rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done we doubt not but they have the Nature of Sin So Confession of Faith Chap. 16. Art 7. Calvin Instit Lib. 3. Cap. 15. Sect. 6. They saith he speaking of the Popish Schoolmen have found out I know not what moral good works whereby men are made acceptable to God before they are engrafted into Christ As if the Scripture lyed when it said They are all in death who have not the Son 1 John 5.12 If they be in death how can they beget matter of life As if it were of no force whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin as if evil trees could bring forth good fruit Read the rest of that Section On the contrary the Council of Trent Sess 6. Cannon 7. say boldly Whosoever shall say That all Works done before Justification howsoever they be done are truly sin and deserve the hatred of God Let him be Anathema And to give you one more bellowing of the Beast wounded by the Light of the Gospel see the same Council Sess 6. Can. 11. Si quis dixerit Gratiam quâ justificamur esse tantùm favorem Dei Anathema sit This is fearful blasphemy saith Dr. Downham Bishop of London-derry in his Orthodox Book of Justification Lib. 3. Cap. 1. Where he saith That the Hebrew words which in the Old Testament signifie the Grace of God do always signifie favour and never grace inherent And above fifty Testimonies may be brought from the New Testament to prove that by God's Grace his favour is still meant But what was good Church of England Doctrine at and after the Reformation cannot now go down with some Arminianizing Nonconformists If then nothing will satisfie our quarrelling Brethren but either Silence as to the Main Points of the Gospel which we believe and live by the faith of and look to be saved in which we have for many years preached with some seals of the Holy Ghost in converting sinners unto God and in building them up in holiness and comfort by the faith and power of them which also we vowed to the Lord to preach to all that will hear us as long as we live in the day when we gave up our selves to serve God with our Spirit in the Gospel of his Son If either this Silence or the swallowing down of Arminian Schemes of the Gospel contrary to the New Testament and unknown to the Reformed Churches in their greatest purity be the only terms of peace with our Brethren we must then maintain our peace with God and our own Consciences in the defence of plain Gospel Truth And our Harmony with the Reformed Churches and in the comfort of these bear their Enmity And though it be usual with them to vilifie and contemn such as differ from them for their fewness weakness and want of Learning yet they might know that the most Learned and Godly in the Christian World have maintained and defended the same Doctrine we stand for for some Ages The Grace of God will never want for it can and will furnish Defenders of it England hath been blessed with a Bradwardine an Archbishop of Canterbury against the Pelagians a Twiss and Ames against the Arminians And though they that contend with us would separate their Cause altogether from that of these two pests of the Church of Christ I mean Pelagius and Arminius yet judicious observers cannot but already perceive a coincidency and do fear more when either the force of Argument shall drive them out of their lurking holes or when they shall think fit to discover their secret sentiments which yet we but guess at Then as we shall know better what they would be at so it is very like that they will then find Enemies in many whom they have seduced by their craft and do yet seem to be in their Camp and will meet with Opposers both at home and abroad that they think not of Our Doctrine of the Justification of a Sinner by the free grace of God in Jesus Christ however it be misrepresented and reflected upon is yet undeniably recommended by four things 1 It is a Doctrine savoury and precious unto all ser ous Godly Persons Dr. Ames his observation holds good as to all the Arminian Divinity that it is contra communem sensum fidelium against the common sense of Believers And though this be an argument of little weight with them that value more the judgment of the Scribes and the Wise and Disputers of this World 1 Cor. 1.18 19 20 21. than of all the Godly Yet the Spirit of God by John gives us this same argument 1 John 4.5 6. They are of the World therefore speak they of the World and the World heareth them We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error How evident is it that several who by Education or an unsound Ministry having had their Natural Enmity against the Grace of God strengthned when the Lord by his Spirit hath broke in upon their hearts and hath raised a serious Soul-exercise about their Salvation their turning to God in Christ and their turning from Arminianism have begun together And some of the greatest Champions for the Grace of God have been persons thus dealt with as we might instance And as it is thus with men at their Conversion so is it found afterward that still as it is well with them in their inner man so doth the Doctrine of Grace still appear more precious and savoury On the other part all the ungodly and unrenewed have a dislike and disrelish of this Doctrine and are all for the Doctrine of doing and love to hear it and in their sorry exercise are still for doing their own business in Salvation though they be nothing and can do nothing but Sin and destroy themselves 2. It is that Doctrine only by which a convinced sinner can be dealt with effectually When a man is awakened and brought to that that all must be brought to or to worse What shall I do to be saved Acts 16.30 31. We have the Apostolick answer to it Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house This Answer is so old that with many it seems out of date But it is still and will ever be fresh and new and savoury and the only Resolution of this grand Case of Conscience as long as Conscience and the World lasts No Wit or Art of Man will ever find a crack or flaw in it or devise another or a better answer nor can any but this alone heal rightly the wound of an awakened Conscience Let us set this man to seek resolution in this case of some Masters in our Israel According to their Principles they must say to him Repent and Mourn for your known Sins and leave and loath them and God will have mercy on
A VINDICATION OF THE Protestant Doctrine Concerning JUSTIFICATION And of its Preachers and Professors From the unjust charge of ANTINOMIANISM In a LETTER from a Minister in the City to a Minister in the Countrey LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the King's-Arms in the Poultrey in the Year 1692. A LETTER FROM A Minister in the City to a Minister in the Countrey about the present Difference concerning JVSTIFICATION YOUR Earnest Desire of Information about some Difference amongst Nonconformists in London whereof you hear so much by flying Reports and profess you know so little of the Truth thereof is the Cause of this Writing You know that not many Months ago there was a fair-like appearance of Vnity betwixt the two most considerable Parties on that Side and their Differences having been rather in practice than principle about Church-Order and Communion seemed easily reconciliable where a Spirit of Love and of a sound Mind was at work But how short was the Calm For quickly arose a greater Storm from another Quarter and a Quarrel began upon higher Points even on no less than the Doctrine of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ and the Justification of a Sinner by Faith alone Some think that the Reprinting of Dr. Crisp's Book gave the first Rise to it But we must look further back for its true Spring It is well known but little considered what a great Progress Arminianism had made in this Nation before the beginning of the Civil War And surely it hath lost little since it ended What can be the Reason why the very Parliaments in the Reign of James I. and Charles I. were so alarmed with Arminiamsm as may be read in History and is remembred by Old Men and that now for a long time there hath been no talk no fear of it as if Arminianism were dead and buried and no man knows where its Grave is Is not the true Reason to be found in its Universal prevailing in the Nation But that which concerneth our Case is That the Middle way betwixt the Arminians and the Orthodox had been espoused and strenuously defended and promoted by some Nonconformists of great Note for Piety and Parts and usually such Men that are for middle ways in points of Doctrine have a greater kindness for that Extream they go half way to than for that which they go half way from And the Notions thereof were imbibed by a great many Students who laboured through the Iniquity of the Times under the great Disadvantage of the want of grave and sound Divines to direct and assist their Studies at Universities and therefore contented themselves with studying such English Authors as had gone in a path untrod both by our Predecessors and by the Protestant Vniversities abroad These Notions have been preach'd and wrote against by several Divines amongst our selves and the different Opinions have been till of late managed with some Moderation to which our being all born down by Persecution did somewhat contribute It is a sad but true Observation That no Contentions are more easily kindled more fiercely pursued and more hardly composed than those of Divines sometimes from their Zeal for Truth and sometimes from worse Principles that may act in them as well as in other Men. The Subject of the Controversie is about the Justifying Grace of God in Jesus Christ Owned it is by both and both fear it be abused either by turning it into Wantonness hence the Noise of Antinomianism or by corrupting it with the mixture of Works hence the Fears on the other side of Arminianism Both Parties disown the Name cast upon them The one will not be called Arminians and the other hate both Name and Thing of Antinomianism truly so called Both sometimes say the same Thing and profess their Assent to the Doctrinal Articles of the Church of England to the Confession of Faith and Catechisms composed at Westminster and to the Harmony of the Confessions of all the Reformed Churches in these Doctrines of Grace And if both be Candid in this Profession it is very strange that there should be any Controversie amongst them Let us therefore first take a View of the Parties and then of their Principles As to the Party suspected of Antinomianism and Libertinism in this City it is plain That the Churches wherein they are concerned are more strict and exact in trying of them that offer themselves unto their Communion as to their Faith and Holiness before their admitting them in the Engagements laid on them to a Gospel-walking at their Admission and in their Inspection over them afterwards As to their Conversations they are generally of the more Regular and Exact Frame and the Fruits of Holiness in their Lives to the Praise of God and Honour of the Gospel cannot with modesty be denied Is it not unaccountable to charge a People with Licentiousness when the Chargers cannot deny and some cannot well bear the Strictness of their Walk It is commonly said That it is only their Principles and the tendency of them to loose Walking that they blame But waying that at present it seems not fair to charge a People with Licentious Doctrines when the Professors thereof are approved of for their Godliness and when they do sincerely profess that their Godliness begun with and is promoted by the Faith of their Principles Let it not be mistaken if I here make a Comparison betwixt Papists and Protestants The latter did always profess the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone This was Blasphemy in the Papists Ears They still did and do cry out against it as a Licentious Doctrine and destructive of Good Works Many sufficient Answers have been given in to this unjust Charge But to my purpose the Wonder was that the Papists were not convinced by the splendid Holiness of the Old Believers and by the Visible Truth of their holy Practice and their professing that as long as they lived in the Blindness and Darkness of Popery they were profane and that as soon as God revealed the Gospel to them and had wrought in them the Faith thereof they were sanctified and led other Lives So witnessed the Noble Lord Cobham who suffered in K. Henry the 5th his Time above an 100 Years before Luther His Words at his Examination before the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Clergy were these As for that Vertuous Man Wickliff for with his Doctrine he was charged whose Judgment ye so highly disdain I shall say of my part both before God and Man that before I knew that Despised Doctrine of his I never abstained from sin but since I learned therein to fear my Lord God it hath otherwise I trust been with me So much Grace could I never find in all your glorious Instructions Fox's Book of Martyrs Vol. 1. p. 640. Col. 2. Edit 1664. And since I am on that excellent Book I intreat you to read Mr. Patrick Hamilton's little Treatise to which Frith doth Preface and Fox doth add some Explication Vol.
Faith of it from being confounded Hence we see the difference betwixt mens frame in their Disputes and Doctrine about these points and their own sense and pleadings with God in Prayer 4. This Doctrine of Justification by Faith without any mixtures of man however and by what Names and Titles soever they be dignified or distinguished hath this undoubted advantage that it is that which all not judicially hardened and blinded do or would or must betake themselves unto when dying How loath would men be to plead that Cause on a Death-bed which they so stoutly stand up for with Tongue and Pen when at ease and that evil day far away They seem to be jealous least God's Grace and Christ's Righteousness have too much room and Men's Works too little in the the business of Justification But was ever a sensible dying person exercised with this jealousie as to himself Even bloody Stephen Gardiner when a dying could answer Dr. Day Bishop of Chichester who offered comfort to him by this Doctrine What my Lord will you open that Gap now then farewel altogether To me and such other in my case you may speak it but open this Window to the People then farewel altogether Book of Martyrs V. 3. p. 450. In which words he bewrayed a conviction of the fitness of the Doctrine to dying persons and his knowledge that it tended to the destroying the Kingdom of Antichrist As Fox in the same Book of Martyrs Vol. 2. p. 46. gives this as the reason of Luther's success against Popery above all former attempts of preceeding Witnesses But saith he Luther gave the stroke and pluckt down the soundation and all by opening one vein long hid before wherein lieth the touchstone of all Truth and Doctrine as the only Principal Origine of our Salvation which is our free Justification by Faith only in Christ the Son of God Consider how it is with the most holy and eminent Saints when dying Did ye ever see or hear any boasting of their works and performances They may and do own to the praise of his Grace what they have been made to be what they have been helped to do or suffer for Christ's sake But when they draw near to the Awful Tribunal what else is in their Eye and Heart but only Free-Grace Ransoming Blood and a Well-ordered Covenant in Christ the Surety They cannot bear to hear any make mention to them of their Holiness their own Grace and Attainments In a word the Doctrine of Conditions Qualifications and Rectoral Government and the distribution of Rewards and Punishments according to the New Law of Grace will make but an uneasie Bed to a dying Man's Conscience and will leave him in a very bad condition at present and in dread of worse when he is feeling in his last Agonies that the Wages of Sin is Death if he cannot by Faith add but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 He is a wise and happy man that anchors his Soul on that Rock at which he can ride out the storm of Death Why should men contend for that in their life that they know they must renounce at their death Or neglect that Truth now that they must betake themselves unto then why should a man build a House which he must leave in a Storm or be buried in its ruines Many Architects have attempted to make a sure House of their own Righteousness but it is without a Foundation and must fall or be thrown down sorrowfully by the foolish Builder which is the better way It is a great Test of the Truth of Doctrine about the way of Salvation when it is generally approv'd of by sensible dying men And what the Universal Sense of all such in this case is as to the Righteousness of Christ and their own is obvious to any man He was an ingenuous Balaamite who being himself a Papist said to a Protestant Our Religion is best to live in and yours best to die in But notwithstanding of these great advantages and they are but a few of many that this Doctrine is attended with There are not a few disadvantages it labours under which though they are rather to its commendation than reproach yet they do hinder its Welcome and Reception As 1. This Doctrine is a Spiritual Mystery and lyeth not level to a Natural Understanding 1 Cor. 2.10 14. Working for Life a man naturally understands but believing for Life he understands not To mend the Old Man he knows but to put on the New Man by Faith is a Riddle to him The study of Holiness and to endeavour to square his Life according to God's Law he knows a little of though he can never do it but to draw Sanctification from Christ by Faith and to walk holily in and through the force of the Spirit of Christ in the Heart by Faith is meer canting to him A new Life he understands a little but nothing of a New Birth and Regeneration He never saw himself stark dead Nay not only is it unknown to the Natural Man but he is by his Natural State an enemy to it he neither doth nor can know it nor approve of it 1 Cor. 2.14 Wisdom that is Christ's way of saving men revealed in the Gospel is justified of all her Children and of them only Matth. 11.19 Luke 7.29 30 35. This Enmity in Men to the Wisdom of God is the cause not only of this contempt of its Ministry but is a Temptation to many Ministers to patch up and frame a Gospel that is more suited to and taking with and more easily understood by such men than the true Gospel of Christ is this Paul complains of in others and vindicates himself from 1 Cor. 1 17. and 2.2 he warns others against it Col. 2.8 2 Cor. 11.3 4. Gal. 1.6 7 8 9. And it is certain that doing for Life is more suited to corrupt Nature than Believing is 2. Our Opposers in this Doctrine have the Many for them and against us as they of old boasted John 7.48 This they have no ground to glory in though they do not we to be ashamed of the Truth because we cannot vie numbers with them With our Opposers are all these sorts and they make a great number though I do not say or think that all our Opposers are to be ranked in any of these Lists for some both Godly and Learned may mistake us and the Truth in this matter 1. They have all the Ignorant People that know nothing of either Law or Gospel They serve God they say but most fasly and hope that God will be merciful to them and save them To all such both the clear explication of God's Law and the Mysteries of the Gospel are strange things Yet sincere obedience they love to hear of for all of them think there is some sincerity in their hearts and that they can do somewhat But of Faith in Christ they have no knowledge except by faith you
doth not shew it self by Good Works without which no man is or can be Justified either in his own Conscience or before Men. But it doth not hence follow that we cannot be justified in the sight of God by Faith only as the Apostle Paul asserts the latter and the Apostle James the former in a good Agreement 2. There appears to be some difference or mis-understanding of one another about the true Notion and Nature of Justifying Faith Divines commonly distinguish betwixt the Direct Act of Faith and the Reflex Act. The Direct Act is properly Justifying and Saving Faith by which a lost sinner comes to Christ and relies upon him for Salvation The Reflex Act is the looking back of the Soul upon a former Act of Faith A Rational Creature can reflect upon his own Acts whether they be Acts of Reason Faith or Unbelief A Direct Act of saving Faith is that by which a lost Sinner goes out of himself to Christ for help relying upon him only for Salvation A Reflex Act ariseth from the sense that Faith gives of its own inward Act upon a serious Review the truth and sincerity of which is further cleared up to the Conscience by the Genuine Fruits of an unfeigned Faith appearing to all men in our good Lives and holy Conversation But for as plain as these things be yet we find we are frequently mistaken by others and we wonder at the Mistake for we dare not ascribe to some Learned and Good Men the Principles of Ignorance or Willfulness from whence mistakes in plain Cases usually proceed When we do press Sinners to come to Christ by a Direct Act of Faith consisting in an humble Reliance upon him for Mercy and Pardon They will understand us whether we will or not of a Reflex Act of Faith by which a Man knows and believes that his sins are pardoned and that Christ is his When they might easily know that we mean no such thing Mr. Walter Marshall in his excellent Book lately Published hath largely opened this and the true Controverly of this day though it be 8 or 9 Years since he died 3. We seem to differ about the Interest and Room and Place that Faith hath in Justification That we are justified by Faith in Jesus Christ is so plainly a New testament-Testament-Truth that no Man pretending never so bately to the Christian Name denies it The Papists own it and the Socinians and Arminians and all own it But how different are their senses of it And indeed you cannot more speedily and certainly judge of the spirit of a Man than by his real inward sense of this phrase if you could reach it a Sinner is justified by Faith in Jesus Christ Some say that Faith in Jesus Christ justifies as it is a Work by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere as if it came in the room of perfect Obedience required by the Law Some that Faith justifies as it is informed and animated by Charity so the Papists who plainly Confound Justification and Sanctification Some say That Faith justifies as it is a fullfilling of the Condition of the New Covenant if thon believest thou shalt be saved Nay they will not hold there but they will have this Faith to Justifie as it hath a Principle and Fitness in it to dispose to sincere Obedience The plain Old Protestant Doctrine is That the place of Faith in Justification is only that of a Hand or Instrument receiving the Righteousness of Christ for which only we are justified So that though great Scholars do often confound themselves and others in their Disputations about Faith's justifying a Sinner every poor plain Believer hath the Marrow of this Mystery feeding his heart and he can readily tell you That to be justified by Faith is to be justified by Christ's Righteousness apprehended by Faith 4. We seem to misunderstand one another about the Two Adams and especially the latter See Rom. 5.12 to the end In that excellent Scripture a Comparison is instituted which if we did duly understand and agree in we should not readily differ in the Main things of the Gospel The Apostle there tells us That the First Adam stood in the Room of all his Natural Posterity He had their Stock in his hand While he stood they stood in him when he fell they fell with him by his Fall he derived Sin and Death to all them that spring from him by Natural Generation This is the sad side But he tells us in opposition thereto and in comparing therewith that Christ the Second Man is the New Head of the Redeemed World He stands in their Room his Obedience is theirs and he communicates to his Spiritual Off-spring the just contrary to what the first sinful Adam doth to his Natural Off-spring Righteousness instead of Guilt and Sin Life instead of Death Justification instead of Condemnation and Eternal Life instead of Hell deserved So that I think the 3 d 4 th and 5 th Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans for the Mystery of Justification and the 6 th 7 th and 8 th for the Mystery of Sanctification deserve our deep Study But what say others about Christ's being the Second Adam We find them unwilling to speak of it and when they do it is quite alien from the Scope of the Apostle in that Chapter Thus to us they seem to say That God as a Rector Ruler Governour hath resolved to save Men by Jesus Christ That the Rule of this Government is the Gospel as a new Law of Grace That Jesus Christ is set at the Head of this Rectoral Government That in that State he sits in Glory ready and able out of his Purchase and Merits to give Justification and Eternal Life to all that can bring good Evidence of their having complied with the Terms and Conditions of the Law of Grace Thus they antedate the Last Day and hold forth Christ as a Judge rather than a Saviour Luther was wont to warn people of this distinction frequently in his Comment on the Epistle to the Galatians And no other Headship to Christ do we find some willing to admit but what belongs to his Kingly Office As for his Suretiship and being the Second Adam and a publick person some treat it with Contempt I have heard that Dr. Tho. Goodwin was in his Youth an Arminian or at least inclining that way but was by the Lord's Grace brought off by Dr. Sibbs his clearing up to him this same Point of Christ's being the Head and Representative of all his People Now though we maintain stedfastly this Headship of Jesus Christ yet we say not That there is an actual partaking of his Fulness of Grace till we be in him by Faith though this Faith is also given us on Christ's behalf Phil. 1.29 and we believe through Grace Acts 18.27 And we know no Grace we can call nothing Grace we care for no Grace but what comes from this Head the Saviour of the Body But so much shall
Reproachers There are some things we complain of as That they load their Brethren so grievously with unjust calumnies either directly or by consequence As when they preach up holiness and the necessity of it as if it were their proper Doctrine and disowned by us when they cannot but know in their Consciences that there is no difference betwixt them and us about the nature or necessity of Holiness but only about its Spring and Place in Salvation We derive it from Jesus Christ and Faith in him and know assuredly that it can spring from nothing else We place it betwixt Justification and Glory and that is its Scripture place and no where else can it be found or stand let men try it as much and long as they will That they seem very zealous against Antinomianism and forget the other extream of Arminianism which is far more common as dangerous and far more natural to all men For though there have been and may be this day some true Antinomians either through ignorance or weakness reeling to that extreme or by the heat of contention with and hatred of Arminianism as it is certain some very good and learned men have inclined to Arminianism through their hatred of Antinomianism and have declared so much And some may and do corrupt the Doctrine of the Gospel through the unrenewedness of their hearts yet how destructive soever this abuse may be to the souls of the seduced such an appearance of Antinomianism is but as a Meteor or Comet that will soon blaze out and its folly will be quickly hist off the Stage But the principles of Arminianism are the natural dictates of a carnal mind which is enmity both to the Law of God and to the Gospel of Christ and next to the Dead Sea of Popery into which also this stream runs have since Pelagius to this day been the greatest plague of the Church of Christ and its like will be till his Second Coming We do also justly complain that in their opposing of true Antinomian Errors and particularly the alledged Tenents of Dr. Crisp they hint that there is a party of Ministers and Professors that defend them whereas we can defie them to name one Minister in London at least that doth so That expressions capable of a good sense are strenuously perverted contrary to the scope of the Writer or Speaker But this and such like are the usual methods of unfair Contenders Were the like method taken on the other side how many Popish Arminian yea and Socinian expressions might be published If any Gospel-Truth be preached or published that reflects on the Idol of Self-Righteousness and Justification thereby it is soon quarrelled with Put Reproaches cast on the free Grace of God and the imputed Righteousness of Christ are with them if not approved yet but Venial well meant Mistakes Let mens stated Principles be Known and their Expressions explained accordingly or Mistakes and Contentions will be endless We do also complain That Love to Peace hath made many grave and sound Divines forbear to utter their Minds freely in publick on these Points Whereby the adverse Party is emboldened and such Ministers as dare not purchase Peace by silence when so great Truths are undermined are exposed as a Mark But we do not question but these Worthy Brethren when they shall see the Points of Controversie accurately stated as they may shortly will openly appear on Truth 's side as we know their hearts are for it Lastly We complain that the Scheme of the Gospel contended for by our Opposers is clouded vailed and darkned by School-Terms new uncouth and unscriptural Phrases whereby as they think to guard themselves against Opposition so they do increase the Jealousies of their Brethren ánd keep their Principles from the Knowledge of ordinary people who are as much concerned in those Points as any Scholar or Divine This Controversie looks like a very bad Omen We thought we might have healed our Old Breaches in smaller things and behold a New one is threatned in the greatest Matters We did hope that the good Old Protestant Doctrine had been rooted and rivetted in the hearts of all the Ministers on our side but now we find the contrary and that the sowre Leaven of Arminianism works strongly Their Advocates do not yet own the Name but the younger sort are more bold and free and with them no Books or Authors are in esteem and use but such as are for the New Rational Method of Divinity Rational is a fitter Commendation of a Philosopher than of a Divine and yet it 's somewhat better applied to a Divine than to Divinity For true Divinity hath a higher and Nobler Original than Man's Reason even Divine Revelation and it can never be rightly learned by them that have no higher Principle in them than Reason even the Teaching of the Holy Ghost But for Luther Calvin Zanchy Twisse Ames Perkins and Divines of their Spirit and Stamp they are generally neglected and despised We were in hope that after the Lord had so signally appeared for his Truth and People in preserving both under the Rage of that Antichristian Spirit of Persecution and Apostasy to gross Popery that wrought so mightily under the Two Last Reigns and when he had given us the Long-desired Mercy of a Legal Establishment of our Gospel-Liberty in This that all Hearts and Hands should have been unanimously imployed in the advancing the work of Christ But we find that as we have for a Long Time lost in a great measure the Power we are now in no small danger of losing also the Purity of the Gospel And without them what signifies Liberty It is undoubted that the Devil designs the obstructing of the Course of the Gospel and in this he hath often had the Service of the Tongues and Pens of Good Men as well as of Bad yet we are not without hope that the Lord in his Wisdom and Mercy will defeat him and that these Contentions may yet have good Fruit and a good Issue For furthering of this good End let me request a few things of my Brethren 1. Let us not receive Reports suddenly of one another In times of Contention many false Reports are raised and rashly believed This is both the Fruit and the Fuel of Contention For all the Noise of Antinomianism I must declare that I do not know and I have both Opportunity and Inclination to inquire any one Antinomian Minister or Christian in London who is really such as their Reproachers paint them out or such as Luther and Calvin wrote against 2. Let us make Christ Crucified our great Study as Christians and the preaching of him our main work as Ministers 1 Cor. 2.2 Paul determined to know nothing else But many manage the Ministry as if they had taken up a contrary determination even to know any thing save Jesus Christ and him Crucified We are amazed to see so many ashamed of the Cross of Christ and to behave as if they
accounted the Tidings of Salvation by the slain Son of God an Old An iquated Story and unfit to be daily preached And what comes in the room thereof is not unknown nor is it worth the mentioning For all things that come in Christ's room and justle him out either of Hearts or Pulpits are alike abominable to a Christian How many Sermons may a man hear and read when printed yea and Books written about the way to Heaven wherein is hardly the Name of Jesus Christ And if he be named it is the Name of Christ as a Judg and Lawgiver rather than that of a Saviour And as little room hath Christ in many mens Prayers except it be in the conclusion When we cannot avoid the observing of those sad things let it be a sharp Spur to us to Preach Christ more to Pray more in his Name and to Live more to his Praise Let us not be deceived with that pretence That Christ may be Preached when he is not Named The Preaching of the Gospel is the Naming of Christ and so call'd Rom. 15.20 And Paul was to bear Christ's Name before the Gentiles and Kings and the Chrildren of Israel Acts 9.15 3. Let us Study hard and Pray much to know the truth and to cleave unto it It is an Old Observation Ante Pelagium securiùs loquebantur Patres Before Pelagius even the Fathers spoke more carelesly meaning well and fearing no Mistakes in their Hearers Now it is not so the more careful should we be in our Doctrine Let us search our own Consciences and see how we our selves are justified before God So Paul argued Gal. 2.15 16. And let us bring forth that Doctrine to our People that we find in our Bibles and have felt the power of upon our own hearts Let us not run into Extreams upon the Right or Left Hand through the heat of Contention but carefully keep the good Old way of the Protestant Doctrine wherein so many thousands of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus have lived holily and died happily who never heard of our New Schemes and Notions And for this end let us take and cleave to the Test of the Assemblies Confession of Faith and Catechisms More we own not our selves more we crave not of our Brethren and because we deal fairly and openly I shall set it down Verbatim Conf. Chap. 11. Of Justification Art 1. Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely Justifieth not by infusing Righteousness into them but by Pardoning their Sins and by accounting and accepting their Persons as Righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone not by imputing Faith it self the Act of Believing or any other Evangelical Obedience as their Righteousness but by imputing the Obedience and Satisfaction of Christ unto them they receiving and resting on him and his Righteousness by Faith which Faith they have not of themselves it is the Gift of God Art 2. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his Righteousness is the alone Instrument of Justification yet is it not alone in the Person Justified but is ever Accompanied with all other saving Graces and is no dead Faith but worketh by Love Art 3. Christ by his Obedience and Death did fully discharge the Debt of all those that are thus Justified and did make a proper real and full satisfaction to his Fathers Justice in their behalf yet in as much as he was given by the Father for them and his Obedience and Satisfaction accepted in their Stead and both freely not for any thing in them Their Justification is only of Free Grace that both the exact Justice and rich Grace of God might be glorified in the Justification of Sinners Art 4. God did from all Eternity Decree to Justifie all the Elect and Christ did in the fulness of time Die for their Sins and Rise again for their Justification Nevertheless they are not Justified until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them Art 5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are Justified And although they can never fall from the state of Justification yet they may by their sins fall under God's Fatherly displeasure and not have the light of his Countenance restor'd unto them until they humble themselves confess their sins beg pardon and renew their Faith and Repentance Art 6. The Justification of Believers under the Old Testament was in all these Respects one and the same with the Justification of Believers under the New Testament This is the whole Chapter exactly Larger Catechism Q. How doth Faith Justifie a sinner in the sight of God Ans Faith Justifieth a sinner in the sight of God not because of those other graces which do always accompany it or of good Works that are the Fruits of it nor as if the grace of Faith or any Act thereof were imputed to him for his Justification but only as it is an Instrument by which he receiveth and applieth Christ and his Righteousness Let these weighty words be but heartily assented to in their plain and Native Sense and we are one in this great point of Justification But can any considering Man think that the new Scheme of a real Change Repentance and Sincere Obedience as necessary to be found in a person that may Lawfully come to Christ for Justification of Faith's Justifying as it is the spring of sincere Obedience of a Man's being Justified by and upon his coming up to the Terms of the new Law of Grace a new word but of an old and ill meaning can any man think that this Scheme and the sound words of the Reverend Assembly do agree Surely if such a Scheme had been offered to that Grave Learned and Orthodox Synod it would have had a more severe Censure past upon it than I am willing to name Do not we find in our particular Dealings with Souls the same Principles I am now Opposing When we deal with the Carnal Secure Careless Sinners and they are a vast Multitude and ask them a Reason of that hope of Heaven they pretend to Is not this their common Answer I live inoffensively I keep God's Law as well as I can and wherein I fail I repent and beg God's Mercy for Christ's sake My Heart is sincere though my Knowledg and Attainments be short of others If we go on to inquire further what acquaintance they have with Jesus Christ what Applications their Souls have made to him what workings of Faith on him what use they have made of his Righteousness for Justification and his Spirit for Sanctification What they know of living by Faith in Jesus Christ We are Barbarians to them and in this sad state many Thousands in England live and die and Perish Eternally Yet so thick is the darkness of the Age that many of them live here and go hence with the Reputation of good Christans and some of them may have their Funeral Sermon and Praises Preached
by an Ignorant Flattering Minister though it may be the poor creatures never did in the whole course of their Life nor at their Death imploy Jesus Christ so much for an Entry to Heaven purchased by his Blood and only accessible by Faith in him as a poor Turk doth Mahomet for a Room in his Beastly Paradise How common and fearful a thing is this in this Land and City When we come to deal with a poor awakened sinner who seeth his lost state and that he is condemned by the Law of God we find the same Principles working in him for they are Natural and therefore Universal in all Men and hardly rooted out of any We find him sick and wounded we tell him where his Help lies in Jesus Christ what his proper work is to apply to him by Faith What is his Answer Alas saith the Man I have been and am so vile a sinner my heart is so bad and so full of Plagues and Corruptions that I cannot think of believing on Christ But if I had but Repentance and some Holiness in Heart and Life and such and such gracious Qualifications I would then believe When indeed this his Answer is as full of Nonsense Ignorance and Pride as words can contain or express They imply 1. If I were pretty well recovered I would imploy the Physician Christ 2. That there is some hope to work out these good things by my self without Christ 3. And when I come to Christ with a Price in my hand I shall be wellcome 4. That I can come to Christ when I will So ignorant are people Naturally of Faith in Jesus Christ and no Words or Warnings repeated nor plainest Instructions can beat into mens heads and hearts that the first coming to Christ by Faith or believing on him is not a believing we shall be saved by him but a believing on him that we may be saved by him And it is less to be wondered at that ignorant people do not when so many learned men will not understand it When we deal with a Proud Self-Righteous Hypocrite we find the same Principles of Enmity against the Grace of the Gospel A Profane Person is not so enraged at the rebukes of Sin from the Law as these Pharisees are at the discovery of their ruin by Unbelief They cannot endure to have their Idol of Self Righteousness touched neither by the Spirituality of God's Law that condemns all Men and all their Works while out of Christ nor by the Gospel which Reveals another Righteousness than their own by which they must be Saved but they will have God's Ark of the Covenant to stand as a Captive in the Temple of their Dagon of Self-Righteousness until the Vengeance of God's despised Covenant over throw both the Temple and Idol and Worshippers There is not a Minister that dealeth seriously with the Souls of Men but he finds an Arminian Scheme of Justification in every unrenewed Heart And is it not sadly to be bewailed that Divines should plead that same Cause that we daily find the Devil pleading in the Hearts of all Natural Men And that instead of casting down 2 Cor. 10.4 5. they should be making defences for such strong holds as must either be levelled with the dust or the Rebel that holds them out must eternally Perish It is no bad way of Studying the Gospel and of attaining more Light into it that may be us'd in dealing particularly with the Consciences of all sorts of Men as we have occasion More may be learned this way than out of many large Books And if Ministers would deal more with their own Consciences and the Consciences of others in and about these Points that are most properly Cases of Conscience we should find an increase of Gospel-Light and a growing fitness to Preach aright as Paul did 2 Cor. 4.2 By manifestation of the Truth commending our selves to every mans Conscience in the sight of God Let us keep up in our Hearts and Doctrine a reverend regard of the Holy Law of God and suffer not a reflecting disparaging word or thought of it The Great Salvation is contrived with a Regard to it and the satisfaction given to the Law by the Obedience and Death of Christ our Surety hath made it glorious and honourable more than all the Holiness of Saints on Earth or of the Glorified in Heaven and than all the Torments of the Damned in Hell though they do also magnifie the Law and make it honourable But if men will teach that the Law and Obedience unto it whether perfect or sincere is the Righteousness we must be found and stand in in our pleading for justification they neither understand what they say nor whereof they affirm 1 Tim. 1.7 They become Debters to it and Christ profits them nothing Gal. 2 21. and 5.2.5 And we know what will become of that man that hath his Debts to the Law to pay and hath no Interest in the Suretys Payment Yet many such offer their own Silver which whatever coin of Man be upon it is reprobate and rejected both by Law and Gospel Let us carefully keep the bounds clear betwixt the Law and Gospel which whosoever doth is a right perfect Divine saith blessed Luther in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians A Book that hath more plain sound Gospel than many Volumes of some other Divines Let us keep the Law as far from the business of Justification as we would keep Condemnation its contrary For the Law and Condemnation are inseparable but by the Intervention of Jesus Christ our Surety Gal. 3.10 14. But in the practice of Holiness the fulfilled Law given by Jesus Christ to Believers as a Rule is of great and good Use to them as hath been declared Lastly Be exact in your Communion and Church Administrations If any walk otherwise than it becometh the Gospel if any abuse the Doctrine of Grace to Licentiousness draw the Rod of Discipline against them the more severely that ye know so many wait for your halting and are ready to speak evil of the Ways and Truths of God The Wisdom of God sometimes orders the Different Opinions of Men about his Truth for the clearing and confirming of it while each side watch the extreams that others may be in hazard of running into And if controversie be fairly and meekly managed this way we may differ and plead our Opinions and both love and edifie them we oppose and may be loved and edified by them in their Opposition I know no fear possesseth our side but that of Arminianism Let us be fairly secured from that and as we ever hated true Antinomianism so we are ready to oppose it with all our might But having such grounds of jealousie as I have named and it s well known that I have not named all men will allow us to fear that this Noise of Antinomianism is raised and any advantage they have by the Rashness and Imprudence of some Ignorant Men is
by Faith and as to this charge he is innocent And Innocence is defence enough to a man falsly charged before a Righteous Judge Is this charge given us against an Unbeliever We allow it is a Righteous charge Ay but say they Will Christ's Righteousness justifie a man from this Charge of Gospel-Vnbelief The answer is plain No it will not nor yet from any other charge whatsoever either from Law or Gospel for he hath nothing to do with Christ's Righteousness while an Unbeliever What then doth this arguing reprove Is it that no mans Faith in Christ's Righteousness can be justified in its sincerity before men and in a mans own Conscience but in and by the fruits of a true lively faith In this they have no Opposers that I know of Or is it That a man may have Christ's Righteousness for his Legal Righteousness and yet be a Rebel to the Gospel and a stranger to true Holiness Who ever affirmed it Or is it That this Gospel-Holiness is that that a man must not only have for that we grant but also may venture to stand in and to be found in before God and to enter into judgement with God upon in his Claim to Eternal Life Then we must oppose them that think so as we know their own Consciences will when in any lively exercise These plain Principles of gospel-Gospel-Truth while they remain and remain they will on their own foundation when we are all in our Graves and our foolish contentions are buried do overthrow this pretended charge 1. That Christ's Righteousness is the only Plea and Answer of a Sinner arraigned at God's Bar for Life and Death 2. This Righteousness is imputed to no man but a Believer 3. When it is imputed by Grace and applied by Faith it immediately and eternally becomes the mans Righteousness before God Angels Men and Devils Rom. 8.33 35 38 39. It is a Righteousness that is never lost never taken away never ineffectual answereth all charges and is attended with all Graces 2. I would ask What is that Righteousness that justifies a man from the Sin of Unbelief We have rejected the imaginary charge let us now consider the Real Sin Unbelief is the greatest Sin against both Law and Gospel More remotely against the Law which binds all men to believe God speaking say what he will more directly against the Gospel which tells us what we should believe and commands us to believe Let us put this case and it is pity the case is so rare when the Sin is so common that a poor soul is troubled about the greatness of the Sin of Unbelief in calling God a Lyar. 1 John 5.10 in distrusting his faithful promise in doubting Christ's ability and good-will to save in standing aloof so long from Jesus Christ as many of the Elect are long in a state of Unbelief till called and the best of Believers have Unbelief in some measure in them Mark 9.24 Abraham's faith staggered sometimes Gen. 12. and 20. What shall we say to a Conscience thus troubled Will any man dare to tell him that Christ's Righteousness is his Legal Righteousness against the Charge of Sins against the Law but for Gospel-Charges he must answer them in his own Name I know our hottest Opposers would abhor such an Answer and would freely tell such a man that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all Sin and that his Justification from his Unbelief must be only in that Righteousness which he so sinfully had rejected while in Unbelief and now lays hold on by Faith 3. But some extend this Argument yet more dangerously For they say That not only men must have their Faith for their Righteousness against the Charge of Unbelief but Repentance against the charge of Impenitence Sincerity against that of Hypocrisie Holiness against that of Vnholiness and Perseverance as their Gospel-Righteousness against the charge of Apostasy If they mean only that these things are Justifications and Fruits of true Faith and of the sincerity of the Grace of God in us We do agree to the meaning but highly dislike the expressions as Unscriptural and Dangerous tending to the dishonouring of the Righteousness of Christ and to run men on the Rocks of Pride and Self-Righteousness that natural corruption drives all men upon But if they mean that either jointly or separately they are our Righteousness before God or that either separate from or mixed with Christ's Righteousness they may be made our Claim and Plea for Salvation I must say that it is dangerous Doctrine and its native tendency is to turn Christ's imputed Righteousness out of the Church to destroy all the solid Peace of Believers and to exclude Gospel Justification out of this world and reserve it to another and that with a horrible uncertainty of any particular mans partaking of it But these Blessed Truths of God and blessings of Believers stand on firmer foundations than Heaven or Earth and will continue fixed against all the Attempts of the Gates of Hell Blessed be the Rock Christ on which all is built blessed be the New Covenant ordered in all things and sure and blessed is he that belieneth for there shall be a performance of those things which are told him from the Lord Luke 1.45 Amen London Sept. 1. 1692. FINIS ADVERTISEMENT MR. Rutherfoord's Letters the Third Edition Now divided in Three Parts The First containing those which were written from Aberdeen where he was confined by a Sentence of the High Commission drawn forth against him partly upon the account of his declining them partly upon the account of his Nonconformity The Second and Third containing some which were written from Anwoth before he was by the Prelates persecution thrust from his Ministry and others upon occasions afterward from St. Andrews London c. Published for the use of all the People of God but more particularly for those who now are or afterwards may be put to suffering for Christ and his Cause By a well-wisher to the Work and People of God Printed for Dorman Newman at the King's Arms in the Poultry