new Obedience Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will Circumcise thy Heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul 3. Sect. That which presupposes other Covenant-mercies antecedent to it cannot be the condition of the first Covenant-Blessing and therefore not the condition of a Covenant-state but our own righteousness presupposes other Covenant-blessings antecedent to it Ezek. 36. 26. I will take away the Heart of stone out of your Flesh and give you an Heart of Flesh the Natural Heart must be Circumcised the hard heart removed a soft heart bestowed before we can perform new Obedience out of which our own righteousness results When therefore our Author says That Christs righteousness and our own are both necessary to Salvation He says true and which is necessary to all Truth that which overthrows his main design For if Christs righteousness be necessary to our Salvation not onely to the promise of it then no Salvation can be had without that righteousness but if it be onely necessary to a promise of that Salvation then it is not necessary to Salvation for Salvation according to his Principles has been obtained without a promise of Salvation otherwise the Patriarchs before Christ could not be eternally saved whom he supposes to have had no such promise and so it may still for Obedience performed will save though it want that great promise for it's encouragement And whereas he says That Christs Righteousness is the Foundation but not the Condition of the Covenant what policy there may be in using the Metaphor of a Foundation I cannot tell but this I know A Foundation is a necessary Condition to the superstructure raised upon it I have now attended him through all the Labyrinths of this tedious Discourse whence the Reader will learn at least how impossible it is for Error to be Consonant to it self As the two Milstones grind one another as well as the grain and as the extreme Vices oppose each other as well as the intermediate vertue that lies between them So have all Errors this fate and 't is the best quality they are guilty of that they Duel one another with the same heat that they oppose the Truth The Remainder of his Book is so full of falshoods in matter of fact reproaches of the Truth and immerited bitterness against the Living and the Dead that I could not perswade my self to give the Reader any further trouble with them at present but a small invitation will draw out the second Part In the mean time I do solemnly protest that as I have no Personal Quarrel with this Gentleman so I have not willingly wronged his Discourse in the smallest instance The worst I wish him is that he may seasonably repent of his injurious dealing with the Scriptures and his unworthy treatment of those Persons who have deserved well of Religion and the Common-wealth of Learning and not ill of himself I cannot deny but that his provoking way of writing his unjust censures of the Innocent and above all his Drolling faculty exercised upon sacred things have sometimes tempted me to a return not so agreeable to my Natural inclinations I hope the Reader will consider not onely how but what I have written nor onely what but upon what provocations it has been written Let Cause be compared with Cause the moments of Reasons with Reasons let the little Vagaries and impertinces be brusht off and then let the indifferent and impartial Reader moderate between us And if he shall meet with any Truth of the Gospel cleared or vindicated let him give God the more praise who by such improbable means as Clay and Spittle can open his Eyes to the acknowledgment of the Truth and secure him against the Impostures and Apostacy of these latter times and what ever of Vanity and Folly he meets with in these Papers let him be assured that's my own and that it may not prejudice the concerns of Christ let him freely trample it under his Feet FINIS A Catalogue of some Books printed and sold by Nath. Ponder at the Peacock in Chancery Lane near Fleetstreet First EXercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews also concerning the Messiah Wherein the Promises concerning Him to be a Spiritual Redeemer of Mankind are explained and vindicated c. With an Exposition of and Discourses on the two first Chapters of the said Epistle to the Hebrews By Iohn Owen D. D. in Folio 2. Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews concerning the Priesthood of Christ wherein the original Causes Nature Prefigurations and Discharge of that holy Office are explained and vindicated The Nature of the Covenant of the Redeemer with the Call of the Lord Christ unto his Office are declared And the Opinions of the Socinians about it are fully examined and their Oppositions unto it refuted With a Continuation of the Exposition on the third fourth and fifth Chapters of the said Epistle to the Hebrews being the second Volumn By Iohn Owen D. D. in Folio 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or A Discourse concerning the Holy Spirit Wherein an Account is given of his Name Nature Personality Dispensation Operations and Effects His whole Work in the Old and New Creation is explained the Doctrine concerning it vindicated from Oppositions and Reproaches The Nature also and Necessity of Gospel-Holiness the difference between Grace and Morality or a Spiritual Life unto God in Evangelical Obedience and a course of Moral Vertues are stated and declared By Iohn Owen D. D. in Folio 4. A Practical Exposition on the 130 Psalm wherein the Nature of the Forgiveness of Sin is declared the Truth and Reality of it asserted and the Case of a Soul distressed with the Guilt of Sin and relieved by a Discovery of Forgiveness with God is at large discoursed By Io. Owen D. D. in Quarto 5. Londons Lamentations or a sober serious Discourse concerning the late Fiery Dispensation By Mr. Thomas Brooks late Preacher of the Word at St. Margarets NewFisâ—…street London in Quarto 6. Liberty of Conscience upon its true and proper grounds asserted and vindicated c. To which is added the Second Part viz. Liberty of Conscience the Magistrates Interest By a Protestant a Lover of Truth and the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation in Quarto The second Edition Large Octavo's 7. A Discourse of the Nature Power Deceit and Prevalency of the Remainders of Indwelling-Sin in Believers Together with the ways of its working and means of prevention By Iohn Owen D. D. in Octavo 8. Truth and Innocency vindicated in a Survey of a Discourse concerning Ecclesiastical Polity and the Authority of the Civil Magistrate over the Consciences of Subjects in matters of Religion By Iohn Owen D. D. in Octavo 9. Exercitations concerning the Name Original Nature Use and Continuance of a Sacred Day of Rest wherein the Original of the Sabbath from the foundation of the World the Morality of the fourth Commandment with the change of the sabbath-Sabbath-Day are enquired into Together with an Assertion of the Divine Institution of the Lord's Day By Iohn Owen D. D. in Octavo The second Impression 10. Evangelical Love Church-Peace and Unity By. Io. Owen D. D. 11. The Unreasonableness of Atheism made manifest in a Discourse to a Person of Honour By Sir Charles Wolselay Baronet Third Impression 12. The Reasonableness of Scripture-Belief A Discourse giving some Account of those Rational Grounds upon which the Bible is received as the Word of God Written by Sir Charles Wolseley Baronet 13. The Rehearsal transpres'd or Animadversions upon a late Book intituled A Preface shewing what Grounds there are of fears and jealousies of Popery The first Part. By Andrew Marvel Esq. 14. The Rehearsal transpros'd the second Part. Occasioned by two Letters the first printed by a nameless Author intituled A Reproof c. the second A Letter left at a friends house dated Nov. 3. 1673. subscribed I. G. and concluding with these words If thou darest to print or publish any Lye or Libel against Dr. Parker by the Eternal God I will cut thy throat Answered by Andrew Marvel 15. Theopolis or the City of God New Ierusalem in opposition to the City of the Nations Great Babylon By Henry D'anvers in Octavo 16. A Guide for the Practical Gauger with a Compendium of Decimal Arithmetick Shewing briefly the whole Art of Gauging of Brewers Tuns Coppers Backs c. also the Mash or Oyl-Cask and Sybrant Hantz his Table of Area's of Segments of a Circle the Mensuration of all manner of Superficies By William Hunt Student in the Mathematicks in Octavo 17. Anti-Sozzo sive Sherlocismus Enervatus In Vindication of some Great Truths Opposed and Opposition to some Great Errors Maintained by Mr. William Sherlock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc est Domus Mosaicae Clavis sive Legis Sepimentum Authore Iosepho Cooper Anglo in Octavo A Vindication of some Passages in a Discourse concerning Communion with God from the Exceptions of William Sherlock Rector of St. George Buttolph-Lane By Iohn Owen D. D. in Octavo A brief Declaration and Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity By Iohn Owen D. D. in 12.
his Abilities in the Bud or to Blemish so promising a Work in the Frontispiece Our Author having once oblig'd us by discovering the Origen of this Mistake is resolv'd to load us with a second obligation by rectifying it For which purpose though he has many wayes to the Wood yet the very best way of All is to Examine the various significations of this Name Christ in Scripture First he assures us that Christ is Originally the Name of an Office The Name of an Office and Originally the Name of an Office too To which I onâ—…y whisper softly in his Ear It 's neither the one nor the other not the Name much less Originally the Name of an Office The Hebrew word Messiah to which the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exactly answers denotes a Person Anoyntâ—…d and thereby set apart for some special work or service And I dare be judg'd by this Gentleman himself if it be not so For in the same sentence with the same breath wherewith he had told us that Christ is Originally the Name of an Office he immediately addes which the Iews call the Messias or one Anoynted by God And now sure the Controversie will be brought into a narrow compass Whether He whom the Iews call the Messias or one Anoynted of God be a Person or an Office that is Whether a Person be a Person or no but it 's not for me to determine so weighty a Point And therefore the Gentleman himself who is a fair Disputer and no imperious Dictator shall give you a Reason why he contradicts his own Assertion wherein he is the rather to be believed because he speaks with so becoming a proof of credibility that to confirm a Truth he confutes himself For saith he under the Law their Prophets Priests and Kings were invested in their several Offices by the Ceremony of Anoynting them with Oyl Not to mention what a profound Observation he has made becoming his Good Learning nor how little need he had to Transcribe it from Volkelius lib. 3. de ver â Relig. c. 2. p. 41. Propteâ—…eà quod Olim tum Sacerdotes Vatésque tum Reges per Unctionis Religionem â—…tque Ceremoniam muneribus suis initiabantâ—…r All Ordinâ—…ry People would conclude that Kings Priests and Prophets signifie not Offices in the Abstract but Persons very Persons real errant Persons as any are under the Sun vested with their several and respective Offices in the Concrâ—…te as your systematical men love to speak And therefore if our Authors Reason reaches the Thing it pretends to evince Christ the Messiah will not signifie an Office but a Person authorised by his Office for the discharge of those Employments his Eternal Father had anoynted and appointed him unto But how shall we know whom or what the Iews called the Messiah The very best way that I know is to single out those Places in the Old Testament where Messiah or the Anoynted one is found and let the Gentleman practise upon them with all the critical skill and cunning he is guilty of and see how he can wire-draw Office out of them Ps. 2. 2. The Rulers take Counsel against the Lord and against his Anoynted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Against his Messias or against his Christ It would be harsh to Render it against his Office Whatever it was it is called Gods King v. 6. and Gods Son v. 7. and whether it was a Person or an Office that will bear those Titles I shall referre to his determination Dan. 9. 25. Messiah the Prince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. 26. The Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself was it an Office that was cut off though not for Himself So that this New Notion dwindles away into a fine New-Nothing which is a thousand pities It would doubtless have served his turn at many a dead lift in the ensuing debates however it was advisedly done and upon mature deliberation that he favour'd us not with one single Text to prove that wherein the Scripture professes a deep silence It has been accounted very ominous to stumble at the Threshold and whilest he layes it down as a superliminary Maxim That All Errour has some yet to instance in One which has No Appearance of Truth But because our Author has so courtâ—…ously discover'd to us the Ground of that dreadfull mistake That Christ will save some whom his Gospel condemnes and as you know One good Turn deserves another that we may not be behind hand in returns of Civility I look upon my self engaged in all the bonds of honesty and Ingenuity to shew him the Ground of his gross Mistake That Christ is Originally the Name of an Office The Man had seen or read somewhere an Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is something more a kin to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than Chalk is to Cheese or Milk to Mustard and because that word signifies Unctio an Anoynting and so perhaps at two or three removes an Office the Good-man dream't that Messiah must needs be of the same import Quod miserè volumus id facilè credimus and this might possibly Trepan him into that critical Soloecisme yet if I have not hit the Nail on the head he has the liberty to assign the True ground of his Mistake and in the mean time I shall live as well as I doe But having given us such a Notable Specimen of his Charity he is as willing to improve this gratefull Occasion to Bless us with his Admirable Divinity and to Illuminate our Understandings as Dionysius the supposed Areopagite expresses it with a Beam of Darkness Two things he is resolved we shall be his Debtors for First to inform us of the precise time of Christs Anoynting to his Offices Secondly of the Nature of the Offices themselves 1 For the Time he tells us Jesus received the Divine Unction at his Baptism when the Spirit of God descended on him like a Dove Well seeing 't was no sooner I am glad it was no later and if it will not be allow'd from his Birth and Incarnation it 's some Comfort that it was before his Death or Crucifixion But in good earnest was not Jesus The Christ before then I see All wise men are not of one mind For those three of the East Matth. 2. 2. came to seek and worship One Born King of the Iews And the Angels preacht other Doctrine to the plain Shepherds Luke 2. 11. Unto you is Born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and v. 46. at Twelve years of Age we find him engaged in his Fathers business and we are loth to censure that he ran before he was sent or acted before he had a Call or executed his work before he had a Commission because we cannot tell as times goe what ill use some might make on 't But now to give some Appearance of Truth though never so little to this Errour we are turn d over to Acts
method of erecting it 1. He conquers the minds of men by the power of his Word and Spirit and reduces them to subjection to God 2. Then he pardons their sin 3. He raiseth them to Immortal Life 4. This is done by the Expiation of his Sacrifice and that Power and Authority that is founded on it Of which supposed Order and Method of Christs procedure because abundant occasion will be offered for its Consideration in the ensuing Discourse I shall supersede any further Disquisition at present I hope the Reader does not forget whereabouts he is and what our Authors operofe Endeavours have design'd it is to prove That Christ is Originally the Name of an Office and fearing that none would bestow the pains to confute him he is willing to save the world that Labour and confute himself And this is the Interpretation of the Name Christ which signifies a mediatory King immediately appointed by God to that Office p. 7. Be it therefore Reported to the Judgements of all to determine Whether a Mediatory King be a Person or a Thing an Office or an Officer So large a Dose of Milk had he given us and now has kickt it all fairly down again with his foot Indeed we had complained before that he favour'd us not with one Text of Scripture to establish his Notion But 't was not out of Penury but Plenty and that it seems made him Poor For thus sayes he the Name Christ signifies in those places of Scripture where Iesus is said to be the Christ i. e. that Messias whom God promis'd to send So that all the further trouble the Reader is like to have from me in this matter is to advise with himself Whether He the Messias whom God promised to send be the one or the other i. e. Whether God promised an Office which like the Popish Accidents of Bread and Wine should hang in the Aire without their proper Subjects or Mahomets Tombe or else a real person even Iesus the Mediator between God and Man furnished with those Offices of Prophet Priest and King to save us in turning away every one of us from our Iniquities Secondly Though Christ is Originally the Name of an Office yet it is used in Scripture to signifie the Person who is invested with this Office It would tempt a man to enquire what that original use of the word is which is opposed to the Scripture use In some Original or other it 's the Name of an Office and that can be no other but the Originals of Socinus Volkelius Crellius and other of the same bran however we are infinitely his Debtors for the Concession that the Scripture Use of the word is wheel'd about to our side though juâ—…t now The places were so many and so obvious that he needed not name them for the other use of the word But I see it 's not wisdom to be too hasty to own a kindness before we be sure onâ—…t for no man more reall when he offers an Injury nor more complemental in his Courtesies for he 's just now standing upon a Tack Before his Designation to this Office was publickly owned he was onely called Iesus the Name given him by the Angel before he was born yet when by his Resurrection from the Dead he was declared with power to be the Son and the Christ of God Christ became his Proper Name as Iesus was before It may create a suspicion in some jealous heads that our Author does insinuate Jesus to become the Son of God as he became the Christ of God which latter bears date in our Authors Chronology from After the Resurrection but Suspicions ought to prejudice no man To his confident Assertion I answer 1. That this blessed Person of whom we speak was called Christ without any reference to mens owning or not owning of him nor could he claim to be owned by men as the Christ of God unless he had been so even the Christ before such claim he was therefore owned because he was Antecedently so and not subsequently called Christ because Men had owned him It were strange indeed that he should hold his Name upon so ticklish a Tenure as that Advoluntatem Populi 2. That he was owned to be the Christ of God before his Rsurrection from the dead not so generally and universally but yet as really and truly Nay all that owned him to be Iesus a Saviour from sin owned him be to the Christ Anointed of God that he might be a Saviour They that deny'd him to be the Christ deny'd him to be a Iesus for what firm Footing could Faith have to believe him to be a Saviour had he not brought his Credentials along with him that he was sent of God for that End a Terme of the same Import with that of Christ. 3. The Christ of God was as truly his Proper Name as Iesus These with many others denonoting still the same Person though under divers Considerations Jesus was his Name expressing the General end for which he came into the World Immanuel was his Name denoting the Union of God and Man in one and the same Person Mediator was his Name as signifying the two Parties between whom he was to stand and whom he was to Reconcile and Christ was his Name too as Intimating the Authority he had from his Father to Accomplish the Work of Saving which he undertook 4. The Angels foretelling his Name to be Jesus makes not that to have the Advantage of the other Appellations of Christ Seeing he was made The Christ by the Father Himself and yet we have the Suffrage of an Angel too that he was Born the Christ Luke 2. 11. Unto you is Born this day a Saviour in the City of David which is Christ the Lord. 5. As sadly out is our Author to say that in the Gospels he is alwayes called Iesus Which whether you take it Exclusively as shutting out the Name of Christ or Inclusively taking in the Name of Iesus is apparently False and needs nothing but a Common pair of Spectacles for its Confutation But the stress of all this Pother lying here that he was not called Christ as by his Proper Name till after the Resurrection we shall call over a few of many places in the New Testament to Evince the Contrary Iohn 4. 25. The Woman of Samaria went upon Common Fame and a generally received Maxim that he that should acquaiut them with the Will of God was to be called Christ. I know that Mesiah cometh which is called Christ and when he is come he will tell us all things And our Saviour would not suffer her to hang in Suspense about the Person who was so well Satisfied about his Name and Employment but presently Answers v. 26. I that speak to thee am He The poor Woman glad at the News and loth to Rejoyce alone Proclaims it in the Streets and speaking in their own known Dialect says she Is not this the Christ ver 29. John 1. 40. Andrew
also the Love Honour and Admiration of them for whom he endured it And if some few Holy men be a little Transported with the Love of Christ methinks it 's easily pardonable very few die of that Disease no danger this Age should be Hot in the fourth Degree of Love to a Redeemer that our Author should be necessitated to Write a Book for fear it should Poyson us For my part I meet with no such Paroxisms of Divine Love that his Iulip should be so much cry'd up but I would fain please my self with this that whilst he seems Frigidam suffundere his Real Design is to make us all more in Love with Christ by a Spiritual Antiperistasis 2. This gives great Reverence and Authority to his Gospel that it was Preacht by so Great a Person as the Son of God And therefore whilst he is in the good Humour let him Retract those Severe and Toothed Satyrs wherewith he has Torn and Lasht those poor Honest Men for loving his Person but Neglecting his Laws when he tells us here The greater Reverence we have for his Person the more sacred Regard we have for his Laws Perhaps he was then under an Accession of Gout Stone or Cholick or some of the peevish Distempers which made him so Testy and Teachy with his best Friends but now he 's a little come home to himself he 's in as Sweet Treatable and Debonaire a Humour as one could wish if it would but last I confess some may think that All this is nothing but a Complement which he passes upon Christ's Person or a little Holy-water he sprinkles in his Face and that there Lurks a Snake under these fair Flowers For he plainly makes Laws and Gospel Edaequate and Commensurate Terms This gives Reverence to the Gospel for Laws always partake of the Fate and condition of the Law-giver The Gospel as Contradistinguisht to the Covenant of Works denotes the glad Tidings of Salvation by a Mediatour or the joyful News that there was Forgiveness with God that He might be feared As contradistinguisht to the Old Testament-state it is the glad Tidings of the Son of God sent into the World that taking upon him our Nature he might therein become a Curse for us and by his perfect Obedience to the Law might Purchase and Procure Eternal Life And are Christs Laws and His Gospel become Convertible Is there no Revelation No Promise Nothing done for us which cannot come under the Nature of a Law The Laws of Christ then are Holy and Just and Good that the Greatness of his Person Consiliates Reverence and due Regard to them we acknowledge that Law and Gospel are words of equal Extent we deny and do think our Author will be harder put to it to prove Christ to signifie Law than to signifie Gospel Much less are we satisfied in his Comparison Numa pretended he received his Laws from the Goddess Aegeria to procure a greater Veneration to them Thus God c. Say you so Did God procure Veneration for his Laws with such a cunning Trick a Pia fraus as Politick Numa did Or is Christ grown an Instrument of Government as he tells us hereafter Gods Justice is Well I hope he Meant honestly or else it will be somewhat hard to be tied to Mean just as he Means 3. The Greatness of his Person gives great Authority to his Example for he came to be our Prophet and our Guide to Teach us by his Precepts and his Life Believe it this is something like The World is well amended since pag. 5. For then Preaching the Gospel was the Exercise of his Regal Power And now here he has brought it into Decorum again and at present is under a Pang of Modern Orthodoxy But his Example gives us an Evident Demonstration wherein the Perfection of Humane Nature consists for he lived up to the Perfection of Humane Nature and the only way to be Perfect is to Live as he Lived Why then I doubt we must never be in any sence Perfect all the days of our Lives for in the very next Page he proves That Christs becoming Poor though he was Rich a Servant though he was Lord of Life are such Expressions of Love as we can never fully Imitate and so Adieu to all Perfection to the Worlds end It was indeed Prudently done to Imitate the Wisdome of Nature to Plant his Antidote so near his Poyson that if he scatter'd Infection in one Page to fortifie our feeble Spirits against the Impressions of it in another A little Observation will Dismiss this Period And 1. One would think that to live as Christ lived was not so much the way to Perfection as Perfection it self Your dull Syntagmatical Divines use to distinguish between the Means and the End or the way to the Wood and the Wood it self but great Spirits are above Pedantick Laws and therefore to please all Parties for once let the way to be Perfect be to be Perfect 2. I observe that the Scripture owns some to be Perfect who never lived all out nay nothing near so well as Christ lived 1 Chron. 15. 17. The heart of Asa was perfect all his days and yet we read that In his Disease he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitian he took not away the High places he was wroth with the Prophet Hanani and put him in Prison and yet perhaps our Author can Evade That notwithstanding this he might come up to his Pattern for Christ himself once or twice put on the Person of a Iewish Zealot There was then a time when a man might have been perfect and yet not Live up to the absolute Perfection of Christ but I perceive it s lost and is to be numbered amongst the Resperditae of Pancirol To conclude How far Christ is to be Imitated is a Question of greater Difficulty than at first sight may be Imagined Some Works he performed as God others as Mediatour and others as a Man Those which he performed as God the Miraculous Operations of the Deity none need be disswaded from Imitation of for no stronger a Reason than because 't is Impossible To Raise the Dead cast out Devils Cure Diseases with a Word or Touch are Matter of our Admiration not Imitation I know indeed some of our Modern Schoolmen will tell us That though we cannot Imitate Christ herein to the height yet we may imitate him as far as we can Thus though Raising the Dead be a little too Many for you yet you may come to the Grave of your dead Friend command him to come forth but if he be Sullen and will not stir hand nor foot let him take his Course and lie there still like his Grace in cold Clay clad You have done your Duty and may satisfie your Conscience that you have Imitated Christ as far as you can by as Useful a Figure as any is in Rhethorick called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Works which Christ performed as Mediatour though
follow the Espousals But the Reason of it is not Evident The Reason of the thing not Evident Why the thing it self is not evident Would he have an evident Reason of Nothing A Foundation for a Castle in the Air Can he find no place for Obedience and yet would he have a Reason for it But for all this Ranting his Conscience tells him that they do allow a place for it and can produce a Reason for it too and perhaps a more proper place and stronger Reason than our Author is able to show 1. Some tell us says he it 's due upon the account of Gratitude and thankfulness to our Saviour And methinks a great deal of Obedience will rest upon that Basis Has he come into this World whither none that loved his ease would come Has he taken our Nature upon him and as if that were a light Matter our sins Has he endured the Displeasure of men and as if that were little did it please God himself to put him to Grief Did he Die for sinners Does he Intercede for them Has he revealed the whole Counsel of God to them concerning their Salvation Has he given them the Holiest Laws and the best Encouragement to Obey them Did he Promise and has he sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in their Hearts Is it he through whom their Duties are accepted and shall not these Obey Here 's enough and yet there 's much more to Engage all the Love Service Obedience of Redeemed ones for ever And so the thing is at least a hairs breadth longer than 't is broad But here our Author is at a Loss he cannot so well understand this But whose fault is that Must the Truth suffer because he cannot see it The truth is he has Puzzled and Perpâ—…exed himself with an Idle scruple in his Head and Vulcan must come with the great Hammer to deliver his Brain of a Minerva though I know no Obligation lies upon me to cut the Rope as often as he will Snickle himself Yet hower let 's here the Difficulty Unless our Obedience be due to Christ in thankfulness to him for saving us without Obedience This is a Knot becoming the Sword of Alexder Christ never engaged to save us without Obedience and therefore he might have spared his pains to enquire how it should be due upon that Account We therefore owe him all our Obedience because 't is through him that such Imperfect Obedience may find acceptance with God Which is nothing more difficult than this We live to him because he Died for us and rose again Yet there is a more fomidable Objection in the reare against the grounding Obedience upon the bottom of Gratitude This is says he Hardly reconcileable with that Essential Condition of accepting Christ wherein those Spiritual espousals consists Well though it be hardly yet if it be reconcileable at all we shall not create him the Trouble of being a Conciliator There are rational Divines enough in the World for whose Heads this Province may be reserved Two things we must here find out if we can 1. What is the Essential condition of our accepting Christ. 2. How Obedience due upon the account of Gratitude comes to be so hardly reconcilable to that Essential condition 〈◊〉 What is the Essential condition of our 〈◊〉 Christ. For here lies the Intrigue and hâ—… 〈◊〉 so disguised Matters and Inck't himself like 〈◊〉 in Confusion that it will be hard to 〈◊〉 Now for that he quotes plain I. O. Com. pag. 63. viz. That the Soul consents to take Christ on his own Terms This is the Essential condition that has Created all the Pother The Souls consenting to take Christ is the Essential condition of taking But now 2. How is Obedience upon the account of Gratitude irreconcileable to its consent to take Christ on his own Terms Davus has made a diffity but where 's an Oedipus to resolve it Christs Terms are that the Soul shall give it self in Love and Obidence for ever He requires that the Soul should be wholly and entirely his and not for another and this is so far from being Irreconcileable to what he calls ridiculously the Essential condition of accepting Christ that it 's directly Included in it And this he might have been Taught from the Doctor had he not been too Proud to Learn Ibid. This accepting Christ by the will as the Souls only Husband Lord and Saviour is called receiving Christ John 1. 12. and is not intended for that Solemn Act only whereby at first entrance we close with him but also for that constant frame of abiding with him and owning him as such So that it would have been an Impossible task to part them but very easie to reconcile them Obedience is so far from being excluded by the Souls accepting Christ upon his Terms that its simply impossible to accept him upon his own Terms but we must Cordially and with an Evangelical Universality obey him all our days It 's something late I confess yet let us hear what he further quotes from the Doctor The Soul consents to take Christ on his own Terms to save save him in his own way and saith Lord I would have had Thee and Salvation in my way that it might have been partly of my Endeavours and as it were by the Works of the Law but I am now willing to receive Thee and to be saved in thy Way merely by Grace We have already seen that what he has Quoted and Summon'd in these words for was marvellously Impertinent to the pretended purpose But that which will not make á Shaft will make a Bolt Never did our Author meet that thing but he could make some use on 't As they that study the Philosophers Stone though they miss of the main Design yet stumble upon some pretty Experiments by the way that makes them flatter themselves they have not quite lost their Oyl and Labour Thus however our Author may be Frustrated in his primary Project which was Confuting the Truth yet probably he may find or make some advantage to slur the Doctor You may see him here like the great Hanibal making his way over the Alps with Fire and Vinegar If there be Matter for a Slander above Ground he will have it and if not Acheronta movebit That is says he without doing any thing without obeying thee If to receive Christ upon his own Terms as a King and abiding with him in that relation giving up it self to Christ as a King to obey him be doing nothing I cannot help it but let our Author do but thus much and he shall receive a Testimony from God that he has done all 'T is true the Doctor excludes all his own Obedience for those ends to which a proud Ignorant Iew might have abused them viz. To exclude the Free-Grace of God and the reconciliation made by Christ And this we ought to be Jealous of lest we ascribe any more Interest and concern to our own Duties
not more though in another way united to the Head and one to another than Christ and Christians are in this which may be called a Mystical union for Christ and Believers are hereupon called One Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. As the Body is one and hath many Members even so is Christ That is so is the Lord Christ and his Church When therefore he says That Christ is called a Head and the Church his Body a Husband and the Church his Spouse which two Metaphors signifie the same thing and are both of them Names of Power and Authority It is something of the Truth but not the whole Truth nor nothing else but the Truth Something of truth there is in it Christs Headship denotes Authority But then it 's not the entire Truth Christs Headship denotes more than bare Authority And then there 's something more than the Truth Those two Metaphors do not denote the same thing That of the Husband over the Wife denotes Power mixed and sweetly tempered with Love and Pity But that of the Head over the Members denotes a continual Influx of all saving Grace into his Members I wish therefore he would leave Trifling with his Hackney Fallacy That because Christ is a Head of Authority He is not an Head of Influence For he that can assert that the Union and Relation between Christ and Christians has no Spiritual correspondency with a Natural Union which yet is Explicated by it may when he sees his own time deny That the Union between Christ and Christians has any Analogiâ—…with a Political union though he has Pro hâc vice Explicated the Union by it There is one thing more wherein our Author shows himself a great Divine and a mighty Statesman for the very sound of Political Union is enough to Inspire a Man that is prepared for such Impulses Our Union to Christ says he consists in our Belief of his Revelations Obedience to his Laws and Subjection to his Authority As Obedience to our Prince is the strongest Bond of a Political Union which is Dissolved and Broken by Rebellion and Disobedience But this is neither truly Asserted nor wisely Explained 1. Not truly asserted For our Union to Christ does not consist in that Obedience which we give him as our Lord our Shepheard our Husband but in that Act of Obedience whereby at first we take him for our Lord Shepheard and Husband and give up our selves sincerely to him again to be his Sheep Subjects Spouse 2. Nor wisely Explicated For if Relation to a Prince does formally consist in Obedience and that Union be dissolved by Rebellion then whenever a Rebel shakes hands with Actual subjection he absolves himself from the duty to Obey which would save the horrible Charges of the Popes Bull. Our Author has acquainted the World with a very fine way how to live a Traytor Twenty years and yet never commit but one single sin at first but all the after acts will be Regular For if Rebellion dissolve and break in pieces the Union between Prince and Subject then he ceases any longer to be a Subject and by consequence whatever sins he commits must be called by other Names for it can be no Rebellion When the Relation ceases Duty ceases Obedience is a conserving cause of Union but the Union lies not in it He that does not perform his Duty yet is under an Obligation to perform his Duty the Union continues though many acts unsuitable to the Union are committed But should we be so charitable as to grant him all this he will be weary on 't in a while as little Children that make a heavy and piteous moan for a Gewgaw and when they have it throw it away Thus after all his Rodomontade That this Union is a Political union such as is between Prince and Subjects as if his Book could never have been Licensed if he had talk'd of any thing below Crowns and Diadems and the Roman Empire Yet pag. 162. he tells us That God has laid aside in a great Measure that severe Name of a King and calls himself our Father to signifie that Liberty we enjoy under the Gospel in Opposition to the Bondage and Servitude of the Law of Moses Well whatever opinion he has of Monarchy the severity of it's Name the Bondage and Servitude that it brings Men under I know many who if they might choose had rather come under that severe Name of King as to their Religious concerns than feel the more smooth and Debonair Treatment of some Spiritual Fathers It 's very Tiresome to Travel out of the way for the further we go on the further we have to come back and yet thus has our Author seduced his Reader but now we shall come to a vein of Matter for having reduced all the benefit Believers have from Christ as their Head to Political Government there is but one thing more which if he can cleverly compass the day is his own and this is to strip Christ of that little Power and Authority he had left him To this end we must observe further That though Christ be our Lord and Governour he does not Govern us immediately by Himself for he is Ascended into Heaven where he powerfully Intercedes for his Church and by a Vigilent Providence superintends the affairs of it but he has left the Visible and External conduct and Government of it to Bishops and Pastors who preside in his Name and by his Authority To which I answer 1. That Christs committing the External conduct of his Churches to his own Officers may very well consist with his own Internal and Invisible conduct of his Peoples Souls and their Spiritual concerns 2. Whatever Authority Christ has vested his Officers with he has Devested himself of none he continues sole Head of the Church still All Power is committed to him in Heaven and in Earth And though there are some that would ease him of the Trouble yet I have not heard that he has laid down his Commission nor taken any into joynt Commission with himself 3. Christ has given an Authority in the Churches to all his own Officers but he has not given to any of them his Authority And indeed unless he could Communicate to them his Power as well as his Authority it would signifie little But I hope they know their places better than so they are Servants of Jesus Christ tied up to their Instructions as all Ambassadors are though they come in the Name of their Prince and their Commission runs to teach us to Observe whatsoever Christ has Commanded in the Scripture 4. As to the External Conduct of the Church Christ has left it as much to Princes as to Bishops and more for several Reasons that I know of but one is this That every Supreme Magistrate is next and immediately under Christ Supreme Head and Governour of the Church within his own Dominions Well but what Reason does he favour us with Why Christ doth not immediately Govern us
Gospel the same Faith the same Blessing with Christians he was justified the same way but so had our Father Abraham But what is our Author's judgment in the case I confess that 's hard to discover p. 243. he gives us The Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness of God which is by the Faith of Iesus Christ as Synonima's And again expresly p. 245. he observes it to us for a choice discovery That the Righteousness of God is the Righteousness of Faith or Righteousness by the Faith of Christ. And now p. 246. he is peremptory That this Righteousness of Faith and this alone can recommend us to God Which says he the Apostle proves from the example of Abraham and adds That Abraham who was the Father of the faithful was set forth for a patern of our Iustification Now scarce one of his Readers in a thousand but would have been trying Conclusions out of his premises Abraham's Righteousness was the Righteousness of Faith But the Righteousness of Faith is the Righteousness of Faith in Christ therefore Abraham's Righteousness was the Righteousness of Faith in Christ. Again says he the Apostle proves that this Righteousness of Faith and this alone can recommend us to God If then there be but one only Righteousness that can recommend us to God either Abraham and Christians have one and the same Righteousness or else one of them must needs want a Righteousness that can recommend them to God But now from these premises our Author concludes that Abraham's Faith was not a Faith in Christ. Then say I His Righteousness was not the Righteousness by Faith in Christ And then it was not neither the Righteousness of Faith no nor the Righteousness of God for our Author has warranted us p. 243 and 245. That the Righteousness of Faith the Righteousness of God and the Righteousness by the Faith of Christ are but all one Righteousness But here we have the Quintessence and Elixir of our Author 's rational Abilities To this purpose he argues The Father of the faithful and his believing Children are justified both one way But Abraham the Father of the faithful was justified one way and therefore Believers who are his Children are justified another Now I like our Author's Conclusions dearly when they are together by the ears with their premises Again Thus he reasons Abraham was set forth for a patern of our Iustification But nothing ought to be like its patern and therefore you may be sure if Abraham was justified one way Believers are justified another Again The Apostle proves what way Believers are justified from the example of Abraham But now the Apostle you know always argues from one sort of things to another his way of concluding is by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore if Abraham was justified by Faith you may conclude from thence then Christians are justified by Works and if Believers are justified by Faith in Christ then to be sure Abraham was justified some other way The plain truth is our Author is got into a Cramp and has so hamper'd and bangled his matters that I am very confident none of his Readers do understand him and it were well if he understood himself There are two Enquiries he will make to enlighten us in this Mystery 1. What that Faith was whereby Abraham was justified 2. What Agreement there is between the Faith of Abraham and the Faith in Christ. 1. What that Faith was whereby Abraham was justified To which he answers 1. Negatively It was not a Faith in Christ. Which Determination might have better become any mans mouth than hiâ—… whose hand has subscribed the Seventh Article of the Church of England Both in the Old-Testament and the New Everlasting Life is offered to Mankind by Iesus Christ who is the only Mediator between God and man being both God and man And I do the rather urge him with this Article because it speaks not only what respect God might have to Christ in bestowing Eternal Life but that there was an offer to Mankind of Eternal Life through Christ which speaks that respect which Believers had to a Mediator in their Faith But perhaps these Articles are but matter of course and form and therefore I shall press him with what has more weight than a sorry Subscription The Righteousness of God says he p. 245. is the Righteousness of Faith or Righteousness by the Faith of Christ But Abraham's Righteousness was the Righteousness of God and therefore it was the Righteousness of Faith or the Righteousness by the Faith of Iesus Christ Yea says our Author Christ was the material Object of Abraham ' s Faith that is he believed the promise of God's sending Christ into the World John 8. 56. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad Hence it 's evident that Abraham had a great and personal concern in Christ's coming into the World which made his heart leap within him The same which the Apostle expresseth Rom. 5. 11. We joy in God through our Lord Iesus Christ through whom we have received the Atonement For what cause of all this triumph all this joy that Christ should come into the World some thousands of years after he should be dead and buried and rotten in his grave to preach a Gospel in which he had no concern and for which he should not be one pin the better But our Author will prove that Abraham's Faith was not a Faith in Christ because no man could believe in Christ till he came But I prosess my self otherwise perswaded and that the actual exhibition of Christ in the flesh was not at all times absolutely necessary to a believing in him Abraham believed that testimony which God gave of his son that in him all the Nations of the earth should be blessed He believed that God would bless him for the sake of Christ. He saw Christ slain from the Foundation of the World in Sacrifices He saw a Redeemer as that way which God had chosen to bruise the head of the Serpent which St. Iohn expounds 1 Epist. 3. 8. by destroying the works of the Devil and Paul Heb. 2. 14. by destroying the Devil that is so far as he had got the power of Death into his hands by sin and in that security which he received from the promise of God and from Christ who was the Reason of its being made good Yea and Amen His Soul did rejoyce with exceeding great joy for so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do import But our Author has a Notion of Believing that is worth two of this and will do his work To believe any thing upon the Authority of Christ is the true Notion of believing in him To which I answer 1. Supposing this to be the true Notion of believing yet might Abraham receive a Doctrine upon the Authority of Christ before his Manifestation in the Flesh Christ was Mediator before his
with Acceptation But says he This was the Faith of Abel and Enoch whereby they pleased God Answ. There was this in their Faith but this was not the whole of their Faith Well! he will prove it 1. There 's no mention made of the Faith of Abel and Enoch in the Old-Testament A worthy Argument A non scripto negativè in a matter of Fact The Old-Testament mentions it not therefore there was no such thing this is pure trifling For though the Old-Testament mentions not expresly their Faith it mentions their Acceptation with God which without Faith is impossible to be obtained And secondly The New-Testament mentions both their Faith and their Acceptation Which Faith was of the same kind with the rest of those eminent Worthies mentioned with them as is evident from that even Tenour of Discourse the Apostle uses By Faith Abel by Faith Enoch by Faith Noah by Faith Abraham c. without any ground of the least suspicion that he leaps from one sort of Faith to another 2. God says he required no more of these good men Answ. 1. But there was something required to make them good men 2. How can he prove that God required â—… more of these good men God required more of Adam even Faith in that first Promise of a Mediator and how Abel should lose it or having it not believe it and yet be such a good man is past my skill to conceive 3. He tells us p. 26. That God afforded good men the frequent Apparitions of Angels The head of whom was the Son of God who in praeludium futurae incarnationis frequently appeared to the ancient Fathers And he is not sure either what God revealed to them or required of them 4. God required more of Abel a Sacrifice and that not meerly as a part of his Obedience but as Propitiatory which by the blood and the fat which always accompanied that kind of Sacrifices is evident 3. Says he They had no other particular Revelations of God's with Answ. If they had no other they had none at all for natural Demonstrations are not particular Revelations 2. Adam had more particular Revelations and it being a Promise wherein Posterity was concerned as well as himself and concernid so deeply I shall not question his fidelity in deriving it to posterity without proof 3. Abel had the use of Sacrifices which suppose Revelation For what Light of Nature could teach me that God would delight in the death of his Creatures that had not transgressed the Laws of their Creation Abel's was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bloody Sacrifice nor is God ever the more entitled to or possest of any Creature by being offered dead than if it were presented alive And if natural Demonstrations the Light of Nature was the Foundation of the Practice it is still obliging for natural Light with its Demonstrations varies not 4. We are sure that Enoch had the Spirit of Prophecy was an eminent Prophet in his days and therefore had particular Revelations and amongst many one Revelation of Christ Jude ver 14. Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesiâ—…h of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all c. The same with that of the Apostle 2 Thess. 1. 7. The Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to take vengeance c. for to Christ is the power of executing vengeance committed John 5. 27. And therefore I cannot but conclude That he who had a particular Revelation of Christ's coming to judg the World had particular ones also that he should come into the World to redeem it And now how vain must our Author's Argument needs be from the silence of the Old-Testament to infer That Enoch and Abel had no particular Revelation when the New-Testament proves that Enoch had particular Revelations And if Enoch had this Revelation which yet is not mentioned either in the Old-Testament or the New but only in this place how many more might he have which are drowned in the Gulph of Time and this one by special Providence scaped the common Shipwrack But 5. That which abundantly proves that they had particular Revelations and Revelations of Christ too through whom God is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him is this That their Sacrifices in God's Institution of them and their own Application of them from the first rise of them had respect to Christ who is therefore called The Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13. 8. Which without partiticular Revelation they could never have understood § 2. His second sort of justifying Faith he calls a Faith in God Which puts me to a stand Whether he would have us take the former for a justifying Faith or no. If the former were not a Faith in God how could it justifie If it was then how comes Faith in God to constitute a new and distinct kind of justifying Faith But what is this Faith in God A belief says he of those particular Revelations which God made to the Fathers of the Old-Testament From whence it is easie to prove that every time our Author repeats his Creed I believe in God we are bound to take him for one of the Fathers of the Old-Testament If this be a true Definition of Faith in God all the Saints in the New-Testament are misbelievers But of this says he the Apostle gives us many examples Noah Abraham Sarah Moses c. Perhaps the Reader will wonder why Enoch and Abel should be left out of the Catalogue of the Fathers of the Old-Testament but he must reflect and remember that they are rank'd already in the Classis of examples for the natural Faith And truly if he had pleased he might have created a new sort of Faith for every Pair in the whole Chapter Thus Abraham and Sarah would have done well in a Form by themselves nay to have advanced the Conceit he might have created a particular kind of Faith for every particular person of them Each of them had their particular Revelations and particular Motives Noah believed the Deluge Abraham the promise of a Son and David the warning that God gave him of his Danger c. Now we are told that the object of Faith is something to come or something past c. and that the different sorts of Faith result from the different Objects and Motives of it and therefore it had been easie to have allotted to each of them a different kind of Faith But let us hear him improve his Notion Noah says he believed God when he forewarned him of the Deluge and in obedience to him provided an Ark and this was imputed to him for Righteousness He became the Heir of Righteousness which is by Faith But I find no such thing in all the Copies that I have that it was imputed to him for Righteousness This I find that he became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith
to us in the true Covenant Ioh. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no-wise cast out Eph. 2. 8. By Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God And lest it should be Answered that Faith is indeed God's gift as all other things are wherein the Common Providence of God concurs with Humane industry The Apostle as if aware of such a petty Answer has laid in a Reply ready ch 1. v. 19. That they who believe do so by the exceeding greatness of God's power even according to the working of his Mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Secondly we have a direct and express Promise too of that New-heart from which we give to God New-obedience nay of that New-obedience it self which proceeds from the New-heart or renewed Nature Ezek. 36. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the heart of Stone out of your Flesh and will give you a heart of Flesh there 's the new Heart and v. 27. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them there is new obedience thus also Heb. 8. 10. This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts c. wherein it 's easy to observe 1. That this New-Covenant was founded upon God's free Grace v. 9. They continued not in my Covenant the old Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord They were a Covenant-breaking people deserved utter rejection yet God will make another a better a New-Covenant with them 2 That the promises of this Covenant were purely Spiritual writing his Laws in their minds and hearts 3. The parties Covenanting God and his Israel not all and every individual Son of Adam But 2. This Description gives us very little of the true Covenant of Grace here 's a Promise of Pardon and Life to them who believe and obey but perseverance in Faith and Obedience is left to the desultory and lubricous power of free-will whereas in the true Covenant of Grace there 's an undertaking that the Covenant shall be immutable both on God's part and the Believers Jer. 32. 38 40. They shall be my people and I will be their God and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me There are but two things that we can possibly Imagine should make the Covenant fall short of perpetuity either God's turning away from his people or which is only to be suspected their turning away from their God Against both of these God has made sufficient Provision 1. God has promised that he will not turn away from them to do them good 2. He has promised that they shall not depart from him and to fix and determine their backsliding Natures he has promised to put his fear into their hearts which is the great preservative against Apostacy § 2. As it describes not the whole of the Covenant so it describes not the Nature of a New-Covenant The Gospel-Covenant may be called a New Covenant either in opposition to the Old Covenant of Works or the old Administration of the Covenant of Grace Now 1. This Covenant which he has here described is no new Covenant in opposition to the Old-Covenant of works The Covenant which God made with Adam promised Life upon condition of Obedience Now the Commands which God gave to Adam were as easy as those which are now given to all Mankind and much easier too if we consider first That he had more natural strength to obey and keep them and as for supernatural strength our Author will allow us none unless by a desperate Catachresis we will call Moral Arguments so which to a Creature dead in trespasses and sins signify just nothing without special power from on high to render them efficacious which neither will be allowed us And Secondly we are told that Christ has added to the Moral Law which is to lay more Load on those who were before overcharged so that as he makes Covenants Adam's was much the better Covenant of the two But he has wisely shuffled in a Promise of the Pardon of Sin which may seem to give his Covenant a preheminence above that of Adam But that will not mend the matter both because it 's better to have no sin in our Natures than such a Remedy better to have no Wound than such a Plaister and also because the Promise of Pardon is suspended upon the condition of Faith and Obedience which without supernaturally real influx of immediate Divine Power reduces the promise to an impossibility of performance 2. This Covenant which he has here described is no New-Covenant in opposition to the old Administration of the Covenant of Grace There were the same promises then that we have now the same moral precepts to observe that we have now and though the word Gospel comes in for a blind yet the Apostle assures us Gal. 3. 8. That Abraham had the Gospel Preached to him § 3. Upon the matter it 's no Covenant of Grace at all For 1. A Promise of Pardon and Life upon Condition of Believing and Obeying is neither better nor worse than a threatning of Condemnation and Death to them who Believe not and Obey not It may with equal right be called a threatning of Death as a Promise of Life It 's no more a Covenant of Grace than a Covenant of Wrath and therefore 2. if it be lawful to consider Man as the Word of God describes him as dead in Sins and Trespasses as one that of himself cannot think a good thought that can do nothing at all without Christ It 's no Covenant at all to him under his present circumstances for what is the nice difference between a Promise of Life to him that obeys when it 's certain before-hand he cannot obey and no Promise at all 3. This Covenant which he calls New and well he may for it 's of his own making or however of his own new-vamping assigns the same conditions of Pardon and Eternal Life but the Scripture requires other qualifications for Eternal Life than for the Pardon of Sin A Believer may be justified without a sinless perfection but without such a sinless perfection none shall enter into Glory He may be actually justified that has not persevered in Holy Obedience to the Death but without such perseverance he can never be made partaker of Eternal Life 4. This Covenant of his is supposed to be made with all Mankind and yet all Mankind never heard of it Now is it not very
Infallible Spirit laid claim to an Eternal Reward therefore to that Reward they might justly lay claim Psal. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel here below in my Passage and Pilgrimage and afterwards when I have run my Race and finisht my Course receive me to Glory The Epilogue to the whole is this The Righteousness of Christ is our Righteousness when we speak of the Foundation of the Covenant by which we are accepted but if we speak of the Termes of the Covenant then we must have a Righteousness of our own The Righteousness of Christ will not serve the turn Christs Righteousness and our own are both necessary to Salvation The first as the Foundation of the Covenant the other as the Condition of it Two things are here asserted First that Christs Righteousness is the Foundation of the Covenant Secondly that our Righteousness is the Condition of the Covenant A brief Examination of which things shall ease the Reader of any further attendance upon these Discourses 1. The Righteousness of Christ is the Foundation of the Covenant of Grace Let us hear his Proofs not a word Peracta est haec Fabula Spectatores valete plaudite We have heard of Procuring Meriting Founding a Covenant but not a syllable of Evidence Methinks I see the Reader filled with shame and wonder wonder that he who could so pleasantly scoff at the Scripture Expressions of building upon Christ as on a Foundation p. 105. and so merrily inveigh against Dr. Owen for asserting Christ to be the only Foundation of our Communion with God should now so zealously talk for Christs being the Foundation of the Covenant and shame that after such expectations of Proof he should find himself bilk'd in the stock That the Reader may not wholly therefore lose his pains I shall entertain him with my own apprehensions in this matter The Covenant of Grace may be considered either in iâ—…'s Constitution or Execution The Constitution of the Covenant is Gods firm and unchangeable purpose of saving his Elect to the praise of his glorious Grace For the word Covenant which in the English Notion has seduced our Understandings in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the Spirit of God expresses those things to us signifie a disposition appointment or ordering of Matters whether there be restipulation or no Thus the fixed purpose the determinate Counsel of God in Scripture is called a Covenant though the things about which that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Counsel of God is conversant be not capable of re-promising any thing and have onely an Obediental Capacity in them answering the absolute extraordinary Power of God Thus Ier. 33. 20. If you can break my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night that there should not be day and night in their Season ver 25. Thus saith the Lord If my Covenant be not with day and night and if I have not appointed the Ordinances of Heaven where Gods fixed Law concerning the Succession of Day and Night to the period of all time is called his Covenant and which is still more to our purpose by the stability of this grand Law of Nature he is pleased to instruct us in the fixedness of his better Covenant that of Grace ver 21. Then may also my Covenant be broken with David my Servant ver 26. Then will I cast away the Seed of Jacob and David my Servant This purpose of God this disposition of Grace is immutable Rom. 9. 11. That the purpose of God according to Election might stand The Execution of this fixed Constitution follows which is Gods wise and gracious managing of all things for the accomplishment of that glorious design which he had in the prospect of his Eternal Counsel which he steddily and regularly pursues through all the vicissitudes that his mutable Creature was obnoxious to whilst man stood God pursued his Counsel in giving him a Holy Law to guide him Seconded and back'd with promises and threatnings when Man with drew from God yet God could not deny himself but devolves this great Affair into the hand of a Mediator who with equal readiness and satisfaction in that Seed that should be given him as the purchase of his undertaking addresses himself to this glorious work of Recovering them back again to God and when the fulness of time was come took upon him our Nature partook of our Flesh and Blood because the Children whom God had committed to him were partakers of it This Redeeming Mediator undertakes with God as a Righteous Iudge that he may not lose the glory of any of his Attributes and unto God as a Father that he shall not lose any of the Children that he had given him and therefore he becomes a Priest a Sacrifice a price of Ransom a Curse to satisfie the Judge and his Law and a Prophet and King to recover us Actually in our state to God Thus is he the onely Foundation 1 Cor. 3. 12. The Foundation not of the Constitution but of the Execution of the Covenant 1. On Gods part whatever grace and mercy was in his eternal purpose that is given out to us by Jesus Christ The Promises are made by free-grace as their Reason but made good by Jesus Christ as the means of procuring the promised Mercy which had been forfeited for all the promises of God in him are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. He accepts us in the beloved Eph. 1. 6. Forgives us through him ver 7. Iustifies us by Christ Rom. 3. 24. Sanctifies and saves us by Christ Tit. 3. 4 5 6. And 2. On our part through him we approach to God John 14. 6. Heb. 10. 19 20. By him we believe in God 1 Pet. 1. 21. He is our hope of Glory Col. 1. 27. He is the ground of our Faith the Foundation upon which our Souls are laid 1 Pet. 2. 5. To whom coming as to a living stone we also as lively stones are built up a Spiritual house Thus is he the Foundation of conveying all the blessings of the Covenant to us Eph. 1. God blesseth us with all Spiritual blessings in Christ but that Christ is the Foundation of the Covenant it self that I crave leave to deny and to render the Reasons of my denial 1. Sect. Christ cannot be the Foundation of the Covenant because Christ himself is promised in the Covenant as the great Comprehensive Blessing of the Covenant Isa. 49. 8 9. I will give thee for a Covenant that thou maist say to the Prisoners go forth to them that are in darkness shew your selves Whence it 's evident first that the free-love of the Father is the Reason of his giving his Son to be our Deliverer Secondly that Christ is the great undertaker to Execute that Counsel of God in our actual Deliverance Luke 1. 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath Visited and Redeemed his People and hath raised up a Horn of
Salvation in the House of his Servant David as he spake by the mouth of his Holy Prophets which have been since the world began ver 72. To perform the Mercy promised to our Fathers and to remember his holy Covenant the Oath which he sware to our Father Abraham where the firm Oath and Covenant of God to Redeem his People is assigned as the Reason of his giving Christ to be a Redeemer The places are too many to be insisted on that confirm this Truth Iohn 3. 16. 1 Iohn 4. 9 10. 2. Sect. Free grace is given as the true Reason of the Covenant of Grace Heb. 8. 8. For finding fault with them he saith behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel c. They were a faulty an undeserving an ill-deserving People yet Free grace will make a Covenant with them Nor is there any opposition between Free-grace and Christs Merits in this Case if we consider that Free-grace is the Original Reason of Gods designation and purpose to bestow the good things of the Covenant and the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Sacrifice of his Death the way of recovering these Mercies which by sin had been forfeited and lost 3. Sect. The Scriptures give us no intimation that Christ is the Foundation of Gods making this Covenant or the Original Reason of Gods design to bestow the Mercies of the Covenant though it abounds with Testimonies that Christ is the way of procuring for us and conveying to us these intended mercies and in those things which depend upon mere good pleasure Revelation must be our onely guide In this case we may conclude Negatively Non credimus quia non legimus And we may shrewdly conjecture that there is no pretence from Scripture for this Figment of our Authors because it 's the Foundation of all his mistakes and yet he has not so much as attempted the perverting of one Scripture to give colour to it which may be reckoned amongst the Admiranda Nili 2. His other Assertion is this Our own Righteousness is the condition of the Covenant which with his former Assertion is obtruded upon us without proof and therefore I suppose he intends they must both be maintained at the Charges of the Parish Now 1 It is agreed for ought I know that an inherent righteousness is a necessary condition of eternal Salvation Heb. 12. 14. Without Holiness no man shall see God It is a Condition in the Covenant though not of the Covenant such a Condition as is due to every Person in a Covenant-state it doth necessarily attend that state though it be not allowed as antecedent to a Covenant-state 2. As to the Constitution of the Covenant in Gods purpose and Counsel I know no condition at all They that talk of the right use of free-will future Faith or good works fore-seen as the Reason of that purpose talk without book and onely intimate what a rare Covenant they would have made for us had they had the modelling and Contrivance of it like him that boasted that if he had stood by God when he formed Man he could have told him how to have made him more commodiously Rom. 9. 11. The Children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil Where those words neither having done any good or evil must necessarily exclude all respect to the future good or evil they should do as the Reason of the purpose of God according to Election because it 's evident by the form of speech That they deny something more concerning the Children than the former words being not yet born and yet even they exclude Having done good or evil Actually 3. The Question then is whether An inherent Righteousness be the Condition required of us and in us antecedent to our first Covenant-state And I durst leave this Matter to be determined by the Church of England if our Author would do so too Art 17. Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the Foundation of the World was laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen out of Mankind in Christ and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation whence we are taught 1. That Election is not of all Mankind but of some out of Mankind 2. That this purpose of God was from everlasting 3. That it is a fixed constant decree 4. That the Design of it is to deliver those chosen out of Mankind from the curse under which Mankind was fallen and to bring them to everlasting Salvation 5. That the Reason of this eternal Election was his own counsel 6. That the Execution of this Decree is in and by Iesus Christ and the manner of it follows Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit be called according to the purpose of God working in due season by his Spirit They through Grace obey the calling they be justified freely they be made the Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the Image of his onely begotten Son they walk Religiously in good works and at length by Gods mercy they attain everlasting felicity Whence we are Instructed 1. That the calling of the Elect to a Covenant-state is from Grace as the reason and by Grace as it's efficient 2. Their obeying that call of God is by Grace 3. Good works necessarily follow effectual calling See also Art 10. 12 13. 4. Religious walking with God in good works is a necessary condition of eternal Felicity 5. That there is such a firm connexion in this golden chain of Salvation that no one linck can possibly be broken They are Elected freely called effectually justified freely Adopted graciously Sanctified gradually walk Religiously and at length by the mercy of God are saved eternally which the Apostle gives us more concisely Rom. 8. 30. Moreover whom he did Predestinate them he a so called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also Glorified I conclude then that our own righteousness is not the condition of the Covenant of Grace neither of the designment of the Father nor the procurement of the Son nor of the effectual Operation of the Holy Spirit nor of our Covenant-state nor of our Covenant-right nor of the first Covenant-mercy but of many after-mercies and of Eternal Salvation it is the condition 1. Sect. That is not the Condition of the Covenant required of us on our part which God promises to work in us on His part but God has promised to work in us Inherent-righteousness both Root and Fruit Ezek. 36. 26 27. A new Heart also will I give you and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them 2. Sect. That which God in Covenant bestows cannot be the Condition of a Covenant-state but God in Covenant bestows the new Heart for