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
of the Heart agree herewith 3. That cannot be a true Faith or Acceptance of Christ which consists with such vile Dispositions and is void of a Purpose to be otherwise Can he be said to accept of Christ who as the Doctor saith Hath a Knife in his Hand and Thoughts in his Heart to murther Christ and that without so much as laying down his Arms P. 210. What is rejecting Christ if this be not What is saying We will not have him to reign over us Do not we prefer our Lusts before him And can we thus marry him Nay What a carnal selfish thing is Believing a meer using Christ for our own Safety in our Abominations which we resolve shall rule over us without one Desire to be rid of them 2. Some Degrees of Convictions and Humiliations of Soul are necessary Prerequisites to the Soul 's true Acceptation of Christ for Pardon We find it 's the Weary and heavy laden that Christ invites to come to him for Rest Mat. 11. 28. I came not to call the Righteous that is the Conceited and Secure but Sinners to Repentance Luk. 5. 31. 32. The Converts recorded in the Word found such a Work on them those were pricked in their Hearts and cried What shall we do Act. 2. 37. The Gaoler felt the same humble Concern Act. 16. 30. Paul knew what this Trembling was Act. 9. 6. So Zacheus and the Prodigal Luk. 15. 14 15. Where the Word Even begins to take Effect the Man is convinced of all and judged of all The Secrets of his Heart are made manifest falleth down on his Face c. 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. It 's a meet Order that Man should in some degree pay this Homage to God and thus resent his Apostacy to God's Glory whom he hath provoked Yea These are absolutely Necessary to bring a Man to be willing to close with Christ. Were there no Weight no Remorse no Sense of Sin or Misery Christ would not be regarded much less complied with Yea to come to Christ cannot be an Act of the Will it thus having a contrary Biass and the practical Judgment determining against it TESTIMONIES You have already heard the Sence of the Assembly and Elders at the Savoy You may see in Larg Catech. Q. What is justifying Faith They tell us That the Sinner is convinced of his Sin and Misery who receiveth Christ. And in the Directory for Visitation of the Sick they are for propounding Christ and his Merits to penitent Believers and Endeavours are to be first used to humble the Sick under the Sense of his Guilt and the Wrath of God c. Doctor Owen tells us There is nothing in this whole Doctrine that I will more firmly adhere to than the Necessity of Convictions previous to true Believing Of Justif. P. 133. The Necessity of them yea Antecedency of them to true Faith and Pardon he proves P. 98 99. as also Displicency Sorrow Fear a Desire of Deliverance with other necessary Effects of true Convictions P. 102 103. And he tells us The Belief of the Pardon of our own Sins is not proposed to Men in the first Preaching of the Gospel as that which they are first to believe And P. 140. Neither is it possible there should be any Exercise of this Faith unto Justification but where the Mind is prepared disposed and determined unto universal Obedience Mr. Norton of New England proveth at large That there are certain preparatory Works between the Carnal Rest of the Soul in the State of Sin and effectual Vocation or Christ in his ordinary Dispensation of the Gospel calleth not Sinners as Sinners but Sinners i. e. qualified Sinners immediately to believe These are his own Words which he proves Orthod Evang. from P. 129. to 140. The Ground of the Doctor 's Mistake Because they that truly come to Christ shall have an Interest in Christ therefore he thinks whoever can perswade himself that he hath an Interest in Christ doth come to him because sometimes the worst Sinners are made the Subjects of Preparatory Works and of effectual Calling as God's act on them therefore he thinks that these Sinners are invited to conclude they have an Interest in Christ before they do at all answer that Call But his greatest Cause of Mistake is that he thinks the worst Sinners if elect have as much Interest in Christ as the greatest Saint Therefore indeed they need no more Faith than to know it and that must be by a firm Perswasion that he is theirs because Christ calls Sinners to Repentance therefore Christ is theirs while impenitent CHAP. XI Of Union with Christ before Faith Truth EVery Man is without Christ or not united to Christ untill he be effectually called but when by this Call the Spirit of God enclineth and enableth him willingly to accept of Christ as a Head and Saviour a Man becomes united to him and Partaker of those Influences and Privileges which are peculiar to the Members of the Lord Jesus Errour All the Elect are actually united to Christ before they have the Spirit of Christ or at all believe in him even before they are born yea and against their Will Proved that this is Dr. Crisp 's Opinion The Title of Serm. 14. is Christ is ours before we have gracious Qualifications P. 430. But sure the Doctor intends only to exclude Works and not Faith A. No he tells us of dangerous Consequences that must follow on it if Persons are not united to Christ and partake not of Justification before they believe And addeth There is not I say such a thing as an uniting and cementing or knitting Power in Faith as that Faith doth or should become the Instrument to unite a Soul to Christ P. 6â—â— Obj. But he may intend only to exclude the Merit or Efficiency of Faith but not the Presence of it or the Divine Ordination of it to that end A. No he denies the Presence of Faith to this end he spends much time P. 614. c. to prove That Christ is ours before we come to him and that our not coming to Christ doth not import a State of Disunion with Christ. And P. 104. He tells us You may as soon conceive that a Man is able to see whiles he hath no head as think a Man can have spiritual Eyes whether the Eye of Faith to behold Christ or the Eye of Mourning to lament ones Wretchedness before there be actually the Presence and Conjunction of Christ the Head to such a Body Obj. But must not the Spirit be given before we are united to Christ. A. The Doctor saith We partake of the Spirit only by Virtue of this Union which he attempts to prove from the too gross use of the Metaphor of a Vine P. 599. and sundry other Places Obj. Sure he meaneth only this Union is decreed before Faith A. To prevent this his Words are P. â—â—â— I do not mean as some do that God did actually decree that Christ should be Christ
sinful and vain and no Saving Benefit is dispenced to any of us by this Rule 2. The Gospel includes the Moral Preceptive part of the first Law with some additional Precepts which suppose our Apostate state as Faith in an atoneing Saviour and Repentance for Sin These could not be enjoyned as Duties on innocent Man by a Rule of Happiness and Misery nor could they be necessary to his Right to Life because they would suppose him a Sinner The Gospel is taken in a large sence when I say it includes all the Moral Precepts but yet the Gospel doth so and they are the Commands of Christ as Redeemer to whom all Judgment is committed as well as the Law of the Creator 3. The Gospel hath another Sanction to the Preceptive part of the Law than the Covenant of Works had Though nothing be abated in the Rule of Sin and Duty yet Blessings are promised to lower degrees of Duty and a continuance in a state of Deuth with a barr to the Blessing are not threatned against every degree of Sin as the Covenant of Works did Can any doubt this to be the Grace of the Gospel-Promise Doth it promise Life to all Men however vile and impenitent they be Or doth it threaten Damnation or a Continuance of it on any true penitent believing godly Man because he is imperfect This Change of the Sanction supposeth the Death of Christ and his honouring the Law by his perfect Obedience wherein God hath provided for his own Glory while he promiseth Life by Forgiveness to imperfect Man and yet he insists on some degree of Obedience to which of his mere Grace he enableth us This the Covenant of Redemption secures to the Elect tho' the Grant therein is pleadable only by Christ as the stipulating Party for us and our personal Claim depends on the Gospel-Covenant whereof Christ is Mediator 4. This Gospel-Sanction determines as certain a Rule of Happiness and Misery as the Law of Works did though it be not the same For while it promiseth Pardon to all believing repenting Sinners and declares a barr to pardon to the impenitent Rejecters of Christ and Gospel-Grace it fixeth true Repentance and Faith unfeigned to be the Terms of Pardon So when it promiseth Heaven to the sincerely holy persevering Believer it fixeth sincere Holiness and perseverance in Faith as the Terms of possessing Heaven Hence the Use of Faith Holiness c. to these Benefits is not from their Conformity to the Precept but their Conformity to the Rule of the Promise Our applying Christ's Righteousness and relying on it would no more Justifie us than our sincere Holiness would Save us were it not for this Gospel-Promise That God will Justifie for Christ's sake all such as believe 5. Hence by Gospel-Grace there is a great difference between perfect Faith and utter Unbelief between sincere Holiness and formal Profaneness or Wickedness True Love to God and prevailing Enmity imperfect spiritual Duties and rebellious Neglects c. By the Law of Works nothing was Holiness but what was perfectly so c. But read the Bible if thou doubtest whether there is not a true Faith Holiness Love c. which be short of Perfection 6. God in the dispensing of Gospel-promised Blessings doth judicially determine a Conformity to this Rule of the Promise When he forgives he judicially declareth a Man hath true Faith when he admits into Heaven he judicially declares a Man sincerely Holy and Persevering As upon a view of his Guests he cast out him that had not on the Wedding-Garment viz. True-uniting Faith so he judicially determined That they who were not cast out but admitted to share in the Marriage Feast viz. made Partakers of Union with Christ and the Benefits thereof had True Faith and not a mere Profession As by keeping out the foolish Virgins for not having Oyl in their Lamps viz. the Spirit of Grace and persevering Holiness so by admitting the wise Virgins he judicially declared they had a Spirit of Grace and persevering Holiness Can any think that Forgiving Adopting Glorifying or the conveyance of every other promised Benefit given on God's Terms are not judicial Acts of God as Rector If so doth he dispence these blindly and promiseuously without any regard to our being Believers c. or no Or whether our Faith be true or no Any one would blush to affirm it With respect to what 's above declared the Gospel is called a Law of Faith a Law of Liberty c. and it especially insists on that sincerity of Grace and Holiness which the Rule of the Promise makes necessary in its Description of the Person whom it makes Partaker of its included Benefit And the main of our Ministry consisteth in pressing Men to answer the Rule of the Gospel-Promises and disswading Men from those things which the Gospel threatens shall hinder their Interest in all or any of its Benefits with an Aggravation of their Misery if they be final Rejecters of its Grace We call Men to be reconeiled to God upon which we know God will be at peace with them These things will help thy Conceptions still remembring that the Merits of Christ are the cause of this Gospel-Ordination His Righteousness imputed is the cause for which we are justified and saved when we do answer the Gospel-Rule And I exclude not this Righteousness when I affirm That the Righteousness of God Phil. 3. 9. principally intends the Gospel-Holiness of a Person justified by Christ's Righteousness both which by Faith in Christ all his Members shall be perfect in The Grace of God is hereby stated as free as is consistent with his Government and Judicial Rectoral Distribution of Rewards and Punishments and none need the Riches of Grace more than I. Reader Note That in this Book I still speak of the Adult and not Infants When I say The Difference is not I state my own Concessions and mean not that the Doctor is in all these of my mind Thou must expect to take up my full sence by a view of several Chapters and not only one because sundry Chapters referr to the same Points more or less And forget not That though the Doctor oft in his Book speaks to Men as Believers yet every thing is true of the Elect viz. They have as much a Title to all Saving Blessings only they do not know it This was his Judgment I have carefully avoided any Reflexion on Reverend Dr. Crisp whom I believe a holy Man and abstained exposing many things according to the Advantage offered if by any means this Book may become useful to such as most need it That the Father of Lights would lead us into all Truth and Love is the Prayer of thy Servant in the Gospel London May 4. 1692. D. Williams ERRATA PAge 3. Line 7. add 365. p. 5. l. 8. for ew r. we p. 8. l. 15. for 289. r. 274. p. 10. l. 17. r. Propogation p. 28. l. 4 for Chaist r. Christ p. 38.
With his Stripes we are healed and sundry other places Nay to suppose any Degree of Suffering on Christ and not our Sins laid on Christ even though in the Doctor 's Sence would overturn the whole Christian Religion and justifie the Socinians Testimonies The Assemblies Lesser Catechism Q. Wherein did Christ's Humiliation consist A. In his being Born and that in a low Condition made under the Law undergoing the Miseries of this Life the Wrath of God and the cursed Death of the Cross in being buried and continuing under the Power of Death for a time Thou seest Christ's Incarnation or being Born and several other things before Christ's Crucifixion are parts of his Humiliation The Ground of the Doctor 's Mistake Because the hidings of God's Face and especially the dying Sacrifice of Christ did so compleat and finish the Work of Satisfaction as the principal parts thereof therefore he thinks our Sins were not laid on Christ till then CHAP. VI. Of God's Separation from and Abhorrence of Christ while our Sins lay upon him Truth THough God testified his threatned Indignation against Sin in the awful Sufferings of Christ's Soul and Body in his Agony and suspended those delightful Communications of the Divine Nature to the Humane Nature of Christ as to their wonted Degrees yet God was never separated from Christ much less during his Body's lying in the Grave neither was the Father ever displeased with Christ and far less did he abhor him because of the Filthiness of Sin upon him Errour Christ was on the account of the Filthiness of Sins while they lay upon him separated from God odious to him and even the Object of God's Abhorrence and this to the time of his Resurrection Proved that this is Dr. Crisp 's Opinion He saith P. 294. Nay from this I affirm as Christ did bear our Iniquity so Christ for that Iniquity was separated from God and God was here separated from Christ or else Christ spake untruth P. 295. The Doctor puts an Objection It may be this for saking was but for a little time He saith To this I answer it was as long as Sin was upon him had not Christ breathed out the Sins of Men that were upon him he had never seen God again he having taken Sin upon him he must unload himself of Sin before he can be brought near to God c. There was a Separation and Forsaking when Christ died but at his Rising there was a Meeting again a kind of renewing his Sonship P. 408. It is a higher Expression of Love that Christ should bear the Sins of Men than that he should be given to die for Men c. Affliction is not contrary to the Nature of God God can smile upon Persons when they are under the greatest Scorn c. But where the Lord doth charge any Sin the Lord hath an Abhorrence there P. 379 380. He shews That Christ to be a Scorn yea for God to make him suffer the most accursed Death of the Cross is far less than to make him sin because all this may agree to the Nature of God but Iniquity is the hatefullest thing in the World to God where Iniquity is found a Toad is not so odious nor ugly to Man as that Person is in the Sight of God P. 180. All that Filthiness and Loathsomeness of our Nature is put upon Christ he stands as it were the Abhorred of the Lord. Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not whether the Soul of Christ endured the Effects of Gods Wrath against sin and was amazed thereat as well as at the Importance of the Work he was engaged in and the Enemies he was to encounter with and the Sacrifice he was to make c. 2. Nor whether the Divine Nature suspended for a while on the Cross the delightful Communications of it self as to the Degrees it was accustomed to emit to the humane Nature of Christ. These with awe I freely affirm The Real Difference 1. Whether Christ was separated from God This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether Christ was at any time under God's Abhorrency or odious to him because under the Loathsomeness of Sin This the Doctor affirms and I deny yea not without Detestation 3. Whether Christ was thus on the account of the Filthiness of Sin upon him separated from and under the Abhorrency of the Father during his lying in the Grave This the Doctor affirms and I deny it of that time and any other or else it would be true for the whole time of his Humiliation The Truth Confirmed 1. This Separation was impossible because of the Union between the Divine and Humane Nature of Christ in one Person This Union could not be dissolved nor could all Communications of Comfort or Strength from the Divine Nature be interrupted while the Union remained Yea the Humane Nature of Christ had never a personal Subsistence of its own but was assumed by the eternal Word the second Person of one Essence with the Father 2. The Father had promised constant Supports to Christ in the whole of his Undertakings and Sufferings and his comfortable Presence with him Isa. 42. 1 4 6. Isa. 50. 7 8 9. 3. The Doctor of all Men had least reason to assert this Separation when he had so exceeded in telling us P. 379. That the Divine Nature is a kind of Soul to the Humanity consisting of Soul and Body and is the Form and Strength of both c. The God-head gives Life to Christ and so all the Sufficiency to bear Iniquity proceeds from the Divine Nature of Christ. And P. 378. Should Iniquity be laid on the Humane Nature and the Divine Nature not support the Humane Nature it would have sunk under sin Reader is it not strange that after this the Doctor should affirm a Separation and that for all the time when Iniquity was upon Christ 4. The Lord Jesus could not be abhorred or odious to God for in him God was always well pleased Isa. 42. 1. Mat. 17. 5. He was now yielding the highest Act of Obedience and so there was at least no cause of Offence yea God loved him for this John 10. 17 18. the Person of the Son was always Gods Delight from Eternity to Eternity Prov. 8. 30. and could not but be so Christ must have been as odious to himself as to the Father for he is of the same Holy Essence Reader How horrid a sound must it have to a Christian Ear to say A Christ odious to God abhorred by the Father and that because he was a loathsome a detestable an abominable and filthy sinner for a time This Point carries that Aspect that from Regards for the Doctor I will not insist on it nor its necessary Consequences and yet upon this depend many of his Positions 5. Christ could not be thus separated from and be as it were the Abhorred of the Lord while his Body lay in the Grave for then his Soul could not be in Paradise as
saved 5. Nor whether besides these Effects being made ours the very Righteousness of Christ is imputed to true Believers as what was always undertaken and designed for their Salvation and is now effectual to their actual Pardon and Acceptance to Life Yea is pleadable by them as their Security and is as useful to their Happiness as if themselves had done and suffered what Christ did 6. Nor whether Christ by his Righteousness merited and by his Spirit doth renew the Hearts of his Members and will in time so communicate of his Grace to them as that they shall be perfectly holy even without Spot and Blemish 7. Nor whether the Spots and Blemishes remaining in a godly Man do consist with his justified State and shall not cast him out of God's Favours All these I do affirm The real Difference The Difference lies in these Points 1. Whether there be a Change of Person between Christ and the Elect yea or betwixt Christ and Believers This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether the Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ be subjectively in us This the Doctor affirms and I deny though as it is in Christ I grant it is imputed to the saving Advantages of all his Seed as much as if it were in themselves 3. Whether we are as righteous as Christ is a proper or safe Speech This the Doctor affirms and I deny though I yield that we are for the Sake of his Righteousness delivered from the Guilt of Sin and entitled to Life yea accepted with God against all excluding Bars 4. Whether because Christ is perfectly holy can we be said to be perfect in Holiness upon the Account of any Imputation of his Holiness to us or are we so esteemed by God This the Doctor affirms and I deny 5. Whether the Elect Believer before he is perfectly holy is wholly without Spot Filth and Blemish This the Doctor affirms and I deny though I grant that for the Sake of Christ these Spots Blemishes and Filth shall not subject them to the Curse and VVrath of God nor forfeit saving Benefits The Truth Confirmed My designed Brevity prevents Enlargement on so many Points and therefore I shall only glance at each 1. There is not a Change of Person betwixt Christ and the Elect For Christ was the Saviour and never ceased to be so VVe are the Saved and not the Saviours Christ was still the Redeemer and never the Redeemed we are the Redeemed and never the Redeemers Christ was he who by his own Merits forgives us but never was forgiven we are forgiven and never had Merits of our own to forgive our selves or others Eph. 5. 25 26 27. It 's prophane Arrogance for us to pretend to his Prerogatives and it 's Blasphemy to debase him among their Number who were Enemies without Strength and Sinners for whom he was the dying Sacrifice Rom. 5. 6 8 10. It 's enough that he reserving the Peculiars of a Redeemer should agree to suffer for our Sins it 's enough that we are pardoned and adopted for his Sake when we deserved endless VVoe and are never capable of making the least Atonement 2. The Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ is not subjectively in us I do not speak now of our inherent Righteousness of which he is not only the Pattern but also is the Cause and VVorker Phil. 3. 9. The Discourse is only of that Righteousness which belongs to the Person of Christ on the Account of his fulfilling the Law of his Mediation and his Title to the Rewards promised to him as Mediator for fulfilling that Law which he did to every Iota This Righteousness is accounted to be for us and to deliver all the Elect was the end of all his Undertakings Nevertheless it is not subjectively in us because 1. It is inconsistent with the Nature of Gospel-Imputation To impute to one what is suffered by another is to esteem the one undertaken for in the Sufferings of the other and to deal with him as if himself had suffered the same things yea and had never deserved to suffer but it is not to judge that he did in his own Person suffer for that were false and a Derogation to the Honour of him who endured the Sufferings especially if he freely suffered in another's Room and for his Advantage as our Lord did Heb. 9. 15. Gal. 1. 4. Much less is Imputation an Infusion of Christ's Righteousness into us or a Putting it subjectively in us 2. The Soul in all Actings of Faith on Christ's Righteousness ought to look at this Righteousness as in Christ and not in himself who believeth 2 Pet. 1. 1. 1 Joh. 2. 12. VVould it not be strange Language to say I trust for new Pardon or Comfort to the Righteousness that was once in Christ but is now in me in me is the meritorious Cause of my Pardon In me is the Fountain to which I must look for VVashing and Healing not as it is in Christ to whom I am united but as it inheres in me as the immediate Subject of it But the Gospel directs to look to him and be saved Isa. 45. 22. Faith owns the Foundation of our Plea to be in Christ from whom are derived to us that Pardon and Right to Life which are the Effects of his Righteousness For this we are justified for that Righteousness which is in Christ we are acquitted and adopted The efficient Merit is in him the Effect of the judicial Absolution for that Merit is in us The Righteousness is still in Christ for the Sake whereof we are absolved or justified God hath for Christ's Sake forgiven us but not for the Sake of what is in our selves Eph. 4. 32. Had not he obeyed and suffered for us we could not have been absolved for the Sake of his Obedience and Sufferings And now being absolved or made righteous in a Law Sence we have as much Matter of glorying in him as absolved acquitted Sinners can have VVe are justified by his Righteousness that is for that we are forgiven and also entitled to Life which we had forfeited our selves but we are not made Innocent nor so esteemed we are not accounted them who made the Atonement VVe still take hold of or acknowledge and approve with Reliance on and Submission to the Terms of its Application of Christ's Righteousness that we by it may be forgiven and this is our Blessedness Rom. 4. 7. and our Gospel-Righteousness which all such refuse who reject redeeming Love from a Conceit of their own Merits or refuse the Terms of the Gospel which by the Promise do make us capable of being justified and saved for the Merits of Christ. Yet these still remain his Merits though thus beneficial to us in their Application as the procuring Cause of all our Good 3. If the Mediatorial Righteousness be subjectively in us we must grant all those Absurdities which the Enemies of Gospel-Imputation object and the Orthodox deny If it be in us then we may be as truly
and certainly possess Salvation Yea as that Covenant was not made with the Elect though for the Elect so they have nothing to do as a Condition of this Covenant And to this all absolute Promises and Prophecies of Grace are reducible they being a Transcript hereof This Dr. Owen makes to be a distinct Covenant from the Covenant of Grace See his Treatise of Justif. pag. 268 269. 2. By Covenant of Grace I mean the way that God hath ordained to apply to Sinners that Salvation which is prepared by Christ and which he will enable the Elect to comply with Q. 2. What is intended by Condition A. I shall answer in the words of worthy Mr. Flavel Discourse of Errors pag. 248. An Antecedent Condition signifies no more than an Act of ours which though it be neither perfect in every degree nor in the least meritorious of the Benefit conferred nor performed in our own natural strength yet according to the Constitution of the Covenant it is required of us in order to the Blessings consequent thereupon by virtue of the Promise And consequently the Benefits and Mercies granted in this order are and must be suspended by the Donor or Desposer of them till it be performed such a Condition we affirm Faith to be Some call this a Consequent Condition but they mean not Consequent to the Benefit promised but Consequent to Christ's undertaking to enable us to do it Reader I would have thee note 1. The Conditions do not merit the Blessings promised 2. The Conditions are not uncertain for Christ hath undertaken that the Elect shall perform them 3. They are performed by Grace and not by Natural Power 4. They are performed by Men and not by Christ though it is by Christ that any are enabled to perform them It 's not Christ repents or believes in a Saviour but Men themselves 5. It 's from God's Will in the Promise that they are made to be Conditions he connected the Benefit and the Duty though he chose Conditions that were fit yet their fitness would not have availed to our interest in the Benefits unless he had promised that they should so avail A penitent Believer had not been saved but for the Promise though it 's unlike a God to have saved any that were not such 6. These Conditions are our Duty by God's Command and not less so by being made Terms of the Benefit in the Divine Grant 7. The Covenant though Conditional is a Disposition of Grace There 's Grace in giving ability to perform the Condition as well as in bestowing the Benefits God's enjoyning one in order to the other makes not the Benefit to be less of Grace but it is a display of God's Wisdom in conferring the Benefit suitably to the nature and state of Men in this Life whose Eternal Condition is not eternally decided but are in a state of Tryal yea the Conditions are but a meetness to receive the Blessings 8. The reason why we use the word Condition is because it best suits with Man's Relation to God in his present dealings with us as his Subjects in tryal for Eternity Christ as a Priest hath merited all but as a King or a Priest upon his Throne he dispenceth all He enjoyns the Conditions in order to the Benefits and makes the Benefits Motives to our Compliance with the Conditions He treats with Men as his Subjects whom he will now Rule and hereafter Judge Now what word is so proper to express the Duties as enjoyned Means of Benefits like this word Conditions The word Conditions is of the same nature as Terms of the Gospel There be few Authors of Note even of any Persuasion but they make use of this word in my sence as Ames Twiss Rutherford Hooker of New-England Norton Preston Owen Synod of New-England the Assembly of Divines c. And I know none have reason to scruple it except such as think we are United to Christ and Justified before we are Born To such indeed all such Terms are improper because they deny God's dispensing of Saving Benefits in a way of Government Q. 3. What is intended by the Benefits of the Covenant A. The good Things or Privileges promised to such as by Grace are enabled to comply with the Terms of the Covenant especially whatever is essential to our felicity Q. 4. Wherein do the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace differ from Conditions in the Covenant of Innocency or Works as vulgarly called For both lie in doingsomething though not the same thing nor to the same ends A. 1. The Conditions of the Covenant of Grace are performed by the Grace of Christ freely given to Sinners The Conditions of the Covenant of Innocency were performed by a strength due to and inherent in our innocent Nature 2. The principal Conditions of the Covenant of Grace express the guilt and misery of them that perform them Repentance owns our Filth and Guilt and Faith in a Redeemer expresseth our sinful and lost State neither of these could have place in our legal Righteousness as being utterly inconsistent with an Innocent Condition Nor can they have much room in Heaven where we shall be perfect whereas the Terms of the Covenant of Works implied nothing but Innocency and Happiness 3. The Conditions of the Covenant of Grace make us capable of no Happiness except what Christ hath bought and prepared for us his Blood is the Price of all But the happiness granted to sinless Obedience was immediately from the Creator and knew no Atonement or Mediator 4. The Blessings promised on the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace are meerly of Grace They be for another's sake and not our own they are given to such as are condemned by the Covenant of Works and that are still condemnable by the Law for the Imperfection of the performed Gospel-Conditions yea it 's Forgiveness which renders these Persons blessed Rom. 4. 7. whereas the sinless Obedience of innocent Adam made the Reward to be of Debt Rom. 4. 4. which we as being happy by Pardon must renounce 5. The Use and Interest of Gospel-Conditions is not from the conformity of them to the Preceptive part of the Law though in a degree there be that but from their Conformity to the Rule of the Grace of the Promise The Promise of Pardon through Christ being to the penitent Believer and no other Repentance and Faith become necessary and useful Conditions of this Pardon by the Order of God in that gracious Promise But by the Covenant of Works the meer Work gave an Interest in the Reward as it was Obedience to the Precept by a Sanction that had Goodness but no such Grace in it On these accounts I shall never fear that the Conditionality of the Covenant of Grace should turn it into a Covenant of Works till I see it proved That God can promise and apply no Benefit purchased by Christ to a poor Sinner upon the Condition of any Action he commands and freely enableth the
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.
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Were all Doing for Life and an Eye to gain by Service such a legal and wicked thing as some represent it sure the blessed Jesus would have admonished his Disciples and not answer them as he doth Mat. 19. 27 28 29. Then answered Peter and said unto him behold we have forsaken all and followed thee What shall we have therefore And Jesus said unto them verily c. Ye shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel c. 4. The Doctor 's Argument from the Vanity of proposing our own Gain by Labour and Duties because all is fixed and given already is to make the Decree an effectual Means to overthrow the Government of Christ and brand all his Offers to Sinners with Weakness and Falshood Should not poor Sinners pray as they can abstain from Sin consider and apply the Word with an Eye to Conversion Why doth God call them to this Should not they wait and strive to believe and repent with an Eye to Forgiveness and escaping VVrath VVhy else should God encourage them with an Offer of these upon such Terms and tell the Unbelievers that they refuse these Mercies by new Forfeitures But by the Doctor 's Scheme the Elect may be idle and the Non-elect do best when they despair for there 's no Connexion between these Benefits and these Graces or Duties And so the Non-elect are in the same Case with Devils there being no serious Offer to them nay their Case is worse than Devils for these Offers are made to them for no other Design but to increase their Condemnation Nay every Sin of their's is the Sin against the Holy Ghost that is every Sin is alike the Unpardonable Sin and not only that Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost To say no more Christ hath no Rule of distributive Justice but his own eternal Purpose and Men's Regards to his promised Benefits are all forbidden even when our Respect to them is that which subserves his Government and is supposed in all the Methods of it 5. And why should we intend the Glory of God the Service of Christ or the Good of others Are not these as determined as our own Good Hath not God fixed and secured his own Glory Doth Christ need our services more than our selves Shall any other Persons receive more Good than God hath already given and provided for them Why should we intend these in our Duties more than our own Profit the very same Reason excuseth from all and so we ought to intend nothing at all I could shew had I Room that we cannot sincerely aim at our Souls good but we therein aim at God's Glory Nor doth God ever require us to intend his Glory but in a Concurrence with an Eye to our own Salvation TESTIMONIES You have seen in the last Chapter the Assembly's and Congregational Elders Judgment and that we are not the less under Grace for being encouraged to do good by the Promises c. The Case is so plain that I shall only give the Judgment of the greater part of those Reverend Divines whose Names are set in the Front of Dr. Crisp's Works and interpreted by the VVeak to a contrary purpose than what they intended These Divines in the Preface to Mr. Flavel's Book against Antinomianism which they approve of inform us That to say Salvation is not the End of any Good VVork we do or VVe are to act from Life and not for Life were to abandon the Humane Nature it were to teach us to violate the great Precepts of the Gospel it supposeth one bound to do more for the Salvation of others than our own 't were to make all the Threatnings of Eternal Death and Promises of Eternal Life we find in the Gospel of our blessed Lord useless as Motives to shun the one or obtain the other It makes the Scripture-Characters and Commendation of the most Eminent Saints a Fault Had I seen this sooner it might have spared some of my Reasons The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because we ought not to do any thing from Carnal Self-love therefore we ought to do nothing from Rational and Spiritual Self-love Because Christ redeemed us that we may not live to our selves as our own Lords therefore we must not in obeying him regard the Rewards he promiseth us as he is our Lord. Because we must aim at God's Glory above all therefore we must not at all intend our own happiness in the enjoyment of this God Because we must aim at the good of others therefore we must not aim at our own good Because we should obey God from Gratitude and Love therefore we should not obey him from any Hope or filial Fear Because God hath engaged to give Life and Happiness to the Elect when they have finished their warfare and work therefore they must not intend the obtaining that happiness in any part of that work or warfare CHAP. XV. Of the way to attain Assurance TRUTH THe ordinary way whereby a Man attaineth a well-grounded Assurance is not by immediate objective Revelation or an inward Voice saying Thy Sins are forgiven thee But when the Believer is examining his Heart and Life by the Word the holy Spirit enlightens the Mind there to discern Faith and Love and such other Qualifications which the Gospel declareth to be infallible Signs of Regeneration And he adds such power to the Testimony of Conscience for the Truth and In-being of these Graces as begets in the Soul a joyful sense of its reconciled State and some comfortable freedom from those Fears which accompany a doubting Christian and according to the Evidence of these Graces Assurance is ordinarily strong or weak ERROUR Assurance is not attained by the Evidence of Scripture-Marks or Signs of Grace or by the Spirits discovering to us that he hath wrought in our Hearts any holy Qualifications But Assurance comes only by an inward Voice of the Spirit saying Thy Sins are forgiven thee and our believing thereupon that our Sins are forgiven Proved that this is Doctor Crisp's Opinion P. 491. Would you know that the Lord hath laid your Iniquities on Christ you must know it thus 1. Is there a Voice behind thee or within thee saying particularly to thee in thy self Thy Sins are forgiven thee Dost thou see this Voice agree with the Word of Grace that is Dost thou see it held out to most vile and wretched Creatures as thou canst be and upon this Revelation of the Mind of the Lord by his Spirit according to that Word doth the Lord give thee to receive that Testimony of the Spirit to sit down with it as satisfied that upon this thou makest full reckoning thou hast propriety in this particularly to thy self If thou dost receive that Testimony according to that Word here is thy Evidence Thou hast thy Propriety and Portion in this On this Point the Doctor spends much time Serm. 15. is to prove That Love to the