you Mentioned the First though but once your Babel had tumbled about your Ears For if in the Holy Jesus did dwell the Word One of the Three in Heaven or if the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was Truly Essentially and Naturally God then must the Principle from whence his Works did Proceed be better then the Principle from whence Proceeded the Goodness in Adam otherwise Adam must be God and Man Also you do or may know that the self same act may be done from several Principles And again that it is the Principle from whence the act is done and not the bare doing of the act that makes it better or worse Accepted or not in the Eyes either of God or Men. Now then to shew you the Main or Chief Design of the Life and Conversation of the Lord Jesus First It was not to shew us what an Excellent Holiness we once had in Adam But that thereby God the Eternal Majesty according to his Promise might be seen by and dwell with Mortal Men For the Godhead being altogether in it's own Nature Invisible and yet desirous to be seen by and dwell with the Children of Men therefore was the Son who is the self same Substance with the Father closed with or Tabernacled in our Flesh that in that Flesh the Nature and Glory of the Godhead might be seen by and dwell with us The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory What Glory The Glory as of the onely Begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Again The Life that is the Life of God in the Works and Conversation of Christ was Manifest and we have seen it and bear Witness and shew unto you that Eternal Life which was with the Father and was Manifested unto us And hence he is called the Image of the Invisible God or he by whom the Invisible God is most perfectly presented to the Sons of Men. Did I say before that the God of Glory is desirous to be seen of us Even so also have the Pure in Heart a desire that it should be so Lord say they shew us the Father and it suffiseth us And therefore the promise is for their comfort that they shall see God But how then must they see him Why in the Person and by the Life and Works of Jesus When Philip under a mistake thought of seeing God some other way then in and by this Lord Jesus Christ What is the Answer Have I been so long time with you saith Christ and hast thou not known me Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then shew us the Father Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The Words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self but the Father that dwelleth in me he doth the Works Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else Believe me for the very Works sake See here that both the Words and Works of the Lord Jesus were not to shew you and so to call you back to the Holiness that we had lost but to give us Visions of the Perfections that are in the Father He hath given us the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. And hence it is that the Apostle in that brief Collection of the wonderful Mystery of Godliness placeth this in the Front thereof God was Manifested in the Flesh Was Manifested viz. In and by the Person of Christ when in the Flesh he lived among us Manifest I say for this as one Reason that the Pure in heart who long after nothing more might see him I beseech thee said Moses shew me thy Glory And will God indeed dwell with Men on the Earth faith Solomon Now to fullfil the desires of them that fear him hath he shewed himself in Flesh unto them which Discovery Principally is made by the Words and Works of Christ. But Secondly Christ by his Words and Works of Righteousness in the days of his Flesh neither shewed us which was nor called us back to the Possession of the Holiness that we had lost but did Perfect in and by himself the Law for us that we had Broken Man being Involved in Sin and Misery by reason of Transgression Committed against the Law or Ministration of Death and being utterly unable to Recover himself there-from the Son of God himself Assumeth the Flesh of Man and for Sin Condemned Sin in that Flesh. And that First by walking through the Power of his Eternal Spirit in the highest Perfection to every point of the whole Law in it's most Exact and full Requirements which was to be done not onely without Commixing Sin in his doing but by one that was perfectly without the least being of it in his Nature yea by one that now was God-Man because it was God whose Law was broken and whose Justice was offended For were it now possible to give a Man Possession of that Holiness that he hath lost in Adam that Holiness could neither in the Principle nor Act deliver from the Sin by him before Committed This is Evident by many Reasons First because it is not a Righteousness able to answer the Demands of the Law for Sin that requiring not onely a perfect abiding in the thing Commanded but a satisfaction by death for the Transgression Committed against the Law The Wages of Sin is Death Wherefore he that would undertake the Salvation of the World must be one who can do both these things One that can perfectly do the Demands of the Law in Thought Word and Deed without the least Commixture of the least Sinful thought in the whole Course of his Life He must be also able to give by Death even by the Death that hath the Curse of God in it a compleat satisfaction to the Law for the breach thereof Now this could none but Christ accomplish none else having Power to do it I have Power said he to lay down my Life and I have Power to take it again And this Commandment have I Received of my Father This Work then must be done not by another Earthly Adam but by the Lord from Heaven by one that can Abollish Sin Destroy the Devil Kill Death and Rule as Lord in Heaven and Earth Now the Words and Works of the Lord Jesus declared him to be such a one He was first without Sin then he did no Sin neither could either the Devil the whole World or the Law find any Deceit in his mouth But by being under the Law and walking in the Law by that Spirit which was the Lord God of the Law he not onely did always the things that pleased the Father but by that means in mans Flesh he did perfectly accomplish and fullfil that Law which all Flesh stood Condemned by It is a Foolish and an Heathenish thing nay worse to think that the Son of God
Repentance of a Sinner is sufficient to answer whatever could be justly demanded as a Satisfaction thereto which if you should you would in consequence say that Man is or may be in himself just that is equal with God or that the sin of Man was not a transgression of the Law that was given and a procurer of the Punishment that is threatned by that Eternal God that gave it But let me give you a Caution Take heed that you belye not these men Christ cryes If it be possible let this Cup pass from me If what be possible why that Sinners should be saved without His Blood Ought not Christ to have suffered Christ must needs have suffered not because of some certain Circumstances but because the Eternal Justice of God could not consent to the salvation of the Sinner without a Satisfaction for the Sin committed Of which more in the next if you shall think good to reply Now that my Reader may see that I have not abused you in this Reply to your sayings I will repeat your words at large and leave them upon you to answer it You say Actions may become dutyes or sins two wayes first as they are compliances with or transgressions of Divine positive Precepts These are the declarations of the arbitrary Will of God whereby he restraineth our liberty for great and wise reasons in things that are of an indifferent nature and absolutely considered are neither good nor evil and so makes things not good in themselves and are capable of becoming so onely by reason of certain Circumstances Duties and things not evil in themselves sins SUCH were all the Injunctions and Prohibitions of the Ceremonial Law and some few SUCH we have under the Gospel page 7. Then page 9. you tell â—s That the reason of the Positive Laws that is concerning things in themselves iâ—different in the Gospel are declared of which say you I know but three that are purely so viz. That of Coming to God by Christ the Institution of Baptisme and the Lords Supper Here now let the Reader note That the positive Precepts declarations of the arbitrary Will of God in things of an indifferent nature being such as absolutely considered are neither good nor evil some few SUCH say you we have under the Gospel namely that of coming to God by Christ c. I am the more punctual in this thing because you have confounded your weak Reader with a crooked Parenthesis in the midst of the Paragraph and also by deferring to spit your intended venome at Christ till again you had puzzled him with your Mathematicks and Metaphysicks c. putting in another Page betwixt the beginning and the end of your blasphemy Indeed in the seventh Chapter of your Book you make a great noise of the Effects and Consequences of the Death of Christ as that it was a Sacrifice for sin an expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifice page 83. Yet he that well shall weigh you and compare you with your self shall find that words and sense with you are two things and also that you have learned of your Brethren of old to dissemble with Words that thereby your own heart-errors and the Snake that lyeth in your bosome may yet there abide the more undiscovered For in the conclusion of that very Chapter even is and by a word or two you take away that glory that of right belongeth to the Death and Blood of Christ and lay it upon other things For you sâ—y The Scriptures that frequently affirm that the end of Christs Death waâ— the forgiveness of our sins and the reconciling of us to the Father we are not SO to understand as if the blessings were absolutely thereby procured for us page 91. any otherwise then upon the account of our effectual believing I answer By the Death of Christ was the Forgiveness of Sins effectually obtained for all that shall be saved and they even while yet Enemies by that were reconciled unto God So that as to forgiveness from God it is purely upon the account of grace in Christ We are justified by his Blood we are reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Rom. 5â— Yea peace is made by the Blood of his Cross And God for Christs sake hath forgiven us So then our effectual believing is not a procuring cause in the sight of God or a condition of ours foreseen by God and the motive that prevaileth with him to forgive us our manifold transgressions Believing being rather that which makes Application of that Forgiveness and that possesseth the Son with that Peace that already is made for us with God by the Blood of his Son Christ Jesus Being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace and comfort of it cometh not to the Soul but by believing Yet the Work is finished Pardon procured Justice being satisfied already or before by the precious Blood of Christ. Observe I am commanded to believe but what should I believe or what should be the object of my Faith in the matter of my justification with God Why I am to believe is Christ I am to have Faith in his Blood But what is 〈◊〉 to believe in Christ and what to have faith in his Blood Verily To believe that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us That even then when we were Enemies we were Reconciled to God by the Death of his Son To believe that there is a Righteousness already for us compleated I had as good give you the Apostles Argument and Conclusion in his own language But God commended his love towards us in that while we were YET sinners Christ-dyed for us much more then being NOW justified by his Blood we shall be saved from wrath through him And note that this word now respects the same time with yet that went before For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being Reconciled we shall be saved by his life or Intercession Believing then as to the business of my deliveranc from the Curse before God is an accepting of a trusting to or a receiving the benefit that Christ hath already obtained for me by which act of Faith I see my interest in that Peace that is made before with God by the Blood of his Cross For if Peace be made already by his Blood then is the Curse taken away from his sight if the Curse be taken away from his sight then there is no sin with the Curse of it to be charged from God by the Law for so long as sin is charged by the Law with the Curse thereto belonging the Curse and so the wrath of God remaineth But say you Christ dyed to put 〈◊〉 into a capacity of pardon 10 page 91. Answ. True But that is not all He dyed to put us into the Parsonal Possession of Pardon Yea to put us into a personal Possession of it and that
vertues of Soul as maintains in life and vigour whatsoever is essential to it and suffereth not any thing unnatural to mix with that which is so Answer If as was said before there is no soundness of Soul in man as man and no such thing as a purity of our Nature abstract from that which is sin then where shall we find so healthful a complexion or temperature of Soul as to maintain in life and vigour whatsoever is essential to it and that suffereth not any thing unnatural to mix with that which is so But let us take Pauls definition of a man There is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are all gone out of the way they areâ— together become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Their threat is an open Sepulchâ—e with their Tongues they have used deceit the poison of Asps is under their lips whose Mouth is full of Cursing and Bitterness their feet are swift to shed Blood destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of Peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their Eyes I the rather give you this of Paul then any of my own because it is the soundest complexion of Soul that the Holy Ghost himself could draw Here is now no purity of the humane Nature nor such sound complexion of Soul as can keep it self from mixing with that which is contrary to itself And note that this is the state of all men and that as they stand on themselves before God Wherefore together even altogether all the men in the World take them in their most pure naturals or with all the purity of humanity which they can make and together they still will be unprofitable and so must come short of doing good that every mouth might be stopped and all the World become guilty before God ver 19. 3. But proceeding you say that this complexion is so forcible as to keep his supreme faculty I suppose you mean the Conscience in its Throne and that brings into due subjection all his inferiour ones as namely his sensual imagination bruitish passions and affections Answ. These words suppose that it is within the power of a mans own Soul always to keep sin out of it self and so guilt out of the Conscience albeit the Scripture saith that both the mind and it are defiled with the filth of sin in all whoever do not believe the Gospel with which belief this description meâ—leth not 2. They suppose that this Conscience is perfectly clear and light when the Scriptures say they have the understanding darkened yea and farther in despite of these your sayings of the sound complexion of Soul of the purity of humane Nature and of this supreme faculty the Scriptures teach that man in his best estate is altogether vanity that they are darkness and night c. Yea say you this sound complexion brings into due subjection all his inferiour ones Answ. Here seems to be a contradiction to the former part of this description yea to the Nature of the Soul it self for you say before it suffereth not any thing unnatural to mix it self therewith when yet here you seem to suggest that part I say even part of it self is disobedient and rebellious It brings into subjection all his inferiour ones It brings into due subjection Answ. Due subjection is such as is everlasting universal perfect in Nature kind and manner such as the most righteous perfect comprehensive Law or Commandment cannot object against or find fault therewith Here 's a Soul here 's a pure humane Nature here are pure dictates of a brutish beastly man that neither knows himself nor one title of the Word of God But there is a Generation that are pure in their own Eyes yet are not washed from their filâ—hiness It is the purity of the humane Nature ingaging those in whom it resides c. Answ. That is verily in none at all for there is no such thing in any man in this world as a purity of humane Nature we are all an unclean thing and who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Again what is man that he should be clean or he that is born of a Woman that he should be holy These are therefore expressions without the Testimony of the Word arising from your own phantasie It is a Divine or Godlike Nature Answ. Thus you seem allso to fetch from the similitude or likeness of God that was in us at out first Creation before we sinned but that similitude being at best but Created and since most unspeakably defiled defaced and polluted with sin there is now no not in the best of men as men any smiles likeness and similitude of God to be found no such petty Divine or Godlike Nature to be found as you magine But having thus stated your holiness in its Nature and essence you come in the next place to tell us under what considerations it moveth a person to act also by what Rules and Laws it squareth its acts and doings First by or under what considerations it acts and these you scatter here and there in this your description of holiness under these heads First To act as becomes a Creature indued with a principle of reason eyeing the state or place in which God hath set him approving of affecting and complying with the Eternal Laws of righteousness Pag. 6. which eternal Laws in Page 8. you call the Divine moral Laws those that were first written in the hearts of men and originally the dictates of humane Nature c. Secondly To do these from truly generous Motives and Principles Page 7. such as these 1. Because it is most highly becoming all reasonable Creatures you might also have added and those unreasonable to obey God in every thing within their Spheres and as much unbecoming them to disobey him Page 8. 2. Because it is a base thing to do unjustly Page 11. Now a little to touch upon all these and then to proceed to what is behind First To act and do the things of the moral Law but as Creatures indued with a Principle of Reason is but to do things in our Sphere as Men as the Beast the Hog or Horse doth things in his as a Beast which is at best if it could be attained to act but as pure naturals which state of man is of at infinite distance from that in which it is by God expected the man must act that doth ought that is pleasing in his fight For First The qualification and consideration by you propounded is that which is in all men in men simply as men they being reasonable Creatures and somewhat though qut somewhat capable of acting as such Secondly This qualification is not only in but of men reason is of the Man himself even that which is as essential to him as is that of his being
but to speak to this more anon Perhaps you will say I deal not fairly with you because you treat as of moral so of Gospel or New Testament Laws But to that I will answer at present that in this description of your Holy Principle which is the Foundation of your Book whether the Laws be Natural or Spiritual moral or of Grace the Principle by which you do them is no other then the Principle of Nature the dictates of the humane Nature and so such as can by no means reach the Doctrines of the Gospel any farther then to make a Judgment of them by that wisdom which is enmity with God as will farther be seen in my progress through your Book Indeed you make mention of Divine Laws and that under two Heads 1. Such as are of an indispensible and Eternal Obligation as those purely moral 2. Such which you call positive precepts in themselves of an indifferent Nature and absolutely considered are neither good nor evil Of those of this kind that we have under the Gospel you say you know but three viz That of coming to God by Christ and the Institutions of Baptism and the Lords Supper Page 7 and Page 9. So then although you talk of Gospel positive Laws and particularly that of coming to God by Christ yet those which you call first Principles of Morals are of higher concern with you and more indispensible by far then this this being a thing of an indifferent Nature and in it self absolutely considered is neither good nor evil but the other is the life of the matter But a little to gather you up The Morals say you are indispensible and good in themselves but that of coming to God by Christ a thing indifferent and in it self neither good nor evil Wherefore though in this your description you talk of confirming to all those good and practical Principles that are made known either by Revelation Nature or the use of Reason yet in this your obedience you reckon coming to God by Christ but an act of a very indifferent Nature a thing if done not good in it self neither evil in it self should a man leave it undone and so consequently a man may have in him the ground and essentials of Christianity without it may be saved and go to Heaven without it for this I say whatsoever is of an indifferent Nature in it self is not essential to the Christian Religion but may or may not be done without the hazard of Eternal Salvation but say you this of coming to God by Christ is one of the positive precepts Page 9. which are in themselves things indifferent and neither good nor evil therefore not of the substance of Christianity But Sir where learned you this new Doctrine as to reckon coming to God by Christ a thing of so indifferent a Nature a thing not good in it self but with respect to certain Circumstances Page 7. Had you said this of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord I could with some allowance have born your words but to count coming to God by Christ a thing iudifferent in it self is a blasphemy that may not be born by Christians it being too high a contempt of the Blood and too great a disgrace to the Person of the Lord the King of Glory of which more hereafter but to return The intent of this your description is to set before us these two things 1. What are the essentials of the Rule of that Holiness which by the Gospel we are immediately obliged to if we would be justified in the sight of God 2. What are the principles by which we act when we do these works aright For the first you tell us they are the first Principles of Morals such as are self evident and therefore not capable of being properly demonstrated as being no less knowable and easily assented to then any proposition that may be brought for the proof of them Page 8. Such as are self-evident or evident of themselves to what To us as men that know the Principles of Reason and that are as easily assented to as any proposition such as may be as easily known as we know there is a day or night Winter and Summer or any other thing that may be brought for the proof of them This Law therefore is none other then that mentioned in Rom. 2. 14 15. which is the Law of our Nature or that which was implanted in us in the day of our Creation and therefore is said to be our selves even Nature it self 1 Cor. 11. 14. Secondly the Principle say you by which we act and in the strength of which we do this Law it is the Principle of Reason or a reasonable compliance with this Law written in our Hearts and originally dictates of humane Nature c. which certain Principle say you is this To count it most highly becoming all reasonable Creatures to obey God in every thing and as much disbecoming them in any thing to disobey him Page 8. The sum is this your Holiness both in root and act is no other then what is common to all the men on Earth I mean so common as that for the first is in their Nature as the second is also part of themselves they being Creatures whose prime or principal distinction from other consisteth in that they are reasonable and such as have reason as a thing essential to them wherefore the excellency that you have discoursed of is none other then the excellency and goodness that is of this World such as in the first Principles of it is common to Heathens Pagans Turks Infidels and that as evidently dictates to those that have not heard the Gospel I mean as to the Nature the good and evil as it doth in them that sit under the sound thereof and is the self same which our late ungodly Heriticks the Quakers have made such a stir to promote and exalâ— only in the description thereof you seem more ingenious then they for whereas they erroniously call it Christ the light of Christ Faith Grace Hope the Spirit the Word that is nigh c. you give it the names due thereto viz. A complexion or complication and combination of all the virtue of the Soul the humane Nature the dictates of it the Principles of reason such as are self-evident than which there is nothing Mankind doth naturally assent to Page 6 7 8 9 10 11. only here as I have said you glorifie your errors also with Names any Titles that are not to be found but in your own deluded Brains As that the virtues of the Souls can keep themselves incommixed that there is yet in us the purity of the humane Nature of such a disposition that can both by light and power give a man to see and powerfully incline him to and bring him under the government of all those good and practical principles that are made known either by Revelation Nature or the use of Reason But I say these principles thus
the Lord is changed from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Câ—r 3. 14 18. Objâ—ct But it seems a paradox to many That a man should live to the Law that is devote himself to the works of the ten Commandments the most perfect rule of life and yet not be counted one changed or new Answ. Though it seemeth an untruth yet it is most true That by the works of the Law no heart is made new no man made new A man from principle of nature and reason which principles are of himself and as old may give up himself to the goodness of the Law Yet these principles are so far off from being new that they are as old as Adam in Paradise and come into the world with all the children of men To which principles the Law or the first principles of morals so equally suit that as you have said page 8. they are self-evident then which there is nothing maâ—-kind dâ—th more naturally assent unto page 11. Now Nature is no new principle but an old even our own and of our selves The Law is no new principle but old and one with our selves as also you well have called it first written in mens hearts and originally dictates of humane nature Let a man then be as devout as is possible for the Law and the holiness of the Law Yet if the principles from which he acts be but the habit of Soul the purity as he feigns of his own nature principles of natural reason or the dictates of humane nature all this is nothing else but the old Gentleman in his Holy-day-cloaths the old Heart the old Spirit the Spirit of the man not the Spirit of Christ is here And hence the Apostle when he would shew us a man alive or made a new man indeed as he talketh of the holy Ghost and faith so he tells us suchâ— are dead to the Law to the Law as a Law of works to the Law as to principles of nature Wherefore my brethen you are also become dead to the Law the moral Law and the ceremonial Law by the body of Christ that you should be married to another another then the Law even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7. 4. Ye are become dead to the Law dead to the Law Why That you should be married to another Married to another Why That you should bring forth fruit unto God But doth not a man bring forth fruit unto God that walketh orderly according to the ten Commandments NO if he do it before faith in the Spirit of a man by the dictates of humane nature respecting the Law as that by the obeying of which he must obtain acceptance with God This is bringing forth fruit unto himself for all that he doth he doth it as a man as a Creature from principles natural and of himself his own and for none other then himself and therefore he serveth in an old Spirit the oldness of the letter and for himself But now that is yeâ— being dead to the Law and married to Christ that the Law being dead by which while in our selves we were held Now we are delivered from that law both as to its curse and impositions as it stands a Law of works in the heart of the world we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter v. 6. A man must first then be dead to your principles both of nature and the Law if he will serve in a new Spirit if he would bring forth fruit unto God Wherefore your description of the principle of holiness in man and also the principles by which this holiness is put forth by him into righteous acts they are such as are altogether void of the true essentials of inward Gospel-holiness and righteousness But there is one thing more in this description or rather effect thereof which I shall also inquire into And that is saying As it was the errand of Christ to effect our deliverance out of that sinful state we had brought our selves into so to put us again into possession of that holiness which we HAD LOST page 12. The proof of this position is now your next business that is if I understand your learning the remaining part of your book which consisteth of well nigh 300 pages is spent for proof thereof which I doubt not but effectually to confute with less then 300 lines Onely first by the way I would have my reader to take notice that in this last Clause to put us again into possession of that holiness which we had lost is the sum of all this large description of his holiness in the foregoing pages that is the holiness and righteousness that Mr. Fowler hath been describing and adds that Christs whole business when he came into the world was as to effect our deliverance from sin so to put us again in possession of that holiness which we had lost The holiness therefore that here he contendeth for is that and onely that which was in Adam before the fall which he lost by transgression and we by transgressing in him A little therefore to inquire into this if perhaps his reader and mine may come to a right understanding of things First then Adam before the fall even in his best and most sinless state was but a pure natural man consisting of body and soul these to use your own terms were his pure essentials In this mans heart God also did write the Law that is as you term them the first principles of morals This then was the state of Adam he was a pure natural man made by God sinless all the faculties of his Soul and members of his body were clean God made man upright But he made him not then a Spiritual man The first Adam was made a living Soul howbeit that was not first which was Spiritual but that which was natural and afterwards that which is Spiritual The first man is of the earth earthy 1 Cor. 15 A living Soul he was yet but a natural man even in his first and best estate but earthly when compared to Christ or with them that believe in Christ. So then the holiness of Adam in his last estate even that which he LOST and we in him it was none other then that which was natural even the sinless-state of a natural man This holiness then was not of the nature of that which hath for its root the holy Ghost for of that we read not at all in him he onely was indued with a living Soul his holiness then could not be Gospel nor that which is a branch of the second covenant his acts of righteousness were not by the operations of the Spirit of Grace but the dictates of the Law in his own natural heart But the Apostle when he treateth of the Christian inherent holiness first excluding that in Adam as earthly he tells us it is such
Doctrine being in it self of quite another Nature then the Doctrine of Faith and also as such a Covenant by it self it requireth the mind by vertue of it's Commands to stand to THAT and to rest in THAT For of necessity the heart and mind of a Man can go no farther then it seeth and hath learnt but by this Morral Doctrine the heart and mind is bound and limited to it self by the power of the Dictate to obedience and the promise of obtaining the Blessing when the preceptive part of it is fulfilled Hence Paul tells us that though that Ministration that was Written and Ingraven in Stones which in Nature is the same with this is glorious yet these imperfections attended the Man that was in it 1. He was but within the bounds of the Ministration of Death 2. In this estate he was blind and could not see how to be delivered therefrom The vail is over their hâ—art so that they could not heretofore neither can they now see to the end of that which was commanded neither to the perfection of the command nor their own insufficiency to do it nor to thâ— Death and Curse of God that attended him that in every thing continued not in that was Written in the Book of the Law to do them 3. Every Lecture or Reading of this Old Law is as a fresh Hood-winking of it's Disciples and a doubling of the hindrance of their coming to Christ for life But their minds were blinded for until this day the same Vail remaineth untaken away in reading of the Old Testament which Vail is done away in Christ But even unto this day when Moses is read the Vail is over their Hearts 2 Cor. 3. 6 to 15. And let the Reader note that all these things attend the Doctrine of Morrals the Ceremonies being in themselves more apt to instruct Men in the Knowledge of Christ they being by God's Ordaination Figures Shadows Representations and Emblems of him but the Morrals are not so neither as Written in our Natures nor as Written and Engraven in Stones Wherefore your so highly commended obedient temper of mind you intending thereby an hearty complyance before Faith with Morrals for Righteousness is so far off from being an excellent temper and a necessary qualification to help a Man to a firm belief and right understanding of the Gospel that it is the most ready way of all ways in the World to keep a man perpetually blind and ignorant thereof Wherefore the Apostle saith that the Vail the Ignorance cannot be taken away but when the Heart shall turn to the Lord that is from the Doctrine of Morrals as a Law and Covenant in our Natures or as it was Written and Ingraven in Stones to Christ for mercy to pardon our transgressions against it and for imputative Righteousness to Justifie us from it While Moses is Read the Vail is over the Heart that is while Men with their minds stand bending also to do it But mark when it the Heart shall turn to the Lord or to the Word of the Gospel which is the Revelation of him then the Vail shall be taken away And hence it will not be amiss if again we consider how the Holy Ghost compareth or setteth one against another these two Administrations The Law he calls the Letter even the Law of Morrals that Law that was Written and Engraven in Stones The other Ministration he calls the Ministration of the Spirit even that which Christ offered to the World upon believing Again he denyeth himself to be a Minister of the Law of Morrals He hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament noâ— of the Letter or Law but of the Spirit or Gospel The reason is for the Letter or Law can do nothing but kill Curse or Condemn but the Spirt or the Gospel giveth life Farther in comparing he calls the Law the Ministration of Death or that which layeth Death at the Doors of all Flesh but the Gospel the Ministration of Righteousness because by this Ministry there is a Revelation of that Righteousness that is fulfilled by the Person of Christ and to be imputed for Righteousness to them that believe that they might be delivered from the Ministration of death How then hath the Ministration of God no Glory Yes forasmuch as it is a Revelation of the Justice of God against Sin But yet again it 's Glory is turned into no Glory when it is compared with that which excelleth For if the Ministration of Death Written and Graven in the Stones was glorious so that the Children of Israel coulâ— not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the Glory of his countenancâ— which Glory was to be done away how shall not the Ministratioâ— of the Spirit be rather Glorious For if the Ministration of Condemnation be Glory much more doth the Ministration of Righteousness exceed in Glory For even that which was made Glorious hath no Glory in this respect by reason of the Glory that excelleth 2 Cor. 3. 9 10. So then your obedient temper of mind forasmuch as it respecteth the Law of Morrals and that too before Faith or a right understanding of the Gospel is nothing else but an obedience to the Law a living to Death and the Ministration of Condemnation and is a perswading the World that to be obedient to that Ministration that is not the Ministration of the Gospel but holdeth it's Disciples in blindness and ignorance in which it is impossible Christ should be revealed is an excellent yea a necessary qualification to prepare Men for a firm belief and a right understanding of the Gospel of Christ which yet even blindeth and holdeth all blind that are the followers of that Ministration I come now to your Proof which indeed is no Proof of this Antigospel Assertion but Texts abused and wrestled out of their place to serve to underprop your erronious Doctrine The First is If any Man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self John 7. 17. P. 268. Answ. This Scripture respecteth not at all the Morral Law or obedience to the Dictates of Humane Nature as an acceptable qualification precedent to Faith or that for the sake of which God will give Men Faith in and a right understanding of the Gospel but is it self an immediate exhortation to believing with a promise of what shall follow as who shall say The Father hath sent me into the World to be Salvation to it through Faith in my Blood My Fathers will therefore is that Men believe in me and if any will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine he shall feel the power thereof by the peace and comfort that will presently possess the Soul and by the holy effects that follow That this is the true exposition of this place will be verified if you consider that to do the will of God in a New Testament sence is to be taken under a double