So that when the Peoples Sins were laid by God's appointment on the Beast then the Beast was by God called the Sin as Christ was called Sin or made by God Sin for us by our Sins being laid on him and yet notwithstanding that the Goat had the Sins of the People laid on him and therefore called Sin yet at the same time it is most Holy or Holiness of Holinesses Kodesh Kadashim In answer to which when God made Christ to be Sin he saith of him That he knew no Sin he being most Holy Holiness of Holinesses untainted undefiled with our Sins he was at the same time the Lamb of God without Spot in himself and need there was for it for if he had not been Holy to the Extremity of Holiness in his own Nature and Person he had not been fit to be made a Sin offering for us If he had had the least speck of Sin in him or could have been tainted with our Sin he had not then been a meet Sacrifice to take away our sin Though he was made sin yet it was our sin he was made sin for us Was the poor Beast made sin in it self or for it self when the sins of the People were laid typically on it No sure for if it were the Scape-goat could not have been led into the Wilderness but the sin would have sunk it down dead immediately The sin it was made was the Peoples sin as the sin Christ was made was our sin §. CLVII This may possibly be the better understood and the more readily assented to by seriously considering the Infinite Perfection of the Holy Nature of the Blessed Son of God which was and is the same in the Man Christ Jesus as in the Godhead of the Father he and the Father being one in Essence and in all the glorious Perfections of the Godhead This Consideration may by the Operation of the Holy Spirit reconcile our Thoughts to this Truth That though Christ was made Sin for us and a Curse for us by having our Sins laid on him and by his hanging on the Tree for us yet his Holy Immaculate Person was not in the least tainted or defiled thereby nay God so ordered it that his holy Flesh when dead should not see the least Corruption This appears clear because the Infinite Holiness of the Godhead in the Man Christ Jesus was of such Infinite Perfection in him that the Sins of Men falling on him they being but Finite must of necessity be evacuated exinanitiated expiated and purged away by Infinite Perfection As a little for Illustration Suppose a small drop of Water out of a Smith's Trough should fall on a glowing red-hot large piece of Iron Can this defile or hurt the Iron No 't is immediately evaporated in Smoak 'T is true the Humanity of our Lord Jesus might be and was affected with our sins so as to cry out My Soul is troubled but he was not in the least infected with them his Humanity being made perfectly Holy by Union and Oneness with the Divine Nature in an ineffable manner at his very first Conception his Humane Nature being called that holy thing Luke 1.35 so that he was untainted by our sins being laid on him which he purged away by the offering up of himself in the Fire of God's Wrath upon him for sin §. CLVIII We will suppose again That all the Gold in the World should be put into a vast Cauldron and Ten hundred thousand load of Charcoal under it and about it melting the Gold and while this vast Fire is glowing with an unconceivable heat the Refiner should cast a small drop of Poyson into the Furnace where this boyling Gold is Would not this drop of Poyson be consumed at its first falling into the Furnace without defiling the Gold So the sins of the Elect though they deserve Hell Fire to all Eternity on the guilty Sinners yet these sins when laid on the Person of God-Man Jesus Christ who hath infinitely more Holiness than our sins have of Deliquity or Malignity in them When these sins were laid on our Lord Jesus they could no more taint our Lord Jesus than the drop of Poyson could taint all the Gold in the Furnace Wherefore it is said by the Holy Spirit when he is giving an account of the glorious Perfection of the Divine Nature of Christ in Heb. 1.3 calling him the Brightness the Effulgency of the Father's Glory the express Image of his Person the Upholder of all things by the Word of his Power The very first and next effect of all this glorious Excellency in the Person of Christ is when he had by himself purged our Sins As much as to say this great Character that is here given to Jesus Christ which mortifies the Socinians is given for this very purpose to shew us how he by himself by his own glorious Perfection as the Brightness of the Father's Glory when our sins were laid on him he by himself without any assistance or Cooperation of us or any Man or Angel he by himself saith the Holy Ghost purged our sins he made a perfect Expiation of them the glowing Holiness of the Divine Nature purged them clear away so as never to be remembred more and that without any taint to himself that being impossible he being the brightness of the Father's Glory so pure and Holy is our blessed Lord God the Lord Jesus Christ God blessed for ever to whom be glory for ever §. CLIX. By this I hope we may see that the Consideration of the most adorable Holiness in our Lord Jesus may reconcile us to such Passages as we find in the Scripture of his bearing our sins and his being made Sin and a Curse for us without any ground of charging it with such bad Consequences as the Bishop intimates That this tends to lessen our Reverence of the Divine Perfections whereas nothing can heighten our Reverence more for this shews that his Divine Perfections were so Infinite that by bearing our Sins in his Body on the Tree and by offering himself with our Sins on him a Sacrifice to God for Sin he thereby expiated and purged all the Sins of all the Elect one of which by reason of the infinitely Holy Nature and Law of God would have sunk all the Angels in Heaven to Hell if by God laid on them Therefore instead of diminishing our Esteem of the Divine Perfections because Christ hath borne away our Sins for ever freely without any Conditions or Works of ours to induce him Let us by all means endeavour to magnifie them and for the Riches of the Grace of God and our Lord Jesus therein Let us fall down and adore him that sits on the Throne and the Lamb in the midst of the Throne for that he of his free Grace hath loved us and washed us from our Sins in his Blood and sing with the four Beasts and 24 Elders with the People in the four parts of the World and with
Perfection in himself in that he owns all the Sins of Believers to be his Sins as in Psal 40.7 compared with the 12th Verse he saith Lo I come to do thy will O God Then it follows Mine Iniquities have taken hold of me so that I am not able to look up They are more than the hairs of mine head This is spoken by our Lord Jesus as is plain in Heb. 10.9 here he owns they are his Iniquities How were they his but as he sustained the Persons of all the Elect and so was a reputed Criminal in their stead and their Sins being by the Lord laid on him he takes them on himself as his own Iniquities and saith They are more than the Hairs of his Head And again in Psal 69.4 5. Christ saith Then I restored that which I took not away O God thou knowest my Foolishness and my Sins are not hid from thee Then it follows The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up Which is plain of Christ So that our Foolishness and Sins being laid on him he calls them his and saith right for they were really his though but by Imputation as a Debt is really a Sureties though he be but a Surety yet that 's enough and so our Lord Jesus found it when he was in his Agony Sweating clodders of Blood and on the Cross crying My God why c. sure he did not cry out so terribly for faultless Sin but as a reputed Criminal for real Sin laid on him §. XXV The Fourth Heresie as he calls it is As to the Elect there never was any Guilt upon them in respect of the Righteous Judgment of God in foro Dei but that which accompanied the Letter of the Law setting in with Conscience Where he pick'd up this Offensive passage he shews not but that it goes among his abominable Doctrines this he declares Now how far this is Heresie we will at present only consult Famous Twiss who was no Antinomian and see what he says of Pardon in the sight of God before Faith nay from Eternity as it was an Immanent Act of God Twiss de Electione Sect. 25. Fol. 294. he proves Forgiveness to be before Faith even at Christ's Death nay from Eternity His words are these Quanam erit illa peccatorum remissio quae fidem consequitur This is his Question then he answers as follows Remissio enim peccatorum si Quidditatem inspicias nihil aliud est quam aut punitionis negatio aut volitionis puniendi negatio sit ergo peccata remittere nihil aliud quam nolle punire at hoc nolle punire ut actus immanens in Deo fuit ab aeterno nec fidem consequitur nec Spiritus Sancti operatione in nobis terminare deprehenditur Quod vero operatione Spiritus Sancti nobis hac parte per fidem contingit aliud esse non poterat quam SENSVS Gratiae Dei Ex quibus conficitur non potentialem tantum sed actualem peccatorum remissionem Christum morte suâ à Patre impetrasse nobis paucis concludimus immediatam mortis Christi effectionem esse expiationem Peccatorum Sive pro peccatis plenariam Satisfactionem quae quidem nobis non innotescit nisi per Fidem Spiritus Sancti operationem Which is to this purpose What is that Forgiveness of Sins which follows Faith Which he answers thus Forgiveness of Sins if you consider the Quiddity or Essence of it is nothing else but either a denying of Punishment or denying a Will to punish Therefore to remit or forgive Sins is nothing else but not to will to punish Now this not to will to punish as it is an immanent Act in God it was from Eternity neither doth it follow Faith neither is it held to terminate by the Operation of the Holy Spirit in us but what belongs to us by the Operation of the Holy Spirit in this matter can be nothing else but a SENSE of the Grace of God from which it is gathered not a Potential only but also an Actual Remission of Sins Christ obtained of the Father for us at his Death In short We conclude the immediate Effect of Christ's Death to be Expiation of Sins or a full Satisfaction for Sins which truly is not made known to us but by Faith and the Operation of the Holy Spirit Here you see this Famous Doctor evacuates your charging it to be an Antinomian Heresie to say in foro Dei there never was Guilt on the Elect in respect of God's Righteous Judgment and to make good your Charge I hope you will not call him an Heterodox Apochryphal Antinomian §. XXVI His fifth Heresie he charges as Antinomian is that Vnion to Christ is before Faith at least Naturâ and we partake of the Spirit by vertue of that Vnion It is to admiration that this firm solid Truth should be called Heresie Can any thing be more clear than that Faith is a Fruit of Union to Christ unless it be a dead Faith Can a Branch bring out Grapes before it is united to the Vine Christ Jesus Doth he not say Without me you can do nothing I would ask whence can a living Faith come but from Vnion to Jesus Christ Can it spring out of corrupt Nature and so bring us to Christ A dead Branch may be tyed to the Vine but a living Branch grows out of the Vine The Apostle was of the mind that Christ first takes hold of us before we can by Faith take hold of him according to Phil. 3.12 I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus Here he was first apprehended of Christ as Dr. Manton told us well at Pinners-Hall and from thence infer'd as well he might that all that partake of Christ are first apprehended of him and so he unites himself to them before they can act Faith on him which is their apprehending him They must make Christians to be Monsters that make them to live as Members of Christ by Faith before they are united to him How can a Man possibly that is dead in Sins by Nature come to believe in Christ unless Christ comes first and quickens him by uniting himself to the Soul Hence the Apostle said It pleased God to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1.16 Till then he was a zealous persecuting Pharisee and could have not only called all Christ's Disciples Antinomians but have slaughtered them too as some now slay their Names but when Christ took hold of him and God revealed his Son in him then he conferred not with Flesh and Blood but in the way that they counted Heresie he worshipped the God of his Fathers believing what is written Acts 24.14 The second Adam is the quickening Spirit and quickens all his Seed before they can live You who were dead in Sins hath he quickned Sure here was Union of Christ to them thereby quickening them when dead in Sins before they could put forth any living Act of
in Sins and Trespasses and there must be an Almighty Power put forth to quicken them besides the bare Call Turn ye turn ye It is God that must work both the Will and the Deed for without me saith Christ you can do nothing If so what is the Call to turn without the Spirit of God effecting the turn but a manifestation of God's Right to command which you may call the triumph of the Law You will not say that God hath lost his Right to command us to turn to him though we are dead and are not able to turn till there goes forth from God with his Call an Almighty saving Power of turning us to him and on this account the Church prays Turn thou me and I shall be turned Jer. 31.18 And till then the Call is but God's triumphing in his Sovereignty in the Law over poor dead Sinners §. XLIII The eighteenth is a very weak Heresie though a long one and in truth no more a Heresie than 't is Heresie to say Christ took not the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham but however this comes in the Bed-roll to fill up the number and 't is thus The Eternal Life in which the Angels were created and confirmed by Christ differs from that Eternal Life which Believers have in Christ The one is a Creature Life or a created Life the other is the Eternal Life of God communicated in time This though not of the Essence of Christianity or a Fundamental may be a little explained and so it will appear that it is no Heresie But some Persons are glad of a small Occasion to quarrel The only Ground for quarrelling at this Expression is That the Life of a Believer is the Eternal Life of God by which I suppose is meant of God-Man the Lord Jesus Christ Now take it in that Sense then Christ being the Life of every Believer they have the Eternal Life of God-Man in them so as the Angels have not Christ took not their Nature they are not Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones and Believers are Eph. 5.30 He is not their Resurrection and Life as he is the Believers Is it not a great Truth that by Vertue of their Union to Christ by Faith in his Flesh and Blood the Flesh and Blood of him who is the Eternal Son of God they have that Eternal Life in them from him which the Angels have not As to the Eternal Life which the Angels have and shall enjoy what is it but a created Life Whereas the Life of Christ in his Saints and with them to all Eternity is their participation of his Life as he is more than a meer Creature as he is God-Man and they one with him partaking of the Divine Nature as the Branches partake of the very Nature of the Vine not that they are Godded with Christ God-Man but in an ineffable manner they partake of his Divine Nature being made one Body incorporated into him and so one with him which must comprehend an Eternal Life being in them which is more than meerly created they being filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.19 That is as they have Christ in them the hope of Glory in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead Bodily but in Believers he dwells only Spiritually §. XLIV The nineteenth they make a great one viz. That Believers are as Righteous as Christ I mean not in a way of Similitude but in a way of Equality Here is high Disingenuity to quote part of a Sentence For Mr. Mather from whom this is taken though he said somewhat to this purpose at Pinners-Hall yet he put in several Qualifications of the Expression whereof one was That they were as Righteous as Christ as they did partake of his Mediatorial Righteousness and of that part only of that Righteousness which was wrought out for them To this there may be more said when I answer the Rebuker's saying That Mr. Williams had denyed his Redeemer if he had not denyed Dr. Crisp's Assertion of a change of Persons In the mean time I leave this Scripture to be pondered That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Christ 1 Cor. 5.21 §. XLV The twentieth is That Christ's Incarnation was no part of his Humiliation This is brought in I suppose to insult over the Grave of Mr. Mather who could doubtless have so explained his meaning as it needed not have put Mr. Williams on shewing his great Parts and Learning to go to confute it for an Antinomian Heresie in interpreting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a new English word well enough agreeing with the Neonomian Doctrine calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exaninition which he might as well call exany-thing or to make it chime his next Interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exinanition instead of his calling it exany-nition it may be exany-wigeon or any thing else as his mighty Learning may coyn for it If Mr. Mather in that Expression meant it of meer Incarnation without respect to Mediation for Sinners how was his Incarnation any Humiliation more than God the Father his dwelling in the Heart of the Humble and Contrite is his Humiliation May not God the Father or God the Son assume what shape they please as well as the Holy Spirit assumed the shape of a Dove and yet that no Degradation or Humiliation It is true God is said to humble himself to behold things in Heaven but that is spoken Figuratively as his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men but to say God is humbled by it is harsh and so to say that Christ's meer Incarnation was his Humiliation is to deny him the liberty to assume what form he pleases or to make it a diminution of his Glory is what I suppose cannot well be maintained I am sure his Incarnation was a Glorious Exaltation of our Humane Nature and would it not be harsh to say he could not exalt our Nature without depressing his own God is able of Stones to raise up Children to Abraham much more is Christ able to take our Nature when made Sinless and not thereby degrade his own But let Mr. Williams run away with his Triumphs over Mr. Mather calling him Blow-flame and make an exaninition or an exany-thing of him when all is done this Expression among wise Christians will hardly pass for an Heresie to say Christ's meer Incarnation was not a part of his Humiliation though his Incarnation as Mediator was §. XLVI The last the one and twentieth is We coalesce upon believing into one Mystical Person with Christ which is distinguish'd from Legal Vnion which is before Faith Whose Expression this is I am to seek but methinks 't is very harmonious with the Gospel and if this deserves the Name of Heresie we must seek a New Gospel What can be more coalescing than that of Christ You in me and I in you Or that of the Apostle We are Members of his Body c.
that I suppose the Rebuker had little list to enter the Lists in that Debate §. CII But it being a Subject of infinite concernment to every poor Soul that hopes for Eternal Life by and through our Lord Jesus it being that on which hangs all the hopes of a poor Sinner for his escaping the direful terrible tremendous and eternal Wrath of God due to every one for his Sins by our Lord Jesus his bearing that Wrath which was due to us I shall quote somewhat of Dr. Chancy's collecting in his Vindication of what was exprest in Dr. Crisp's Sermons and shall afterward add some Animadversions on the Rebuker about the Lord Christ's bearing the Father's displeasure And I begin with what Dr. Chancy quotes from Mr. Calvin in his Discourse on Gal. 3.13 The Apostle doth not say saith Calvin that Christ was cursed but a Curse which is more for it shews that all Malediction was included in him God was not ignorant of what kind of Death his Son should dye when he said Cursed is every one that hangs on a Tree He took our Person therefore he was a Sinner and under the Curse not so much in himself as in us He underwent his Wrath else how could he reconcile the Father to us Again How could he free us from the Wrath of God unless he had TRANSLATED it from us to HIMSELF Therefore he was wounded for our Sins and experienced God as an angry Judge Can any thing be more positive and plain for Christ's bearing the Father's displeasure which is so cryed out upon by the Neonomians as if it were heterodox monstrous wild Antinomianism when so great a Man as this saith that Christ translated the Wrath of God from us to himself and that he experienc'd God as an angry Judge And this is no Testimony from an Antinomian though in this saying as much an Antinomian in saying Christ was thus a Sinner as Dr. Crisp in saying the like §. CIII A second Witness to confirm this Truth out of Dr. Chancy is Martin Luther who goes a step or two higher in the Rebuker's Antinomianism than Calvin and faith on this Point in Vindication of Dr. Crisp thus Then hast thou him Christ indeed when thou believest that this more pure and innocent Person is freely given to thee of the Father to be thy Priest and Saviour yea rather thy Servant that he putting off his Innocency and Holiness and taking thy SINFVL PERSON upon him might bear thy Sin thy Death and thy Curse As Paul applyed to Christ that place of Moses Accursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree so may we apply to Christ not only that whole 27 Deut. but also may gather all the Curses of Moses's Law together for as Christ is innocent in this General Law touching his own Person so is he also in all the rest and as he is guilty in this General Law in that he is made a Curse for us and hanged on the Cross as a Wicked Man a Blasphemer a Murderer a Traytor even so he is guilty in all others Here Luther makes Christ to bear the Father's displeasure with a Vengeance bear our Sin Death and Curse yea all the Curses in Moses's Law §. CIV But what need have we of Humane Testimony for this although such Testimony is more authentick with some and will pass farther in Proof with some than David's Psalms or Paul's Epistles for God's displeasure with Christ as bearing our Sins and our Persons and as being our Surety and our Representative Therefore because Mr. Williams is so foul on Dr. Crisp for asserting God's displeasure against Christ for our Sins and my Dear Kratiste seems afraid to declare his plain Sense in this Point pretending to save Time and Paper and thereby leaving Dr. Crisp under the foul Pen of Mr. Williams whose Cause the Rebuker vindicates on this account I think it necessary to bring good Scripture Proof of God's displeasure against his own ever-dearly beloved Son our Lord Jesus as he stood in our stead bearing our Sins for which I produce the 22th the 25th the 69th and 89th Psalms to shew that Christ was under the displeasure of God In Psal 22.1 he cryes out Why art thou so far from helping me Why hast thou forsaken me and are far from the words of my roaring Surely God's forsaking was sufficient ground for his roaring In Psal 35.17 he saith Lord how long wilt thou look on Rescue my Soul And ver 22. O Lord be not far from me So that here is forsaking even to make him roar and here he minds God of standing far off and looking on while he is in his Agony And can any one think there was no displeasure in God when he did so In Psal 69.3 he cryes Mine Eyes fail while I wait for my God Surely then God had withdrawn from him Reproach hath broken my Heart says he ver 20. I looked for pity but there was none Thus we see God looking on and not comforting him under this terrible Dispensation when his Heart was broken with Reproach and could God with-hold his Comforts so long as he did if he had not executed his displeasure on Christ which was due to us for our Sin But that which puts it beyond doubt is that direful doleful word of our Lord Jesus in Psal 89. where he shews how Reproach had broken his Heart in ver 38. he saith But thou hast cast off and ABHORRED thou hast been wroth with thine Anointed thy Christ That this abhorring was spoken in the Name of Christ appears farther in ver 50. I do bear in my bosom the Reproach of all the mighty People wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine Anointed This the Apostle shews is spoken of Christ in Rom. 15.3 The Reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen on me saith he Whence it is clear that if the one is spoken of Christ viz. the Reproach then it follows that the other the abhorring is spoken also of him for they are joyned together Psal 89. And if so what Sun-beam can be clearer than this That our Lord Jesus if under this abhorring he was under the sore displeasure of his Father as bearing our Sins Now for Mr. Williams to tell the World his dreadful Story against Dr. Crisp for his using the same words of Christ as the Spirit of God doth and with the same Sense viz. That this displeasure of God was only upon account of Christ's bearing our Sins and that he was made a Curse for us not in respect of his own Holy Innocent Person but as bearing our Persons for Mr. Williams to load the Doctor so foully as he doth and for the Rebuker to say nothing hereto is seemingly to justifie Mr. Williams and makes one fear he doth not reckon that Christ was under any displeasure of the Father nor that Christ bare our Sins our very Sins or was made a Curse a very Curse any more than Mr. Williams doth But Mr. Williams absolutely
But we are to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints which Faith seems to be taking wing and leaving us under that sad word of our Lord When the Son of Man cometh shall he find Faith on the Earth There being very little of it now what with open Enemies scoffing at all Revealed Religion on one side and seeming Friends though as bad Enemies on the other side that joyn Man's Obedience with Christ's Righteousness as concurrent causes or means of our Justification and Salvation and so bringing in our Gospel-Holiness as co-partner with our Lord Jesus the Alpha and Omega the First and the Last the Author and Finisher of our Salvation To whom with the Father and Blessed Spirit even to him that sits on the Throne and to the Lamb that was slain and is alive in the midst of the Throne and to the seven Spirits before the Throne be Honour Glory and Praise for ever §. CXXI Now that these plain Remarks on some of the great Truths of the Gospel which have been struck at may be beneficial to the humble Peruser to settle him on our Lord Jesus the only Foundation in order to be built up in the most holy Faith by him who buildeth all Things who is God Heb. 3.4 is the fervent Prayer of the unworthiest I say of the unworthiest in his own Eyes of any that sincerely desires to cast in his Mite to the Treasury of the Testimony of Jesus God blessed for ever §. CXXII Having taken the freedom out of love to the Truth and zeal for the Glory of God's Grace therein manifest to be a little plain with my Dear Kratiste hoping for a Blessing of the Lord thereby on his and others Souls I find my self ingaged to make some Remarks on the Reporter the first occasioner of this thus-handled Debate And first I must and do own that I humbly judge that he hath done great and good Service to the Truth by delivering his Report with much plainness and perspicuity however it be censured by the Adversary and I take it that he deserves Thanks of Thousands besides my self who make the Truths of the Everlasting Gospel their daily Study for his ingenious Vindication of his Report from the Slander of its being called false by the Rebuker §. CXXIII But two Things wherein I take him to have exceeded I hope may be rectified that is his hard pressure on my Dear Kratiste and his tart Passages on Dr. Crisp As for the Rebuker was it not enough when the Reported had sufficiently foiled him nay and had laid him so flat on his Back as to be for ever unable to stand upright again in that Cause by clearing his Report from being false But when he had him down sure he should not have prest him to Death or worse by his Printing such a Letter as tax'd him not only with Buffoonry but with being by fits delirous and to charge him with denying Christ's Satisfaction for our Sins §. CXXIV As for the first I that have known him above Twenty Years never heard before or saw the least Tendency to those unhappy Fits Though upon inquiry of the ground of such a Charge 't is said The Writer knew well what he said But however this I take to be too severe a Reprimand for his Rebuke considering how terrible a blemish it is to so eminent a Person 's Ministry to be tax'd with being delirous O how few can be free if every Transport shall lay a Man under such a Censure Therefore this I would advise the Reporter to be humbled before the Lord for considering how in many things we offend all §. CXXV As for the Reporter's Argument That the Rebuker denies Christ's Satisfaction for Sin because he saith Christ's Death was for our good and it was impossible it should be more and that therein he Justâ—fies the Socinians I answer this Conclusion That he denies Christ s Satisfaction hereby looks like a strain upon the words beyond the meaning of the Rebuker for it seems apparent in this Rebuke especialâ—y in his other Writings That he expresly owns Christ's Satisfaction for Sin Though in that Expression of his in Fol. 37. he hath unhappily gratified the Socinians too far by saying It is impossible that Christ's dying in our place and stead should signifie any more than for our Good God forbid that my dear Kratiste should mean by that word only for our Good as the Socinians do That Christ's dying was only for our good as an Example or to confirm his good Doctrine only No He means I hope That Christ by his Death took away the Sins of all the Elect That he bare their Sins and bare them away into a Land of Forgetfulness never to be remembred more as our Scape goat That he suffered for their Sins That he wash'd them from their Sins in his Blood And so he died for our Good that we should have the Good and Benefit of his taking away our Sins and of his becoming a Propitiation for us a Sin-offering for us a Ransom to the Father for us and also himself to be ours the Lord our Righteousness for which let us ascribe Honour and Glory to him continually for that he hath loved us and washed us from our Sins in his Blood §. CXXVI Then for the Reporter's Tartness against Dr. Crisp I am Amazed so florid a Person should so far blemish his Discourses be so Dis-ingenious to the Doctor as to say He believes there is somewhat Dangerous in the Doctor 's Writings in Page 87. of his Vindication and not to give one Instance of it His words being these If there is any thing Dangerous in the Doctor 's Writings as I believe there is It would have been fair to have given one dangerous Passage at least but for want of that I turned to some of the most severe Passages of Mr. Williams's against the Doctor and to Dr Chancy's Apology for the Doctor to see what was so dangerous and I found in P. 37. of Gospel Truth Mr. Williams had loaded the Doctor thus Reader how horrid a sound must it have to a Christian Ear to say A Christ odious to God abhorred by the Father Here Mr. Williams speaks as if Dr. Crisp had said these words A Christ odious to God abhorred by the Father But Mr. Williams deals unjustly herein for as to the word A Christ odious there is not such an Expression in the Doctor and as for abhorred by the Father the Doctor s words are Christ is as it were abhorred by the Father But suppose it were as Mr. Williams brings it in How much more Horrid a Sound is it to say Christ is odious to God than to say Christ is made Sin by God himself If we had due Thoughts of the Horridness of Sin and that Christ was made Sin that is by Imputation we should think it as much a Debasing of our Lord Jesus to be made Sin by God as to be accounted Odious or Abhorred
for ever §. CXXXII Dr. Castle to confirm the Version of maas to be reprobavit he hath reprobated he brings Proofs from Jer. 6.30 Isa 35 15. Prov. 15.32 Ezek. 21.10 13. Jer. 14 19. in which last Proof are these words ha-maos maasta eth Jehudah which in English is in reprobating hast thou reprobated Judah which Montanus renders Nunquid reprobando reprobasti Jehudah whether or no in reprobating hast thou reprobated Judah which we translate only thus Hast thou utterly rejected Judah By the same Rule what our Translation of maasta or timeas is in Psal 89.38 thou hast abhorred Montanus renders it thou hast reprobated thy Christ which is proof sufficient to shew his Father's Wrath and abhorring of him Dr. Castle goes on to Prov. 3.11 and Isa 54.6 where is this word The Lord hath called thee as a Woman forsaken and grieved in Spirit and a Wife of youth when thou wast refused saith thy God The word for when refused is ci timeas which Montanus renders quia reprobata fuisti because thou wast reprobated §. CXXXIII O Blessed thrice blessed word to us poor Gentiles that when we were reprobated when we were refused that then our Lord Jesus should say Thy Maker is thine Husband and the Lord hath called thee as a Wife of Youth when thou hadst been forsaken and refused or reprobated and in lieu of it that he should say of himself to God as Psal 89.38 timeas meshi che-cha thou hast reprobated or abhorred thine anointed one That we poor Gentiles might become a Wife of Youth the Lord Jesus stands in our place as forsaken as refused as abhorred of the Lord or as Montanus and Dr. Castle renders it the I §. CXXXIV A little farther in the Lexicon the Chaldee word means the Doctor renders Comâ—utruit saetuit faetor Putor Corruptio faetens most dreadful words all of them to be used by our Lord Jesus concerning himself when under the forsaking of God and yet all this far short of his being made Sin for us and a Curse And if we at any time feel any thing of the Sting of Sin in our Consciences to cry out with Heman Psal 88.6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest Pit in Darkness in the Deeps Thy Wrath lyeth hard upon me We may thence think of the dreadful Horrour on the Soul of our Lord Jesus when all the Sins of all the Elect were stinging and gashing him which made him Sweat great Clodders of Blood in a cold Night upon the approach of that dreadful Hour and Power of Darkness upon him in the Garden a little before he felt the weight of God's wrathful Indignation as Mr. Williams calls it when on the Cross he was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him O how should we instead of quarrelling at the Expression Prize and Adore our blessed Lord Jesus who willingly underwent the being thus treated by his ever dear and tender Father for our sakes so as to be thus stricken smitten of God and afflicted to be thus wounded bruised and oppressed and that by the Pleasure of the Lord for our Iniquities for our Transgressions and for our Sins Isa 53. laid on him by the Lord O adorable Grace to us in this thus punishing the Son of God for us §. CXXXV Lastly I must make an Apology for my Dear Kratiste the Rebuker to clear him of the Load that the Reporter has laid on him accounting him an Ambodexter one while for Dr. Crisp and one while against him for him by affixing his Name to the Re-printing the Doctor 's Sermons and in his Argument to vindicate him in his Preface to Mr. Flavel's Book and now against him with a Vengeance treating him as an Apocryphal wild Monster of Nonsence in his Faithful or Frightful Rebuke to which in defence of the Rebuker I may plead That when he favoured Dr. C it was soon after he had been vindicating Dr. Owen against the Charge of the Rector of St. George's for which he had the deserved Applause of many Thousands But he having lately fallen in with the Neonomian or New-law Doctrine from Mr. Williams or rather lying under some unaccountable Engagements to him after some severe Reprimands of him now to the saddening his best Friends he seems to discard his first Love which seemed warm to clear Gospel Free Grace through the Blood of Jesus to Justifie and Save us and to take up with Mr. Williams his sâ—me Degrees of our Obedience in the Matter of our Justification Hence let him that stands take heed lest he fall by looking to him that is able and has promis'd to settle strengthen and establish §. CXXXVI Then my Dear Kratiste could own in terminis we work from Life not for Life but now this he Ranks among the Antinomian Heresies or Heterodoxies though it is in it self a Nonsensical Contradiction to say a Man may work and not do it from Life Can a dead Man work And dead we are till quickned in Christ Then he could say in Antisozzo Page 205. How God might be said to need Sins to set forth the Persecution of that Blessed Attribute of God his Sin pardoning Grace which is as high a piece of Antinomianism to say God needs Sins as any passage in Dr. Crisp's Sermons But now he can vindicate that Popish Assertion in Mr. Williams That Glory hath the same Conâ—exion with Good Works as the Building hath to the Foundation That is That our good Works are instead of Christ who is the Foundation that our Glory is built on Now the Apology I make is That then Dr. Owen the Mirror of the Age for Learning one honoured by all Christians hereabout he was living and it was the way for Antisozzo then living in an obscure Village to get a General Acceptation among the most refined Christians about the City to write consonantly to the Doctor when traduced as aforesaid But now Mr. Williams hath by 49 Vouchers been set up for the great Champion of the New-Law Doctrine bringing in our Obedience into our Justification instead of being Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus This might be a Temptation to the Rebuker to strain his Wit in the vindicating him by casting Dirt on the Apocryphal Tobias and thereby he might hope to exalt his own Name But God hath let most of his Friends and I hope himself too see how much he has failed to the Grief of all that love my Dear Kratiste as I do §. CXXXVII Wherefore I beseech the Lord he may seriously apply the Advice of our blessed Lord Jesus to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.2 I know saith he thy Works and thy Labour and for my Names sake thou hast laboured Witness Antisozzo c Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first Love Remember therefore whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first Works So let Kratiste do in putting forth the remainder