stated by you being the principles and the goodness of this World and such as have not faith but the law not the holy Ghost but humane nature in them they cannot be those which you affirm was or is the design the great the only and ultimate design of Christ or his Gospel to promote and propagate in the World neither with respect to our justification before God from the curse neither with respect to the workings of his Spirit and the faith of Jesus in our hearts the true Gospel or evangelical Holiness First It is not the righteousness that justifieth us before God from the curse because it is that which is properly our own and acted and managed by principles of our own arising originally in the roots of it from our own There is the righteousness of Men and the righteousness of God that which is the righteousness of Men is that which we do work from matter and principles of our own but that which is the righteousness of God is that which is wrought from matter and principles purely Divine and of the Nature of God Again that which is our own righteousness is that which is wrought in and by our own persons as Men but that which is the righteousness of God is that which is wrought in and by the second person in the Trinity as God and Man in one person and that resideth onely in that person of the Son I speak now of the righteousness by which we stand just before God from the curse of the Law Now this righteousness of ours our own righteousness the Apostle always opposeth to the righteousness of God saying They going about to establish their OWN righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Farther This righteousness of our own Paul counts loss and dogs-meat in comparison of that other far more glorious righteousness which he calleth as it is in truth the righteousness of God which as I said but now resideth in the person of the Son Therefore saith Paul I cast away my own righteousness and do count it loss and but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith The righteousness therefore that is our own that ariseth from matter and principles of our own such as that which you have described justifieth us not before God from the curse Secondly The righteousness that you have described justifieth us not as before because it is the righteousness which is of the moral law that is it is wrought by us as walking in the law Now it mattereth not whether you respect the law in its first principles or as it is revealed in the table of the ten Commandments they are in nature but one and the same and their substance and matter is written in our Hearts as we are Men. Now this righteousness the Apostle casteth away as was shewed before not having mine own righteousness saith he which is of the law why Because the righteousness that â—aveth us from the wrath of God is the righteousness of God and so a righteousness that is without the law But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe Rom. 3. The righteousness of God without the law the righteousness of Christ who is naturally God wherefore such a righteousness as was accomplished by him that was Lord and the very God of the law whose nature was infinite and not that which the law could command or condemn neither was the command of the law the great and principal argument with him no not in its first and highest principles to do or continue to do it but even that which the law commanded of us that he did not by the law but by that spirit of life that eternal Spirit and God-head which was essential to his very being He did naturally and infinitely that which the law required of us from higher and more mighty principles then the law could require of him for I should reckon it a piece of prodigious blasphemy to say that the Law could command his God the Creature his Lord and Creator but this Lord God Jesus Christ even he hath accomplished righteousness even righteousness that is without that is above higher and better then that of the Law and that is the righteousness that is given to and put upon all them that believe Wherefore the Lord Jesus Christ in his most blessed life was neither prompted to actions of holiness nor managed in them by the purity of humane nature or those you call first principles of morals or as he was simply a reasonable Creature but being the natural Son of God truly and essentially eternal as the Father by the eternal Spirit his God-head was his man-hood governed and acted and spirited to do and suffer He through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God which offering respects not onely his act of dying but also that by which he was capacitated to dye without spot in his sight which was the infinite Dignity and Sinlessness of his person and the perfect justice of his Actions Now this person thus acting is approved of or justified by the Law to be good for if the righteousness of the Law be good which Law is but a creature the righteousness of the Lord the God of this Law must needs be much more good wherefore here is the Law and its perfection swallowed up even as the light of a Candle or Star is swallowed up by the light of the Sun Thus then is the believer made not the righteousness of the Law but the righteousness of God in Christ because Christ Jesus who is the righteousness of the Christian did walk in this world in and under the Law not by legal and humane principles which are the excellencies of men but in and by those that are divine even such as were and are of his own nature and the essence of his eternal God-head This is the righteousness without the Law accomplished by a person and principles far otherwise then is he or those you make description of and therefore yours cannot be that by which we stand just before the justice of God without the Law Now if it be a righteousness without the Law then it is a righteousness without Men a righteousness that cannot be found in the World For take away the Law the rule and you take away not onely the righteousness but that by which men as men work righteousness in the World Mine own righteousness which is of the Law The righteousness then by which a man must stand just in the sight of God from the curse is not to be found in men nor in the Law but in him and him onely
the Lord is changed from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Câ—r 3. 14 18. Objâ—ct But it seems a paradox to many That a man should live to the Law that is devote himself to the works of the ten Commandments the most perfect rule of life and yet not be counted one changed or new Answ. Though it seemeth an untruth yet it is most true That by the works of the Law no heart is made new no man made new A man from principle of nature and reason which principles are of himself and as old may give up himself to the goodness of the Law Yet these principles are so far off from being new that they are as old as Adam in Paradise and come into the world with all the children of men To which principles the Law or the first principles of morals so equally suit that as you have said page 8. they are self-evident then which there is nothing maâ—-kind dâ—th more naturally assent unto page 11. Now Nature is no new principle but an old even our own and of our selves The Law is no new principle but old and one with our selves as also you well have called it first written in mens hearts and originally dictates of humane nature Let a man then be as devout as is possible for the Law and the holiness of the Law Yet if the principles from which he acts be but the habit of Soul the purity as he feigns of his own nature principles of natural reason or the dictates of humane nature all this is nothing else but the old Gentleman in his Holy-day-cloaths the old Heart the old Spirit the Spirit of the man not the Spirit of Christ is here And hence the Apostle when he would shew us a man alive or made a new man indeed as he talketh of the holy Ghost and faith so he tells us suchâ— are dead to the Law to the Law as a Law of works to the Law as to principles of nature Wherefore my brethen you are also become dead to the Law the moral Law and the ceremonial Law by the body of Christ that you should be married to another another then the Law even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7. 4. Ye are become dead to the Law dead to the Law Why That you should be married to another Married to another Why That you should bring forth fruit unto God But doth not a man bring forth fruit unto God that walketh orderly according to the ten Commandments NO if he do it before faith in the Spirit of a man by the dictates of humane nature respecting the Law as that by the obeying of which he must obtain acceptance with God This is bringing forth fruit unto himself for all that he doth he doth it as a man as a Creature from principles natural and of himself his own and for none other then himself and therefore he serveth in an old Spirit the oldness of the letter and for himself But now that is yeâ— being dead to the Law and married to Christ that the Law being dead by which while in our selves we were held Now we are delivered from that law both as to its curse and impositions as it stands a Law of works in the heart of the world we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter v. 6. A man must first then be dead to your principles both of nature and the Law if he will serve in a new Spirit if he would bring forth fruit unto God Wherefore your description of the principle of holiness in man and also the principles by which this holiness is put forth by him into righteous acts they are such as are altogether void of the true essentials of inward Gospel-holiness and righteousness But there is one thing more in this description or rather effect thereof which I shall also inquire into And that is saying As it was the errand of Christ to effect our deliverance out of that sinful state we had brought our selves into so to put us again into possession of that holiness which we HAD LOST page 12. The proof of this position is now your next business that is if I understand your learning the remaining part of your book which consisteth of well nigh 300 pages is spent for proof thereof which I doubt not but effectually to confute with less then 300 lines Onely first by the way I would have my reader to take notice that in this last Clause to put us again into possession of that holiness which we had lost is the sum of all this large description of his holiness in the foregoing pages that is the holiness and righteousness that Mr. Fowler hath been describing and adds that Christs whole business when he came into the world was as to effect our deliverance from sin so to put us again in possession of that holiness which we had lost The holiness therefore that here he contendeth for is that and onely that which was in Adam before the fall which he lost by transgression and we by transgressing in him A little therefore to inquire into this if perhaps his reader and mine may come to a right understanding of things First then Adam before the fall even in his best and most sinless state was but a pure natural man consisting of body and soul these to use your own terms were his pure essentials In this mans heart God also did write the Law that is as you term them the first principles of morals This then was the state of Adam he was a pure natural man made by God sinless all the faculties of his Soul and members of his body were clean God made man upright But he made him not then a Spiritual man The first Adam was made a living Soul howbeit that was not first which was Spiritual but that which was natural and afterwards that which is Spiritual The first man is of the earth earthy 1 Cor. 15 A living Soul he was yet but a natural man even in his first and best estate but earthly when compared to Christ or with them that believe in Christ. So then the holiness of Adam in his last estate even that which he LOST and we in him it was none other then that which was natural even the sinless-state of a natural man This holiness then was not of the nature of that which hath for its root the holy Ghost for of that we read not at all in him he onely was indued with a living Soul his holiness then could not be Gospel nor that which is a branch of the second covenant his acts of righteousness were not by the operations of the Spirit of Grace but the dictates of the Law in his own natural heart But the Apostle when he treateth of the Christian inherent holiness first excluding that in Adam as earthly he tells us it is such
Doctrine being in it self of quite another Nature then the Doctrine of Faith and also as such a Covenant by it self it requireth the mind by vertue of it's Commands to stand to THAT and to rest in THAT For of necessity the heart and mind of a Man can go no farther then it seeth and hath learnt but by this Morral Doctrine the heart and mind is bound and limited to it self by the power of the Dictate to obedience and the promise of obtaining the Blessing when the preceptive part of it is fulfilled Hence Paul tells us that though that Ministration that was Written and Ingraven in Stones which in Nature is the same with this is glorious yet these imperfections attended the Man that was in it 1. He was but within the bounds of the Ministration of Death 2. In this estate he was blind and could not see how to be delivered therefrom The vail is over their hâ—art so that they could not heretofore neither can they now see to the end of that which was commanded neither to the perfection of the command nor their own insufficiency to do it nor to thâ— Death and Curse of God that attended him that in every thing continued not in that was Written in the Book of the Law to do them 3. Every Lecture or Reading of this Old Law is as a fresh Hood-winking of it's Disciples and a doubling of the hindrance of their coming to Christ for life But their minds were blinded for until this day the same Vail remaineth untaken away in reading of the Old Testament which Vail is done away in Christ But even unto this day when Moses is read the Vail is over their Hearts 2 Cor. 3. 6 to 15. And let the Reader note that all these things attend the Doctrine of Morrals the Ceremonies being in themselves more apt to instruct Men in the Knowledge of Christ they being by God's Ordaination Figures Shadows Representations and Emblems of him but the Morrals are not so neither as Written in our Natures nor as Written and Engraven in Stones Wherefore your so highly commended obedient temper of mind you intending thereby an hearty complyance before Faith with Morrals for Righteousness is so far off from being an excellent temper and a necessary qualification to help a Man to a firm belief and right understanding of the Gospel that it is the most ready way of all ways in the World to keep a man perpetually blind and ignorant thereof Wherefore the Apostle saith that the Vail the Ignorance cannot be taken away but when the Heart shall turn to the Lord that is from the Doctrine of Morrals as a Law and Covenant in our Natures or as it was Written and Ingraven in Stones to Christ for mercy to pardon our transgressions against it and for imputative Righteousness to Justifie us from it While Moses is Read the Vail is over the Heart that is while Men with their minds stand bending also to do it But mark when it the Heart shall turn to the Lord or to the Word of the Gospel which is the Revelation of him then the Vail shall be taken away And hence it will not be amiss if again we consider how the Holy Ghost compareth or setteth one against another these two Administrations The Law he calls the Letter even the Law of Morrals that Law that was Written and Engraven in Stones The other Ministration he calls the Ministration of the Spirit even that which Christ offered to the World upon believing Again he denyeth himself to be a Minister of the Law of Morrals He hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament noâ— of the Letter or Law but of the Spirit or Gospel The reason is for the Letter or Law can do nothing but kill Curse or Condemn but the Spirt or the Gospel giveth life Farther in comparing he calls the Law the Ministration of Death or that which layeth Death at the Doors of all Flesh but the Gospel the Ministration of Righteousness because by this Ministry there is a Revelation of that Righteousness that is fulfilled by the Person of Christ and to be imputed for Righteousness to them that believe that they might be delivered from the Ministration of death How then hath the Ministration of God no Glory Yes forasmuch as it is a Revelation of the Justice of God against Sin But yet again it 's Glory is turned into no Glory when it is compared with that which excelleth For if the Ministration of Death Written and Graven in the Stones was glorious so that the Children of Israel coulâ— not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the Glory of his countenancâ— which Glory was to be done away how shall not the Ministratioâ— of the Spirit be rather Glorious For if the Ministration of Condemnation be Glory much more doth the Ministration of Righteousness exceed in Glory For even that which was made Glorious hath no Glory in this respect by reason of the Glory that excelleth 2 Cor. 3. 9 10. So then your obedient temper of mind forasmuch as it respecteth the Law of Morrals and that too before Faith or a right understanding of the Gospel is nothing else but an obedience to the Law a living to Death and the Ministration of Condemnation and is a perswading the World that to be obedient to that Ministration that is not the Ministration of the Gospel but holdeth it's Disciples in blindness and ignorance in which it is impossible Christ should be revealed is an excellent yea a necessary qualification to prepare Men for a firm belief and a right understanding of the Gospel of Christ which yet even blindeth and holdeth all blind that are the followers of that Ministration I come now to your Proof which indeed is no Proof of this Antigospel Assertion but Texts abused and wrestled out of their place to serve to underprop your erronious Doctrine The First is If any Man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self John 7. 17. P. 268. Answ. This Scripture respecteth not at all the Morral Law or obedience to the Dictates of Humane Nature as an acceptable qualification precedent to Faith or that for the sake of which God will give Men Faith in and a right understanding of the Gospel but is it self an immediate exhortation to believing with a promise of what shall follow as who shall say The Father hath sent me into the World to be Salvation to it through Faith in my Blood My Fathers will therefore is that Men believe in me and if any will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine he shall feel the power thereof by the peace and comfort that will presently possess the Soul and by the holy effects that follow That this is the true exposition of this place will be verified if you consider that to do the will of God in a New Testament sence is to be taken under a double
the Glory that we shall â—ossess in Heaven is questionable as to your notion of it your â—â—â—â—on is That the substance of it Consists in a perfect resemblance to the Divine Nature Answ. Therefore not in the Injoyment of the Divine Nature it self For that which in Substance is but a bare Resemblance though it be a most perfect one is not the thing it self of which it is a Resemblance But the Blessedness that we shall enjoy in Heaven in the very Substance of it Consisteth not wholly nor Principally in a Resemblance of but in the Injoyment of God himself Heirs of God Wherefore there shall not be in us a Likeness onely to but the very Nature of God Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ Rom. 8. Hence the Apostle tells us that he rejoyced in hope of the Glory of God Rom. 5. Not onely in hope of a Resemblance of it The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul But this is like the rest of your Discourse You are so in Love with your Adamitish Holiness that with you it must be God in Earth and Heaven Who they are that hold our Happiness in Heaven shall come by a meer fixing our Eyes upon the Divine Perfections I know not But thus I Read We shall be like him Why or how For we shall see him as he is Our Likeness then to God even in the very Heavens will in great part come by the Visions of him And to speak the truth our very entrance into eternal life or the beginnings of it here they come to us thus But we all every one of us that shall be saved come by it onely thus with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2. Cor. 3. 18. And whereas you tell us Pag. 124. That the Devils themselves have a large measure of some of the Attributes of God as Knowledge Power c. though themselves are unlike unto him In this you most Prodigiously Blaspheme Your Thirteenth Chapter is to shew That our Saviours preferring the Business of making Men Holy before any other witnesseth that this is to do the best Service to God But still respecting the Holiness you have in your first Chapter Described which still the Reader must have his eye upon it is false and a slander of the Son of God He never intended to Promote or Prefer your Natural Old Covenant Holiness viz. that which we had lost in Adam or that which yet from him in the Dregs thereof remaineth in Humane Nature but that which is of the Holy Ghost of Faith of the New Covenant I shall not here again take notice of your 130 Page nor with the Error Contained therein about Justification by Imputed Righteousness But one thing I observe that in all this Chapter you have nothing Fortified what you say by any Word of God no though you Insinuate Pag. 129. and Pag. 131. that some Dissent from your Opinion But instead of the Holy Words of God being as you Feign Conscious to your self you cannot do it SO well as by another Method viz. The Words of Mr. John Smith therefore you Proceed with his as he with Plato's and so wrap you up the Business You come next to an Improvement upon the whole where you make a Comparison between the Heathens and the Gospel shewing how far the Gospel helpeth the Light the Heathens had in their Pursuit after your Holiness But 〈◊〉 the Excellency of the Gospel as you have vainly Dreamt is to make Improvement First of the Heathens Principles such good Principles say you as were by the Light of Nature Dictated to them Pag. 133 134 135. As 1. That there is but one God that he is Infinitely perfect c. 2. That we owe our lives and all the comforts of them to him 3. That he is our Soveraign Lord. 4. That he is to be Loved above all things Answ. 1. Seeing all these are and may be known as you your self confess by them that have not the Gospel and I add nor yet the Holy Ghost nor any saving Knowledge of God or Eternal Life Therefore it cannot be the Design of Jesus Christ by the Gospel to Promote or help forward this Knowledge simply from this Principle viz. Natural Light and the Dictates of it My Reason is because when Nature is strained to the highest Pin it is but Nature still and so all the improvement of it's Light and Knowledge is but an increase of that which is but Natural Now saith Paul The Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. But the Gospel is the Ministration of the Spirit a Revelation of another thing then is found in or can be acquired to by Heathenish Principles of Nature I say a Revelation of another thing or rather another discovery of the same As 1. Concerning the Godhead the Gospel giveth us another discovery of it then is possible to be obtained by the Dictates of Natural Light even a discovery of a Trinity of Persons and yet Unity of Essence in the same Deity 1 John 5. 1 5 8. 2. The Light of Nature will not shew us that God was in Christ Reconciling the World to himself 3. The Light of Nature will not shew us that we owe what we are and have to God because we are the Price of the Blood of his Son 4. The Light of Nature will not shew that there is such a thing as Election in Christ. 5. Or that there is such a thing as the Adoption of Children to God through him 6. Nor that we are to be saved by Faith in his Blood 7. Or that the Man Christ shall come from Heaven to Judgement These things I say the Light of Nature teacheth not but these things are the Great and Mighty things of the Gospel and those about which it chiefly bendeth it self touching upon other things still as those that are knowable by a Spirit Inferior to this of the Gospel Besides as these things are not known by the Light of Nature so the Gospel when it comes as I also told you before doth Implant in the Soul another Principle by which they may be received and from which the Soul should act and do both towards God and towards Men as Namely the Holyâ—Ghost Faith Hope the Joy of the Spirit c. The other things you mention Pag. 138 140 142 143. viz. 1. The Immortality of the Soul 2. The Doctrine of Rewards and Punishments in the Life to come 3. Of the forgiveness of Sin upon true Repentance c. Answ. All these things may be Assented to where yet the Grace of the Gospel is not but yet the Apprehension must be such as is the Light by which they are discovered but the Light of Nature cannot discover them according to the Light and Nature of
us insignificant if it stand without Faith in himself Ye believe naturally in God saith he Believe also in me Faith in Jesus is as absolutely necessary as to believe immediately in the Divine being Yea without Faith in Jesus whosoever believeth in God is sure to perish and burn in Hell If you believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your Sins And to take Jesus in Morrals for example is no where called believing in him neither is there one promise of eternal life annexed to such a practice But you say If we tread in his blessed steps and be such according to our measure and capacity as we have understood he was in this World Answ. I say for a Man to confine himself onely to the life of the Lord Jesus for an example or to think it enough to make him in his life a pattern for us to follow leaveth us through our shortness in the end with the Devil and his Angels for want of Faith in the Doctrine of Remission of Sins For Christ did no where make another Mediator between God and him nor did he ever trust to another Man's Righteousness to be thereby Justified from the Curse of the Law neither did he at all stand in need thereof without which WE must be Damned and Perish Now I say these things being no where practiced by him he cannot therein be an example to us And I say again seeing that in these things by Faith in them is immediately wrapped up our Reconciliation with God it followeth that though a Man take the Lord Christ in his whole life for an example in the end that notwithstanding he abideth unreconciled to God Neither will that clause and be such help such a person at all For Justification with God comes not by imitating Christ as exemplary in Morrals but through Faith in his Precious Blood In the Law I read that the Paschal Lamb was neither to be eaten Sodden nor Raw but Roast with fire must it be eaten Exod. 12. Now to make Salvation Principally to depend upon imitating Christ's Life it is to feed upon him Raw or at most as Sodden or Sanctified and Holy But the precept is Eat it Roast with fire is the Antitype as accursed of God for Sin and induring the punishment for it The Law is compared to fire and it's Curse to a burning Oven Now under the Curse of this fiery Law was the Lord Jesus afflicted for the Sins of the World Wherefore as so considered our Faith must lay hold upon him for Justification with God This is the Law of the Burnt Offering which was the Offering for Sin It is the Burnt Offering because of the burning upon the Altar all night unto the morning and the fire of the Altar shall be burning in it Levit. 6. 9. But now I would inquire Had Israel done the Commandment if they had eaten the Passover Raw or Boiled in Water or if they had offered that Offering that was to be burnt as a Sin Offering otherwise then it was commanded Even so to feed upon Christ as he is Holy and of good life onely and also as taking him therein for an example to us to follow his steps for Justification with God this is to eat the Passover Raw and not as Rost with Fire this is to feed upon Jesus without respecting him as accursed of God for our Sin and so consequently to miss of that eternal life that by his Blood he hath obtained for every one that believeth on him I have been pleased with this observation that none of the Signs and Wonders in Aegypt could deliver the Children of Israel thence till the Lamb was slain and Roast with fire Exod. 12. 1. And I have been also pleased with this that the Father not Moses gave the Manna from Heaven which was a Type of the Flesh and Blood of Christ that whoso feedeth on shall live for ever John 6. 32. Yea Circumcision also which was a Type of inward and Heart-Holiness was not of Moses but of the Fathers and Principally a consequence of the Faith of Abraham John 7. 22. Whence I gather That no Wonder but the Blood of Christ can save That no Kindess but the Mercy of God can give this to us And that no Law but the Law of Faith can make us truly Holy in heart But you add Those that sincerely and industrously indeavour to imitate the Holy Jesus in his Spirit and Actions can never be ignorant what it is to be truly Christians Those that follow Jesus in his Spirit must first receive that Spirit from Heaven which Spirit is received as I have often said by applying first by Faith the Merits of Christ to the Soul for Life and Justification with God The Spirit is not received by the Works of the Law but by the hearing of Faith neither comes it in the Ministry or Doctrine of Morrals but in and by the Ministry of Faith and the Law is NOT of Faith Wherefore seeing you have in Page 223. of your Book forbidden Sinners to come first to Jesus for Justification with God the Spirit you talk of however you call it the Spirit Jesus can be no other then the Spirit of a Man which you also your self in Pag. 7 8 9. call the Purity of Humane Nature a Principle of Reason the first Principles of Morrals or those that are Originally Dictates of Humane Nature Wherefore by these Words in his Spirit you do but Blaspheme the Holy Ghost and abuse your ignorant Reader calling now Quaker-like the Dictates of your Humanity and your Socinian Complyances therewith the Spirit of Holy Jesus I conclude therefore that the way of Salvation or the design of Christianity as prescribed by you is none other then the Errors of your own brain the way of Death the Sum and Heart of Papistical Quakerism and is quite denyed by the Lord Jesus and by his blessed Testament And now go your ways and imitate the Lord Jesus and take the whole History of his life for your example and walk in his steps and be such as much as you can yet without Faith in his Blood first yea and if you stand not Just before God through the imputation of his Righteousness your imitating will be found no better then rebellion because by that instead of Faith in his Blood you hope to obtain remission of Sins thrusting him thereby from his Office and Work and setting your dunghil Righteousness up in his stead I come now to Your Conclusion First in Page 198. You prâ—se men to betake themselves to find that which you call the design of Christianity accomplished in their hearts and lives Answ. Seeing that the Holiness that your erronious Book hath exalted is none other but THAT which we have LOST Yea and again seeing you have set this in the Head of and before the the Righteousness of Christ I admonish my Reader to tremble at the Blasphemy of your Book and account the whole
who is greater and also without the Law For albeit for our sakes he became under the Law even to the curse and displeasure of God yet the principles by which he walked in the World to God-ward they were neither humane nor legal but heavenly and done in the Spirit of the Son Wherefore it is not the righteousness you have described by which we stand just before God Thirdly The righteousness you have described cannot be that which justifieth us before God because of its imperfections and that both with respect to the principle and the power with which it is managed For though you have talked of a sound complexion of Soul the purity of the humane nature and that with this addition of power as to be able to keep it self incommixt with that which is not of it self yet we Christians know and that by the words of God that there is in man as man now no soundness at all but from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot Botches and Boyls Putrifactions and Sores We are ALL an unclean thing and our righteousness as filthy vlcerous raggs If there had been a Law given that could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the Law Could a man perform the Law to the liking of the justice of the eternal majesty then would the Law give life to that man but because of the perfection of an infinite justice and the weakness and unprofitableness of the Law through our flesh therefore though you speak yet farther of the excellency of your sound complexion and of the purity of the humane nature you must flie from your self to another righteousness for life or at the last stick in the jaws of Death and everlasting Desperation For by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Gal. 2. 16. It is therefore no better then error thus to ascribe to poor man that hath drunk iniquity like water a soundness of soul a purity of humane nature Wherefore Jude saith of you and of all such naturalists That even in the things that you know naturally as the bruit in them you corrupt your selves Jude 10. even in the very principles the first or original dictates of your nature or humanity There is none that understandeth or is good therefore there is none that doth good no not one that is none as continuing in a natural state none by the power or principles of nature for he meaneth here in your own sense as men by natural principles have to do with the justice of the Law Fourthly The righteousness which you have described cannot be that which justifieth us before God because it is that which is not of faith The Law is not of faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3. The Apostle also in the 10 th Chapter of the Romans tells us that the righteousness that is compleated by doing the Law is one and another besides the righteousness of faith For faith in the justification of a sinner from the curse and wrath of God respecteth onely the mercy of God and forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ. God for Christs sake hath forgiven him that is enabled to believe that is trust to and venture the eternal concern of his soul upon the righteousness that is no where to be found but in the person of the Son of God For there is justice more then answerable to all the demands of the Law and the requirements of the eternal justice of God and he is our justice He is made unto us of God righteousness or justice that is the righteousness or justice that is in him is by God accounted the mans that shall accept thereof by faith that he might be made the justice or righteousness of God in him For the righteousness that saveth a sinner from damnation must be equal to that in the eternal Deity but where can that be found but in him that is naturally God as is indeed the Son of the Father in him therefore and not in the Law there is a righteousness fit for faith to apply to Besides the Law is not neither can be the object of faith to men for that which is the object of faith I speak now as to justifying righteousness it must be a righteousness already compleated and as I said a righteousness to be received and accepted being now perfected and offered and given to us by the kindness and mercy of God but a man may believe long enough in the Law before that performs for him a perfect righteousness The Law can work nothing unless it be wrath Rom. 4. No thou must work BY and not believe IN the Law Besides all that cometh out of the mouth of the Law is Cursed is every one that continueth not in every thing which is written in the book of the Law to do them which no man is capable of doing so as to escape the curse by doing that hath once or first transgressed the same Wherefore it is a vain thing yea an horrible wickedness in you thus to abuse the Law and the weakneâ—s of man by suggesting that the onely the ultimate or grand design of Christ Jesus was or is the promoting of a righteousness by the Law that is performed by humane principles in us I could double yea ten times double the number of these arguments against you but I will pass from this to the second thing The righteousness you have described is not the true Gospel inward holiness I told you before that the principles which you have described are not evangelical principles and now I will adde that as they are not such in themselves so neither do they fetch in or obtain by our adhering to them those things which alone can make or work in the Soul those truly Gospel inward acts of holiness There are three things which are essential to the inward Gospel holiness of which as your description is utterly destitute so neither can they by that be obtained or come into the heart 1. The holy Ghost 2. Faith in Christ. 3. A new Heart and a new Spirit Without these three there is no such things as Gospel holiness in Man as before I have also hinted at But now as there is none of these three found in your discription of inward Holiness so neither can you or other by all your inclinations either to those you call first principles of natural reason or the dictates of humane nature obtain or fetch into the Soul the least dram of that which is essential to that which is indeed according to the Gospel description of inward Gospel holiness as will further be manifest in this that followeth 1. The holy Ghost is not obtained by your description that consisting only in principles of Nature and in putting forth it self in acts of Civility and Morality When the Apostle would convince the bewitched Galathians that your Doctrine which was also the Doctrine of the false
Apostles was that which instead of helping forward did hinder and pervert the Gospel of Christ he applieth himself to them in this manner This onely would I learn of you Received you the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith By the works of the Law that is by putting of your principles into practice Nay may I not adde by putting of your principles into practice by a more bright and clear rule then in the beginning of your description is inserted by you for the Law as written and engraven in stones with the addition of all the Mosaical precepts was a more ample and full discovery of the mind of God then can be obtained by your virtues of Soul your purity of humane nature or the first principles of morals as they are written in the heart of man and originally dictates of humane nature Yet by these by following these by labouring to live up to the light of these their own experience told them that they neither could nor did obtain the enjoyment of the holy Ghost but that rather their now declining the word of Faith by which indeed they receive it at first whatever pretences of holiness and godliness were the arguments to prevail with them so to do was in truth none other but the very witch-craft and inchantments of the Devil Farther The Apostle sets this your Spirit and Principles and that which indeed is the Spirit of God in aline Diametrically opposite one against another yea the receiving of the one opposeth the receiving of the other Now we have received saith he NOT the Spirit of the World that is your Spirit and principles of humanity to walk by it or live in it but the Spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2. 12. But what is the Spirit of the World He tells us in the verse before it is the Spirit of a man which Solomon calls the Candle of the Lord that which searcheth all the inward parts of the Belly Prov. 20. 27. by humane principles good motions to moral duties workings of reason dictates of nature to obey God as Creator These things flow from the Spirit of a man which is the Spirit of all the World They that preach or speak by this Spirit they preach or speak of the World of the virtues of the World and the World the whole World heareth them or know in themselves what they say Now when this Spirit is received imbraced and followed as the Spirit that is of God then it must be branded with the mark of the Spirit of error and of Antichrist because the act in so doing is most wicked yea and Christ himself is made head against by it But I say the holy Ghost is not obtained by these principles nor by the pursuit of them 2. Faith is not obtained by the pursuit of your principle but by hearing of another doctrine He that presseth men to look to and live by the purity of humane nature principles of natural reason or by the Law as written in the heart or Bible he sets the word of Faith out of the World for these doctrines are as opposite as the Spirits I spake of before For Moses describeth the righteousness that is of the Law that the man that doth these things shall live by them Now he that receiveth this Law to do and live by he hath set up and is in pursuit of a doctrine of another nature then that which is called the righteousness of faith that being such as for justification aâ—d deliverance from the curse maketh no mention at all of hearing the Law or of doing good works but of hearing of the mercy of God as extended to sinners and of its coming to us through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus The righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead but what saith it The word is nigâ—h thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mâ—uth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 5 9. This then is the doctrine of faith or the righteousness with which faith hath to do Now as old covenantâ— works are begotten in men by the doctrine of works so faith is begotten by the doctrine of faith Therefore after he had said faith cometh by hearing â—e insinuates it to be the hearing the preaching of the Gospel of peace peace by the blood of the cross and the glad tidings of good things ver 14 15 16 17. of good things promised for the sake of the Lord Jesus not for the sake of good deeds done of us by humane principles or the dictates of our nature Faith Then the second essential comes into the heart not by the preaching or the practice of your principles but by another a higher and far more heavenly doctrine And hence the Apostle compleatly puts the difference betwixt the worker of good works in the Spirit of the Law and the believer that taketh hold of grace by Christ that he may be saved thereby The one he calls Them that are of the works of the Law the other They which are of Faith This being done he tells us that as they differ in the principles to wit of Faith and Works so they shall differ in conclusion For the Law is not of faith the promise is onely made to faith therefore they onely that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham 3. The third essential is a new Heart and a new Spirit or mind and this also comes not by your principle that being but the old covenant that gendreth to bondage and that holds its Ismaels under the curse for ever there comes no new heart by the Law nor new Spirit It is by the new Covenant even the Gospel that all things are made now Jer. 31. 33. Ezek. 36. Heb. 8. 2. 2 Cor. 5. 17 18 19. The Apostle after a large discourse of the two ministrations and their excellencies 2 Cor. 3. tell us that the heart is nothing changed so long as it abideth in the works of the Law but remaineth blind and ignorant Nevertheless saith he when it shall turn from the Law to the Lord the vail shall be taken away But what is it to turn from the Law to the Lord Why even to leave and forsake your Spirit and principles and works from those principles and flie to the grace and merits the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when the heart is turned to Christ then the vail of Moses is taken off wherefore then the soul with OPEN face beholding as in a glass the glory of
that their believing takes away the Curse but puts the Soul upon trusting to him that before Purged this Guilt and Curse I say before he sat down on the Right Hand of God Not to Suspend as you would have it but to take away the Sin of the World The Lord hath LAID upon him the Iniquities of us all And he BARE them in his own Body on the Tree Nor yet that he should OFTEN Offer himself for then must he OFTEN have suffered since the Foundation of the World But NOW and that at Once in the end of the World hath he Appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself Mark he did put it away by the Sacrifice of his Body and Soul when he dyed on the Cross but he could not then put away the inward Filth of those that then remained Unconverted or those that as yet wanted being in the World The putting away of Sin therefore that the Holy Ghost here intendeth is such a putting of it away as respecteth the Guilt Curse and Condemnation thereof as it stood by the Accusations of the Law against all Flesh before the Face of God which Guilt Curse and Condemnation Christ himself was made in that day when he dyed the Death for us And this is the First and Principle Intendment of the Angel in that blessed saying to Godly Joseph concerning Christ He shall save his People from their Sins from the Guilt and Curse due to them first and afterwards from the Filth thereof This is yet manifest farther because the Heart is Purified by Faith and Hope Acts 9. 15. 1 John 3. 3 4. Now it is not the Nature of Faith I mean of Justifying Faith to have any thing for an Object from which fetcheth Peace with God Holiness before or besides the Christ of God himself for he is the way to the Father and no Man can come to the Father but by him Come that is so as to find Acceptance and Peace with him The Reason is because without his Blood Guilt remains Heb. 9. 22. He hath made Peace by the Blood of his Cross so then Faith in the first place seeketh Peace But why Peace First because till Peace is fetched into the Soul by Faiths laying hold on the blood of Christ Sin remains in the Guilt and Curse though not in the sight of God yet upon the Conscience through the Power of Unbelief He that believeth not stands yet Condemned Now so long as Guilt and the Curse in Power remains there is not Purity but Unbelief not Joy but Doubting not Peace but Peevishness not Content but Murmuring and Anger against the Lord himself The Law Worketh Wrath Rom. 4. Wherefore as yet there can be no Purity of Heart because that Faith yet wants his Object But having once found Peace with God by believing what the Blood of Christ hath done Joy followeth so doth Peace Quietness Content and Love Which is also the fulfilling of the Law Yet not from such Dungish Principles as yours For so the Apostle calls them Phil. 3. But from the Holy Ghost it self which God by Faith hath granted to be received by them that believe in the Blood of his Jesus But you add That Christ giveth First Repentance and then forgiveness of Sins Page 17. Answ. 1. This makes nothing for the Holiness which we lost in Adam for the Proof of which you bring that Text Acts 5. 31. 2. But for Christ to take away Guilt and the Curse from before the Face of â—ods is one thing and to make that discovery is another 3. Again Christ doth not give forgiveness for the sake of that Repentance which hath it's rise Originally from the Dictates of our own nature which is the thing you are to prove for that Repentance is called the Sorrow of this World and must be again Repented of But the Repentance mentioned in the Text is that which comes from Christ But 4. It cannot be for the sake of Gospel Repentance that the forgiveness of Sins is Manifested because both are his Peculiar Gift 5. Therefore both Faith and Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins are given by Christ and come to us for the sake of that Blessed Offering of his Body once for all For after he Arose from the Dead having led Captivity Captive and taken the Curse from before the Face of God therefore his Father gave him Gifts for Men even all the things that are Necessary and Effectual for our Conversion and Preservation in this World c. Ephes. 4. 6 7 8. This Text therefore with all the rest you bring falleth short of the least shew of Proof That the great Errand for which Christ came into the World was to put us in Possession of the Holiness that we had lost Your Third Chapter is as Empty of the Proof of your Design as that through which we have passed there being not one Scripture therein Tited that giveth the least intimation that ever it entred into the Heart of Christ to put us again into Possession of that Holiness which we had before we were Converted for such was that we lost in Adam You tell us the Sum of all is That we are Commauded to add to our Faith Vertue c. Page 35. I suppose you intend a Gospel Faith which if you can prove Adam had before the fall and that we lost this Faith in him and also that this Gospel Faith is none other but that which Origianally ariseth from or is the Dictates of Humane Nature I will confess you have Scripture and Knowledge beyond me In the mean time you must suffer me to tell you you are as far in this from the mind of the Holy Ghost as if you had yet never in all your days heard whether there be a Holy Ghost or no. Add to your Faith The Apostle here lays a Gospel Principle viz. Faith in the Son of God which Faith layeth hold of the forgiveness of Sins alone for the sake of Christ Therefore he is a great way off of laying the Purity of the Humane Nature the Law as written in the heart of natural man as the Prenciple of Holiness from whence is produced good Works in the Soul of the Godly In your Fourth Chapter also Pag. 28. even in the beginning thereof even with one Text you have overthrown your whole Book This Chapter is to prove that the onely Design of the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel is to Promote and put us again in Possession of the Holiness we had lost For that the Reader must still remember is the onely Design of your Book Pag. 12. Whereas the First Text you speak of maketh mention of the Divine Nature or of the Spirit of the Living God which is also received by the Precious Faith of Christ and the Revelation of the Knowledge of him this Blessed Spirit and therefore not the Dictates of Humane Nature is the Principle that is laid in the Godly But Adam's Holiness had neither
him by but as a Seal of the Righteousness of THAT Faith which he had being yet Vncircumcised Now we know that Circumcision in the Flesh was a Type of Circumcision in the heart wherefore the Faith that Abraham had before his outward Circumcision was to shew us that Faith if it be right layeth hold upon the Righteousness of Christ before we be Circumcised inwardly and this must needs be so for if Faith doth Purifie the Heart then it must be there before the Heart is Purified Now this inward Circumcision is a Seal or Sign of this That that is the onely saving Faith that layeth hold upon Christ before we be Circumcised But he that believeth before he be inwardly Circumcised must believe in another in a Righteousness without him and that as he standeth at present in himself Ungodly for he is not Circumcised which Faith if it be right approveth it self also so to be by an after Work of Circumcising inwardly But I say the Soul that thus layeth hold on Christ taketh the onely way to please his God because this is that also which himself hath determined shall be accomplished upon us But unto him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt but to him that Worketh not but Believeth in him that Justifieth the VNGODLY his Faith is counted for Righteousness Rom. 4. He that is Ungodly hath a want of Righteousness even of the inward Righteousness of Works But what must become of him Let him Believe in him that Justifieth the Ungodly because for that purpose there is in him a Righteousness We will now return to Paul himself he had Righteousness before he was Justified by Christ yet he chose to be Justified rather as an unrighteous man then as one Indued with so brave a Qualification That I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness away with mine own Righteousness I chuse rather to be Justified as Ungodly by the Righteousness of Christ than by mine own and his together Phil. 3. You Argue therefore like him that desireth to be a Teacher of the Law nay worse that neither knoweth what he saith nor whereof he Affirmeth But you say Were it possible that Christ's Righteousness could be imputed to an Vnrighteous man I dare boldly affirm that it would signifie as little to his Happiness while he continueth so as would a Gorgeous and Splendid Garment to one that is almost starved c. Answ 1. That Christ's Righteousness is Imputed to men while Sinners is sufficiently testified by the Word of God Ezek. 16. 1 8. Zech. 3. 1 5. Rom. 3. 24 25. Chap. 4. 1 5. Chap. 5. 6 9. 2 Cor. 5. 18 21. Phil. 3. 6 7 8. 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. Rev. 1. 5. 2. And that the Sinner or unrighteous Man is happy in this Imputation is also as abundantly Evident For 1. The Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law are both taken off by this Imputation 2. The Graces and Comforts of the Holy Ghost are all Intailed to and followers of this Imputation Blessed is he to whom the Lord will not Impute Sin It saith not that he is Blessed that hath not Sin to be imputed but he to whom God will not Impute them he faith Therefore the non Imputation of Sin doth not argue a non being thereof in the Soul but a Glorious act of Grace Imputing the sufficiency of Christ's Righteousness to Justifie him that is yet Ungodly But what Blessedness doth follow the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to one that is yet Ungodly Answ. Even the Blessing of Abraham to wit Grace and Eternal Life For Christ was made the Curse and Death that was due to us as Sinners that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Faith in Jesus Christ That we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith Gal. 3. 13 14. Now Faith hath it's eye upon two things with respect to it's act of Justifying First it acknowledgeth that the Soul is a Sinner and then that there is a sufficiency in the Righteousness of Christ to Justifie it in the sight of God though a Sinner We have Believed in Jesus Christ that we might be Justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law Therefore they that believe aright receive Righteousness even the Righteousness of another to Justifie them while yet in themselves they are Sinners Why do they believe in Christ The answer is That they MIGHT be Justified not because in their own Eyes they are They therefore at present stand Condemned in themselves and therefore they believe in Jesus Christ that they might be set free from present Condemnation Now being Justified by his Blood as Ungodly they shall be saved by his Life that is by his Intercession For whom he Justifieth by his Blood he saveth by his Intercession For by that is given the Spirit Faith and all Grace that preserveth the Elect unto Eternal Life and Glory I Conclude therefore that you argue not Gospelly in that you so boldly Affirm that it would signifie as little to the Happiness of one to be Justified by Christ's Righteousness while a Sinner as would a Gorgeous and Splendid Garment to one that is ready to perish For farther Thus to be Justified is Meat and Drink to the Sinner and so the beginning of Eternal Life in him My Flesh is Meat indeed said Christ and my Blood is Drink indeed And he that Eateth my Flesh and Drinketh my Blood hath Eternal or Everlasting Life He Affirmeth it once again As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that Eateth me even he shall live by me John 6. Here now is a Man an Hungred what must he feed upon Not his pure Humanity not upon the sound Complexion of his Soul nor yet on the Dictates of his Humane Nature nor those neither which you call truly Generous Principles But upon the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God which was once given for the Sin of the World Let those then that would be saved from the Devil and Hell and that would find a Fountain of Grace in themselves first receive and feed upon Christ as Sinners and Ungodly Let them believe that both his Body and Blood and Soul was offered for them as they were Sinners The believing of this is the Eating of Christ this eating of Christ is the beginning of Eternal Life to wit of all Grace and health in the Soul and of Glory to be Injoyed most perfectly in the next World Your Twelfth Chapter is to shew That Holiness being Perfected is Blessedness it self and that the Glory of Heaven Consisteth chiefly in it Answ. But none of your Holiness none of that inward Holiness which we have Lost before Conversion shall ever come to Heaven That being as I have shewed a Holiness of another Nature and arising from another Root then that we shall in Heaven injoy 2. But farther Your Description of
Delights of their Morral Principles with the Dictates of their Humane Nature and their gallant Generous Minds Thus making a very Stalking-horse of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Words of Truth and Holiness thereby to slay the silly one making the Lord of Life and Glory instead of a Saviour by his Blood the Instructer and School-Master onely of Humane Nature a Chaser away of evil Affections and an Extinguisher of Burning Lusts and that not so neither but by giving perfect Explications of Morral Precepts Pag. 17. and setting himself an Example before them to follow him Pag. 297. Your Sixteenth Chapter Containeth an answer to those that Object against the Power of the Christian Religion to make Men Holy Answ. And to speak truth what you at first render as the cause of the Unholiness of the Professors thereof Pag. 171 is to the Purpose had it been Christianly Managed by you as namely Mens Gross Unbelief of the truth of it for it Effectuallyâ—Worketh in them that Believe 1 Thes. 2. 13. but that you onely touch and away neither shewing what is the Object of Faith nor the cause of it's being so Effectual to that Purpose neither to you at all treat of the Power of Unbelief and how all Men by Nature are shut up therein Rom. 11. 32. But presently according to your Old and Natural Course you fall First upon a supposed Power in Men to imbrace the Gospel both by closing with the Promise and shuning the threatning Pag. 172. farther adding That mankind is Indued with a Principle of Freedom and that this Principle is as Essential as any other to the Humane Nature Pag. 173. By all which it is Manifest that however you make mention of Unbelief because the Gospel hath laid the same in your way yet our Old Doctrine of the Purity of the Humane Nature now broken out into a freedom of Will and that as an Essential of the Humane Nature is your great Principle of Faith and your following of that as it Dictateth to you Obedience to the first Principles of Morrals the Practice of Faith by which you think to be saved That this is so must unavoidably be gathered from the good opinion you have your self of coming to God by Christ viz. That in the Command thereof it is one of these Positive Precepts and a thing in it self absolutely considered indifferent and neither Good nor Evil. Now he that looketh upon coming to God by Christ with such an Eye as this cannot lay the stress of his Salvation upon the Faith or Belief thereof Indifferent Faith will serve for Indifferent things Yea a Man must look beyond that which he Believeth is but one with the Ceremonial Laws but not the same with Baptism or the Lord's Supper for with those you compare that of coming to God by Christ. Wherefore Faith with you must be turned into a Chearful and Generous Complying with the Dictate of the Humane Nature and Unbelief into that which Opposeth this or that makes the Heart backward and sluggish therein This is also gathered from what you aver of the Divine Morral Laws that they be of an Indispensible and Eternal Obligation Pag. 8 things that are good in themselves Pag. 9. Considered in an Abstracted Notion Pag. 10. Wherefore things that are good in themselves must needs be better then those that are in themselves but Indifferent neither can a Possitive Precept make that which of it self is neither Good nor Evil better then that which in it's own Nature remaineth the Essentials of Goodness I Conclude then by Comparing you with your self by bringing your Book to your Book that you understand neither Faith nor unbelief any farther then by obeying or disobeying the Humane Nature and it 's Dictates in Chief and that of coming to God by Christ as one of the things that is indifferent in it self But a little to touch upon your Principle of Freedom which in Pag. 9. you call an understanding and liberty of Will Answ. First That there is no such thing in Man by Nature as Liberty of Will or a Principle of Freedom in the saving things of the Kingdom of Christ is Apparent by several Scriptures Indeed there is in Men as Men a willingness to be saved their own way even by following as you their own Natural Principles as is seen by the Quakers as well as your self but that there is a freedom of will in Men as Men to be saved by the way wich God hath Prescribed is neither asserted in the Scriptures of God neither standeth with the Nature of the Principles of the Gospel The Apostle saith The Natural Man receiveth not the things that be of the Spirit of God And the Reason is not because not Principally because he layeth aside a Liberty of Will but because they are foolishness to him 1 Cor. 2. Because in his Judgement they are things of no Moment but things as you have imagined of them that in themselves are but indifferent And that this Judgement that is passed by the Natural Man concerning the things of the Spirit of God of which that of coming to God by Christ is the chief is that which he cannot but do as a Man is Evident from that which followeth neither CAN he know them because they are Spiritually Discerned Neither CAN he know them as a Man because they are Spiritually Discerned Now if he cannot know them from what Principle should he will them For Judgement or Knowledge must be before the Will can act I say again a Man must know them to be things in chief that are Absolutely and Indispensibly Necessary and those in which resteth the greatest Glory or else his Will will not Comply with them nor Center and Terminate in them as such but still count themselves as you though somewhat Convinced that he ought to adhere unto them things that in themselves are onely indifferent and absolutely Considered neither Good nor Evil. A farther inlargement upon this Subject will be time enough if you shall Contradict Another Reason or cause which you call an immediate one of the unsuccessfulness of the Gospel is Mens unaccountable mistaking the Design of it not to say worse as to conceive no better of it then as a Science and a matter of Speculation c. Pag. 173. Answ. If this be true you have shewed us the Reason why your self have so base and unworthy thoughts thereof For although coming to God by Christ be the very chief first the substance and most Essential part of obedience thereto yet you have reckoned this but like one of the Ceremonies of the Law or as Baptism with Water and the Lord's Supper Pag. 7 8 9. Falling more Directly upon the Body of the Morral Law as written in the Heart of Men and inclining more to the teaching or Dictates of Humane Nature which were neither of them both ever any Essential part of the Gospel then upon that which indeed is the Gospel of Christ. And here I may