Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	dead_a	life_n	quicken_v	5,491	5	10.4511	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97227	Vnbeleevers no subjects of iustification, nor of mystical vnion to Christ, being the sum of a sermon preached at New Sarum, with a vindication of it from the objections, and calumniations cast upon it by Mr. William Eyre, in his Vindiciæ justificationis. Together with animadversions upon the said book, and a refutation of that anti-sidian, and anti-evangelical errour asserted therein: viz. the justification of infidels, or the justification of a sinner before, and without faith. Wherein also the conditional necessity, and instrumentality of faith unto justification, together with the consistency of it, with the freness of Gods grace, is explained, confirmed, and vindicated from the exceptions of the said Mr. Eyre, his arguments answertd [sic], his authorities examined, and brought in against himself. By T. Warren minister of the Gospel at Houghton in Hampshire.	Warren, Thomas, 1616 or 17-1694.	1654 (1654)	Wing W980; Thomason E733_10; ESTC R206901	226,180	282

not onely caring for thy credit that thy life be unblameable but that God may be honoured do'st thou abound in the fruits of righteousnesse art thou full of love peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse meeknesse faith humility patience temperance He that is not thus fruitful is not ingraffed into Christ if thy faith be a dead faith that doth not manifest it self by good works if thou beest barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ and hast nothing but the outward leaves of profession thou wert never truly ingraffed into Christ A 2d note is this he that is united to Christ lives the life of Christ for it is not he but Christ that liveth in him neverthelesse saith Paul I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me As a branch in the tree if it be a living branch partakes of the same life it doth not only cleave by adherence and continuation to the body of the tree but it is in the tree by a real participation of life partaking of the sap and influences of the root thus it is between Christ and a Christian united to him by a true faith Acts 3.15 he partakes of spiritual life from Christ hence Christ is called the Prince of Life 1 Cor. 15.45 and a quickening Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 Now Christ is the Root Author and fruition of all spiritual life in us and thus he lives in us by his Spirit which is called the Spirit of life which is in Christ and by this he freeth us from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 The same Spirit that dwells in Christ dwells in a Beleever and quickens him as it raised Christ from the dead so it doth raise up us to newnesse of life and so to live a life in conformity to the life of Christ which appears in two things because it makes a Christian live by the same rule and to the same end 1. By the same rule Christ as Mediatour lived according to the written Word of God P●al 40.8 The Law of God was written in his heart look what the Law did require there was a disposition in his heart suitable to that Law and hence Christ professed He came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him It was his meat and drink to do the will of his Father John 4.34 And in the most difficult case wherein he could be tried though nature started and stood amazed at the greatnesse of the sufferings and therefore as man could not but fear the wrath of God and in this sense he feared and declined the bitternesse of the cup and desired it might passe away and unlesse he had put off the nature and affections of man he could do no otherwise yet knowing that immutable purpose of God and for that end he came to this home in that sense he voluntarily submitted and so though here were a diversity of wills yet not a contrariety of wills in Christ and truly his will was wholly agreeable to the will of God so in such as Christ lives by his Spirit he makes them so live as to make the will of God the rule of their life and to this end he writes the Law in their heart that they may both know and have an inward suitablenesse of Spirit to yield obedience to the will of God And hence he that hath had communion with Christ in his death is said to cease to sin for this end that he should no longer live to the lusts of men but to the will of God 2. Christ made the honour of God his end thus Christ saith He did honour the Father and sought not his own glory John 8.49 50. Thus also a Christian that is united to Christ seeks that glory of God and makes that his last end as Paul injoynes Whatsoever ye do 1 Cor. 10.31 do all to the glory of God Now if thou art one that doest make the will of God the rule of thy life and obey it from thy heart making God thy last end in all thou doest surely this is an infallible signe of a man in Christ 3. That man that is united to Christ cannot live to sin any longer as a graft cut off the old stock lives not in the stock any longer but wholly lives in another so that man that is united to Christ being cut off from the old stock lives not to corrupt nature any longer Nay there is nothing now so contrary to the life of a Christian as sin nothing so hateful nothing was more hateful to Christ he came into the world to destroy the works of the devil to destroy sin 1 John 3.8 Rom. 6.6 1 Pet. 4.1 2. and they that are in Christ their old man was crucified with him and thus he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin i. e. he that hath been crucified with Christ sin reignes no more in his heart so then they that are Christs have crucified the flesh Gal. 5.24 with the affections and lusts thereof they cannot cleave in their affections unto sin nay they cannot but hate it as being that that drew tears and blood from Christs heart who is now dearer to them then their own lives Therefore such as can give up themselves to the love of any one sin and suffer their affection to be insnared with the love of it were never united truly to Christ for separation from sin and union to Christ are inseparable companions Thus you see how we may know our union to Christ The last Use shall be to perswade every man to labour after this union seeing life and death stands in it Christ himself will profit us nothing without this union Wealth in the Mine doth not inrich any man till it be severed from its drosse and appropriated to a particular use water in the Fountain profits not a man till it be conveighed by some pipe into his cisterne light in the Sun doth me no good unlesse I have an eye to behold it Christ is a rich Mine in which are hid unsearchable treasures but what am I the better if he be not mine Tolle meum tolle Deum saith Luther Take away my propriety in Christ and the knowledge of a Christ will torment and not comfort my heart He is a Fountain of living water but unlesse faith be the conduit-pipe and cock to conveigh this water I may perish for all that he is a Sun of righteousnesse yet if he do not enlighten me I may be cast into utter darknesse therefore till Christ by some bond or union become mine and I his I may be as miserable as if this Mine had not been discovered as if this Fountain had not been opened as if this Sun had never risen Now this union and communion with Christ on our part is by faith Oh let us labour for faith Consider how freely God hath given Christ for us and how willing God is to give Christ to us consider how

person but if by a full propitiation he understand an immediate discharge of the sinner from condemnation before faith to apply the benefits of Christs death this I deny and will make manifest in its peculiar and proper place Where I shall shew it is no wrong either to Christ or the Elect person that the benefit of Christs death is suspended till faith And in this sense I acknowledge that the Elect had no actual right or interest in Christ if you take it for jus in re and not for jus adrem because his death was intended for their benefit not for the reprobate though they have not actual benefit and possession of the good things purchased untill faith In respect of Gods and Christs intention in his death surely an Elect person hath more right to the benefits of Christs death then the reprobate it being intended effectually for Peter and not for Judas and by vertue of this faith shall be given to apply it to all for whom Christ died and so they have a right to the thing but in respect of any right in the thing it self or actual discharge of the sinner I acknowledge in this respect there is no present difference between the Elect and reprobate this is that which soundeth so harsh in Mr. Eyre's eare which I shall sufficiently cleare when I produce in its due place Scripture-authority and Arguments to confirme it I shall now onely vindicate it from those monstrous absurdities that he unjustly loades it with First he saith Nothing could be spoken more contradictory to plain Scriptures but produceth not one place to confirme it but referres us to such Scriptures as he forceth to speak in defence of his own opinion where we shall examine whether what we affirme or he maintaines be most agreeable to the truth only I shall instance in two Scriptures to relieve this truth The first is in Ephesians 2.1 2 3. where the Apostle telleth the Elect Ephesians whom God had ordained to life and for whom Christ died that they were dead in sins and trespasses Wherein they walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the aire the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience into which number in the third ver he puts himself and all believers before their conversion and saith that they were children of wrath by nature as well as others where the Apostles scope is to shew the freenesse of Gods grace in saving them by faith in Christ by an argument drawn from the change of their estate he telleth them the time was they were children of wrath as unable to help themselves as the dead to raise themselves to life therefore their deliverance was by grace Where by children of wrath the Apostle must mean an estate and condition opposite to their present estate of salvation and justification into which they are now brought by the grace of God and merit of Christ by faith Else first the Apostles Argument from the change of their estate were invalid Now if they would know when they were children of wrath seeing God loved them as elect from eternity and they were redeemed by Christ He answers that it was when they were dead in sins and trespasses and walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the aire the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience and then they were children of wrath but thus they did walk and live before faith and regeneration were wrought 2. Such an estate of condemnation is here meant as others are in that are the men of this world children of disobedience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children of unbelief which notes a refractory contumacious disobedience of unbelief seated in the will which is more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is remissible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is irremissible being a note of finall imperswasibility 1 Tim. 1.13 Paul was sometime a childe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore when the Apostle saith their condition by nature was such as theirs that are children of disobedience a note of such that shall perish surely they were such as were in an unjustified estate 3. If it be such an estate wherein they were dead in sins and trespasses did walk according to the prince of this world and according to the prince of the power of the aire the spirit that now effectually worketh in the children of disobedience having their conversation in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh surely this was inconsistent with salvation and the estate of justification God cannot justifie a man with imputed righteousnesse but at the same time he sanctifieth him by imparted Prov. 17.15 and inherent righteousnesse It is not agreeable to the purity and holinesse of Gods nature to justifie a wicked man for He that justifieth the wicked be that condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord and what God condemnes in others he will not do himself therefore they were not then justified Nor doth the Apostle make a naked comparison between the two estates and conditions derived from the first and second Adam but compares the same persons not barely in relation to these but as being really in both these estates at a different time being under the first before conversion and passing from it upon believing where it is observeable that the Apostle doth not say ye are by nature children of wrath which is all Mr. Eyre will acknowledge as you may see pag. 111. but ye were children of wrath he speaks of a condition they were in and delivered from The second Scripture is in the 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Be not deceived neither fornicatours nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankinde nor thieves shall inherit the Kingdome of God such were some of you but you are washed but you are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Where you see the Elect Corinthians were while unsanctified such as could not inherit the Kingdome of God and therefore were in the same estate with other persons till they were washed and justified where he maketh an evident opposition between the time past and present they were then such as could not inherit eternal life and therefore were justified for if they were then justified what could hinder their salvation And he saith but you are justified he doth not say but you were justified restraining their justification to the time present upon their faith and sanctification being an evidence of the truth of that faith that makes him put their sanctification before their justification so that you see the Apostle affirmes while they were unsanctified they could not inherit the Kingdome of God that is they had no right to it by justification and were uncapable of it but upon the change

at the time of his passion when our sins were laid upon him as our surety And 2. That we are not united antecedently to our faith I prove by these ensuing reasons Although it be willingly acknowledged that Christ was a common person in his death and a surety for all the Elect and what he did was for them yet this constitutes not the mystical union between Christ and us this only rendred him capable of having our sins imputed to h●m and served to lay a foundation for our partaking in his righteousnesse when we should be implanted into him by mysticall union through faith 1. Christ is united to us as he is a Head and we his members but the consideration of Christ as dying for us Ratio capitis non est ratio causae meritoriae Dr. Twiss in answ to Mr. Cotton p. 10. and so becoming a meritorious cause of our salvation is different from the consideration of Christ as a Head for in his death as he is our Mediatour purchasing salvation by the merit of it he is an efficient moral cause of salvation and in this channel runnes the meritorious cause but Christ as he is a Head is an efficient physicall and naturall cause of salvation and thus only he is a Head by actual pouring out his Spirit upon the Elect in the appointed time for their conversion whereby they are brought to faith and so united to Christ Now the moral cause may exist long before the effect follow and therefore doth not necessarily require the existence of the subject but the efficient natural cause hath its effect immediately following a●d therefore when Christ will as a Head unite any to him the person must exist for that that is not cannot be united and then as the Head diffuseth nerves to the several members and conveighs animal spirits by which the members are quickened and live so Christ conveigheth his Spirit into their hearts to work faith by which they are united to Christ and so partake of righteousnesse and spiritual life from Christ 2. To make a mysticall union between Christ and the Elect before their birth or faith be it when it will whether from eternity or Christs death Mr. Eyre p. 8. will necessarily establish that Familisticall notion that Mr. Eyre fasteneth upon us That the personality of a Believer or Elect person is taken up into the nature and person of the Son of God for it makes them and Christ to be but one person for as yet they have no being therefore if they be they must be in him and subsist in his person and so this childe is fairely laid at his own door that he would father upon us but we say no such thing for this union being by faith and not till we exist Christ is one person Peter another Paul a third and so as many distinct persons as are mystically united 3. If they were truly in Christ before their personall being and union to Christ by faith then they and Christ being but one p●rson all and the singular parts of Christs obedience and sufferings together with all and singular the effect thereof and benefits may be attributed to them because they being one with him personally are said to do it in him as we that were all one in Adam united to him by a natural union tanquam in rad●ce humani generis as in the root and common parent of all mankinde are said to do what Adam did but all and every part of Christs obedience and sufferings with all the singular eff●cts and benefits cannot be attributed to any sinner believing in him for of whom with any shew of truth and without horrible blasphemy may it be said that He gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour unto God Eph 5.2 That by the eternall Spirit of God he offered up himself without spot to God that the chastisement of our peace was upon him H●b 9 14. Isa 53.5 and that by his stripes we are healed For this can agree to none but Christ personally Isa 63.3 not mystically considered And Christ is said to tread the Wine-presse of his Fathers anger alone but if they were then truly in him then all the Elect of God did tread this Wine-presse with him and mysticall Christ was crucified not Christ alone that was the Son of God And therefore we see most absurdly Mr. Eyre p. 9. that Mr. Eyre applies that to Christ mystically considered which is peculiar personally to Christ the Son of God Matth 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased What if this were spoken to Christ as a publick Person and Mediatour for the Elect doth it therefore follow it was meant of Christ mysticall certainly the consequence will never be granted upon his bare word 4. If we were in Christ when he died and suffered for us antecedently to our birth so as to be mystically united having no subsistence but in the person of the Mediatour then we were punished in him and gave satisfaction in him and so no place is left for pardon of sin in our justification for if we were punished in Christ and suffered in him then what place is left for pardon for pardon and punishment are contrary He that suffereth the full weight of punishment is not pardoned and to this purpose Polanus in his Comment upon the 9th Dani. the 8th Quest Polanus in Dan. c. 9. ver 24. quaest 8. Neutiquam propriè loquendo sumus puniti in Christo cùm Scriptura disertè doceat nos esse justificatos in Christo quòd si sumus in Christo justificati absoluti non igitur damnati puniti Ephes 1. v. 6. Ait Paulus de Deo nos gratìs sibi acceptos fecit in illo dilecto nos ergò Deus non punivit sed omnium nostrum poenam Christo imp●suit Isa 53 6. sicut dicitur Isa 53. v. 6. Jehova facit ut incurrat in eum iniquitas omniûm nostrûm Christus torcular calcavit solus nos non calcavimus Neque vero idem est nos esse punitos in Christo Christum esse punitum pro nobis seu nostro loco Nam si Christus est punitus nostro loco sequitur nos non esse punitos sed poenam nobis esse remissam quid quaeso est aliud remissio peccatorum quàm condonatio culpae poenae Quomodo igitur haec consentient Deum nobis remisisse peccata tamen punivisse nos propter eadem Proinde sic ex Scriptura statuendum Deum Christo paenam nostrorum peccatorum imposuisse ut nobis illam remitteret proprio filio suo non pepercisse ut nobis parceret If any man object that Polanus doth not absolutely deny that we were punished in Christ but that we cannot properly be said to be punished in him I answer Nor do I absolutely deny it if that Doctrine that we were punished in Christ

In respect to their exclusion or admittance to the Covenant in the Gospel and thus the Elect Gentiles were once not a people and then made a people to the Covenant of Grace And in this sense I adde all unregenerate though Elect are not Gods people untill faith And hence Zanchy saith thus that whereas the words should have run thus that in the place where it is said ye are not my people there it shall be said ye are my people instead thereof he saith it is said ye are the Sonnes of God and he assigneth three reasons the third is Vt meliùs hâc locutione indicaret rationem quâ justificamur salvamur nempe per fidem verbum Dei apprehensantem si enim filii Dei sumus ergò nati ex Deo si nati ex Deo ergò per semen Dei in nos illapsum à nobis apprehensum in nobis retentum semen Dei est verbum Evangelii in nos illabitur per virtutem Spiritûs sancti à nobis verò fide quae it idem opus est Spiritûs sancti solâ recipitur ergò solâ fide fimus filii Dei He speaketh thus that he may the better declare the manner of our Justification or Salvation ta wit by faith apprehending the Word of God where he taketh faith not objectively but subjectively with connotation to the object for if we be the sons of God we are therefore borne of God if borne of God therefore by the seed of God falling into us and received and retained by us The seed of God is the Word of the Gospel it falleth into us by the power of the Holy Ghost but of us it is only received by faith which again is the work of the Holy Ghost therfore by faith alone we are made the sons of God where you see that Zanchy maketh this great change to be by faith and that such a change is made is evident for before faith they are * Eph. 2.1 2 3. 2 Tim. 2.26 Acts 26 18. Ezek. 44.7 Heb. 2.15 Mark 16.16 dead in sins and trespasses are children of disobedience in whom Satan acts and rules by whom they are led captive at his will and pleasure they are under his power they are unrenewed uncircumcised slaves in bondage to death subject to damnation children of wrath but upon believing are new * 2 Cor. 5 17 2 Pet. 1.4 John 1.12 Eph. 1.5 1 Pet. 1.3 23. creatures partakers of the Divine Nature they are actually instated into the number of children to which they were predestinated are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead are borne again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever But could this be affirmed of them ever since Christs death surely no th●refore here is a change and that before God wrought in their estate by effectual vocation and therefore they were not justi●●ed before Fifthly If we are exhorted to believe in God for pardon and remission of sins then were not we pardoned from the time of Christs death before faith But we are thus exhorted to believe in God for the pardon of sins Believe and thou shalt be saved Acts 16.31 and the Scripture was written for this end that we might believe and that believing we might have life through his Name John 20.21 The consequence is confirmed because if we were justified already before faith it were a needlesse exhortation to call upon us to believe for pardon when we are pardoned already and therefore we might be called upon to believe to get assurance of our pardon but not to obtain pardon it self it were an exhorting us to seek for that by faith which according to Mr. Eyre is to be evidenced not to be obtained through faith and so were a needlesse and a groundlesse exhortation Sixthly Such as were not mystically united to Christ at his death could not be justified actually by his death But Believets that now live were not then mystically united Therefore The Major Proposition will need no shield and buckler to defend it for Christ justifieth none but such as are in him as the first Adam brings condemnation to none but such as are in him so the second Adam gives life and salvation to none but such as are in him The Minor is proved because that that is not cannot be united Believers were not then existing Besides 2. This union is made by faith They that were not existing were not then believers 3. Christs being a common person is not sufficient to make the mystical union 4. Christ as a publick person is a surety but Christ as united to us is a Head which are different considerations in the one he is a meritorious moral cause of salvation in the other a physical cause or efficient natural cause 5. The mystical union is by a work of the Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit but if the mystical union be made by Christs being a publick person that needeth not any new work of the Spirit to joyn Christ and Believers together 6. Those places where it is said Ephes 2.5 6.13 Ephes 2.5.6.13 Col. 2.13 14. Col. 2.13 14. That we were quickened with Christ and are made to sit together in heavenly places And in Christ Jesus we who were sometimes afarre off are now made nigh and that the handwriting of Ordinances was blotted out signifie no more then that in and through him as a meritorious cause we obtain such mercies but they hold not forth Believers to be existing in him before they had a being and our sitting in heavenly places is spoken only in regard of the certain right we have thereunto jus ad rem though not jus in re and in a qualified sense in Christ our Head who is already ascended Seventhly Christ in his death was not mystically but personally considered For though he were a publick person and Mediatour yet as so he was personally not mystically considered in his death and resurrection and the Justification that he received from God Therefore we were not justified actually from the time of Christs death The Antecedent is thus made good because it was not Christ mystical that was crucified but Christ the Son of God and He trod the * Isay 63.3 Wine-presse of his Fathers wrath alone Christ mysticall is not the Saviout of the world then the work of Redemption is to be attributed to every Believer and they are as truly Saviours of the world as Christ but this is blasphemy to imagine and therefore if he were not mystically considered in his death then not in his Resurrection nor in that Justification he received and so by consequence we were not justified by his death nor were in him antecedently to faith Eightly If we were pardoned from the time of Christs death then as Bellarmine objecteth against our Divines that make faith an assurance then it is

in the Papists sense not in ours And when the Apostle saith Rom. 4.16 Our salvation is of grace that it might be sure to all the seed the same Apostle saith in the same verse It is of faith that it might be of grace and yet you are willing to leave out those words because they make against you nor is it lesse sure by faith Acts 16.48 then if it were without it for faith is merited and shall be given As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Phil. 1.29 and To you it is given not only to believe c. Ninthly If it were the Will of God that the death of Christ should be available while they live in this world then it was the Will of God it should procure for them immediate and actual reconciliation Ans This consequence is denied the argument maketh against a condition in an Arminian sense not in ours for upon the first moment that a man believeth he is justified and all his sins past are actually pardoned his sins to come virtually so that no following sin shall unjustifie him though it may take away his aptitude for heaven yet not his right and though his sin may deserve damnation and without actual repentance and faith he cannot be saved yet grace shall be given to inable him to repent and believe so that though there must be nova remissio yet there is not nova justificatio though a new remission is needful yet not a new justification pardon of sin is a continued act but our justification quoad statum is done simul semel once and for all this you know to be the Orthodox opinion yet you fraudulently conceal it and oppose us as if we held a condition in an Arminian sense and that so often as we fall into sin we fall from justification and so no man could be sure of salvation untill death Tenthly If it were the Will of God that the death of Christ should certainly procure reconciliation then it was his Will it should not depend upon termes and conditions performed by us Answ Still your consequence doth halt down-right for the salvation of the Elect is not uncertain as to the event but as certain as the unchangeable decree of God can make it but this is Crambe bis vel ter recocta fastidium parit Eleventhly If he willed this blessing to his Elect by the death of Christ but conditionally then he willed the reconciliation and justification of the Elect no more then their non-reconciliation Answ If Mr. Eyre be not he may and I am ashamed of this grosse and wilful ignorance I beleeve he knows it as well as he knows there is a God that the Orthodox abhor these positions of the Remonstrants that we acknowledg that God willed the salvation of Peter with another manner of intention then of Judas and that we acknowledge no condition antecedently to their Election but that he hath absolutely predestinated the Elect unto the end and as absolutely to the meanes and that God did not stand indifferent to the event whether they shall be justified saved or no but absolutely decreed them unto life as the end unto justification as the meanes unto faith as a means to bring them unto justification so that though they be not justified nor reconciled actually yet he absolutely willed that they should be reconciled and therefore gave Christ to die for them and will give faith to apply the benefits of his death As for the proof of his consequence if he willed their salvation only in case they believe then he willed their condemnation if they believe not I distinguish upon Gods Will it is either secret or revealed voluntas signi or beneplacity praecepti or propositi if you look to the will of Gods purpose and his good-will and pleasure he absolutely willed their reconciliation so that nothing shall hinder it but he did not will an absolute reconciliation without Faith there was no condition of his will though of the thing willed but if you look to the revealed will of God the will of precept so he declareth it is his will that he that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned and thus he willeth their damnation if they believe not Twelfthly If God willed unto men the benefits of Christs death upon any condition to be performed by them it will follow that God foresaw in them an ability to performe some good which Christ hath not merited conditional reconciliation necessarily presupposeth free-will Answ Still his arguments are guilty of this common fate to be lame in the consequence and to fall very short of the mark intended It doth not follow that God foresaw any such ability in man nor doth such a condition as we establish enthrone free-will we yield him that God willed this blessing upon a possible condition not possible to nature but possible by grace not because man can performe it for it requireth the same Almighty power that was required to raise Christ from the dead Eph. 1.18 but because God by his Spirit will work and give it And those he calleth his adversaries do mean it in this sense it is a fruit of a promise made to Christ and an effect of his death that Faith shall be given but not a fruit of the Covenant made with us but rather the condition by which we are really received into Covenant Thirteenthly If God did will that our sinnes should be accounted to Christ without any condition on our part then was it his will that they should be discounted without any condition on our part But the Antecedent is true Ergo. I answer 't is pity that a man whom we hope means well that his Arguments should go out like a snuffe of a candle in the socket as these do And I confesse it is a ridiculous argument and inference yet I will give a solution to it I therefore deny his consequence It is readily granted that the imputation of our sinnes to Christ did not depend upon any condition of ours for we had not then a being when this imputation was made nor was it needful either for Christ or us that any condition on our parts should be the ground of this imputation it was a free act of God in mercy taking off the guilt from us and transferring it on Christ and his sole will and pleasure was the cause of it but that therefore it was the will of God that it should without any ondition on our part be discounted to us is a miserable consequence more fit to be laughed at then refuted But to omit nothing that may have the face though not the force of an argument unanswered I deny the consequence and the reason of it and affirm that the charging our sins upon Christ was not our discharge formally considered the imputing out sinnes to Christ was not a formall non-imputing them to us virtually it was it was a foundation laid for the