whole Law to man for a Covenant and if one part onely be transgressed the condition of that covenant is broken as well as if all were transgressed For otherwise he that hath layen with a woman is not therefore to be accused for mnrder nor he that hath sworn an oath is therefore guilty of theft We must understand the like in reference to the Law of faith or covenant of grace and its observation Let a mans sins be what they will so long as the condition be performed he may according to this Law be judged no transgressour In the one a man hath committed no theft no adultery nor idolatry and yet in the sense of the Apostle he is guilty of all In the other he hath bin an idolater an adulterer a thief such were some of you but you are justified and he is guilty of none The reason in both I say is the condition still in the one is broken but performed in the other As we distinguish of the Law Quâ faedus Quâ regula so may we of the performance Sub genere officii Sub genere conditionis Though we fail in our Duty we fulfill the Condition as have said already To this purpose it is not to be forgotten what is said of David that his heart was perfect that he kept Gods Commandements and that he sinned not but in the matter of Uriah And how I pray was that Do not we read of Davids Passion his Lying his Numbring the people his dealing with Mephibosheth was there no sin indeed that David did commit besides this what makes him then complain so much that he was born in Iniquity and that his sins were more than the hairs upon his head I answer there are sins consistent with sincerity and inconsistent with it Sins inconsistent with sincerity are breaches both of the Law of Works and Covenant of Grace and that sub ratione conditionis Sins consistent with it are transgressions indeed of the Law but sub hac ratione no breach of this Covenant Davids sins of the first sort were very many and his acknowledgments pious and true Davids sins of the latter sort was but only in that matter and otherwise it is said that he sinned not To be clear as I goe even for that matter As I have distinguished between the breach of our duty and the condition or of the preceptiue part of the law of grace and the conditional So must I distinguish this breach of the condition into that which may be pro tempore making the punishment so far due as that God may cut off the Sinner and damne him or else final also making it peremptorily and remedilesly due which will be ever executed by him There is a sin unto death and a sin not unto death says the Apostle A sin against the Holy Ghost Whatsoever instance there may be in which such a sin hath been committed as in the obstinacy of the Jews against Christ that rather than they would believe they would impute his Miracles to the Devil the general nature of this sin does lye in this that it is such as is inconsistent with and exclusive of the performance of the terms which are required unto pardon and life The Spirit and New Testament are one and this is to sin N. B. against the New Testament De peccato ad mortem quoniam non expressum est possunt diversa sentiri Ego autem dico id esse peccatum fidem quae per dilectionem operatur deserere usque ad mertem Concerning the sin unto death because it is not expressed divers things may be thought of it but I say that sin is this to desert or never come up to that faith which worketh by love unto death Augustine De Cor. gra c. 12. It must be demanded then what shall we think of David in the matter wherein he is accounted to have sinned I say that David according to our Brittish Divines in the Synod of Dort in that present state could not have been saved if he had died but God having Elected David provided Repentance for him that he could not dye in that estate There is a sin therefore which is inconsistent with sincerity of heart or the terms of grace at present or such a sin or sins which are exclusive of it This I said in other words but now The latter only are sins unto death The breach of the Covenant of grace sub ratione conditionis is that sin and when final that alone which is unpardonable I reassume that whatsoever sins consequently they be which any man commits if they be not such as are incompatible with Sincerity Repentance and Faith they are fins against the Law and our pardon is purchased but they are no breach sub hac ratione I must intend still of the Law of Grace no sin unto death or no sin as can hinder the person from being judged as righteous by that Law or Covenant and to be accepted accordingly unto everlasting Salvation And now Sirs Behold here a kind of Heaven opened to you I mean to you who are the Children of God and fear his Name where all your sins and iniquities are removed and where every one of you are righteous and perfect and sin not For this is the benefit and fruit of Christs Death and Redemption that he hath delivered you from that Law which you break and would condemn you for every breach and he hath brought you under a new Law the Law of Grace which requires nothing of you but what sub rat one Conditionis you do keep for he gives his holy Spirit herein to enable you to the performance So that it is not only your sins are done away that is not imputed or forgiven The Iniquities of Judah it is faid shall be sought for and not found but this Covenant hath nothing to lay to your charge And you that were sometimes alienated hath he now reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight if ye continue in the Faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Cospel And thus we are come to our period We grant a perfection which Divines call Evangelical to the Quaker that is an integrity of heart and life which the Gospel requires of every man that shall be saved If these Friends will have more who have not understood perhaps before how much indeed this is and what truly they impugne then they must come to that our Divines call Legal righteousness or perfection which is to live so as never to break any of Gods precepts both ratione officii conditiouis and if they will maintain this either that they have it or have attain'd it in themselves or that it is necessary to others unto salvation I shall tenderly offer them these ensuing Arguments Reasons or Consideratious for reclaiming them from so desperate an opinion In the first place Be it
Righteous and by that Righteousness I must say with them where they have our Divines on the blind side are justified to wit according to the Law of Faith or as they are judged at the Throne of Grace but they do sin they are Unrighteous and no flesh living can be justified according to the Law of Works or at the bar of the Ten Commandements When the Apostle argues against justification by the Law he proves none can be justified by it because all do break it Those that will follow truth shall argue as strongly if we be juâ—â—ified by grace then we must be righteous and perfect according to the Law of it The Orthodox are quite out that will have any justified without a Righteousness that is perfect according to the Law that justifies him to wit in regard to the conditional though not the preceptive part of it The Quaker is quite out that will have this Righteousness perfect according to the ten Commandements which does not justifie him The lover of Truth and Mediocrity will have every man have the Righteousness of a perfect heart for his justification and yet no man be justified but by the grace of God through the Redemption which we have in Christ Jesus There is pardon of sin and justification these may be distinguished not divided Pardon refers to the law of works justification to the law of Faith or the Gospel For this cause saith the Apostle he is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by means of death for the Redemption of the Transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called may receive the promise of eternal Inheritance The first Covenant originally is that of Nature and the first Testament belonging to the Jew represented that first Covenant and the Transgressions for which Christ shed his blood are our sins only against that Covenant If there be any body sins against the new Covenant there is no Redemption for such We have a pardon then in reference to the law of works but we are justified in reference to the law of Faith To wit If we are accused as Transgressors of the Law we may confess it that we are guilty and plead our pardon through Christs Redemption but if we are charged as Transgressors of the law of grace we must not plead our selves guilty but righteous and such as perfectly come up to the terms required in the Gospel or else we are gone It is true Christ hath purchased forgiveness but it is upon condition Pardon is of the Transgressions of the Law but this condition is of Righteousness according to the Gospel and our justification lyes in the performance of the condition In the seaventh place This Opinion instead of leading these friends to the Spirit and the Life as they speak does lead them from both and bring them back to the letter and the flesh and ministration of death To understand this The Apostle we know does distinguish between the Letter and the Spirit The Letter killeth the Spirit giveth Life This distinction is expressed otherwhere by the Law of the Spirit of life and the Law of sin and death The Law of Faith and Law of Works The Covenant of Nature and Covenant of Grace The Law of Works is call'd the Letter as having been writ in stone and is the ministration of death the Law of sin and death or that which killeth because there is none but break it and so are guilty of fin and death by it The Covenant of grace is the Law of Faith that being the condition of it it is the Law of the spirit of life or the ministration of life for the contrary reason because we are enabled through grace or this spirit to the performance of this Law so as to be Righteous according to it and live by it The just man shall live by his Faith And unto the Law of the spirit of life is added in Christ Jesus because it is he hath procured this Law for us which is indeed the great benefit of our Redemption Now while the Spirit is given us for the performance of the condition of this Covenant it being the New Testament not the Law which is the ministration of the Spirit it is a great mistake in these Friends to expect such help from it as to perform the condition of the Covenant of Nature or Law of Works The Spirit indeed does help us but it is to keep his own Law the Law of the Spirit and that Law whereby we may have life If we do look to fulfill the Covenant of Nature we must return to our original Righteousness and our free will which we lost in Adam and that is to go from the Spirit to our selves who are but flesh But what Is not the Law of God the rule of our lives and does not the Spirit of God lead us according to rule and bring us to a conformity to his law I answer no doubt of it but that is a conformity so far as reaches the fulfilling the terms of the Gospel but not those of Works The law of grace does require a sincere walking before Go in all his Commandements and the Spirit of God does certainly help us so far as we sin not against that sincerity or sin no sins inconsistent with these terms but the spirit is not given to bring us up to the terms of the Law and that we should not sin at all What shall we say that Abraham as pertaining to the flesh hath found By the flesh we are to understand works as appears in the next verse and so is the spirit opposed to the flesh as it is opposed to the law of works If we seek therefore for a Righteousness by our works that is according to that law we shall find what Abraham did as pertaining to the flesh We shall find no such matter O ye foolish Galathians says the Apostle having begun in the spirit are ye now made peâ—fect by the flesh The Galathians belike who had received the doctrine of grace by Paul were come to be seduced to the opinion that they must keep Moses Law or else they could not be saved and this is their seeking to be made perfect by the flesh The flesh and nature are Synonymous terms and as in respect of those who were Jews by Nature the works of the Law as given by Moses are called flesh so must the works of the Law as a Covenant by Nature be flesh in respect to the rest of man-kind If the Quaker then is come to seek life by such a following his light as must answer the Covenant of Nature it self that is by a perfection as is without sin against the Law he is plainly under the notion of the spirit brought at last to the flesh for what he seeks In the last place It is an ancient saying that he who looks but one thing is easily mislead It seems that these Friends do apprehend that our doctrine which opposes perfection does serve
for the boulstring up men in their sins and lull them into security that though they live and dye in their wickedness they must be saved and this being taught especially among us Protestants who believe that we are justified by Christs Righteousness without works does appear very destructive to many souls which makes them out of an intention which we may suppose zealous for godliness and the promotion of a good life to fall on our Divines with so much tragical exclamation as they do on this point When in the mean time they neither have considered what our Divines do say that removes all ground for any such abuse nor what indeed are the consequences of their own doctrine which under Pelagianisme Donatisme and the like names hath been so often exploded as utterly intolerable in the Church of God For their conviction in both these I would not in the way have them ignorant what doctrine it was Paul Preached and upon which the like consequences was fastened by some persons at that time that if grace abounded they might therefore live in sin It is but the same doctrine of Gods abounding free grace mercy and forgiveness through Christ to poor Sinners that our Divines do bring against the doctrine of perfection setting the unsound sense of imputed Righteousness aside which Paul Preached and pleaded against those who would bring in the works of the Law for their justification And when these Friends have pondered the Apostles answer to what was alleadged against him there will need but little more to be said by us here unto the same There are two things particularly our Divines teach The one is that notwithstanding grace be imperfect in this life there is no man may sin for all that in any the least thing whatsoever That is though our holiness be imperfect yet is it our duty to be perfect and we are still to be pressed to go on to perfection The other is that a state of grace will not stand with any sin in dominion That is that whosoever does willingly and wilfully live in any known sin without Repentance unto death he cannot be saved And what is the reason then when these two things are still taught that these men should charge the Orthodox with that consequence which they do so effectually disclaim Let them look into any practical Books of ours and see if obedience which is universal be not given as the chief note still of an upright man and of that Faith which is saving And what would they themselves now say more If this rather without some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as so far as human frailty according to the several complexions circumstances and temptations of persons by infinite goodness and wisdom will be allowed be not more strict than can be borne Will it not indeed suffice that a man is upright before God in his desires and endeavours after perfection that is the having respect to all his commandments unless he also be perfect and his works overtake his will What then shall become of the generation of the most just Let us see when this one inconvenience they apprehend as consequent to our doctrine is wiped off whether the several inconveniences that follow their doctrine doe not require more heed First then where they say our doctrine does lead men into security remisness of life neglect of their duty a sinfull course how must their doctrine hurle men into despaire and lead them by that to the casting off the whole care of God and their souls altogether There is no meanes under Heaven so likely to bring a man to give up all as to make him desperate If it will not serve a man for his acceptance with God that he is sincere in his desires and endeavours of walking before him unless he attain to perfection or to a life that is wholy without sin in this world then must the heart of the most holy and mortified man upon earth be quite broke and discouraged for ever There is mercy with thee sayes David that thou maist be feared If God were nor good and merciful to consider mans frailty to pardon his shortnesses and imperfections and bear with him we should not fear him that is worship or serve him for it were to no purpose to go about it seeing we could never please him Alas that these folkes did but know what they do when they bring in such doctrine who themselves must tremble to be judged by it O ye foolish Galathians who hath bewiched you that you should depart from that comfort and peace which some of you I believe sometimes had in believing and truâ—ting on Christ altogether for your pardon and reconciliation with God that you should be brought now to the works of the Law and these terms that if you do them you shall live in them Is there any indeed of you think that you are able and doe continue in all things that are written in the book of the Law or in all things that are written in the tables of your hearts to do them And are you ignorant that upon that account and that alone that none do or are able to do so the Apostle tells you As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse Alas Sirs what mean you when we are under the ministration of the New-Testament which brings the Spirit and liberty where the Spirit is there is liberty and righteousnes for by the law of faith the Christian hath a righteousness to plead and to be justified by and so life you should be ready to return into a Jewish or Natural bondage to seek for it from that onely which can bring death and is the ministration of sin and condemnation Secondly I wish into whatsoever consequence our doctrine may lead some of our people that your doctrine does not lead your people into some evils more secret and spiritual but much more deadly to the soul then our ordinary sins are When we shall see a person suppose some Youth of either Sex as soon as they are but wrought over to your party be ready immediately to look on all the rest of people at a distance to a neglect nay even to a contempt of the most grave serious holy of professours which they before conversed withall and so talk to them as if they knew nothing streight in comparison of them but as men altogether in the dark without light or life were to be separated from till they arrive to their attainment or higher state I know not what you your selves may say at such a sight nor what some others may think who passe it by with a smile or jest at the folly or else with wrath scorn and indignation at the insolence and infinite presumption but I for my part must professe it as to my own soul to be a matter of a very deep sad and afflictive apprehension to behold such a novice falling into the condemnation of the Devil Alas what is it if
blame Entire and wanting nothing Perfect and compleat in all the Will of God I will not cite here those abundance of Texts which are at my pens end least it should engage me to a particular discourse concerning them It will suffice in the general that we distinguish of the time and of the perfection which is to be understood in such several places I do remember when the Donatists are pleading many of the same and the like Scriptures for their Church and separation this is one answer the Orthodox offer them There are duo tempora Ecclesiae say they quae nunc est qualis erit Illa divina Testimonia quibus commendatur ecclesia cum malorum commixtione hoc tempus ejus significat qualis est in praesenti saeculo illa testimonia quibus commendatur non habere commixtos malos illud ejus tempus qualis venturo saeculo in aeternum futura est See Breviculi collationum cum Donatistis I shall say the same here There are two Times or States of the Church The state of this present life and the state of the life to come We doubt not but Christ hath purchased for his Church and People such a state as is to be without sin as well as without misery But this state which is compleating alway must not be expected to be compleated till the other life When Christ shall present her to his Father a glorious Church then shall she be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing but while she is but a gracious Church that is while she is in this life she shall not be without her wrinkles nor her troubles We shall reconcile the Scripture very well if when it sets forth every man as a sinner that stands in need of remission every day we refer such Texts as speak indeed of perfect freedom unto the state of the life to come In the first place then there is perfectio viae or patriae viatorum or comprehensorum to use the terms of the Schools A perfection belonging to the state while we are in the way as travellours or a perfection belonging to the state when we shall get home or to our Countrey or to such as have already attained in St. Pauls terms I hope the Quaker that disputes with us about Perfection will acknowledge a difference in regard of attainment between the two estates of Grace and Glory And if that perfection which consists in a freedom from all sin does remain for the Rest above I see not who the man is that can free himself from all sinful imperfection in this World I press forward says the Apostle if by any meanes I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Such a Perfection belike as that in Heaven is his duty but he can by no meanes here attaine unto it In the next place then that Perfection which belongs to the state of this Life is to be considered in the kind and in the degrees of it There is a Perfection of the kind and of the degree I do not find any of these friends in their writings do take Perfection for a superlative Word They acknowledge degrees in their Perfecton that one hath more of the light and life then another There are Fathers young Men and Children in Grace as St. John speaks The Child hath a perfection of parts that is hath all its Members as well as the growen man but not at the fame maturity Now I would faine know of the judicious among this sect two things in my way The one whether that degree of Holiness which is attained by any man is not the duty of every man The other whether he that fails in the least of what is his Dudy does not sin The rule is but one to all and sin is any want of conformity to that Rule However in this we may both come to an accord They will yield to us that there is a perfection of de ree which they have not attained or that there are more degrees still to be sought so long as they expect another state above in Glory And we do not deny to them that perfecttion in its kind which every man we hold as well as they does and must attaine unto that is saved The great difficulty will be onely in a right understanding of what kind of perfection it is which is to be agreed upon by both In the way for the understanding whereof I must lay down this note that when the Scripture speaks of any good man or woman that fears God or walk righteously it is all one in Holy Language as the being Perfect is Noah is said to be a just Man and perfect and one that walked with God Job a man perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil To be a just Man then a righteous man a man that fears God is in Scripture to be a perfect man and to be a perfect man is to be a just man a righteous man one that fears God and eschews evil They are terms I say aequivalent in Scripture account Blessed is the Man that walketh not in the Council of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of Sinners The man that walketh not in the Council or way of the wicked is the perfect man in other places of the Psalmes It is a full description that we have of Zachary and Elizabeth They were both Righteous before God walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blameless Now if these friends will be contented with such a Perfection in its kind as was in Noah in Job in Jacob in Abraham in the good Kings the Prophets in the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 2.6 Colosse Col. 1.28 in Zachary and Elizabeth and is indeed in every man and woman once Converted differing nevertheless in degree one above another then shall we and they in the end be lead to a perfect accomodation There is in the last place therefore a double kind of that Perfection which belongs to the state of this life A Perfection according to the covenant of Nature and a perfection according to the Covenant of Grave When God made his Creatures he appointed an order for them in reference to which they are all said to obey the Law of their Creation Man being endued with a reasonable Soul must have the knowledge of this Law so far as concerns his part in it and consequently his reason alone could direct him every thing whatsoever except of positive institution he was to do in order to that end unto which he was Created Upon this does arise the Law of Nature which when he was to observe as the condition of his Happiness and Gods favour or the continuance of both that law must be also a Covenant and that is the Covenant of Nature or Works This Covenant being broken and we rendred too impotent for it it pleased God for Christs sake to vouchsafe another wherein he proposes his favour and life upon lower Terms as
that say we are made righteous also by forgiveness and that the delivery of us from sin from the Law and condemnation by it is Justification Though really I am apt to think that this work is to be attributed rather with the Apostle to our Redemption Compare Ephes 1.7.2 Cor. 5.19 Rom. 3.24 with other places And so I come to my point of Perfection Only I must adde this Corollary Simplicissimum nobis videtur si dicamus fidem justisicare quia credenti sua sides imputetur ad justitiam Fides antem ad justitiam imputari dicitur quia Dens illum qui viva fide in Christum credit pro justo habet reputat cum a paena peccati liberans ad vitam aeternam acceptans propter Christi mortem obedientiam It is to be acknowledged that there are and may be very many Scriptures easily pressed by the Quaker and Papist for the service of their Doctrine so that there is no doubt but thus much is proved that it is our duty to be as perfect as they would have Every sin is forbidden and every good thing that is so by the Law of innocency is commanded But it is one thing to know what is our duty and another what will be accepted of God in our performance Our duty is one thing and what we can or doe attain to another God brings not his scales under the Covenant of Grace that our works should have their full weight but his touchstone expecting they be right that they proceed onely from a sincere heart and then he accepts them upon the merits of Christ Jesus Nay indeed the Duty of the Gospel is one thing and the Condition of it another The words perfect and perfection in several places of Scripture may receive an interpretation according to the purpose unto which they are applied As many as are perfect let us be thus minded By perfection there I apprehend such a degree of knowledge as the strong Christian is supposed to have other-where in opposition to the weake who understanding not their liberty by the Gospel were scandalized about indifferent things and so could not walk up to the same rule Not that I had already attained sayes the same Apostle hard by or were already perfect In the one verse of the same Chapter he is perfect in the other he is not wherein yet there is no more real difficulty then this that a man may in one thing be said to be perfect who in another is imperfect which Augustine shewes in the fifteenth chapter of his second book De peccatorum meritis remissione Indeed that Father in that book and in another De spiritu littera hath the luck to treat industriously on this matter Alia est quaestio sayes he utrum esse possit homo in hac vita sine peccato alia utrum sit It is one question whether it be possible for a man to attain to such perfection as to live without sin and another whether there be any that doe For the former question he distinguishes of what is possible by Grace And what is possible by our own Strength To hold that any man by his free will onely without grace is able to keep all Gods commandements and be without sin is that grand Pelagian Doctrine against which he sets his face and detests it But that it is possible to attaine this by grace or the special assistance of Gods Spirit he thinks it best it seemes to grant He thinks it not fit not safe to say any or all of Gods Commandements are impossible Besides where God vouchsafes his grace the work he pleads is to be ascribed to him unto whom nothing is impossible For the second question whether there is or ever was any man upon earth Christ onely excepted that does or did attain hereunto how great a measure of grace soever it be which he has or had he is peremtory in the denyal as full in his proof from Scripture there being several things he sayes which are possible and yet never shall be in the World There is no doubt now but in the dispute between the Quaker and us the terme perfection is understood alike It is a persection they hold in reference to the whole life that a man sins not And if any in the dispute do carry the matter so high against them as to deny what they contend for to be possible they may if they please choose more wariness from St. Austine for the Quaker ascribes not to themselves but to the Spirit the life the power or to Christ within all that they doe On the contrary side if these Friends will not be content with what is allowed them that our duty reaches so far as not to sin at all and consequently to be perfect as the Saints in Heaven that is to be in our kind as God in his is perfect and that it be not denied when we cannot grant that this our whole duty is possible through that spirit by which I hope some of them are lead but they will go on further to say that themselves are such as have attained and that every one who does not attain to the same pitch to wit to live without sin cannot be in a state of Grace and Salvation I shall think it time to send them if they be learned to the same Father and Books for their reproof and satisfaction As for my thoughts farther of this impossibility and what distinction is here wanting you may see p. 12. 19. in my first paper of Election It is common indeed for the Scripture to speak of men and women as perfect Mark the perfect Man Noah was a perfect man Job a perfect man The good Kings are said to walk before God with a perfect heart when yet their failings are recorded in the same chapter It is less wonder to have onr duty set forth in this manner Thou shalt be perfect with thy Lord thy God Let us go on unto perfection Walk before me and be perfect Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy strength Thy Will be done in Earth as it is done in Heaven Be followers of Christ And as his was so must our conversation be in the world There is no man hath a sensible knowledge of himself but he perceives dayly how far his duty is above his performance I am not ignorant neither how some Texts may be drawn out of their sence where the place must give them a right construction by one Offering sayes the Apostle Christ hath perfected them that are sanctified But we are not to conceive that at once therefore he perfects mans sanctification I deny not moreover but the end of Christs manifestation in the flesh was to redeem us from iniquity to destroy the Works of the Devil to restore us out of sin and unrighteousness and present us unto God as a peculiar People Purified by Faith Zealous of good Works Holy and without
fulfilled that the fulfilling them is required as necessary to the person justified and consequently as the condition which is all one of pardon and life To help us out here therefore we must distinguish after our more sober and best Divines The Law of God may be considered rigidly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or not rigidly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is with condescention to human frailty according to the measure in every one of the gift of Christ or according to our Model strength or grace in this Life that degree of performance formance God which requires of us precisely in the new Covenant to the obtaining Salvation It is in the latter the mild the gracious not in the former the rigid sense that such Texts are to be interpreted that the Law or Commandements are fulfilled and that the observation is made necessary to the justified and saved That is I say again not according to the model of our state of innocency but faln estate not according to the Rigour of the Law but Equity of the Gospel not according to the tale of Brick or prescript of Do this and live but according to Gods merciful acceptation of what we do through the meritorious obedience and oblation of Christ Jesus I must bring this yet more home As the Law is taken for the Law moral or Law of Nature the matter of the Commandement is the same I have said in the Law of Christ Grace and Gospel as in the law of Works onely this materia praecepti this matter required may be considered as materia absoluta or conditionata as our duty or as the condition of Salvation There is no man keeps the Commandements of Christ so as never to faile in any thing of his duty But every Child of God keeps them so as they are made the condition of Life in the new Covenant When a man then performes the Covenant he must be judged Righteous according to that Covenant As there is nothing lacking in that performance to the Terms he is Perfect and as he is Righteous and Perfect he sins not that is he failes not of what is required to the performance of the contition When St. John therefore speaks of sinning not we may observe how he counterpoises committing sin with being Righteous or doing Righteousness in the same Chapter The true Christian sins not so as opposes his being Righteous he commits not sin as is contradictory to doing Righteousness He is Righteous now we know or doeth Righteousness onely in regard to the Covenant of Grace and he sins not accordingly in regard to this Covenant that is as I sum all up failes not in the performance of the condition He performs not materiam absolutam the whole duty but he performes materiam conditionatam the whole condition of the Gospel By the way here when the calm Protestant will grant to the Papists such a fulfilling of the Law as does constitute a real true righteousness and that which is perfect or entire according to the covenant of grace and so accepted of God unto Life and the most violent Papists will grant to the Protestant that this righteousness nevertheless suo modo perfecta non omni prorsus caret peccato ideoque ex hac parte perfectu non est is not without all Sin but doeth both faile in the degree which the Law exacts and is intermingled with many at least venial transgressions so that it cannot abide Gods district judgment according to the Law of works without need of Christs merits Gods mercy who does not see an agreement in the purpose and mind where there-is yet so much variance in the words and pens of those that contend about those matters That Justification is a dispute of the like nature and issue I doubt not and it is an excellent pretty book of Mr. Bradshawes on that subject yet does he seem to me not to have touched this main thing which I have noted once and again in my former papers to be that the want of the notice whereof hath set the Papist and us together by the ears and the understanding whereof will as presently heal our Controversies to wit That it is not by the Law of works but by the Law of Grace that we are judged when we stand before Gods Bar for Justification There are but two things to be pleaded sayes that worthy Authour by an accused person Either that he hath not committed the fault or that he hath satisfyed for it No mortal says he can devise any other medium whereby such a person should be justifyed Our practical Divines do accordingly thunder against self Righteousness upon this foundation If we stand on our own Righteousness say they then must we be able to satisfy God for our former sins and cleanse our hearts for the time to come so as to be perfect in his sight But this is a mistake That there is a righteousness of ours that we must not wholly cast away in our Justification appeares from the Psalmist when he tells us by the rule of contrarys that it is the righteous and the righteous onely that shall stand in Judgment There is a third plea therefore which is the onely true plea which must be brought and made good or we perish and that is not that we are faultless or perfect according to the law of works either in our selves or another but that we are justifyable by the covenant of mercy as performers of the condition and that this righteouss though imperfect is acceptable through the merits of our Redeemer For the busines then of Satisfaction it must be treated a little otherwise then Mr. Bradshaw does it and others that is not to be made the matter or formal reason of that righteousness that justifyes us let me say the whole matter or formal reason for I may be out else on the otherside seeing Christs merits our faith or evangelical obedience and pardon have all their proper parts and office in it but it must be understood mainly to serve the honour and justice of God as Rector and Law giver in regard to his dealing with us otherwise then according to the Law of our creation as else he was bound for upon this score were the sufferings of Christ penall and undergone in our stead to wit that by meanes of death for the redemption of us from the transgressions of the first Covenant a new Law or Covenant might be brought in according to which we are to be judged And when it is at that bar we must stand we easily know both what that righteousness is which must be pleaded and for whose worthyness sake so inconsiderable otherwise as it is it shall be accepted unto remission and life everlasting To return the Apostle speaking of the Law does tell us that he that breakes but one of the commandements is guilty of all and the reason he renders is because he requires that one that required the rest The meaning is God gave his
the Devil himself were again in his first station that he would say but I am now in that Seraphical state as is above all Cherubims Thrones Dominions Angells Archangells I am like God and none of these are like to me If pride if Spiritual pride if the most damnable pride to be proud of Gods grace which consists in such a monstrous overweening conceit of a mans self as this that he is perfect and in one too who hath scarce broken the shell yet in Religion to the neglect despising continual censuring and setting at naught of others be no evil then may the prudent the sober and pious amongst you who are best able to see and to mourn for the miscarriages of your sect have lesse reason to fear the tendency of this doctrine of Perfection But if it be the way of Christians to be humble to look on themselves as vile as nothing to live altogether on dependance upon God each man in lowlines of mind esteeming of others better then themselves then will it be your duty to have more care of what you are to rebuke and of what you are to teach Least that which is lame be turned out of the way and that which is weak be destroyed Last of all There is the danger that exceeding danger in the very entainment of this opinion that I am afraid at my heart it cannot consist if prevalent with the grace of God and justification of a sinner by Christ It is a high text that of the Apostle Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Circumcision was a bond to the keeping the whole law and if the Galathians upon the opinion that the Law must be kept for their justification were circumcised they are like as it seemes here to bring themselves into that condition as to stand or fall by it Let them look to it then if they break but one of the commandements to the whole whereof they are debtors the bond is forfeit The like instance is that we have in the Jews themselves God had given them his Law which was indeed to direct them in a holy life but the chief end of it was through conviction of sin to drive them to God for his pardon and grace which was to be received through the promise by their Faith Now the Jews being ignorant of this end look to the Law only for Righteousness and are lost I am really afraid at my very heart Sirs least your case be the very same in effect with these You have the Gospel Preached and if you accept of your pardon through Christ there is no more required but the walking sincerely before him and acknowledging him your Advocate if you sin and you may be safe but you have taken up an opinion that the whole Law must be kept that you must live without sin and unless you come up to this pitch you cannot be saved What is here then I say but such an Opinion as that of the Galathians and such an establishing of your own Righteousness as the Jews was only with this difference indeed in both that it is more For the Righteousness of the Law as given by Moses was not thought by them so strict as we know it to be as given by Nature And if they shall stand for their lives upon these terms who is not apprehensive of the danger of such Doctrine For I testifie again to every man that whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace I remember when Festus had brought Paul out to Agrippa and he had opened and pleaded his cause before him Agrippa said unto Festiu This man might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed to Caesar If these Friends being at the Bar of the Gospel would stand to that grace we have there they might be freed by course with other honest Christian folks through the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus Who hath any thing to charge upon them But if they will appeal from those terms under which we are brought by Christ unto their persection which is the terms of the Law to be judged by that what can we say else but they have appealed unto Caesar and to Caesar must they go Unto your perfection you have appealed and when you shall be found imperfect as all flesh living must be what shall become of you before the great Tribunal of God O Lord Thou seest mans foolishness and knowest his danger If any of these poor people are indeed upon such a precipice as my Soul fears for them deliver them save them from it bring them to a right mind that they may not depart from thy grace to go to their own Cisterns They went to the Wells and there was no Water they returned with their Vessels empty and were ashamed We have a singular president in Job A man may wonder sometimes why God should deal so severely with that Saint It was not perhaps without cause Job was a holy person and he knew it he stood upon it and it is possible he might by that temper of his be one who in the establishing this Righteousness of his own was apt to forget to submit to the Righteousness of God and that this was the very secret cause which makes him have need of so sufficient a course to be taken for reducing him out of that danger Friends Let me speak to you here in those words which Eliphaz did to his Friend Surely you have spoken in my hearing and I have heard the voyce of your words saying We are Clean without Transgression we are Innocent neither is there Iniquity in us Let me then speak to you in the words also of God Who are these that darken Counsel with words without knowledge I humbly beseech the Lord that what is offered here unto you to the like end supposing the end of the Lord to Job herein to be such may be received with the like effect That you may say Behold we are vile what shall we answer thee we will lay our hands on our mouths Once have we spoken but we will not answer yea twice but we will proceed no further Augustine Cont. Ep. Parmen l. 2. c. 6. Quamvis in quantum ex deo nati sumus non peccemus inest tamen adhuc etiam quod ex Adamo nati sumus Et quamdiu expectamus per patientiam corporis nostri redemptionem non audeamus dicere carere nos omni vitio ne ipsa superbia sit immanissimum vitium Although in so much as we are born of God we sin not yet does there remain in us that too which is born of Adam and so long as we through patience do wait for the Redemption of the body we dare not say that we are without all sin least that very Pride it self be a most monstrous sin The End An Advertisement Reader I Intended more Papers under this Title of the Middle Way but being Discouraged this I suppose is the last You have one Paper of Election and Redemption put that first Another of Justification A third of the Covenants Law and Gospel And this fourth of Perfection Expect no more The Bookseller now will Bind them together The letters N. B. are Nota bene Valete omnes condonate I. H Deo Gloria