into Gospel Truth as stated and vindicated by Mr. Dan. Williams especially in Reference to the Doctrin of justification and the nature of his Proceedings with his Testimonies hereupon By Thomas Edwards Esq Price stitcht 1 s. 6. You may be supplied with Dr. Chancey's Three Parts lately Printed against Mr. Williams 7. You may likewise be supplied with Dr. Crisp's Works 8. Where is Sold Mr. Troughten's first and second Parts of Justification and Caâ—â—â— on Job in two large Volumes in Folio Price bound 40 s. And Poole's â—â—nâ—â—sis Crâ—â—icorum in two large Volumes bound 1 l. 10 s. A Right State of Gospel Truth Presented to Mr. Williams Occasion'd by some Assertions of his so called Defence of Gospel Truth I Have upon the View and Consideration of the Reverend Mr. Williams his Defence of Gospel Truth and the many excellent Confessions of the true Grace of God wherein we stand therein found Thought it necessary for my self as in a low and humble Capacity yet having appeared as a Reconciler upon the Account of the Sermons of Dr. Crisp not to come forth as a Disputant much less as a professed Adversary but as a Reconciler of some of the Collateral and Derivative Branches of that Grace and Truth I find in that Discourse to their Principals and to Prune what seems not to be so Reconcilable that the Whole may be seen in its Order and Beauty And herein I Labour to avoid not personal Reflections I am out of the Temptation of them where I Profess Honour and Esteem only but of any Aculeate Animadversions on or Encounter with particular Expressions wherein the Fundamental Interests of Truth are not lodged or concerned but I have set my self to Establish those grand Points of Gospel Truth which I am perswaded ought at all times to be set in a clear and full Light on all Just Occasions in the most stated and Solemn Discourses and at all other times so interwoven That they may shine out and give their Light both to Prayer and Preaching While there is just room and scope yet left for all those Scriptural Expatiations into Instruction Exhortation Expostulation Reproof as Methods of Direction into the ways of Righteousness but still so as they may be enlightned by these Springs of Gospel Light Truth and Grace which I am now undertaking to Conciliate them unto This I have endeavoured in the most plain and perspicuous Method And so that whatever may appear in Mr. William's Book of a contrary Sentiment and Inclination may be comprehended so as to be resolved in some Cases of Doubt in others Foreprized or Guarded against not to say Answered And herein I have made it my Business to level the Discourse to these Heads or Points 1. To state the Gospel Doctrin concerning the Eternal Councils of God with Relation to all his Elect who are the principal Concernees in all these Points Yet with necessary Respect to all others so far especially as what is said of others or in General is necessary to be considered as Ilâ—ustrating these things with Relation to the Elect. 2. I have made an Essay upon that noblest Point of Debate How far the Law upon its own Authority necessarily and indispensibly falls in with Ratifies and confirms the Power and Authority of the Gospel And how far the Gospel finds necessary to it self and to its great Ends not to make void but to Establish the Law And whether upon all this the Gospel can by it self be properly stiled a Law which I on great Reason make out in the Negative 3. I have offered great proof that the Faith Repentance Sanctification and Good Works the Gospel requires cannot be justly deemed or taken for Conditions or Qualifications but are Effluxes as from Electing Love and Grace so from the Righteousness and Death of Jesus Christ and his Victorious Resurrection through which the Holy Spirit is given and are as free as Election and Justification Themselves When they are considered in strict Relation to the Elect however in Relation to the Non-Elect or as generally spoken of They may put on such Notions or Representations as of Conditions or Qualifications 4. I have endeavored to Illustrate the Procedure of the Day of Judgment to be so described in Scripture that the Primary and Supream Representations and that subordinate all others to themselves are most exactly agreeable to the Free Grace of the Gospel not as a Law nor requiring any Qualifications or Conditions with Relation to the Elect but as gloriously appearing with its own Product and Effect as it shall be made to appear the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God and by the appearance of Jesus Christ with his Saints in whom he will be glorified and admired at that day I begin with the first And seeing I direct this Conciliatory Discourse to them whom I suppose to acknowledge with me an Election of a certrin Number to Salvation and Glory I make this Appeal to them Are there not in Scripture highest Assertions of Eternal Love and Grace Independent upon Qualifications and Conditions in them who shall be made Partakers Do not all stand in a Frame and Connexion Election Calling Justification Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption All as free and as certain the one as the other It is true the Wisdom of God hath so contrived and ordered this Preaching the Gospel That it is to be published promiscuously to the Non Elect with the Elect and as I may say to Probe for the Elect and to draw them out with Efficacy and Power by the Spirit joining with the Word It is also most true These cannot be apply'd to particular Persons but as â—â—â—â—â—ing Grace singles them out by Calling Sprinkling the Blood of Christ on their Hearts and Sanctification but they are always True concerning the whole Number and Body and so concerning every single Person And they may and ought to be openly Asserted and Maintained in Doctrin and also to be offered in Preaching and Publication of the Gospel as occasion Requires to invite and draw Souls by so free Absolute and Independent a Grace declar'd to Lost Man in all the Election of God And who knows but it may draw this and that particular Person in a Congregation and therefore with great hopes of a Divine Co-Operation It ought to be as other Truths Promulged And I doubt not when God opens the Mouths of his Servants in the boldest and frankest Declarations of Truth as he will when the as 't were new Song shall be learnt and so taught by the 144000 on Mount Sion with the Fathers Name on their Foreheads it shall be Sealed with the greatest Number of Converts as it was in Peter's Sermon offering that Grace which thing I humbly declare my self to be waiting for as the great Consolation of Israel And there are undeniably many great Scriptures that set out the freest most absolute and Independent Grace throughout our Salvation from first to last as Patterns or Exemplars of all Scripture such
as well as to the Elect the first thing to be offered is Chrsst himself to be Received and Believed on He then is the Foundation and Fountain of all even of that which is called Condition and Qualification For if we do but weigh two things it must needs resolve us in this matter Arg. 1. If Redemption be Redemption it must it self be before all things of Qualification or Condition else it were not Redemption according as Christ is said to be the Author of Salvation to them who He being the Author of it obey Him forasmuch as that is so great a Point of Salvation and he the Author of all Salvation is therefore of that viz. Obeying Him Does not Christ draw all to him Is not the Grace of our Lord abundant with Faith and Love that are not brought to Him but in Him Does not the Eye the look of the Grace of Christ upon any Sinner move him as Peter to Sorrow after God to Faith Repentance humble sense of Sin And therefore what is a Sinner to do but to look to Christ to be Saved to look on him whom he hath Pierced And even such Prescriptions to look to Him to come to Him are held out to Souls principally tho our Duty be included but in attendance on the Grace of Christ to see how where and on whom it will move And in the very Nature of the thing it is impossible any Qualification should be before hand to Him who is come not only to Save but to seek that which is lost It is most true therefore if any be Christ's these things shall in their time be all Manifested in them for they are prepared for them Arg. 2. What is it by which we are Redeemed Is it not the Righteousness Sufferings Death Blood and Obedience of Christ Must not these then be in their Power Motion and Actuation before any thing else Seeing by Faith we are Saved which is the Gift of God must not the Author of Salvation and of Faith give that And does God give any such Grace by which we are Saved but through the Redemption of Christ for his sake And because he hath first given his Son does not he give all these to unite us to him Does not his Blood Purchase and bestow that Faith in his Blood Must it not needs be then true as we Believe that we may be Justified so also most true Those Sheep for whom Christ hath laid down his Life Those he must bring in and now are they brought in but by Believing If therefore They are brought in by Faith he that must bring them in must take effectual Care that they may Believe And seeing he laid down his Life for his Sheep and gives them Eternal Life All must be on the same Title and Tenure viz. his Life laid down So Faith is no more a Condition or Qualification than Justification or Eternal Life nor any other Grace Preparatory or Perfectory but what Free Grace it self undertakes for Object But it may be said there is an order of the Links of the Chain of Salvation and Vocation wherein Faith and Repentance are contained is in order before Justification and so may stand as a Qualification and Condition to Justification and none may presume to touch at Justification or Pardon till they are qualified by Faith and Repentance given in Vocation before Justification Rom. 8. Answ It hath been already acknowledged there is a Wise and Holy Order in the several links of the Chain of Salvation but not by such a way of Dependance as should lessen the Dignity the equal Determination and certainty of each part in the Eternal Fore-knowledge and Electing Love of God in Christ Accordingly therefore it is acknowledged there is an Order of Vocation or Calling before Justification Rom. 8. and of Wisdom before Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 31. But this Calling is the first Change of the State of every Elect Person from sin to God the delivery from the Power of Darkness and Translation into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus the Dear Son of God For he hath called us saith the Apostle out of Darkness into his marvellous Light It is the turning from Darkness to Light it is the cutting out of the Olive and Vine wild by Nature and the implanting into the True Vine and Olive it is the beginning of Faith and Repentance and of all Holiness and Sense of Eternity though they have a further state in Sanctification and distinct from Calling which is the true passing from Death to Life and always abides so It is a Voice alarming the Soul at the first It is the Voice of the Son of God quickning whom he will But then that which shews this is not a Condition or Qualification only is that Vocation or Calling does not go off it is still Vocation it is a holy Calling even until Glory It is Wisdom without any change as the word certainly assures There can be no more Return to Folly It is a Calling in this regard It is a certain Abiding therein with God So Scripture every where speaks of it It is a Calling to Glory and Virtue a Calling to obtain Salvation So saith the Apostle You see your Calling who hath Called us with an holy Calling Called according to purpose As He who hath Called you is Holy All these Expressions plainly shew this Calling is a settled established Grace even as Justification and together with it entring into Glory So that to make Calling a meer Qualification or Condition is to degrade it from the high Dignity Scripture hath invested it with I account it the first Hand of Grace still holding the Soul so that though there be Justification and Sanctification a Work of Faith fulfilled with Power Repentance never to be Repented of and the whole Course of Sanctification goes on to the Day of Christ yet that first Work is it self secured by Grace as all the rest of the Works of Grace So that as the Apostle says the Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance it is never recalled And in the same manner may be discoursed concerning Sanctification It is no Qualification for or Condition of Glory But there is real Self-subsistence of each of these for their own Worth and Excellency and though they are sitted for and connected one with the other in Infinite Wisdom and Prudence Eph. 1. 8. Yet they are also Independent and Self-subsistent also in the Divine Decree each one by it self and All from Free Grace This then assures none of those great Links of Salvation however joined one to another but is yet of it self and by it self but all still of Free Grace Because none of them go off but remain together with all the others to Eternity The very first Call hath an Eternal Abiding Justification by the Righteousness of Christ Sanctification by the Spirit of Christ abide and continue even as Glory it self Calling is as free as Justification For except that grand Foundation Being
as Before the Children had done either Good or Evil That the Purpose of God according to Election might stand Who worketh all things according to the Council of his own Will to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace Who hath called us with an Holy Calling not according to Works but according to his Purpose not of Works but of him that Calleth Mathew the Publican was called from the Receipt of Custom The Apostle Paul in the height of Persecution that he might be a Hypotyposis a Pattern Hoe every one that Thirsteth come without Mony and without Price The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost I am found of them that sought me not I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Being justified freely by his Grace c. who Believeth on him who justifieth the Ungodly Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of Heaven before you Now it is most Evident the Settlement of whole Salvation in the Eternal Councils of God is most free absolute independent without having any Respect to having done Good or Evil and so of Grace and in such an Opposition to Works that here and indeed throughout Grace and Works do so Remove one another that they cannot consist in an equal Domination but either Grace must cease to be Grace or Works cease to be Works One of them must lose its very Genus or Nature Seeing then none can so much as dare to deny The Gospel gives the Preheminence to Grace It is a Necessity according to the so positive and peremptory Arguing of the Apostle Rom. 11. 6. Works must submit and fall under Grace If so it most necessarily follows Works foreseen must be as much excluded as if they could be supposed present For else Works had the Primiere Ascendency And seeing the Scripture ascribes All to Grace either Grace had not been grace or Works not Works or All is Grace and Works done by Grace so inherent and Resident in us as not to be in Christ as the Sun and Fountain from which it every moment flows as much shut out as Works done by that Rectitude of Nature God at first gave to Man so that they could be neither a Condition nor Qualification foreseen by Electing Grace and so moveing God to Elect But Works are Elected to and not for or upon As the Apostles express Doctrin assures For God hath Chosen us in Christ That we should be Holy and without Blame before him in Love Eph. 1. and good Words are fore prepared as the Margininal Translation Eph. 2. For us That we should walk in the or God hath fore-prepared for good Works that from himself they should be He hath provided them a Being in their very selves as well as in us and that we should walk in them He hath also Fore-prepared And seeing this Fore-preparation even of Works is not of Works lest any Man should boast it must be of Grace even as much as Election Otherwise Work is no more Work or Grace is no more Grace if Works are not throughout of Grace If you say Then Work is not Work I Answer It is much more suitable to the Gospel Work should lose its Nature into Grace than Grace into Work But still the precise Nature of Works and Grace remain distinct in their Abstract Consideration Yet It is most true Work is compris'd by Grace For in every Work we are his Workmanship which is of Grace And indeed Thus it must needs be For upon the Infinite Fore-knowledge of God He Predestinated in whole and not in parts to the Conformity to the Image of his Son whatever then is in the Image of his Son One thing as well as the other He hath Predestinated unto Rom. 8. and so Eph. 1. He hath Predestinated unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ Whatever we are Predestinated unto therefore is Essential to the being Children of God by Adoption in and according to Christ as in one entire sum Predestinated to and as in one Act of God upon his Fore-knowledge and then there is a Distribution into its distinct Heads fitted to our Understandings Calling Justification Glory and every Head is as Free and as Certain one as Another That which in the Manifestation in time comes after as that which went before For each single Head of Salvation was by it self singly and distinctly determined by God as well as the whole Contexture or the Order of each Head I call them Heads Because each is a whole and not apart each is of that Worth and Dignity that It cannot fall so low as a Condition or Qualification or Means in Respect to or with Relation to any other of those Heads So that those entire supream absolute and most acknowledged and Independent Acts of God His Fore-knowing a Number of Persons and Predestinating them to the Adoption of Children by making them Conformable to the Image of his Son being laid in the Foundation according to his Eternal Love and Grace the Arche-Type or first Ememplar of all we may find each of those Heads coming forth in its distinct and single Dignity As first he did according to his own Grace Purpose Will and Determine Such as he hath Fore known and Predestinated to be Conformed to his Son should come to his Son upon no either fortuitous or supreamly Free use of their own Will or Actuation of their Powers by their own Work but upon the certain efficacious Call from himself in his Word and an Instinct or Implantation of Wisdom flowing from himself in Christ that Original Wisdom all their Intellectual Powers seeing Him and their applying Faculties cleaving and uniting to Him Now this is stiled Vocation or Calling And it is Absolute and by it self and worthy to be so And as It First and must needs be so in an Intellectual Salvation and as so distinct from Sanctification it is called Wisdom 1 Cor. 1. So there is no one Head that is more specially ascribed to Grace and to Purpose than it iâ— Rom. 8. 2 Tim. 1. called according to purpose Called with a Holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Jesus Christ before the World began not of Works but of him that Calleth And why is this Head of Calling kept so distinct even from Justification and Sanctification and so ascribed to true Grace Is it because it is indeed a Condition of all the Rest No because it includes the certainty of all the Rest and all others certainly join themselves and therefore It is as much as any or if it could be more ascribed to Grace 2. God hath Chosen a People whom he Justifies and makes Righteous and Pardons freely in Christ and by the Imputation of his Righteousness and in whom the Glory of so great a Righteousness shall appear as the Righteousness of God in Christ This is then Absolute and by it self 3. God hath Chosen a People to
be Holiness to Jehovah in Christ our Sanctification And this is also so worthy a Head as to be determined single and for its own own sake as who will deny 4. God hath Chosen Children who shall be Conformed to the Image of his Son in Glory who is in us the hope of Glory Colos 1. 27. And this is it self so Blessed and Worthy a Point that it may be considered by it self As all will readily grant It is true None of those can be One without the Other but that They most necessarily implicate infer and include One the Other Yet there is not One of Them but Scripture speaks of it singly Not only because It includes the Other but because It is worthy to be alone in the Eye of God and to be the Supream Point of his Eternal Council wherein it can be considered as Distinct as how often are the Fore known Predestinated Elected spoken of without any thing else The People whom he Fore-knew Rom. 11. 1. Knowing Brethren your Election of God The Lord knows them that are his Predestinated according to the Council of him who worketh all Things after the Council of his own Will So of Justification Scripture speaks often by it self In him shall all the Seed of Israel be Justified and Glory Justified by his Grace and so throughout Rom. c. 3 c. 4 c. 5. Galat. 3. 6. So of Sanctification Inheritance among them that are Sanctified He hath for ever Perfected them that are Sanctified So of Glory Written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the Foundation of the World And another Book was Opened which was the Book of Life Heirs of Life bringing many Sons to Glory an exceeding great and Eternal weight of Glory Now if this were Considered It would take away much of the Dispute about Conditions and Qualifications Seeing every Link of the Golden Chain is it self a Jewel of inestimable Value and hath in it self the Oâ—iâ—ncy and Riches of all the Other Yet notwithstanding It is to be freely acknowledged that God for the Manifestation of his own Grace hath setled an Order and Connection but not so as to lessen the Dignity of any Head below the Worthiness it hath in the Eternal Council of God to be one Head with the Other and were It not even as all the Other Freely given of God according to the Riches of his Grace Take any One of them that seems fittest to be look'd upon as a Qualification or Condition and it would as much deserve to have some Qâ—alification Means or Condition found out for it as any of those which seem most Removed from being so and to which Any of the Other may seem to be so But not in a Secondary Consideration but equal with the First All This is to be Considered in Christ the Image to which All is to be Conformed The Eternal Love of God is in Him Calling is to and in Him The Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us Holiness is derived from Christ not only by one Act of Sanctification but by a continual Efflux from Him our Head and Root Even as it is through his whole Meritorious and Efficacious Sanctification of himself that we are Sanctified John 17. our Glory is seeing Him as He is being made like to Him Appearing with Him in Glory in the Beams falling from his Glory Encompassing and Filling us with his Light Now as All these are in Him for us as the Head and Foutain and Example One as well as the Other without any Notion of Condition or Qualification or Means and so They are to be look'd upon therefore in Saints And so He stood in Eternity before God in that Everlasting Covenant wherein All was settled in Him as the Exemplar Head and Root of the Church and not only so but as a Mediator Surety and Testator upon the Foresight of Man a fallen Lost Sinful Nature out of which the Elect are recovered by Christ as such Mediator Testator and Surety Now if this Eternal Settlement had the Solemnity and Sanction of a Covenant For so the Apostle tells us There was an Everlasting Covenant in Christ And if All be settled thus by an Everlasting Covenant It must be in the same Eternity wherein the grace and purpose of God was whatever then was settled in that purpose and Council was Established in and by that Covenant and so must stand Fast for ever And the Apostle there instances a Point that One would be as ready to suppose a Condition or Qualification as any whatever And yet he makes it a Point settled by the Everlasting Covenant viz. To be made Perfect in every good Work to do his Will and the Working whatever is well pleasing in the sight of God What can be more supposed to be a Condition or a Qualification than these Things and the Apostle enough assures us These were settled by the Everlasting Covenant because He prays to Him that brought again from the Dead the Shepherd of the Sheep by the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant to make perfect in every Good work Now as It is most observable The Spirit of God singles out those Attributes of God that are most enforcive of a gracious Answer seeing then God bringing back the Shepherd of the Sheep by the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant is chosen as most moving of God in Prayer for the making perfect c. It shews there is a like certainty of the Everlasting Covenant availing to Perfect Saints that there was in bringing Christ back from the Dead The same for the Shepherd and the Sheep One from the Grave dying for Sin the Other from the Death of Sin Now then if there was such an Everlasting Covenant in Christ For It must be as Old as the Purpose and Grace in Christ That may be most infallibly argued That there can be no Change For as the Apostle saith Though It be but a Mans Covenant Yet if it be Confirmed no Man disanulleth nor addeth thereto And this saith He I say The Covenant that was before Confirmed of God to Christ The Law that was Four hundred Years after cannot disanul Galat. 3. 15. 17. Now how much higher will the Argument run concerning the Everlasting Covenant If every Link of the Chain of Salvation was equally Settled and Established that it should be freely given and most certainly Given No after Model nor manner of promiscuous universal Preaching of the Gospel can add to or take from the Everlasting Covenant settled between God and Christ that every part of Salvation should not be as unchangeably Conserved and Secured by God in Christ One as Another nor turn any part into Condition and Qualification or so much as a Means on our parts on which any thing Relating to Salvation should be dependent any Law or Usage of Scripture speaking to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding For to this Standard Covenant must every Thing be Reduced Adjusted and Reconciled when the Gospel according to the Universal Preaching
among all Nations to whom it comes and is most strictly enjoined and commanded by it And so the Apostle might most elegantly say Boasting is excluded By what Law of Works viz. The Law as it Commands Works Nay by the Law as it Commands Faith or the Receiving Christ as a Saviour and his Righteousness by meer Gift and of Grace in which Righteousness hath so great Honour and full Satisfaction paid to it that it cannot but accept and charge upon All that hear of it the Acceptation of it But because thus Faith will stand as a Work though as I may call it a Post-Work or a Work after Sin I rather understand the Apostle using here the Word Law of Faith in a Lax and Allusive Sense as any Doctrin or Divine Manifestation may be called a Law 2. The Law hereupon cannot but enlarge its Promises according to this Divine Constitution For if God have declared that He will give Eternal Life to all that Believe in Christ and savingly Turn from Iniquity by Repentanâ—â— and doth accept the Righteousness of Christ imputed to Believers instead of unsinning Obedience the Law must needs join Issue with these Declarations of God and with what Infinite Truth and Grace have said and Confirm with its own Sanctions all these Promises as earnestly to be desired and laid hold of yet still this belongs to the Law as Law and enterferes not with Gospel as Free Grace For as all the Commands of the Law are grounded upon the Sovereignty and Righteousness of God So are its Promises grounded upon the Power Truth Goodness and Unchangeableness of God If then the Gospel declares a Righteousness of God a Righteousness of God by Faith in Jesus Christ accepted of God beyond any Righteousness by Works of the Law The very Law it self opens and enlarges all its Promises to that Righteous Person by the Righteousness of Christ and as this Righteousness on which such a Person is Justified is exceeding unto Him and upon Him as the Apostle speaks that is every way over flows him and so beyond all other Righteousnesses So does the Law extend its Promises to the utmost in Relation to it and therefore God is said as in Triumph to declare herein and at that very time his Righteousness that he might be Just and the Justifier of him that Believes in Jesus Rom. 3. And the Apostle John saith If we Confess our Sins that is acknowledge our Absolute Necessity of such a Righteousness by Christ and receive it He is Faithful and Just Even according to the Eternal Law of Righteousness to forgive us our Sins and to Cleanse us from All Unrighteousness So they who receive abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness shall Reign in Life by Jesus Christ Not only Live as the Law saith to the Man who doth its Works but Reign in Life the Promises of the Law being stretched out and accumulated upon such a Person so Justified by the Transcendent Righteousness of Christ 3. The Law opens wide its Threatnings in the Cause of and on Injury done to the Gospel and the Grace of God Revealed in it for Seeing It is Essential to the Law of Righteousness to Condemn Sinners It is also Essential to it to Condemn and Adjudge to its Punishments according to the Degrees of Sin and Guilt For saith the Apostle He that Transgressed Moses Law died without Mercy under two or three Witnesses and every Transgression Received a just Recompence of Reward that is according to the degree of Guilt and Demerit Of how much sorer Punishment suppose ye shall he be thought Worthy who hath trod under Foot the Son God and Counted the Blood of the Covenant a Common Thing and done despite to the Spirit of Grace This is plainly according to the Law of Righteousness according to which also Christ said It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha Thus we may see how far the Law must needs attend the Gospel with all its Authority I will now shew how the Gospel takes in the Law and makes use of it for its own great Ends and Purposes Upon Account of which the Apostle says Do we make void the Law nay we Establish it The Law stands fair in the Gospel and in its Full Perfection of breadth and length that it may shew the Glory of the Righteousness and Obedience of Jesus Christ and also It stands with all its Penalty Severity Curse and Condemnation that it may shew the Deep of the Sufferings of our Great Mediator and Interpret to us the Agony wherein he Sweat drops of Blood and the Meaning of that loud Cry My God my God Why hast thou Forsaken me For said Christ Thus in every Iota of the Revealed Will of God It be came Him to fulfil All Righteousness 2. That it may shew to all the Glory from which they are Fallen and from which they daily fall lower and lower the Deformity of their own State the Dread and Horror of that Ruin and Condemnation of Hell and Death that is so justly come upon Sinners fallen short of that Glory of God For this Holy Righteous and good Law of such Purity and Cleanness a Fiery Law a Royal Law a Law of Liberty Shewes all the Hatefulness of Sin and Justice of Punishment and Condemnation And All This is in order to Humiliation Sight and Sense of Sin Conversion from it and especially to shew the great Necessity of Christ's Redemption Grace the Free Gift of Righteousness and Justification by him For thus by the Law is the Knowledge of Sin Thus the Law worketh Wrath That is it both stirs up the due Apprehension of it and if not prevented by Pardon and Justification It calls up Vengeance against the Offender wherefore the Law is our School master to bring us to Christ by the Severity and Rigor of its Justice And as such it is in the hand of the Gospel 3. That the Gospel may by the Law shew that perfect Pattern and Exemplar of Holiness and Purity of Thoughts Words and Actions to which we are to aspire that Cleansing of our selves from the Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God that exceeding Broad Commandment that sets an End or bound shewing all other Perfection too short and too narrow compared with it self and so the Law may be as a Rule of Holy Life and Action to which we should follow on according to the Mark even of Perfection it self If it could be to attain the very State of that Perfection that shall be in the Resurrection of the Dead And herein there are Four great Gospel Ends Aimed at by the Gospel thus taking the Law under it self 1. That we may feel a continual Necessity of making Recourse to the Blood of Christ the Fountain set open for Sin and for Uncleanness because by this holy Law there is a discovery of daily Defilements Failings Falls Imperfections and Infirmities concerning which there can be no Attonement between
God and us but by the Blood of the Lamb offered by the Eternal Spirit and his Appearing in that Blood to the very Face of God for us in Heaven For on the least Failing or Offence the Law hath none to offer us So that there can be nothing but Condemnation On this Account therefore we find in the Gospel so many of the Laws Severities that we may be continually awakened to go to Christ 2. That we may find Inability in our selves to do any thing suitable or agreeable to that holy Law which Commands with an Astonishing and Admirable Excellency of Holiness but gives not the least Power or Strength to perform what it Commands And in both Respects The Apostle may be very well understood If there had been a Law that could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law But the Law that Commands and gives not Power is therefore called a Letter that Kills 3. That herein the Gospel may shew it self to be a Gospel indeed In the Ministration of Righteousness opposite to the Law the Ministration of Condemnation and in the Ministration of Life and Power by the Spirit giving strength to do what is Commanded and so enabling the Spirits of Saints to become the Epistle and Gospel of Christ Ministred by the Servants of Christ in Preaching the New Testament but written not with Ink or in the Leaves of the Bible but with the Spirit of the Living God and not in Tables of Stone but in the Fleshly Tables of the Heart and therefore is the Gospel in all its most proper ways of Speaking so constantly interlineated with Christ and his Spirit 4. Seeing what even the Spirit is pleased to vouchsafe in the present State is so much below the very Glory the Gospel holds out There is a continual Incitation the Gospel sets before us to desire that Change from the Beginning Glory of the present State to the Glory that shall be in the Perfect State of the Kingdom of Christ And on this Account is that Future State so often mentioned when indeed with a Face perfectedly open we shall behold as in a Mirror not as in ordinary Mirrors our own Natural Faces but Jesus Christ the Image of God in his own Glory and we now are in Degrees and shall be perfectly Changed into the same Image from Glory begun now to the Perfection of the same Glory in the Kingdom of Christ as by that Spirit Jehovah And this gives us the true Excellency of the Gospel The Law like our ordinary Mirrors shews our own Faces by that Light which first indeed represents what we ought to be but we not being that it Reproves and Condemns such Sinners or Imperfect Saints as the Best are but it shews no Glorious Image or not in Christ with an Efficacious Changing Grace and Power But this the Gospel does for us 4. The Gospel takes the Law into it self that it may though it be in it self a Ministration of Righteousness and Life and Spirit Yet that it may by the Law shew the Greatness of the Sin of Unbelief and Impenitency Reâ—â—ection of it self and Refusal of its gracious Offers And this it does on Two great Reasons 1. That all those Manifestations of the Sin and Danger of an Unbelieving Impenitent State may be Rational Instruments and Conveyances in the hand of the Spirit of that Power of Faith and Repentance flowing from it self in the New-Testament into the Hearts of the Elect. 2. That the Gospel may have in Readiness the Law to Revenge every Disobedience against it self and yet preserve its own high Title of the New-Testament and the Covenant of Grace For as the Lord saith I accuse you not You have one that Accuseth you even Moses in whom you Trust and I Judge you not The Words that I have spoken they shall Judge you at the Last Day viz. in the Virtue and the Authority of that Eternal Law of Righteousness which as hath been shewn cannot but pass along with the so gracious Gospel Dispensation And thus when the Gospel hath made offer of it self and all the Grace of it without Saving Effect The Law and Justice according to it Seises upon the Sinner for Sin against that Eternal Righteousness Essential to it self and against the Unspeakable Grace of the Gospel with dreadfullest Aggravations of Condemnation And herein Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God in our Nature is the Righteous Judge at that Day though here on Earth he judged not being Come not to Judge but to Save And his Judgment is according to that Eternal Law seated in the Heart and Thoughts of Men and yet according to the Gospel as the Apostle speaks declaring that his Judgment agreeable with the Law written in Mens Hearts and so in the Word of God which very Law written in the Heart and Thoughts of Men Accusing or Excusing is now in the hand of Christ and of the Gospel to its own great Ends of drawing them to Christ who are his and leading them under the Conduct of his Spirit And God is said there to Judge the Secrets of Mens Hearts according to the Gospel concerning that Light and Sense of Natural Conscience Because the Grace of the Gospel both exalts this Light and because also according to the saving Effects of the Gospel upon these Powers of Natural Conscience so preserved by Christ every Man is found to Honor Praise and Glory or else falls under the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God upon their hard and Impenitent Hearts and Ways by which they have treasured up Wrath against the Day of Wrath. And of all things in both States Jesus Christ is most righteously and propperly constituted the Judge as shall be further made out But notwithstanding the Law and the Gospel do thus far join themselves one to another yet which will come up close to the Decision of this Question The Law can never pass into the Nature of the Gospel nor can the Gospel become a Law For First It is most evident the Law can never become Gospel or of the excellent Nature of it as shall be seen in a brief Compare of the one with other in these following Particulars 1. The Gospel or New-Testament gives the Image of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ an Image of the Admirable Beauty and Life in Christ the Wisdom of God the Righteousness of God and the Power of God Perfect Increated Invariable Eternal ready to communicate it self in Richest Abundance to All the Election of God But the Spirit of God it self Represents the Law a Holy and Righteous Rule It must so needs be But it is Engraven only in Tables of Stone or written with Ink For Jesus Christ the Image of God in which Adam was made withdrew upon the Sin and Fall of Adam and what Adam had was lost and defaced so that there is a Rule of Glory but no Image of Glory as in the Gospel that by the Covenant
may be said of Repentance Arg. 2. The supposal of the Gospel's being a new Law necessarily supposes a new Power given as large as that Law So that whoever teaches the Gospel a Law must also assert All to whom the Gospel comes must have a Power vouchsafed enabling them to Faith and Repentance which seeing Mr. Williams disowns as given to All the Argument is very heavy upon him But as I have stated Faith and Repentance within the first Law The first Power given obliges without any Power vouchsafed a new even as to all other Duties of Obedience as hath been said For the further Illustration of the Point that a new Law requires new Power Let it be supposed Adam had no power of Faith or Repentance ever given him he could not forfeit from his Posterity what he never had If there be then a Law of Faith and Repentance given there must be a Power of Faith and Repentance answering that Law and so there must be such universal power of Grace given as may answer that Law in all to whom it extends as a Law But now let us look upon Faith and Repentance to be a Law included within the universal Law of Righteousness as I do and as must needs be done viz. Upon two Suppositions 1. That Man is fallen into Sin 2. That God is pleased to offer a Mediator and a Pardon and so to accept the Righteousness of another and Repentance after Sin It will then follow the Faith and Repentance commanded are but the exertions of that Power of the Image of God first given for the same Power that tends to Conservation in the first Righteousness works to Restitution to that Righteousness when lost upon any possibility of Recovery Herein therefore is the Grace of the Mediator to all Mankind that he hath shored up the lapsed Faculties of Humane Nature Universally that there are some Reserves of that Law and light of the First Creation some of the Characters and first impressions for very great Ends both as to the Government of the World as also to fasten the grace of the Gospel unto to whom it comes and seeing the Patience and Long-suffering and Bounty of God to mankind is a Witness of some merciful Intention Finding therefore such motions of the Law of Nature within and of merciful Providence without here is so much of the general goodness of God leading Men to Repentance as will leave even the Gentiles without Excuse at that day Now then God requiring of Fallen Man no other thing than what he gave him power for at first and what he hath by the Mediator sustained him in some Reserves of According to the Thoughts therefore Accusing or Excusing in the day of Christ and according to God judging the Secrets of all Hearts by the Gospel preserving these Remainings of the Law of Nature shall all be determined upon at that day And thus every thing stands clear and fair according to the discourses of Scripture according to sound Reason whereas all else must be full of Trouble and Rencounter against the Grace of the Gospel as against that so evident Experience of God's giving the very Light of the Gospel by his own Free Will and Grace and those Laws of Humane Justice and Equity of which we have so inward a sense and surely in every thing it appears that the First Law of Righteousness continues and stands fast Thus its Authority falls freely on the Gospel either as there is any witness of it among the Heathen or as it is published and made known to any by the immediate Preaching and Reading of it and as the Gospel for all its great Uses and Ends takes it into it self But yet still it is it self a Ministration only of Life of Righteousness and of the Spirit and the Transcript of the everlasting gracious purposes of God from Eternity Arg. 3. If the Gospel be a New Law it must have a Promulgation as universal as it is a Law and seeing it is the only Name under Heaven given to the Children of Men whereby they can be Saved if it were a Law it would certainly be by the goodness and equity of God Proclaimed and made known to all Man-kind even to every Person for Faith Repentance and Obedience but as it is a counterpart of that supream purpose of Grace in God towards his Elect and not a Law It is enough that it be made known to so many as are Called according to Purpose to all others God is at Freedom For even the general Patience and Bounty of God are sufficient manifestations of some Mercy that should excite Men to seek after God and to turn from Sin and leaving them inexcusable if they do not that Natural Law requiring it when there are such hopes to seek after God as far as they can according to those Hopes and Manifestations even as in all Natural Duties and the Case is but the same in perishing without Gospel as in perishing without Law for thus the Apostle Argues while he is discoursing with Pagans Rom. 2. 3 4. according to Natural Light But this Promulgation is not sufficient for a New Law of so great good to all Man kind Arg. 4. The Gospel if it were a New Law it must needs be a Law of Works and indeed else it were no Law for tho it be sounded in Grace and though it be a Law accepting Sincerity in the place of perfect Obedience yet it must if it be a Law as some mistakingly speak and would have it resolve it self into the last Issue into something done by our selves by our own power even tho we are assisted by the grace of the Spirit in it yet there must be a power in us to accept or refuse that Assistance and if so beside the Apostle's constant Remonstrance to any such Works or â—aw of Works in the Gospel Covenant 1. It is evident by the Experiment made in Adam how hazardous the smallest dependance on our own Created Will is So the Promise could not be Sure to the Seed as the Apostle Discourses Rom. 4. 2. 2. The Reward would be of Debt and not of Grace because to him that Worketh tho in the least of Work as the Apostle expresly says it is so Rom. 4. 4. 3. There would arise cause of Boasting to him that should so Work because by that part how littlesoever it should be of Work he improves and exerts his Power so as Thousands do not which gives cause of Boasting now there is nothing the Apostle more excludes than Boasting as most contrary to the design of God in the Gospel Arg. 5. Iâ— the Gospel be a Law it is necessarily supposed to be founded in the Grace of the Redeemer and in every thing weighed out by him that it should need no further Grace for the pardon of Sins against it it being a Law purchased by the Blood of the Redeemer Now if no Sin against the Law of the Gospel as that Law is apprehended a
Law of all Evangelical Obedience have the benefit of a Pardon how dreadful were all our Case for if this Law allow no Pardon it is expresly assured There Remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but that of the Gospel and if that extends not to Sins against the Gospel there would rest nothing to us but a certain Fearful expectation of Judgment and Fiery Indignation If it be said there is no sin against this Law but final Unbelief Impenitency or Insincerity or an Apostacy including all these How imperfect then is the Evangelical Law that hath command only upon those final Results of our State and Case and the Subjects of it are either left to the Law of Works in all other Cases or else being under no Law there is no Transgression but those fore-named But if the Law do so ratifie and confirm the Gospel in those grand Points of Faith and Repentance by its own Authority and in all things else stand the immutable Rule of Holiness then the Grace of the new Covenant does offer Pardon and Remission by the Blood of that Everlasting Covenant and needs not be a Law but a Fountain of Pardon and Remission and of Power and Strength only as hath been Explained enabling to every Act of Obedience both of Faith and Repentance and all Holiness and making Attonement for every Disobedience and Imperfection which it does not Prevent From all which is much the fairer and clearer state of the Case in Reason and more agreeable to the Scripture duly considered and compared Add hereunto The Condemnation of every Unbeliever is according to the Law of Righteousness because He loves Darkness rather than Light in that his deeds are Evil and so he dares not come to the Light This saith Christ is the Condemnation Joh. 3. 19. And thus if the Law does ratifie and confirm the Gospel with its own proper Authority as hath been asserted every offence seemingly against the Sanction of Grace is Condemned by the Law as primarily against it self and so the Covenant of Grace is applied to for the Pardon of it and as against it self which is all Grace as a Covenant and hath nothing of Law but as sin against the Gospel it cannot but be against that Eternal Law to refuse Grace when offered by God and Christ as will fully appear by the next Argument Arg. 6. The Apostle says the Gospel or New Testament truly properly or strictly defined is a Ministration only of Righteousness of Life of the Spirit not of the Letter that Killeth but of the Spirit that giveth Life it can therefore be no Law except upon it self for if it Minister Life Righteousness Spirit only if it write not in Tables of Stone nor with Ink in Paper but in the Tables of Hearts and by the Spirit of the living God And if it is not only written in the Heart as the Apostle says The Law is written in the Hearts of all Men which may be turned by Disobedience to it into an accusing Record but gives a mighty Spirit enabling and a gracious Pardon remitting as is evident by the whole Covenant of Grace if all this be so then whatever it charges it charges upon it self that it hath not so Ministred as it takes upon is to Minister and that it hath not Ministred as such a Ministration as it asserts it self to be to all that are within it as its proper Subjects it must fault it self as the other Covenant was found fault with because they Brake it that were under it But seeing this cannot be supposed of so Glorious a Ministration The Gospel cannot be a Law Requiring and Condemning when not Obeyed but a Covenant of Grace Ministring Righteousness and Pardon and not Condemnation for what ever is against the Eternal Law on the Gospel account as well as on the Law 's account and so giving Power and enabling to whatever the Law requires on its own or the Gospel account Lastly Ministring Righteousness and Pardon in whatever it Ministers only in Degrees and not to Perfection Having thus determined upon the second Head That however the Law and the Gospel unite one with the other in several great Concernments and Interests of both yet neither can the Law pass into Gospel nor the Gospel become a Law I come therefore to the third Head to make out That the Humiliation under the sight and sense of Sin effected by the Spirit of Bondage Faith in Christ and Repentance are not Qualifications or Conditions of an Interest in Christ or Justification by his Righteousness but are effluxes from Electing Love and from Christ the Mediator and from his Righteousness and Redemption and whoever has a sense of these great Concernments of Eternity is not to wait for these as Qualifications or Conditions but to hasten to Christ to fly to him for Refuge to be found in him and look to Christ for all these great Effects and to expect them from him as such Effects for such they are to all the Elect though to the Non Elect they are Branches of the same Eternally Righteous Law upon Promulgation of the Gospel of Salvation by Christ and upon the very acknowledgment of Christ as a Saviour and the general sense of our lost State I lay in the Non-Elect also an Uniformity in the Order of first looking to Christ upon those two great Declarations of the Gospel 1. That all Men are lost and undone in themselves which rises up also from evident even Sense and Experience 2. That in Jesus Christ there is Life and Salvation for Sinners from whence also it naturally follows in Reason and true Arguing as the Apostle observes If one died for all then were all Dead so that Proposition That Christ hath died for Sinners may be in Divine Declaration as well first as the other viz. That all are lost without Christ The very Preaching of Christ infers in all true Judgment as the Apostle Reasons That all are lost in themselves I know not then why in regard of its Dignity it may not be first that Jesus Christ dyed for Sinners or why not so in most Absolute Consideration For though it is true in our State our lost State is before the offer of Salvation in Christ in time yet Grace in Christ is first in the Purpose of God before the World began and the permission of the Fall and of our lost State upon it came in after I know not therefore why that great Proposition God so loved the World that he gave his only Begotten Son that whoever Believes in him should not Perish but have Eternal Life should not be throughout the Supream and First and carry the other in it That then all were Dead And when the Proposition the Apostle gives That Christ died for the chief of Sinners is First Then the Belief and Acceptation shall follow and the abundance of Grace and the gift of Righteousness Draw Invite and Invigorate the reception of it I say therefore even to Non-Elect