A VINDICATION OF THE Faithful Rebuke TO A False Report AGAINST The RUDE CAVILS of The Pretended Defence Titus 1. 13 Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the Faith Tum si quis est qui Dictum in se inclementius Existimavit esse sie existimet Responsum non Dictum esse quia laesit priùs Terent. Eunuch Prolog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Rhet. 3. LONDON Printed for Iohn Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey 1698. To the Author of the Defence to the Late Report SIR 'T IS somewhat a hard Case that having just cause to complain I must complain to your Self of your Self and make your own Conscience Chancellor in your Cause placing you upon the Bench who in Justice ought to stand and Plead at the Bar. But my Appeal will lie from your Self in the height and heat of Passion to your Self when the ferment is a little dasht with due Reflection From your Self as Laccar'd all over with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to your Self when you shall think fit to reassume your innate Ingenuity of which benign Moments I can not wholly Dispair because you must needs have some good Nature yet to spare having spent so little of it in your Defence Now when I have done this I have nothing more to do but to repose my Self in the Comfort of my own Innocency committing the Concerns of that Truth which I espouse and vindicate to Him who has the greatest Interest in it § 1. And first I must seriously and sadly Complain that having given us Rep. p. 5. The Substance of the Gospel of Christ the Ground and Foundation of our Faith for which you received a faithful Rebuke that yet when you pretended a Defence of your Report you should not bestow one Word in Defence of your own Gospel Who will ever believe your Report in Matters of Fact when you believe not your own Gospel in Matters of Faith And I assure you Sir They who knew your excellent skill at Fencing and Defencing did expect you should have been the Defender of your own Faith and wondered you should no better fortifie your own Frontiers when you invaded anothers Territories But such was the Method of your Great Friend religiously pursued two Years ago 1. You cannot but remember that the Rebuke Charged you that out of the Substance of your Gospel you had quite expunged Regeneration Conversion Repentance Holiness Sanctification a new Heart new Obedience and good Works And would not the Gospel look Meagre Lean and Consumptive had our Lord Jesus Christ left them out of his Gospel as you have out of Yours And are these great Matters grown so inconsiderable with you now a Days that they must first be left out of your Religion and then left to shift for themselves as they can to sink or swim without your least Care to Defend them 2. It was charg'd upon that Scheme of yours that it gave great and just Cause of Suspicion to those who were of no Jealous Inclinations that you had utterly discarded Faith from any concern in the Iustification of a Sinner made it unnecessary to our Union with Christ that so we might have an Interest in his Righteousness and only gave it a place in our escaping Wrath to come and having Everlasting Life Whoever pretends to give us the Substance of the Gospel is obliged to give us all the Essentials that Constitute it and if you Cashier Faith from any Part or Lot in Justification which Christ and his Gospel make so necessary to it your Draught is defective in an Essential Part and then I may leave it you to Judge whether it can be any Religion at all I have ever thought this Point to contain the Venime and Poison of all Antinomianism That a Sinner may be justified without Faith in Jesus Christ for if this be so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tell us where we may safely fix How far we must go back for the precise Moment of Justification some send us as far as the Decree of Election Others are Content to bring it down as low as Christs making actual Satisfaction And some will abate us three Days and date it from Christs Resurrection and others will reduce it yet lower to the Minute of our Conception and Formation in the Womb but take the rise where and fix the Moment when you please if you conceive of Justification one Moment before our Union with Christ by Faith you may as well make it bear Date from any of the other Epocha's which the Teeming Imaginations of Antinomian Brains have invented I know not therefore how to believe you in what you say Defence p. 85. That the Reporter about seventeen Years ago wrote against Antinomianism For most certain it is that either the Reporter is not the same Man that wrote that Book or is not the same Man he was when he wrote the Book Either you was not the Author or you are Metamorphosed into a Reporter Heu quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore What a lamentable Commutation of Persons is here made from a Hyperaspistes of Truth into a Hector for the Antinomian Errors So easie is the Conversion of a Hector into a Ranter I will therefore charitably undeceive you and plainly Convince you that you was not whatever you Fancy no you was not the Author of that honest Book Display Epist. The first Work of a Minister of the Gospel is to Preach up Repentance towards God and then Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ Your Gospel Minister was then to Preach up Repentance but now he must Preach it down then he must Preach it first but now he must Preach it neither first nor last Then it was in the Ministers Commission now it s left out of the Gospel Again Every Elect Soul while under the Power of Unbelief and other Lusts is Unpardoned and in a State of Condemnation whence notwithstanding your Election if you would receive actual Pardon you must go to God through Christ for it Nay you must receive Christ in your Heart by Faith and that you may we must beseech you as in Christs stead that you come unto Christ but come unto Christ you cannot without Faith and Repentance Now Sir I appeal to your own Conscience do you can you believe that you wrote the Display when you read your own Report That you were the Author of these two inconsistent Pieces Is it possible you should know your own Face when you see it in such different Glasses I hope I may use your own Words and say O Blessed Change Repentance is necessary to Pardon Faith to Justification in the one but no News to be heard of either of them for those Ends in the other So that you fall under the Censure of Origen Ubi bene Nemo melius Ubi male Nemo pejus 3. You cannot but remember Sir That in your Substance of the Gospel you affirmed that it was our State and Condition by
by faith in order to our Iustification before God as you have Faith as necessary to Iustification in the Sight of God you had had some just colour for your vile Aspersions But when I have openly avowed my firm Adherence to the Confession of the Church of England To that of the Assembly of Westminster and the Savoy and only scruple some Phrases not generally known nor well understood and yet am willing to Admit that its possible there may be something sound in them to which I am ready to subscribe but shall never yield that these Dubious and Disputable Phrases shall be impoposed as the Test and Standard of Orthodoxry or the Terms of Union in these Matters I can see no just Reason to call my soundness in the Faith into question And yet notwithstanding by Wyre-drawing some Expressions forcing others above their true Level distorting them against their evident intention and fastening on them Remote Consequences which the words will not bear by these unworthy Arts you have endeavoured to perswade your easie and willing Reader That I have given the Protestant Religion in the Article of Christ's satisfaction a sensible wound and if you can once wheedle this kind of Readers that your Antinomianism is the true Protestant Religion you have spoke to the purpose Know you therefore I have given no wound to the Gospel of Christ to yours perhaps I have Nor shall you thus mangle and mutilate the Christian that is the Protestant Religion in the grand Doctrines of Regeneration Conversion Faith and Repentance but I shall endeavour to pull off your Palliating Plaisters which I cannot hinder you from Nickmaning a Wounding of the Protestant Religion I will not complain of your Rude and Barbarous Treating me through the whole Course of your Defence I impute it to your inflamed passions fomented by your fiery Temper which yet might have been a little moderated by a Civil Education if not subdued by your Profession You stile Mr. W's my Instructor my Guide my Teacher and at last my Master I wish you had informed me what Office I bear under him that of Foot Boy or Valet de Chambre or what other Post you will graciously assign me that I may legally demand Livery or Sallary You say I have been Tool'd by him The Elegancy of the Term I complain not of because Witticisms and Elegancies are great Rarities with you But the Malice of it I will obviate I declare therefore freely I account it no dishonour to be his or your Servant for Christs sake though I dare not give up my Understanding nor resign my Faith to him or you I have Learned to surrender my Reason to Revelation my Will to the Authority of God speaking in his Word My whole Interest to his Honour and Glory but yet I call none my Lord and Master but Christ nor any my Father in matters of meer Religion but him that is in Heaven § 4. In your Preface you have favoured us with an Elegant Panegyrick and a Bitter Satyr The former you bestowed upon your own dear self the latter upon your Contemned Brethren I will not dare to complain of your Panegyrick Enjoy without my Envy the pleasing Caresses of your own heart and hugg your self in the Delicious Contemplations of your own Excellencies But I may have leave to Complain of that Bloody Satyr you have penn'd against all your Brethren Presbyterian and Independant excepting and foreprizing always out of it your own beloved and admired self A Word or two I will venture upon each 1. Your Elegant Panegyrick upon your own Dear self I cannot forbear telling thee Reader that I desire to bless and praise the Lord for the insight he has given me into the Mysteries of the Gospel since these Controversies have been stated And I do now plainly see how the very Truths we were through an unjustifiable supineness in danger of losing will hereby be more clearly discovered and effectually secured Dixi. Now Sir In my poor Judgment your own Tongue is most unfit of any to be the Trumpet of your own Praise and you had better have hired some Mercenary Pen of which I perceive you have good choice to have Recommended your great Natural Parts your Acquired Abilities and above all your Inspired Accomplishments to the Notice of the Age than have pressed your own Goose-quill to the Drudgery I offer you my Service Gratis which if you accept I 'll try to give the Vulgar the Analysis of this your self-exaltation First Let them observe how full you was of your Visionary Raptures You could not forbear but out it must come before all the Company This is the Tympany you have so long gone with but though this vent may give you a little ease do not mistake it for a Cure Secondly The next is the Imminent Danger of losing the great Truths of the Gospel that is your own if by a Miracle this Defender had not been raised up to clear and secure them For an unjustifiable supineness had crept over the Hearts of all Learned Men and Ministers and all had been Lost without hope of Recovery had not this Great Man appeared to Rescue them either out of the Iaws of Oblivion or the Paws of Heretical Opposition Thirdly In this Critical Juncture this Great Soul was enlightned and inspired in these Mysteries of the Gospel For when he wrote his Display he knew nothing of them more or less 't was since the Controversie was stated that he received these Glorious Discoveries A Priviledge to be Envied that he could gain that Illumination in one moment which other poor Mortals hardly Compass and in a lower measure with obstinate study and earnest prayer But this Gentleman lay down over night slept in the dark and in the morning rose up clearly Illuminated with these Ravishing Mysteries Fourthly Do not inquire which those Mysteries were he has been Enlightned in they are these great Ones That Regeneration Conversion and Repentance are but the Accidentals of his Gospel they may Adesse vel abesse absque subjecti interitu Let Ministers leave them out of their Sermons as he has done out of his Gospel they 'll never be missed That there is no such Thing as Iustifying Faith that Repentance is not necessary to Pardon of Sin that Christ was made sinful c. These are the Manifestations he has received of Gospel Truth 5. That therefore he desires to Bless the Lord for these great Discoveries But why then does he not do it Who hinders him True indeed he has not done it does not do it never intends to do it yet he desires to do it for generous Spirits Love not to be too much in Debt nor is there any need for 't when they have one that has paid all for 'em past present and to come without the Condition of Repentance 6. And now Sir having directed the Vulgar I will offer one Word to your Self We earnestly beg that you would let our Gospel alone you
may do what you please with your own the Gospel of Christ has been sufficiently Cleared irrefragably Proved Vindicated by such Instruments as Christ hath raised up since the Reformation beyond the Policy of Socinians or Antinomians to Undermine it or their Power to shake it but your Excellency lies not in Clearing but Clouding not in Defending but Betraying the Doctrines of the Gospel 2. Your bitter Satyr against all your Brethren Discourses from the Pulpit even when about the most Evangelical Parts of Christianity have been of late Years rather to move the Affections than inlighten the Iudgment and are but a slender Fence unto Truth and an Observance how they who are sound in the Faith through a Zeal for Populacy have neglected that close Study which is necessary to a through Understanding the Important Doctrines under Debate has imboldned the Adversary to oppugn them Sir let me speak freely to you In this bitter and bloody Satyr you have taken upon you the Person of one who Glories to be the Accuser of the Brethren 1. You Accuse them or rather Calumniate them without excepting a Man that they have adjusted their Preaching rather to move the Affections than to enlighten the Iudgment The common Fallacy a Vein of which runs through your whole Book that subordinata sunt opposita Their common Method is to enlighten the Iudgment and then to move the Affections They pretend not to loud Vociferations to make a hideous out-cry against they know not what nor why They work not upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor stir up blind and bruitish Passions and Affections no Sir they lay down some great Doctrine of Christs Gospel this they explain then labour to prove and to improve it by ingaging their Auditors first to receive the Truth then to reduce it to Practice which however you scorn it is the end of all Gospel Preaching 2. You Accuse them that through a Zeal for Populacy they have neglected that close Study which is necessary to the Understanding the Important Truths under Debate The plain English of which is that they are a Crew of Hypocrites the vilest of Hypocrites under the Sun for what can they be else who not moved with the Glory of their Redeemer in the Conversion and Edification of Souls nor at all influenced with the great Ends of their Office only hunt for Popular Applause that when they come reeking hot out of their Pulpits they may be fanned and refreshed with the cooling Breezes of Mens Praises and if they may but receive the Euge Belle and the grande 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's all they Regard Now if this Accusation be true they must be the worst of Men if false as I am Confident it is you Sir must be one of the vilest Calumniators And if the Tenth Part of what you Accuse them of be true its Pity but all the Dissenters were once again Silenced and I have some Reasons inclining me to think that this was the Design of the Satyrist in all the Disturbances he has given the World I am well assured the Reverend Brethren can justifie themselves in the sight of God and before their own Consciences always allowing too much Matter for Repentance on the account of their sinful Infirmities That they have received Grace to be faithful from him who put them into the Ministry by the Door not by the Windows That they feed the Flock committed to their Charge and Care under the Eye of the great Shepherd expecting from him their Reward at his appearing They dare not feed the Flock of Christ with the Chippings of the Schools nor with the dry Husks of Heathenish Morality They Preach a Crucified Christ and God in and through him Reconciled and they press instantly upon their Hearers that they would be Reconciled to God And this is what Holy Souls expect from them that their Hearts may be thoroughly searched the State of their Souls Examin'd and Cleared their Evidences for another World made out with good Satisfaction to an awakened and well enlightned Conscience To be taught how they may walk worthy of God to all pleasing and how they may keep Consciences void of Offence towards God and all Men. And to say Truth they do not Love to hear of such sublime Stuff that is too high for this World and too low for the next Nor to see their Teachers Vaulting or Dancing upon the high Rope 't was the Expression of a Grave Learned Divine lest after all their Capering Tricks they should break their own Necks and perhaps the Peoples Reverend Sir let me solicite and prevail for a few Favours which though not for mine yet your own Credits sake you ought to grant That you would admit a few Corrections in your Eloquent Harangues And first for Observance lets read Observation for with us Englishmen Observance is that Respect and Deference that we give to another for some greater Excellency than we are conscious to our selves of But as it stands here 't is broad Non-sense and Observation had been the proper Word for any but him who affects swelling Bom-bast Secondly For Populacy give us leave to read Popularity so besides that it will be Sense it will be more Picquant and severe upon your insulted Brethren and therefore more suited to your own malicious Intendment against them And to tell you true we are afraid lest in a while you should introduce these Terms into Divinity and that we shall be Condemned for Renouncing the Gospel because we cannot admit these non-sensical Terms too Thirdly We Pray that for since the Controversie was stated to make it Sense and Truth we may read started for indeed the Controversie has been started by you some while ago but to this Hour it was never stated Nor can we persuade you to state it but like AndabatarianFencers we are cutting and slashing Blindfold And could we but once at length persuade you to state the Question fairly and honestly the Question would decide and determine it self One Inconvenience perhaps you foresee that if the Controversie were well stated and judiciously answered it would put a Period to your useful and gainful Trade and Imployment I doubt not but you will freely own your self the Aggressor in this Paper-War nay that you Glory in 't It had been more desireable that you had let Matters to have sunk into Silence and not have blown Sheba's Trumpet to a fresh Alarm But when you drew the Sword against the Presbyterians no doubt you threw away the Scabbard Though it had been adviseable when you buckled on your Armour in this vapouring Gallantry to have considered how you might as honourably put it off In the mean Time I thank you for the Honour you have done us in giving us the Initial Letters of your Name could not some Friend of yours have contrived them into an Ingenious Cyphar which would have adorned your Chariot when you are to ride in Triumph over the Heads of the Conquered
softly return this That of all Men living a Reporter has need of a good Memory but here his Memory or Conscience or both fail'd him For tho it be true I did say the Charge was Rude yet 't was this Reporter who added that it was ignorant and thus I must be accused by him of the Crime if it was a Crime of his own Expression and of this I have the Evidence of many Brethren whose Faithfulness in Witness-bearing is Incontestible and not to be mention'd in the same Day with his for the thing was not spoke in a corner and it was at that time when this Reporter frequented Little St. Hellens before he fell and left his first Station § 5. How I have Acquitted my self of the Charge of Antinomianism brought against me the Reader has heard whether there be any pretence for an Insinuation that the Reporter is a favourer of Dr. Crisp's Notions the Reader shall now judge The Difficulty of making a clear Judgment upon this Trimming Author's Opinion in this matter lies chiefly in this Whether we are to take our Measures of what he is from his visible Book or his invisible Heart What he is in his Heart and secret Inclinations falls not under our Cognizance what he appears to be in his legible and intelligible Writings comes under our Notice But still whether we are to proceed by the strict inflexible Rule of Judgment or Reason or whether we are to allow some Latitude in our Thoughts according to Charity may admit of a Debate And 1. my Charity inclines me to think him no Antinomian from what a Friend of his and mine assur'd me the other Day since I awarded my self the Pennance and my Pen the Punishment of these Lines Sir said he the Reporter is no more an Antinomian than your self It may be so reply'd I but for all that he may be Antinomian enough for he has endeavoured to prove me one But if he be none why does he write at this rate If he Preaches one thing and Prints another if he be one Man in the Pulpit and another from the Press if he writes one thing and means another how shall we possibly make a Judgment of his Faith 'T is not the sense of his Soul but the sense of his Book in which I am concern'd if these two be at odds they must either agree it or fight it out as well as they can Well! Well! reply'd our Common Friend I can assure you he 's no Antinomian in his Judgment tho he writes a little squinting that way to gratifie some great Friends that are strongly byassed that way Ay but said I this is to pluck the Thorn out of one Foot and thrust it into the other for now you allow him sound in his Head but then you render him rotten at Heart and thus while you clear his Orthodoxy you accuse him of Hypocrisie and what Account can you give of his halting and doubling thus in a matter of the greatest Importance But here our Discourse was interrupted 2. Therefore not daring to depend upon our Friends Opinion I sought Relief from the Defence it self hoping I might rely on his own Judgment of his own self and as I find I will nakedly Report to the Reader without taking his Office out of his Hands The Author of the Rebuke did think and now is confirm'd in his Thoughts that the United Brethren after they had given such incontestible Demonstrations of their soundness in the Faith against all Arminian and Socinian Errors might reasonably expect that those other Brethren should give some good account of their stedsastness in the Faith in opposition to the Antinomian Heterodoxies Nor did they want cogent Reasons for their Expectations that if they gave satisfaction upon slender and sleighty Surmises the others ought to give the like where the Proofs were Notorious and Flagrant Now the Defence could not but take some notice of this Passage and thinks it not amiss to shew what fell under Consideration when this Point was to be debated Now Reader mark well what he says 1. It was thought conducive says he p. 66. to the great end to avoid as much as possible a running into the Discussion and Determination of Differences of lesser moment and therefore to keep to those Matters which did more nearly concern the Essentials in Matters of Faith Now to set the Reader right herein he must Note 1. That tho the United Brethren valued Peace as high as any they know they might buy Gold too dear and therefore durst not purchase Peace with the loss of Truth The great end therefore which they had in their Eye and upon their Heart was that they might secure their Union upon good security that Antinomian Errors were not secretly lodged in the Hearts of some Brethren or if there harboured it might by a sound Test be discovered And therefore a Test was drawn up to obviate all possible Evasions See Rebuke P. 25. 2. Whereas this Defender tells us of Differences of a lesser moment This will bring our Author's Faith to the Ordeal and we shall now see what are the Differences of lesser moment in his Opinion and to speak plainly they were such Trifles as these Whether Faith be necessary to Iustification Repentance to pardon These were our Author's Punctilio's his Matters of lesser moment And thus we have gain'd this one Point That a Iustifying Faith and Repentance in order in Pardon are none of the Essentials of the Gospel of Christ as they were but Accidentals in the Gospel of the Reporter 3. To trim up this matter handsomly and find out a due Temper as the Phrase and Practice was in the Conventicle of Trent both Parties are deluded under a colour of pleasing both and thus things stand in the first Paper Altho Regeneration Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ and a holy Conversation are by God's express Word manifestly necessary to the Salvation of a Sinner c. These things then are necessary to Salvation but not so to Pardon Iustification Acceptance with God for in that respect they are Matters of lesser moment which must not be discussed much less determined but avoided as much as possible because that was conducive to their great ends Now I would modestly ask Whether the Ends of both these sorts of Brethren were the same For it 's most evident that the end of one was to conceal the end of the other to discover latent Antinomianism And secondly I would ask If the Care and Caution was so great not to come to a Discussion of these lesser Matters why was the Zeal so hot to come to a Determination of far more inconsiderable They could discuss and determine upon a Phrase Commutation of Persons between Christ and Sinners but could not or would not determine by any Means that Faith and Repentance were absolutely necessary to the Iustification of a Sinner 4. The Author would give us a Reason why they would not
of the Churches but for the Doctrines of Faith and Repentance in Order to the Pardon of a Sinner these they wave and leave them undetermin'd 3. Whereas he says The Composers of the first Paper waved the Determination of these Matters which was no more than was done in the Composing of the seven Propositions which were renounced to the End we might express our Abhorrence of Antinomian Errors What will not this Gentleman attempt in the Twy-light who imposes thus upon us at Noon-day Let us make a Query or two upon it 1. Was there no more required in the seven Propositions than was in the first Paper For shame The Fourth Proposition of the Seven was this We Renounce this Doctrine That any may expect Pardon without Repentance If God had promis'd Pardon without Repentance we might have expected it and if we may not expect it in Faith I conclude God never promis'd it Upon what Grounds then do Men delude the Souls of others and their own who encourage them to expect Pardon without Repentance But was there any Word in the first Paper tending sounding this Way 2. Where or when were the seven Propositions Renounced especially the Fourth By the Orthodox United Brethren it was by the others never but he that can be false will be fallacious 4. Whereas he adds That Mr. W's insisting on the Assertion of the Necessity of Repentance in Order to Pardon about which the Orthodox have differing Sentiments it was at last Agreed to Assert the Necessity of Repentance and leave this Controversie undetermin'd But this is but his Coleworts boyled so often till they are Poyson For we deny that the Orthodox have different Sentiments about this Matter and affirm that they are Heterodox who deny the Necessity of Repentance in Order to Pardon And herein he manifestly contradicts himself for in the Paragraph before mention'd he asserts that the seven Propositions were renounced to this End that we might express our Abhorrence of Antinomian Errors among which seven this was the Fourth That we may expect Pardon without Repentance and yet now he asserts with equal Confidence that this was left undetermined These were some of his confused and disturbed Thoughts at that Time I will shut up this Head of Discourse with a Remark or two 1. The first Thing I observe is from a certain Author whom our Defender thinks at least asserts to be his own Self Append. to Display p. 18. where he quotes the Reverend and Learned Dr Owen in his Treatise of Justification Who can be says he more express than the Doctor for he Asserts 1. The Necessity of Faith as Antecedent to our Actual Iustification in the sight of God 2. That this Faith includes in its Nature the intire Principle of Evangelical Repentance so that its utterly impossible that a Man should be a true Believer and not at the same Time be truly Penitent 2. My next Remark shall be from an Author who I am most certain is his own Self and that is the Defender Who p. 86. tells us There may be very Material Difference about that Order of Things and reference to one another though there be agreement as to the Things themselves Now its probable this is the same Author for I assure you 't is in the same Book who says p. 66. The avoiding as much as possible a running into the Discussion and Determination of Differences of lesser Moment viz. The Controversie about the Order between Faith and Repentance which hath the Antecedence and Priority and whether Repentance be a necessary praerequisite to Pardon Now Though I with my Self and so will the Intelligent Reader think how comes it to pass that the Priority of Faith and Repentance between themselves and their Antecedence to Pardon should be a Matter of lesser Moment in one Case and yet make such a Material Difference in another This puzzled me for a while till I found out the Mystery That in the one he was purging himself and his Antinomian Brethren of their Errors and then they were Matters of lesser Moment but in the other Case he was loading with Reproach the Subscribers to Mr. Flavell's Blow at the Root The Truth is some of the most Important Controversies that have given trouble to the Church of Christ have been about the Order of Things The Order of the Divine Eternal Decrees have ministred as much matter of Dispute as the Decrees themselves and the great Controversies about Faith and Repentance have been in what Order they are to be placed in reference to Iustification Thus when our Defender has occasion for it they shall be material and momentous and when he has no such occasion they shall be trivial matters and of lesser moment I have done with our Defender at present because he has done with and undone himself He himself has Determin'd this Point That Repentance is necessary to Pardon Dr. Owen has Determin'd it too and the Scriptures of Truth have Determined it long before them both and yet now for the sake of his dear Antinomian Brethren he has undetermined it again So true is the Observation that some have made of this Gentleman that he can shift his Sails as the Wind Veres and Determine and Undetermine and if need be Re-determine the Controversie over and over to the end of the Chap ter § 6. It is seriously and sadly to be lamented that Disputations should not be managed among us for their true and proper ends to search after and find out the truth but in a cunning way either to disguise Errors that they may look like Truths or to misrepresent Truth that it may look as deformed as Error But thus it has fared with Trade which from a fair and equal way of dealing has degenerated into a Mystery of Stock-jobbing and with the Trade of War too which is changed from fair Combating in the open Field to Marching De-marching Counter-marching and a thousand Subtilties without fighting such are all our Modern Disputes perverted into a Course of Cavilling and Sophistry to subserve the Interest of a Party a notable Instance of which Artifice I shall now present to the Reader The Rebuke had said That the Phrases of a Commutation of Persons between Christ and Sinners and his taking on him the Person of Sinners were wholly unknown to those Confessions of Faith which were made the Test of soundness in the Faith by the United Ministers Nay he went higher That if you searched all the Confessions of the Reformed Churches you should not meet with these Phrases no not one of them To answer this Challenge the Defender has compased Sea and Land rummaged the whole Harmony and Body of Confessions and after all his tedious Inquiry has found or thinks he has or would perswade us he has found at least one that will furnish him with Matter for a Triumph 'T is in the Confession of the Church Who would believe it the Church of Scotland the National Church of Scotland But
our stead 2. That the Socinians have wretchedly perverted the true Intendment of these Texts by glossing and diluting their true Intendment thus he died for us gave himself for us That is say they for our Good indeed but not properly in our stead 3. That they may give some colour to their Subterfuges they assign some certain Benefits to the Death of Christ as to give us an Heroick Example of Suffering whatever Persecutions for the Profession of the Christian Religion and to confirm the Truth of his Doctrine by sealing it with his Blood and some few others 4. In return to which we say 1. That it was a far greater Good that Christ by his Death procured for us Dan. 9. 24. To finish Transgression to make an end of Sins to make reconciliation for Iniquity to bring in everlasting Righteousness In order to which p. 26. The Messiah must be cut off but not for himself And Heb. 9. 26. Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself 2. We say that these and other ends of his Death and Sufferings could never have been procured had not Christ according to the Father's Ordination and his own consent suffer'd in our stead and made himself an expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifice And 3. We say that all the Ends which the Socinians have assigned to the Death of Christ might have been attained without the Death of Christ the Doctrine was confirmed by Miracles and the encouragement to suffer the utmost for the Christian Religion was from the Promises of present assistance under them and the Recompence of Reward to them 5. That the satisfying Divine Justice in our stead and procuring thereby our good are by no means to be considered as opposite but subordinate For as I would answer an Antinomian let him give us one Instance in which Christ suffered in our stead which did not Terminate in our Good So would I say to a Socinian let him shew me an Instance of any Spiritual Good which he could possibly procure or purchase without suffering in our stead And here is the great Demonstration of the Divine Goodness that he has not separated his own Glory from the Spiritual and Eternal Good of the Elect and thus has our Blessed Redeemer secured both the Demands of Justice and at the same time the Salvation of the Elect. To draw to a Conclusion of this Discourse You observe that our Author 's singular Gift and Talent is Misrepresentation and this great Gift wherever he had it or how he came by it I know not he exercises through his whole Defence to revile me as a Soc inian an English Unitarian this he brings in by Head and Shoulders Vapours with it Triumphs in it over looking that thro the whole Rebuke this Calumny had been abundantly obviated of which I will now give you over-abundant evidence Reb. p. 6. That Christ was made Sin a Sacrifice for sin that he bore the Curse due for sin is so express the Language of the Scripture that he who denies the former must disbelieve the latter Reb. p. 8. Certainly when Christ our only and ever Blessed Mediator stood in our place and stead when he made his Soul an Offering for sin when the Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us All There was a Change of Christ's Person for Sinners He was substituted in their room and stead Again ibid. There is a Change all own it there was so under the Law Iustice allowed that the Offender should live the Sacrifice die There is so under the Gospel that Christ suffered the believing sinner is discharged just as Abraham sacrificed the Ram by God's own appointment for that is in the stead of Isaac In a word As I have always uniformly asserted that Christ suffered and satisfied in our stead so shall I always Assert that Christ suffered and satisfied for our good and tho I never affirmed that Christ died or suffered only for our good which is the falshood the Author would impose upon the Reader and my self so I did Assert That it was impossible he should die for more than our good seeing he was pleased to make the Salvation and eternal good of those whom the Father had given him whom he had in his Eye and upon his Heart the great Commanding End unto which he referred all his Obedience Active and Passive so that Christ had nothing more nothing farther nothing beyond that in his Eye But of these things thus far Sir I am yours as you know c LETTER III. Of Christ's being our Surety SIR You come a little too quick upon me other and better Work engaged my Thoughts and Time that I lost the last Post and 't was with some Difficulty that I saved this I will not dispute with you why you caused me to break the Thread of my Discourse about Commutation of Persons c. and are now urgent to give you my Opinion about Christ's Suretiship however I will comply I had but little concern with the Reporter in this Matter only I offered my humble Advice Reb. p. 46. Not to insist so strictly upon the Terms of Debt and Debtor because if he supposed sin to be only a Pecuniary Debt and the sinner to stand obnoxious only as such a Debtor to God as the Creditor he has betray'd the Cause he seems so Zealous to defend to the Socinians And because I thought he might give some Deference to the Learning and Authority of the Bishop of Worcester I seconded my Advice with a Caution from him The true state of the Controversie says he has been rendered more obscure by the Mistakes of some who have managed it with more Zeal than Iudgment That Christ paid a proper and rigid satisfaction for the Sins of Men under the Notion of a Debt This was the Caution the Bishop gave and that was the Counsel which I gave to both which the Defender was too proud to hearken But the same Learned Person has in a late Letter to Mr. D. W. superadded weighty Reasons to his Caution p. 60. This Christ's putting on the Person and standing in the place of a Debtor I have shewed long since to be a very wrong Notion of Christ's Satisfaction which in effect gives up the Cause to the Socinians For if Sins be considered as Debts God may freely forgive them without disparagement of his Wisdom and Iustice without Satisfaction And the Right of Punishment then depends on God's absolute Dominion and satisfaction must be by way of Compensation but I cannot but wonder at the Author of the M. S. that he doth at the same time assert our Sins considered as Debts and yet the Necessity of Vindicative Iustice for what Vindicative Iustice belongs to a Creditor May not a Creditor part with his own Right and forgive what and whom he pleases without any violation of Iustice I can hardly think that those who write so rudely and inconsistently ever penetrated into