sincere and upright walking towards all men The Apostle comprehendeth both when he saith that he endeavoured always to have a good Conscience towards God and towards men Towards God in the Righteousness of his Son towards men in the Righteousness of a Christian Conversation which is matter of rejoycing amongst men But Mr. G. goes on And hence saith he is St. John's Phrase By this we know that we know him if we keep his Commandements 1 Joh. 2.3 v. 29. Ye know that every one that doth Righteousness is born of God 1. Concerning our estate towards God and consequently our peace with God We believe the fundamental Evidence to be the Testimony of the spirit of God The things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 You have an unction from the Holy One and ye know all things 1 Joh. 2.20 And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us The Evidence whereof we conceive not to a Doctrinal Evidence or Revelation besides the Word but the manifestation of that unto us which is contained in the Word It is as I may say Revelatio revelans distinct from the Word but not properly Revelatio revelata as some I think have misconceived of which revealed Evidence we are not now a speaking but onely of that revealing Evidence whereby our hearts are effectually inclined to close with the Word in which kind we believe the spirit of God not onely to be the principal but irresistible and only effectual in his own Power And what light soever the other Evidences besides this have they have it together with their being from this spirit as by the forecited Scriptures is apparent 2. The next Evidence We believe to be Faith laying hold upon the free Promise of God's Grace towards us in Christ This the Apostle desires to be the Evidence or Conviction of things not seen i. e. that whereby we are convinced of our interest in the invisible Treasures of the Gospel which otherwise eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have they entred into the heart of man to conceive And as the spirit of Christ is by Analogy the soul of a Christian namely That whereby all the Members are knit together into one Body for he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit so Faith is as it were the eye of this soul whereby it is able to discern things not seen And as the eye onely is that which sees bodily and earthly things so faith onely is that which is held forth in the Word as the means to see spiritual things This is held forth not onely in Heb. 11.1 but also in all those Examples which are there mentioned by way of Induction to prove the same And it is also a great part of the meaning of those places in Romans and elsewhere in which we are said to be justified by faith onely or by Faith without Works So the Reverend Prolocutor of the present Assembly affirmeth when he saith That the Righteousness of Christ is said to be imputed to us by Faith because it is not discerned to be imputed to us of God put by Faith contra Armin. lib. 1. part 2. sect 25. 3. Works of sanctification may be conceived to evidence 1. To others 2. To our selves First to others So are ordinarily to be conceived of when they are spoken of in the nature of Evidences Shew me thy Faith by thy Works Jam. 2.18 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another Joh. 13.35 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5.16 In this way they are onely Evidences unto the judgment of Charity which judgment is sufficient for one man to have towards another reserving the judgment of certainty to an higher or more concerned Tribunal Secondly to our selves So they may be considered two ways 1. Barely as they are Works squared out according to such a rule and to be judged of accordingly So the Law of God being the Rule and thereby the Evidence of the goodness of Works no Work in the Moral Nature of a Work can be judged good which is not every way consonant thereunto for it curseth and thereby utterly disalloweth the Action and thereby the Actor wherein there is the least dissonancy or aberration therefrom No Action therefore of Man having any other goodness but its consonancy to this Rule and no other Evidence thereof but the approbation of this Rule can be judged to be truly good so as to give evidence to the Conscience that things are well with it For the curse which hangs over the imperfection of the doing is of far more efficacy to scare the heart out of all its peace than any pretended goodness can be to pacifie it For as Calvin saith A man must not deceive himself gathering that therefore his work is not altogether evil because it is imperfect and that therefore that good which is in it is nevertheless accepted of God Instit lib. 3. c. 2. sect 4. Whosoever therefore judgeth of himself by that inherent goodness of his work either he hath no peace or deceives himself as Calvin here saith and that which he hath is false and groundless For the law or the testimony thereof unto our works barely considered it is impossible it should speak peace unless it can first speak or evidence Righteousness For peace is the fruit of Righteousness not simply and abstracted considered but as it is evidenced Now the Apostle saith That the Righteousness of God wherein we are accepted is manifested without the Law Rom. 3.21 And therefore as the Papists and others destroy all peace with God and assurance of his favour Doctrinally and in downright terms so they which have all their peace this way destroy all peace and assurance of Gods favour by consequence and in effect 2. As they are the effects of Faith and in which it is evidenced so we confess that not only in the pure and prime act of Faith there is an evidence but also in all the acts of Christian Love even to our selves But how Not by discovering an inherent legal goodness in them for that we rejected in the last but only as true Christian faith is active and evidenced in them For otherwise my Prayers though they be never so zealous my Love if it be never so vehement if Faith be not evidenced in them can appear to be no more than the prayers and love of an Unbeliever But if Faith to wit the assurance of Gods favour be manifested in them then there is not only in them an evidence of Goodness unto them but also of Peace unto them by this Faith which is manifested in them As for Example I Love my Neighbour Why What is it that sets me about this work which kindles this Love in me It is because I know God in Christ hath loved me
the simple enlightens the eyes But here he hath deceived himself with the ambiguity of the word Law which any smatterer in Divinity knows sometimes to be taken 1. Generally for the whole word of God as Psal 1.2 And most frequently all the Psalms through 2. Particularly and properly for the Decalogue or covenant of works given from the beginning but renewed upon Mount-Sinai Rom. 10.3,4,5 3. For the Gospel Isa 2.3 where it is said the Law shall go out of Sion So then as the Law in its primacy and proper signification doth signifie a doctrine and secondarily but most usually the doctrine of God so in Psal 19. it signifies the whole word of God which is in reference to that part of it only which holds forth Christ and Salvation gives life and light and wisdom that is the Gospel which is the power of God unto Salvation to the believer Rom. 1.17 So saith Calvin upon the place David here commends the whole doctrine of the Law as comprehending the Gospel and therefore including Christ in it So saith Mr. G. the ministers are said to open mens eyes by Preaching the word Act. 26.18 True but it is the word of the Gospel which is the ministration of the spirit Gal. 3.2 Which is the joyful news of the grace of God Act. 20.24 Whereby alone we are partakers of the promise Eph. 3.6 In which spiritual eyes are contained Isa 42.6 Faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10.14 By hearing of what or of whom The next ver will shew you As it is written how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace For the Law is not of faith Gal. 3.12 Sect. 13. The Dr. saith that the giving of Repentance is meerly the work of Christ here Mr. G. begins what shall I call it but to boast himself If I miscall it let the Reader judg We teach Repentance more and better than they Hereunto I shall say nothing but desire the Lord to open the mouths of all the Ministers of Christ that they may more abundantly preach true christian Repentance to a full and serious self-denial in all things That man may be taught to own the shame of his own doings that God may have the full glory of his free grace in Christ But Mr. G. suspects this word meerly when it is said that it is meerly the work of Christ to give Repentance Here I confess he hath picht upon the very point of all our differences All our controversies in a manner ly in this word meerly or onely That Christ onely and meerly Saves that he onely and meerly gives Repentance and Faith If we could but dispence to leave out this word the world would be at peace with us That it might be lawfull for them to say Christ and we Save Christ and we give Repentance and Faith Christ and we pacifie Gods Anger But utterly to thrust out man that he may have no finger in these matters makes him storm and fume and devise all manner of reproaches against us This word onely Faith i. e. onely Christ was the Apple of contention among the first reforming publishers of the Gospel What said one of the Worthies of former times Fulk de Christo gratis justificante do we seek after in Preaching in Writing in Labouring what do we else but that Christ only and meerly may be received by all as the Saviour and Redeemer of all Contrariwise your Popish opinions what do they breath what do they beat upon whither do they tend but to this one thing that Christ onely may not Reign alone in his Church That he onely may not Save and Redeem us by his self alone That he only and meerly may not be our high Priest who both made Satisfaction for our sins with one onely Sacrifice once made c. Though God hath established a ministry to preach Repentance yet hath he established none to give Repentance That is the peculiar prerogative of Christ After the Minister hath done his office by instructing in meekness those that are contrary-minded it remains still to be expected if God will give them Repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth 2 Tim. 2.25 Sect. 14. Of Faith I have spoken before in Sect. 12. how it comes by hearing Mr. G. demands further How he will make this good that Faith is the root of all gifts of grace seeing he saith Knowledg is wrought first Why did he put Repentance before Faith unless it went before it Or else doth he make Repentance and Faith the same To the first Question I Answer that the knowledg the Dr. speaks of is nothing else but the beginnings of Faith Neither doth the Scripture make such an accurate distinction between them Joh. 3.15 It is said that he that believeth on Christ hath Eternal Life Joh. 17.3 It is said that to know him is Life Eternal where Believing and Knowing are words of the same signification By his knowledg shall my Righteous Servant justifie many Isa 53.11 That is by Faith in him Also where Faith is called the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 This Evidence must needs include a knowledg So then knowledg as the beginning of Faith may be said to be wrought first and yet no gift precede Faith To the second why Repentance is mentioned before Faith I Answer as before that although Repentance go not before Faith yet hath it reference to that state which goes before Faith But that in nature nor time it doth not go before Faith I have partly manifested before And surely whatsoever is not Faith is Sin To his third Question whether we make Faith and Repentance all one I Answer no not adaequately Yet we say there is no Repentance truely acceptable unto God in whose difinition Faith is not And if Mr. G's observation be true we may call Repentance Faith and Faith Repentance and that by the Authority of the Scriptures Pag. 73. in marg Surely this is putting a less difference between them 4. He finds much fault with the Dr. although for ought I see he is guilty of the same himself that he hath not defined Faith and Repentance And this he tells us Cato-like he must needs note as a gross oversight if not a wilful neglect To this I Answer 1. That the same definition of these that he shall find in the Scripture I will find in these Sermons And therefore Mr. G. should not have passed his Censure till he had made a better search 2. If he had made an exact and logical definition it may be Mr. G. would not have been satisfied FINIS Books Sold by Will. Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street Books Lately Printed of Dr. Owen's 1. THE True Nature of a Gospel Church and its Government wherein in these following particulars are Distinctly handled I. The Subject Matter of the Church II. Formal Cause of a particular Church III. Of the Polity Rule or Discipline of the Church in General IV. The Officers of the Church V. The Duty of Pastors of Churches VI. The Office of Teachers in the Church VII Of the Rule of the Church or of Ruling Elders VIII The Nature of the Polity or Rule with the Duty of Elders IX Of Deacons X. Excommunication XI Of the Communion of Churches In large Quarto Price bound 3 s. 2. A Treatise of the Dominion of Sin and Grace Price bound 1 s. 3. A Brief and Impartial Account of the Nature of the Protestant Religion its State and Fate in the World its Strength and Weakness with the Wayes and Indications of the Ruin or Continuance of its Publick National Profession Price 6 d. 4. A Brief Instruction in the Worship of God and Discipline of the Churches of the New Testament by way of Questions and Answers with an Explication and Confirmation of those Answers Price bound 1 s. Where you may be Likewise supplied with the Rest of Dr. Owen's Books that are in Print
freely and hath given his Son to me and for me And this known primarily only in the free promise of his Grace laid hold upon by Faith Notwithstanding it is also exercised and hath an influx into this act of Love to my neighbour For We Love him because he Loved us first That is because we know he loved us first For unknown Love hath no efficacy to produce a reflection of Love in him upon whom it is terminated And as we love Him so we love others for his sake who hath so loved us So then so far as our Love is truly Christian so far is the Love of God to us manifested by Faith in it And so in all the acts of true Christian Love there an is evidence of peace as in it Faith is acted and the Grace of God to us therein taken notice of and manifested Now although some of those places in John may well be interpreted of the evidence of Works in reference to others As the latter of these here cited by Mr. G. if not the former yet I believe there are others that speak of that evidence to our selves which I last explained In all or most of which places I believe it is not altogether unobservable that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 herein not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hereby which as I conceive is more proper to the sense expressed Now to the former place 1 John 2.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 herein or hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandements To let pass that which some have observed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is and may sometimes be translated Agnovimus we have acknowledged him so that the words should then be translated thus Herein we know that we have acknowledged him if we keep his Commandements To let pass this I say or to leave it to the consideration of the judicious Reader I Answer that John in chap. 3. v. 23. hath explained himself what he means by his Commandements This saith he is his Commandement That we should believe in the Name of his Son JESVS CHRIST and love one another as he gave us Commandement These are his Commandements not in a legal way but as written in the hearts of the Faithful by the finger of his Spirit and as we are called forth to the exercise of them in the strength of the same Spirit by the glorious manifestation of his grace in Jesus Christ unto us expressed by those and infinite such Exhortations contained in the Word By the exercise of these two Faith and Love there is then we acknowledge an evidence of our good estate and thereby peace First In Faith primarily by its own proper act going out of a mans self and laying hold on JESUS CHRIST for our sufficient Attonement and Peace-maker And Secondly In Love as I said not by consideration of the inherent goodness of it but in its ground and as the influence of Faith is in it and upon it for so only it is evidenced unto us and conceived by us to be a truly Christian Act. Mr. G. addeth We do not saith he look for peace of Conscience from the subduing of our lusts as the primary cause but as a sure signe and concomitant of the same To this I Answer as before that subduing of Lusts of it self without the light of Faith shining and giving evidence that they are expiated before God in the death of Christ is no evidence at all and therefore no sure sign or concomitant no more than that subduing of Lusts which we read of in Heathens in Jews in Turks and Papists in their Monasteries at this day theirs is without true Faith and so is this But if you grant the assurance and evidence of faith in your subduing of lusts then I grant there is an evidence of peace in it as that Faith shines forth in it which giveth the light of the knowledge of the appeased countenance of God towards us in the face of Jesus Christ and no otherwise Sect. 11. In this Section Mr. G. as he hath done divers times before instead of disâ—roving what he had before him makes an inference of his own or some others slandrous coin and that he layes to our charge but he must either own it himself or else he must name the Author of it It is that we slight Godly Sorrow which the Apostle so much commends 2 Cor. 7.9,10,11 I profess that I am a stranger to any person or Author I mean of those that profess the Gospel that slight Godly Sorrow It is an ungodly and unbelieving Sorrow which we speak against That Sorrow which is stirred up upon the apprehension of Gods faithfull and constant love towards us and our weak and unanswerable walking towards him this Sorrow so far as it doth not intrench upon true faith nor any way darken or question the ground of it we have always approved and we say where true faith is it will always be as occasion is offered But when this is degenerated into a Sorrow of unbelief or into a Popish and dead contrition as Luther calls it then we cannot allow of it of which degeneration this is a sure sign when by it the appeased face of God our Father is covered and kept out of sight by it All this sorrow and sadness saith Luther is of the Devil and it is a sacrifice very acceptable unto him Whereas the Dr. had asked whether we could chuse but fall foul upon our own Spirits when we see the filthiness and infirmity of our wrestling with sins I Answer saith Mr. Goree we cannot chuse indeed but fall foul upon our selves and say with the Apostle O wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death Rom. 7.24 And also with the publican Lord be merciful unto us Sinners Luke 18.13 But now saith he let us ask them whether upon the sight of their defects they fall thus foul upon themselves or no I am afraid saith he they follow the Pharisee rather than the Publican boasting rather than praying for pardon of Sin Surely if we should do as Mr. Geree doth here in effect say we are humbler than you we should indeed play the Pharisees and boasters But yet we may very well say that Mr. G. had no ground for this sentence upon us We acknowledged the evil of all our actions and that as he ought to have judged in christian charity in true humiliation and self-denial to be so great that they deserve the displeasure of God even unto eternal death acknowledging nothing in our selves as of our selves but matter of shame and everlasting confusion which you were so far from consenting unto that you call it a disgracing of righteousness and holiness Sect. 9. whereas in the same Sect. you affirmed of your duties that you seek Salvation by them Whether this be nearer the Publican or the Pharisee let the godly reader judge Yet if we add to the acknowledgement of what we are in
unto us Eternal life and this Life is in his Son 1 Joh. 5.10,11 Here by unbelief it is apparent that not only the truth of God but also the sufficiency of that life laid up for us in his Son is questioned by him that chargeth Damnation upon himself Nay saith Mr. G. they do only question their own faith Surely he that questions his faith so as to charge Damnation upon himself questions the Author and Finisher of his Faith For how is he the Finisher of it if it fail even to Damnation He Questions the Virtue of the Death and Satisfaction of Christ whereby a faith that shall not fail is purchased Phil 1.29 He Questions the Power of God which is engaged to maintain our Faith even unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 But that is unsufferable which Mr. G. hath vented in the foregoing words That they do more wrong to those poor souls in saying so than these do unto Christ. Is there any comparison between man and God Is the greatest injury that can be done unto man precisely in that consideration which is the case in hand seeing it is opposed unto the injury done to Christ comparable in heinousness to the least injury against Christ Surely as the least work of Christ by the dignity of the person is of more Worth and Merit than any than all the Works of the rest of the sons of Adam yea of Adam himself in his Innocency yea of the Angels in Heaven So questionless the injury done against Christ is by the same dignity of his person of a deeper stain and demerit as the School speak than the greatest injury that can be done to the best of the sons of men which are but worms Job 25.6 Yea all Nations in comparison of him are but as the neglected drop of a bucket but as a small dust in a ballance that hath no weight to turn the scale hither or thither yea less than nothing Esay 40.15,17 The Lord preserve his People from such undervaluing words or thoughts of the Lord our Righteousness Sect. 9. The Doctor Objecteth from the mouths of some That if there be no fear of Damnation then men may do what they list No saith the Dr. Christ is the guide of his people he takes as strict order to restrain and keep in the Spirit of a man as to Save him Here observe that that Slander which is frequent in Mr. G. and others namely That a man Believing in Christ may continue still in his Wickedness was alwayes far from his mouth and thoughts But saith Mr. G. may not a man suspect himself to be no True Believer when he cannot see that Christ hath taken such strict order as to restrain and keep his spirit from such sins I Answer no he may not adde Unbelief unto his other sins He ought to walk by Faith though he cannot by Sight 2 Cor. 5.7 He ought to remember That this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation and therefore of his present acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 He ought to imitate David Wherefore should I fear in the day of evil when the iniquity of his heels compasseth him about Psal 49.5 He ought rather to give unto the Lord the glory of his Grace the glory of the Righteousness and Expiation of his SON Thou needest not fear saith Dr. Preston of Gods alsufficiency pag. 91. that thy disobedience if thou beest once within the covenant will cause the Lord to depart from thee that so thou shouldst charge Damnation upon thy self for he will not be unfaithful to thee though thou be weak in thy carriage to him For he keepeth covenant for ever He doth not suspend his promise of help upon our Disobedience That weighty saying of Luther is very considerable upon Gal. 5.2 When that great Dragon that old serpent the Devil who deceived the whole world and accuseth our brethren and in the presence of God day and night cometh and layeth to thy charge that thou hast not only done no good but hast also transgressed the Law of God say unto him Thou troublest me with the remembrance of my sins past thou puttest me also in mind that I have done no good But this is nothing to me For if either I trusted in mine own good deeds or distrusted because I have done none Christ should both wayes profit me nothing at all See also what the Holy Martyr Mr. Bradford answereth to this inference of Mr. G. in a Letter to Mrs. H. If we want this obedience and worthiness which he requireth should we doubt whether he be our Father Nay saith he that were to make our obedience and worthiness the cause and so to put Christ out of place for whose God is our Father But saith Mr. G. I do not say that any sin can cut off a true Believer from Christ or hinder his Salvation If this be true then may he not suspect the contrary which Mr. G. affirmed in the immediately foregoing words But saith he it must needs shake his hope and confidence and hinder his consolation What a thing doth de facto and what it ought to do de jure and of right are not all one And therefore this is not to the purpose We confess that all sins both original and actual great and small have this as their natural and continual effect that they wound the Conscience that they enfeeble the confidence that they damp the consolation of a Christian and so do as it were becloud the Heavens between us and the appeased face of God our Father which cloud is no otherwise dispelled but by the appearance of the Sun of Righteousness Faith ascending up even through the blackest cloud that is all darkness and no light and laying hold on the Propitiation But he tells us We are not of Davids spirit that are so little troubled for gross sins but can presently close with Christ upon such foul Falls Answer 1. Here Mr. G. goes beyond his knowledge No man knoweth the things of man but the spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 But the heart knoweth its own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joâ—… Prov. 14.10 But 2. Suppose the Children of God having less light of the Redeemer were thereby more under the spirit of bondage unto fear than the Children of the New Testament are who have received the spirit of Adoption to cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 we have the more cause to praise the Lord that hath reserved better things for us Heb. 11.40 than he did for many Prophets and Kings who have desired to see the things which we see and have not seen them and to hear the things which we hear and have not heard them Luke 10.24 to wit the full Revelation of the Mystery of the Gospel of Peace which in other Ages was not known as it is now in the time of the New Testament reavealed Eph. 3.5 I say if God hath