in this matter there is but a notional difference between these two it having been shewn that Christ as a Saviour designs our holiness his Salvation being chiefly that from the worst of Evils sin Canst thou think Reader that Mr. F. deserves to be accused as Popishly affected in this point Are all those Papists in the Doctrine of justification that deny a dead Faith to be the condition of it and doth not S. Iames say that Faith without works is dead And if a living Faith justifies is it Popery to say that it justifies as 't is a living Faith I am sure 't is non-sense to say otherwise Doth Mr. F. any where contrary to the Apostle Paul assert the merit of Works no he makes works or a working Faith only a necessary condition of justification as S. Iames doth and all the Apostles and Christ alone to be the meritorious cause of it And he must needs attribute our justification to the free grace of God in Christ when he makes also the condition of it Faith a free gift a grace of God's holy Spirit In short let the Reader consult Mr. F's Free Discourse between two intimate Friends p. 149. to p. 190. and there he shall see his full sense of justifying Faith and the notion given there of it sufficiently defended 2. The other notion Mr. F. in this inference saith the Design of Christianity will give satisfaction concerning is that of the imputation of Christs Righteousness viz. That it consists in dealing with sincerely righteous persons as if they were perfectly so for the sake and upon the account of Christ's Righteousness And he shews that the Doctrine of the Design of Christianity makes it impossible that any other notion of this point should have truth in it But mark what he saith in the close But because both these Points are discussed in the Free Discourse I have said so little of the former and will proceed no farther on this but refer the Reader thither c. Would any one now have imagined but that this I. B. had he the least spark of ingenuity or meant at all honestly would have taken occasion to inform himself throughly from that Discourse concerning Mr. F's judgment in these two points especially and to try the strength of the arguments whereby he there hath confirmed his Doctrine and if he had been sagacious enough to espy flaws in them to make a discovery of them but he takes no more notice of that Book than if there had been none such extant nay though Mr. F. doth several times in the Design of Christianity refer to it This is the Blade that loves to tell the world he is a lover of Truth but if she hath no sincerer friends than he makes it apparent by this and all his other practices he is her case would be most deplorable All that understand this man may safely conclude that he hath as little will as ability to find out and acquaint himself with this precious Jewel But to the next Inference The Fifth Inference chap. 20. That we learn from the Design of Christianity what is the great measure and standard whereby we are to judge of Doctrines both whether they are true or false and in what degree necessary to be received or rejected The Sixth Inference chap. 22. That the Design of Christianity teacheth us what Doctrines and Practices we ought as Christians to be most zealous for or against Those surely that are most available to the begetting and increase of true holiness it is our duty to be most concerned for and those that have the greatest tendency towards the endangering of it to set our selves with the greatest industry against The Seventh Inference chap. 23. That the Design of Christianity well considered will give us great light into the just bounds of our Christian liberty And that that being to make men holy it may safely be presumed that such things as have neither directly nor consequentially any tendency to the depraving our souls are left free to us by our Saviour And 't is shewn that this is only to be understood of such things as the Gospel speaks nothing particularly and clearly concerning The Eighth Inference chap. 24. That 't is a most unaccountable thing to do that which is essentially evil in defence of the Christian Religion or of any opinions presumed to be Doctrines relating thereunto I would J. B. would well lay to heart this I am sure if he had done so when he read it there would have been no occasion for these leavs The Ninth Inference chap. 25. That 't is most unwarrantable for the Ministers of Christ to prefer any design before that of making men really righteous and holy The Tenth Inference chap. 26. That an obedient temper of mind is an excellent and necessary qualification to prepare men for a firm belief and right understanding of Christ's Gospel The Last Inference chap. 27. That we are taught by the Design of Christianity wherein the Essence Power and life of it consisteth viz. in a holy frame and temper of soul whereby it esteemeth God as the chiefest good preferreth him and his Son Jesus before all the world and prizeth above all things an Interest in the Divine perfections such as justice and righteousness universal Charity Goodness Mercy Patience and all kinds of purity From whence doth naturally proceed a hearty complyance with all the holy Precepts of the Gospel and sincere endeavours to perform all those actions which are agreeable to them are necessary expressions of those and the like vertues and means for the obtaining and encrease of them What thinkest thou now Reader canst thou fancy the Design of Christianity to be another Leviathan or rather art thou able to retain any tolerable opinion of that man that calls it so and represents it as such a piece of monstrous Devilism Nay can he himself have such a Brazen Forehead as not to be confounded to think what he hath done upon his reading over if he can be perswaded to it but this short account of that Treatise I pray God give him true Repentance and set home upon his Conscience what hath and shall be farther laid open to his view in this small Pamphlet which if ever he does I am sure he 'l acknowledge that Mr. F. hath given him as little temptation to accuse him so highly as did our blessed Saviour the malicious Pharisees to fasten upon him the imputation of as fearful crimes viz. profane company keeping Treason witchcraft and Blasphemy And who can be so blind as not to see that the only provocation I B. could have to exclaim at such a rate is this that the design of Mr. F's took is utterly to root out that doctrine which is the grand support of wretched hypocrites and which doth infinitely disparage our Blessed Lord Jesus and his glorious Gospel I mean that filthy doctrine of Antinomianism with which this man hath stuffed his sad Scrible and it appears not only
his supreme faculty in it's throne c. and saith that they suppose it is within the Power of a mans own soul always to keep Sin out of it self c. But can he think that these words suppose it when 1. Mr. F. makes holiness the effect of God's grace and Spirit not of a mans own power 2. When he doth deny any such thing as perfect holiness in this life p. 27. And 3. When he saith immediately after his Third description that so far forth as holiness is vigorous and predominant in men it causeth them to perform good actions and forbear the contrary All this lamentable stuff is in the two first Pages But I have something else to do than thus to trace him to the end for 't is all alike and therefore I can look for no other should I do so from all wise men than to be call'd fool for my pains I will therefore only take notice of those things that he builds most noise upon After a deal of hideous non-sense and running over the same things again and again he saith in p. 13. That this Righteousness as Mr. F. hath described it is not that which justifieth us before God Because it is our own and tells us that there is the righteousness of men and the righteousness of God But is that Righteousness our own that is wrought in us by God's Holy Spirit Is not that God's righteousness which is the effect of God's grace who sees not that it is And therefore his Citation of Phil. 3. 9. will do him no service for S. Paul meant no other there by his own Righteousness which is of the Law than that which consisted in the observance of the purely Jewish Law which he calls his own righteousness because he could obtain it by his own natural power it consisting of external performances And by the Righteousness of God by Faith in the next verse he means the righteousness of the new Creature wrought in him by God's Holy Spirit through Faith in Christ's Gospel And so the Apostle explains himself in the following words That I may know him and the Power of his Resurrection c. That is that I may know the power of his Resurrection in raising me up to newness of life and of his death in mortifying all my lusts And whereas he abuseth Rom. 10. 3. to the same purpose take notice that their own Righteousness there is no other than that the unchristian Iews gloried in as that by which alone they expected justification and eternal Salvation and 't is the same with that in the Philippians He saith The Righteousness Mr. F. hath described is the Righteousness of the Moral Law only But I say that his general Descriptions take in the Righteousness of the Gospel too 'T is said that 't is such a disposition and temper of the inward man as causeth men to be under the power of all practical principles made known by Revelation and all the Laws of the Gospel I hope are such And Mr. F. abundantly sheweth that this Righteousness is by the Faith of Jesus Christ that is by effectually believing Christ's Gospel in shewing what an admirable instrument the Gospel is to work this Righteousness And this is an answer to the text quoted out of Rom. 3. 21. Mark by the way I. B takes Faith still for nothing else but a bare relying on the merits or righteousness of Christ which any presumptious wretch may do but I will make it good against men of an hundred times his abilities if it be possible any such should be of his mind that the true Christian Faith is such a Belief of the doctrine of the Gospel as implyeth an hearty complyance with all its Precepts whereof that of relying on Christ's merits is one and but one He saith the Righteousness Mr. F. hath described can't justifie before God because of its imperfections and then follows another page within two or three lines spent in proving and Crying out of the corruption of nature in the midst of which he brings Gal. 2. 16. to prove that his assertion where he said 't is By the works of the Law shall no flesh living be justified But I have told the Reader already that Mr. F. never affirmed but absolutely denyeth justification by any thing but the Righteousness of Christ only as a meritorious cause and he holds the true living Faith to justify as a Condition without which no man by the Righteousness of Christ shall be justified And whereas the Apostle saith by the works of the law none shall be justified his meaning is that none shall be justified by the merit of them nor yet in any sence by them considered as opposed to the obedience of the Gospel He Saith the Righteousness which Mr. F. hath described can't justify because 't is not of faith This he proves from Gal. 3. 12. The Law is not of Faith The meaning of that place is the law makes no account of Faith allows no justification but on condition of legal obedience as the following words shew but he that doth them shall live in them But now the Righteousness Mr. F. hath described doth make account of faith it causing men to comply with all Divine Revelations and therefore with the Gospel He saith p. 18. that there are three things essential to Gospel Holiness of which Mr. F's Descriptions are utterly destitute The Holy Ghost Faith in Christ A new heart The Holy Ghost But Mr. F. hath shewn that this Righteousness cannot be obtained without the assistance of the Holy Ghost But 't is false and nonsense to say the Holy Ghost is of the Essence of Righteousuess and therefore that he ought to be put into the definition of it He may as well say that a man is falsly described when he is said to be a Reasonable Creature indued with a Soul and Body because God his Creator is left out of the description As for Faith in Christ I have again and again shewed that it is manifestly contained in Mr. F's descriptions And then for a new heart and a new spirit What difference is there between these and Purity of nature and a Sound complexion of Soul and a Divine or Godlike nature doth not every body know that these are but several expressions of the very same thing P. 23 He inveighs against Mr. F's saying that it was Christ's main errand to effect our deliverance out of that sinful state we had brought our selves into and so to put us again into possession of the holiness that we had lost By this you see he was not ignorant that Mr. F. asserted the corruption of nature for all his base suggestions to the contrary Now saith he I would have the Reader take notice that in this last clause to put us again into possession of that holiness which we had lost is the Summ of all his large Descriptions and the Holiness he contends for is only that which
by that but by his other lamentable writings that he is as rank and Ranting an Antinomian as ever foul'd paper I concluded as soon as I had read the Design of Christianity which no man hath done more deliberately or impartially than my self that it would be a very acceptable work to Sincere Souls but on the otherside as welcome to all hardned hypocrites as our Saviours Sermon on the Mount to the Scribes and Pharisees I knew it would make such gnash their teeth and that the Author would be an object of their Spight and rage but I must confess I could not in the least imagine that any one that would be thought a Christian had so little concern for his reputation as so shamelesly to lay open his hypocrisie to the sight of all men as by printing such fearful stuff as this I. B. hath done In the first place he sets down a Catalogue of the Errors and Doctrines destructive of Christianity that he saith Mr. F. hath presented to the world in his as he calls it Feigned Design c. And that it might make a huge shew he puts it upon the tenter hooks to make it contain so round a number as just forty And 't is worth our observation that in order to the making of it so bulky a thing as he does he useth this honest Art as any one will see that reads his long bed-roul with the least attention namely he makes in abundance of instances distinct doctrines of different expressions and proofs and illustrations of one and the same thing As in the first place the sixth damnable wicked doctrine he chargeth on Mr. F. is That Christs grand coming into the world was to put us again into possession of that holiness that we had lost Design of Christianity page 12. The seventh That Iohn the Baptist the Angel sent to Zacharias and Mary which is his own addition and Malachi preached this doctrine p. 13. The eighth That by Christs saving us from Sin is meant not first his saving us from the punishment of it c. p. 14 15. Mark by the way that what he refers to here is only two or three words by which the proof out of Malachi of the same thing is explained The nineteenth That the Salvation of Christ first consists in curing our wounds and secondarily in freeing us from the smart p. 216. The Twentieth That pardon doth not so much consist in remission as in healing p. 216. Note this is not Mr. F's saying but only a saying of the Ancient Father Clemens of Alexandria quoted by him The 29th That the grand intent of the Gospel is to make us partakers of inward real righteousness and it is but a Secondary one that we should be accepted and rewarded as if we were completely righteous p. 226. The 30th That it is not possible that any other notion of this doctrine should have truth in it p. 226. I. B. himself cannot be so blind as not to be able to see that all these seven amount to one and the same thing Again the 12th Error is That it is impossible a wicked man should have God's pardon p. 119. That is as Mr. F. explain'd himself he continuing wicked The 13th That 't is impossible Christ's Righteousness should be imputed to an unrighteous man p. 120. That is he continuing unrighteous The 14th That if it were it would signify as little to his happiness while he continueth so as would a gorgeous and splendid garment to one that is almost starved p. 120. The 15th That for God to justifie a wicked man c. would far more disparage his justice and holiness than advance his grace and kindness p. 130. The 16th That men are not capable of Gods pardoning grace till they have truly repented them of all their Sins p. 130. Who that hath eyes in his head doth not see that these are all the same Once more The 21 st pretended error is That Faith justifies as it includes true holiness in the nature of it p. 221. The 22 d. That the Faith that Iustifies a Sinner to so high a priveledge as that of Iustification must needs be such as complyeth with all the purposes of Christ's coming into the world and especially with his grand purpose and 't is no less necessary that it should justify as it doth this p. 222. The 23d That he wonders that any worthy man should be so difficultly perswaded to embrace this account of justifying Faith p. 222. A special doctrine this doth he know what the word doctrine means that makes this one The 24th That there can be no pretence for a man to think that Faith should be the condition or instrument of justification as it complyeth with only the precept of relying on Christs merits for the obtaining of it p. 223. The 25th That it is as clear as the Sun at noonday that Obedience to the other precepts must go before Obedience to this p. 223. The 26th That he shall be his Apollo that can give him a sufficient reason why justifying Faith should consist in recumbency and relying on Christs merits for the pardon of Sin p. 224. This another special doctrine And anon his foul dishonesty in this shall be discovered The 27th That he will take the boldness to tell those who are displeased with this account of justifying Faith that in his opinion it is impossible they should think of any other p. 225. This a doctrine like the other two which no one of common sense would call so Here are seven more of his Doctrines that are all the same To which also may be added many more that are the very same but I am weary of this work and I think I have done fairly in transcribing these instances whereby it is manifest that nineteen of his number are dwindled away into almost but a poor three And by these let the Reader judg of the rest or rather let him Examine and compare them himself and he will find enough in all conscience of the same fair play and be ready to take up his saying to the Shearer of the hoggs A GREAT CRY BUT LITTLE WOOL Next after this doughty performance our notable Muster-master of damnable doctrines thus accosts his Reader Reader I have given thee here but a taste of these things and by my Book but a brief reply to the errors that he by his hath divulged to the world although many more are by me reflected than the Forty thou art here presented with But I must tell our honest Iohn that surely he never expected any other Readers than the most arrant Blockheads or he except he be so himself would never have made them such a present And whereas he saith he hath reflected many more to pass by the non-sense I will assure him that after his rate of counting if I may but have the honour to serve him in compleating his Catalogue it should scape me hard but I would advance Mr. F's errors from so modest a number
that the most hardned wretches have ordinarily the strongest confidence that the merits and Righteousness of Christ is theirs which as I said is this poor mans faith But 2. this Salvo as a worthy person saith is like to prove but a slippery hold when 't is believed as those people do that Gratitude it self as well as all other graces is in them already by imputation They must say something to make their wretched doctrine to seem less odious or they would scarcely be indured in a Christian State But whereas I said that the fore-mentioned Salvo is demonstrated by experience to have nothing of Truth I must tell the Reader that I need go no farther for an example than this poor Creature himself he is as sad an instance of the falsity of that pretence as ever I knew No man discovers a stronger confidence as I can prove in the merits of Christ nor more presumes that the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to him than doth this man but in the mean time what is the holiness that this Faith of his hath produced If as insolent pride as ever man heard of the most outragious Fury the most turbulent Spirit the most reviling and defaming Pen and Tongue and consequently the most malicious Soul can consist with the mortification of Sin and true holiness then this man may be a holy man but he that saith they can affirms this horrid contradiction viz. that the most thick Egyptian darkness may have fellowship with pure light and the most exact and lively resemblances of the Devil may consist with the image of the infinitely holy God and a Divine nature Let him not think himself a Saint because he hath a zeal and pretends to have it for God too for so the worst of men the Pharisees had and the Crucifiers of the Lord of Glory Rom. 10. 2. or because he preacheth and makes long prayers for besides that if fame belies him not those are such as alone declare him not only a very absurd but naughty man I say besides this the Abominable Pharisees were as good at those things as he for his heart can be If he thinks that his despising and separating from others as carnal and prophane wretches though far better than himself and such as communion with whom will defile him is an argument of his holiness I will only ask him who those were that cryed Stand by thy self come not near to me for I am holier than thou Isai. 65. 5. and who those likewise were that S. Iude saith Separated themselves as being much more perfect than others and calling themselves the Spiritual v. 19. If he flatter himself with a fond conceit as no doubt he doth that suffering persecution is a great evidence of holiness the Quakers which he himself counts most damnable Hereticks have suffered as much and many of them far more than ever he hath done whose persecutions have been but fleabites or not so bad nay no other than such as have contributed to his purse far more plentifully than ever his cast of trade could But besides the Apostle tells us If I give my body to be burnt and have not Charity which I. B. proclaims himself if the Tree be known by the fruit utterly void of it profiteth me nothing Read the 13 Chap. of the first to the Corinthians and you need not be told how charitable this man is In a word the Devil hath his Martyrs as well as Jesus Christ. He will not say that being no drunkard or fornicator c is any argument of a holy man for he inveighs against none as unholy so much as those he is not able to tax with the vices that denominate men so or any other immoralities and I must tell him too however he take it that his vices are as far beyond such as are those that render men like to Devils more black and filthy than those that make them resemble Brutes And our Saviour hath told the men of I. B's Saintship that Publicans and Harlots shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven before themselves I heartily again pray that this plain and most honest dealing may be succesful to his true Repentance but it is scarcely to be hoped it will so long as he persists in his gross conceits concerning that blessed doctrine of justification by faith and imputation of Christs Righteousness which are but two expressions of one and the same thing as is abundantly proved in the Free Discourse for while he rouls himself on Christ for Salvation and strongly conceits that he is clad with his Righteousness which I have with undeniable evidence shewn to be the whole of his justifying faith he looks upon all his sins past present and to come as actually pardoned and therefore who that is not as blind as a post cannot see that Repentance is then a needless and vain thing nay and that 't is but a meer mockery for such a one as I. B. so much as to pray for the pardon of his sins And I entreat those that use to hear him to observe whether ever he doth so He contradicts himself egregiously if he doth any more than pray that God would give them a sense and assurance that their sins are pardoned the plain English of which petition is in him no more than this that God would strengthen more and more their already too strong fancies that they may not doubt but that their foul pollutions are all hidden from his all-seeing eye by the garment of the Righteousness of Christ cast over them and that they may be more and more assured that as bad as they are Christs righteousness doth not suffer him to see any iniquity in them I Say 't is scarcely to be hoped that this man should ever repent or so much as pray for pardon till he comes to embrace that doctrine which he now so detests viz. That receiving of Christ as a Lord to rule as well as a Priest to Save is a condition without which God will pardon none for the sake of Christ and also that no mens sins are actually pardoned before they are repented of and therefore much less before they are committed and that Christs individual Righteousness is not made any mans in a proper sense much less that it is so merely because he believes it is so and that there is no other doctrine true concerning the imputation of Christs Righteousness than this That those only that are enabled by the grace of God to hate and detest their sins or are endued with inward real righteousness shall have the benefit of Christs righteousness For to have Christ's Righteousness imputed as is fully proved in the aforesaid book is onely and that is as much as heart can wish to have as great advantages by his righteousness accruing to us as if it were in the properest sense imaginable made ours Before I go farther let me tell the Reader that this whole Doctrine of Mr. F's concerning justification by Faith is most