God doth speak it so clearly that nothing can be objected against it let not any thing cause thee to live in so much darkness and uncomfortableness as thou must do till thou receive this Grace of the Lord. Now Reader Be thine own Judge and thou wilt find that this Author even in this his particular dealing with the Dr. would overthrow two main Pillars of our Religion as 1. The compleat satisfaction of Christ as it respects sin in the full demerits of the same 2. The Grace of God himself in the free and full sovereign application thereof unto Elect Sinners See Dr. Owen on Heb. 12. 6. Vol. IV. 1. That love is antecedent unto chastening he chastens whom he loves so it is with any Father he hath first the love of a Father before he chasten his Son whatever therefore is the same materially with the chastisement of children if it be where the Love of Adoption doth not precede is punishment mark here Reader The love therefore here inâ—ended is the love of Adoption that is the love of Benevolence whereby he makes men his children and his love of complacency in them when they are so 2. Châ—stising is an effect of his love It is not only consequential unto it but springs from it wherefore there is nothing properly poenal in the chastisements of Believers punishment proceeds from love unto Justice not from love unto the person punished Chastisement is from love to the person chastised though mixed with displeasure against his sin Note here Reader with an especial Note That the person of a Believer is not displeased with though under the chastisement not punishment of the Lord for sin Therefore the said Dr further tells us on v. 9 10. That the especial end of God in Divine Chastisements is that he may make us partakers of his holiness And on v. the 11th he furâ—her sheweth the benefit of chastiâ—ements And is not all this Dr. Crisp's own Assertion that it is â—oâ— for â—â— in a poeâ—al sense but from sin that God afflicts his People or that he is displeased with their personâ— whilst he doth afflict them The second thing noâ—ed in this Charge is in Page 40. where our Author gives us the Dr's reason why God â—oth not afflict or punish any Believer for fin namely because Christ borâ—â—ll the pâ—nishment due to sin and if he bore all we can bear none God wâ—â—ld not punish Christ and Bâ—lievers too And he endeavours to invalidate Crisp unmask'd page 40. it â—â— as notable a Socinian distinction saving the blockishness of it as most I have mâ—t with Thiâ— seems â—aâ—s he to be a plausible reason but it hath no solid Foundation It is inâ—â—ed a meer Fâ—llacy which I prove thus To argue after this manner Chriâ—â— bore all Punishment due to Sin therefore Believers have none to bear is sophistical bâ—câ—uâ—e the â—nâ—ecedent Proposition speaks not of the same bearing of punishment that the coâ—sequent Propâ—sition speaks of The one speaks of bearing punishment as that punishment was a full satisfaction to God for sin but the other speaks of bearing punishment as 't is the desert of sin Now thinking he hath come off with Flying Colours he tells us Here is a vast difference between these two And indeed there is but not in our Author's sense as I humbly conceive It seems therefore says he that there is a bearing of punishment as a full satisfaction to God for sin this Christ bore but there is also says he another bearing of punishment and that as it is the desert of sin this the sinner bears He further tells us that it is no good consequence to say That if Christ bore all the sufferings due to sin then we must bear none This might pass for a pretty Quibble were there not so much as thou wilt find of hellish Blasphemy lodged in it for what of punishment for sin did Christ undergo if the full compleat desert thereof was not laid upon him And if this was not inflicted upon him to the very uttermost that an infinitely Divine Hand of offended Justice could exact how was God or Justice satisfied But Sir we ken your meaning very well That Sin was not the meritorious but impulsive cause of the Death of Christ which in plain terms is to assign no more unto his Death but what is incident unto Nature upon Its dissolution and therefore be pleased to take home your sottish as well as wicked distinction to your self It is reckoned upon you as being reprobate Silver and what will by no means pass amongst the Shekels of the Sanctuary And notwithstanding his subsequent paring of this his Assertion so as to take off its more apparent rough-hewedness which in the substance thereof doth more than once drop from him it is for no other end than that it may with the more undiscernedness pass off like poison in a Glass of Wine The third thing in this Charge is The Scriptures he produces against the Doctor which evidently make for him as Lev. 26. 18 24 28. Ez. Crisp Vnmask'd p 41 42 43 44. 9. 13. Lam. 3. 39. Aâ—os 3. 2. 1 Cor. 11. 30 31 32. Isa 27. 9. Not one of these Texts bespeaks God's displeasure against the Persons of Believers or his bringing Afflictions upon them in a penally-vindicative sense some expressing warnings some duties actually closed with as stirred up thereunto by them some duties to be engaged in and under them some gracious effects from and thorow them And that of the Corinthians is but the same with that of Vzzah and King Josiah now will any one say that this proceeds from God's looking upon those of them that were true Believers as not having their Sins in the full desert as well as punishment of them upon Christ for which it is that the Doctor expresses himself in those curtail'd Quotations that our Author brings against him See Dr. Owen on Heb. 12. 6 7 8 9 10. 11. And now our Author after all his pitiful sttuff tells us p. 45. That he will not here nicely dispute about the Nature of punishment c. AS to the Ninth Charge IX He tells us that It is not only asserted by him i. e. the Crisp Vnmask'd Pag. 47. Doctor that God is not offended or displeased with Believers much less punisheth them for their Sins but he holds likewise that God is not pleased with any of their Graces and Duties or whatever good thing they do although these proceed from the Holy Spirit the Author of all Goodness Now should our Author have but his mind by a just rule of consequence the Spirit of God must take place of the Mediator and the Graces and Duties of Believers stand in the very room and stead of the Righteousness of Christ This will appear evidently from the places whence he fetches the matter of his Poyson against the Doctor or rather the Truths that the Doctor asserts As A Man would think that the Apostle contradicted himself
they continue in the same so continues he in the discharge of this his Neonomian Office as by them assigned unto him Whence it genuinly follows 3. That their exploding of Dr. Crisp for an Antinomian and expâ—sing him as One that is an Enemy to and Rejecter of Graces Duties and good Works an Espouser of Sin as disowning of any Evil to be therein arises from his not acknowledging of some causally-conditional thâ—ugh not meritorious with all our Adversaries blinding Arts Prerequisites to our Justification which had he done he must have openly defied Rom. 4. 5 and many more Texts that I could name to the absolute overthrow of the whole Oeconomy of the Covenant of Grace but that in an acquitted and Righteous sense must be not only through but as being chosen in Christ and thereby in time made actual Members of that Mystical Head and that from and by vertue of this our Fountain Union with him in Election vertually by Redemption and manifestatively by Effectual Calling both the Change of our Natures is wrought and consequently the performance of our Duties become expâ—rimentally unto us acceptable with God From a neglect of a due Consideration of the foregoing Heads I must tell thee and that from my own Experience and Knowledge That of all the Persons in the World that I have been acquainted with especial Professors either in their Polemical Writings Epâ—stâ—lary Argumentations or all Conferencâ—s I never met with I speak not of any of the former perswasions whereby they are distinguished as such as being satisfied that there are many truly worthy of each of them a more prevaricating inconsistent false dealing and vain glorious people than such as are settled and fixed upon this Neononomian bottom and that as a Judgment of God resting upon them for their abuse of his Righteousness so as to make it truckle thereunto in the bare Merits of the same and become thereby a meer Drudge to our own Righteousness or the Righteousness of the Spirit wrought within us which doth not only cast us the Foundation but brings also a disorder into the proper peculiar Acts of the Trinity it self in their positively distinct personal Operations wherein and whereby the Scripture evidently declares Maugre all the Socinian and Arminian Quodammodo's the perfect Exaltation Glory and Renown of one Eternal Deity in the subservient regular and conjâ—ynt management of that Covenant which these persons would overthrow as carried on by these threee blâ—ssed Subsistenciâ—s though essentially One for the Father properly serves not the Son herein nor the Son the Spirit though each unanimâ—usly carry on the same design yet it is by a distinct Demonstration and Application of both the form and matter of the same as Graciously engaged in and by their own voluntary and everlasting Counsels Hence it is that the Pharisees of old fell short of their Justification notwithstanding their owning of the Grace of God and their great Expectations from the same in order unto it Luk. 18. 81. c. and which is remarkable in reference unto Peter himself who when he began to warp in this point Gal. 2. He is treated with as no less than a Dissembler and all those sâ—ding with him to be under the Power and Prevalency of Dissimulation for a time The reason of God's Jealousie herein and consequently his Judgment upon them is very plain in that it is the same Righteousness in God that he will have exalted both in the Salvation and Damnation of a Sinner and that as exerted by and held forth in the the Law though towards the latter immediately but to the former in and mediately through Christ and that not as to the meer Effects thereof though they follow thereupon but the solid substantial Appearance and Application of the same as the stabilitating Ground and Juridical Foundation of both their Bliss and Misery together with the just Proceedings of God therein Mark Rom. 3. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. For it is the self-same Righteousness under the just prosecuting Sentence and Charge whereof the Damned lie in which it is that the Elect stand justify'd before God Thus the same Doctrin preached by the same Apostles became the Savour of Life unto some and the Savour of Death unto Death unto others 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. comp Rom. 10. 3 4. Therefore of Grace for why should any one be made Partaker of that unto his Salvation which pronounces a just Sentence of Condemnation upon another but that it is meerly of Grace The one standing justified in that which passes a Sentence of Condemnation upon the other He that hath Ears to hear let him hear A SHORT REVIEW OF SOME REFLECTIONS c. IN all Buildings the Foundation is to be first secured for where that is laid essentially and entirely in an Error it is absolutely impossible to be true unto it in an erected Fabrick upon the same without a continued Superstructure of Errors Mendacium mendaciis tegit nè perfluat for as Truth cannot be retained and defended but by Truth there being an inseparable connexion between that of the lowest and highest Degree and Station thereof in the Church of God as there was of every Nail and Thred of a Fringe in the Tabernacle to the Priest Altar and Sacrifice so neither can Error be justly maintained and genuinely pleaded for but by a constant Enumeration of Errors those being a decorum and order even in Romances and Play Books as well as other things Hence it is that these two things do infallibly fall out especially in days of more than ordinary Tryals when the Lord Jesus comes with his Fan in his Hand by this or the other Providence thorowly to purge his Floor 1. That the more the Heretick properly such which I take to be one that either removes or perverts the Foundation that God hath laid is put upon the defensative part of his Error he still adhering unto the same though never so latent at first or for a while and consequently undiscerned the more speedily and clearly both he and it will appear unto others This is evident beyond all manner of Dispute in our Neonomian Contestors this day as will fully appear anon 2. That many who may seem to differ much even to a direct opposition as to appearance at least in several Circumstantials and more Minute Appendixes unto Truth as arising either from their Darkness and consequently invincible mistakes in apprehending one another their peculiar mode of expressing themselves or their timing of each particular Truth in assigning unto it its proper and more individual station order use and dependance yet these as truly holding the Head especially in reference to the Doctrin of Justification the Controverted point this day whatever their present Dissonancy and thereupon Exasperations may be as between Luther and Calvin will sooner or later coalesce and fall into One as being truly Members of the same Mystical Body because the Foundation is the same on which they are both laid
then to pray for the forgiveness of our sins is no more but to pray that God would manifest to us that God hath forgiven our sins and that it may be clear that God hath forgiven our sins before we do pray for the forgiveness of them And that Prayer is grounded upon God's act before hand made Consider this one thing I would ask this of you you that pray for forgiveness of your sins do you pray in Faith or do you not If you pray not in Faith mark what the Apostle James saith He that prayeth let him pray in Faith nothing doubting He that wavereth let him not think he shall obtain any thing at the hands of the Lord Beloved your Prayers stink and are abominable in the Nostrils of God if you do not pray in Faith Well you pray in Faith you will say if you pray in Faith if you pray for the forgiveness of sin in Faith what is the ground of your Faith If you do believe you have a ground for your Faith You will say the Grant and Word of God is Page 370. the ground of your Faith Well if the Grant of God be the ground of your believing then the Grant hath a being before your Faith and so consequently before your prayer is made And do we not know that we ought to pray for the Fall of Babylon and that from this ground That she is fallen already in the irreversible determination of God Rev. 14. 8. And though she be not yet actually fallen must we not therefore pray for her fall Unless we can bring God's Decrees and irrevocable Purposes actually to depend upon our own Duties and Prayers This is our Author 's constant practice That he would assign more to our Duties and Graces nay so displaâ—e them that they are neitâ—er Duties indeed nor Graces for the obtaining of this or the other benefit and mercy than unto God himself as the express and fixedly donor of them even before we ask them upon which it is indeed that both our requesting dâ—sposition receptive and improving ability wholly depends Hence it is under which he betakes himself as unto a forlorn refuge p. 16. That if so how can we pray for the hallowing of God's Name or that his Kingdom should come whereas if both of the same had not been absolutely determined of God the matter of Prayer as enjoyned of Christ upon his Disciples would have been wholly in vain so the same as to the forgiveness of sins or trespasses he quotes p. 369. out of the Dr's Treatise which I cannot find though the substance of the place has been cited already And further proceeds in his quotation from p. 561. That the Dr. is an enemy to Prayer whose citation and the Dr's end therein I shall lay before thee Thus much he quotes out of him and annexes it barely unto an act of duty not regarding wherefore or for what ends the same was spoken which take as follows Beloved Christ became our Surety God accepted of him for our Debt he clâ—â—'d Christ in Goal as I may so say for the debt God Dr. Crisp's Works Vol. 3. p. 560. took every Farthing that he could demand of us he is now reconciled unto us he hath acknowledged satisfaction it is upon Record And now shall he come upon them again with fresh wrath for whom Christ hath done all this Shall he charge the debt upon them again He hath forgotten the Death of Christ it seems if this be true Therefore know thus much that it is against the Death of Christ it is the making of it of none effect it makes the coming of Christ to be in vain to say that the wrath of God will break out upon Believers mark the word if they commit such and such sins And for this that I have said Now our Proctoring Author comes in if any man can produce one Scripture against it if any man can shew in all the Book of God that it is any otherwise than I have delivered for my part I shall be of another mind and willingly recant my opinion But leaves out what follows But I see the Scripture runs wholly in this strain and is so full in noâ—hing as in this that God hath generally discharged the sins of Believers Oh then take heed of falling into that error of the Papists that say that God hath taken away the p. 561. sin but not the wrath of God due to sin that he hath forgiven our sins but not the punishment of sin But I beseech you consider that as our sins were then upon Christ he was so bruised for our iniquity that by his stripes we are healed and the chastisement of our peace was so upon him that he being chastised for our sins there is nothing else but peace belongs to us And the chastisement of our sins was so upon him that he beheld the travel of his Soul and was satisfied NOW Reader thou mayst see who this Author is and what also his design is and his false representation of the Doctor meerly because he abhors Duties and Graces in a Popish and meritorious sense This is the plain Grammar as latently radical of all his virulency against him As to the Fourth Charge IV. HE tells us that The Doctrin contained in these Sermons strikes at all Godly Sorrow Contrition Humiliation Confession and Lamenting of sin and Repenting of it and renders them useless and insignificant in the Life of a Christian Now what Warrant he hath had for this his bold assertion Crispi unmask'd p. 18. a plain unminced and uncurtailed quotation of the Dr. will fully satisfie and also discover unto thee and therein not only our Author 's false and disingenious proceedings with the Dr. but the ends for which he doth so as also the Principles by which he is acted in the same I must confess unto thee Reader before we go any further That unless this Author according to the complex account that this his Treatise gives of him be a ROGERVS L'ESTRANGE REDIVIVVS or as genuine a Spawn dropt from him in one sense or another as possibly can be imagined I am wholly at a loss to find him out And for this observe p. 19. where he cites the Dr. p. 317 319 320. where he never regards in any one of them the distinct yea verbally expressed ends of the Dr. therein Suppose there be a sin committed it may be more scandalous than ordinary which sin peradventure to sense wounds the Spirit the Question now is What it is that must or doth aid the Spirit of such an one of the sting Dr. Crisp 's Works Vol. II. Serm. 6. Page 317 318. and of the guilt of this or such like transgressioâ—s committed What doth discharge the soul of such a sin Now our Author â—â—mes in Usually it is taught amongst us by those which would be accounted the greatest Protestants and the greatest haters 〈…〉 that the proportion of Repentance and Tears and Sorrow
and of Fasting◠〈…〉 pâ—oportion of these answerable to the latitude and height of such transgressioâ—◠〈…〉 ease this takes away the burthen this lays the Soul at rest and quiet it Bâ—t he â—â—olly diâ—regards what follows namely Therefore when a Soul hath Transgrâ—ssed if iâ— be 〈◊〉 most or almost all the pantings of it are after extraordinary enlargemeâ—ts in bitterness and heâ—viness and mourning and melting and tears these are accounteâ— they that wash away Iniquity But beloved let me tell you it is impossible that all the righteousness of men though it were more perfect than it can be should lay one iniquity or any of the least circumstance of one iniquity upon Christ If a Man could weep his heart out if his heart could melt like Wax and dissolve into Water and gush out Riverâ— of Teâ—rs for sin all this could not carry away the least dram of the filthiness of 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 â—oul unto Christ nor unload the Soul of any sin to load Christ with it And is not all this true can any of our Duties cause God to lay sins upon Christ Doth not herein â—e the secret yea radical difference as to what our Author would basely insinuate both in the matter and manner and that very distortively from what it iâ— thâ—t the Dr. assertâ— the same between the Protestant and Popish Doctrin See Hos 8. 13 compard with the Marginal Râ—ading Where the Lord's charge even against a professing People is not thâ—ir rejectiâ—g of his Sacrifice but a postponiâ—g of it unto their own and thereby assigning the meritâ— of all their acceptance both in pardoning and justifying Grace unto the Sacrifice of the Lord provided that their own believing repenting c. have but a precedent or at least a mixed interest therein but what the consequence thereof was is evident even a toral disappointment of them not only in their hopes and expectations but also that That which they seemed to have or thought they had would prove but an emptiness or a Lie unto them in that they should find themselveâ— but in Egypt still i. e. neither changed in their state or nature He further cites him leaving out a part of the Objection and Answer also whence he picks his Charge wherein thou mayst yet further see into the Orthodoxy of the Doctor together with the Jesuitical design of our Author As Obj But some will say Though our performances do not lay our iniquities upon Christ â—et they do prevail with God and Dr. Crisp 's Work Vol. II. Serm. 6. p. 319. move God with pity towards us and stir up God to take our iniquites off from us and lay them upon Christ Now our Author comes in God cannot but melt will some say to see the tears of his People and the bitterness of their Spirits and their crying and their earnestness and their sorrows These cannot but prevail with him â—o have compassion on them To which he replies in these words I know this is the general conceit of too many in the World But beloved let me tell you there is nothing in all the Creatures in the World that hath the least prevalency with the Lord let them do what they can all our Prayers all our Tears all our Fastings all our Mournings all our Reluctancy and fighting against our Corruptions they move God not a jot to lay our sins upon Christ But he leaves out what immediately follows wherein the Doctor explains himself thus God is moved only from himself If they move God what must they move him to If God be moved at any thing he is moved according to the nature of the thing that is done If the nature of the thing produce evil effects God must be moved to do evil to Men if good effects if there be good in the things they move him to Good Now I ask is there good or evil in any thing Men do When they have sinned they pray and they confess and they mourn and they fast is there evil or good in these looked upon in their own nature No Man can deny but that there is abundance of Iniquity in the best Performances a Man doth and God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity That which must move God to do good must have a goodness in it self all the motive therefore in the Lord is simply himself Now doth the Doctor contradict himself at all in any of this Let him that runs both read and judge These proceedings in the manner of them may allusively be applied unto what old Jacob charges upon his Sons Simeon and Levi viz. That they made him even to stink in the Land i. e. under a pretence of estastablishing an Ordinance of God which was Circumcision they had deceitfully and villainously but gratified their own Lusts by the same Thus it is in reference to Reformation when Persons so cry up Holiness which is an indispensible Qualification as well as mark of a Child of God yet so as to dethrone what is of a higher nature both in kind and degree they are as experience all along informs us enforced to betake themselves to such visibly-pitiful subterfuges and wretched Prevarications in the Prosecution of their designs therein that even Holiness and Reformation themselves have become nauseous to them about us yea such has been their methods and measures in their seeming endeavours after a promoting of them as that they are so far from being truly expressive of the same both in their nature and kind as that indeed if practically attended unto would prove destructive unto the very receiveâ— dictaâ—es of the Light of Nature it self and that in the common moral operation of the same Wheâ—ce it is that true Holiness in the universal nature thereof is not only so little regarded by and appearing in most of their followers but also become a meer fancy and but a by-word unto those who expresly prefer Morality uâ—to Grace by denying unto them any essential difference in the same These things indeed both in their Principles and Practices are the very Achan of our Israel and though they have put a stop in some measure unto the Camp of real Reformation in its more apparent progressiveness therein yet I am satisfied that God is in this very day of Controversie a leading all such Abbetors of them so into the Valley of Decision as will manifest that his grand contest with them is not so muâ—h their espousing but appropriating even of his own truths his Silver Gold and pleasant things definitive of the Graces wrought by and Duâ—ies enabled unto by his own Spirit unto their own Temples all which however black they may seem for the present yet are absoâ—ute Tokens of God's being nigh at haâ—d and thâ—t with a purposed design to decide the matter in dispute for his sumâ—oning of 〈◊〉 herâ—uâ—to is as is evident but in order to his speedy appearance Jâ—el 3. 5. â—â— â—2 〈◊〉 v. 1 14. for God will remember Amalek for standing in the way
inheâ—ent righteousness is the matter in which though for the merits of the Righteousness of Christ all that shall be saved are justified or pronoâ—nced juridically just before God wherein it is evident That the whole of the eternal Counsels of God concerning Mankind in the Judgment committed by the Father unto the Son are demonstratively set forth in the very form of Christ's proceedings on that day and that to the stopping of the Mouths of Angels Men and Devils together with the Manifestations of the faithfulness of Christ in the discharge of his Mediatory Office by bringing about the full and undeniable accomplishment of the aforesaid Counsels not only in the very matter but order and regular course and manner of the same In short the whole of the transactions of that day will appear to be as sententially declar'd by Christ a perfect Epitomized Transcript of the secret of God's Covenant As 1. The Doctrin of Election wherein God's eternal purpose of Love towards a certain number of the Lump or Mass of Mankind without any regard unto by way of motive or foresight of their believing or justified state fully appears therefore called Sheep separate the Sheep from the Goats even before they were so much as actually changed in their state v. 32. comp John 10. 16. 2. THE Doctrine of Justification is made manifest in Christ's setting them on his right hand or changing their station which precedes his owning any of their works v. 33. comp Rom. 8. 5. 3. THE Doctrin of Regeneration attested unto in the fruits of the same even good works from a gracious principle to a right end and their self denial thereupon v. 35 36 37 38 39 40. Rev. 14. 13. Their works follow but go not before them compare Matth. 7. 22. Luke 13. 26. 4. ALL this is apparently founded upon their being blessed of the Father but when was that Even then when he had prepared a Kingdom for them and that from the Foundation of the World v. â—4 comp 2 Tim. 1. 9. whereupon it is that the blessed Son resigns up his Mediatory Office and Kingdom unto the Father together with the trust committed unto him 1 Cor. 15. 24. Heb. 2. 13. whereby God becomes All in All. Where now is room for boasting ye pitiful Hucksters in Divinity Where are you causa sine qua nons your Conditions Causes and Prerequisites BUT we must attend our Author who quotes the Dr. p 15. Though a Believer after he be a Believer doth sin often yet God no longer stands offended and displeased with him when he hath once received Christ And Dr. Crisp's Works Vol. I. Serm. 2. pag. 15. Quoted by Crispia unmask'd page 37. hench he gives what he thinks to be the Dr's reason on which our Modeller fixes his mistake but perfectly leaves out the bottom-ground thereof by which our Author gives us some Socinian glimmerings more of which both as to the matter and clearness we may see in his next Charge for ibid. here he tells us His reason is because if Christ bore our Iniquities he also bore the displeasure of God for them and though God be displeased at sin in Believers and hates and abhors it yet he is not offended with the Persons of Believers who commit that sin because they are justified Now compare this with what he leaves out in the same Page unquoted from the Dr. as follows whence thou mayst have a little view of Socinus's Face though pictut'd or shadow'd forth in what our Author says but somewhat side-ways And saith the Dr. unto them God saith Anger is not in me Isa 27. 4. And Isa 53. amongst many other notable expressions of God's being well pleased towards poor Sinners through Christ He saith he Dr. Crisp's Works Vol. I. Serm. 2. p. 15 was wounded for their transgressions you have this admirable expression of the effect of his wounding He shall see the Travel of his Soul that is towards the latter end of the Chapter And he shall be satisfied satisfied here is as much as pacified they are all one The Travel of the Soul of Christ makes God such amends for the sinfulness of all Believers that he can no longer stand offended and displeased with them If God doth remain offended with them there is yet some of their sinfulness remaining to be taken away that this offence also may be taken away All their sins must be taken away from them and all offences will be removed from them But except God will be offended where there is no cause to be offended which is Blaâ—phemy to speak he will not be offended with Believers For I say he hath no cause to be offended with a Believer because he doth not find the sin of the Believer to be the Believer's own sin but he finds it the sin of Christ He was made sin for us God laid the Iniquity of us all upon him The Blood of Christ cleanseth us from all Sin He bore our sins in his body on the Tree And if he bear our sins he must bear the displeasure for them nay if he did bear the displeasure the indignation of the Lord and if he did bear the indignation of the Lord either he did bear all or but part if he did not bear all the indignation of the Lord then he doth not save to the uttermost those that come to God by him as in the seventh Chapter to the Hebrews he is said to do I say not to the uttermost because hee is some offence some indignation left behind and for lack of taking of this indignation upon himself it lights and falls upon Believers So that either you must say Christ is an imperfect Saviour and hath left some scattering of wrath behind that will light upon the head of the Believer or else you will say he is a perfect Saviour and takes away all displeasure of God then there remains none of it upon the Person of the Believer Beloved for my part I understand not what clouds are in the Mind and Judgment of other men To me it seems there is no truth more abundantly cleared in all the Scripture than this one truth of the transacting of our sins and consequently the offence or God for this Sin that it is wholly laid upon the back of Christ Dr. Crisp's Works Vol I. Ser. 2. p. 16 and so a poor soul hath rest from the indignation of God as Christ doth take the burthen off from his shoulders There is a two-fold burthen first in sin it self and the second burthen is the indignation of God for it Who can bear this indignation of his Christ alone and he hath born it NOW from hence thou mayst observe no small little of our Author's Treachery and what Arminianism as well as Socinianism lodges in the same notwithstanding his seemingly fair acknowledgments of commutative imputation of Sin and Righteâ—usness between Christ and a Believer The Dr. as we have heard positively as well as wâ—rrantably declares That God
the Devils of old in their owning of Christ which are fully expressive of his meaning against what our Author discerpts out of him as the matter of his accusation against him he would cast the imputation of Weakness and Fallacy upon him meerly to make way for the reception of his invidious and ungrounded stroke against him and thereupon gives us such a disquisitive explication of the matter in hand as roundly bespeaks himself to be both a Fool Cheat. p. 40. 3. That in his Concessions even from his quoâ—ation of Scriptures themselvâ—s he unravels the whole and thereby subscribes unto the Doctor yea confirms him against all his false Impeachments This Charge being much of the same nature with the former which our Author himself confâ—sâ—es I shall contrâ—ct my self as briefly as I can in my remarks upon the same THE first the Doctor himself confirms aâ—d that in the very place from whence our Author quotes him p. 17 8. 170. 258 In all which placâ—s the Doctor asserts two things 1. That all the Afflictions and Troubles that bâ—fall a Bâ—liever cannot expiâ—te or satisfie for the least Sin 2. That God in his punishing of a Believer doth it not in a proper vindicative sense as juridicallâ— charged with Sin to drive him from Sin All which our Author doth as much MASK from thy Sight as possibly he can as knowing that had he done otherwise he must with his own Pen have overthrown and dasht out the whole of this his invidious enterprize for proof of which take the following Quotations Christ is a way to take away the effect of God's displeasure Christ is the only way to take it away Shall I give the Fruit of my Body saith the Prophet Micah 6. 7. for the sin of my Soul a Thousand Rams or Ten Thousand Rivers of Dr. Crisp's Works Vol. I. Serm. 2. Pag. 17 18. Oyl No alass this will not buy out the penance of one Sin when he hath sinned it is all too mean a price there must be a better to take away that Wrath that is the heavy punishment of God froâ— a Believer I say a better price than this not a dearer price to us poor Men but yet a more dear and acceptable price unto God a price in its nature Infinite and Invaluable but of this price not a Farthing goes out of our purse there is the greatness Christ is a way to take away all Wrath in respect of the heavy hand of God which is the Fruit of Man's sin IN brief Beloved the sum plainly is this Christ is so the Way from Wrath Now our Author's Charge comes in as it lies in this Parenthesis That God doth never punish any Believer after he is a Believer for sin I say God doth not punish him for sin This seems to be a hard Proposition to many but give me leave to clear what I say and so according to the clear evidence of truth reject or receive what I deliver to you In Isa 53. 5. a Chapter of most admirable Excellency to set forth the wonderful incomprehensible benefit of Christ Observe it He was wounded for our Transgressions mark the punishment He was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed Now beloved I will ask but this Question Are the Wounds of Christ part only of our punishment Or are they the whole of our punishment The Bruisings of Christ were they to be part of the punishment our sins deserved If they were but part we must bear the rest our selves but then we must be Co-Saviours with Christ Co-bearers of Indignation and Wrath Isa 63. 3. He hath troden the Wiâ—e-press alone saith the Text he looked for some that might help and wondred and there was none v. 5. No Creature in the World was able to be a helper with him I speak of Believers only they do not bear one lash of that deserved Wrath that is poured out for sin not one lash nor stroke Christ trod it alone himself Yea but you will say unto me Doth not God afflict his Children and Believers All the World seeth and knoweth he doth therefore why speak you against this Beloved give me leave to ask you Is there not a great deal of difference between God's afflicting of Believers and God's punishing of Believers for sin Here our Author comes in Quest Are not the afflictions of Believers for their sins I Answer No Afflictions are unto Believers from sin but not for sin What is the meaning of that will you say This God in afflicting of Believers doth not intend to punish them as now laying on them the desert of their sin for that is laid upon Christ but he doth afflict them in part to be a help to preserve them from sin c. It may be in affliction and when the Rod of God is fallen upon thee thy heart will be ready to raise such thoughts as these in thee Now God Dr. Crisp 's Works Vol. I Ser. 2. p. 170. will be even with me now shall I smart for my transgressions Thus far our Author But know this that at that instant when God brings Afflictions upon thee he doth not remember any sin of thine they are not in his thoughts towards thee for the Text saith not only of the present instant that God doth not remember them but of the future also nay of the everlasting future Your sins and your iniquities I will remember no more I beseech you consider this one thing you that think that God doth plague and punish you being Believers for such and sucâ— sins of yours and say Doth not God now remember these sins of mine Doth God punish such and such sins in others and take vengeance for them and doth he not remember them Doth God use to do things hand over head Doth God lay his Rod and his Scourge upon them and never think of the cause of it And if these Afflictions be the Judgment of God for these sins certainly God must remember these sins and so know them as Moâ—ives and Provocations to inflict such Vengeance upon them and if God doth punish them for them certainly God doth now remember them And what of all this Is it a Truth that God hath spoken Your iniquities and your sins will I remember no more Then surely whatsoever things befall the Children of God are not punishments for sin they are not remembrances of sin the Lord must be true and faithful in his Covenant and therefore if Men shall cavil against this Free-Grace of God yet let me request this of you Let the evidence of the Holy Ghost so prevail with your Spirits that if any Creature in Heaven or Earth Men or Angels shall endeavour to contradict this let them be accounted as they deserve Let all give way to this Truth if any thing in the World can make it appear to the contrary then let it go away with it But if the Spirit of