory in full perfection yet the next words FroÌ„ glory to glory plainely shew that though the state of grace bee a glorious estate as being an initiation of glory being begun here in the soule yet wee goe from one degree of glory and grace vnto another and neuer attaine to full perfection till this mortall shall put on immortality and this corruption shall put on incorruption 1 Cor 15. Rom. 8.29 So that the image of Christ which wee beare vpon vs here is a conformity vnto Christ our Head in the participation of his glorious graces but in such a proportion as here we are capable of and as God hath distributed to euery man the measure of fayth And the state of grace is in a perpetuall growth here as 2. Pet. 3.18 Ephe. 4.12.13 Psal 84.7 The path of the righteous being a perpetuall progresse like to the morning light shining more and more vnto the perfect day Prou 4..18 But why doe I spend arguments against such as deny vndeniable Principles But thus wee see how a false and imaginary faith whereof these men doe dreame begets in them such damnable imaginations high presumptions euen to the destruction of grace while they would stretch it beyond the line No maruaile therefore if they abolish quite any further vse of the morall law syth they deny Sanctification it selfe as a duty prescribed and commanded in the law Exo. 19.5.6 So that if the Doctrines of these men might preuaile what could bee expected but a deluge of Atheisme and profanesse and all lawlesse licentiousnes and dissolutenesse to ouerflow and drowne the world For they cry downe and abolish all duties contained and commanded in the Morall Law both towards God and towards men Doe we thinke these men can be good subiects to their Prince who deny they owe him any honour in the way of duety enioyned by the commandement 1 Pet 2 17 Honour thy Father and Mother whereof one maine branch is Honour the King And if they doe not of duety honour their King on earth how shall they honour their King in heauen To instance in the fourth commandement they quite abrogate the Morall Law to beleeuers and consequently the fourth commandement which is the sanctification of the sabbath-day But they reply that the Iewish Sabbath-day is abolished
THE LAW AND the Gospell reconciled OR The Euangelicall Fayth and the Morall Law how they stand together in the state of grace A treatise shewing the perpetuall vse of the Morall Law vnder the Gospell to beleeuers in answere to a letter written by an Antinomiâ—◠〈◊〉 a faithfull Christian Also how the moraâ—â—â—â— of the 4th Commandement is continued in the Lords day proued the Christian Sabbath by diuine institution â—â—fe Catalogue of the Antinomian doctrinoc By HENRY BVRTON 1 TIM 1.5 The end of the Commandement is charity out of a pure heart of a good conscience and of fayth vnfained Vt Rota intra rotam currit sic lex intra Gratiam et obseruantia legis intra diuinâ— curriculum misericordiae est Ambros. de Iacob c li. 2. cap 11. LONDON Printed by J. N. for Thomas Slatter and are to bee sould at his shoppe in Blackfryars 1631. TO THE HIGH and Mighty Prince Charles by the grace of God King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the Fayth c. GRatious Soueraine this small treatise humbly pleades your Royall Patronage by a double title the one from the Author of it your old seruant who oweth all he is to your Maiesty the other from the worke it selfe being a defence of the Morall Law of God against the Antinomian Libertines in these daies who deny to beleeuers any more vse thereof And what one subiect can more iustly clame your Maiesties protection then this of the Morall Law sith you are not only by a proper title Defender of the fayth but by a common trust committed to Kings keeper of both Tables The discharge of which trust as it tends much to the honour of the great Lawgiuer who hath made you his Vicegerent to see his Lawes well executed So it is the maine propp and pillar to support and secure your royall Throne The consideration whereof when I saw these sonnes of Belial thus vndermining the Kings Throne hath prouoked my zeale both to God and to your Maiesty to write this simple Treatise For to deny the Morall Law to be of any more vse to belieuers or to be so much as a rule of conuersation or that they owe obedience vnto it in poynt of duety and conscience this strikes at the very root and cutts in sunder the kâ—â—ot not onely of christian charity but euen of all ciuill society and happy vnion and communion betweene King and Subiects Head and Members For first the rule of Gods true and vnmixed worship commanded in the first Table is taken away Secondly the rule of all christian and ciuill duties betweene man and man in whatsoeuer relation they stand of equality or inequality Commanded in the second Table and all this with one stroke of cutting off the Morall Law from belieuers And particularly these Antinomians cut off all dutifull and conscionable obedience to Princes grounded on the fift Commandement wherein they being principall Parents namely of our Country all due honour and obedience in the Lord is commaunded to bee giuen them in the first place as of children to their Father Againe on the other side they breake downe the bankes that God himselfe hath pitched to confine the course of Kings whose hearts in the Lords hand like the riuers of waters keeping within their bankes refresh the Land on euery side with their sweete streames but being without the bankes of Gods sacred lawes how soone might they ouerflow and drowne all Therefore it was the care of the wise and good God to the end he might prouide for the hapy welfare both of the King and People to leaue it in charge to the King of Israell that he should haue a coppy of the Law alwaies by him to reade therein day and night Deut 17.18 19 20. to learne thereby to feare the Lord his God to walke humbly among his brethren to doe iustice and iudgement to the end hee may prolong his dayes in his Kingdome hee and his Children in the middest thereof But these Lawlesse Antinomians enemyes to God to Kings and States would robb Christian Kings of this blessed Booke of Gods Law that soe if they could strippe them of the grace and feare of God in their hearts letting loosse the reynes of all honestie and conscience they might vsurpe a gouernment after the lust of man not after the law of God and so precipitate ineuitable ruine to Princes and Common-weales For take away Gods Law and what law of man can bynde the conscience eyther in poynt of obeying or of commanding For though it hath euer beene a Maxime among the very heathen that humaine Lawes and such as were ratified by solemne oathes and couenants betweene Prince and people they held sacred and inuiolable as that Law of the Medes and Persians the Kings writing and seale c. Dan. 6.16 Yet the maine ground that bore vp all the rest was the conscience they had by naturall instinct of Gods eternall Law written in their hearts accusing or excusing knowing that God was an auenger of the breach of lawes oathes couenants such as were agreeable to his Law This then being the strongest ligature to combine the Head and Body politicke in a firme society whereby it becomes inuincible perpetuall and glorious these sonnes of Belial would dismember all Wherein they plainely shew who is their syre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lawlesse one whose Motto is Volumus et iubemus wee will and command which style Platina notes to be first taken vp by Boniface the third who first vsurped the Papall Headship ouer the Church So as casting off all lawes of God and man hee became that great Beast described in the Reuelation whom no law or reason can bound or limit accounting it a disparagement to his tyrannicall greatnesse to bee confined within the lists of any lawes oathes vowes couenants though neuer so iust and sacred Now the Lord Iesus so blesse your Maiesty that trampling this Antinomian Anomian heresie both syre and sonnes vnder your sacred feete you may long and happily raigne ouer your people as a tender father ouer his children while your chiefe care is first for the mayntenance of Gods pure worship without mixture and for the execution of iustice and iudgement these two being the summe of both the Tables and the supporters of the Kings Throne which the Lord euer defend from all Antinomian Anomian spirits In this Treatise also J haue occasionally proued the diuine institution of the Lords day our Christian Sabbath denyed by some And as your raigne hath beene honoured with a pious law for the due obseruation of this great Holy-day of Christ So I trust that this my vindicating of it to its owne right of diuine institution will not a little helpe to the better execution of that your Christian law Which that it may be more reuerently and religiously obserued both in Court City and Country to the purging out of profanesse and to the increase of all christian graces in your
Maiesty and vs your people it is and shall bee the daily and dutyfull prayer of Your Maiesties loyall subiect and old seruant Henry Burton To the Reader CHristian Reader if this Treatise may seeme to any to bee superfluous as defending that which noe good Christians deny yet considering how fruitfull these last times are in bringing forth the spurious spawnes and monstrous birthes of all kinds of heresies among which this of the Antinomians a most pestilent and pernicious sest is not the least which denyeth any further vse of the Morall Law to belieuers no not as a rule of conuersation as of duty to be conformed vnto and seeing also how many counterfeit Christians are ready do daily intertaine this Libertine doctrine which lets loosse the raines to all licentiousnesse as both the Doctors and Disciples of this Antinomian heresie the Sons of Belial do euidently proue in the practise of their lawlesse and gracelesse life lastly waighing how this Antinomian frye is as an enemy to true fayth and the power of religion so a friend to all other heresies now on foote specially to Popery seruing as a way maker for it by breaking downe the wals of the City of God that so Romes Troian Horse full of traiterous Engines and armed Engineers may finde the easier reentry for the erecting of their Dagon instead of Gods Arke I hope thou wilt not esteeme either my paines lost in writing or thyne in reading this small tract And howsoeuer there is small hope that those who haue already deepely drunke in this sweete deadly poyson will easily admit of any Antidote or Preseruatiue or suffer it kindly to worke vpon them so intoxicated they are with the spirit of giddynesse and I feare many of them iustly giuen ouer of God to a reprobate sense hauing fallen from the truth of the Ghospell once acknowledged of them Yet I doubt not but by Gods grace this Treatise will be a meanes to preserue all sound and simple-hearted christians in the true fayth of Iesus Christ neuer to be seduced by such spirits of errour and perhaps to reduce into the way of the truth all such honest-hearted poore soules as haue beene beguiled by them Onely this let mee premonish thee of that whereas in the fourth page I promise to affix the Copy of that letter at large which gaue occasion of this Treatise I haue since altered my minde for these reasons 1. Because 〈◊〉 coppy is very large 2. Because I haue set downe the substance of it in all the particulars throughout this Tract 3. Instead thereof I haue added vpon occasion offered when I had ended this treatise as a branch thereof a short discourse toucbing the Sabbath day the Morality whereof some haue of late impugned as not binding Christians in the obseruation of the Lords day the diuine Institution whereof they also deny So as if I haue not made good my promise in a matter of no necessity nor of much moment thou wilt pardon mee if J haue made thee amends in adding that which is of farre greater importance and benefit And if herein also I haue not in all poynts satisfied thy iudgement to the full concerning the Law of the Sabbath and of the diuine institution of the Lords day instead of the Iewes Sabbath I shall by Gods grace shortly giue thee further satisfaction in a fuller and ampler Treatise purposely penned in answere to a booke lately come forth which would vtterly euacuate the Lords day for the Christian Sabbath and reduce vs to the Iewes Sabbath-day agayne Which will bee a worke somuch the more necessary by how much this Iewish Sabbatarian findes already many Maléferiatos homiâ—es idle and giddy-brained Christians to imbrace his booke which is written with Amighty confident and Gyantlike spirit as if the Arguments thereof were inuincible Jn the meane time inioy this and pray for mee that God would assist me in that greater worke and in all things that may most concerne his glory and the benefit of his Church Farewell Thine in Christ Iesus Henry Burton Faults in the Printing to be corrected with the pen. Page 10. liue 10 read Calumniations So also l. 15 blot out the p 26 l. 17 r. close p. 27. l. 6. r to the ground p. 30. l. 8. r. preaching p. 33. l. 1. r. syllogisticall p. 43. l 5. r. morality of the Cmmandement p. 51. l. 24. r initiation p. 52. l. 36. r. first-fruits p. 55. l. 6. r. Titulus l. 9. r. signe p. 56. l. 1. r placuent p. 57. l. 11. r. Arians Aerians l. 25. r. christian l. 29. blot out his p. 58. l. 17 r slip p. 59. l 6. r lye vnder p. 60. l. 19. r. pretty reasons l 30. r. impose p. 61. l. 8. blot out communing p. 62. l. 313 r detrect p. 6. l. r. commandal 28. r. sacred ordinances p. 69. in the margent l. â—â— r. pawber and l. 26. r. 515. to 15. lighter escapes the eye well correct THE LAVV AND the Gospell reconciled The Euangelicall fayth and the Morall Law how they stand together in the State of Grace Vpon occasion of a letter written by an Antinomian to a faithfull Christian THat which holy Iude deemed so needfull to write Iude 3 and to exhort vnto all true Christians should bee ready to intertaine that is earnestly to contend for that fayth which was once deliuered to the Saints This was that which the Apostle gaue chiefely in charge to the Philippians Phil. i. 27. Onely let your conuersation be such as becommeth the Gospell of Christ that whither I come and see you or else be absent I may heare of your affaires that yee stand fast in one spirit with one minde striuing together for the fayth of the Gospell This is indeede that onely thing worthy to bee contended for and that with earnestnesse And if those two mothers before King Solomon did so plead about the liuing child which yet was mortall and a sinfull brood how should the true Church of God plead her titles to that which brings immortality the blessed fruit and issue of the liuing fayth But how shall we know who hath best right to this liuing fayth One saith Mine is the liuing fayth and thine the dead fayth another sayth No but thine is the dead and mine the liuing As therefore Solomons sword deciding the quarrell gaue the liuing childe to the true mother So the sword of the spirit Christs word a greater then Solomon onely can determine who is the true mother the true Church to which the liuing fayth of right belongeth sith it is deliuered to none but to the Saints Nor were it a matter of wonder to heare the whore of Babylon the old Romish beldame to make claime to the liuing fayth as her naturall child which now long agoe by ouerlaying it in the night of blacke ignorance and supine security with her vnwealdy body become so grosse and monstrous with the infinite additions of humaine Traditions standing in stead
glasse wherein looking the face of our soules and beholding our speckes and imperfections we may get them washed in the fountaine of Christ blood and may make straight pathes vnto our feete Heb. 12 i3 least that which is lame be turned out of the way but rather that it bee healed This is that perfect law of liberty wherein who so looketh and continueth therein hee being not a forgetfull hearer but a doer of the worke this man shall be blessed in his deed Iam. 1.25 This is that glasse 2 Cor. 3.18 wherein wee beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory euen as by the spirit of the Lord. So farre are we from holding a state of perfection of faith in this life as though our faith could doe all things of it selfe and did not neede a dayly supply of grace which must bee procured by the word of God eyther preached or read or meditated and conferred vpon and that also by the meanes of prayer Lord increase our fayth But this our Aduersary shutts out the law quite as out of date to a true beleeuer and of no vse at all not so much as to be a rule of life and conuersation his liuely faith doth all and hath noe neede of the word of God to direct or assist it Now that this is the summe of his doctrine concerning his liuely faith yee may gather from his owne words saying fayth infallibly inflames the heart with true loue making the true beleeuer to breake off his former corrupt conuersation c. This word Infallibly implies that faith doth by a continued and vninterrupted act inflame the heart with loue to doe all workes of sanctification and so it hath no neede of Gods word as a rule to bee guided by but the spirit is instead of the word But you will say So much is not expressed in the letter True But you must know that this is the doctrine which he priuately instilleth into his Disciples As in one of his scattered writings I find these words that this fayth of free iustification doth cause vs to walke infallibly in the steps of the workes of our father Abraham whereby like Abraham freely without the law of the ten Commandements wee walke holily righteously and soberly in all Gods Commandements declaratiuely to manward Yea comming sometimes to contest with mee and to charge mee for preaching the dead fayth himselfe did vtter so much to mee by word of mouth that after a man is once inlightned by fayth the spirit guides him so as he hath no need of the word or of the Morall law for a rule to direct him This Doctrine is so familiar among his Disciples as they professe it and are prowd of it so farre are they from making scruple or dainety of it as once to deny it So that this is one of the markes and properties of his liuely fayth that it hath no neede of the Morall Law to bee a rule vnto it in poynt of conuersation or in the workes of sanctification otherwise neyther is it the true liuely fayth nor this the true sanctification A second property and prerogatiue of this his liuely fayth is this that it oweth no obedience to the Morall Law in poynt of duty Hee denyeth the works of sanctification to bee duties What are they then Fruits sayth he So say we too fruits they bee yet duties too Here is the difference then Because wee say the fruits of fayth are duties therefore hee sayth ours is the dead fayth Al this hee hath auouched and that most vehemently as his manner is to my face And howsoeuer he hath not in plaine words expressed so much in this his letter as being more shy and cautelous what hee publisheth abrode hauing bene hampered by me and others and puzzled with some arguments which hee could not answere but sayd hee would answere them when they were written Yet ye may easily gather so much out of his writing For he cals the obedience of a beleeuer onely declaratiue and to bee done declaratiuely to manward Note it well This declaratiuely to manward excludes all duty to Godward For else what vse is there in this place eyther of Declaratiue or much lesse To manward For all obedience in conuersation is declaratiue and all declaratiue is to manward So as all this mans obedience is to manward in poynt of declaration but none to Godward in poynt of duty For if it bee of duty in obedience to Gods law then his fayth also should be the dead fayth But herein stands the prerogatiue of his true liuely fayth that as it doth not so much as reflect the eye vpon the morall Law as to learne obedience from the rule thereof so much lesse doth it acknowledge it oweth any obedience thereunto as a duty to God On the contrary we for holding and teaching that the Morall Law and so Gods word stands not onely for a rule of direction for sanctified obedience but also requireth of the faythfull a cheerfull yet dutyfull conformity thereunto we I say for this very cause must heare Hoggs or Doggs Hogg-christians or Dogg-christians as holding the blind zealous dead fayth So thus stands the state of the question betweene vs about the liuing and the dead fayth and herein we come now to ioyne yssue First then wee are all agreed on both sides that the true liuely fayth is no other but that whith the scriptures teach and allow for the true liuely fayth which promised and granted I argue thus That fayth Proposition which the Scriptures teach and allow for the true liuely iustifying fayth that and no other is the true liuely iustifying fayth But the Scriptures teach and allow that and no other Assumption for the true liuely iustifying fayth which resting only on Christ for iustification by the onely imputation of his righteousnesse doth notwithstanding looke vpon the Morall Law of God as a rule of Christian conuersation and sanctification acknowledging the conformity thereunto as a duty which God requireth of euery true beleeuer according to that Luk. 1.74.75 That we being deliuered from the hands of our enemies should serue him c. Therefore this fayth and none other is that which the Scriptures teach and allow for the true liuely iustifying fayth The Proposition is vndeniable The Assumption I proue And first from the very giuing of the Morall law in mount Sinai For it was giuen in and by and vnder Christ the Redeemer * Deut. 18.18 As the Apostle sayth It was giuen in the hand of a Mediator which Mediator was personally Moses but typically Christ of whom Moses was a type and figure And Christ was that heauenly * Exo. 25.40 Heb. 8.5 Patterne or Antitype according to which were all those things deliuered to Moses in the Mount yea not onely the Ceremoniall Law but also the Morall Law giuen by Christ himselfe where hee sayth I am the Lord thy God which hath
brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage wherevpon followes Thou shalt haue none other Gods before me Thou shalt not make c. For these words I am the Lord thy God whicb brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage are a preface to the whole Decalogue or ten Commandements setting forth the Author of them vnto us not onely by his name Iehouah but by that neere relation of Confederacy or Couenant of grace made to vs in Christ saying Thy God And that this is the very Couenant of grace made to vs in Christ vnder which the Law is giuen appeareth by this that the words of the Preface containe not onely a history of that peoples temporall deliuerance from the Egyptian bondage but also and especialy the mystery of the Redemption of all the true Israel of God by Christ or their spirituall deliuerance from the bondage of sin and Satan This is a thing most cleare though few obserue it For was not the Paschall Lambe slaine and the blood sprinckled vpon all Israels doore posts and the Angell passed ouer them and Egypts first-borne were slaine and Gods first-borne deliuered And was not Christ prefigured thereby as the Lambe slaine from before the foundation of the world Yea all those passages of Gods people from Egypt to Canaan came to them in Types as the Apostle sayth 1. Cor. 10 Besides other types obserue here two notable ones which ioyntly are pregnant to our purpose first of Christs ascension secondly of sending the Holy Ghost 1. the history in Exodus well obserued makes it plaine that vpon the 40th day after their comming out of Egypt Moses Aron and Hur went vp into the Mount where Moses hands are by Aron and Hur supported while Ioshuah with Gods people fight against Amaleck Now Moses the Prophet Aron the Priest and * Hur signifieth a Prince and he was of the family and tribe of Iuda Hur the Prince for so was his name by interpretation all put together were a type of Christ who on the fortith day after his resurrection ascended into the Mount of Heauen where as our Prophet Priest and Prince hee holds vp the hands of his intercession for his Church militant while she fights with spirituall Amaleck Sin Sathan Antichrist the World the Flesh c. The other Type I note was iust 10. dayes after which from Egypt makes 50. dayes and that was the giuing of the Law in Mount Sina Acts. 2 and therefore called the Iewes Pentecost and we know that on the day of Pentecost iust 50 daies after Christs Resurrection and 10 daies after his Ascention did the Father and Christ send downe the Holy Ghost in his manifold gifts and graces to lead his people into all truth and to reueale fully the Law of Christ vnto them Now therefore the as the type thing typed are for their vse to the faythfull people of God one and the same thing So as the ancient Isralites did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke 1. Cor. 10.3.4 for they drank of that spirituall rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ So that giuing of the Law in Mount Sina being a type of the comming down of the holy Ghost bringing reuealing the Law of Christ to his Church both of them in summe and vse are to the faithfull one and the same law for though they differ in the manner of administration and in the measure of manifestation yet not in the matter it selfe Christ being the summe and matter of both And thus we clearely see that the Morall Law giuen in Mount Sina being giuen by Iehouah our God in Christ the Redeemer and that vnder the couenant of grace being giuen to the Israel of God in the old Testament to which the comming downe of the Holy Ghost in the new Testament fully answereth that it remaines as a perpetuall rule of a holy life to all Gods people to the end of the world So that here by the way an inuincible argument is hence drawne to proue the perpetuall morality of the sabbath to the end of the world against all Antisabbatarians because it was giuen vnder the couenant of grace to be kept But wee will reserue the further discussing of this poynt to the choise of all least the intermingling of it here should interrupt the maine matters in hand Obiection But the Apostle sayth The law is not of fayth How then comes the Law to bee giuen vnder fayth Answere The Law in that place is to bee taken for the first Couenant to wit of workes giuen to Adam in Paradise in the state of innocency which hath no communion with fayth belonging to the second couenant namely of grace But the Law as it was giuen in Mount Sina the literall veile being remooued was not deliuered as the first Couenant but as a rule of conuersation to the faythfull vnder the second Couenant Obiection But the Apostle calls the giuing of the Law in Mount Sina the first Couenant in opposition to the second as Agar to Sara the bond-woman to the free Sina to Sion and Hierusalem Answere The Apostle compares it so onely in regard of the literall killing sense to which the Carnall Iew was captiuated and thereby slaine while not looking vnto Christ the Redeemer that brought his people out of the spirituall Egypt and bondage they sought to bee iustified by the workes of the Law which Saint Paul beats downe the to ground in that Epistle to the Galatians But to the belieuing Iewes the Morall Law was none other but the sweete yoake and light burthen of Christ while they behold him as it were on the top of Iacobs ladder a Redeemer of his people by his owne innocent blood whereby hee expiated all their breaches of the Law fulfilling the Law for them And in no other regard doth the Law in Mount Sina and that in Mount Sion stand opposite but as the letter to the spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 while the carnall Iewes could not diserne the pith of the spirit vnder the barke of the letter or by way of comparison the one excelling the other in the manner and measure of mynifestation as 2 Cor. 3.10 Wherevpon the learned and iudicious Caluin vpon those words Gal. 4.24 fayth that the Iewes liberty was hidden vnder the vaile of ceremonies and of the whole economy or dispensation of the Law by which they were then gouerned So that in externall shew nothing but seruitude appeared Yet the seruile generation of the Law hindred not but that the godly fathers who liued vnder the old Testament had for their mother the spirituall Ierusalem which is free â—o that it was partly the Iewes blindnesse and partly the veile couering those Mosaicall mysteries which made that Law in Sina seeme to bee no other but the Couenant of workes made with Adam in his Innocency Question But here by the way it may bee