Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A66345
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An end to discord wherein is demonstrated that no doctrinal controversy remains between the Presbyterian and Congregational ministers fit to justify longer divisions : with a true account of Socinianism as to the satisfaction of Christ / by Daniel Williams.
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Williams, Daniel, 1643?-1716.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing W2647; ESTC R26372
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65,210
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134
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he hath appointed them to Salvation Note Reader that these Divines do here join together the Covenant of Redemption with Christ and the Gospel-Covenant whereby are dispensed to us the Benefits impetrated by Christ which two distinguished would lead to clearer thoughts Error The Covenant of Grace hath no Condition to be performed on Man's part tho in the strentgh of Christ Neither is Faith it self the Condition of this Covenant but all the saving Benefits of this Covenant are actually ours before we are born Neither are we required so much as to believe that we may come to have an Interest in the Covenant Benefits Truth 9. I shall express this in the words of the Assembly and Congregational Elders at the Savoy Confes. of Faith ch 14. 2. Declarat ch 14. a. 2. of saving Faith By this Grace a Christian believeth to be true whatever is revealed in the Word for the Authority of God speaking therein and acteth differently upon that which each particular Passage thereof containeth yielding Obedience to the Commands trembling at the Threatnings and embracing the Promises of God for this Life and that which is to come But the principal Acts of saving Faith are accepting receiving and resting upon Christ alone for Justification Sanctification and Eternal Life by virtue of the Covenant of Grace Error Saving Faith is nothing but our Persuasion or absolute concluding within our selves that our Sins are pardoned and that Christ is ours Truth 10. Christ is freely offered to be a Head and Saviour to the vilest Sinners who will knowingly assent to the Truth of the Gospel and from a Conviction of their Sin and Misery out of Christ are humbled and truly willing to renounce all their Idols and Sins denying their own carnal Self and Merits and accept of Christ as offered in the Gospel relying on him alone for Justification Sanctification and Eternal Life Error Christ is offered to Blasphemers Murderers and the worst of Sinners that they remaining ignorant unconvinced unhumbled and resolved in their purpose to continue such they may be assured they have a full Interest in Christ and this by only concluding in their own Minds upon this Offer that Christ is theirs Truth 11. Every Man is without Christ or not united to Christ until he be effectually called but when by this Call the Spirit of God enclineth and enableth him willingly to accept of Christ as a Head and Saviour a Man becomes united to him and Partaker of those Influences and Privileges which are peculiar to the Members of the Lord Jesus Error All the Elect are actually united to Christ before they have the Spirit of Christ or at all believe in him even before they are born yea and against their Will Truth 12. Tho Faith be no way a meritorious Cause of a Sinner's Justification yet God hath promised to justify all such as truly believe and requires Faith as an indispensible Qualification in all whom he will justify for Christ's Merits declaring that Unbelief shall not only hinder Mens knowing that they are justified but that it is a bar to any Person 's being justified while he continues an Unbeliever Error The whole use of Faith in Justification is only to manifest that we were justified before and Faith is no way necessary to bring a Sinner into a justified State nor at all useful to that end In a Digression there about Repentance is added Truth Altho neither Faith nor Repentance be any part of the meriting Righteousness for which we are justified and the Habits of both are wrought at the same time and included in the Regenerating Principle and there must be an assenting Act of Faith before there be any exercise of true Repentance And Repentance as consisting in the fruits meet for it viz. an external Reformation and a fruitful Life must follow Pardon as doth also an ingenuous Sorrow for Sin in the sense of Pardon Nevertheless Repentance as it consists in some degree of Humblings and Sorrow from Convictions of our lost State and the Evil of Sin with a sincere purpose of Heart to turn from our Sin and Idols to God is absolutely necessary in order to the forgiveness of Sin Error Our Sins are forgiven before any Repentance and Believers ought not to complain or mourn or sorrow for the Sins they have committed Truth 13. Tho neither Holiness sincere Obedience or good Works do make any Atonement for Sin or are in the least the meritorious Righteousness whereby Salvation is caused or for which this or any Blessing becomes due to us as of Debt yet as the Spirit of Christ freely worketh all Holiness in the Soul and enableth us to sincere Obedience and good Works so the Lord Jesus hath of Grace and for his own Merits promised to bring to Heaven such as are Partakers of true Holiness perform this sincere Obedience and do these good Works perseveringly and appoints these as the Way and Means of a Believer's obtaining Salvation and several other Blessings requiring these as indispensible Duties and Qualifications of all such whom he will so save and bless and excluding all that want or neglect them or live under the Power of what 's contrary thereto viz. Profaneness Rebellion and utter Unfruitfulness Error Men have nothing to do in order to Salvation nor is Sanctification a jot the way of any Person to Heaven nor can the Graces or Duties of Believers no nor Faith it self do them the least Good or prevent the least Evil nor are they of any use to their Peace or Comfort yea tho Christ be explicitely owned and they be done in the strength of the Spirit of God And a Believer ought not to think he is more pleasing to God by any Grace he acteth or Good he doth nor may Men expect any Good to a Nation by the Humiliation earnest Prayer or Reformation of a People Truth 14. Tho we ought to intend God's Glory as our supream End in all our Duties and design therein the expressing our Love and Gratitude to God for his Benefits with a great regard to publick Good Yet we also lawfully may and ought to strive after Grace grow in it and perform holy Duties and Services with an Eye to and Concern for our own spiritual and eternal Advantage Error No Man ought to propose to himself any Advantage by any Religious Duty he performeth nor ought he in the least to intend the Profit of his own Soul by any Christian Endeavours it being vain and unlawful to do any thing with an Eye to our spiritual or eternal Good tho in Subordination to God's Glory in Christ. Truth 15. The ordinary way whereby a Man attaineth a well-grounded Assurance is not by immediate objective Revelation or an inward Voice saying Thy Sins are forgiven thee But when the Believer is examining his Heart and Life by the Word the holy Spirit enlightens the Mind there to discern Faith and Love and such other Qualifications which the Gospel declareth to be infallible
with them for their Sins nor doth God express his Fatherly Displeasure against them by any Afflictions laid upon them Truth That pardoned yea mortified Sins are truly and properly Sins and God seeth the Sins of his own People and is displeased with them for their Sins Error 4. That Believers are not bound to confess or mourn over Sin as committed by them or pray for pardon of Sin in making a daily acknowledgment of a need of it because it was pardoned before committed and pardoned Sin is no Sin Truth That when Believers do sin it is their Duty to humble themselves confess their Sins and pray for Pardon p. 19. Error 5. That Believers ought not to be afraid of committing Sin because their Sins can do them no hurt Truth The Sins of Believers do hurt them and they should be afraid to commit them seeing they impair their Graces and Comforts harden their Hearts wound their Consciences hurt and scandalize others grieve God's holy Spirit expose to his Fatherly Displeasure and bring temporal Judgments upon them p. 22. Error 6. That they must do no good Work or Duty for their own Benefit or with an Eye to their own Salvation Truth That Believers must do good Works expecting Blessings in the performance thereof p. 24. Error 7. Believers not having in themselves an Ability to do good Works are not bound to perform any good Duty unless excited thereunto by a special motion of the Spirit Truth Tho Believers Ability to do good Works is not at all in themselves but wholly from the Spirit of Christ yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent as if they were not bound to perform any Duty unless upon a special motion of the Spirit but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the Grace of God that is in them p. 27. Error 8. That Sanctification evidenced by the Spirit of God to their Consciences is not a Sign Mark or Evidence of their Justification and that Marks and Signs for the trial of a Believer's Faith are of no use for Faith lying in a full perswasion and assurance that their Persons were actually justified and pardoned in Christ it is a Sin to question Whether they do savingly believe or no Truth Saving Faith lieth not in a full perswasion and assurance that our Sins are actually pardoned but Marks and Signs for the trial of our spiritual Estate are useful and to be sought after and Sanctification evidenced by the Spirit of God to our Consciences is a certain sign and mark of Sanctification p. 28 29. Error 9. That Gospel Ministers are not to preach the Law in its Commands and Curses to convince Men of their need of Christ nor are Believers obliged to regard the Law as delivered by Moses nor as externally propounded nor are they bound when they commit Sin to look to the Law for further Discoveries and Convictions of the remaining Corruptions that are in them because by the Gospel its Obligations are dissolved Truth That the Law delivered by Moses continues in its Commands and Curses undissolved and it 's still of use to convince of Sin that we may see a need of Christ and therefore is to be preached and externally propounded and we are to look unto it p. 36. And tho there is no Sin so small but it deserves Damnation yet there is no Sin so great that it shall bring Damnation to them that truly repent which makes the constant preaching of Repentance necessary Error 10. That Ministers of the Gospel ought not to propound the Offers of Salvation unto all those to whom God calls them to preach seriously inviting them to improve the Means of Grace that they may be saved and assuring them in the way of their Ministerial Duty of the Salvation of all such as believe in Christ because they want Ability to close with the Offer and all shall not be saved Truth That tho Men want Ability to believe savingly yet it 's the Duty of Gospel-Ministers to make the Offer and testify unto them that whoever believes and repents shall be saved and that it 's the Peoples Duty to make use of their natural Faculties with such external Means and workings of the Spirit as God affords them that they may believe repent and be saved p. 41 42. Error 11. That by God's laying our Sins upon Christ he became every way as sinful as we and we every way as righteous as he and that therefore Persons may expect to be pardoned whilst they continue in a state of Unbelief and Impenitence and that continued Repentance and Holiness are not in the nature of the thing nor by the Constitution of the Gospel necessary to our being possessed of eternal Life Truth Our Sins were not laid upon Christ so as to make him every way as sinful as we and we are not every way as righteous as Christ and none may expect to be pardoned in a state of Unbelief and Impenitence and continued Repentance and Holiness are necessary to our possession of eternal Life p. 46 47 48. CHAP. IV. It 's made evident that this Declaration of our Brethren taken altogether and examined with due Charity and Candor ought to be acknowledged a sufficient Vindication of the Approvers thereof from all hurtful Antinomian Errors TO this end 1. We think that Christian Charity and Candor oblige us to judg of what they have declared by these following Rules and we expect the same for our selves from them 1. That the omission of any Points unmentioned is not to be attributed to a mistaken Judgment concerning them and far less when the things expressed are granted to be Truths or Errors upon a reason that alike infers what is omitted 2. That the Approvers do truly intend for substance what is declared 3. That in a Body of Subscribers some few may be more narrow in their Conceptions and therefore to avoid a Breach must be accommodated in the phrasing of some Points beyond what the others if at full liberty would either need or chuse 4. If any thing be a little darkly or suspiciously worded in one part and more expresly and fully in another the latter must be the Index of their Judgment upon which account we cite not only their State of Error and Truth but refer to the Pages containing their Explications and approved Authorities some of which will be mentioned afterwards 5. That they ought not to be charged with the Consequences of any occasional Passages which they disown 2. These just Rules being admitted we shall enumerate the hurtful Antinomian Errors as Antinomianism is described in the last Age which in many things differs from what was so called at first and under each refer you to the places besides the above-mentioned State of Error and Truth wherein the Brethren have so laudably vindicated themselves by their Declaration The dangerous Parts of Antinomianism are reducible to these general Heads 1. As it renders the Ministry unapt to its proper Ends. 2. As it tends to