Heathen through Faith Must not Faith be at least present It 's impossible to exert an Act by a Thing when that Thing is not 2. Faith is enjoyned as an indispensible Means of Justification by Christ and complied with by All Converts to that End Act. 16. 30. Believe and thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 9 10. If thou believe with thine heart thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth to righteousness not to Assurance only To be Justified was a Benefit which Paul and the other Converts had an Eye to in Believing Gal. 2. 16. We have believed That we may be justified by the faith of Christ. The Blessing of Justification is limited to a Believer and extended to such by such conditional and indefinite Clauses as these Rom. 4. 23 24. To us it shall be imputed for Righteousness if we Believe on him that raised up Christ from the dead Act. 10. 43. Whosoever Believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins What a gross Notion would it create That Faith should be required by God in order to a Benefit and this Faith acted by the guidance of the Spirit as a Means to partake of that Benefit and this Benefit proposed and limited to all under an express respect to that Faith and yet that Benefit is ours before Faith hath a Being 3. The Gospel denounceth and declareth All Condemned till they do Believe It declares they are so and denounceth they shall be so Joh. 3. 36. He that believeth not on the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And ver 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already Here 's the Case of all Men by the Fall They are Condemned and under Wrath. Here 's the way of Relief A Christ believed on And they that believe their Condemnation is revers'd Here 's the Case of every Man that believeth not Wrath abideth on him The Condemning Sentence remains and Men are distributed into Condemned or Justified and this as Believers or Unbelievers Oh! that any can think all this Wrath that abides is no more than want of an Assurance that we are Justified Sure it 's more danger Joh. 8. 24. If you believe not you shall die in your sins Mark 16. 18. He that believeth not shall be damned Then they must be liable to Damnation whilst in Unbelief or they could not be Damned for Unbelief To be Condemned and Justified are Opposites at once none can be both Nor can God Justifie a Man whom he then and still Condemns 4. Unbelief is the cause why Men are barred from Justiâ—â—cation and remain obnoxious to Misery Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye may have life What undid the Jews Heb. 3. 18 19. They could not enter because of Unbelief And ch 4 6 7. And if Unbelief did not obstruct Life and a Right to it the Apostle would oddly inferr ch 4. ver 1 2 3. Let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it c. for we which have believed do enter into rest How easily might I argue this Point from the Nature of Justification as it 's a judicial Act of God by a Gospel-Rule supposing Christ's Satisfaction As also from the immediate Effects of Justification which are all suspended as to Unbelievers God in all his Carriage not executing the Justifying Sentence on them but the contrary he leaves them many years Slaves to Sin and Satan void of his Spirit admitting them to no Communion with him rejecting their Prayers barring them from his Table suffering them to blaspheme and dishonour him he suffers them to remain Curses and Plagues to other Souls c. Doth God deal thus with the Justified What short of Hell is the Execution of the Curse if these be not Reader I leave it to thy self to judge whether all these things make Faith of no more use than to shew us the goodness of our state which we were as much possessed of before only we did not know it Is that all the change on believing which such great Expressions import Is our being now washed and justified 1 Cor. 6. 11. no more than we now know it Is Assurance all the motive we can honestly use with Sinners to believe Or the want of it all the Danger we have to threaten them with to any beneficial purpose against their abiding in Unbelief TESTIMONIES You have already heard the Assembly and the Congr of Elders at the Savoy Confes. chap. 11. a. 4. saying The Elect are not Justified until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ to them See ch 1. Of the State of the Elect Where I cited this Lesser Catech. Q. What Benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this Life A. They that are effectually called partake of Justification Adoption c. You see that the Assembly do suppose our Calling to our being Justified and Justification is a Benefit flowing from it In the next Answer they tell us We are Justified by receiving Christ's Righteousness by Faith alone So not before Faith The New-England Synod p. 18. thus confute that Speech of the Antinomians viz. To say we are Justified by Faith is an unsafe Speech we must say We are Justified by Christ. The Synod fully prove this is false and add To say a Man is Justified before Faith or without Faith is unsafe as contrary to the language of the Scripture Dr. Owen in his Treat of Justif. p. 299. saith It must be remembred that we require Evangelical Faith in order of Nature antecedently unto our Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us which also is the Condition of the Continuation of it This is as plain as can be and this he oft proves p. 306 c. The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because God Justifies the Ungodly that is the Man who the moment before he believed to Justification was ungodly yea and who still remains ungodly in the Eye of the Law of Works needing daily Forgiveness by Grace therefore God Justifies him who continueth wholly ungodly fifty years after Because Christ alone Justifies as he whose Satisfaction and Merits are the only Righteousness for which we are Justified therefore he thinks there is nothing else present in our Justification not considering that God Justifies the Spirit Justifies the Gospel-Promise Justifieth in sences distinct from Christ And so doth Faith though not as what meriteth yet as what the Promise requireth in all whom God will Justifie for the sake of Christ's Merits Because it 's Christ the Object of Faith Justifies therefore Faith in that Object is not requisite to Justification though it 's as plain as the Word of God can speak it 's a Christ believed on which Justifies It 's not Faith without a Christ can do it and Christ without Faith will not do it but on
called justified sanctified and glorified Here thou seest Redemption and Justification are distinct things and the Elect are in Time called before they be justified In the Larger Catechis Q. What doth God require of us that we may escape his Wrath and Curse due to us The Assembly answer That we may escape Wrath c. He requireth of us Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus and the diligent Use of the outward Means whereby Christ communicates to us the Benefits of his Mediation Here thou seest that 1. We may be for a time without the Benefits of Christ's Mediation 2. That notwithstanding his Mediation we are under the Curse and Wrath as still due to us for sin till we repent and believe For it 's to escape these God requires Repentance and Faith 3. It 's by Means attended to and operating on us that the Benefits of Christ's Mediation are communicated for the Removal of the Curse and Wrath. VVhat can be more fully spoken against our being discharged when Christ suffered yea or before we repent and believe The Synod of New-England condemn this Speech viz. To say We are justified by Faith is an unsafe Speech VVe must say we are justified by Christ the Synod tells us it is no unsafe Speech But on the contrary to say a Man is justified before Faith or without Faith is unsafe as contrary to the Language of the Scripture p. 17 18. and they confute That as the 68. Errour viz. Faith justifies an Unbeliever that is the Faith that is in Christ justifies me that have no Faith in my self p. 13. Doctor Owen of Justif. p. 306. saith But yet the Act of God in laying our sins on Christ conveyed no actual Right and Title to us unto what he did and suffered They are not immediately thereon nor by virtue thereof ours or esteemed ours because God hath appointed somewhat else not only antecedent thereunto but as the Means of it unto his own Glory The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistakes Because it was God's Act to appoint Christ to suffer for our sins that we might in his VVay and Time be discharged therefore he thinks we are immediately discharged by that Act. Because Christ's Atonement is the sole meritorious Cause of Forgiveness therefore he thinks God suspends not Forgiveness till he works any thing else in the Soul which he hath made requisite to our being forgiven tho' not as any meritorious cause Because the Scape-Goat carried their sins into the Wilderness who expressed their Faith and Repentance by laying on hands on it and confessing sin therefore the sins of men are taken away by Christ while they continue impenitent and unbelieving CHAP. IV. Of the Elect's ceasing to be Sinners from the time their Sins were laid on Christ. REader I shall premise 1. Men are sinners or cease to be sinners in several distinct Respects 1. As to the Filth and Obliquity of Sin with respect to this they are more or less sinners according to the degree of their Innocence and Holiness 2. With some as to the Guilt of sin which refers to the Sanction of the Law against Offenders With respect to this the Offenders be more or less sinners as they are forgiven or not forgiven 3. As to the Charge of the Fact which was sinful with respect to this neither After-sanctification nor Pardon will deliver a Transgressor from having been a sinner the Fact was his The first and last denominate one a sinner most properly The second denominates a Man punishable but not a sinner formally 2. In the whole Scheme of the Doctor 's Principles it 's the Elect as elect who cease to be sinners Therefore when he speaks of a Believer he doth not mean he was a sinner before he believed for he states the time to be when Christ had our sins laid upon him viz. on the Cross. Having explained the Title of this Chapter I proceed Truth An elect Person ceaseth not to be a sinner upon the laying of our sins upon Christ that is he remains a sinner as to the Guilt till he believes if Adult He is a sinner as to the Filth of sin till he be sanctified He is a sinner as to the charge of the sinful Fact he commits and that even after Pardon and Sanctification Nevertheless he is free from the Curse when he is pardoned and shall be purged from all the Filth of sin when he is perfect in Holiness And tho' Christ did bear the Punishment of our Iniquity yet it never was Christ's Iniquity but ours Errour The Elect upon the Death of Christ ceased to be sinners and ever since their sins are none of their sins but they are the sins of Christ. Proved that this is Doctor Crisp 's Opinion The Doctor puts this Objection p. 8. Must not he be reckoned to be a sinner while he doth sin A. I answer No Tho' he doth sin yet he is not to be reckoned a sinner but his sins are reckoned to be taken away from him c. A Man doth sin against God God reckons not his sin to be his he reckons it Christ's therefore he cannot reckon it his This he endeavours to prove p. 270. If thou hast part in the Lord Christ which he thinks all the unbelieving Elect have all these Transgressions of thine are become actually the Transgressions of Christ and so cease to be thine and thou ceasest to be a Transgressor from that time they were laid upon Christ to the last hour of thy Life So that now thou art not an Idolater thou art not a Thief c. Thou art not a sinful Person what sin soever thou committest p. 271. So that if you would speak of a sinner supposing that Person of whom you speak to be a Member of Christ i. e. Elect you must not speak of what he manifests but of what Christ was Wherein the Difference is not The Difference is not 1. Whether the pardoned Sinner shall be delivered from Condemnation 2. Nor whether God for Christ's sake will deal with a pardoned Sinner as if he had not been a Sinner 3. Nor whether Forgiveness doth take away Sin as to its Obligation to Punishment 4. Nor whether the Atonement of Christ when it 's applied in its full Effects will perfectly remove all Punishment and purge away all Filth and Defilement from the Elect. Each of these I affirm The real Difference 1. Whether because Christ obliged himself to bear the satisfactory Punishment of our sins did they therefore become the sins of Christ This the Doctor affirms and I deny Of which I have spoken Chap. 2. 2. Whether our sins were pardoned when Christ suffered on the Cross This the Doctor affirms and I deny Of this see ch 1. and 3. and 12. c. 3. Whether even they that are Members of Christ yet if they do sin are they Transgressors and Sinners and are the sins they commit their sins This the Doctor denies and I affirm The Truth proved One
our Believing he will not fail to do it Because we must in order to Assurance of Pardon believe our Sins are actually pardoned therefore our actual Pardon is the Object of the Faith by which we obtain Pardon and so he sets our Pardon instead of God Christ and the Gospel-Promises which are the Scripture Objects of Justifying Faith Because Faith is the Evidence of Invisible Realities still remaining Invisible therefore it 's whole Use is to manifest our Pardon before our Pardon hath a Being Object The Doctor lays great stress on Ezek. 16. 6 c. and very often builds this and other of his Opinions upon it Answ. He doth so and without the least Ground For 1. That Chapter doth not describe the Dealings of God with a particular Soul in order to Salvation but with Israel as a Political Body in a peculiar Covenant It shews how mean and idolatrous their Original was how graciously God singled them out and dignified them above the rest of the World by many Privileges and among the rest by making a Covenant of Peculiarity with them But this Covenant is not the Covenant of Eternal Life For ver 59. it was a Covenant they broke And ver 61 62. it 's called Thy Covenant as opposed to My Covenant Dare any Man say that all the Jews were Washed Quickned Justified c. Yet each of these were true of the whole Body in this Chapter See what a Character is given of their Temper and Carriage after all this is said of them and sure it cannot agree to a Justified Soul or a Soul decked with Grace See from ver 14. to ver 23. And had the Doctor considered this Chapter he would find most of his Opinions baffled on the same grounds as he thinks a Verse or two can serve him Ver. 3 4 8. In the day they were born they were unwashed unloved out of the Covenant Where is Justification c. from Eternity or from the time of Conception Ver. 23. When after they were washed and in Covenant God denounceth Woe woe unto thee for their wickedness May not Wrath then be preached to an elect Person Ver. 27 38 43. I 'll judge thee and give thee blood in fury and recompence thy ways upon thy head Doth Sin do a Believer no harm Is there no displeasure in God against the Elect for Sin When God saith Thou hast fretted me c. when v. 58. thou hast born thy lewdness and thy abominations can it be true That no Elect Person bears his own Sin Nor ought he to charge himself therewith Or doth not God charge him with it 2. Admit that the Birth of a Child was a resemblance of Israel's first becoming God's Covenant-People in Abraham or at Mount Sinai and admit that this People's becoming the Lord's were an Exemplar of every elect Person 's Recovery yet all that can be inferred is That an Elect Person is vile miserable and guilty when God comes effectually to call him When thou wert in thy blood I said unto thee Live But what 's this to Justification before Faith Doth God quicken a Soul before he wash it and doth not that Soul believe What Life can there be that excludes Faith A quickned Soul believes as soon as quickned and the Text shews you that it 's quickned before it 's washed A Digression concerning the Necessity of Repentance to Forgiveness The Doctor judging we are Justified before we Believe it 's no wonder he tells us we are forgiven before we confess sin p. 255 c. or repent But my business in this Digression is with Men of more Orthodox Principles who yet seem to be doubtful in this Point I shall therefore state the Point between these Wherein the difference is not 1. It is not VVhether Faith or Repentance be any part of the Meriting Righteousness for which we are Justified 2. Nor VVhether the Habits of Faith and Repentance be wrought at the same time and included in the Regenerating Principle 3. Nor VVhether Convictions of a lost State and some degree of Humblings and Sorrow are necessary to drive a Soul to Christ 4. Nor VVhether there must be an Assenting Act of Faith before there be any Exercise of Repentance under the power of the VVord which must be believed in some degree before it operate to these effects 5. Nor VVhether ingenuous Sorrow for Sin in the sence of actual Pardon be after that Pardon 6. Nor VVhether Repentance as it consists in Fruits meet for it as External Reformation a Fruitful Life and the like must follow Pardon it being against the Tenor of the Promise that Forgiveness should be suspended so long after a Man believes and repents with his heart 7. Nor Whether Justification be equally ascribed to Faith and Repentance For we are said to be Justified by Faith which imports that Repentance is but a disposing Condition and Faith the receiving Condition Repentance without Faith is unavailable as Faith without Repentance is impossible Faith seems to compleat all and in a manner comprehend all These things Orthodox Divines are agreed in The seeming Difference VVhether a sincere purpose of Heart to turn from Sin and Idols to God be absolutely necessary to Forgiveness of Sin The other parts of Repentance are excluded out of the Question by what you have read before And this is that part of it which the word lays a great stress on from hence Repentance is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 2. 8 c. A change of mind or purpose And Conversion refers to this as the principal part of it Proved that Repentance as it lies in a sincere purpose to turn from Sin and Idols to God is necessary to Forgiveness 1. The Repentance God so commands in order to Forgiveness can include no less than this Act. 3. 19. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out And Act. 2. 38. Repent and be baptized in the name of Christ for the remission of sins To preach Repentance and Remission is Christ's Charge to his Ministers Luk. 24. 47. And none can doubt that before the Person of the Messias became the disputed Truth in the VVorld the chief Subject of God's message to Men was a Call to Repentance 2. Repentance is a Grace to which Pardon is promised and upon the working of it Forgiveness is given And Impenitency continues Guilt where-ever it reigns How much of the Bible must I transcribe if I quote all places that prove these Ez. 18. 30. Act. 3. 19. Act. 26. 18. To turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sin c. Mark 1. 4. And preach the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins Luk. 13. 3. Except you repent you shall all perish Christ was exalted to give Repentance and Remission of Sins Act. 5. 31. Nay the Sin against the Holy Ghost is unpardonable because it 's impossible to bring the Committer of it to repentance Heb.
Intercessors as Christ and in the same Sence viz. in the Virtue of Merits made personally ours We have a Righteousness in us which is able to save the World and capable of being imputed to their Justification VVe need no Forgiveness but are saved by the Covenant of VVorks as claiming Life by its Sanction immediately which is inconsistent with all Remission yea or Imputation of Christ's Righteousness which did no way consist in Forgiveness but in a full Satisfaction This would denominate us Saviours from the Moment we were justified if not before VVhereas we still need Pardon and continue justified by the Efficacy of the Righteousness of another and must look to Christ as the only Subject of it all our Days Our justified State is a Continuance of the blessed Effects of he Righteousness of Christ from first to last That Cause is still productive of Supplies as our Guilt returns or Necessities and Capacities renew or grow but our Redemption is ever in Christ Rom. 3. 24. 3. That we are as Righteous as Christ is not a proper or safe Speech It 's true indeed our Pardon and Acceptance is firm and lasting and will no more fail us than the Righteousness of Christ will fail it being the meritorious Cause and Security thereof and the Benefits can abate to none who answer the Gospel-Rule of it's Application But yet we are not as Righteous as Christ We are not so as to Sanctification he being perfectly Holy we being imperfectly so though really Holy And it 's to be noted That Believers are said to be Righteous in the common sence of the Scripture on the account of Sanctification 1 Joh. 3. 7. He that doth righteousness is righteous And to suppose the Elect to be as sanctified as Christ even while they wallow in the mire is a strange Position But suppose the Phrase refers to Justification yet it is not proper For 1. Christ is denominated Righteous on the account of what he personally did and suffered He derived not Righteousness from another but possessed it as Originally his own He is eminently the Righteous 1 Joh. 2. 1. whereas we are reputed righteous for the sake of what Christ did and not for the merit of what we have done Is it not unagreeable to hear a redeemed Sinner say I am as worthy as he that paid the Ransom Or a pardoned Worm say I am as righteous as he who merited my Pardon 2. Christ was so Righteous as to merit the Forgiveness of all his Seed He is so Righteous as to make many Righteous or safe from the Threat and entituled to the Reward according to the Gospel-Rule But we cannot justifie one other Person by our being righteous We are not righteous enough to save a Brother Psal. 49. 7. 4. Though Christ be perfectly holy yet his Holiness is not so imputed to us as that We are therefore perfectly holy This is evident For 1. Holiness refers to Sanctification and not to Justification 2. Holiness is a Conformity to the Precept as describing what is Sin and Duty But it refers not to the Sanction which determines the Reward and Punishment and so to be Holy and to be Righteous are distinct Conceptions Having premised these it follows 3. That to be Perfect in Holiness while we are in our own Persons Imperfect is impossible ungrounded and absurd 1. It 's Impossible being a Contradiction To be perfectly Holy and not perfectly Holy at the same time are inconsistent If any doubt whether they are imperfect in Holiness they are little acquainted with the Law or with themselves 2. It 's Ungrounded I know that it will be objected That it 's so by Imputation But the Gospel knows no Imputation of this kind we may as well infer That we are Omnipotent and Omniscient because Christ is so I understand that the Promise gives to the imperfectly holy Impunity and Right to Life on the account of Christ's Merits But where hath God said he will esteem the Imperfect to be Perfect as to what he declares them imperfect in Or hath God ever said we are thus perfect He may deal with a sincere Christian who is called Perfect in comparison of others as if he were perfect having provided for his Justice and Honour in doing thus by the Satisfaction of Christ But he cannot account him perfectly Holy The very Union in Marriage doth not transfer habitual Qualifications from Husband to Wife Is a foolish Wife perfectly wise because her Husband is so No though she receives Benefit by his Wisdom 3. It 's Absurd Our restored Holiness is through the Operations of the Spirit and not by Transfusion If the very Holiness of Christ's Person be in us it is his Increated Holiness or Created If his Increated then we are Gods and not Men for there is nothing Increated but God If the Created Holiness of Christ's Humane Nature be in us it must depart from him or cease to be in him as far as it 's derived to us for the same individual Quality cannot be in two Subjects at once though the same for Kind may be If we are as Holy as Christ what hinders us to be entituled to the same degrees of Glory and Honour as he And all this being founded on the Change of Person between Christ and us we may well say we are Christ's even every elect Person severally And if our perfect Holiness should be surmised from the Union between Christ and Believers that indeed would not be a change of Person but the making Christ and us one Natural Person And then on the same grounds as we can say we are as holy as Christ is we may say we are as much Gods as Christ as Wise as Christ as entituled to Worship as Christ we do all that Christ doth in Heaven or Earth and he doth all as we Sinners do we give what he gives and he receives what we receive Distinction of Persons is gone Christ and we do nothing and are nothing as distinct Persons A thousand such things are unavoidable Consequences 4. Can this be reconciled to the scope of the Scriptures wherein Believers are called to grow up in Christ Eph. 4. 15. To perfect Holiness 2 Cor. 5. 1. Grow in Grace The defect of Holiness is bewailed by all the Saints Wretched man that I am saith the Apostle Rom. 7. 24. I press forward c. Phil 3. 12 14. that is Oh that I were as holy as Christ designed to make me and as I shall be at the Resurrection And the want and weakness of Holiness is oft reproved by God even in his own Children 5. The Fifth Head to be proved is That Believers are not as to Holiness without Spot Blemish c. Experience may convince of this But I pass it by as having occasion to speak to it in Chap. 16. Testimonies The Assemlies Large Catec puts this Question What is the Communion in Grace which the Members of the Invisible Church have with Christ They Answer In
unto such and such Persons before he did put any Qualifications into them But I say farther that God gives actual Possession of this Christ and this Christ takes Possession of that Person before there be any Qualification Obj. When are the Elect united to Christ A. The Doctor tells you Before they are born P. 617. See P. 597 609 611 c. Of coming to Christ against your Wills See the end of this Chapter Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not whether God hath decreed that all the Elect shall be united to Christ. 2. Nor whether God hath appointed and Christ agreed in the Covenant of Redemption to be in time the Saviour of the Elect and that whatChrist did and suffered pursuant to that Covenant was intended for the saving Good of the Elect. 3. Nor whether all the Power by which we believe and the Spirit who works Faith in us be purchased and given by Christ. 4. Nor whether Christ's giving us the Spirit of Grace do begin this Union and the Spirit given in order to saving Operations produceth this Faith whereby the Union is consummated 5. Nor whether Faith unites to Christ by Divine Ordination and not by its own Power or Merit or as a Physical Act. All these I affirm The Real Difference 1. Whether the Elect are actually united to Christ before they are born This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether the Elect are united to Christ till they are effectually called and truly believe This the Doctor denies and I affirm The Truth Confirmed 1. The Scriptures expresly affirm all uncalled unregenerate Unbelievers to be united to Christ and in a State of Separation from him The believing Ephesians were before Conversion without Christ Eph. 2. 12. Were they always united to Christ of whom Paul saith Rom. 16. 7. They were in Christ before me Or was Paul himself always in Christ Were not the Romans out of Christ while a wild Olive-Tree and untill they were grafted into the true Olive-Tree w ich they were upon their Conversion Rom. 11. 17 19. 2. The Spirit of Christ and Faith in him are the things whereby God hath ordained us to be united with Christ By one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. Christ dwells in our Hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. on which account we are said to receive Christ Col. 2. 8. And are Children of God by Faith Gal. 3. 26. 3. The want of this Union is denounced against all such as have not the Spirit and are Unbelievers Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his i. e. Let the Man be elect or not be the Man who he will if he hath not the Spirit he is not Christ's in this Union And it 's the Design of that Parable Mat. 22. 3. to 13. that they who accept not of the Invitation or do not sincerely and spiritually consent to Christ's Offer shall not be united to Christ or partake of the Marriage Supper 4. The necessary immediate Effects of Union are plainly wanting in all such as have not the Spirit and want Faith He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. Can any unbelieving Wretch pretend to have one Spirit with Christ whiles his Inclinations Purposes and Carriage are so contrary Again If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. q. d. Let the Man be who he will he is not united to Christ if he be not a new Creature I hope none will doubt he is no new Creature who is carnal who is a Stranger to the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4 24. When the Scriptures describe any Person in Christ Jesus they tell us they at least in purpose have crucified the Flesh with the Affections thereof Gal. 5. 24 and they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom 8 1. It 's not they that have crucified the Flesh are in Chrâ—st which some might say would render it only a manifesting Sign of their In-being in Christ but these Texts do exclude all others from a present Share in this Union The like Places might be multiplied As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3. 27. If Christ be in you the Body is dead because of Sin c. Rom 8 9 10 But alas these and the like are not only wanting in Unbelievers but the direct contrary thereto prevalently reign in them and each of these Contraries do by a Gospel Rule subject Men to those Miseries as are inconsistent with the Members of Christ As If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die to be carnally minded is Death c. Rom. 3. 8. 6 14. 5. Union with Christ is determined to our effectual Calling This is the Means and Season of that Blessing God is faithful by whom ye are called into the Fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 9. Hence the Instruments of our Vocation are said to espouse us to Christ 2 Cor. 11. 2. To beget them for him 1 Cor. 4. 15. This Privilege is peculiar to Christ's regenerate Seed and impossible to any that are not so 6. Unbelievers are not Members of the Catholick invisible Church which is the Body of Christ By one Spirit you are all baptized into one Body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. There is a present effectual Working in every Part of this Body Eph. 4. 16. It 's by the Spirit 's Operation we are Parts of this Holy Temple and fellow Citizens with the Saints Eph. 2. from 18. to 22. Every Member hath a Measure of Faith and Grace Rom. 12. 3 4 5. None of these can be true of Men dead in Sin Nor can they be Members of Christ that are not Members of his Body 1 Cor. 12. 27. 7. Should they that are united to Christ apostatize from Faith they would thereby forfeit and lose this Union If any cease to be Believers they would cease to be Members of Christ. This is the Scope of Joh. 15. 2 3 4 5 6. If a Man abide not in me he is cast forth as a Branch and is withered Every Branch in me that beareth not Fruit he taketh away And is it not apparent that Apostacy sinks a Man into no more Unbelief than what prevailed before he believed at all 8. The opposite Errour would reconcile what the Spirit of God declares inconsistent The Apostle in vain asketh What Concord hath Christ with Belial or what Part hath he that believeth with an Infidel and what Agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols c. 2 Cor. 6. 15 16 17. By this Opinion Christ and Belial can be and dwell quietly in one Man for many Years and he that believeth and an Infidel have the same part in the highest Privilege viz. Union with Christ. In Uncleanness God receives all alike and