Nature whatever is not of God in Christ is this Flesh I say no such Flesh shall boast or Glory in his presence as having obtained the glory of God nor be justified in his Sight Now by all this it plainly Appears the Gospel is so distinct in each particular from the Law that it can no more return back into a Law according to Scripture Discourse when it speaks strictly of Law as Law then the Law become Gospel Yet I shall further argue it more particularly that the Gospel cannot be a Law in the proper Scripture Sense of a Law although it be to be acknowledged the Law can never cease to be because it is Eternal Righteousness and it hath and ought to have Power upon all the Reserve of the Light and Law of Nature and upon all the Improvements of it by Common Grace from the helps of Revealed Truth in the Word of God Yea even the very Saints and Servants of Christ are hereby kept within Bounds at any Time or in any Acts wherein the Grace of Christ is not present to them more abundantly they are hereby acted to their Duty and the Supream Wisdom and Grace of the Gospel subordinates it to its own Purposes both in the Elect and in the Non-Elect as hath been shewn And this Answers all Cavils about the Doctrin of Free grace as if the Teaching of it were Antinomianism and let men loose either to Carnal Licentiousness Ease and Security Till the grace of God should come and Work But even while the Eye of the Soul is supreamly upon Free grace the free gift of Righteousness and of the Spirit yet the Law binds every Soul to its Ultimum Posse the All it can do and the Gospel subordinates the Law to engage Men so to do and though this be no Condition or Qualification on which Free grace is determined yet it is oftentimes the way and method of Supream grace to come upon such motion and action of the Soul not for the sake of that but for its own sake therefore to excite thereunto And it is one of the Wise methods of Gods Government of the World to make it Habitable for his Elects sake to Influence the Hearts and Actions of men either by that light of Nature or by his Gospel All which I have prefixed as necessary to remove all Scruple and doubt of what is to come after in the proof of this that the Gospel is not a Law For by what is said it Appears the Gospel and the Law are joined one to and with another in sweetest Consent so that all in Christ are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or under the Law to Christ and neither entrench upon nor enterfere one with the other But if they are divided or set one in Opposition to the other either Antinomianism truly so called Or a Covenant of Works is brought in even as the Jews separating that Law from Christ turned it to their own great Ruin into a Covenant of Works and the Apostle intimates every where the great danger of turning the grace of God into Licentiousness or proclaiming a liberty to Sin that Grace may Abound if we do not join the Law under the Gospel But thus Joining and Setting them in a Consent and Union in the great End the glory of Grace from the Foundation of the World we Honour and Establish both and plainly Understand That the Gospel is only a Covenant of Grace a Ministration of Righteousness Life and Spirit and yet hath so many admirable Rules of Holiness such powerful Commands and Exhortations to it as also to Faith in Christ and Repentance so many dreadful Threatnings and Denunciations and so severe a Judicature at the last not in it self but by the Ministry of the Law In that the Law is so prepared as to serve it fully and adequately thereunto and it self only as hath been said is a Ministration of Righteousness and Life Obj. If any should say By what means can the Gospel thus Preach the Law and hold out all the Perfections and Severities of it both as to it self as a Declaration of Free Grace only or as to the Law as an Eternal Law of Righteousness and not be turned into a Law Answ The Gospel being the manifestation of Life and Salvation it must needs come with a great glory of Light and Truth on every thing wherein the whole nature of Life and Death Happiness and Misery the Humane Nature can be concerned in stands so that tho it is not a Law it is yet a Doctrin of the greatest Amplitude Compass and Extent in all things that pertain to Life and Godliness or on the other side to Sin and Death So that as the Apostle says it hath Brought Life and Immortality to light so it hath brought all the other things any way related thereto to Light So then it is out of all doubt when ever the Gospel comes a great Light comes like the Morning spread on the Mountains It is therefore called the Day spring from on high opposed to Night and Darkness and the Vally of the Shadow of Death and so that there is a support of and in all our greater illuminations of Natural Conscience by that eternal Word Enlightning every man that comes into the World and on this very account were those more Heroick efforts of Natural Light and Moral Philosophy by Seneca Plutarch Plotinus Simplicius about the very time of the spread of the Gospel-Light by the Apostles I come therefore to decide that noble Question as I stile it whether the Gospel can bear or comport with the true Notion or sense of a Law To answer this Question There must be first a due Understanding and Notion of a Law In the general Law may be applied to any Doctrin or determinate Frame Constitution or Settlement that cannot be changed or varied And thus the Gospel may be called a Law But this is but a very general and loose Notion of a Law There is a more strict sense of it and it imports three things 1. A rule of Action given by a just Authority that must be observed 2. It supposes a Power resident in the Person under that Command and therefore it expects Obedience without any further Assistance or Gift of Power to enable in the Obedience 3. Rewards or Punishments are suspended upon the Obedience or Disobedience and a just Judgment must accordingly be given But such a Law as this the Gospel a Covenat of Grace cannot be as may be argued upon these great Accounts Arg. 1. There can be no Law given no rule of holy Action â—ut it must needs merge and fall into the Eternal Law of Righteousness and be the same with it being so perfect and as hath been shewn 〈◊〉 Brâ—â—â— so that upon a supposal of a new proposal of Grace the acceptance and obedience of Faith is as much commanded by the Eternal Law as any of the most Natural Moral Duties of Fear of God or Righteousness and the same
The true State of Gospel Truth Established upon the Free Election of God in Christ THE Agreement and yet Difference between Law and Gospel So that the Gospel cannot be stiled Law THE Inconditionateness of the Gospel Salvation THE Procedure of the Day of Judgment In the way of a Conciliatory Discourse upon Mr. Williams his CONCESSIONS By T. Beverley LONDON Printed for William Marshall at the Bible in Newgate street where you may be supplied with most of Mr. Beverley's Works and Dr. Owen's late Pieces viz. His Dominion of Sin and Grace bound 1 s. His Meditations and Discourses concerning the Glory of Christ being the Second Part and Application of the First Part that have been Printed twice Price bound 1 s. Two Discourses lately Printed of the Work of the Spirit that is wanting in Dr. Owen's Folio Both Discourses bound together in Octavo Price 2 s. His Guide to Church Fellowship bound 6 d. You may likewise be supplied with most of Dr. Owen s Books in Print 1693. The PREFACE THat the Jealousie of so many of the Servants of Christ hath been so exceedingly Awakned and Enflamed by Mr. William's suspicious Attempts to obscure the Doctrin of the Free Grace of God in Christ is to me a very great Prognostick of that Kingdom of Redemption drawing nigh and that Philadelphian State to which Christ hath opened a Door which none can shut and they therefore who are now nearest to it are obliged by Christ to hold fast his Word herein that among all the Professors of Protestancy who hold it in this part so loose none should take their Crown who are true Philadelphians Hence it appears that no more disadvantagious a Time could have been Chosen out by those who would Eclipse that Glory of Free Grace for their making an Attack or Impression upon those Doctrins wherein it is concern'd with Success So I hope it does appear No happier time when in this present Sardian State there is but room for dispute concerning them could have been singled out for the Friends of it then now when so many zealous Maintainers and Defenders of it have openly shewn themselves and offered themselves willingly should I say To help the Lord against the Mighty in the high Places of the Field of these Debates for so great Truths And indeed it is a duty on such Occasions to Discover the Foundation of Error and Mistake even to the very Neck and if in this Search some Essays are to find out and to bring out of the Scripture Treasury not only Things Old but New I hope none will be offended seeing as it is a duty at all times so it is more hopeful so near the day dawning and the Day-star arising such humble Offers should not be accounted foolish Fires but some Beams and Rays of that Light that shall appear more and more to the perfect day In the mean Time I have made it my earnest Endeavor not only to preserve herein the Analogy of Faith but to offer as a Key and Clue in all these Disputes these Five grand Principles 1. The whole of our Salvation is from God through God by God and so to God From God in the Majesty of the Father through the Mediation of the Eternal Word and Son of God by the Efficacy of the Eternal Spirit to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace All in All. Thus the Divine Being is the Father of Lights with whom is no Variation or shadow of Turning not only in his own Perfection but always looking full on his Elect. 2. That the Manifestation of this Salvation by that mighty Power and Efficacy of the Spirit is in the due Times and Seasons and in the just order really and effectually vested in the Spirits of the Elect and so joins their several Faculties and so the Action and Conversation according to all that is spoken of in Scripture 3. That the Law is the irrepealable standard of all that Man himself is to do whether imprinted on Man in the very Creation or revealed further by God in any after Manifestation of his Will which the Gospel as occasion requires takes into its own hand and makes use of and whatever is to be found in us according to the Gospel the Law lays its Sanctions upon it 4. The Gospel Commands nothing if strictly and properly taken Requires nothing Commands nothing that yet it declares must be in us in answer to it self nor that it declares must and shall be in us according to the Law but it making use of the law as to all the Commanding part It self gives and conveys all as being the Covenant of Grace from the Father through Christ the Son of the Father in Grace and Truth by the Holy Spirit 5. The Judgment of Christ is according to the Law answered thus by the Gospel as the Covenant of Grace in Relation to his own Elect Children Members and Servants written in the Lambs Book of Life by the Fathers Election from the Foundation of the World and in Relation to the Non-Elect His Judgment is according to the law of Righteousness imprinted on the Hearts of Men and according to that Law obliging upon any Manifestations or Intimations of the Gospel revealed to them Whoever then keeps these great Principles as a Pole-star in his Eye shall find himself guided by them in all the various Disputes of them and not fall into either of those great Errors the Apostle James warns us against of saying when we are Tempted we are Tempted of God who cannot be Tempted of Evil neither Tempts any one Nor the second like to it viz. Not to be sensible every good Gift every degree of good much more every perfect Gift is from Above and does not rise up but comes down Therefore above all the Assistances of the Divine Spirit guiding Us into all Truth and bringing every thing into our Remembrance I most humbly beseech for them and for my self and therein beg the Prayers of All who shall Read with any Approbation this short Discussion of these Truths Books Sold by William Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street Relating to this Controversie viz. 1. Mr. Beverley's First Conciliatory Judgment concerning Dr. Crisp's Sermons and Mr. Baxter's Dissatisfaction in them Price sticht 2 d. 2. Mr. Beverley's Second Conciliatory Discourse upon Dr. Crisp's Sermons on the Observation of Mr. William's Dissatisfaction in them Price 6 d. 3. Samuel Crisp Esq his Book Entituled Christ alone Exalted in Dr. Crisp's Sermons partly confirmed in Answering Mr. Daniel William's Preface to his Gospel Truth stated How he hath wronged as well the Truth as the said Doctor in the great Point of Justification by the Neonomian Doctrin Price 6 d. 4. Samuel Crisp Esq his other Book Entituled Christ made Sin from 2 Cor. 5. 21. Evinc'd from Scripture upon occasion of an Exception taken at Pinners Hall at Reprinting of Dr. T. Crisp's Sermons Price sticht 1 s. 6 d. bound 2 s. 5. There is lately Published A plain Inquiry
among all Nations to whom it comes and is most strictly enjoined and commanded by it And so the Apostle might most elegantly say Boasting is excluded By what Law of Works viz. The Law as it Commands Works Nay by the Law as it Commands Faith or the Receiving Christ as a Saviour and his Righteousness by meer Gift and of Grace in which Righteousness hath so great Honour and full Satisfaction paid to it that it cannot but accept and charge upon All that hear of it the Acceptation of it But because thus Faith will stand as a Work though as I may call it a Post-Work or a Work after Sin I rather understand the Apostle using here the Word Law of Faith in a Lax and Allusive Sense as any Doctrin or Divine Manifestation may be called a Law 2. The Law hereupon cannot but enlarge its Promises according to this Divine Constitution For if God have declared that He will give Eternal Life to all that Believe in Christ and savingly Turn from Iniquity by Repentanâ—â— and doth accept the Righteousness of Christ imputed to Believers instead of unsinning Obedience the Law must needs join Issue with these Declarations of God and with what Infinite Truth and Grace have said and Confirm with its own Sanctions all these Promises as earnestly to be desired and laid hold of yet still this belongs to the Law as Law and enterferes not with Gospel as Free Grace For as all the Commands of the Law are grounded upon the Sovereignty and Righteousness of God So are its Promises grounded upon the Power Truth Goodness and Unchangeableness of God If then the Gospel declares a Righteousness of God a Righteousness of God by Faith in Jesus Christ accepted of God beyond any Righteousness by Works of the Law The very Law it self opens and enlarges all its Promises to that Righteous Person by the Righteousness of Christ and as this Righteousness on which such a Person is Justified is exceeding unto Him and upon Him as the Apostle speaks that is every way over flows him and so beyond all other Righteousnesses So does the Law extend its Promises to the utmost in Relation to it and therefore God is said as in Triumph to declare herein and at that very time his Righteousness that he might be Just and the Justifier of him that Believes in Jesus Rom. 3. And the Apostle John saith If we Confess our Sins that is acknowledge our Absolute Necessity of such a Righteousness by Christ and receive it He is Faithful and Just Even according to the Eternal Law of Righteousness to forgive us our Sins and to Cleanse us from All Unrighteousness So they who receive abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness shall Reign in Life by Jesus Christ Not only Live as the Law saith to the Man who doth its Works but Reign in Life the Promises of the Law being stretched out and accumulated upon such a Person so Justified by the Transcendent Righteousness of Christ 3. The Law opens wide its Threatnings in the Cause of and on Injury done to the Gospel and the Grace of God Revealed in it for Seeing It is Essential to the Law of Righteousness to Condemn Sinners It is also Essential to it to Condemn and Adjudge to its Punishments according to the Degrees of Sin and Guilt For saith the Apostle He that Transgressed Moses Law died without Mercy under two or three Witnesses and every Transgression Received a just Recompence of Reward that is according to the degree of Guilt and Demerit Of how much sorer Punishment suppose ye shall he be thought Worthy who hath trod under Foot the Son God and Counted the Blood of the Covenant a Common Thing and done despite to the Spirit of Grace This is plainly according to the Law of Righteousness according to which also Christ said It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha Thus we may see how far the Law must needs attend the Gospel with all its Authority I will now shew how the Gospel takes in the Law and makes use of it for its own great Ends and Purposes Upon Account of which the Apostle says Do we make void the Law nay we Establish it The Law stands fair in the Gospel and in its Full Perfection of breadth and length that it may shew the Glory of the Righteousness and Obedience of Jesus Christ and also It stands with all its Penalty Severity Curse and Condemnation that it may shew the Deep of the Sufferings of our Great Mediator and Interpret to us the Agony wherein he Sweat drops of Blood and the Meaning of that loud Cry My God my God Why hast thou Forsaken me For said Christ Thus in every Iota of the Revealed Will of God It be came Him to fulfil All Righteousness 2. That it may shew to all the Glory from which they are Fallen and from which they daily fall lower and lower the Deformity of their own State the Dread and Horror of that Ruin and Condemnation of Hell and Death that is so justly come upon Sinners fallen short of that Glory of God For this Holy Righteous and good Law of such Purity and Cleanness a Fiery Law a Royal Law a Law of Liberty Shewes all the Hatefulness of Sin and Justice of Punishment and Condemnation And All This is in order to Humiliation Sight and Sense of Sin Conversion from it and especially to shew the great Necessity of Christ's Redemption Grace the Free Gift of Righteousness and Justification by him For thus by the Law is the Knowledge of Sin Thus the Law worketh Wrath That is it both stirs up the due Apprehension of it and if not prevented by Pardon and Justification It calls up Vengeance against the Offender wherefore the Law is our School master to bring us to Christ by the Severity and Rigor of its Justice And as such it is in the hand of the Gospel 3. That the Gospel may by the Law shew that perfect Pattern and Exemplar of Holiness and Purity of Thoughts Words and Actions to which we are to aspire that Cleansing of our selves from the Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God that exceeding Broad Commandment that sets an End or bound shewing all other Perfection too short and too narrow compared with it self and so the Law may be as a Rule of Holy Life and Action to which we should follow on according to the Mark even of Perfection it self If it could be to attain the very State of that Perfection that shall be in the Resurrection of the Dead And herein there are Four great Gospel Ends Aimed at by the Gospel thus taking the Law under it self 1. That we may feel a continual Necessity of making Recourse to the Blood of Christ the Fountain set open for Sin and for Uncleanness because by this holy Law there is a discovery of daily Defilements Failings Falls Imperfections and Infirmities concerning which there can be no Attonement between