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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97227	Vnbeleevers no subjects of iustification, nor of mystical vnion to Christ, being the sum of a sermon preached at New Sarum, with a vindication of it from the objections, and calumniations cast upon it by Mr. William Eyre, in his Vindiciæ justificationis. Together with animadversions upon the said book, and a refutation of that anti-sidian, and anti-evangelical errour asserted therein: viz. the justification of infidels, or the justification of a sinner before, and without faith. Wherein also the conditional necessity, and instrumentality of faith unto justification, together with the consistency of it, with the freness of Gods grace, is explained, confirmed, and vindicated from the exceptions of the said Mr. Eyre, his arguments answertd [sic], his authorities examined, and brought in against himself. By T. Warren minister of the Gospel at Houghton in Hampshire.	Warren, Thomas, 1616 or 17-1694.	1654 (1654)	Wing W980; Thomason E733_10; ESTC R206901	226,180	282

to their consciences but not for the benefit which they had in Christ before they were borne And what diminution is it of the grace of Christ if they were justified from the time of Christs death to tell them there is a sufficiency in the death of Christ for Justification when according to you there is an efficiency in the death of Christ forasmuch as they were not virtually only but actually and formally as you affirme p. 63. justified at his death Nor will it help you to say you speak there of the non-elect for we are bound to presse all men to believe as you there acknowledge and it is not known who are Elect neither to the Minister nor to the people therefore in pressing the Elect to believe a sufficiency you extenuate the merit of Christs death if they were actually justified as you affirme And there is the same ground of Faith to all the ability of Christ to save and Gods indefinite offer of salvation to whomsoever the Gospel is preached Fourteenthly He affirmeth Faith if it evidences our Justification is a signe is a dark and unsatisfying evidence as other works of Sanctification are 1 John 3.14 where he contradicteth the Apostle who saith By this we know that we are passed from death to life because we love the Brethren not we hope not we conjecture but we know it is a sure and stedfast signe Little children let no man deceive you 1 John 3.7 saith John he that doth righteousnesse is righteous is thereby viz. by his doing righteousnesse declared to be a righteous person Rom. 8.1 and in Rom. 8.1 he saith There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus and he givesh this as a signe Rom. 8.13 Who are in Christ who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit doth the Holy Ghost by Paul give us a dark unsatisfying evidence of our being in Christ What is more frequent then this he that is in Christ is a new Creature they that mortifie the deeds of the body shall live Gal 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof are all these dark and unsatisfying evidences then the Apostle did not well to propound them as satisfying evidences of the persons that are in Christ and shall be saved but we had rather suspect Mr. Eyre's opinion then question the Apostles judgement or unfaithfulness to propound dark and unsatisfying evidences of Justification 2. He saith that nothing that followes Faith is so apt to evidence or prove Justification as Faith because it is the first of all inherent graces but I take this for an errour and that works are every way as declarative of Justification if not more is an apparent truth For first if we speak of evidencing Justification to others it is more for saith the Apostle Thou hast faith shew me thy faith without thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works James 2.18 And Abraham was in this sense justified by his works If any man shall say he is a justified person Vers 2● 1 John 1.6 James 2.20 and yet liveth in the practice of any known sin I shall be bold to tell him he is a liar and the truth is not in him and works of Sanctification are no lesse declarative of Justification in evidencing it to the conscience then Faith For how shall I know my saith is a true faith an unfeigned faith and peculiar to the Elect but by the effect of a true Faith the works of Sanctification therefore if the truth of my faith be evidenced by my works then the truth of my justification is no lesse evidenced to my conscience by works then by faith nor is his reason of any worth because it is the first of all inherent graces this may prove it to have an excellency in that respect above other graces but that it hath for this reason an eminency above other graces in evidencing Justification is a lame consequence of which Master Eyre's Book is too full Fifteenthly He affirmerh that we should not be justified freely by grace if any condition were required of us in order to our Justification I take this also for a manifest errour if it be understood aright of an Evangelical condition ordained and wrought by God for the applying of Christs righteousnesse to Justification Indeed if you take a condition in a strict sense for a condition performed by us without the help of grace meriting and obliging God to give us the righteousnesse of Christ in such a sense it is true it is inconsistent with grace but such an Evangelical condition wrought by the grace of Christ without which we are not justified salvation is no lesse of grace though it be by faith as the Apostle speaketh Ye are saved by grace through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God where the Apostle speaketh of the grace of faith Eph. 2.8 and saith we are saved by it and yet he saith We are saved by grace because it is Gods gift Sixteenthly He saith pag. 99. that all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace are given us freely Pag 99. and not upon conditions performed by us viz. by our own strength yet God hath his order method in the bestowing of them c. If all the blessings of the Covenant be alike absolutely and freely given and alike merited by Christ and yet God may for order and methods sake deferre some blessings of the Covenant without wrong to Christs merits and satisfaction why is it any wrong to Christs death if Justification merited by Christ be suspended untill it be fitly applied by faith that God may not justifie a person under the reigne and power of sinne which is not agreeable to his Holinesse and Justice Seventeenthly In his 103. pag. he is guilty of a double error First ●ag 103. in making God to impute sin to men before there was any Law to offend or any breach of that Law committed by man And secondly in * Sin is apparently the cause onely of condemnation but not of Gods purpose Dr. Twisse Exam. Mr. Cot. p. 54. confounding Gods hatred of Justice with his negative act of non-election or preterition which ought to be distinguished He saith Though men will not impute sin or charge it where there is no Law to convince them of it yet it followes not but God did impute sin to men before there was any Law promulged or before the sin was actually committed for what is Gods hating of a person but his imputing of sin or his will to punish him for his sin Now the Lord hated all that perish before the Law was given To which I answer that Gods preterition or non-election though it be justly called a hatred negatively yet this was an act of Sovereignty and not of Justice nor is this hatred an imputing of their sin nor was their sin foreseen the cause *

faile of nor be led aside with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastnesse but may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Christ who is our hope shall be the prayer of him who is Your remembrancer at the throne of grace and your soules-servant in the worke of Christ THOMAS WARREN TO THE Christian Reader Courteous Reader IN this intervall of church discipline which is no small dammage to the church and a manifest injury to the Kingly office of Iesus Christ every bold adversary to the truth taketh liberty to question and denie the fundamentall articles of religion and being equally infranchized with the Orthodox in the liberty of the presse and armed with this advantage that the nature of man is more prone to embrace errour then truth and the Athenian itch having infecting the mindes of most men that they spend their time in nothing else but to relate or heare some new thing hence the world is at once infected with dangerous heresies and mens judgements are leavened with an antipathy against the knowne and received truths of Christ hinc illae lachrimae But to see Mr. Eyre and men of some name for learning walking in the throng of seducers and to list themselves among the common adversaries to religion and to become Satans decoyes to ensnare the simple and leade them from the simplicity of the gospel to see such men ascend the chair and turne professors and defenders of errour yea even panders to the flesh it is time for the lords servants to stand up as Champions for the truth But alas that complaint of Hierome concerning the seducers of his time may well be taken up Ardentius ab illis defenditur haeresis quàm à nostris oppugnatur Heresie is more zealously defended by them then opposed by us I confesse I prize the vnity of brethren and next to the peace of a good conscience the Churches peace provided that peace and truth may live together but where truth must be strangled to preserve peace it is better to ransome the life of truth though it be with the losse of peace For which cause I have appeared in this controversie not so much to vindicate my self defamed by Mr. Eyre as to rescue the truth which he doth under the shew of defending the freenesse of Gods grace therefore t●e more dangerously seeke to destroy his errour being of such consequence that it subverteth if received the whole order of the Gospel it opposeth a maine article of religion openeth a wide doore to profanenesse And next to this my respects to some to whom my ministery may be usefull hath drawn me forth to this vindication to whom I may say as Augustin Mihi sufficit conscientia mea Aug ad fratres in cremo vobis autem necessaria est fama mea The testimony of my owne conscience that I have not in that Sermon which M. Eyre doth oppose departed from the truth had been sufficient to me but to them a vindication of my selfe and it may be necessary What Mr. Eyres intentions were to rend the Churches peace and to trouble the world with the untimely birth of this errour I cannot tell sure I am that if it were not finis opperantis yet 't is finis operis the end of the work if not of the authour to unsettle christians in the doctrine of faith It may be because he reckons himselfe to be one of the manly sort of Divines he speakes of and not being content to lie in obscurity he is willing to raise an estate of reputation by letting the world see how able he is to defend an errour There are many who as learned Vossius well observes gloriosum putant toti antiquitati bellum indicere nec fl●ccipendunt si haeretici modo docti habeantur thinke it a glorious thing to oppose all antiquity nor doe they care to be accounted heretiques so they may have the repute of being learned And that his opinion viz. the Antedency of justification unto faith is repugnant to all orthodox antiquity is above contradiction Neither is there any one errour against which Scripture light doth more rise up in armes then this and I appeale to every intelligent reader whether it doth not run contrary to the very veine of the gospel which teacheth justification to be the effect not the cause of faith as he in terminis doth assert p. 78 79. that he seeth no absurdity to say that faith is from justification causally and justification by faith evidentially It was the complaint of Aug in his time sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae but we may invert and alter the proposition and say sub laudibus gratiae latent inimici fidei enemies to faith shelter themselves under the praises of Gods free grace And herein I wonder much at Mr. Eyre that he should oppose grace and faith when he knoweth that the adversaries he opposeth hold not faith a condition of the Covenant either in an Arminian or Popish sense and that the Scripture saith that it was the purpose of God to justifie us by faith that it might be of grace Rom. 4.16 2 Ephes. 8. as the reader may see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 4 to the Rom. 16 therefore it is of faith that it might be of grace and in 2. Ephes 8. by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of workes lest any man should boast I can scarcely have so much faith and charity to thinke that a man can live by faith that sets himselfe to destroy that grace of faith by which we live however 1 Eph. 18.19 ● 1 Rom. 17. 2 H●b 4. 3 Eph. 17. he is a small friend to this grace which the Scripture doth so highly commend as being wrought by the same almighty power that wrought in Christ when God raised him from the dead by which the just shall live and by which Christ dwelleth in our hearts that shall deprive it of the most vitall and noble act of it viz. of vniting us to Christ and intitling us to the righteousnesse of Christ unto justification I plead not for faith so as to set the crowne upon her head which is due to Christ alone shee is content to be the friend of the bridegroom neither seeketh she to share with Christ in the honour of Salvation Faith is content and all that have it to wither in their reputation it is fit that Christ should increase and we decrease we plead not then to have faith to be a corrivall with Christ to be a sociall and coordinate cause in the justification of a sinner And yet wee cannot but give it that office which God hath assigned to it to be an instrumentall cause of justification wherein it hath the praecedency above all other graces as being the only instrument ordained of God to receive Christs righteousnesse and so not only to

description of our conference by introducing interlocutours as if I were ad incitas redactus and that they did interpose to helpe me for it seemeth to me to be his end in that relation hath made me willing to wipe off that obloquie by entring the lists once more with him whereas the true cause of that interruption was his popular appeales his usuall artifice to evade the force of an argument to enthrone himselfe as victor in the hearts of the in-judicious multitude In a word the ensuing reasons were no small motive to inforce me to this work The bridge of justification by which men must passe over from death to life is very narrow and one step awry may be the losse of many pretious soules and all gospel truth is a pretious depositum concredited to us ministers of the gospel and is a part of that * 2 Tim. 1.14 Jude 3. good thing committed to us and we are commanded earnestly to * contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints Aug ad Lauren cap. 64. and this doctrine of justification is articulus stantis vel cadentis Ecclesiae as Luther saith the Church standeth or falleth according as this truth is beleeved or violated and what Augustine saith of remission of sins that I may say of faith by which remission of sins is received per hanc stat Ecclesia quae in terris est per hanc non perit quod perierat et inventum est And therefore there is a necessity of keeping this doctrine pure and every minister is bound to preserve this truth and to keep the Philistins from throwing dirt into this well And if Shamma be recorded in Sacred writ for defending a field of lentills against the Philistins surely it cannot but be acceptable to God and man to defend that doctrine which is the summe of the gospel confirmed with the blood of Christ And if it were Pauls Eulogium to preach that faith which he did once destroy it cannot be Mr. Eyres encomium to destroy that faith he ought to preach And seeing God himself taketh care of the very haires of our head and numbers them all we have much more reason to make a precious esteeme of that truth which is worth all our heads and by which our very soules must be saved And no lesse care ought we to have of the honour of Christ and of his mysticall body For who is he that is a living member of Christ that is not sensible of the dishonour done to Christ our head and what dishonour is done to Christ by this doctrine by making an unbeleever a subject of justification and a member of Christs body let him that is least in the Church judge The Apostle could not without an absit thinke of it that a member of Christ should be joyned to a harlot shall I take the members of Christ and make them the member of a harlot God forbid and is it not an annoynted truth of the same authority 1 Cor. 6.15 that I must not take a harlot so remaining and make it the member of Christ If Mezentius was condemned for a wicked tyrant for tying a dead man to a living person can he be esteemed a good Christian and friend to Christ not to say a good minister that shall joyne an unbeleever dead in sins and trespasses as a member unto Christ the Lord give him the sight of this evill and God forbid I should cease to pray for him and I hereby beg a Collection of praiers for him from all that know him for I beleeve his owne principles will not suffer him to pray for the pardon of sin which in his opinion is pardoned long before it is committed And now that I might not trouble the Reader any further I will but mention a passage or two in his Epistle dedicatory and another in his booke and I will not hold him from the discourse it selfe Mr. Eyre hath in his second page of that Epistle perfumed his brethren opposite to his errours to render them acceptable to the magistrate It is remarkable saith he 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 lawfull 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 doe by strength of argument But is this an irrefragable argument to prove eternall justification or a lively demonstration of a man parboiled in his passion is this the effect of charity or the foame of a passionate man was he sick of a fever or troubled with the scurvy when this passage fell from him I am sure there is neither charity nor verity in it if it be examined by the law of God or the knowne lawes of the land if he be able let him produce any proofe of our disobedience to authority least the world say he hath linguam mentiri doctam But nothing is more usuall then for the nocent to accuse the innocent * 1 K. 18.17 4 Eph. 3. Ahab accused Elijah for troubling of Israel when himselfe was the person that troubled Israel * Athaliah crye's treason treason when her selfe was the traitor 2 K. 11.14 * 4 Act. 5. Tertullus accused Paul that he was a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition when himselfe was the ring-leader of a notorious faction And were I minded to recriminate and did seeke rather to d sparage his person then to weaken his case I might more justly retort the charge upon himself for his bold attempt in indeavouring to affright the chiefe magistrate of the city of N. Sarum from or for his proclaiming the Lord Protectour fearing it seems that I may use his own words that he would not serve his turne and therefore he would not have him hold the sword because he would not use it to fight his quarrel But in this suggillation of his to make his brethren odious and obnoxious to authority the reader may observe how closely be followeth Lysanders Counsel vbi leonina pellis non sufficit assumenda est vulpina that where the lions skin will not serve he will eeke it out with a fox skin he would stop our mouths or pull out our tongues because he cannot answer our arguments as Herod dealt with Iohn Baptist cutting off his head because he would not hold his peace but reprove him for Herodias so he would silence us by power who he cannot overcome by reason To whom I will say as Hieron in his Apol. 3. ad Ruff talibus institutus es disciplinis ut cui respondere non poteris caput auferas et linguam quae tacere non potest secas In his third page of the same epistle he would have the magistrate punish

were without Christ because without the saving knowledge of Christ and so were in a hopelesse-estate till God did reveale Christ to them and thus as Paul tells the Corinthians If the Gospel be hid it is hid from them that are lost they are a lost people to whom the Gospel is hid Now it is hid two wayes 1. When it is not revealed and thus where no vision a Prov. 2918. is the people perish And they that sit in b Isa 9.2 Matth. 4.16 darknesse sit in the region and the shadow of death 2. When it is c 2 Cor. 4.4 hid from a people in regard of the saving light and efficacy of it and in both these senses the Gospel was hid from them for they had not Christ the d Col. 1.27 hope of glory preached to them the e Eph. 3.8 unsearchable riches of Christ was not yet revealed to them much lesse was Christ revealed f Gal 1.16 in them by the powerful illumination and effectuall operation of the Spirit of Christ Secondly A man is said to be without Christ when he was never united to Christ and made one with him when he never had any real communion with Christ when Christ did never g Eph. 3 17. dwel in his heart by faith and he was never united to Christ by his Spirit when they were never implanted into Christ by faith Thus the Ephesians were without Christ they were not so much as in him by external profession much lesse by mystical implantation there was never any mutual act between Christ and them Christ exhibiting himself to them and they adhering and dwelling in Christ by faith they had not the Spirit of Christ working an unity of wills a confederacy of affections a participation of natures a concurrence to the making up the same body and this is here principally intended And thus the greatest number of men and women that live under the sound of the Gospel are without Christ and were never in him to this day Now all that are thus in a Christlesse-estate are in a hopelesse-estate let no man flatter himself think that because Christ the Son of God died for sinners they shall be saved by giving a general assent to this truth I tell you Christ himself shall not save you unlesse you be united to him by faith We preach saith the Apostle Christ in you the hope of glory h Col. 1.27 not Christ among you as some * As Mr. Eyre Epist Flock p. 2. interpret it but in you Christus per fidem receptus habitans in vobis * Dickson in locum Christus per fidem receptus habiants in vo●is Explicat quid revelavit in genere vocat divitias summam scilicet Evangelii Deinde explicat clariùs quae sint illae divitiae Christus non simpliciter extra nos sed in nobis inhabitans per fidem Ergo dum Christus est extra nos divitiarum coelestium non possumus esse participes * Z nch in loc In vobis quia nunc Christum possident a quo nuper erant tam alieni Calv. apud Marlo And Diodat In you namely of which mystery Christ who is preached among you is the whole subject or inhabiting reigning operating in you by his Spirit which in you is a certain pledge of glory And seeing the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the proper signification of it signifieth in and it is a truth agreeable to the scripture that Christ dwelleth in us and Christ so dwelling is the hope of glory It is a senselesse cavil of Mr. Eyre in his Epistle to his People in his Vindiciae Justificationis To call this Interpretation a delusion that we call works or inherent holinesse by the Name of Christ the successe of this bait saith he 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 sinnes Col. 1.27 which mistake he saith is grounded upon Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of glory whereas Christ in you is no more then Christ preached among you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred among in the same ver If this be granted that hindreth not but the word in the next acception of it should be taken in its proper genuine signification though in the first place there is necessity so to interpret it And as for that dream of calling inherent works by the Name of Christ if any so do we abhorre it with him yet ought we not because some abuse the Scripture there●ore to lose the benefit of any saving truth and seeing Christ doth really dwell in us by faith we fear not to assert this without the suspition Familisme Mistake me not I do not say that Christ dwelleth in Beleevers by any personal inhabitation so as to make an hypostalical union but by the graces and operation of his Spirit and unlesse he thus dwell in thy soul and be united to thee thou canst not be saved As the man-slayer could not be safe if the avenger of blood found him out of the City of refuge And as Lot was not safe till he was in Zoar So Christ in our City of refuge he is our Zoar we must flie to for safety and God hath promised only strong k Heb. 6.18 consolation to such as flie for refuge to this hope set before them in Christ And as none were saved that did hang about the Ark when the flood came but they that were got into the Arke and shut up in it so none that do hang upon Christ only by external profession shall be saved but such as get into Christ by mystical implantation And hence in Scripture we read of a mutual indwelling of Christ in us and we in Christ to which the comfort of salvation is ascribed thus in Rom. 8.1 Rom. 8.1 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your selves Know ye not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 that is seeing you question my Ministery and seek a proof of Christ speaking in me I pray saith he reflect upon your selves if you have any faith and Christ dwelling in you by faith and unlesse ye will judge your selves to be reprobates rejected and disallowed of God for such as are not in Christ and so none of his members you must acknowledge our Ministery by whom ye were begotten to the faith Now I put it to your selves you know it to be a plaine truth that Christ is in you by faith and if he be not you can judge at present your selves to be no better then reprobates Now unlesse you acknowledge our Ministery you must condemne your selves where you see that such as have not Christ dwelling in them they are in the judgement of Paul

Apostle had been We are justified by faith that is faith doth evidence our justification and works do not evidence it this makes the Apostles words to be untrue and he should uphold a needlesse strife and they should be in the truth and he in an errour But we shall rather suspect this glosse then so farre question the credit of St. Paul who was Amanuensis Spiritûs Sancti the Penman of the Holy Ghost Vse 1 The first Use then may be to shew us the miserable estate of a Christlesse man an unbeliever not united to Christ by faith As the body without the soule is dead so is a man without Christ dead in sinnes and trespasses As a branch separated from the vine withers away and shall surely be cast into the fire so that soul that is without Christ will wither in his profession and make fuel for everlasting burnings What awretched condition doth this discover a multitude of persons to be in at this day not only such as are without Christ because without the means by which God offers and exhibites Christ though their condition be very sad but even of those to whom Christ is preached and salvation by Christ offered but yet alas they are as great strangers to Christ as if they had never heard of him they know not what union and communion with Christ means they never were cut off from their old stock but are members of the first Adam who are yet in their sins ready to perish everlastingly for want of union with Christ to give them a right unto his righteousnesse if God stop but their breath which he can as easily do as a man would crush a moth they are everlastingly undone and we may say of them as Christ of Iudas It had been good for them they had never been borne Let such persons as these are know that have lived under excellent means and yet are not drawn to faith It shall be more tolerable in the day of judgement for the Heathen that never heard of Christ then for them if they die in this estate they shall not be damned for not believing in Christ for Christ was never revealed unto them but Christ have been revealed unto you the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ hath been laid open before your eyes God hath made many sweet offers of Christ and all his benefits unto your soules when God hath denied to Dives a drop of water to coole his tongue the windowes of heaven have been opened to you and the fountaines of the great deep of the bottomlesse mercy of God have been broken up and the Seas and depths of Gods mercies in Christ have been opened to you One would think the most iron-hearted sinner would be allured with such bowels of mercy as have wept over you and yet you have received all the grace of God in vain you have not been brought over unto Christ by faith how will this provoke the Lord to the sorest vengeance that the hand of a jealous God can inflict If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and obedience received a just recompense of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation This will be condemnation with a witnesse That light is come into the world and men love darknesse rather then light Thou that art not united to Christ thou hast as yet no part nor portion in Christ thou art yet in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquity Indeed there is righteousness enough in Christ to justifie thee if all the sins of all the men in the world did lie upon thee yet if thou beest a member of Christ none of all these should condemne thee yea with reverence be it spoken God can no more condemne thee then he can condemne his Son that died for thee thou art as safe from condemnation as Christ but thou that art yet out of Christ by unbelief let me tell thee the very blood of Christ cannot save thee in this estate God must make a new Gospel and deny himself or else thou canst not come to heaven What claime canst thou lay to Christs righteousnesse that hast no interest in Christ himself will he give his blood to thee that never gave himself to thee Thou that art a Christlesse person thou art a gracelesse person for if God have not made Christ righteousnesse to thee to justifie thee he is not made sanctification to thee thou art a godlesse a hopelesse man in this estate As it was said of Coniah so may I say of thee Ob earth earth earth write this man childlesse a man that shall not prosper all his dayes he was a broken vessel in whom the Lord had no pleasure so thou art a broken vessel in whom the Lord hath no pleasure Oh earth earth earth write this man gracelesse hopelesse heavenlesse a man that shall not prosper all his dayes Oh what a dreadful thing must death needs be to thee when thou diest that hast no Christ to intercede for thee nor righteousnesse to appeare in If all the haires upon thy head were so many vipers in thy bosome they will not sting thy body more deadly then sin will sting thy soul unto death eternal Know therefore that without union with Christ it would be well with thee if thou couldest change conditions with the meanest beast or creature God hath given to serve thee yea take the Sodomites that now suffer the vengeance of eternal fire they shall have a Summers parlour in hell over that soule that hath had such offers of Christ as you have had and yet dies in a Christlesse estate without union with him I beseech you lay it strongly to heart before the wrath of the Lord break forth like fire against you and burne down to the lowest hell and there be none to quench it Vse 2 2. See what a blessed thing it is for the Lord to give a people the means whereby they may become one with Christ for God to give unto us his Word which is the means to cut us off from the old stock and to implant us into Christ for God to give us his Gospel and that his Spirit should attend upon the Word preached without which the Word preached would be as uselesse as the Gardners kniffe which cannot cut off a branch nor be helpful to the implantation of it without the hand of the Gardner to act and improve it and so the Word without the Spirit would implant none Oh r●st it is the Spirit in the Word that works faith and so drawes and unites the soule to Christ Now that God should give a people his Word and his Spirit to apply Christ to them and them to Christ that there may be a mutual application of them as there is of the stock to the graft and the graft to the stock that the Beleever may apprehend Christ and be apprehended by him and so grow up into union and blessed fellowship and communion with Christ

in his death and resurrection Oh what a blessed unspeakable mercy is this without which Christ himself would not save us and therefore though the world slight the Word preached yet if we did rightly consider it as a meanes of union to Christ we should think it a greater blessing then to be made heires of the world and should God take it away from a people it would be a greater losse then the Sun out of the Firmament But if it be such a blessing to have the Word preached which is the meanes to beget faith whereby this union is made what a mercy is it to that soul to whom the Lord hath blessed it as a meanes of his insition into Christ that the preaching of the law hath been in the hand of God as the Gardners knife by which he hath cut thee off from the old stock● the stock of nature and that the preaching of the Gospel hath been the means to implant thee into Christ as into a new stock by whom thou that wert dead in sins and trespasses art now spiritually alive unto God in Christ and thou that wert a childe of wrath a fire-brand of hell art now made a child of God an heire of eternal life If to be without Christ be the fountain of all misery then to be one with Christ is the spring and fountaine of all blessednesse If all the generations shall call the mother of Christ blessed because she bare Christ in her wombe all the Angels of heaven shall call thee blessed that hast Christ dwelling in thy heart by faith Oh what a comfort was it to Noah when he was in the Arke when he saw so many thousands sinking and drowning in the waters without any hope of escaping and yet he sate secure in his Arke without any feare and as the waters did arise so his Arke did arise So what a comfort will it be to a soul in Christ when he shall see so many roaring and damning going to hell without mercy and he himself that was united to Christ saved Oh what a comfort was it to Lot when all Sodome was of a light fire burning and flaming about the ears of the Inhabitants and they crying out for anguish and extremity of paine that he who was an Inhabitant in that place and had no minde to go out was by the hand of God mercifully snatcht out of those flames and had a Zoar to flie unto where he might be safe from those burnings So when the world shall at the great day be of a light fire about mens ears and all the wicked that are without Christ in the world shall be condemned to hell to dwell with devouring fire and everlasting burnnings that then thy self who wert a childe of wrath by nature as well as others and as unwilling to go out of thy self unto Christ for life as ever Lot was to go out of Sodome and yet by the merciful hand of God he did pluck thee as a brand out of the fire and by his Spirit did draw thee unto faith in Christ that in him thy soul might finde everlasting rest and safety in Christ Oh what cause hast thou to be everlastingly thankful unto the Lord for this mercy The 3d. Use shall be to put you upon the trial whether or no you be united unto Christ for otherwise whosoever thou art thy estate is wretched thou art a hopelesse man without God and without any well grounded hope in the world Now this may be known by several signes The first that I will give is this There will be much fruitfulnesse in that soul that is united to Christ for Christ is a very fruitful Vine and every branch in him bringeth forth much fruit John 15.5 Every branch that abideth in me the same bringeth forth much fruit Where observe that Christ is compared to a Vine and his Members that are really united not by profession only are compared to Branches that abide in the Vine for a dead branch is cut off and cast into the fire and an abiding branch brings forth much fruit And as a branch of a Vine is worth nothing unlesse it be for fruit a man cannot make a pin to fasten in a wall of the branch of a Vine so that an unfruitful Christian is the most unprofitable person in the world and there is nothing can be pleaded to keep a dead branch of a Vine from the fire it is good for no other use if it bring not forth fruit it must serve for fuel So then all such as are in Christ must be fruitful it is the end why a Christian is ingraffed into Christ to make him fruitful wherefore doth a man put a graft into another stock but for fructification this is Gods end in uniting a soul to Christ God looks for much fruit and better fruit as a man would never be at pains to ingraft a cion unlesse he did expect better fruit and more fruit then he had before Eph. 2.10 Hence we are said to be Gods workmanship in Christ created unto good works the Lord of the Vine-yard sent his servant to demand some fruit Mark 12.2 and Christ is a very fruitful stock there is much sap and fatness in this spirituall root and it 's a dishonour to Christ the stock into which a Christian is planted if he bring not forth fruit but what is this fruit why Matth. 3 8. 't is such as Iohn the Baptist called for fruits meet for repentance such as may evidence and testifie the truth of repentance and its fruit unto holinesse as Paul tells the Romanes That being made free from sin Rom. 6.22 and become servants of God they had their fruit unto holinesse And in another place this is called fruits of righteousnesse Phi. 1.11 when a Christian is filled with the fruits of righteousnesse which are to the praise and glory of God when a man is fruitfull in every good work both in works of piety towards God and charity towards men when there is not only leaves of external profession Col. 1.10 but reall fruits of holinesse and sanctification and observe it it is fruitfulnesse in every good work so that our fruit must be good for the quality much for the quantity Art thou such a fruitfull Christian doest thou bring forth fruits meet for repentance may the change of thy heart be read in the change of thy life is it such fruit as may evidence the truth and power of grace art thou no longer a servant to sin but a servant of righteousnesse is thy affection to sin mortified They that are Christs Gal. 5.24 have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts thereof Art thou like a tree planted by the rivers of water bringing forth fruit in its season do'st thou bring forth fruit when God expects it do'st thou bring forth fruit not to thy self but unto God as a tree brings forth fruit for the Master so do'st thou live to God

did not intend a direct Series and order of the causes of salvation in this place from whence then it may be concluded those that are uncalled are unjustified so are the Elect Jewes Therefore A third reason is because they who are alienated from God they are not reconciled and by consequence not justified So are the Elect Jewes yet uncalled Therefore c. As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sakes but as touching the Election they are beloved for the Fathers sake that is as * De Judaeorum gente in genere disserit qui quòd Evangelium idest quatenus Evangelium non admittunc nempe in praesenti conditi●ne sunt De● exosi c. Beza saith upon the place Quatenus Evangelium non admittunt sunt Deo exosi quod ad Electionem attinet c. That is as they refuse the Gospel they are enemies or hateful to God in the present condition for your sakes which is to be understood that God so ordered it for the Gentiles good that upon their rejection they might be called but as concerning the Election they are beloved for the promises God made to their forefathers but as to their present condition they are hatefull to God therefore unjustified Eleventhly That that maketh the witnesse of the Spirit to be false cannot be true But to make unbelievers though Elect persons the subjects of Justification doth this Therefore c. The assumption only needeth proof Rom. 8.15 yet it is evident because the Spirit doth witnesse to the Elect unregenerate that they are in a state of bondage whence that Spirit is called the Spirit of bondage but in this witnesse the Spirit is a Spirit of truth therefore the Elect unregenerated are not justified CHAP. VIII Shewing that we are justified by faith and that when the Scriptures speak of Justification by Faith it doth not understand it only declaratively but really in the sight of God nor objectively excluding the act and the instrumentality of Faith is proved HEre also for a right understanding of the matter in hand I shall premise First That we are not justified by faith in the sense of the Papists as if it did justifie us per modum causae efficient●● mor●●oriae as a proper efficient and meritoriour c●●●e which by its own worth or dignity deserves to obtaine Justification so Bellarmine saith Bellar De Justific l. 1. c. 17. it doth justifie impetrando promorendo inchoando justificationem Nor Secondly Do we say that faith justifies in an Arminian sense as if the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere the act of believing were imputed to us for righteousnesse or that Faith in the Covenant of Grace standeth instead of that obedience we owe to the Moral Law so as that our imperfect faith is for Christs sake accepted for perfect ●ighteousnesse Thirdly Faith doth not justifie us as the matter of our righteousnesse as a grace or a work or an act or a habit but the matter of our Justification is Christs righteousnesse and obedience Fourthly Faith is not to be taken objectively only that is for Christ as Mr. Eyre interprets it though it be willingly acknowledged that we are justified by no other righteousnesse then the righteousnese of Christ But Fifthly I take Faith subjectively and properly for the grace of Faith and that act of it whereby as a hand it layeth hold upon Christ for Justification and so it is to be taken with connotation to its object That if you ask for what I am justified I say the only righteousnesse of Christ imputed if you ask by what I am justified I answer by Faith as an hand to put on Christ as an instrument appointed by God to apply Christ so that Faith is not the matter of my righteousnesse but answereth in my participation of the righteousnesse in Christ to that which is the ground of my being partaker in Adams sin Sixthly This grace of Faith is the free gift of God not the birth or spawn of free will but the effect of Election and a fruit of Christs death Seventhly When the Scripture saith We are justified by faith it is to be taken for this grace of Faith relatively considered as to its object and by applying Christs righteousnesse a Believer is justified really in the sight of God by a change of his estate from death to life so that it doth not only declaratively evidence Justification to the conscience but instrumentally it justifieth us so as that I must be justified by it though I am not justified for it These things premised I shall now prove it It were needlesse to mention the Scriptures that expressely say we are justified by faith it being acknowledged that the Scripture clearly speaketh so but only the difference is how this is to be taken whether properly metonymically or both to which last I incline in the sense explained So that neither Christ alone nor Faith alone do justifie but that they are social causes though not co-ordinate and ejusdem generis of the same kinde or worth but Christ is a morall meritorious cause Faith the instrumental working only virtute agentis principalis by the power order constitution of the principal agent to the production of an effect far above its own native-worth or power Argument the first against declarative Justification The matter in controversie between Paul and the Justiciaries in his time was not by what we come to the knowledge of our Justification but by what means we are justified it is of farre greater concernment to be justified then to know his Justification he said we were justified by faith they by the Law whence I reason If faith taken subjectively for the grace of faith do only evidence Justification then we are no more justified by faith then by works But the Apostle ascribeth more to faith then to works Therefore faith doth more then evidence Justification The consequence is evident because works may evidence Justification nay works are of a more declarative evidencing nature then faith Hence the truth of faith is evidenced by works not only to others but to our selves and that works evidence this Justification of a sinner is apparent Rom. 8.1 Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit By this we know that we are passed c. 1 John 3.14 Now the Assumption I confirme thus that the Apostle attributes more to faith then to works because the Scripture no where saith we are justified by works in his blood but it saith we are justified by faith in his blood And when the Apostle speaketh of Justification by faith he meaneth of a Justification before God as in that third to the Romanes he concludeth by a sound argument that we are justified in the sight of God and not before conscience Thus if all have sinned and are come short of the glory of God and so are inherently wicked then we are