Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	covenant_n	grace_n	justification_n	7,486	5	9.7652	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42456	An answer to Mr. George Walkers vindication, or rather, fresh accusation wherein he chargeth Mr. Wotton, besides his former foul aspersions of heresie and blasphemy, with Arianism, Mr. Gataker with Socinianism, Dr. Gouge and Mr. Downham with a fase attestation, Dr. Baylie and Mr. Stock with self-condemnation, all the eight ministers employed in the busines between himself and Mr. Wotton with partiality and unjust judgement : upon occasion of a relation concerning that busines / written by the said Thomas Gataker and by him now again avowed, wherein the said M. Walkers vindication is in many things shewed to be an untrue relation.	Gataker, Thomas, 1574-1654.	1642 (1642)	Wing G310; ESTC R14600	105,275	140

the covenant of works was not formall inherent righteousnesse and would have made man worthy of life And if so how he can excuse M. Wotton for making faith the formall inherent righteousnes of beleevers in the covenant of grace by which they are worthy of justification and eternal life Seeing he saith that faith under the Gospel serves to all purposes for obtaining eternal life as mans perfect fulfilling of the Law did in the covenant of works Let me give you but M. Wottons own words out of M. Walkers own Parallel and there shall need to this no further answer He that beleeveth saith M. Wotton is accounted by God to all purposes concerning eternal life to have done according to the covenant of the Gospel as he should have been accounted to have done according to the covenant of the Law if he had perfectly fulfilled it For not to stand upon strict terms concerning the word Worthie what doth M. Wotton say more here then that which he saith else-where objected also to him by M. Walker as an heretical and blasphemous speech The act of Faith or beleeving brings justification and adoption which what is it other then what the Apostle saith Rom. 3. 28. Gal. 3. 26. Onely and meerly by the place and office which the Lord of his mercy hath assigned it to be the condition required on our parts for the atchieving of these favours and honours thereby excluding all matter of worth in Faith which yet whosoever is possessed of beleeving in Christ that is relying upon him for justifycation and life eternall may wel be said to be accounted by God to all purposes to wit on our parts required and therefore to be necessarily by us performed to have done as much according to the covenant of the Gospel as he should have been accounted to have done according to the covenant of the Law had he perfectly fulfilled it But of this also enough before out of our own Writers and by name out of M. Pemble whom M. Walker having so highly commended as one by his writings most useful and powerful to confirm mens minds against the Wolves af this age the Disciples of blasphemous Servetus and Socinus wil not now I hope condemn him for a Socinian and blasphemous heretike and having formerly made no doubt but that he is ascended up into heaven wil not I presume for M. Wottons sake now damn him and throw him down to send him packing for company with M. Wetton to hell The fourth question is in effect the same with the two next before going onely to make some shew of variety usherd in with a list of true and orthodox te●ets wherein he saith M. Wotton professeth his dissent from Socinus and wherein indeed M. Walker manifesteth his extream partiality and malignant disposition against M. Wotton thereby shewing too apparently that his pretended zeale is not so much against Socinus and Socinianism it self as against M. Wotton and against the things taught by him as coming from him This he hath too too manifestly discovered in this interrogatory spite and malice so blinding him that he minded not what he did For those tenets of Socinus though unsound and containing in them ranke venome as he meaneth them and manifesteth himselfe so to doe wherein M. Wotton professeth to dissent from him these M. Walker setting a faire glosse on them contrary to Socinus his own intendement in them alloweth and avoweth them for orthodox and true For example the first of them is that Faith is obedience to Christs commandements who commandeth us to beleeve and repent And it is true that Socinus as elsewhere I cite him maintaines as M. Walker here saith that he doth But what saith Lubbertus to him for it a man whom M. Walker would seem much to admire and told us at our meeting that he was by I know not whom stiled Orthodoxorum ocellus Whereas he to wit Socinus saith saith Lubbertus that Faith is to do those things that Christ hath enjoyned it is false to affirme it to be so is to be stark mad So by Lubbertus his censure not Socinus onely but M. Walker also should be no better Again He teacheth that to beleeve Christ and his words is to obey him We deny it For obedience is an effect of faith he erreth therefore that holds Faith and Obedience to be all one And yet again Firm stands that which Beza writes that Faith cannot signifie Obedience to the Commandements Thus Lubbertus one of M Walkers own Oracles And indeed what did Socinus hereby intend but to cut off all relying by Faith on Christ as having paid a price to God for our sinnes or satisfied for them by his death yet this is M. Walker pleased to blanch over as if he conceived his meaning to be nothing else but that in beleeving and repenting we obey Christs commandement who commandeth us to repent and beleeve And so is content to let it passe for currant as a true and orthodox tenet in Socinus because M. Wotton dissented therein from Socinus though condemned by Lubbertus yea by whom not for a grosse error and in his intendement very dangerous The second point wherein M. Walker affirmes M. Wotton to depart from Socinus and which he affirmes to be true and orthodox is that Repentance which comes not but by Faith is the means to obtain forgivenes of sinnes which Christ hath brought But he deales here with Socinus to help him out as he is wont to do with M. Wotton to procure prejudice to him For he takes part out of one passage and part out of an other as M. Wotton hath cited him not expressing how far forth in every particular he concurs with him or dissents from him but onely shewing how in general he speaks not that that himself doth and so pieces up a proposition which he would have deemed sound withall paring of what might serve to discover Socinus his grosse error wherein M. Wotton intended to imply his departure from him For It is manifest saith he that God requireth nothing of us in the obtaining of salvation procured by Christ but repentance and amendment of life And Whereas Faith is sometime added to repentance it is not because Faith in Christ is required to the obtaining of remission of sins directly contrary to what the Apostle professeth as working somewhat more in us besides Repentance it selfe that doth hereunto appertain but because Repentance comes not but by Faith in Christ. Thus he clips Socinus in favour to him as he doth M. Wotton els-where to a contrary end And yet further because Lubbertus Socinus his Antagonist in refuting him beates every where upon this that Conversion Repentance do not in order of nature go before but follow remission of sin and justification and are not causes but effects of either nor the cause of expiation but a consequent of it and supposing Socinus

his meaning to be that our Repentance is the cause of the remission of our sins This saith he we disallow for as hath a thousand times been shewed Remission of sins that is justification is in nature before repentance and it is impossible therefore to be the cause of it For it is not Repentance but Christs sacrifice that is the true cause of the remission of our sins God indeed promiseth pardon to the repentant but we deny repentance to be the cause for which God doth pardon Here M. Walker strikes in to help Socinus at a dead lift and telleth us contrary to his Text sure without any warrant at all from it that by obtaining forgivenes of sins Socinus means getting the sense and assurance of forgivenesse a glosse wel-beseeming him that professeth such a detestation of the very least sent or shadow of Socinianism in others The third point is that faith is a beleeving of that which Christ taught and an assurance of obtaining that he promised upon our repentance and obedience Which whether it be a just definition of justifying Faith for of that here the question is or do fitly expresse the office of it in the worke of justification I leave to be discussed by others M. Wotton relateth it to shew how that in laying down the nature and office of justifying faith he goes an other way then Socinus doth and further then Socinus either doth or can holding his own grounds follow him who indeed thus defines Faith to bring all home to Repentance and obed●enee as in the former point and to exclude Christs merit and ought done or endured by him as satisfactory for mans sin as appeares plainly by the whole context of his discourse in that Chapter out of which these words are alledged And I would demand of M. Walker how he can free himself from Socinianism when he maintains such points as these for sound and orthodox in Socinus and what censure himself would hape past upon an other that should have thus blancht and vernisht over such Assertions of Socinus As also I would know of him with what face he that condemns in M. Wotton as hereticall and blasphemous positions these propositions To beleeve in Christ is to trust in Christ and to rest on him to have his heart setled and to rely wholy and onely on him and This trust is such a faith as makes us rest upon God for the performance of his promise doth now pronounce Socinus his definition of faith such as you have heard to be true Orthodox and sound But hereby any party not extreamly partiall may easily judge what spirit this man is caried with throughout this whole busines For as for his twenty times sodden Coleworts so oft served in of M. Wottons taking the word Faith in the Apostles words in a proper sense Christs fulfilling the Law for us in our steed Faith being the condition of the Gospel c. taking out M. Walkers fillings and glosses set upon them which concern M. Wotton no more then himselfe enough before hath been said and if M. Walker can prove them to be heretical opinions many illustrious stars besides M. Wotton will by a blast of M. VValkers breath as by the Dragons tail in the vision be thrown out of Heaven and not struck down to the ground only but even hurld into Hel. His first question is Whether M. Wotton deny not the free covenant of Grace when he holds that God covenants not to justifie and give life but upon a condition performed on our part equivalent for all purposes to mans fulfilling of the Law in his own person in the covenant of works To which briefly 1. To covenant to give a thing upon some condition may nothing impeach the freenesse either of the covenant or of the gift as to covenant with one to give him a shilling that you have let fall lying on the ground if he will but stoop and take it up And here by the way to satisfie some who cannot endure to heare of any condition in the promises of the Gospel which yet are every where so propounded let it be considered that a gift or a promise may be said to be free or not free divers waies and in divers respects 1. Free in regard both of condition and of consideration By consideration understanding some valuable consideration as in common speech we use to speak and so it is absolutely every way free as if I promise one to bestow a book upon him and to send it home to him and so do Here being neither condition nor consideration interposed 2. Free in regard neither of condition nor of confideration as if I promise one to give him such a book of mine if he will give me another of his in lieu of it for here is both condition and consideration which both concurring destroy the freenes of it 3. Free in regard of consideration tho not free in regard of condition as if I promise to give one such a book gratis if he wil but cal to me at mine house for it supposing that I dwell at next dore or neer to him Nor doth it derogate ought from the freenes of a gift if it have been promised upon such a condition and the promise made good upon the performance of it no more then a Princes pardon would be deemed lesse free were it granted upon condition of taking it out and that free also for any to do that wil of free cost without fee. or his alms were they propounded and published to all that would but repaire to the Court for them Nor doth M. Wotton therefore necessarily denie the freenesse of Gods gratious covenant if he hold justification and life eternal not to be promised therein but upon condition So M. Fox answering those that might object that to him that M. Walker here to M. Wotton If Gods promise be restrained to certain conditions how shall we maintain with Paul the freenes of Gods mercy whereby he freely justifyeth a sinner Yes saith he I deem and determine Goas mercy to be most free in Christ. albeit this salvation by the merit of Christ be not derived unto us but upon a certaine condition And M. Perkins before recited The condition of the covenant is by grace as wel as the substance Whereunto ad M. Pembles reason that therefore this covenant is a compact of freest mercy because therein life eternal is given to that that beares not the least proportion of worth with it 2. That this condition is Faith the performance whereof is as availeable for our good as perfect obedience at first had been if it be an heresie why doth not M. Walker require M. Pembles if not bones yet books to be burnt as containing in them hereticall and blasphemous doctrine at least why doth he not arraign and condemn him for an heretick as wel as M. Wotton for he hath as hath been shewed the

know in the whole world yea the Apostle S. Paul himselfe to boote too if some of them may be beleeved for Socinians and blasphemous heretiks For I would fain know of M Walker how this differeth that he so chargeth from what Pareus saith and avoweth to be S. Pauls that Faith is the condition under which Christ is given us for a propitiation Or not to looke out abroad but to keep our selves at home I should desire to understand from him what he thinketh of these passages in some writers of our own and those men of no mean note neither First that of M. Fox The condition whereby we are properly justified is this that we beleeve in Christ. And againe The Evangelicall promise requireth no other condition to the attaining of salvation besides Faith onely whereby we beleeve on the Sonne of God Secondly that of M. Perkins in his Reformed Catholique In the Covenant of Grace two things must be considered the substance thereof and the condition The substance of the Covenant is that Righteousnes and life everlasting is given to Gods Church and people by Christ. The condition is that we for our parts are by faith to receive the foresaid benefits And this condition is by grace as well as the substance Or if these men be not of that esteem with M. Walker but that he can be content to let them go for damned heretiks to beare M. VVotton company in the same condemnation I should crave to be informed what he deemeth of M. Pemble some of whose works he hath deigned to honour with a Dedicatory Epistle wherein he commendeth him as a righteous and faithfull servant of Christ excelling in grace and vertue abounding in all wisdome and in all knowledge lively sense and utterance of heavenly and supernaturall mysteries far above all that could be expected from or is ordinarily found in one of his age and yeers Nor doubteth therefore nor is afraid to say of him that he is ascended up into that supercelestiall glory towards which he had ever bent all his studies and desires This M. Pemble then whom M. Walker thus extolleth and not altogether undeservedly in another of his works hath these words There are two covenants that God hath made with man by one of which salvation is to be obtained The one is the Covenant of works thè tenor whereof is Doe this and thou shalt live The other is the Covenant of Grace the tenor whereof it Beleeve in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt be saved The condition of this Covenant required in them that shall be justified is faith The performance whereof differs from the performance of the condition of that other Covenant Doe this and live is a compact of pure justice wherein wages is given by debt so that he that doth the work obeying the Law may in strict justice for the work sake claim the wages eternall life upon just desert Beleeve this and live is a compact of freest and purest mercy wherein the reward of eternall life is given us in favour for that which beares not the least proportion of worth with it so that he that performs the condition cannot yet demand the wages as due unto him in severity of justice but onely by the grace of a free promise the fulfilling of which he may humbly sue for And againe Altho the act of justification of a sinner be properly the onely work of God for the onely merit of Christ yet is it rightly ascribed unto faith and it alone for as much as faith is that main condition of the New Covenant which as we must performe if we will be justified so by the performance whereof we are said to obtaine justification and life Thus M. Pemble in which passages tho I will not justifie all therein contained he fully and cleerely expresseth M. Wottons meaning not as his owne judgment only but as the doctrine of the Reformed Churches by them so explained Now I demand of M. Walker whether for this damnable and detestable position we shall doe well without further search or triall the rather since that the same he saith is found in Socinus to condemne M. Pemble of heresie and require if not his bones to be digged up againe and committed to the fire yet his books at least containing such blasphemous stuffe to be burnt Which if he shall deem fit sure Pauls Epistles unlesse Pareus be much mistaken must goe the same way Or if he shall be of another mind concerning these blessed men whether it be not extreame partiality to let that goe for sound doctrine in M. Fox Perkins Pareus and Pemble that in M. Wottons writings without further adoe upon M. Walkers bare relating of it must be condemned for blasphemous heresie Secondly I desire to have it considered whether it were equall to censure a man for an heretike upon bare positions or sayings extracted out of his writings without any regard had to or notice taken of his own Expositions of them or his Reasons alledged to prove his dissent in them from the errors of those whom he is charged to concurre with confirmed by collation of place with place in his writings and by consideration of the maine scope and drift of the dispute course and tenor of the discourse and the different sense and meaning of the words and terms used by either For example M. Walker in his parallel alledgeth a saying of Servetus and that is all that he hath out of him throughout his whole Parallel that For one act of Faith was Abraham righteous And presuming that M. Wotton saith the very same though he alledge not any one place at all out of M. Wotton where these words are found from hence concludeth that M. Wotton and Servetus do in the doctrine of justification hold one and the same opinion in all points Now suppose wee that the very selfesame words were found in M. Wottons wrirings and againe that that saying in Servetus were condemned yea and that justly for hereticall yet were it therefore agreeable to equity without further disquisition to passe sentence thereupon that M. Wotton Serv●tus do in all things hold the same opinion in the point of justification yea or that in those very words they speake the same thing when it may easily be made evidently to appeare that Servetus speaketh of justification in one sense and M. Wotton intreateth of justification in another sense and that neither the Faith nor the Righteousnesse nor the manner of imputation of Righteousnesse that they speak of in their writings are the same That which any may soon see that shall read the summe of Servetus his discourse related out of Calvin in my postscript Surely by the same reason might M. Walker prove S. Paul and Servetus to be both of them in all things of one mind concerning the doctrine of justification because Servetus saith that Abrahams beleeving was imputed unto him for righteousnes and S.