Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	holy_a	scripture_n	speak_v	4,818	5	4.7778	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67000	The freeness of Gods grace in the forgiveness of sins by Jesus Christ, vindicated. Against the doctrine of Mr. Fergusson, in his sermon preached at the morning lecture, the fifth of August 1668. in a letter to a friend. By H. W. a lover of the truth that is according to Godliness.	H. W.	1668 (1668)	Wing W35; ESTC R217619	15,119	18

THE Freeness of Gods Grace IN THE Forgiveness of Sins BY JESUS CHRIST VINDICATED Against the Doctrine of Mr. Fergusson in his Sermon Preached at the Morning Lecture the fifth of August 1668. in a Letter to a Friend By H. W. a lover of the Truth that is according to Godliness Rom. 3. 24. Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ Col. 1. 14. In whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins Prov. 12. 15. He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord. London Printed for J. J. and are to be sold at William Crooks at three Bibles near Temple Bar and at Peter Parker's in Billeter Lane Anno 1668. My Friend BEing the other day in your company you told me of your being the fifth instant at the morning Lecture where as you said a great company of well disposed people were assembled to hear I was glad to hear it Then you gave me to understand that one Mr. Fergusson there preached at that time from Heb. 2. 10. And you also gave me in writing an account of his Sermon desiring me to peruse it Sir your Paper I return with many thanks and therewith also a few Animadversions upon the Sermon which you may read when your leasure permits you There are three faults inexcusable in a Preacher as all do acknowledge for it is in it self most evident First To propose a Text out of the Holy Scriptures and thence to draw Doctrines which are true in themselves but which the Text affords not This is one way of prophaning the Word of God and of doing the Work of the Lord negligently But Secondly It is a greater fault and much more to be lamented when such Doctrines or Theses are grounded upon a Text of Scripture which are so far from being rightly drawn from that Text that they are deducible from no other Text being such Doctrines as contain not the truth in them but are false and therefore contrary to the Scriptures of Truth But Thirdly The fault is then greatest and most of all to be lamented when the Doctrines or Articles proposed as from a Scripture are not meerly false and errors of a mean import but are false in matters of high concernment in Faith or Manners These three things Sir came to mind by the unhappy occasion of your Preachers Sermon whom I may charge though not with the first of those faults for he was not so little unhappy as to preach Truth from a Text that reach'd it not to him yet I may charge him with not onely the second but the third also For alas I grieve to speak it he preach'd such a Doctrine which greatly reflects disparagement upon Almighty God in respect of his Goodness Wisdom and Power and therefore must needs have much of malignity in it how devout soever the Preacher may seem to be Now that you may not think me to be rash and inconsiderate in thus charging that Gentleman give me leave to evince by a few words the truth of the Charge I pray consider his Text and his Doctrine grounded thereon The words of the Text are these For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings His Doctrine was this That there was no other way imaginable or possible whereby God might forgive sins but by a full and plenary satisfaction made to his Justice by the death of his Son He branches this Doctrine into three Propositions which are these 1. That it is not possible for God to pardon sin and save sinners without satisfaction to his Justice 2. That it was impossible to obtain satisfaction by any other way but by Christ 3. That Christ hath given God a full and plenary satisfaction and thereby made way for the bringing of all those Sons to Glory that the Father and he agreed about when he undertook this work Now consider I pray you seriously whether any man but one that is first prepossess'd with such an Opinion could have drawn such a Doctrine from that Text. The terms I am sure are at a vast distance The Text saith It became him for whom are all things c. Now suppose that to be in the Text which is not viz. That Christ made satisfaction to the Justice of God for mens sins in Mr. F's sence it will not follow from this It became God c. First That it was impossible to have been otherwise for Mr. F. knows well enough that though God cannot chuse good or evil yet he may chuse this or that good so that when it is said That such or such a thing becomes God it doth not follow that the omission of that and the chusing of another might not also have become him It did well agree with the Wisdom and Goodness of God to make the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings But what are we poor silly Worms that we should hence conclude That the Wisdom of God could have found out no other way for his goodness to appear unto us in Let us be thankful for this that he hath done and admire his Wisdom in it but let us not by our wisdom set bounds to the onely wise God However let us not do it grounding upon a Text that will not justifie us therein as this Preacher doth But secondly How doth it arise from this Text That Christ made full satisfaction to the Justice of God The Text saith To make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings As if for God to make Christ perfect through sufferings and for Christ to make satisfaction to the Justice of God were all one Whereas for God in bringing many Sons to Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings seems plainly to imply no more but this To make the Captain a perfect and compleat Captain or Leader 1. By making him to be to his Souldiers or Followers those Believers he was to bring to Glory a Pattern in doing in suffering and in receiving of Glory 2. By making him to have pitty and compassion towards them in all difficulties and sufferings through having experience of the same himself 3. And lastly By giving him power to supply them in the way and give them glory at the end inasmuch as by his sufferings he came to sit down at the right Hand of God If any man of a more refined wit than ordinary can draw any thing more from these terms yet I perswade my self That no man will ever be able to convince an impartial hearer that Christ's being made perfect through sufferings is Christ's making full satisfaction to the Justice of God But if this Proposition be not to be found in the Text much less the other two that it was not possible for God to pardon without a satisfaction and that no

difficulties than any of those that are to follow him Is he not thereby the more fit to be their Captain may there not from hence be given a good account of all the sufferings and the death of Christ that he was to be the Captain of our Salvation Did it not well become the Wisdom and Holiness of God to give repentance and remission of sins through such a person as should obtain this Glory and Power by an obedience accompanyed with the hardest sufferings He now goes on to tell us that Christ underwent this Curse in our stead And here he cites Dan. 9 26. Rom. 4 25. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Isa 53. which in my Judgment are not the most probable prooss he might have brought for that purpose But it being salfe that Christ underwent the eternal Curse there is no place for his doing it in our stead Neither did he undergo that which he did undergo in our stead but on our behalf for our good and that we should follow his steps So saith the Apostle Peter Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 He that doth any thing in another's stead doth it that the other may not do it but Christ suffered for our Example not to free us from suffering the like Christ suffered for us so he entred into Heaven for us Heb. 6.20 not in our stead but for our good to be a Priest and to interceed for us that we may come thither also Under this third particular concerning what Christ hath wrought for us he talks of a price for Grace and that all Grace is given by vertue of the satisfaction of Jesus Christ He cites to this purpose 2 Pet. 1. 1. To them that have obtained like precious Faith through the Righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Whence he collects that God is bound in Justice to give Grace and Faith because Christ hath bought it It 's strange he should be unmindfull of the Apostle Paul's making Grace and Debt such opposites as destroy each other and cannot have place in the same matter Of which I have soken something before Again he considers not the words he utters for Faith is said in this Text to be obtained by us not only through the Righteousness of God but also through the Righteousness of Jesus Christ Is Christ obliged to give us Faith because he bought it It is in the Greek Faith in the Righteousness of God c. so Righteousness may be taken for the Object of Faith and denotes here the saithfulness of God and Christ promising to us eternal life These are the men that cry up the Grace of God the free Grace of God bat my dear Friend if you will be but at the pains to weigh the matter throughly which alas few will you will perceive that their Doctrine of Grace rightly understood doth quite overthrow Grace I have shewed you here how his Doctrine of Satisfaction is diametrically opposite to the Grace of forgiveness of sins which God did design before the World to magnisie by Jesus Christ in the Gospel But he hath a pretty setch here whereby he thinks to free himself of this charge and that is by telling us as he doth in his Application That the great Mercy as well as Justice of God appears in this Satisfaction because my Friends saith he though God will have a Satisfaction yet he will procure it himself be will be at the cost of it himself O the wisdom of God in finding it out O that men would but consider what this means But men are mighty idle and popishly credulous in matters of Faith The meaning then is this That God Almighty is necessitated by his Nature to execute the punishment due to all the sins of men for so he saith that by sin punishment became due and being due it became necessary to be executed So that God can no more pardon one sin without due punishment than he can lie or deny himself Now it seems this necessity of his Nature gave him liberty I know not how to execute this punishment upon others that were righteous in case they had been Sureties if any such there had been instead of the guilty But there being none such but only one to wit Jesus Christ his wel-beloved Son who was of so excellent a Nature that he could bear as much punishment in a few hours as all the World deserved and was not able to bear to eternity Therefore he commands this Son who would not disobey him to take upon him a humane nature and therein to bear this infinite punishment that so his avenging Justice being satisfied he might then justifie some part of those that had finned This is God's procuring the Satisfaction himself this is being at the cost of it But let me argue with him a little How can that be a true and proper satisfaction which the Creditor is at the cost of himself It is but a shew of satisfaction when one receives but what he himself gives or is at the cost of And so this specious Doctrine of satisfying Justice will be but a meer representation of a thing that is not real If the Creditor did receive what he did not give then his Mercy is just so much diminished If he receiv'd all that was due his Mercy is nothing at all You will say his mercy appears in this that being at liberty to punish the sinner himself or a righteous person in his stead he chose to punish the righteous person and to let the sinner go free This seems to have some little weight in it but consider it narrowly Here is indeed some kindness shewn to the person of the sinner but there is just as much unkindness shewed to the person of the Righteous but in respect to the sin there is no mercy at all for whether he punish the Sinner or the Righteous the sin is fully avenged And what good Governour I pray would not rather in such a case punish the sinner than the Righteous But you will say he rewarded the Righteous for bearing this punishment I answer that is just as if one did owe me a Thousand pounds and I should procure another to pay me the money in his stead and for his encouragement I tell him I will give him a Thousand pounds value in somewhat else I say this is no real but an imaginary and represented satisfaction So that let him turn himself which way he will he shall never be able to make full satisfaction to Justice and Mercy in forgiveness to stand together By all this it appears that his doctrine is false in a matter of great concernment as that which obscures lessens disparages or overthrows the Righteousness Goodness Mercy and Grace of God in the Gospel Having now finished what I intended wherein I pray excuse me if I have been too long and pardon the errors of haste I will take my leave beseeching you to be very careful of receiving any Doctrine you do not understand especially if it seem to darken the Wisdom or any way lessen the Grace of God but cherish such Principles as represent God and Christ full of Wisdom Grace and Goodness and so beget in you humility love and considence towards them Suffer not your self to be imposed upon by the bare name of Mystery nor by the multitude of those that profess any Doctrine but look whether you can find it in the holy Scriptures Consider the great Vanities Superstitions yea and Idolatries that have crept into the Church so that it is no great marvel if many err in this point also Let us pray that God would be pleased to vindicate the Truth of the Gospel from the Inventions of men that it may appear in its native beauty and loveliness I hope you will not satisfie your self with only reading what I have wrote but will weigh it seriously as a matter of great concernment I shall much rejoyce to be serviceable to you in it for I am Sir Your Friend in the best bands H. W. London Aug. 13. 1668. Page 6. line 14. for impale read impute