be justified by our Faith I see no absurdity at all to say That Faith is from Justification causally and Justification by Faith evidentially That Grace which justifies us is the Cause and Fountain of all good things whatsoever both of Spiritual and Temporal Blessings and more especially of Faith 2 Pet. 1.1 Phil. 1.29 Yet doth it not follow That We must invert the order of the Gospel and instead of saying Believe and thou shalt be justified we must say hence forward Thou art justified therefore believe 1 Because it is not the priviledge of all men to whom we Preach but onely of the Elect of God And 2 because we know not who are justified no more then who are elected though Faith be an effect or sign of Election yet it doth not follow that we must say to any Thou art elected therefore believe 3 When the cause is not notior effectu we must ascend from the effect to the cause as in the present case § 6. Thirdly He loads it with this seeming absurdity That then it will unavoidably follow That we are justified by works as well as by Faith for works are an effect of Justification as well as Faith 1 It follows unavoidably from his own opinion For if Faith be taken in a proper sence for the Act of Believing it follows That we are justified by a work of our own or if Faith be the condition of Justification it will follow likewise That we are no more justified by Faith then by other works as Repentance Charity c. Which Mr. W. and others of his strain do make the conditions of their supposed Justification so that he is like to father the Childe which he hath sought to lay at our doors 2 It is not denied That Works do declare and evidence our Justification where the Apostle denies our Justification to be by Works he speaks of our real and formal Justification in the sight of God which he affirms is by Faith scil Objectively taken and not of the declaring or evidencing of our Justification which Saint James in his Epistle attributes to Works in reference to men and other Scriptures to Faith in reference to the Conscience of the person justified Romans 1.17 Galatians 2.16 3 Though works be the effect of justification as well as faith yet it will no follow that works do evidence our justificationas well as faith doth 1 Because every effect is not apt to evidence its cause especially when the same effect may proceed from severall causes as smoak is not so certaine an evidence of fire as light and heat is because steems and mists are so like to smoak so works do not evidence our justification so clearly and certainly 〈◊〉 Faith doth because works may proceed from principles of natural ingenuity and morality c. as those Heathens have performed 2 Because every effect doth not evidence to every faculty a like but this to one and that to another as for instance forme or Physiognomy doth evidence a man to sence but yet reason requires another manner of evidence so conscience requires a better evidence of our justification then works can give Workâ— do evidence it in the judgement of charity and before men but they do not evidence it in the judgement of infallibility or with that clearnesse and demonstrative certainty which the conscience requires conscience will need a better evidence then works can give Paul could plead his works before men 2 Cor. 1.12 which yet he never mentions in the pleas of his conscience towards God and that which conscience dares not plead before God can bee no good evidence unto conscience § 7. The other horn of his Dilemma will be frayd as easily as the former Faith saith he doth not evidence justification properly for then it must doe it either immediately and Axiomatically as it is an assent to this Proposition I am justified or else remotely and syllogistically by drawing a particular conclusion of our own justification out of generall propositions But Faith doth not evidence our justification Axiomatically c. For 1 There is no such thing written the Scripture doth no where say Thou Paul thou Peter or thou Thomas art justified Ergo Justification cannot be evidenced by Faith immediately Mr. W. here mistakes the nature of true justifying Faith who it seems conceives it to be a bare intellectuall assent to the truth of a Proposition such as Devils and Reprobates may attaine unto contrary to all Orthodox Divines who doe place Faith more in the Will then in the Understanding Justifying Faith essentially include 1. An assent of the understanding to the truth of the Scriptures revealing the sole-sufficiency of Christ for the reconciliation of sinners and the non-imputation of sin as also the will and command of God that all men should beleeve in him alone for life and salvation 2 a Fiduciall adherence and reliance of the will upon the same Christ the understanding being made effectually to assent and subscribe to the fore-mentioned propositions sub ratione veri the will is also powerfully drawne to accept imbrace and adhere unto Christ sub natione boni Our Divines doe include both these acts in the definition of Faith making it to be fiducialis assensus or assensus cum gustu such an assent unto the truths of the Gospell as that withall the soule tastes an ineffable sweetnesse in the same and thereupon â—esteth and relieth upon Christ for all the benefits of his death They make the principall act of Faith to be the reliance of the heart or wil upon Jesus Christ and therefore they determine that the object of Justifying Faith is not a Proposition or Axiom but Christ the mercy of God in Christ on whom whosoever rests and roules himselfe upon the call of the Gospel hath a certain evidence of his Interest in Christ and in all the treasures of righteousnesse and remission that are in him according to the degree of his affiance or his taste of sweetnesse in Christ is his evidence or assurance of his owne interest and propriety in him There is no sense that doth apprehend its object with more certainty then that of Tasting as he that tastes hony knows both the sweetnesse thereof and that he himselfe injoyes it So he that tastes the sweetnesse of the Gospell Promises and of that precious Grace which is therein revealed knows his interest and propriety therein It is observed of Jonathan 1 Sam. 14.27 When he tasted a little hony his eyes were inlightned and the Psalmist exhorts us to taste and see how good the Lord is The soule that tastes i. e. beleeves the Gospell and the goodnesse of God therein revealed to sinners sees and knowes his interest therein for all manner of sweetnesse is a consequent and effect of some propriety which we have in that good thing that causeth it unto which the nearer our interest is the greater is the sweetnesse which we find in it The Soul cannot taste
any reall sweetnesse in Christ and the Gospel but must needs have some evidence of his interest propriety and title to him Now because as Dr. Ames observes by this act of Faith wherewith we rest and rely upon Christ proposed to us in the Gospell we doe immediately attaine to the assurance of this Truth that my sins in particular are pardoned by Jesus Christ therefore some have seemed to speake as if this Proposition I am Justified my sins are forgiven me were the proper object of Justifying Faith I shall not stand to defend this Expression though the Doctor doth highly approve of it Nor will I quarrell with Mr. W. about his Expression though I conceive his terme Axiomatical is somewhat too narrow for Faith may be said to evidence our Justification immediately though it doth it not Axiomatically but Organically to wit as it is the organ or Instrument whereby we doe apprehend and adhere unto Christ by whom we are justified in the sight of God the latter term is more adequate to the nature of Faith which is not only the assent of the Mind but the adhesion of the Will to the object beleeved But I shall yeeld him his term and do say that Faith may be said to evidence our Justification Axiomatically yet not by assenting to that which is not revealed but by assenting to and withall tasting and relishing those indefinite and general Propositions Invitations and Promises that are held forth to us in the Gospell which by a secret and inscrutable worke of the Holy Spirit are applyed and made particular to the soule of a true beleever for otherwise he could never taste any sweetnesse in them So that Mr. Woodbridges exclamation against a carnall presumptuous and soule-damning Faith is altogether impertinent seeing we doe not say that a man is justified by his assent to written and therefore much lesse to unwritten verities If Justifying Faith were no more then an Axiomaticall assent as Mr. W. seems to intimate it is I see no reason why all they that have such a Faith as Devils and Reprobates who beleeve with an historical assent should not be justified this is really the carnall presumptuous damning Faith of the world § 8. His second reason against Faiths evâ—dencing our Justification Axiomatically is nothing to the purpose The Faith saith he by which we are justified is the Faith which the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel are to preach to the whole world and to presse it upon their consciences Act. 20.21.13.38.39 But we cannot presse upon every man in the world to beleeve that he is Justified c. Seeing we do not presse every man to beleeve that he is justified though according to our commission given us from Christ we do presse all men to beleeve 1. Assensu intellectus to acknowlege that there is a sufficiency of merit in Christ for the Justification of Sinners that they themselves are such and that it is impossible for them to escape the curse by any other means 2. Amplexu vel motu voluntatis to accept embrace and cleave unto Jesus Christ being infinitely better for them then all the world besides By this it will appear what little reason Mr. W. hath to charge us with pressing men to believe a lie seeing we require no mans assent to any thing which is not true We do not press every man to believe That he is justified but to believe that there is a sufficiency in Christ for his Justification and to relie upon him and him alone for this Benefit § 9. So that there will be no need for Mr. Eyre to retract his Sermons as falshoods which he hath formerly preached against Universal Redemption For though the command of believing be to be pressed upon all men in that manner as hath been shewn yet it will not follow that Christ died for all men It seems Mr. W. is offended at those Sermons of mine since he hath had a smack of Mr. B. notions That Christ died conditionally for all men yea for the Reprobates themselves which though it be countenanced with the names of Cameron Testardus and Amyraldus of some others who are of great note amongst our own yet may I have leave to speak my minde I conceive it to be very unsound For 1. To say that Christ died for any upon an impossible condition is to say That he died in vain at least so far or in respect of them which the Apostle looks upon as a gross absurdity Gal. 2.21 2. For whom Christ died he without doubt purchased Faith and all necessary good things This the Apostle accounts unquestionable Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but gave him to death for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things What is Mr. Woodbridges Judgement in this point I cannot tell nor doth it much matter that I should enquire I need not inform him what advantage they that are for Universal Redemption in the grossest sence do make of his Doctrine of a Conditional Justification impetrated by the death of Christ It is the onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they have to shelter their heads withal when they are pressed That if Christ died for all then all shall be saved because it must needs be that Christ must have the purchases of his death John 11.42 Isa. 53.11 No say they it will not follow because some do not perform the condition required on their parts These two Propositions Christ redeemed all men and yet the impenitent unbelieving and reprobate World shall never be saved by him may be easily reconciled because the benefits of Christs death are given upon condition not absolutely and therefore they that do not perform the condition shall never be saved by his death It were easie to shew that this salvability or conditional Salvation is the very Corner Stone in the Remonstrants building § 10. This passage puts me in minde of two absurdities which Mr. J. Woodbridge my Antagonists Brother who a while after came and preached over his Brothers Arguments with some small Additions charged upon our Doctrine The first was That it doth necessarily infer Universal Redemption Will it follow That because the Elect are justified in forâ— Dei before they believe therefore all men are redeemed and justified One may as well reason Some men were elected before they believed Ergo All men were elected Perhaps he will say we cannot press or exhort every man to believe That he is justified unless all men are justified There is no more necessity that we should press every man to believe that he is justified then that he is elected This is pitifully inconsequent The second was That it raseth the Foundation of all actions tending to the gathering and reforming of Churches why should any be excluded from Church Ordinances if they are justified 1 I must tell him That I cannot think him an hearty friend to the gathering and reforming of Churches who
confidence towards God to purifie our hearts and to work by love c. They are all of them promoted and furthered by the Doctrine we teach for what is it that gives us boldness towards God but the merit and perfection of Christs sacrifice whereby the mouth of the Law is stopped the accusations of Satan are all answered and the justice of God is fully satisfied Again What other means is there so effectual to purifie our hearts to constrain us to love him c. as the freeness absoluteness and immutability of his love to us who whilest we were sinners and enemies reconciled us to himself by the Blood of the Cross and blotted out our sins as if they had never been committed § 10. Mr. Cr. censure of Curcellaeus's Opinion is just and seasonable who judgeth these Differences amongst Christians about Justification to be of so small concernment that they ought not to breed a controversie For surely they are none of those foolish questions and strivings which we are bid to avoid if there be any point in the whole Doctrine of Godliness for which we ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Jude speaks to contend earnestly This challengeth our utmost zeal for the maintenance of it seeing the glory of Gods Grace the dignity of Christs Blood and the comfort of our own souls lies at stake in the issues of it our life peace and everlasting Salvation is concerned herein There is no truth that the Apostle doth so frequently press and so earnestly contend for as this Article of our Free Justification That no works of ours do concur to the procuring of it Mr. Calvin hath observed That if we were accorded with the Church of Rome in all other points save in this one particular the distance between them and us is so great That it is impossible we should ever be reconciled And I must needs say That I see no material difference between them and our Adversaries about this matter § 11. Mr. Cr. in the close of his Prefatory Discourse tells the Reader Thou art beholding to the Learned Author for the penning of this Tract but for the publishing of it to another And Mr. W. hath framed it in the form of a Letter to a private Friend that the Reader might guess he had no hand at all in publishing of it whereas a near Kinsman of his assured me That Mr. W. in a Letter to himself had confessed that his Sermon came abroad by his own appointment which I do the rather believe knowing his relation to the Stationer for whom it was Printed However I am glad that it is made publick that this point may be the better cleared by a deliberate examination of the utmost that can be said against it onely I wish that this task had lighted upon some other man who hath more leisure and better abilities to undertake it that so precious a truth might not suffer through the unskilfulness of a feeble Advocate How much the Reader is beholding to Mr. W. for Penning or Printing of his Sermon will appear in the issue of this debate CHAP. V. Wherein Mr. Woodbridges Introduction Text Doctrine and Proofs are briefly considered HAving passed Mr. Woodbridges Out-works we shall now proceed to survey the Fort it self which in his own conceit is built so impregnable That nothing consistent with the Scriptures can be brought against it How ever I am not discouraged from attempting it knowing That strong holds more unlikely to be vanquished have been laid flat and level with the ground Lam. 4.12 2 Cor. 10.4 5. In his Preface he tells the worthy Sir to whom he communicated his Notes That he will not trouble him with his Introduction to the Text or the Applicatory part of his Sermon It was very little that he spake in either but I well remember that he began and concluded with a great mistake In his Introduction he told us that the scope of this Epistle was to prove That we are justified by Faith i. e. as he explained it That we are not justified in the sight of God before we believe and that Faith is the condition on our part to qualifie us for Justification whereas the scope of the Apostle as shall be shewn more largely hereafter was not to assert the time of our Justification but the matter of it he intended not to shew when but wherewith we are justified to wit not by Works or Righteousness in us but by the Righteousness of Christ freely imputed to us which we apprehend and apply by Faith By taking Faith in a proper sense as a condition required on our part he accuseth the Apostle of Self-contradiction who all along denies That we are justified by works seeing Faith considered as a condition is a work of ours no less then love In that part of his Application where he addressed himself to unbelievers he told them That Christ was not a High Priest or Advocate to them and that they had no Court of Mercy to appeal unto which was all one as if he had said Christ did not die for them and that they had no more ground to believe in him then the Devils themselves and consequently that their case was desperate and irrecoverable though final unbelievers have not Christ for their High Priest for he neither died nor prayed for them Joh. 17.9 Yet he performed both acts of his Priesthood scil Oblation and Intercession for all that were given him by the Father long before the Conversion of many of them He laid down his life not onely for those sheep that were called but for those also that were not then gathered into his fold Joh. 10.15 16. And in the seventeenth of John he says expresly That he prayed not onely for them that did believe but for them also that should believe in him Vers. 20. Though it be true That Christ shed not his Blood for Reprobates yet we know not who are reprobated until it shall be made manifest by their final unbelief Indeed we cannot say to an unbeliever That Christ did die for him and we have as little reason to say That Christ did not die for him seeing the Word doth reveal neither and by affirming the latter we do quite bar up the door of Hope which ought to be held open to the worst of sinners Our duty is to declare That Christ is come into the world to save sinners and to exhort all men every where to believe him We were as good bid the Devils to believe as those for whom Christ is not a High Priest it is in vain for any to believe in Christ if he never prayed nor offered up himself a Sacrifice unto God for them but seeing Mr. W. hath not troubled his Friend with these passages I shall not trouble the Reader any longer about them § 2. That the Saints or true Believers under which notion he writes to the Romans are justified by Faith We do readily yeeld it to be a truth
if it had been performed in their own persons Now if Faith and new Obedience be that Evangelical Righteousness whereby we are justified then doth the Gospel also propound for our Justification a Righteousness inherent in us and performed by us and so consequently there remains no material difference between the Law and Gospel especially seeing the same duties are prescribed in both If any shall say That the Gospel precepts do not require such exact and perfect Obedience as those in the Law their Assertion will want a Proof nay these and such like Scriptures do prove it to be utterly false 1 John 3.16 Matth. 5 44 45. 1 Pet. 1.15 16. A defect in degrees is a sin against the Gospel as well as against Legal precepts To these I might adde all those Arguments which our Divines have used against Justification by Inherent Righteousness but this may suffice to shew That Faith and Obedience to other Gospel precepts is not that Righteousness whereby we are justified in the sight of God § 11. Now briefly my sence of this Proposition We are justified by Faith is no other then that which hath been given by all our Ancient Protestant Divines who take Faith herein Objectively not Properly and explain themselves to this effect We are justified from all sin and death by the satisfaction and obedience of Jesus Christ who is the sole Object or Foundation of our Faith or whose Righteousness we receive and apply unto our selves by Faith Yet I say it doth not follow That it was not applied to us by God or that God did not impute Righteousness to us before we had Faith We that believe are justified by the Righteousness of Christ it is no good Consequence Ergo We were not justified in the sight of God before we did believe but now that we may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speak the truth in love I shall give the Reader a clearer account of my Judgement concerning this Matter in the following Chapter CHAP. VII Wherein the Question about the time of our Justification is distinctly stated and these two Propositions A man is justified before Faith and A man is justified by Faith reconciled THat we may avoid mistakes I shall briefly declare 1 What we do understand by Justification 2 What by being justified in the sight of God And 3 when we are justified in the sight of God As touching the first of these It would be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a needless expence of time to enter upon a large discourse concerning the signification of the word and the difference between Justification and Sanctification We all know that Justification in general is the making of one just and righteous Now there are two ways whereby a person is made or constituted righteous viz. by Infusion or by Imputation 1. By Infusion when the Habitual Qualities of Righteousness are wrought in a person by any means whatsoever and these habits are put forth in a universal and perfect Conformity to the rule of Righteousness And thus no man was ever justified since the fall for as the Apostle speaks Rom. 3.10 There is none righteous no not one no man whether regenerate or unregenerate is righteous with Inherent Righteousness neither his Internal Habits nor External Actions are exactly commensurate to the rule of Righteousness the Church acknowledgeth that her righteousnesses i. e. Her best compleatest and exactest Righteousness were as filthy rags Isa. 64.6 And the Apostle accounted his own Righteousness but loss and dung in reference to his Justification Phil. 3.8 9. 2. By Imputation or gracious Acceptation as when God doth not account or charge a mans sins upon him but accepts him as just and righteous deals with him as a righteous person or as if he had never sinned This latter is that Justification which we are now treating of God justifies a man when he accounts and esteems him righteous § 2. The next thing propounded was What is meant by the sight of God This phrase is variously used 1 Sometimes it relates unto the thoughts or knowledge of God as Heb. 4.13 All things are naked and manifest in his sight i. e. God hath a clear and distinct knowledge of all things whatsoever And thus a man is justified in the sight of God when God knows and esteems him to be just and righteous 2 The sight of God relates more peculiarly to his Legal justice for although in articulo providentiae in the Doctrine of Divine Providence Seeing and Knowing are all one as Job 28.24 He looketh to the ends of the Earth and seeth under the whole Heaven i. e. He knows and takes notice of all things both in Heaven and Earth yet in articulo justificationis in the Doctrine of Justification they are constantly distinguished throughout the Scripture and never promiscuously used the one for the other God is never said to cover blot out or wash away the sins of his people out of his knowledge but out of his sight Levit. 16.30 Psal. 32.2 and Rom. 4.2 7. Psal. 51.9 God sees their sins for whom his Law is not satisfied Nehem. 4.5 In regard that his truth and justice doth oblige him to take notice of and punish them for their sins Again He sees not their sins for whom he hath received a full compensation because it is contrary to justice to enter into judgement against a person who either by himself or surety hath made satisfaction for his offence And in this respect God is said not to see the sins of his people which yet he knows to be in them which doth not detract from his omnisciency but exceedingly magnifies his Justice and that perfect atonement which Christ hath made in their behalf so that all that are cloathed with the Innocency Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ they are justified in the sight of God i. e. Divine Justice cannot charge them with any of their sins nor inflict upon them the least of those punishments which their sins deserve but contrariwise he beholds them as persons perfectly righteous and accordingly deals with them as such who have no sin at all in his sight 3 A late Divine of singular worth hath another Construction of this phrase In the sight of God who observes that the word sight though it be for the form active yet for the substance of it it is rather passive and therefore it is not attributable to God as it is to us but in God it signifies his making of us to see and we are said to be justified in his sight when he makes it as it were evident to our sight that we are justified But with due respect to that learned man whom I highly honor for his worthy Labors I conceive this phrase must have some other meaning in this debate for else that distinction of Justification in foro Des in foro conscientiae which hath been made use of by all our Protestant Divines and whereof there is great need in this present
READER THe great Work of them who are Embassadors for Christ to beseech men in his stead to be reconciled unto God is to reveal the Will and Love of the Father in making him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him The manifestation of the Excellency Fulness Sufficiency and absolute preheminence of that Righteousness so wrought out from the Councel of the Will of God dispensed in a Covenant of Grace is that which in the pursuit and discharge of the Trust committed to them they cheifly through the strength of God do or ought to lift up themselves unto In this Labor of the Gospel hath the Author of the ensuing Treatise evinced his Fellowship and Communion by the travel of his minde accompanied with those advantages of Abilities and Learning which make such undertakings acceptable and useful which he hath laid out therein The persons occasion and other circumstances related unto in this Discourse I am utterly unacquainted withal but onely by the light which concerning them it self holds out unto me which being not a sufficient bottom for a Judgement of this notoriety I am not called no more then desired to deliver my Thoughts concerning them Every mans work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is Of the Matter treated on herein various are the Thoughts of Learned Men those doubtless seem to have the advantage who walk in a professed compliance with the design of God to give the Son of his Love with his Love and Grace in him the preheminence in all things To deliver my Thoughts concerning the severals argued and disputed in this Treatise neither the minute of time whereunto for this expression of my self I am confined will admit me nor doth my present aim require Especially considering that I have at large delivered my self to the main Head of the whole in my Book of the Perseverance of the Saints and Answer to Mr. John Goodwin on that subject now almost cleared off the Press For the present I shall only say That there being too great evidence of very welcome entertainment and acceptance given by many to an almost pure Socinian Justification and Exposition of the Covenant of Grace even amongst them into whose hearts God seems to have shined in some measure to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ all solid learned sober endeavors for the Vindication of the absoluteness freedom independency and preheminence of that Grace in Jesus Christ whereby we are saved will doubtless finde acceptance with the Children of Gospel-Wisdom and all that love the glory of him that bought us Amongst such Labors and Endeavors Christ an Reader I commend to thy consideration the ensuing Treatise and commit thee to the Lord. Westminster Nov. 7. 1653. JOHN OWEN VINDICIAE Justificationis Gratuitae Justification without Conditions OR The Free Justification of a Sinner Explained Confirmed and Vindicated from the Exceptions Objections and seeming Absurdities which are cast upon it by the Assertors of Conditional Justification More especially from the Attempts Of Mr. B. Woodbridge in his Sermon Entituled Justification by Faith Of Mr. Cranford in his Epistle to the Reader and of Mr. Baxter in some Passages which relate to the same Matter Wherein also the Absoluteness of the New Covenant is proved and the Arguments against it are disproved By W. EYRE Minister of the Gospel and Pastor of a Church in the City of New Sarum Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Dei gratia non erit gratia ullo modo nisi gratuita fuerit omni modo Aug. de pec Orig. l. 2. c. 24. LONDON Printed for R. I. and are to be sold by Edward Forrest Book-seller in Oxford 1654. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE PARLIAMENT OF THE Commonwealth OF ENGLAND Most Noble Senators THe design of this Dedication is not to call in your help and assistance to the Cause here depending it being sufficiently guarded by a higher power to wit By that Living Word which is sharper then any two edged Sword and which is able by it self to overthrow and dissipate those deep and subtile Reasonings which men oppose against it That Doctrine which is armed with the Authority thereof will be sure to stand though men oppose it but that which is destitute of this support will be as sure to fall though men protect it Although I think you to be as fit as any company of men upon the face of the Earth to umpire Differences of this nature knowing that many of you have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senses exercised to discern between Truth and Error yet to be Judges in matters of Faith is an honor which I dare not give you and which I hope you dare not take Indeed as you are Christians you ought to judge for your selves and not like those Horns which gave their power to the Beast give up your Faith to the Votes of others how Godly or Learned soever they are accounted but to make your own Judgements in Matters of Religion a Rule or Standard for the Faith of others and to compel them to believe what you conceive is Truth were to assume a power more then God who though he doth effectually move and perswade mens hearts yet he doth not necessitate them to believe and embrace the Truth whose example may instruct us that Religion ought to be propagated by conviction and not by compulsion It is remarkable that they who ascribed unto Magistrates a Definitive and Coercive Power in Spirituals have when Magistrates would not serve their turns denied the power which they have in Temporals refusing contrary to the Rules of Christ to own them pray for them or to yeeld obedience to their lawful commands as if none must hold the Sword but such as will use it to fight their quarrel and to effect that by force of Arms which they themselves cannot do by strength of Argument Though blessed be God we now have the countenance and protection of the Magistrate yet we seek not to engage his power to extirpate or to cut off them that do differ from us We desire no other liberty for our selves then what we are willing should be given unto our Brethren Viz. To believe and worship God according to the Light which he hath given us humbly to declare our Judgements in Matters of Faith and with meekness to Reason out the things wherein they and we do differ from the Word of God For my own part I look upon it as a special Mercy for which we ow suitable acknowledgements both to God and you that although we live in times wherein the Truth is opposed and blasphemed more then ever before yet the Faithful have liberty to write and speak in defence thereof
We may remember when it was not so I wish that all Orthodox Christians and especially our University Worthies who have more leisure and far greater helps for such Polemical Exercises then their Brethren abroad had more Zeal to improve this Liberty for the advantage of the Truth The Authors of most of those Errors and Blasphemies which have been lately started are but little more to be faulted then they that do profess the Truth I mean such as are indued with Gifts and Abilities who suffer them to walk abroad without check and controle seeing there is no Error whatsoever but the Scripture affords us variety of Weapons to wound and slay it We cast the blame upon Magistrates because they do suffer them nor can I excuse their connivence at any of those Evils which are contrary to the Light of Nature yet I fear the greatest share of this guilt will lie at our doors who are the Ministers of the Gospel whose office without controversie it is To contend for the Faith to convince gain-sayers and by sound Doctrine to stop their mouths who teach things which they ought not It is but a slender discharge of our Duty to cry out against Errors and Heresies and never shew and convince men what Truth and Error is such loose and general Invectives do never advantage most times they wound the sides of Truth whereas if the Trumpet gave a more certain sound and Ministers did prove those things to be Errors which they brand with this name their pains would much more succeed to the profit of their Hearers they would be better armed against such dangers Your late Resolves to emit a Declaration For giving fitting Liberty to all that fear God within this Commonwealth for the better preservation of the mutual Peace of such as fear God among themselves without imposing one upon the other and to discountenance Blasphemies damnable Heresies and Licentious Practises in Answer to the Petitions of the Congregated Churches in the Northern Counties I am perswaded have exceedingly rejoyced the hearts of all the Faithful throughout the Land Now I humbly offer it to your considerations whether it be not a necessary expedient to preserve the mutual peace of Christians straitly to prohibite under fitting penalties the giving names of obloquy or railing accusations such as the Archangel durst not bring against the Devil and the imposing of slanders upon one another I see not how any manner of good can be expected from this Practise me thinks mens Arguments might be as keen and nervous though their Language be sober beseeming Christians and civil Men. Such names they do not convince most times they harden those that are mis-led But then the mischeifs that come by it are not a few I know nothing that doth imbitter the spirits and alienate the hearts of Christians from each other so much as this and which is worse the Truths and Ways of God are not seldom nor a little clouded by this means For usually the names of the vilest Errors and Heresies are made the Badge and Livery of the choisest Truths The Discourse before you doth instance in one the title of ANTINOMIAN which was originally the character of loose and licentious Libertines i◠by some of our new Doctors appropriated to them who have most faithfully managed the Protestant Cause against the Papists and in the cheif Points which are depending between them to wit Our Justification by Christ alone without Works and Conditions performed by our selves and our full and perfect Deliverance from the Curse of the Law Though there is no true Christian but will rejoyce to suffer shame for the sake of Christ yet by these arts the Ignorant and Simple have their ears stopt and eyes shut against the Word of Life for few have so much courage as to look into that which is generally branded with an evil name So that in a short time a few nick-names shall do us more hurt then Fire and Faggot did heretofore The Lord therefore keep these purposes in your hearts till you have fulfilled them and inable you to perfect the Work which you are called to that the Truth may spred and Godliness flourish that Righteousness may be equally administred and Wickedness especially in High Places severely punished that Learning whereof there is so great use both in Church and State may be encouraged and Peace if possible be restored unto us For the effecting hereof I doubt not but you have the earnest Prayers of all the Faithful throughout the Land I can assure you of him who is Yours Honors most humble Observer W. Eyre The Fourth day of the Nineth Moneth 1653. TO My Deare Flock in the City of NEVV-SARUM unto which God and their own Choise have made me an Over-seer Loving and Beloved Brethren IT was a frequent saying in the mouth of Luther That after his death the Doctrine of Justification would be corrupted A few years last past have contributed more to the fulfilling of his Prediction then all the time that went before Can there be a greater evidence of mens Apostacy from this Article of our Faith then their branding of the Doctrine it self with a mark of Heresie Though our Adversaries are grown more subtle to distinguish yet they are as wide from the true Doctrine of Justification by Christ alone as the perverters of the Faith in Luthers daies It is not easie to number up all the wiles and methods wherewith Satan hath assaulted this foundation-Foundation-Truth he knew it was too grosse to tell men That they must be justified by Works seeing the Scriptures are so expresse against it And therefore mens wits must be set on work to find out some plausible distinctions and extenuations a little to qualifie and and sweeten this Popish leaven to take off the odium of the phrase and to rebate the edge of those Scriptures which usually are brought against it It is true say they we are not Justified by Works of Nature but we are Justified by Works of Grace and though we are not Justified by Legal or old Covenant Works yet wee are Justified by Evangelical or New Covenant Works performed by our selves And againe works though they are not Physicall Causes which no man ever affirmed yet they are morall Causes or Conditions of our Justification though they do not mer◠in a strict sense by their innate worth and dignity yet in a large sense and by vertue of Gods Promise and Covenant they may be said to merit our Justification and Salvation Or if these will not doe it the matter is dispatched if Faith may be but taken in a proper sense the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere fetches in all other works within its circumference But that delusion which is least apt to bee suspected by wel-meaning Christians is the calling Works or Inherent Holinesse by the name of Christ the successe of this bait we have seen of late in too many who have dallied so long with the notion of a Christ
within them that they have quite forgotten nay some have utterly denied the Christ without them that God-man who is the onely Propitiation for our sins How much cause then my Brethren have we of continuall thankfulnesse unto our God who in so generall a defection hath been pleased to keep us that we are not led aside with the deceivablenesse of this unrighteousnesse and to lead us to that rock which is above us For how ever the world doth account of Pharisisme yet they that have any acquaintance with the mind of God know there can be hardly named a greater sin then the establishing our ownâ— righteousnesse It is the good pleasure of God for which everlasting praise be given unto him to reveale those things unto babes which are hiden from the wise and prudent The Gospel hath been and will be a mystery to the worlds end Humane reason cannot conceive how men should buy without mony or become rich by stripping and emptying of themselves attain unto righteousnesse by renouncing and abhorring their own righteousnesses Hence it is that the Doctrine of an unconditionate Covenant and the Free Justification of a sinner is looked upon by our learned Rabbies as such a foolish and ridiculous conceit A great Master in our Israel speaks strangely of it Unconditionate promises saith he beget onely an irrational fallacious foundationless Faith which the bigger it swells the more dangerous it proves And a little after he calls the Faith and Hope begotten by such promises A dependance on some fatal chain some Necromantick trick of believing thou shalt be saved and thou shalt be saved nay on Satan himself some responce of his Oracle c. And not much before It is a miracle says he that they who believe this Doctrine of unconditional Prâ—mises are yet restrained from making this so natural a use of it from running into all the riots in the World I remember a good Note of his from John 7.48 That the greatest Schollars are not always the soundest Christians We see Christianity is not Book-Learning nor is Faith attained to by strength of parts I should might I be so bold humbly ask this Learned Doctor Whether the Faith and Hope of all the Saints we read of in the Scripture were an irrational fallacious and foundationless Faith Now let him shew us any one of them that in his addresses unto God did ever plead a Conditional Promiseâ— That of Hezekiah 2 King 20.3 is of a peculiar consideration I remember Luther calls it Stulti loquium Hezekiae Others that excuse it say That Hezekiah draws his Argument not from his own works but from Gods he reasons from what God had done for him that he would do more and bestow the mercy which then he needed But besides him from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation we do not finde that any of Gods people have used any other plea unto God or have had any other support for their Hope and Confidence then his free promises of Grace and Mercy not onely the woman of Canaan the Publican and such as they were but Abraham Jacob Moses David Paul c. have all of them Fled for refuge unto these promises their Faith never knew any other bottom or foundation besides this Is it an irrational thing to receive life as a gift and not as wages It were very strange if the Mercy and Faithfulness of God should not be as sure a Foundation to relie upon as our own Works I will be bold to say Whosoever do build upon other Foundations besides the free Promise of Mercy they will have no better success then he who built his house upon the Sand Matth. 7.27 They may perchance when it is too late experiment the fallacy they have put upon their own souls The Doctor is as much mistaken in the use of the point as he is in the Doctrine to say That the natural use of it is to run into all the riâ—â—s in the world he might have taken notice where the Holy Ghost makes another use of it Tit. 2.11 Luke 1.74 2 Cor. 7.1 And right reason would have suggested that the freer the Promise is the more is the love and bounty of the Promiser shewn Now Love naturally begets Love Publicans saith our Saviour will love those that love them and can a man believe so great a benefit as the free remission of his sins and not love him that hath remitted them Possibly a man that hath received this Grace but in the notion may draw such untoward conclusions from it but for any true Believer to sin upon this ground is as impossible as that light should become darkness 1 John 3.3 9. I must confess the loose and unevâ—n walking of many Professors hath given too much occasion unto Adversaries to Blaspheme this Doctrine And though it be unjust in them to charge the faults of Professors upon their Profession yet you cannot but see how much it concerns them who have hope of Salvation through Christ alone to vindicate the honor of this Grace and by their exemplariness in wel-doing to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men The vindication of this Doctrine lies as much upon private Christians as it doth upon Ministers the strongest Arguments against it are but the Suppositions and Consequences of carnal Reason which are soonest confuted by a holy Conversation in which respect illiterate men may be irrefragable Disputants and women may nonplus the learnedst Doctor And therefore whilest I am in this Tabernacle I shall not cease to stir you up by putting you in remembrance of these things though you know them and are established in the present truth Some of you know how unwillingly I undertook this Publick Imployment being more inclined to the Truel then the Sword to build up my Hearers in their most Holy Faith then to engage in Controversies against Opposâ—rs And truly nothing could have induced me to it but the tendency of the Work to your Edification that the simplicity of the Gospel may abide amongst you and that you may stand fast in the Truth which you have received being able to answer the cavils of them that do oppose it It was not least in my eye That our honest Neighbors who by the evil arts of some that affect preheminence have been prejudiced and disaffected towards us may see and satisfie themselves Whether we believe and contend for any other Faith then that which was once delivered â—nto the Saints for surely they will have but little comfort in separating from us without a cause I must needs tell them their account at last will not be with joy who have rejected the counsel of God against themselves Whatsoever success this Discourse may finde with others I doubt not but it will be an acceptable service unto you I desire that it may provoke you to be more instant in Prayer for me that â—tterance may be given me and that my
which â—e endeavored to maintain against those blessed Martyrs of Jesus Christ Barns Hierome and Garret who sealed the contrary Doctrine with their dearest blood 1 The effect of Christs passion hath a Condition the fulfilling of the Condition diminisheth nothing from the effect of Christs passion 2 They that will injoy the effect of Christs passion must fulfil the Condition 3 The fulfilling of the Condition requireth first knowledge of the Condition which knowledge we have by Faith 4 Faith commeth of God and this Faith is a good gift It is good and profitable for me to do well and to exercise this Faith Ergo By the gift of God I may do wel before I am justified 5 By the gift of God I may doe well towards the attainment of Justification 6 There is ever as much Charity towards God as Faith and as Faith increaseth so doth Charity increase 7 To the attainment of Justification is required Faith and Charity 8 Every thing is to be called freely done whereof the beginning is free and set at liberty without any cause of provocation 9 Faith must be to me the assurance of the Promises of God made in Christ if I fulfil the condition and love must accomplish the condition whereupon followeth the attainment of the Promise according to Gods Truth 10 A man being in deadly sin may have Grace to doe the works of Repentance whereby hee may attain to his Justification Never did the child saies G. Joy so lively resemble his own Father as these Articles do expresse the Bishop of Romes Anti-christian Doctrine And as for his choise Notion of Justification by Workes as they are our New Covenant Righteousnesse I finde it was a shift of the Papists long agoe The said Doctor Barnes having cited this passage out of Bernard I do abhor whatsoever thing is of me c. See saies he Bernard doth despise all his good works and taketh him onely to Grace Now had he no works of the New Law as you call them I shall not trace Mr. B. any farther there being now in the Presse as I am informed a large and full answer to his Paradoxicall Aphorismes by a faithful Servant of the Lord Jesus a workman that needs not to be ashamed though I heartily wish that the work may provoke others unto shame who have more strength leisure and far greater helps for such undertakings then Country Ministers I dare say that they who sate at the stern in our Vniversities heretofore such as Reynolds Whittaker Davenant Prideaux c. would never have indured to see so many Popish and Arminian books far more dangerous then the Ranters blasphemous Pamphlets shew their heads but would have sent forth their Antidotes to correct their poison I doe speake the more freely to stir up others of greater abilities then my selfe to undertake this cause least it should suffer overmuch through my weaknesse in managing it We were wont to say that if a man doth plead for the King all is to be taken in good part the design of this Discourse was to plead the cause of the greatest King that no flesh might glory in his presence who of God is made unto us Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption though the Advocate hath not holpen the Cause yet the goodnesse of the Cause may excuse the Advocate I shall desire thee to read without prejudice and either to read all or none for that which is curtaild in one place is more explained in another If thou reapest any good from what I have written I know thy returns will be according to my hearts desire Praises unto God and more fervent prayers for Thy Servant in the Work of the Gospel W. EYRE The Third day of the Ninth Month. 1653. Justification without conditions OR The Free Justification of a Sinner justified CHAP. I. Shewing the occasion of this Discourse and the rise of the Controversie which is here debated SInce it hath pleased the Lord to reveal the riches of his Son unto me and to make me a Steward and Dispenser of this Grace unto his People the cheif design of my Ministry hath been to bottom my hearers upon Christ alone that they might have no confidence in the flesh but in that perfect and everlasting Righteousness which he hath wrought For which end it hath been my care frequently and clearly to demonstrate to them both the sole-sufficiency and efficiency of Christ in the work of Mans Redemption that he is able to save unto the utmost and that no work of ours either before or after our Conversion doth share with him in the glory of this atchievement In a word That there is no cause without God concurring with the precious and invaluable merit of his Blood to present us holy unblameable and unreprovable in the sight of God Which truth as it shines clearer then the Sun throughout the Scripture so it appears unto me to be of greatest moment when I consider the concernment thereof both to God and Christ and to the precious souls of Gods Elect I know nothing that gives so much glory unto God and Christ as to proclaim him the onely Saviour and that besides him there is none other that we ow the whole work of our Salvation from the beginning to the end unto Christ alone and surely there is no point in the whole Doctrine of Godliness which contributes so much to the Peace Security and Fruitfulness of the Saints as this doth It affords the greatest encouragement to sinners to believe to believers to hold fast their confidence firm unto the end and to serve God with a willing minde in Righteousness and true Holiness all the days of their life § 2 Now though this truth be so evident and my intentions in pressing it such as have been mentioned yet it hath hapned unto me as unto many of my betters to be mistaken and by some of my own Profession who insinuated into the people That I taught a new Gospel made Faith and Repentance to be needless things for no other reason that I know of but because I dare not give them that honor which is due to Christ in making them concauses with him in procuring our Peace with God and in obtaining our Right and Interest in all the Benefits which he hath purchased for they themselves are my witnesses would they speak their knowledge as to matter of Fact that in all my Exercises though usually something of Christ be the Doctrine which I handle yet the use that I make of it is to press men unto Faith and Holiness Nay I challenge all my Adversaries to say that ever I positively spake so much as one syllable to lessen the esteem of Inherent Holiness though I am not ashamed comparatively to say as the Apostle doth That I count all things but loss and dung that I may win Christ Jesus Phil. 3.8 But otherwise I thank the Lord if I should speak
Peace and Unity are bounded with a salva fide as that Rom. 12.18 If it be possible now Id solum possumus quod jure possumus nothing is possible but what is lawful so that if we may with a good Conscience and without treachery to the truths of Christ we ought to live peaceably with all men So Rom. 14.19 it is not barely Follow after peace but peace and the things which make for edification it must be an edifying and not a destroying peace such as may promote and not hâ—nder the building up of the Church Vid Rom. 15.2 and 1 Cor. 14.29 The unity we are bid to strive for Eph. 4.3 is the unity of the Spirit and not like that of Simeon and Levi who were Brethren in iniquity For as one observes well out of Basil the Great If we once shake the simplicity of the Faith Disputes and Contentions will prove endless 4. If Christians in their Publick Disputes do so far forget the Rules of Sobriety and Moderation as to betake themselves to those carnal Weapons of Jeering Scoffing and Reviling each other it is an iniquity to be punished by the Judge because it tends so directly to the breaking of our Civil Peace and is more scandalous in them then in any others Would the Civil Magistrate Interpose himself so far as to be the Moderator of our differences in this behalf these Publick Debates would be of singular use CHAP. III. Being a Surveigh of Mr. Woodbridges Title Page wherein the Opinion he opposeth is cleared from the Aspersion of Antinomianism IT is a common saying Fronti nulla fides We may no more judge of Books by their Titles then of Strumpets by their Foreheads or of Apothecaries Drugs by the Inscriptions of the Pots which do contain them whose out-sides many times are Remedies when the inside is stark poyson The natures of things do not always answer the Names and Inscriptions which are put upon them We read of Pompey that he built a Theater Cum titulo Templi and of Apolinarius the Heretick That he had a School Cum titulo Orthodoxi Nestorius also vailed himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Montanus who would have our Saviour to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assumed unto himself the Title of Paracletus nay Apelles the Painter drew his filthy Strumpet Cum titulo Veneris with the Inscription of a Goddess that so he might more easily bring men to the adoration of her There is nothing more common then for men to adorn their Errors with the Robe of Truth and to deform the Truth with the Rags of Error I hope therefore that the Reader will be more wary then to judge of this mans Doctrine by the specious Title which he gives his own or that black mark wherewith he hath branded the Opinion which he doth oppose He calls his own Opinion Justification by Faith and the Doctrine he opposeth an Antinomian Error both which may be understood Per antiphrasin for Justification by Works and an Evangelical Truth As for his own Opinion he had more fitly stiled it Justification by Works taking Faith as he doth in a proper sence and attributing no more to Faith then to other works of Sanctification which in his sence do morally qualifie men for Justification and Salvation I cannot think him a hearty Advocate for Justification by Faith who holds That we are not justified till the day of judgement which I am credibly informed this Author hath Publickly maintained since he Preached this Sermon But how ill his Book doth deserve this Title shall appear in discussing the parts of it § 2. And as for the imputation he hath cast on our Doctrine which he calls an Antinomian Error I doubt not but it will redound more unto his shame then unto ours It hath been an old continued practise of Satan to blast the truths and wayes of God with odious Nick-names purposely to deter the simple from looking into them as few men will come near to a house which is marked for the Plague It were easie to fill a Volume with those opprobrious Terms and Titles which in all ages have been cast upon the Truth and the Professors of it Sure I am Satan hath gained no small advantage by these Hellish means Tertullian observes That the Christians were hated and persecuted for no other crime but the crime of their Name So there are many things in these days generally decryed that are onely guilty of an evil name I doubt not but there will be found many a precious truth in those Bundles of Errors which have been heaped together by some Godly-men in this last age 'T is but an easie Confutation to cry out Error and Heresie and this I have often observed That they who are most liberal with these loose invectives are generally sparing of solid Arguments Whether the Opinion which Mr. W. opposeth be an Error sub judice lis est How well he hath acquitted himself in the proof of his charge we shall see anon For my own part I dislike not his or any other mans Zeal against Errors and Heresies provided they will allow that liberty unto others which they assume to themselves to witness against that which they conceive Erroneous I cannot be perswaded by all that Mr. W. hath yet said That this Tenent of Justification in foro Dei without Works or Conditions performed by us is an Error much less an Antinomian Error If we may judge of it by those general Diagnosticks which Divines have given us to discern between Truth and Error I am sure it hath the complexion of a saving truth That Doctrine which gives most glory unto God in Christ is certainly true and the contrary is as certainly false Let that sayes Bradwardine be acknowledged for the true Religion which gives most glory unto God and renders God most favorable and gracious unto man Now let such as are least in the Church judge which Opinion gives most glory unto God Either 1 that which ascribes the whole Work of our Salvation to the Grace of God and the meritorious purchase of Jesus Christ or 2 that which makes men Moral causes of their own salvation which ascribes no more unto Christ then the purchasing of a new way whereby we may be saved if we perform the terms and conditions required of us If the former in his Judgement be Antinomianism I shall freely profess That by it alone though he call it Heresie I have hope of Life and Salvation § 3. I am sure he is greatly mistaken if he derives the descent of this Doctrine from the Antinomians who were a Sect of Libertines or carnal Gospellers which appeared in Germany soon after the Reformation began scil about the year 1538 The Ring-leader whereof was Islibius Agricola the Compiler of the Interim they merited this name of Antinomians by their loose Opinions and looser Practises against whom Luther wrote several Books and Calvin bitterly inveighed in
Explication of the Epistle to the Ephesians upon those words Chap. 2.5 He hath quickned us together with Christ says That all the Elect who are the Members of Christ when he by his death had expiated their sins were freed from the guilt of eternal death and obtained a right to eternal life Chamier hath much to this purpose Nobis potius est persuasissimum c. We are most certainly perswaded that our sins are pardoned before we do believe for we deny that Infants do believe and yet Infants have their sins forgiven And a little before viz. Chap. 6. of the same Book I deny saith he that Faith is the cause of our Justification for then our Justification would not be of Grace but of our selves but Faith is said to justifie not because it effecteth Justification but because it is effected in the justified person And in another place to the same purpose Faith doth neither merit obtain nor begin our Justification for if it did then Faith should go before Justification both in nature and time which may in no wise be granted for Faith it self is a part of Sanctification now there is no Sanctification but after Justification Quae re natura prior which is really and in its own nature before it Alstedius in his Supplement to Chamier saith That Faith concurs no otherwise to Justification then in respect of the passive application whereby a man applies the Righteousness of Christ unto himself but not in respect of the active application whereby God applieth unto man the Righteousness of Christ which application is in the minde of God and consequently from eternity Dr. Macouvius Professor of Divinity at Franeka hath a whole Determination to this purpose to prove that Justificacation actively considered or as it is the act of God blotting out our sins and imputing the Righteousness of Christ unto us goes before Faith Indeed he makes it to be not an immanent but a transient declared act which the Lord did when he first promised to send his Son to be our Mediator Gen. 3.15 Though one of our late Writers mentions this Doctors Opinion with much contempt and oscitancy calling his Assertions Strange senceless and abhorred which is the less to be regarded seeing he usually metes out the same measure unto all men else whose notions do not square with his own mould as to Dr. Twisse Mr. Walker and them that hold the imputation of Christs active Righteousness whom he calls A sort of ignorant and unstudied Divines c. Yet as he hath merited fairer usage amongst Christians for his other Labors So I dare say his Arguments in this particular will not seem so weak and ridiculous as Mr. Baxter maâ—â— them to an indifferent Reader that shall compare them with the Exceptions which he hath shaped unto them sharp Censures are but dull Answers Dr. Ames his Colâ—eague sayes no less who in his Marrow of Divinity having defined Justification to be the gracious Sentence of God by which he doth acquit us from sin and death and account us Righteous unto life he sayes That this sentence was long before in the minde of God and was pronounced when Christ our Head arose from the dead 2 Cor. 5.19 And in another place All they for whom Christ in the intention of God hath made satisfaction are reconciled unto God I might produce many others that are of eminent note who have asserted That all the Elect are reconciled and justified before they believe Now were all these Champions of Truth a pack of Antinomians and Libertines Hath Mr. Woodbridges humanity no better language to bestow upon them If he shall say he doth not mean them yet his reproaches do fall upon them for if Titius be an Antinomian for saying That the Elect are justified before they do believe Sempronius is an Antinomian who affirms the same § 6. Mr. Burges a man somewhat profuse in this kinde of Rhetorick seems willing to excuse some of those fore-mentioned Divines who have asserted the Remission of sins before Faith because they did it in a particular sence to oppose the Arminians who maintain a reconciliability and not a reconciliation by the death of Christ. But I believe he is not ignorant that Divine Truths are not to be measured by mens intentions let mens ends be never so good they cannot make Error to be Truth or if they are never so corrupt they cannot make Truth to be Error Nor do they whom he calls Antinomians assert Justification before Faith in any other sence then in respect of the absolute and immutable Will of God not to deal with his people according to their sins and in respect of the full satisfaction of Jesus Christ who by that one offering of himself hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified i. e. them whose sins are purged by his blood I could shew how frequently he and others have wounded some of our most eminent Divines both for Learning and Piety through the sides of Antinomians Mr. Burges in his Book of Justif. p. 219. calls it An Antinomian Similitude to say That as a man looking on the Wall through Red Glass conceives the Wall to be of the same colour so God looking upon us in Christ seeth nothing but the Righteousness of Christ in us and no sin at all Which Similitude is used by Dr. Reynolds in his Excellent Treatise on the 110 Psalm where he doth plainly assert that Doctrine which Mr. Burges condemns for Antinomianism Mr. Baxters Character of an Antinomian will bring all our Protestant Writers under this censure For with him they are Antinomians who hold 1 That our Evangelical Righteousness is without us in Christ or performed by him and not by our selves Or 2 That Justification is a free act of God without any condition on our part for the obtaining of it Or else 3 That Justification is an Immanent act and consequently from eternity which was the Judgement of Alsted Pemble Twisse Rutherford c. Or 4 That we must not perform duty for Life and Salvation but from Life and Salvation or that we must not make the attaining of Justification or Salvation the end of our endeavors but obey in thankfulness and because we are justified and saved c. Now let any man who is moderately versed in our Protestant Writers but speak on whom this Arrow falls I might instance in many others but I will not put the Reader unto so much trouble § 7. My business at present is to acquit this Doctrine of Justification in foro Dei before Faith from Mr. Woodbridges charge of Antinomianism And truly I wonder that he should give it this name For 1. It hath not the least affinity with the Antinomian Tenents which as they are related by Sleiden were That the Law is not to be Preached to bring men to Repentance or unto the sight of their sins That what ever a mans life be
no man hath his sins remitted before he doth actually believe As for his Allegation out of Mr. Shepherd Mark those men that deny the use of the Law to lead unto Christ if they do not fall in time to oppose some main point of the Gospel c. It doth not touch us for we deny not the use of the Law to bring men unto Christ we look upon the Law as the Ordinance of God to convince men of their sin and misery and thereby to indear to them the Grace of the Gospel Gal. 3.22 24. We say with the Apostle The Law is good if men do use it lawfully i. e. In a way of subserviency and attendance upon the Gospel the better to advance and make effectual the ends thereof And as we deny not this use of the Law so neither doth our asserting That all the Elect before their conversion and Faith stand actually reconciled to God and justified before him obscure the Gospel I doubt not but the judicious Reader will expect a better proof of this charge then Cranfords word Have all those Reverend Divines before mentioned obscured the Gospel What is the Gospel but the glad tidings that Christ is come into the world to save sinners that by his subjecting of himself to the curse of the Law he hath freed them from the curse who were given him by the Father How is this truth obscured by our saying That God did everlastingly will not to punish his Elect and that in Christ he beholds them just and righteous even whilest they are sinful and wicked in themselves Do not they much more obscure the Grace of the Gospel who make it depending upon terms and conditions performed by us then we that affirm it to be free and absolute They that assign no certain and actual effect to the death of Christ or we that say according to the Scripture that all the Elect were thereby freed from the Law delivered from the Curse reconciled unto God made perfect and compleat in the sight of God And therefore though Dr. Downham doth call it A strange Assertion I shall not be ashamed to own it The Lord complains That the great things of his Law were counted strange Hos. 8.12 We read in Eusebius That the Christian Faith though it were from the beginning was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 New and strange The multitude cast this aspersion upon our Saviours Doctrine Mark 1.27 and the Athenians upon Paul Acts 17.19 20. The imputation of novelty and new fangledness hath been commonly cast upon the truths and ways of God Many things are new in respect of Observation which are not so in themselves We have known that godly men have looked upon some things as very strange which in tract of time have been generally imbraced Dr. Downham no doubt thought it strange that any godly man should say the Angels of the Seven Churches were not Diocesan Bishops and yet I believe Mr. Cr. is not of his Opinion If it were the Doctors meaning That this Assertion of Justification before Faith was never heard to come from the mouth of a godly man before Pemble either his memory was very weak or his charity was too much straitned He could not be ignorant of what hath been alledged out of Calvin Zaâ—che Parker Chamier one of those passages in Chamier before mentioned is cited by the Doctor in that very Book which Mr. Cr. quotes He knew likewise That all our old Protestant Divines have defined Justifying Faith to be a certain perswasion and full assurance of the pardon of our sins from whence it must inevitably follow That pardon of sin precedes our Faith for every object is before its act And as strange as it seemed unto this Doctor he himself sayes little less for in answer to Bellarmine who would prove that a man may be justified without special Faith he granteth It is true in respect of our Justification in the sight of God which special apprehension or application of Christ saith he though scorned by Papists yet it is of all Graces the most comfortable most profitable most necessary most comfortable for the very life of this life is the assurance of a better life most necessary because without this special receiving of Christ first by apprehension and then by application we can have no other saving Grace How can we love God or our Neighbor for his sake how can we hope and trust in him how can we rejoyce or be thankful to him if we be not perswaded of his love and bounty towards us Most profitable because from it all other Graces do proceed and according to the measure of it is the measure of them c. Doubtless That Faith to which these properties do belong doth best merit the name of Justifying Faith So then according to this Doctors Judgement the Assertion is not so strange as true § 6. Mr. Cr. goes on and much faster then a good pace This Opinion says he that the Elect are actually reconciled to God before they believe is confuted in this Treatise and proved contradictory to Scripture fit onely 1 to sow pillows under the elbows of prophane men 2 to overthrow the comfort of Believers destroying the ground nature and end of Faith How solidly it is confuted the Reader will see anon when the weight of his proofs shall come to be examined I doubt not but an impartial Judge will acquit it both from being contradictory to Scripture or guilty of those horrid Consequences which he hath cast upon it I marvel that so rational a man as Mr. Cr. is held to be should say That all this charge is proved part of which is not so much as mentioned by Mr. W. who is liberal enough of his criminations which makes me to think That he writ his Epistle before he read his Author or at least That he is a man that will be satisfied with slender Proofs against persons and Doctrines which he doth not fancy It is true Mr. W. hath endeavored to obtrude upon us some ugly Consequences which are as remote from our Doctrine as Earth is from Heaven Mr. Cr. is not ignorant how much peaceable and prudent men have disliked this practise of wyer-drawing mens Opinions and raking absurdities out of them per nescio quas fidiculas consequentiarum as Bishop Davenant expresseth it By small threds of consequencies which they themselves do disclaim and abhor from their whole heart whereupon sayes that Learned Bishop Good men ought to deal more fairly then to fasten an Heretical sence on other mens words when the Writers themselves which are the best Expounders of their own words can and use to reduce them to a Catholick sence Mr. Cr. knows That the very same Consequences are fathered upon the Doctrine of absolute Election Justification by Faith alone and the certain perseverance of true Believers The Semi-Pelagians of old would have forced this inference from Austins Opinion of absolute
till it looks unto him in whose wounds and stripes is the healing of sinners 3. This very comparison doth make against him as the Israelites were alive when they looked upon the Brazen Serpent or else they could not have seen it So they that â—â—ok upon Jesus Christ i. e. Believe in him are spiritually alive or else they could not put forth such a vital act It is said indeed Numb 21.9 that when any man that was bitten beheld the Serpent of Brass he lived i. e. He was healed or had ease from his anguish so they that by Faith look up unto the Antitype they finde ease and rest for their wearied souls they do then live i. e. they have the comfort and enjoyment of that life which before they had in Christ. A man is said to live when he lives comfortably and happily § 2. 4. Mr. W. to make the comparison suit hath falsified the Text Joh. 6 40. The words are It is the Will of God that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life it is not may be justified as he corrupts it 5 Whereas he sayes Faith is compared to eating and Justification to nourishment Joh. 6.51 It is a mistake like the former for it is Christ himself who throughout that Chapter is compared to bread and food whom by Faith we receive for our refreshment consolation and spiritual nourishment § 4. His fourth Argument is drawn from the perpetual opposition between Faith and Works from whence he reasons thus What place and order works had to Justification in the Covenant of Works the same place and order Faith hath to our Justification in the Covenant of Grace But Works were to go before our Justification in the Covenant of Works Ergo Faith is to go before our Justification in the Covenant of Grace I answer That his Major is extreamly gross I dare say a more unsound Assertion cannot be picked out of the Writings either of the Papists or Arminians then this is That Faith taking it as he doth in a proper sence hath the same place in the Covenant of Grace as works have in the Covenant of Works That I have not charged him too high will appear to any one that shall consider these few particulars First Works in the first Covenant are meritorious of Eternal life he that doth the works required in the Law may in strictness of Justice claim the promise as a due debt Rom. 4.4 Was ever any Protestant heard to say That Faith and Faithful actions which as hath been shewn men of his notion do include in Faith do merit Eternal life Secondly Works in the first Covenant are the matter of our Justification he that doth them is thereby constituted just and righteous in the sight of God Righteousness consists in a conformity to the Law so that whosoever keeps the Law must needs be righteous But now Faith is not the matter of our Righteousness God doth not account men righteous for their Faith I confess he hath Bellarmine and Arminius on his side who say that ipsa fides or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere imputatur in justitiam but the Apostle hath taught us other Doctrine Rom. 5.19 That by the obedience of one i. e. of Christ many are made righteous And 2 Cor. 5.21 That we are made the Righteousness of God in him Thirdly If Faith hath the same place in the second Covenant as Works in the first then must God account Faith to be perfect Righteousness which is contrary to his Truth and Justice To say that Faith is perfect Righteousness by the second Covenant though not by the first is but petitio principii Legal and Evangelical Righteousness being one and the same as to the matter of Righteousness though they are inherent in divers subjects The first Covenant requires a Righteousness in us the second gives and accepts a Righteousness which is anothers Fourthly If Faith hath the same place in the second Covenant as Works had in the first then were the second Covenant a Covenant of Works seeing Faith is a work and a work of ours So that by this means the two Covenants should be confounded nor would the latter be any whit more of Grace then the former Fifthly This Assertion makes Faith to be not of Grace because not from the Covenant of Grace seeing the Covenant it self depends upon it How contrary this Doctrine is to the sense of our Protestant Divines hath in part been shewed before who till this last Age have taught that these two Propositions A man is justified by Works and A man is justified by Faith do carry meanings utterly opposite to one another The one is proper and formal the other is metonymical and relative In this Proposition A man is justified by Works we are to take all in a plain and literal sence That God doth account him that hath kept the Law exactly in all points a righteous person and consequently worthy of Eternal life but now that other Proposition A man is justified by Faith we must understand it Relatively thus That a sinner is justified in the sight of God from all sin and punishment by Faith i. e. By the Obedience and Righteousness of Jesus Christ which we receive and apply unto our selves by true Faith § 4. Let us now hear what Mr. W. hath to say for the defence of his Major which treads Antipodes to the current of all out Protestant Writers If saith he the Minor be granted the Major must be out of Question I must confess if confidence did prove here were proof enough That which he addes hath as little weight as 1 Why should not Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved which is the tenor of the New Covenant Rom. 10.6 9. plead as strongly for the antecedency of Faith to Iustification in this Covenant as do this and live doth evince that works were necessary antecedents of Justification in the Old Covenant Answ. Here he takes for that granted which will certainly be denied scil That believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved is the tenor of the New Covenant for 1 it is no where called so 2 where the New Covenant is recited as Jer. 31. Heb. 8. it runs quite in another strain it doth not promise Salvation upon condition of Faith but Faith and Salvation and all other Blessings present and future That Text Rom. 10.6 9. is not the tenor of the New Covenant for that requires Confession as well as Faith and then the Justification of the New Covenant should be called Justification by Confession as well as by Faith The Apostle there describes the persons that shall be saved they are such as do believe and profess the truth His scope as our Divines have noted is to resolve that grand and important Question How a man may know that he shall be saved You need not sayes he to ascend into Heaven or descend into
to all the consequences of his debts In this sence our Formal Justification is by the gracious sentence of the Gospel terminated upon our Consciences but otherwise intrinsecally and formally the payment of our debt is our real discharge I shall grant him That the death of Christ doth justifie us onely virtually but yet I affirm That the satisfaction in his death being performed and accepted for us doth justifie us formally for the actual payment of a debt is that which formally makes him that was the debtor no debtor And therefore Christ dying for us or for our sins his reconciling us to God and our being justified are Synonima's in Scripture phrase Rom. 5.8 9 10. Object But against this some have alledged that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.21 where he saith That Christ was made sin for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we might be made he doth not say that thereby we are made the Righteousness of God in him Whence they would infer That the laying of our sins on Christ is onely an Antecedent which tends to the procuring of our Justification and not the same formally Whereunto we Answer 1 That this phrase that we might be or be made doth not alwayes signifie the final but sometimes the formal cause As when it is said That light is let in that darkness might be expelled where the immission of light is formally the expulsion of darkness 2 Though the imputation of our sins to Christ and of his Righteousness to us do differ yet the imputation of sin to him and non-imputation of it unto us is but one and the same act of God which was when God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them before the word of Reconciliation was given and therefore before they believed Vers. 19. 3 Though the imputation of our sin to Christ and so the non-imputation thereof to us have an antecedency in respect of imputation of Righteousness to us yet it is of nature onely and not of time For though it be objected That we were not then and therefore Righteousness could not be imputed unto us yet it follows not They might as well object Our sins were not then Ergo They could not be imputed unto Christ whereas in this business of Justification God calleth things that are not as though they were But if Mr. W. had shewn what it is that formally justifies us besides the satisfaction made in Christs death somewhat more might have been spoken to it § 7. The close of this Paragraph is such a dirty puddle that I intended to have stept over it in silence seeing it is so hard to touch pitch or pollution and not be defiled with it but yet for their sakes that do not know 〈◊〉 I shall stay the Reader a little whilest I wash off that dirt which he hath thrown upon me and others They are credulous souls I will assure you that will be drawn by such decoyes as these into Schism and Faction to the hardning and discomforting of more hearts in one hour then the Opinion it self should it obtain will do good to while the world stands I dare not allow my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to pay him in his own coyn having perswaded my heart to follow better examples even his who when he was reviled reviled not again 1 Pet. 2.23 And theirs who being reproached returned blessing 1 Cor. 4.12 In these few words there are a heap of slanders packt together both against my self and others and which is more grievous to be born against the truths and ways of God which we adhere to 1. They that do embrace this Doctrine which I have taught are aspersed with credulity and levity I do verily believe there is not one of my charge but is able to say as the Samaritans John 4.42 We believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves c. I dare say they are better setled then to be shaken with the sophistry of this Assailant I am sure both they and many more will bear me witness how frequently I do admonish them of taking up matters of Faith upon trust and credit it being Idolatry in a high degree to give the most Spiritual Worship of God viz. Our Faith to a weak and sinful man He that believes a truth upon a Humane account is no better Christian then he that doth believe a lie Let the prudent judge whether they are not more justly obnoxious to this censure of abusing the credulity of simple souls who will not endure that their hearers should bring their Doctrines to the touchstone The tyranny and usurpation of the Popish Priests is far more excusable then the affected domination of some of ours for they believe that their Church is infallible and cannot erre ours confess that they are fallible and may erre and yet expect subscription to their Dictates no less then to the Canon it self It is held a piaculum to question or debate what ever they say 2. It is but an unhandsome character he hath given my Arguments which he calls decoyes The Apostle I take it hath Englished his French Eph. 4.14 The sleight of men who lie in wait to deceive I dare say he knows me better then in cold blood to accuse me of driving on such a devillish trade as wittingly to deceive mens precious souls And therefore I shall call in no other Compurgator then his own Conscience § 8. As for his charge of Schisme and Faction I am not carefull to answer it being the usuall foam of passionate men who when they want Arguments to convince fall to downright railing Schisme sayes a learned man in the common manage of the word is a meer Theologicall Scar-crow wherewith they who uphold a party in Religion seek to fright away others from enquiring into and closing with that which they doe oppose Both this and the other are most frequently in their mouthes who are deepest in the guilt that is imported by them Ahab by his sins brought down Plagues and Judgements upon Israel yet he cals Elijah the troubler of Israel 1 King 18.17 Athalia was the cheifest Traytor and yet she was the first that cryed out Treason 2 King 11.14 Tertullus was the Orator of the tumult yet he inveighs against Paul as a Ring leader of Sedition Act. 24.5 6. the Church of Rome which hath fallen from the purity of the Catholique Faith brands them for Schismaticks who refuse to continue in the same Apostasie Amongst our selves the late Innovators aspersed all those with Faction and Schisme who would not prostitute their Consciences to the Wils of men and to this day ignorant and prophane persons think all them to be Factious and Schismaticks who live more strictly and religiously then themselves I must needs say they are lesse to be blamed seeing Professors and Ministers do give them such an evill example § 9. I confesse though in common use Schisme and
principium omnium bonorum i. e. The cause and fountain of all other blessings and particularly of the renewing of our hearts and our returning unto God Now the consequences and Effects of a Blessing are not the Conditions of it § 3. His next Allegation from Heb. 10.14 c. hath the fate to fall as short of the mark as the former did For the Apostles scope there is not to shew in what order and method the benefits of the Covenant are bestowed upon us but that there needs no other Sacrifice for sin besides the Sacrifice which Christ hath offered which he proves because God in that Covenant which he promised to make with his people in the times of the New Testament declares That he will not onely give them a new heart but their sins and iniquities shall not be remembred any more Now where there is no more remembrance of sin there needs no more Sacrifice for sin so that the words expressed are sufficient to compleat the sense without understanding of then he saith or then it followeth which Mr. W. hath added in the close of the sixteenth Verse We may take them as they lie from Verse the fifteenth Whereof to wit of Christs perfect Sacrifice mentioned Vers. 14. the Holy Ghost is a witness to us for after he i. e. the Holy Ghost had said before This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those dayes to wit of the Old Testament which are now expired The Lord saith viz. The Holy Ghost who is the Lord Jehovah and with the Father and Son the Author of the New Covenant I will put my Laws into their hearts and in their mindes will I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more So that I say there is no need that either of those clauses Then he saith c. should be foisted in between the 16 and 17 Verses It seems to me That the Copulative And is set as a bar to keep it forth shewing that the words in the 17 Verse ought to follow immediately upon the sixteenth I grant that the promise of Remission is one of the most special and noble Blessings contained in that general promise I will be their God yet it doth not follow that Regeneration or Inherent holiness is required or promised as the means or qualification to obtain this Blessing Pareus his Note upon the place is very sound That the Apostle here doth ground the promise of remission of sins upon that perfect oblation which Christ hath offered and not upon works of Sanctification which according to Mr. Woodbridges Doctrine is the immediate principle from whence it follows § 4. His next Assertion That in the New Covenant the giving of the first Grace is always promised not as a part of the Covenant but as a means and qualification on mans part for his entrance into Covenant is justly obnoxious unto more then one Exception 1. The work of Conversion or the renewing of our hearts i◠unfitly called The first Grace For 1 to speak properly the first Grace is that which is Grace indeed to wit the Everlasting Love Favor and Good-pleasure of God towards his people for this is the rise and fountain of all those mercies which we receive in time yea of Christ himself John 3.16 Or 2 if by Grace we understand the Fruits and Effects of this Grace then certainly the precedenc◠or priority must be given unto Jesus Christ for whose sake all other blessings are bestowed upon us Ephes. 1.3 Or else 3 if by Grace we understand the Fruits and Effects of Christs death or the benefits which are freely given us for his sake even in this sense Inherent Sanctification is unduly put in the first place which is a consequent both of Justification and Adoption Gal. 4.5 6. Though it be promised in that place of Jeremy before Remission of sin◠yet in other places it is put after it as Ezek. 36.25 26. Jere. 32.38 39. The Reason why this promise is sometimes put first may probably be because the Grace of Sanctification is most apt to affect our senses we do apprehend and perceive it before we come to know our Justification § 5. 2. It is utterly false That the giving of a new heart is not promised as a part of the Covenant but as a means on mans part for his entrance into Covenant For 1 the Scripture no where affirms it and it is weakly concluded hence because it is sometimes mentioned first in the recital of the Covenant which is all he hath to pretend for this notion seeing that in other places the promise of Sanctification follows that of Justification from whence he may as well conclude that Justification is promised not as a part of the Covenant but as a means to intitle us unto Sanctification so that not onely the promise of Faith but of Remission also shall be excluded from being a part of the Covenant 2 The promise of a new heart includes not onely the first act of Faith and Repentance but the continuance and increase of these Gifts so that either he must say that all the Promises of Sanctification which are included therein are no part of the Covenant or that the same promise is both a means to bring us into Covenant and a part of the Covenant i. e. it is a part and no part I must confess that I never yet met with that man who had the forehead to deny that the promise of Faith and Repentance is a part of the New Covenant 3 It seems to me an undeniable truth that the promises of Sanctification as well as of Justification are parts of the Covenant considering 1 that they have the same ground and foundation to wit the merit and purchase of Jesus Christ Christ hath merited Faith and Repentance no less then remission of sins Now whatsoever Christ hath purchased the Covenant promiseth All the effects of his death are equally parts of the New Covenant 2 Both these promises have the same end and design viz. The glory of God Faith and Repentance are not promised onely subserviently for our benefit but ultimately for the praise of his glory Tit. 2.14 1 Thes. 4.3 3 They are promised in the same manner as distinct and not as subordinate benefits he doth not say I will write my Laws in their hearts that I may pardon their sins and iniquities But I will write my Laws c. and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more § 6. 3. It sounds harshly That God promiseth Faith as a means on our part to bring us into Covenant for if God doth promise to bestow Faith it cannot properly be called a means on our part it were a means on our part if we performed it our selves and by our own strength as the condition required of Adam should have been For the removing of this rub I shall make it to appear that in the New Covenant there is no condition required
as yet hath not looked into the tenth part of either As for the Jewish Doctors I suppose no man will think them competent Judges of Gospel verities and I must confesse that too many of our Christian Writers are leavened over-much with a Jewish legal spirit However if he had pointed to the Authors that make this Observation I should have weighed the grounds whereon they lay it the names of men though never so learned weigh lighter then a feather in matters of Faith If hee took up his Observation upon trust from Grotius as I suspect he did I shall presume once more to advice him to take heed of tampering with the Notions of that learned Apostate § 9. I have shewed already that sundry Godly and Learned men are of another mind who exclude all manner of Conditions from the New Covenant and consequently do make Faith a part of the Covenant and not the means to bring us into Covenant to which there might be added many more as Luther The Promises of the Law are conditionall promising life not freely but to such as fulfill the Law and therefore they leave mens Consciences in doubt for no man fulfilleth the Law But the Promises of the New Testament have no such Condition joyned unto them nor require any thing of us nor depend upon any Condition of our worthinesse but bring and give unto us freely Forgivenesse of sins Grace Righteousnesse and Life everlasting for Christs sake c. Melancton speaks as fully to the purpose Men commonly saies he doe imagine that the Gospell is a conditionall Promise but this conceit is to be rooted out of them The Gospell offers remission of sins and Eternal Life without the Condition of our works And again Our Obedience is neither the Cause nor the Condition for which wee are accepted before God So P. Martyr Wee deny sayes he That the Covenant of God concerning the remission of sinnes hath any Condition annexed unto it And Olevian The whole frame or substance of the New Covenant is without any Condition Estius puts this question How the New Testament can be called a Covenant seeing it contains onely a most free promise whereas Covenants do consist of conditions on both parts We may not answer says he that good works are the condition thereof seeing that works themselves are contained in the promise of the New Testament But says he the word Berith doth not onely signifie a Covenant in a strict sense which consists of mutual conditions but it single promise which is free from all conditions and such a Covenant is that which we call the New Testament viz. Promissio Dei prorsus absoluta gratuita to wit That promise of God which is altogether free and absolute With him agrees Dr. Ames who addes That the New Covenant is more properly called a Testament then a Covenant because a Will or Testament bequeaths Legacies without any office or condition of the Legatees And Beza The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used Gal. 3.14 doth not signifie says he any promise but that which is altogether free in which respect it is opposed to the Law for the promises of the Law have conditions annexed to them and therefore the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby the New Covenant is signified is better rendred Promise then Covenant But to avoide proliâ—ity I shall desire the Reader at his leisure to peruse Junius his Second Oration De foedere novo prefixt to his Enarrations on the four first Psalms who being so great a Linguist and Lawyer his Judgement in this point ought the more to be regarded It may be Mr. B. and Mr. W. will place them but in the form of ignorant and unstudied Divines Though they do it hath been sufficiently confirmed with the authority of a greater Doctor And if we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater 1 John 5.9 § 10. The Scriptures which Mr. W. hath brought do no whit help him as Heb. 11.16 where it is said God was not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob who were believers Ergo says he God is not the God of any before they do believe He might reason as well a Father acknowledgeth and stands by his son when he is in distress Ergo He was not his father before The scope of the place is not to shew when God did become their Father but rather the faithfulness and condescendence of God towards his people in their low estate for though they were pilgrims and strangers in the world hated and despised of all yet God did own and honor them See Psal. 105.12 13 14 15. So that in 1 Pet. 2.10 where the Apostle speaking to the Saints says In times past you were not a people but are now the people of God is to be understood in reference to the external administration of the Covenant and not the real participation or interest in the blessings of it Indeed in the first consideration none are the people of God but they that do profess the fear and worship of the true God who walk in the name i. e. In the Laws and Ordinances of God In which respect the Elect before Faith are said to have been without God in the world Eph. 2.12 And in this sense all that do profess the truth are the people of God though many of them are Hypocrites who are therefore said to be of Israel though they are not Israel and some that are but fruitless branches are notwithstanding said to be in Christ which must be understood in respect of external profession and not of internal implantation But in the later consideration none are the people of God but they that do belong to the Election of Grace who are the Spiritual Seed and Israel in truth And thus all the Elect whether called or uncalled are the people of God though before conversion they have not the comfort yet they have a good right and title unto all the purchases of Christs death God knows them to be his people though they know not that he is their God CHAP. XXI Wherein the remaining Arguments which Mr. Woodbridge hath brought to prove That the New Covenant is not an absolute Promise and that the Elect have no right to the Covenant before they believe are answered MR. W. towards the close of his Book hath cast in three or four Arguments more for the confirmation of his Opinion which he thinks superfluous I might saith he spare the pains of further proof And truly I think so too unless he had bestowed his pains in a better cause I must tell him That when he hath said all that he can in defence of this cause he will at last sit down a looser for when the day shall come which shall try every mans work of what sort it is this hay and stubble of mans righteousness and mens pleadings for it shall be consumed to ashes though I am