this day He says My second is that which is procured for any one thereunto he hath a right The thing that is obtained is granted by him of whom it is obtained and that to them for whom it is obtained To this is answered 1. In the Margent that I should make Appendix to Dr. Owen 's Answer to Biddle p. 35. great Changes in England if I could make all the Lawyers believe this strange Doctrine but of what the Lawyers believe or do not believe Mr. B. is no Competent Judge be it spoken without Disparagement for the Law is not his study I who perhaps have much less skill than him self will be bound at any time to give him Twenty Cases out of the Civil and Cannon Law to make good this Assertion which if he knows not that it may be done he ought not to speak with such Confidence of these things Nay amongst our own Lawyers whom perhaps he intends I am sure I may be informed that if a Mâ—n intercede with another to settle his Land by conveyance to a third Person giving him that Conveyance to keep in trust until the time come that he should by the Intention of the Conveyer enjoy the Land though he for whom it is granted have not the least knowledge of it yet he hath such a Right unto the Land thereby created as cannot be disanull'd This is the very thing for which it is that Dr. Crisp brings in this Text and Beza's Annotation thereupon and that in the very Page whence the Charge is fetcht Namely that Justification is truly and properly the work of God himself and cannot be the work of Faith Nay he goes farther Suppose says he Dr. Crisp's Works Vol. 2. Pag. 325. you should have the words to run as they are commonly render'd I answer Then are we to distinguish in Faith of two things there is the Act it self of believing and the Object on which we do believe and so the words may be understood thus Being justified by the Righteousness of Faith or by the Righteousness of Christ which we do believe We have Peace with God and so ascribe our Justification to the Object of our believing the Righteousness of Christ and not to the Act of Believing The truth is Beloved the Act of Believing is a Work and as much our Work as our Fear and Prayer and love is and the Apostle should contradict himself when he saith We are saved by Grace through Faith not of Works if he mean the Act of Faith And he might as well have said We are not justified by Works but we are justified by Works This he further distinguishes in the same Page unto which I refer thee which our Author with various huffing Reflections and rotten Inferences most partially and falsly quotes in his 6th and 7th Pages That to be short there is not only a distinction between the Act and Object of Faith and that as properly relating unto our Justification and Righteousness therein but also to God's Act of our Justification in Heaven as fully Precedaneous to the termination thereof in Conscience Dr. Owen upon the 1 Cor. 1. 30. in his refutation of Socinus and Bellarmine tells us That Christ is made of God Righteousness unto us in such a way and manner as the nature of the thing doth require Say some it is because by him we are justified However the Text says not That by him we are justified but he is of God made Righteousness unto us which is not our Dr. Owen of Justification p. 502. Justification but the Ground Cause and Reason whereon we are justified Righteousness is one thing and Justification is another Now either this Righteousness is in an eternal decretive and material sense truly and irrevocably theirs before they believe or upon what Grounds is it that God can be reckoned just in his justifying of them even when they believe But there is a secret grub lies at the bottom of all this our Author's Indignation which we must endeavour to find out See Dr. Owen against Mr. Baxter in the fore-mentioned Appendix Now I say that in the sense wherein I affirm that Justification is terminated in Conscience I may yet also affirm and that suitably to the utmost Intention Dr. Owen 's Appendix against Mr. Baxter in his Answer to Biddle pag. 19. of mine in that expression that Justification by Faith is not a knowledge or feeling of Justification before given nor a Justification in or by our own Consciences but somewhat that goes before all such Justification as this is and is a Justification before God And is not this true How many scores of our ancient solid Reformers might be brought in to attest this truth wherein and whereby they distinguish'd themselves in a Fundamental sense as Protestants from Papists But it seems as our Author thinks Dr. Crisp did not pitch upon a right Text in this of Rom. 5. 1. though it and it s Context undeniably prove he did to fix this his Discrimination upon and therefore alters the Scene of the Charge against him i e. from a distinguishing to a confounding Explication p. 7. where he to his own Admiration no doubt Learnedly explains Gal. 3. 24. for if the Apostle's Sense or Meaning be the same in one place of his Epistles as well as in another when he speaks more especially of being justified by Faith which our Author firmly asserts why then should he make a distinction between the Act and Object of Faith from Gal. 3. 24. which he denies unto the same Apostle from Rom. 5. 1. in Beza's Interpretation and the Doctor 's Quotation of him for that end A strong Memory I see is exceeding requisite for a Lying and Prevaricating Spirit This is not far unlike the Devil's Proceedings with Job who when he saw that his Accusation of him before God for an Hypocrite did not prove true or hold Water then does he slily seek by his Wife in an Instrumental Sense to cause him to part with his Integrity Just thus it is that our Author most shamefully spews out his own Treachery Dr. Goodwin upon Eph. 2. 6. saith that Our Salvation is in God's Gifts and in Christ's personating of us mark this piece of Crispianism and apprehending of us it is perfect and compleat though in our Persons as in us it is wrought by degrees Further. pag. 218 219. He Doct. Goodwin upon the Epistle to the Eph. ch 2. 6. p. 217 218. 219. tells us You see the distinction between in Christ and with Christ we are said to be quickned with Christ why because that Work as it is wrought in Christ once for us hath now some Accomplishment in us but speaking of the Resurrection to come he does not say we are raised up in Christ but raised up with Christ do but learn to distinguish for the want of this makes many Men to mistake A Man before he is called he is justified in Christ but not with Christ that is
it is not actually applyed to the Man's Person his Person is not put in foro verbi in the State of Justification Learn I say to distinguish between receiving a thing in Christ and receiving it with Christ you receive it with Christ when it is actually applyed to your Person we now sit together in Christ in Heaven would you desire no other sitting in Heaven with Christ than now you have Certainly you would As you sit in Christ so likewise you would sit with Christ so take a Man before such time as he believeth and is converted to God would he have no other Sanctification Would you have for your Child suppose you believe him to be elect or had an immediate infallible Warrant so to think no other Sanctification or Justification than he hath then No you would have him Sanctified with Christ and justified with Christ which is to have that which he had in Christ applyed to him and he put actually in his own Person in the state of it The want of the consideration of these things causeth a great mistake in this Age you shall find that still the Scripture useth that Phrase of these things which we not only have in Christ as in a common person but it must be applied unto our own Persons also for would any Man desire to be no more glorified than he is now Yet as we are perfectly glorified in Christ now so we were perfectly justified in Christ when he arose and perfectly justified from all Eternity Who shall condemn the Elect of God Saith the Apostle Yet these must be applied to our own Persons and our Persons must actually be put into this condition When we come to Heaven then he saith we shall sit with Christ in his Throne Rev. 3. but while we are here on Earth then it is sitting in Christ The Consideration of this distinction would in a word clear the great Controversie that is now between the Antinomians as they call them and others about being justified before conversion whether a Man be justified before conversion or no or whether he be not so afterward as in some Sense he was not before I say we are justified in Christ from all Eternity and we are justified with Christ when we believe NOW if thy Doctor be not a thorow pac'd Crispian I know not who is and let me tell this Author by the way that if he dare appear openly in this Controversie and in which I offer him a full unreserved meeting whereunto let him bring what numbers and degrees of Persons he possibly can either by hook or by crook according to the constant practise of those of his perswasion to back him in the same I question not but by the wisdom power and Grace of God sufficiently to manifest that Dr. Crisp fully accords with all those more antient and modern REFORMERS truly and undeniably reckoned upon as such though perhaps differing in other things as to the Doctrines ef Justification Sanctification Graces and Duties thereupon both in their spring nature order form matter and uses and that in the full scope and agreeing with the compleat tenure of the Covenant of Grace it self But our Author tells us p. 8. from the text he had cited p. 5. That the Apostle by way of Antithesis constantly opposeth Faith to Works in Justification Crispianism Vnmask'd pag. 8. that is an act of ours to some others of our own not an Act of ours to one of God as this Author would have us think The opposition which you may observe in St. Paul's Writings of Faith to Works is sufficient to perswade that it is but a Dream of the Doctor that to be justified by Faith is to have in our Spirits the Manifestation of God's Justification This hath no relation at all to what the Apostle so often saith c so far he Now this Antithesis according to our Author 's manifest Design therein one Mr. Antisozzo has notably anatomized in his Explication of Phil. 3. 8. c. unto which I refer the Reader for his being undeceived and shall let Dr. Good-win answer this from the fore-mentioned Treatise Whether it be the Act of Faith that justifies or that is accounted a Mans Righteousness when Dr. Goodwin on the Ephes Part 2d p. 301. we are said to be saved through Faith Surely no for God might have took work as well if he would have taken it as an Act he might have taken any Act Love it self THERE is this reason lies in the bottom of my Spirit against it besides all that else the Scripture saith against it That if when I go to God to be justified I must present to him my believing as the matter of my righteousness and only Christ's death as the merit of it which is the very controversie on foot this day for all our Author's seeming acknowledgment of the righteousness of Christ and the bare instrumentality of Faith in the reception thereof in order to our Justification What will follow Two things are clear to me First That the heart is taken off from looking upon the righteousness of Christ wholly and diverteth it to it 's own righteousness in the very act of believing for righteousness and presenteth that to God which the Scripture is clear against I say it doth take the heart off from the righteousness of the Lord Jesus or the eying of that and causeth it to divert into it self and present its own Faith to God Secondly Every man that will believe to be justified and go to God and say Lord justifie me he must have an evidence that he hath Faith for how else can he present that as the matter of his righteousness Now Millions of Souls cannot do this they were in a poor case if they should be put to it THE Apostle saith it was of Faith that it might be sure If Justification had been founded on the act of Faith it had been as sure on works as faith for that faith that draws out an act of love is as apt to fail as that act of love But here is no uncertainty while I believe to be justified by the righteousness of Christ but my faith is swallowed up there though I may doubt of my faith relying on him yet I have a sure object I have a sure matter to represent to God for me whereas if believing was that I had to represent to God to be justified by suppose my faith fail me I have not a sure matter of righteousness to represent to God THE very object Faith believes on is a contradiction to this that the act of Faith should be the matter of my Justification Yet further Q. Is not faith an act Iâ—'s true it is in a Grammatical signification an act but in the sense in the true real import of it it Dr. Goodwin on the Eph. part 2d p. 287 288. is meerly passive Faith doth not give any thing to God as Charity and Love doth but it only suffers God
they continue in the same so continues he in the discharge of this his Neonomian Office as by them assigned unto him Whence it genuinly follows 3. That their exploding of Dr. Crisp for an Antinomian and expâ—sing him as One that is an Enemy to and Rejecter of Graces Duties and good Works an Espouser of Sin as disowning of any Evil to be therein arises from his not acknowledging of some causally-conditional thâ—ugh not meritorious with all our Adversaries blinding Arts Prerequisites to our Justification which had he done he must have openly defied Rom. 4. 5 and many more Texts that I could name to the absolute overthrow of the whole Oeconomy of the Covenant of Grace but that in an acquitted and Righteous sense must be not only through but as being chosen in Christ and thereby in time made actual Members of that Mystical Head and that from and by vertue of this our Fountain Union with him in Election vertually by Redemption and manifestatively by Effectual Calling both the Change of our Natures is wrought and consequently the performance of our Duties become expâ—rimentally unto us acceptable with God From a neglect of a due Consideration of the foregoing Heads I must tell thee and that from my own Experience and Knowledge That of all the Persons in the World that I have been acquainted with especial Professors either in their Polemical Writings Epâ—stâ—lary Argumentations or all Conferencâ—s I never met with I speak not of any of the former perswasions whereby they are distinguished as such as being satisfied that there are many truly worthy of each of them a more prevaricating inconsistent false dealing and vain glorious people than such as are settled and fixed upon this Neononomian bottom and that as a Judgment of God resting upon them for their abuse of his Righteousness so as to make it truckle thereunto in the bare Merits of the same and become thereby a meer Drudge to our own Righteousness or the Righteousness of the Spirit wrought within us which doth not only cast us the Foundation but brings also a disorder into the proper peculiar Acts of the Trinity it self in their positively distinct personal Operations wherein and whereby the Scripture evidently declares Maugre all the Socinian and Arminian Quodammodo's the perfect Exaltation Glory and Renown of one Eternal Deity in the subservient regular and conjâ—ynt management of that Covenant which these persons would overthrow as carried on by these threee blâ—ssed Subsistenciâ—s though essentially One for the Father properly serves not the Son herein nor the Son the Spirit though each unanimâ—usly carry on the same design yet it is by a distinct Demonstration and Application of both the form and matter of the same as Graciously engaged in and by their own voluntary and everlasting Counsels Hence it is that the Pharisees of old fell short of their Justification notwithstanding their owning of the Grace of God and their great Expectations from the same in order unto it Luk. 18. 81. c. and which is remarkable in reference unto Peter himself who when he began to warp in this point Gal. 2. He is treated with as no less than a Dissembler and all those sâ—ding with him to be under the Power and Prevalency of Dissimulation for a time The reason of God's Jealousie herein and consequently his Judgment upon them is very plain in that it is the same Righteousness in God that he will have exalted both in the Salvation and Damnation of a Sinner and that as exerted by and held forth in the the Law though towards the latter immediately but to the former in and mediately through Christ and that not as to the meer Effects thereof though they follow thereupon but the solid substantial Appearance and Application of the same as the stabilitating Ground and Juridical Foundation of both their Bliss and Misery together with the just Proceedings of God therein Mark Rom. 3. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. For it is the self-same Righteousness under the just prosecuting Sentence and Charge whereof the Damned lie in which it is that the Elect stand justify'd before God Thus the same Doctrin preached by the same Apostles became the Savour of Life unto some and the Savour of Death unto Death unto others 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. comp Rom. 10. 3 4. Therefore of Grace for why should any one be made Partaker of that unto his Salvation which pronounces a just Sentence of Condemnation upon another but that it is meerly of Grace The one standing justified in that which passes a Sentence of Condemnation upon the other He that hath Ears to hear let him hear A SHORT REVIEW OF SOME REFLECTIONS c. IN all Buildings the Foundation is to be first secured for where that is laid essentially and entirely in an Error it is absolutely impossible to be true unto it in an erected Fabrick upon the same without a continued Superstructure of Errors Mendacium mendaciis tegit nè perfluat for as Truth cannot be retained and defended but by Truth there being an inseparable connexion between that of the lowest and highest Degree and Station thereof in the Church of God as there was of every Nail and Thred of a Fringe in the Tabernacle to the Priest Altar and Sacrifice so neither can Error be justly maintained and genuinely pleaded for but by a constant Enumeration of Errors those being a decorum and order even in Romances and Play Books as well as other things Hence it is that these two things do infallibly fall out especially in days of more than ordinary Tryals when the Lord Jesus comes with his Fan in his Hand by this or the other Providence thorowly to purge his Floor 1. That the more the Heretick properly such which I take to be one that either removes or perverts the Foundation that God hath laid is put upon the defensative part of his Error he still adhering unto the same though never so latent at first or for a while and consequently undiscerned the more speedily and clearly both he and it will appear unto others This is evident beyond all manner of Dispute in our Neonomian Contestors this day as will fully appear anon 2. That many who may seem to differ much even to a direct opposition as to appearance at least in several Circumstantials and more Minute Appendixes unto Truth as arising either from their Darkness and consequently invincible mistakes in apprehending one another their peculiar mode of expressing themselves or their timing of each particular Truth in assigning unto it its proper and more individual station order use and dependance yet these as truly holding the Head especially in reference to the Doctrin of Justification the Controverted point this day whatever their present Dissonancy and thereupon Exasperations may be as between Luther and Calvin will sooner or later coalesce and fall into One as being truly Members of the same Mystical Body because the Foundation is the same on which they are both laid
and built This will evidently appear from its contrary and that as relating unto the apparent Apostacies that have discovered themselves in the Treatises of some later as well as former Writers who notwithstanding their Vigour against the Papacy even to a Preparation for its Burial by a winding-sheet yet upon trial of them in the Fundamental Points which we must stick unto or we not only lose all but east a most wretched Aspersion upon the Providences of God and vindicate the Proceeding of our Enemies in the Death of the Martyrs of Reformation have been driven to shelter themselves under its argumentative Umbrage and to draw forth the Arrows of their Defence out of it Quiver yea and as it is too notoriously known to assign in a manner unto it from Protestanism in the general the very right Hand of Fellowship in Christoanity and all because the bottom is the same on which they are fixed both in their Hopes and Trust it being natural for every thing to incline to it s designed and as such proper and uniting Center Jo. 5. 40. comp ch 6. 64 65 68 69. Hinc illae lachrymae The matter and truth in Controversie having been by others so justly and fully stated and defended we may be the more brief with this our blank Author especially considering how weak as well as false his Attempts are against the same His confident and grave Trumpeter tells us in the Preface That the wrath of Man works not the Righteousness of God much less I am sure doth our Author's lurking and yet open Politicks with their false Reserves contribute in the least to the Manifestation of the same wherewith his Pamphlet is sufficiently stuffed for as Wrath is the resultive Operation of Anger which Anger is a Passion created in the Soul by God himself and drawn forth into its proper exercise by him into that which the Scripture calls Zeal for his Glory so also is Politicism in Man a meer exurgency from that reasoning faculty within him by which he is distinguished as well as by others of his Qualifications from the Beasts that perish but all thesâ—re discriminatively adjudged as to their sinful or gracious position frame or operation ae they co-work with or for or against the Righteousness of God and that as to their principles and ends the very Text our Prefacer produces sufficiently Demonstrates the same 1 Sams 2. 13. c. 1 Kin. 18. 27. 2 Kin. 3. 13 14. ch 1. 10. Luk. 9. 54 55. Judg. 5. 23. Eph. 4. 26. Ab equis ad asinos Our Author in his first and part of the second page highly commends after a little vent of his Gall Dr. Crisp's Sermons and that for some certain uses and ends that he is pleased to assign unto them That he exalts Free-Grace Christ's Righteousness his Paths in expressing the astonishing love of Jesus and that in the Redemption of Mankind how Mercy and Truth Righteousness and Peace met and kissed each other in him that Justice and Goodness had their equal discovery in his satisfaction and how that he depresses good Works and holy Duties but observe how he takes him p. 2 as to satisfying God's Justice or meriting any thing for us Here the hooks lies from being ingredieats of Justification and so on I doubt this word irgredients will prove but a very nasty one by then we have compared it with his ten charges against the Doctor but for all this we must endeavour as inoffensively and honestly as we can to rescue him out of his Hands for I never iiked ovem lupo committere or Agninis lactibus canem alligare since we see our Author hath no sooner got him into his clutches by his fawning reserved acknowledgments but like the Lyon in the Fable tears him to pieces Some few things to be remarked out of our Author p. 2 3 4. before we enter precisely upon his Decemvir'd Charge against the Doctor 1. His inconsistency even whilst he endeavours falsly to charge the Doctor wirh the same besides as we shall see in the Close of his Treatise how he overthrows the whole of his Forgery and that even with his own Pen unto our Hands from comparing what he says p. 2 3 and 4. and several other places with what his Armour-bearer in the Preface expresses Far be it from me to censure or arraign the State and Spirit note those words State and Spirit of the Reverend Dr. Crisp whose Soul I take to be in Heaven and whose Intentions and Designs might be sincere and good though not so distinctly see the nature order and mutual Relaâ—ions and Dependencies to and upon each other Pref. l. 17 22. Author p. â— His Zeal for Christ's imputed Righteousness makes him vilifie and almost mark that word exclude an inherent Righteousness of our own comp p. 3. Though the Author of these Sermons often attempts to perswade you thas he is no Antinomian i. e. that he is not against the Law of Righteousness and Holiness that he is no discourager of of Faith and good Works and the several Duties of Religion yet nothing is more evident than this that he is a professed Enemy to these and useth all the Art he can to make others so Suit but these together and thou wilt find a Preliminary Transcript of both his Treachery and Iâ—consistency wherewith we shall be sufficiently glutted anon besides p. 58. He makes him a Derider of the new Birth with many other false as well as bitter Sarcasms which should they be but in the Hundredth part of them true would absolutely bespeak the Doctor a Reprobate Gal. 4. 29 30. Scarce one or but very few of his Stigmatizing marks if Faith in its Analogy be attended unto that can be reckoned of the spots of God's Children 2. HIS Displeasure against him for separating between Justification and Sanctification which the Holy Scriptures as he says always joyn together p. 3. but not as to the ends for which our Author and his Jesuitical Fraternity would have them promiscuously jumbled together does the Scripture joyn them and in no other a Sense doth the Doctor separate them 3. HIS solemn Appeal unto the Searcher of Hearts before he enters upon this his allowed deliberate and studied false Dealings with the Doctor of his Innocence in the same I could tell him of the like Attempt of another with whom God hath met in the very Language of his Imprecation Let him and such remember Ananias and Sapphira BUT to the charges themselves Or ab equis ad asinos from bad to worse But before we proceed note Reader THAT there is not one Charge of the whole ten that our Author produces against the Doctor wherein he may be said to have done him the least piece of Justice or to deal equitably with him according to the matter he hath in Hand and that in the very literal Dependant Construction of the same which if otherwise thou findest upon an unequivocal plain and candid comparing of the
of Isâ—ael and thâ—◠〈◊〉 a dreadful obliterating remembrance 1 Saâ— 15. 2 3. yea bâ— how much tâ—e moâ—â— he â—uffers these his pretended Prophets and that with a seeming tâ—mporâ—ry Succesâ— to bâ— acted by a lying Spirit the speedier and more total will be both their Disappâ—intâ—ent and Ruin 1 Kin. 22. 19. c. It is no small â—igitating mark of the Hand of â—rovidence in iâ—s permissive operation or Wheel that the Man of Sin should be suffered to assuâ—e uâ—to himself notwithstanding all his so long-continued lying impudent and bloody Villanies the Title of His Holiness and not the Loâ—d his Righteousness in the former of which it is that not only his professed but also practical Adherents who would by no means own him in the bulk or gross as in the former so in these our days hope in a material Senâ—e to be justified before God though by a Salvo for fear of the worst meritoriously for Christ's Righteousness as the Quakers assigning unto the Spirit what indeed is not his undertaken Office in which it is that not only his professed but also practical Adherents as in our day hope in a material sense to be justified before God though meritoriously by the Righteousness of Christ according to the stated fuâ—dâ—mental and more established Decrees and Canons of their Counsels especially thâ—t of Trent an exact Copy whereof we have flying about our Ears in various Pamphlets against Dr. Crisp or rather his Doctrin which is the Scripture-Doctrin of Justification As to the Fifth Charge V. THOUGH thou wilt find Reader that as this our Author throughout the whole of his Treatise doth not only notwithstanding all his fair pretences and that under this Head of his Charge in a more particular manner reject the Righteousness of Christ as to its proper and individual matter wherein it is absolutely distinct from a bare meritorious â—nd subservient Acceptation of the same p. 27. wherein view our Authâ—r and Precedency therein in God's Act of Justifying the elect by the Imputation thereof unto their Act of believing but also that there is no essential difference between Morality Grace as the spring of this or the other duty both in the objective and subjective operation of the same together with the different advantages arising from them for because that God as the God of nature having sâ—nt by Jonah Tenders of Mercy unto the Ninevites upon their Repentance which they closing with in the moral discharge of the same he thereupon spares them Our Author p. 26. Therefore it is I say in his Judgment that all true Believers in their Addresses unto God for this or the other Mercy in this or the other duty if they dethrone them either as proceeding from or tending to an exaltation of a self-Righteousness to self-end and therein would cause them to neglect the main end for which they are design'd of God viz. the Glory of his great Name and that in his own way and by an entire leading them unto a naked Resting and Dependance upon Christ and his Righteousness for the Acceptation both of their Persons and Performances with God and also their Reception from him of this or the other Mercy as their needs require why then they must be termed Antinomians and when he and his fraternity have thus cloathed them with the Skins of their own created Beasts They fall a baiting them with as much virulency as possibly can spring from a compleatly grown malice intermingled with as equal a proportion of Deceitfulness and Impudence This is the very case before us for the clearing of which let the Doctor speak for himself and that from the very places our Author fetches against him p. 20. He quotes the Doctor p. 140. to say that A Man gets nothing by all the Righteousness he performs And he tells us that he enlarges upon this in his usual scoffing Language and that with a design to cast away all Dâ—ties Whereas indeed it is but part of an Objection which the Doctor lays down and answers that is to say where self is brought into the room of or exalted above the Righteousness of Christ all such Actions or Doings will be of no value As thus Obj But some may say peradventure Tâ—is is a Dr. Crisp's Works Vol I. Ser. 9. Pag. 140. way to â—verthrow all Righteousness at one clap What! all that ever a Man doth though he doth it never so spiritually though never so exâ—ctly to no purpâ—se and in vain Dâ—th a Man get nothing by all the Righteousness he performs Here our Author comes in and leaves out what follows Then we had as good sit still and do nothing at all will some say Answ This is carnal reasoning indeed look but into the ground of this Argument and it will discover nothing but the selfishness of the person that makes it I dare be bold to say that that person that will do no righteousness but simply for his own sake who if â—e should know beforehand that this Righteousness will get him nothing will therefore fit still and do nothing I dare be bold to say he had as good sit still indeed and do nothing He serves himself not God and though he doth perform righteousness â—ever so exactly if he serves himself God will never reckon that he serves him When Self is eyed we can never serve God when if our Commodity and Advanâ—age be not in the thing we will sit still And is not this a truth But yet further our Author p. 21. he quotes the Dr. p. 136. To fast sin out to pray it out to mourn it out this is that which must bring you tidings but leaves out This is that which must bring you a discharge of your sins And so goâ—s on in his Charge Dr. Crisp 's Works Vol. 1. Serm. 9. p. 136. without regarding what folâ—ows viz. Beloved let me deal plainly and freely with you They that do put deliverance from Sin and Wrath upon the spiritual performances of that Righteousness which the Law doth command of them they do put that Righteousness in the room and place of the Righteousness of God they do make it as great an Idol as can be for they do make that Righteousness to be that which God's Righteousness only is I speak not against the doing of any Righteousness according to the will of God revealed Let that Mouth be for ever stopped that shall be opened to blame the Law that is holy just and good or shall be a means to discourage People from walking in the Commandments of God blameless Now who is the greater Scoffer at Religion or the things of God he that prefers the righteousness of Christ unto his own righteousness may safely determine between this our Author and the Doctor But he tells us ibid. from the Dr. p. 235. That if a Soul â—et under a full Sail fill'd with a stiff Gale of the Spirit c That the Dr. therein speaks rudely and prophanely as deriding
thus and thus Holily and do these and these Works they shall come under Wrath at least God will be angry with them what do we in this but abuse the Scriptures These are his very words saith our Author from p. 559. so they are indeed but not wholly his words nor sense which are as follows If they should terrifie them and make them to believe being Believers for of those I speak if they commit these and these Sins they shall be damned and so come under the wrath of God Then comes our Author in with his Charge before-cited leaving out also what follows as that we undo all that Christ hath done we injure and wrong the Believers themselves we tell that God he lies to his Face for if we tell Believers that except they do these and these good Works they shall come under the Wrath of God what is this but to tell God he lies and to bring the Faithful under a Covenant of Works Look into the 54th of Isaiah ver the 9th and you shall see how it is a belying of God to say that Believers may come under Wrath and Damnation except they do thus and thus Further he quotes the Doctor p. 363 364. very partially omitting what introduces the same namely that some conclude that Elect Persons are in a damnable estate in the time they walk in excess of Riot before they are called Where the Doctor speaking of the nature of Election he wholly omits his purpose therein and therefore also he leaves out what immediately follows which he knew would have overthrown his design viz. It is true such an Elect Person not called is never able to know individually of himself that he is such an one that God hath nothing to charge upon him because till calling God gives not unto Persons to believe and it is only believing that is evidence to Dr. Crisp ' s Works Vol. II. Serm. 9. Pag. 364. Men of things not seen Things that are not seen are hidden and secret and shall not be known I mean the things of God's Love to Men shall not be known to particular Men till they do believe but considering their real condition the Lord hath not one sin to charge upon an elect Person from the first moment of conception till the last minute of his Life there is not so much as Original Sin to be laid on him and the Ground is The Lord hath laid it on Christ already He did lay Sins on him When did he lay them on him When did he pay the first price of them Now suppose this Person uncall'd commits Iniquity and that this Iniquity is charged upon him seeing that his Iniquities are laid upon Christ already how comes it to pass that they are charged upon this elect Person again How come they to be translated from Christ again and laid upon this Person Once they were laid upon Christ it must be confessed For the Blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sins 1 Joh. 1. 7. saith the Apostle and by one Sacrifice he hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified Heb. 10. 14. Was there by one Act of Christ the expiâ—tion of Sin and all at once that are commited from the beginning of the World to the end thereof how comes it to pass that this and that Sin should be charged upon the Elect Persons when they were laid upon Christ long before He did by that one Act of his expiate all our Sins or did not If he did not expiate them fully then he did not save to the utmost all them that come to God by him But if he did then all Iniquity is vanished and gone he did extract it out â—s some Plaister of excellent Virtue doth extract out the Venom of a plague-sore So Christ by once offering up himself did take away and evaporate all the Sins of the Elect at once Again our Author to level his secret Armisian stroke against Election here as formerly against the Doctrin of Justification in the materiâ—â— Righteousness thereof he defiles and pollutes if possible even Scripture it self and 〈◊〉 liâ—e a bold Impostor for it to speak for him and against its Divine Author and in order 〈…〉 he cites Eph. 2. 13. chap. 1. 1. chap. â— 2 12 13 14 15 16. 〈◊〉 2 3. John 3. 36. and from hence concludes Observe it â—efore they were converted they were Strangers and Aliens Crispi unmask'd Pag. 36. they were with at Christ without God without Hope they were at Enmity with the Father and the Son and there was no more to be laid to their charge at that time than to the glorified Saints above When they were without Christ in the time of their Unregeneracy and living in all Excess of Riot were they not only in God's Favour but as much as the Saints in Glory How then was Christ their Peace How is it said they were reconciled v. 16. Reconciliation supposes falling out it implies being at enmity Those who are now reconciled and made Friends were once Strangers and Enemies and were they at that very time Favourites of God yea as great Favourites as the blessed glorified Spirits Who hath the Confidence to say this but Dr. Crisp And who hath a Heart to believe it but one that dis-believes the plain Testimony of Holy Scripture Hence observe Reader the Doctor having spoken of Election apart and therein inâ—lusively notes That as such it is a Doctrinal Truth wherein the irrefragable safety and unerring security of all such comprehended therein doth radically lie and this arising from a distinguishing love in God whence a further free act of his Grace towards them did spring and that in sending his only begotten Son into the World as their representative Head charged with their Sin to remove the same upon the performance of which inferred from the word upon the Cross It is finished a door passage or entrance was made or laid open without the least impeachment of any of the Attributes of God for the actual conveying in a way of Application by faith that Reconciliation Life and Peace that God had in store for them from all Eternity therefore said to be in Christ reconciling them unto himself even before they become by faith reconciled unto him for it is not Faith that gives a being unto this Reconciliation in God no nor yet the Blood of Christ himself though it make way to the uttermost for the communication of the same without which it would have been for ever hid even from the Elect but receives it which the Apostle expresly declares to be the very Ministry given unto him and others and adds hereunto the reason thereof the so much despised fundamental truth this day by way of encouragement to bring poor sinners in Dr. Crisp's own method for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Now doth it follow that because the Elect
cannot be displeased with the person of a believing Sinner in a proper vindicative or legally penal sense because that his sins were laid upon Christ and that he also bore actually in the room of such even God's displeasure against the same Therefore says our Author ut supra That because Christ bore our iniquities he also bore the displeasure of God for them which he takes to be a mistaken ground for the Dr. to fix his Assertion upon Note 1. THAT in our Author's sense the displeasure of God against the very person of a Believer and that for sin even in a penal sense abides with God whilst the said Believer is in this mortal state not the best of Believers being without the same during their abode in the flesh whence it shrewdly follows That when they are compleatly sanctified and freed from all the indwellings of sin then and not till then are they got from under God's vindicative and punitive displeasure against their persons for the same This with our Author 's good leave I take not only to be his Cryptical reserve but downright Arminianism as growing in the Soil of a Self-justiciary Therefore he tells us page 37. How we are to understand God's charging of sin upon a justified person That it shall not be his endless peril his utter destruction but it feems it carries and procures that displeasure from God against even the person of a Believer that is the same in kind with an endless peril and utter destruction from which displeasure in the everlasting continuance of the same though not nature thereof during this Life the person of a Believer may be fully secured in a state of perfect Holiness But 2. Most absconded Sir Methink you swell and that most rankly too of the Cask of Socinianism like your Foxes Fitchets and such sort of Vermin though very reclusely lodged from the Eye yet their nasty scent usually betrays them for is it possible That Christ can be look'd upon as a proper Sacrifice for sin and not as undergoing the full displeasure of God against as well as punishment from God for the same And if so where would this punishment be or what would it signific This is to make but a meer sham Metaphorous appearance or gulling Cheat of the infinite Sufferings of the blessed Jesus and thereby to despoil him of his Glory even of that Baptism that he was in a strait till he was Baptized with the same nay let me tell this Author by the way That take away the displeasure of God against sin or such as are in their Persons juridically charged with the same from which he would acquit Christ in his Representative undertaking and yet load a Believer withal and I will readily undergo the punishment thereof By the way observe this as a true Mark and Token of both an Arminian and Socinian that if they can but be secured from punishment they do not much value either the Good Will or Displeasure of God This seems to be the secret Nursery of all their irregular Proceedings both in frothines of Spirit loosness of Life and prevarication in Doctâ—in together with their treacherous management of Authors for so long as they think that Christ hath taken away the sin only in the punishment thereof they little set by self being secured thro' the same what becomes either of the Favour or Displicency of God towards them unless they can procure the former in their own way unto which Christ shall give them a remote assistance they are very regardless until the appearance of a Death's-head drive them to their Tutissimum est c. Verbum sat sapienti Take this that follows in a familiar comparison as a short yet full Scheme of the Neonomian Heresie touching the Doctrin of Justification yea the whole Body of that Divinity included in the definition given therein of the Covenant of Grace That as a Surety on the behalf of another Compounds for his Debt by cancelling the Bond as to its immediate Relation between the Creditor and Debtor in translating over the Charge unto himself by his undertaking for the payment thereof after the way of a Bristol-Bargain unto which the said Surety enables him by a provision of all Implemental materials together with his derective advice continued Presence and recruitive Assistances upon failures till the poor Debtor by vertue of the same at the end of his Seventh Year of Jubilee receives his compleat discharge which he as absolutely disowning all abilities in himself to compass the same fully ascribes and that justly as well as thankfully in the whole of it unto the meritorious responsibleness of undiscerned kindness and constant actual supplies from his merciful Spouser and Undertaker Thus in their sense Christ becomes our Surety Now our Author Ibid. comes to his Journey-man-Taylor's unstitching concessions tho' not half so honestly yet as boobishly as possibly can be Here we most readily grant that those who are justified Crispi Vnmask'd Pag. 37. clear from the Imputation of all sin according to some Scriptures he quotes 1 Joh. 1. 7. 1 Pet. â— 24. Rom. 8. 1 33. But hereupon arises two Questions notwithstanding this his Armini-Sâ—cinian Grant as to the ends and circumstances attending the same As Quest 1. Whether or no any one yet was or ever shall bâ— truly justified without a praevious juridical Title unto and interest in such a Righteousness and that without a present Work of Grace within him as may constitute him compleatly just as to the matter thereof and also render and make it appear that God is infinitely just in the Justification of such a one Quest 2. Whether this Concession of our Author as to the Imputation of all Sin unto Christ and yet reserving even that thereof which is Hell it self unto a true Believer That in his Sufferings and Afflictions he undergoes the very Displeasure of God and Christ only the punishment be in the least consistent with Truth common Sense or solid Peace and Comfort Our Author laying a greater Burthen upon the Believer in this his Concession than upon Christ himself But further he tells us in the Eighth Charge VIII That this reminds him of another assertion of the Doctor 's viz. p. 38. as a natural consequent of his former position And so it is as natural indeed as our Author's Proceedings against him the former defending Truth with Truth the latter seeking to undermine the same by a continued Multiplication of one treachery on the back of the other Before we come to a precise consideration of his quotations note these three things 1. That when he cites the Doctor for saying That no Believer is punished or afflicted for sin he hides from thee his not only inferential but also literal explanation of the same p. 38 39. 2. That when he is forced to speak even the Doctor 's words as not being able to avoid the same no more than Balâ—am could avoid his Prophesie wherein his consciousness appears like
of Faith is Sin but as to the Believer all things are clean Here comes our Author So through our Faith in Christ the whole Filth and Dung of our Works is extracted by Christ and he presenting the same purged by himself alone they became accepted with God Rev. 3. 4. But simply the works themselves as done tho' never so well are abhorred of God and Christ never takes them to purge till we our selves wholly renounce them by counting them Loss and Dung and that acceptance procured by Christ imports only a liking God takes to them no Efficacy at all they have with him Again But you will say again Christ makes our Righteousness to be Dr. Crisp 's Works Vol. II. Serm. 6. Pag. 322 323. accepâ—ed hâ— makes it pleasing and acceptable by purging away all the Filth that is in it and then it may prâ—vail with God to lay our Iniquities upon Christ I answer Herâ— our Author comes in with his Charge It is true Christ doth purge away all the filthiness both of Righâ—eousness and Unrighteousness in Believers but he doth not purge away the filthiness of their Righteousness that this Righteousness may prevail with God to lay Iniquity upon Christ but then that Righteousness may be accepted in the Beloved as Services Himself was without spot of the least Sin yet he takes not away the Iniquity by laying it upon the himself and if our Righteousness be made compleat by his taking away the Filth of it and putting his own perfection on it it is not to that end that Iniquities may be laid upon Christ by it but that it may be accepted in way of service I should go yet one step higher and let you know that as it is the Lord alone that lay iniquity upon Christ so not only all our performances are unable to lay iniquity upon Christ but even our Faith and Believing it self doth not lay iniquity upon Christ Ye may easily perceive Beloved what I drive at in all this Discourse namely to strip the Creature stark naked to leave it shiftless and unable any way to help it self that all the help that the Creature doth receive may appear to be of the Free-Grace of God meerly without the Creature 's concurrence in it I say therefore it is not the Faith of Believers that doth lay their iniquities upon Christ Suppose thou hast committed many sins and thy sins are apparent and plain thou wouldst be rid of these transgressions and hear of them no more what is the way Works are not of power to do it you will say But Faith is able to discharge the soul and quit it from all transgressions and lay them upon Christ But I must tell you albeit God hath given many glorious fruits and effects to Faith and made it instrumental of much excellent and abundant consolation to his People yet hath he not honoured Faith with this that it should lay iniquity on Christ or move God to do it Now thou mayst see Reader wherein the fallacy of our Doeg or malicious Author does ly for that which he lays as the foundation of this his Ninth Charge against the Dr. he quotes from p. 322. where the Dr. speaking of the best of Man's Righteousness that it will not serve God's turn as the matter of our Justification before him he presently diverts the same from the Dr's liâ—eral express sense and meaning therein That God is not therefore pleased with any of the Graces or Duties of his People A most ungrounded impudent falsehood But this is the manner of the Man throughout the whole of his Treatise and now that the Dr. declares which way they become of use unto us and acceptable with God namely by Christ's purging and extracting out of them the filth that does attend them and so presenting them to the Father and that when this is done yet none of this is that for which God is prevailed with to lay sin upon Christ He tells us that Truth had at last got such a forcible prevalency upon the Dr. That he recants what he before had said and withal that the latter is a vain surmise in the Dr. against some that would be accounted the greatest Protestants viz. That Christ doth not purge away the filthiness of their Righteousness that this Righteousness may prevail with God to lay iniquity upon Christ But their not only pitiful causa sine qua non as previous unto God's imputation of Righteousness in order unto Justification fully demonstrates that there were just grounds for this gracious Dr's surmises even in his day as well as now but also that Faith Repentance and Sincerity is the very matter of the same though the merit thereof lies in Christ It is no wonder therefore that our Author is so much concerned that the Dr's Book is got into so many hands wherein and whereby both his together with the vile Treacherie as well as Doctrins and Practices of others are so evidently brought to light And I am fully satisfied that the more they engage in this work the more they will not only labour in the fire but vomit out their own shame if there were any amongst them Now we come to his Tenth and Last Charge wherein he telleth us That X. And Lastly another wild Position which these Sermons maintain is this That All is done from Eternity and so nothing is to be done now He often tells his Auditors Your Business is done to your hand already Therefore there is no need of begging for Faith or any other Grace or for Forgiveness of Sin or Crispi unmask'd p. 50 51. any other spiritual Priviledge These are all granted already and not to be done now He frequently inculcates this and in one whole Sermon together insists upon it viz. That God's pardoning sinners and justifying the ungodly are not now or hereafter to be done they are not present or future but were dispatched long ago even from Eternity Whence he infers that we must not look for Remission of Sins or Justification in this Life we are not to be concerned in any such thing now we need not be solicitous about it for it is past and over All is done from Eternity Now thou mayst observe herein the Method our Author takes in his dealings with the Dr. and that in every one of his Ten Charges against him not one of them excepted As 1. When he lays down any one of them all against the Dr. he fixes upon some discerpted dragg'd Sentence or Position of his and thereon lays his load of Invectives by most false and violent inferences endeavouring to suit it by forcing it to speak what it never was designed for to the nature of that Charge he is more immediately upon But then 2. Finding by the Dr's Explanation of the said Position or Sentence That his viz. our Author's Treachery would more openly appear he reserves the said explanation or explication of the same unto the latter end of every one of his Chages
that thereby he might the more undiscernedly represent him as an Impostor Recanter and one inconsistent with himself Having put before a quite contrary construction upon it meerly to blind the eyes of his Reader to what the Dr. produces it for Thus having clapt his own sense to what he has partially pickt out of the Dr's work he runs and setches what the Dr. urges to clear and prove the same both by Scripture and Argument to render him the vilest cheat and most vainglorious Person imaginable This I will be bound to make good even to our Author's Face if he dares openly appear in this Cause As for instance he quotes the Dr. ut suprà Vol. II. Serm. 8. viz. That God's pardoning sinners and justifying the ungodly are not now or hereafter to be done c. And thereupon our Author fixed his virulent sense ut priùs that we must not look for Remission of Sins or Justification in this Life c. but retains the Dr's own explanation of them for another Charge against him even that of Fallacy and Recantation thus dividing betwixt the Dr's Positions and Explications he would make way for the fixing of Heresie upon him on the one hand and of Double-dealing and Deceitfulness on the other Therefore I shall quote what our Author himself scatâ—eringly cites out of the Dr. for the fore-mentioned ends and then let the Reader determine as Auth. That God's pardoning Sinners and justifying the ungoâ—ly are not now or hereafter to be done they are not present or future but were dispatched long ago Quoted in Crispiams Vnmask'd p. 51 52. even from Eternity God had all this at once in his eye and having this Platform before him as if all were then in being he sets down his own Act of his Royal Assent that for every such Person as he had chosen and for every such Transgression that should be committed at such and such a time by such and such Persons he would accept of such a Christ whom he would fit to bear their Transgressions As the Elect were in the Eye of the Lord before they had a real Existence and Being so all their iniquities were laid on Christ from Eternity But it must needs be granted that the particular Application of this Grace to Persons that the Lord hath laid mine iniquities and thine iniquities upon Christ individually must needs be in time Now what grounds had our Author to deal so wretchedly false with the Doctor as he doth as to â—ay That there is no need of begging for Faith or any other Grace or Forgiveness of Sin or any other spiritual Priviledge c. this being prefixed to one part of his curtailed braâ—ch against the Dâ—ctor and to usher in another part of the same which is the Doctor 's Explanation of the former part he tells us That it fell from the Doctor 's own Lips and Pen by chance and that here you see he expresses it as a future thing that God would accept of Christ And then for the third part of his quâ—tation he tells us That He i. e. the Doctor at length submits to this which is the real Truth but which he had boggled at so long and that indeed this is his way very often he takes a great deal of pains to rear up a Notion and then of a sudden pulls it down again Thus our Author like a cunning Sophister to divert his Reader from attending upon him in his vileness and manner of his Proceedings as conscious to himself of what he had done like a Thief on the pursuit of an Hue and Cry leaves his theft with another would charge them upon the Doctor This is not only the Jesuits Method to divide and rule but also the practical dexterity of the Atheist to undermine the Scripture endeavouring to make of it a meer self-contradiction What Peace such Courses are like to be productive of one day I think it were well our Author did in time consider Thus he deals with the Doctor in the remainder of his Charge p. 56. 57 58 c. wherein by endeavouring to unmask others who fully plainly soundly and honestly as in their proper colours appear in their Writings he drops down the Vizard of his own Face verifying the old Maxim That there never yet was cheat but sooner or latter proved an open exposed Fool. Unto the Reader 's farther Satisfaction as to our Author's Treachery herein I shall refer him to an impartial disquisition and comparing of both Books together which by then he has done he will soon be able to determine on whose side the Scales turn for there is not one of those Authors he brings against the Doctor whose Treatises I am acquainted with but fully speak of him both as to Election Justification Graces and Duties which I could with ease make to appear were it my present work so to do only this let me add That amongst the many scores of black characters that he gives the Doctor I know not one of them as far as I have been informed either by Teacherâ— or Authors Men both of sound Matter and excellent Spirits to be in a State of Reproâ—ation as deriding the new Birth and the like c. a special Mark of the Son of the Bond-Woman Gen 21. 9. compare Gal. 4. 29 30. And yet that the Doctor in our Author's Judgment together with his Prefaces should be a good Man and in Heaven is to me a perfect Riddle unless the measures they take here be from their owned allowed deceitâ—ul practises here and yet can retain confident hopes of Glory hereafter Lye not but let thy Heart be true to God Thy Mâ—uth to it thy Actions to them both Cowards tell Lies and those that fear the Rod The stormy working Soul spits Lies and Froth Dare to be true nâ—thing can need a Lye A fault which needs it most grows two thereby Herbert 's Poems pag. 3. Roma vale vidi satis est vidisse revertar Cum Caeno meretrix 〈◊〉 cinoedus ero GREAT Carbanado'd Crisp What 's now thy Crown And was thy Glory here is â—â—ampled down Here is no Synagouge alass foâ— thee Since Christ alone gave Eyes and made thee see Had'st thou but own'd some sub-caelestial Cause Heaven mix'd with Earth by some Creation-Laws A Ground-Work out of Nature for Free-Grace As of her kind Her Mysteries to place And in a Logical Phlehotomy Let out thy Notions by Phylosophy Thou hadst been crown'd for thy Divinity But 't is too late since thou hast scap't the Fire And yet dost live unsing'd in thy Attire Free from Chaldean Scent and rather more Enlarg'd than cramp'd from what thou wast before Pass on Jehovah's Test let England know Who are her Worthies Shibboleth and who Pronounce Sibboleth Want of this lisp With some impairs thy Credit Gracious Crisp Whilst others hunger thirst and pant for more Of that whereof thou hast an Ocean store T. Edwards AN APPENDIX THERE is lately come into my Hands a small Pamphlet