A Brief DECLARATION AND VINDICATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY As also of the Person and Satisfaction of CHRIST Accommodated to the Capacity and Use of such as may be in danger to be seduced and the establishment of the Truth John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures By J. Owen D. D. LONDON Printed by R. W. for Nath. Ponder at the Sign of the Peacock in Chancery-Lane near Fleetstreet 1669. Imprimatur Rob. Grove R. F. D. Episcop Lond. à Sac. Dom. Feb. 3. 1668 69. TO THE READER Christian Reader THis Small Treatise hath no other design but thy Good and establishment in the Truth And therefore as laying aside that Consideration alone I could desirously have been excused from the Labour of those Hours which were spent in its Composure so in the Work it self I admitted of no one thought but how the things treated of in it might and ought to be mannaged unto thy spiritual Benefit and Advantage Other designs most men have in writing what is to be exposed to publick view and lawfully may have so in this I have nothing but meerly thy Good I have neither been particularly provoked nor opposed by the Adversaries of the Truth here pleaded for nor have any need from any self respect to publish such a small plain discourse as this Love alone to the Truth and the welfare of thy soul have given Efficacy to their importunity who pressed me to this small service The matters here treated of are on all hands confessed to be of the greatest moment such as the Eternal welfare of the souls of men is immediately and directly concerned in This all those who believe the Sacred Truths here proposed and explained do unanimously profess and contend for nor is it denyed by those by whom they are opposed There is no need therefore to give thee any especial Reasons to evince thy concernment in these things nor the greatness of that concernment thereby to induce thee unto their serious consideration It were well indeed that these great sacred and mysterious Truths might without contention or controversies about them be left unto the Faith of Believers as proposed in the Scripture with that Explanation of them which in the ordinary Ministry and Dispensation of the Gospel is necessary and required Certainly these tremendous Mysteries are not by us willingly to be exposed or prostituted to the Cavils of every perverse querist and disputer those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose pretended Wisdom indeed ignorance darkness and folly God hath designed to confound and destroy in them and by them For my part I can assure thee Reader I have no mind to contend and dispute about these things which I humbly adore and believe as they are revealed It is the Importunity of Adversaries in their Attempts to draw and seduce the souls of men from the Truth and Simplicity of the Gospel in these great Fundamentals of it that alone can justifie any to debate upon or eristically to handle these awful Mysteries This renders it our Duty and that indispensibly in as much as we are required to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered unto the Saints But yet also when this necessity is imposed on us we are by no means discharged from that humble Reverence of mind wherewith we ought alwayes to be conversant about them nor from that regard unto the way and manner of their Revelation in the Scripture which may preserve us from all unnecessary intermixture of litigious or exotick Phrases and Expressions in their Assertion and declaration I know our Adversaries would upon the matter decry any thing peculiarly Mysterious in these things although they are frequently and emphatically in the Scriptures affirmed so to be But whilest they deny the Mysteries of the things themselves which are such as every may become the glorious Being and Wisdom of God they are forced to aâ—sign such an aenigmatical sense unto the Words Expressions and Propositions wherein they are revealed and declared in the scripture as to turn almost the whole Gospel into an Allegory wherein nothing is properly expressed but in some kind of Allusion unto what is so elsewhere which irrational way of proceeding leaving nothing certain in what is or may be expressed by Word or Writing is covered over with a pretence of Right Reason which utterly refuseth to be so employed These things the Reader will find afterwards made manifest so far as the nature of this brief discourse will bear And I shall only desire these few things of him that intends its perusal First That he would not look on the subject here treated of as the matter of an ordinary Controversie in Religion Neque enim hic levia aut ludicra petuntur Praemia lectoris de vita animaeque salute Certatur They are things which immediately and directly in themselves concern the eternal salvation of the souls of men and their consideration ought alwayes to be attended with a due sense of their weight and importance Secondly Let him bring with him a due Reverence of the Majesty and Infinite incomprehensible nature of God as that which is not to be prostituted to the captious and sophistical scanning of men of corrupt minds but to be humbly adored according to the Revelation that he hath made of himself Thirdly That he be willing to submit his Soul and Conscience to the plain and obvious sense of Scripture Propositions and Testimonies without seeking out Evasions and pretenses for unbelief These Requests I cannot but judge equal and fear not the success where they are sincerely complyed withall I have only to add that in handling the Doctrine of the Satisfaction of Christ I have proceeded on that Principle which as it is fully confirmed in the Scripture so it hath constantly been maintained and adhered unto by the most of those who with Judgement and Success have managed these Controversies against the Socinians And this is that the Essential Holiness of God with his Justice or Righteousness as the Supream Governour of all did indispensibly require that sin should not absolutely go unpunished and that it should do so stands in a Repugnancy to those Holy Properties of his Nature This I say hath been alwayes constantly maintained by far the greatest number of them who have throughly understood the Controversie in this matter and have successfully engaged in it And as their Arguments for their Assertion are plainly unanswerable so the neglect of abiding by it is causelesly to forego one of the most fundamental and invincille Principles in our Cause He who first laboured in the defence of the Doctrine of the Satisfaction of Christ after Socinus had formed his imaginations about the salvation that he wrought and began to dispute about it was Covetus a Learned man who laid the foundation of his whole Disputation in the Justice of God necessarily requiring and indispensibly the punishment of sin And indeed the state of the Controversie as it is laid down by Socinus in his Book De Jesu
into a Man so that he who was God ceased so to be and was turned or changed into flesh that is a Man besides that this is utterly impossible it is not affirmed For the Word continued the Word still although he was made flesh or made of a Woman as it is elsewhere expressed or made of the seed of David or took our flesh or nature to be his own Himself continuing God as he was became Man also which before he was not The Word was made flesh this is that which we believe and assert in this matter See John 3. 13. and ver 31. John 6. 62. Chap. 16. 28. All which places assert the Person of Christ to have descended from Heaven in the Assumption of Humane nature and ascended into Heaven therein being assumed and to have been in Heaven as to his Divine nature when he was in the Earth in the flesh that he had assumed Acts 20. 28. Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood The Person spoken of is said to be God absolutely the Church of God And this God is said to have blood of his own the blood of Jesus Christ being the blood of him that was God though not the blood of him as God For God is a Spirit And this undeniably testifies to the unity of his Person as God and Man Rom. 1. 3 4. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Hâ—liness by the Resurrection from the Dead Rom. 9. 5. Whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Amen This is all we desire that we may believe without disturbance from the clamours of these Men. Namely that the same Christ as concerning the flesh came of the Fathers of David and in himself is over all God blessed for ever This the Scripture asserts plainly and why we should not believe it firmly let these Men give a reason when they are able Gal. 6. 4. God sent forth his Son made of a Woman He was his Son and was made of a woman according as he expresses it Heb. 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared Me as also Rom. 8. 3. Phil. 2. 5 6 7. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Mâ—n It is the same Christ that is spoken of And it is here affirmed of him that he was in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God But is this all is this Jesus Christ God only Doth he subsist only in the form or nature of God No saith the Apostle he took upon him the form of a Servant was made in the likeness of Men and was found in fashion as a Man that his being truly a Man is expressed in these words our Adversaries deny not and we therefore believe that the same Jesus Christ is God also because that is no less plainly expressed 1 Tim. 3. 16. And without controversie great is the mysterie of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels It is a Mysterie indeed under which name it is despised now and reproached nor are we allowed so to call it but are reflected on as flying to mysteries for our defence But we must take leave to speak in this matter according to his directions without whom we cannot speak at all A Mysterie it is and that a great mysterie and that confessedly so by all that do believe And this is that God was manifested in the flesh That it is the Lord Christ who is spoken of every one of the ensuing expressions do evince Justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory And this also is the substance of what we believe in this matter Namely That Christ is God manifest in the flesh which we acknowledge own and believe to be true but a great mysterie yet no less great and Sacred a truth notwithstanding Heb. 2. 14. For as much then as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same ver 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham And this plainly affirms his pre-existence unto that Assumption of our nature and the unity of his Person in it being so assumed 1 John 3. 16. Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his life for us He who was God laid down for a season and parted with that life which was his own in that nature of ours which he had assumed And that taking of our nature is called his coming in the flesh which who so denyes is not of God but is the Spirit of Anti-Christ 1 John 4. 3. These are some of the places wherein the Person of Christ is revealed unto our Faith that we may believe on the Son of God and have Eternal Life The Method formerly proposed would require that I should take off the general Objections of the Adversaries against this Divine Revelation as also vindicate some peculiar Testimonies from their exceptions But because a particular opposition unto this Truth hath not as yet publickly and directly been maintained and managed by any that I know of among our selves though the denyal of it be expresly included in what they do affirm I shall leave the further confirmation thereof unto some other occasion if it be offered and it be judged necessary And this is that which the Faith of Believers rests in as that which is plainly revealed unto them namely that Jesus Christ is God and Man in one Person and that all his actings in their behalf are the actings of him who is God and Man and that this Son of God God and Man is to be believed in by them and obeyed that they have Eternal Life What is farther added unto these express testimonies and the full Revelation of the Truth contained in them in this matter in way of explication educed from them and suitable unto them to the edification of the Church or information of the minds of Believers in the right apprehension of this great Mysterie of God manifested in the flesh may be reduced to these heads 1. That the Person of the Son of God did in his assuming humane nature to be his own not take an individual Person of any one into a near conjunction with himself but preventing the personal subsistence of humane nature in that flesh which he assumed he gave it its subsistence in his own Person whence it hath its individuation and distinction from all other persons whatever This is
of God in this matter is of too large and diffused a nature to be here reported These instances I have fixed on only to intimate unto persons whose condition or occasions afford them not ability or leisure of themselves to enquire into the memorials of times past amongst the Professors of the Gospel of Christ that these oppositions which are made at present amongst us unto these fundamental Truths and derived immediately from the late renewed inforcement of them made by Faustus Socinus and his followers are nothing but old baffled attempts of Satan against the Rock of the Church and the building thereon in the confession of the Son of the living God Now as all men who have ought of a due Reverence of God or his truth remaining with them cannot but be wary how they give the least admittance to such Opinions as have from the beginning been witnessed against and condemned by Christ himself his Apostles and all that followed them in their faith and waies in all Generations so others whose hearts may tremble for the danger they apprehend which these sacred Truths may be in of being corrupted or defamed by the present opposition against them may know that it is no other but what the Church and faith of Professors hath already been exercised with and through the power of him that enables them have constantly triumphed over And for my part I look upon it as a blessed effect of the holy wise providence of God that those who have long harboured these Abominations of denying the holy Trinity the person and satisfaction of Christ in their minds but yet have sheltered themselves from common observation under the shades of dark obscure and uncouth expressions with many other specious pretences should be given up to joyn themselves with such Persons and to profess a community of perswasion with them in those opinions as have rendred themselves infamous from the first foundation of Christianity and wherein they will assuredly meet with the same success as those have done who have gone before them For the other head of Opposition made by these Persons unto the truth in Reference unto the satisfaction of Christ and the imputation of his Righteousness thereon unto our Justification I have not much to say as to the time past In general the doctrine wherein they boast being first brought forth in a rude mishapen manner by the Pelagian Hereticks was afterwards improved by one Abailardus a Sophistical Scholar in France but owes its principal form and poison unto the endeavours of Faustus Socinus those who have followed him in his subtle attempt to corrupt the whole doctrine of the Gospel Of these Mâ—n are those amongst us who at this day so busily dispute and write about the Trinity the Deity of Christ and his satisfaction the Followers and Disciples And it is much more from their Masters who were some of them Men learned diligent and subtle than from themselves that they are judged to be of any great consideration For I can truly say that upon the sedate examination of all that I could ever yet hear or get a sight of either spoken or written by them that is any amongst us I never yet observed an undertaking of so great importance managed with a greater evidence of incompetency and inability to give any tolerable countenance unto it If any of them shall for the future attempt to give any new countenance or props to their tottering errours it will doubtless be attended unto by some of those many who cannot but know that it is incumbent on them to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered unto the Saints This present brief endeavour is only to assist and direct those who are less exercised in the waies of managing controversies in Religion that they may have a brief comprehension of the truths opposed with the firm foundations whereon they are built and have in a readiness to shield their Faith both against the fiery darts of Satan and secure their minds against the cunning sleights of Men who lye in wait to deceive And wherein this discourse seems in any thing to be too brief or concise the Author is not to be blamed who was confined unto these strait bounds by those whose requests injoyned him this service The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity Explained and Vindicated THe Doctrine of the blessed Trinity may be considered two wayes First In respect unto the Revelation and proposal of it in the Scripture to direct us unto the Author Object and End of our Faith in our worship and obedience Secondly As it is farther declared and explained in terms expressions and propositions educed from the Original Revelation of it suited thereunto and meet to direct and keep the mind from undue apprehensions of the things it believes and to declare them unto farther edification In the first way it consists meerly in the propositions wherein the Revelation of God is expressed in the Scripture And in this regard two things are required of us First To understand the terms of the propositions as they are Enunciations of Truth And Secondly To believe the things taught revealed and declared in them In the first Instance no more I say is required of us but that we assent unto the Assertions and Testimonies of God concerning himself according to their natural and genuine sence as he will be known believed in feared and worshipped by us as he is our Creator Lord and Rewarder and that because he himself hath by his Revelation not only warranted us so to do but also made it our duty necessary and indispensible Now the sum of this Revelation in this matter is that God is one that this one God is Father Son and Holy Ghost that the Father is the Father of the Son and the Son the Son of the Father and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Father and the Son and that in respect of this their mutual Relation they are distinct from each other This is the substance of the Doctrine of the Trinity as to the first direct concernment of faith therein The first intention of the Scripture in the Revelation of God towards us is as was said that we might fear him believe worship obey him and live unto him as God That we may do this in a due manner and worship the only true God and not adore the false imaginations of our own minds it declares as was said that this God is one the Father Son and Holy Ghost that the Father is this one God and therefore is to be believed in worshipped obeyed lived unto and in all things considered by us as the first cause soveraign Lord and last end of all that the Son is the one true God and therefore is to be believed in worshipped obeyed lived unto and in all things considered by us as the first cause Soveraign Lord and last end of all And so also of the Holy Ghost This is the whole of Faiths concernment in this matter as
in and may peculiarly be sinned against the great Author of all Grace in Believers and order in the Church This is the summ of what we believe of what is revealed in the Scripture concerning the Holy Ghost As in the consideration of the preceding head we vindicated one Testimony in particular from the exceptions of the adversaries of the truth so on this we may briefly summ up the evidence that is given us in the testimonies before produced that the Reader may the more easily understand their intendment and what in particular they bear witnesse unto The summ is that the Holy Ghost is a divine distinct person and neither meerly the power or vertue of God nor any created Spirit whatever This plainly appears from what is revealed concerning him For he who is placed in the same series or order with other divine persons without the least note of difference or distinction from them as to an Interest in personality who hath the names proper to a divine person only and is frequently and directly called by them who also hath personal properties and is the voluntary Author of personal divine Operations and the proper Objâ—ct of Divine Worship he is a distinct divine person And if these things be not a sufficient evidence and demonstration of a divine intelligent substance I shall as was said before despair to understand any thing that is expressed and declared by words But now thus it is with the Holy Ghost according to the Revelation made concerning him in the Scripture For First He is placed in the same rank and order without any note of difference or distinction as to a distinct interest in the Divine Nature that is as we shall see personality with other Divine persons Matth. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost 1 John 5. 7. There be three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Son and the Spirit and these three are one 1 Cor. 12. 3 4 5 6. No man can say the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all Neither doth a denyal of his divine being and distinct existence leave any tolerable sense unto these Expressions For read the words of the first place from the mind of the Socinians and see what is it can be gathered from them Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the vertue or efficacy of the Father Can any thing be more absonant from Faith and Reason than this absurd expression And yet is it the direct sense if it be any that these men put upon the words To joyn a quality with acknowledged persons and that in such things and cases as wherein they are proposed under a personal consideration is a strange kind of Mysterie And the like may be manifested concerning the other places Secondly He also hath the Names proper to a divine person only For he is expresly called God Acts 5. He who is termed the Holy Ghost ver 3. And the Spirit of the Lord verse 9. Is called also God ver 4. Now this is the name of a divine Person on one Account or other The Socinians would not allow Christ to be called God were he not a divine person though not by nature yet by â—ffice and authority And I suppose they will not find out an office for the Holy Ghost whereunto he might be exalted on the account whereof he might become God seeing this would acknowledge him to be a person which they deny So he is called the Comforter John 16. 7. A personal Appellation this is also and because he is the Comforter of all Gods people it can be the name of none but a divine person In the 〈…〉 it is frequently 〈…〉 come that he shall and will do such and such things all of them declaring him to be a person Thirdly He hath personal properties assigned unto him as a Will 1 Cor. 12. 11. He divideth to every man severally as he will and understanding 1 Cor. 2. 10. The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God As also all the actings that are ascribed unto him are all of them such as undeniably affirm personal properties in their principle and Agent For Fourthly He is the voluntary Author of Divine operations He of old cherished the creation Gen. 1. 3. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters He formed and garnished the Heavens He inspired acted and spake in and by the Prophets Acts 28. 25 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the Prophet unto our Fathers 2 Pet. 1. 21. The Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost He regenerateth enlightneth sanctifieth comforteth instructeth leadeth guideth all the Disciples of Christ as the Scriptures every where testifie Now all these are personal Operations and cannot with any pretence of sobriety or consistency with Reason be constantly and uniformly assigned unto a quality or vertue He is as the Father and Son God with the properties of Omniscience and Omnipotency of Life Understanding and Will and by these properties works acts and produceth effects according to Wisdom Choice and Power Fifthly The same regard is had to him in Faith Worship and Obedience as unto the other persons of the Father and Son For our being baptized into his name is our solemn engagement to believe in him to yield obedience to him and to worship him as it puts the same obligation upon us to the Father and the Son So also in reference unto the Worship of the Church He commands that the Ministers of it be separated unto himself Acts 13. 2. The Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Ver. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed which is comprehensive of all the religious Worship of the Church And on the same account is he sinned against as Acts 5. 3 4 9. For there is the same Reason of Sin and Obedience Against whom a man may sin formally and ultimately him he is bound to obey worship and believe in And this can be no quality but God himself For what may be the sense of this expression Thou hast lyed to the efficacy of God in his operations Or how can we be formally obliged unto obedience to a quality There must then an antecedent Obligation unto Faith Trust and Religious Obedience be supposed as the ground of rendring a person capable of being guilty of sin towards wards any For sin is but a â—ailure in Faith Obedience or Worship These therefore are due unto the Holy Ghost or a man could not sin against him so signally and fatally as some are
we intend by that expression of satisfaction But now all those things are openly and fully witnessed unto in the Testimonies before produced as may be observed by suiting some of them unto the several particulars here asserted As 1. What was done in this matter was from the will purpose and love of God the Father Psalm 40. 6 7 8. Heb. 10. 5 6 7. Act. 4. 28. John 3. 16. Rom. 8. 3. 2. It was also done by his own voluntary consent Phil. 2. 6 7 8. 3. He was Substituted and did Substitute himself as the Mediator of the Covenant in the room and stead of sinners that they may be saved Heb. 10. 5 6 7. Chap. 7. 22. Rom. 3. 25 26. Rom. 5. 7 8. 4. And he did therein bear their sins or the punishment due to their sins Isa. 53. 6 11. 1 Pet. 2. 23. And this 5. By undergoing the Curse and penalty of the Law Gal. 3. 13. Or the punishment of sin required by the Law 2 Cor. 5. 21. Rom. 8. 3. 6. Herein also according to the will of God He offered up himself â— propitiatory and expiatory Sacrifice to make Attonement for sin and Reconciliation for sinners Ephes. 5. 2. Rom. 2. 17. Heb. 9. 11 12 13 14. Which he did that the Justice of God being satisfied and the Law fulfilled sinners might be freed from the wrath to come Rom. 3. 25. 1 Thes. 1. last 7. And hereby also He paid a real price of Redemption for sin and sinners 1 Pet. 1. 17 18. 1 Cor. 6. last These are the things which we are to believe concerning the satisfaction of Christ And our Explication of this Doctrine We are ready to defend when called thereunto The consideration of the Objections which are raised against this great fundamental Truth shall close this Discourse And they are of two sorts First In general to the whole Doctrine as declared or some of the more signal heads or parts of it Secondly Particular Instances in this or that supposal as consequences of the Doctrine asserted And in general 1. They say This is contrary to and inconsistent with the Love Grace Mercy and Goodness of God which are so celebrated in the Scripture as the principal properties of his nature and Acts of his Will wherein he will be glorified Especially contrary to the freedom of Forgiveness which we are encouraged to expect and commanded to believe And this exception they endeavour to firm by Testimonies that the Lord is Good and Gracious and that He doth freely forgive us our sins and trespasses Answer First I readily grant that whatever is really contrary to the Grace Goodness and Mercy of God whatever is Inconsistent with the free Forgiveness of sin is not to be admitted For these things are fully revealed in the Scripture and must have a consistency with whatever else is therein revealed of God or his Will Secondly As God is Good and Gracious and Merciful so also He is Holy Righteous True and Faithful And these things are no less revealed concerning him than the other and are no less Essential Properties of his Nature than his Goodness and Grace And as they are all Essentially the same in him and considered only under a different habitude or respect as they are exerted by Acts of his will so it belongs to his Infinite Wisdom that the effects of them though divers and produced by divers waies and means may no way be contrary one to the other but that Mercy may be exercised without the prejudice of Justice or Holiness and Justice be preserved entire without any obstruction to the Exercise of Mercy Thirdly The Grace and Love of God that in this matter the Scripture reveals to be exercised in order unto the forgiveness of sinners consists principally in two things 1. In his Holy Eternal Purpose of providing a relief for lost sinners He hath done it to the praise of the Glory of his Grace Eph. 1. 6. 2. In the sending his Son in the pursuit and for the accomplishment of the holy purpose of his Will and Grace Herein most eminently doth the Scripture celebrate the Love Goodness and kindness of God as that whereby in Infinite and for ever to be adored Wisdom and Grace he made way for the forgiveness of our sins Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world as he gave his only begotten Son Rom. 3. 24 25. Whom he hath set forth to be a propitiation through saith in his blood Rom. 5. 7 8. God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Titus 3. 4. 1 John 4. 8 9. Herein consists that ever to be adored Love Goodness Grace Mercy and Condescension of God Add hereunto that in that act of causing our iniquities to meet on Christ wherein he immediately intended the Declaration of his Justice Rom. 3. 25. Not sparing him in delivering him up to death for us all Rom. 8. 32. There was a blessed harmony in the highest Justice and most excellent Grace and Mâ—rcy This Grace this Goodness this Love of God toward mankind towards sinners our Adversaries in this matter neither know nor understand and so indeed what lyes in them remove the foundation of the whole Gospel and of all that faith and obedience which God requires at our hands Fourthly Forgiveness or the actual condonation of sinners the pardon and forgiveness of sins is free but yet so as it is every where restrained unto a respect unto Christ unto his death and blood-shedding Eph. 1. 7. We have Redemption in his blood even the forgiveness of sins Chap. 4. 32. God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Rom. 3. 25 26. God hath set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the forgiveness of sins It is absolutely free in respect of all immediate transactions between God and sinners Free on the part of God First In the Eternal purpose of it when he might justly have suffered all men to have perished under the guilt of their sins 2. Free in the means that he used to effect it unto his Glory 1. In the sending of his Son and 2. In laying the punishment of our sin upon him 3. In his Covenant with him that it should be accepted on our behalf 4. In his tender and proposal of it by the Gospel unto sinnâ—rs to be received without money or without price 5. In the actual condonation and pardon of them that do believe Secondly It is free on the part of the persons that are forgiven In that 1. It is given and granted to them without any satisfaction made by them for their former transgressions 2. Without any merit to purchâ—se or procure it 3. Without any poenal satisfactory suffering here or in a purgatory hereafter 4. Without any Expectation of a future recompence or that being pardoned they should then make or give any satisfaction for what they had done before And as any of these things would so nothing else can
Scripture Testimony for his good will towards Men. O the infamous portraicture this Doctrine draws of the Infinite Goodness is this your retribution O injurious Satisfactionists Answ. This is but a bold Repetition of what in other words was mentioned before over and over Wherein the Love of God in this matter consisted and what is the obligation on us unto thankfulness and obedience hath been before also declared And we are not to be moved in Fundamental Truths by vain exclamations of weak and unstable Men. It is said 9. That Gods Justice is satisfied for sins past present and to come whereby God and Christ have lost both their power of injâ—yning Godliness and prerogative of punishing disobedience for what is once paid is not revokable and if punishment should arrest any for their debts it argues a breach on God or Christs part or eâ—se that it hath not been sufficiently solved and the penalty compleat sustained by another Answ. The intention of this pretended consequence of our Doctrine is that upon a supposition of satisfaction made by Christ there is no solid foundation remaining for the prescription of Faith Repentance and Obedience on the one hand or of punishing them who refuse so to obey believe or repent on the other The Reason of this Inference insinuated seems to be this that sin being satisfied for cannot be called again to an Account For the former part of the pretended consequence namely that on this supposition there is no foundation left for the prescription of Godliness I cannot discern any thing in the least looking towards the confirmation of it in the words of the Objection laid down But these things are quite otherwise as is manifest unto them that read and obey the Gospel For 1. Christs satisfaction for sins acquits not the creature of that dependance on God and duty which he owes to God which notwithstanding that God may Justly and doth prescribe unto him suitable to his own Nature Holiness and Will The whole of our regard unto God doth not lye in an acquitment from sin It is moreover required of us as a necessary and indispensible consequence of the Relation wherein we stand unto him that we live to him and obey him whether sin be satisfied for or no. The manner and measure hereof are to be regulated by his prescriptions which are suited to his own Wisdom and our condition And they are now referred to the heads mentioned of Faith Repentance and new Obedience 2. The Satisfaction made for sin being not made by the sinner himself there must of necessity be a Rule Order and law-Constitution how the sinner may come to be interested in it and made partaker of it For the consequent of the Freedom of one by the suffering of another is not natural or necessary but must proceed and arise from a Law-Constitution Compact and Agreement Now the way Constituted and Appointed is that of Faith or believing as explained in the Scripture If Men believe not they are no less liable to the punishment due to their sins than if no satisfaction at all were made for sinners And whereas it is added forgetting that every one must Appear before the Judgement seat of Christ to receive according to things done in the body Yea and every one must give an Account of himself to God closing all with this but many more are the gross absurdities and Blasphemies that are the genuine fruits of this so confidently believed Doctrine of satisfaction I say it is 3. Certain that we must all Appear before the Judgement seat of Christ to receive according to the things done in the body and therefore Wo will be unto them at the great day who are not able to plead the Attonement made for their sins by the blood of Christ and an Evidence of their interest therein by their faith and obedience or the things done and wrought in them and by them whilst they were in the body here in this World And this it would better become these persons to betake themselves unto the consideration of than to exercise themselves unto an unparallel'd confidence in reproaching those with absurdities and blasphemies who believe the Deity and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God who dyed for us which is the ground and bottom of all our Expectation of a blessed life and immortality to come The removal of these Objections against the Truth scattered of late up and down in the hands of all sorts of Men may suffice for our present purpose If any amongst these Men who judge that they have an ability to mannage the opposition against the Truth as declared by us with such pleas Arguments and exceptions as may pretend an interest in appearing Reason they shall God assisting be attended unto With men given up to a spirit of railing or reviling though it be no small honour to be reproached by them who reject with scorn the eternal Deity of the Son of God and the Satisfactory Attonement he made for the sins of Men no Person of Sobriety will contend And I shall further only desire the Reader to take notice that though these few sheets were written in few hours upon the desire and for the satisfaction of some private Friends and therefore contain meerly an expression of present thoughts without the least design or diversion of mind towards accuracy or Ornament yet the Author is so far confident that the Truth and nothing else is proposed and confirmed in them that he fears not but that an opposition to what is here declared will be removed and the Truth reinforced in such a way and manner as may not be to its disadvantage FINIS An Appendix THE preceding Discourse as hath been declared was written for the Use of Ordinary Christians or such as might be in danger to be seduced or any way entangled in their minds by the late attempts against the Truths pleaded for For those to whom the dispensation of the Gospel is committed are debtors both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians both to the Wise and to the unwise Rom. 1. 14. It was therefore thought meet to insist only on things necessary and such as their faith is immediately concerned in and not to immix therewithall any such Arguments or Considerations as might not by reason of the Terms wherein they are expressed be obvious to their Capacity and Understanding Unto Plainness and Perspicuity Brevity was also required by such as judged this work necessary That design we hope is answered and now discharged in some usesul measure But yet because many of our Arguments on the head of the satisfaction of Christ depend upon the genuine signification and notion of the Words and Terms wherein the Doctrine of it is delivered which for the Reasons before mentioned could not conveniently be discussed in the foregoing discourse I shall here in some few Instances give an Account of what farther confirmation the Truth might receive by a due Explanation of them And