and certainly possess Salvation Yea as that Covenant was not made with the Elect though for the Elect so they have nothing to do as a Condition of this Covenant And to this all absolute Promises and Prophecies of Grace are reducible they being a Transcript hereof This Dr. Owen makes to be a distinct Covenant from the Covenant of Grace See his Treatise of Justif. pag. 268 269. 2. By Covenant of Grace I mean the way that God hath ordained to apply to Sinners that Salvation which is prepared by Christ and which he will enable the Elect to comply with Q. 2. What is intended by Condition A. I shall answer in the words of worthy Mr. Flavel Discourse of Errors pag. 248. An Antecedent Condition signifies no more than an Act of ours which though it be neither perfect in every degree nor in the least meritorious of the Benefit conferred nor performed in our own natural strength yet according to the Constitution of the Covenant it is required of us in order to the Blessings consequent thereupon by virtue of the Promise And consequently the Benefits and Mercies granted in this order are and must be suspended by the Donor or Desposer of them till it be performed such a Condition we affirm Faith to be Some call this a Consequent Condition but they mean not Consequent to the Benefit promised but Consequent to Christ's undertaking to enable us to do it Reader I would have thee note 1. The Conditions do not merit the Blessings promised 2. The Conditions are not uncertain for Christ hath undertaken that the Elect shall perform them 3. They are performed by Grace and not by Natural Power 4. They are performed by Men and not by Christ though it is by Christ that any are enabled to perform them It 's not Christ repents or believes in a Saviour but Men themselves 5. It 's from God's Will in the Promise that they are made to be Conditions he connected the Benefit and the Duty though he chose Conditions that were fit yet their fitness would not have availed to our interest in the Benefits unless he had promised that they should so avail A penitent Believer had not been saved but for the Promise though it 's unlike a God to have saved any that were not such 6. These Conditions are our Duty by God's Command and not less so by being made Terms of the Benefit in the Divine Grant 7. The Covenant though Conditional is a Disposition of Grace There 's Grace in giving ability to perform the Condition as well as in bestowing the Benefits God's enjoyning one in order to the other makes not the Benefit to be less of Grace but it is a display of God's Wisdom in conferring the Benefit suitably to the nature and state of Men in this Life whose Eternal Condition is not eternally decided but are in a state of Tryal yea the Conditions are but a meetness to receive the Blessings 8. The reason why we use the word Condition is because it best suits with Man's Relation to God in his present dealings with us as his Subjects in tryal for Eternity Christ as a Priest hath merited all but as a King or a Priest upon his Throne he dispenceth all He enjoyns the Conditions in order to the Benefits and makes the Benefits Motives to our Compliance with the Conditions He treats with Men as his Subjects whom he will now Rule and hereafter Judge Now what word is so proper to express the Duties as enjoyned Means of Benefits like this word Conditions The word Conditions is of the same nature as Terms of the Gospel There be few Authors of Note even of any Persuasion but they make use of this word in my sence as Ames Twiss Rutherford Hooker of New-England Norton Preston Owen Synod of New-England the Assembly of Divines c. And I know none have reason to scruple it except such as think we are United to Christ and Justified before we are Born To such indeed all such Terms are improper because they deny God's dispensing of Saving Benefits in a way of Government Q. 3. What is intended by the Benefits of the Covenant A. The good Things or Privileges promised to such as by Grace are enabled to comply with the Terms of the Covenant especially whatever is essential to our felicity Q. 4. Wherein do the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace differ from Conditions in the Covenant of Innocency or Works as vulgarly called For both lie in doingsomething though not the same thing nor to the same ends A. 1. The Conditions of the Covenant of Grace are performed by the Grace of Christ freely given to Sinners The Conditions of the Covenant of Innocency were performed by a strength due to and inherent in our innocent Nature 2. The principal Conditions of the Covenant of Grace express the guilt and misery of them that perform them Repentance owns our Filth and Guilt and Faith in a Redeemer expresseth our sinful and lost State neither of these could have place in our legal Righteousness as being utterly inconsistent with an Innocent Condition Nor can they have much room in Heaven where we shall be perfect whereas the Terms of the Covenant of Works implied nothing but Innocency and Happiness 3. The Conditions of the Covenant of Grace make us capable of no Happiness except what Christ hath bought and prepared for us his Blood is the Price of all But the happiness granted to sinless Obedience was immediately from the Creator and knew no Atonement or Mediator 4. The Blessings promised on the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace are meerly of Grace They be for another's sake and not our own they are given to such as are condemned by the Covenant of Works and that are still condemnable by the Law for the Imperfection of the performed Gospel-Conditions yea it 's Forgiveness which renders these Persons blessed Rom. 4. 7. whereas the sinless Obedience of innocent Adam made the Reward to be of Debt Rom. 4. 4. which we as being happy by Pardon must renounce 5. The Use and Interest of Gospel-Conditions is not from the conformity of them to the Preceptive part of the Law though in a degree there be that but from their Conformity to the Rule of the Grace of the Promise The Promise of Pardon through Christ being to the penitent Believer and no other Repentance and Faith become necessary and useful Conditions of this Pardon by the Order of God in that gracious Promise But by the Covenant of Works the meer Work gave an Interest in the Reward as it was Obedience to the Precept by a Sanction that had Goodness but no such Grace in it On these accounts I shall never fear that the Conditionality of the Covenant of Grace should turn it into a Covenant of Works till I see it proved That God can promise and apply no Benefit purchased by Christ to a poor Sinner upon the Condition of any Action he commands and freely enableth the
Sinner to perform The Judgment-Day is past and a State of Tryal is over when-ever this is proved These things I have premised that if possible I may remove the Mistakes which govern the Minds of some well-meaning people The Truth TRUTH I shall express it in the words of the Assembly The Grace of God is manifested in the Second Covenant in that he freely provideth and offereth to Sinners a Mediator and Life and Salvation by him requiring Faith as the Condition to interest them in him promiseth and giveth his holy Spirit to all his Elect to work in them that Faith with all other saving Graces and to enable them unto all Obedience as the Evidence of the Truth of their Faiâ—h and Thankfulness to God and as the way which he hath appointed them to Salvation Large Catech. Quest. How is the Grace of God manifested in the Second Covenant 1. Thou canst not but observe that the Assembly did judge 1. That though God hath provided a Mediator for Sinners yet they have no interest in him till they believe 2. That the Covenant is Conditional They scruple not to call Faith the Condition of our Interest in Christ and of Salvation by him 3. That Christ and Salvation are offered to all Sinners on the same Condition though God effectually enable the Elect to obey the Condition ERROUR The Covenant of Grace hath no Condition to be performed on Man's part though in the strength of Christ Neither is Faith it self the Condition of this Covenant but all the saving Benefits of this Covenant are actually ours before we are born Neither are we required so much as to believe that we may come to have an Interest in the Covenant Benefits Proved that this is Doctor Crisp 's Opinion The Doctor spends more than a Sermon to prove this And saith P. 81. There is not any Condition in this Covenant Mark what I say I know I shall go against the Strain of some c. P. 82. Observe I pray you and you shall plainly perceive that Man hath no Tye upon him to perform any thing whatsoever on his Part as a Condition that must be observed on his Part and there is not one Bond or Obligation upon Man to the fulfilling of the Covenant or partaking of the Benefits of it P. 84. He puts this Objection Though Works be not the Condition of the Covenant yet we hope you will yield Faith is the Condition of the Covenant He answers I must needs tell you directly that Faith is not the Condition of the Covenant But the Reader may suppose the Doctor only means there be no meritorious Conditions No he excludes all things wrought by Men or in Men as necessary to their Interest in the Covenant Blessings For he tells us P. 81. That after we are in Covenant with God he will bestow these things upon us as Effects of the Covenant And P. 83. The Covenant in the actual Substance of it is made good to a Man before he can do any thing i. e. from Eternity and in the Womb. Elsewhere he says Before our Eyes be opened c. P. 600. c. Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not whether God hath promised and Christ engaged in the Covenant of Redemption that the Elect shall believe and possess Christ c. This I affirm 2. Nor whether there be any Duty on Man's Part as a Condition of Christ's Undertaking or of the Certainty of the Things undertaken in that Covenant This I deny 3. Nor whether the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace be performed in our own Strength or be uncertain as to the Elect. This I deny 4. Nor whether the Performance of the Conditions move God to enact offer or appoint this Covenant whereby the Grace of Christ is applied This I deny and add That God enacted this Covenant before we were born and offers an Interest in it on its proper Terms to Men when Sinners 5. Nor whether the Performance of the Conditions of the Covenant be a purchasing Price or meritorious of the Benefits promised on such Conditions This I deny for Christ alone paid the Price and it 's the Covenant Promise gives the Interest in the Benefits to such as perform the Conditions 6. Nor whether the first Grace by which we are enabled to perform the Condition be absolutely given This I affirm though that be dispensed ordinarily in a due use of Means and in a way discountenancing idleness and fit Encouragement given to the Use of Means 7. Nor whether all the Conditions of the Covenant be of the same Use to the same Purpose or alike compleat Terms of the principal Benefits This I deny for Faith is supposed to all other Conditions and by Faith we are united to Christ c. 8. Nor whether upon Performance of the Conditions the Covenant Grant become not as absolute and the Right to the Benefit no longer suspended This I affirm for the Promise conveys the title as soon as the terms of the Grant are answered The real Difference 1. Whether the Elect have an actual Interest in the saving Benefits of the Covenant of Grace while they live in Unbelief This the Doctor affirms and I deny Of which see Chap. 10 11 12. 2. Whether God doth not offer the saving Benefits of the Covenant upon official Terms as believe and thou shalt be saved This I affirm and the Doctor denies 3. Whether the beneficial Privileges of the Covenant be not suspended on Terms of Duty as Doth not God forbear to pardon us till we believe This I affirm and the Doctor denies 4. Whether God doth engage to bestow the promised Benefits of the Covenant on all such who through Grace perform the Conditions This I affirm and the Doctor denies All may be reduced to this Whether our believing Confent to the Covenant of Grace be absolutely necessary by God's Command and Promise to our Interest in the saving Benefits of that Covenant This the Doctor denies and I affirm The Truth Confirmed 1. Each of the Benefits of the Covenant are offered to Men on condition and not absolutely in relation to God as his People is so Lev. 26. 3 12. If ye walk in my Statutes and keep my Commandments I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my People That this refers to the New Covenant Relation is plain by 2 Cor. 6. 16. So is Union to Christ with a Communion in the Benefits proceeding therefrom Mat. 22. 2 3 9 10 11. They must come to the Wedding-Supper or have no share in it So is it of Pardon of Sin Acceptance to Life Adoption and Salvation Rom. 10. 9. If thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jelus and shalt believe in thine Heart c. thou shalt be saved Rom. 4. 25. To whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord. Gal. 3. 7. They which are of Faith are the Children of Abraham See more of this in
chap. 13 c. 4. Whether it be Legal to preach Wrath and Damnation against prevailing Infidelity Impenitency Ungodliness Enmity against God Profaneness Apostacy and utter neglect of Good Works so that Wrath be urged as a motive to Acceptance of Christ and sincere Subjection to him and the Gospel-way of escaping these be discovered and persuaded to This the Doctor affirms and I deny being well assured that Christ and his Apostles preached thus and these Threatnings of God used since the Fall are otherwise vain as I have proved chap. 13 10 c. 5. Whether it 's Legal Preaching to excite good Men to an holy Fear of threatned Evils as far as they find just Cause to suspect the Dominion of Sin or Danger of Apostacy or the Power of Carnal Security This the Doctor affirms and I deny The Truth Confirmed Consult the 20th Chap. and those before-mentioned and thou wilt find that what the Doctor calls Legal Preaching is the Tenor of the Gospel and the Truth according to Jesus It 's what the Assembly affirm to be the Grace of the New Covenant and not the Covenant of Works It 's the method appointed to recover apostate Sinners and not to govern innocent Man I have nothing left to do except to vindicate That it 's the Will of God that we should excite a holy Fear of threatned Evils and this in good Men as well as bad during their Pilgrimage Obj. The Doctor allows a Fear of Reveverence towards God from the infinite distance between him and Creatures A. He doth so but it 's no more than will be in Heaven it self And therefore I add that we ought to preach so as to beget a fear of Caution and from the due Sense of Danger not indeed so as to extinguish just Hopes or Joy not to exclude Love or introduce a Spirit of Bondage or tormenting Amazement but to prevent Security and awaken Diligence till our Danger is past and our VVarfare be accomplished For. 1. Such Fear is our Duty by Gospel-Precept Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear least a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it It 's an Evil is to be feared here and Sense of Danger awakens it See Ver. 11. Least any Man fall after the same Example of Unbelief Mar. 13. 5. Take heed least any Man deceive you This Duty is annexed when the Safety and Comfort of our present State is most represented Heb. 12. 15. Looking diligently least any Man fail of the Grace of God And when he had finished the peculiar Liberties of the New Testament-Time he adds Ver. 25. See that you refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake from Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Ver. 28 29. Whereby we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear for our God is a consuming Fire Here is Awe impressed by Danger much more shall not we escape if c. say not the Saints shall not turn away for yet here 's an Awful Threat if he do and his Fear is the Means here intended to keep him from turning away Phil. 2. 12. Work out your Salvation with Trembling and with Fear Rom. 11. 20. Be not high-minded but fear Joh. 5. 14. Sin no more least a worse thing do befall thee 2. Without this Fear in sence of Danger many of the great Duties of Religion are excluded What 's a Tender Heart but a Heart impressed by a Mixture of Fear and Love Who is Contrite but he that trembleth at my Word Isa. 66. 2. Are not taking heed solicitous Cares and holy Watchfulness great Duties But if you exclude Fear of Danger are these possible Nay VVhen God calls us to these he doth it by representing Danger as what is to be dreaded and thereby begetting Fear Mar. 13. 5 35 36. Take heed least any Man deceive you for many shall come in my Name c. Watch ye therefore c. least coming suddenly he find you sleeping Luk. 21. 34 35 36. Take heed to your selves least at any time your Hearts be overcharged c. and so that Day come upon you unawares for as a Snare it shall come Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man Heb. 3. 12. 13. Take heed least there be in any of you an evil Heart of Unbelief in departing from the living God c. Least any of you be hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin Rom. 11. 21. If God spared not the natural Branches take heed least he spare not thee Jam. 5. 9. Grudge not one against another least ye be condemned behold the Judge standeth before the Door Are not all these intended to beget Fear Are not the Motives from things that must strike an awe of Danger The Lord argues to a Fear of Apostacy Unpreparedness being rejected at Christ's coming being cut off and condemned and God is represented not only as great above us but as our Judge as a consuming Fire 3. This Fear is entertained by and approved of in the best Men. 1 Cor. 9. 27. I keep my Body under least that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a Castaway Was here no Fear in Sense of Danger Noah moved with Fear prepared an Ark Heb. 11. 7. David tells us Psal. 119 120. My Flesh trembleth for fear of thee I am afraid of thy Judgments Prov. 28. 13. Happy is he that feareth always It was the want of this that 's branded in the Virgins They all slumbered and slept Habakkuck's Tremblings and Faith were consistent Chap. 3. 16 17. 4. This fear is absolutely necessary to Saints in their Pilgrimage What Men should we be if Fear were extinct What would our Remains of Corruption our great Snares Heaps of earthly Diversions while eternal things are invisible reduce us to without Fear Would Back-sliders recover themselves without fear or Men in Difficulties hold out God knew our Frame when he saith 1 Pet. 1. 17. And if you call upon the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth accordingly every Man's Work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear This Text ill agrees with the Doctor 's Notion We have no Work to do for Eternity as if the Judgment-Day were past away with Fear of VVrath or Danger as if we were in Heaven already Good Men may fancy an ingenuous Life of Love exclusive of all Fear in this VVorld but though they could be safe and vigorous thereby it follows not that all other good Men can and we must preach the Mind of Christ to them But I fear they know not or observe not their own Hearts who pretend to this and if they fall into many gross Sins and Neglects and keep up to this Rule God calls them to fear their
Gospel-Truth Stated and Vindicated Wherein some of Dr. CRISP's Opinions Are Considered AND THE OPPOSITE TRUTHS ARE Plainly Stated and Confirmed BY DANIEL WILLIAMS LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey 1692. WE whose Names are subscribed do judge that our Reverend Brother hath in all that is material fully and rightly stated the Truths and Errours mentioned as such in the following Treatise And do account he hath in this Work done considerable Service to the Church of Christ Adding our Prayers that these Labours of his may as we hope they will by the Blessing of God upon them be a Means for the reclaiming of those that have been missed into such dangerous Opinions and for the establishing those that waver in any of these Truths Wiliam Bates Samuel Slater John How Abraham Hume Vinc. Alsop Nich. Blakey W. Lorimer John Reynolds Edw. Lawrence John Showers Rich. Mayo Nath. Taylor Rich. Stretton Tho. Kentish John Quick Nath. Oldfield Many more were ready to attest these Truths but the haste of the Press prevents their Subscription TO THE READER A Dislike of Contention hath long restrained my engaging in this Work tho oft sollicited thereto by several worthy Ministers Peace is the Blessing which I chearfully pursue and is with the Truth what I propose in this very Endeavour I am convinced after frequent Prayers and serious Thoughts That the Revival of these Errours must not only exclude that Ministry as Legal which is most apt in its Nature and by Christ's Ordination to Convert Souls and secure the Practical Power of Religion but also renders Unity among Christians a thing impossible Every Sermon will be Matter of Debate and mutual Censures of the severest kind are unavoidable while one side justly press the Terms of the Gospel under its Promises and Threats for which they are accused as Enemies to Christ and Grace and the other side ignorantly set up the Name of Christ and Free Grace against the Government of Christ and the Rule of Judgment I believe many Abettors of these Mistakes are honestly zealous for the honour of Free Grace but have not Light sufficient to see how God hath provided for this in his rectoral Distribution of Benefits by a Gospel-Rule By this Pretence Antinomianism so corrupted Germany it bid fair to overthrow Church and State in New-England and by its stroke at the Vitals of Religion it allarm'd most of the Pulpits in England Many of our ablest Pens were engaged against these Errours as Mr. Gataker Mr. Rutherford Anthony Burgess the Provincial Synod at London with very many others whose Labours God was pleased to bless to the stopping of the Attempts of Dr. Crisp by Name opposed by the foresaid Divines Saltmarsh Denne Eaton Hobson c. To the grief of such as perceive the tendency of these Principles we are engaged in a new Opposition or must betray the Truth as it is in Jesus I believe many Abettors of these Notions have Grace to preserve their Minds and Practices from their Influence But they ought to consider that the generality of Mankind have no such Antidote and themselves need not fortifie their own Temptations nor lose the Defence which the Wisdom of God hath provided against remissness in Duty and sinful Backslidings Who can wonder at the Security of Sinners the mistaking the Motion of sensible Passions for Conversion and the general abatement of exact and humble walking when so many affirm Sins are not to be feared as doing any hurt even when the most flagitious are committed Graces and Holiness cannot do us the least good God hath no more to lay to the Charge of the wickedest Man if he be elected than he hath to lay to the Charge of a Saint in Glory The Elect are not governed by Fear or Hope for the Laws of Christ have no Promises nor Threats to rule them by nor are they under the Impressions of Rewards or Punishments as Motives to Duty or Preservatives against Sin c. In this present Testimony to the Truth of the Gospel I have studied Plainness and to that end oft repeated the same things in my Concessions to prevent the Mistakes of the less Intelligent though I could not think it fit to insist a new upon all To the best of my knowledge I have in nothing mis-represented Dr. Crisp's Opinion nor mistaken his sence For most of them he oft studiously pleadeth Of each I could multiply Proofs and all of them be necessary from his Scheme though not consistent with all his other occasional Expressions His Scheme is this That by God's mere Electing Decree all Saving Blessings are by Divine Obligation made ours and nothing more is needful to our Title to these Blessings That on the Cross all the Sins of the Elect were transferred to Christ and ceased ever after to be theirs That at the first moment of Conception a Title to all those decreed Blessings is personally applied to the Elect and they invested actually therein Hence the Elect have nothing to do in order to an Interest in any of these Blessings nor ought they to intend the least good to themselves in what they do Sin can do them no harm because it is none of theirs nor can God afflict them for any Sin And all the rest of his Opinions follow in a Chain to the dethroning of Christ enervating his Laws and Pleadings obstructing the great Designs of Redemption opposing the very Scope of the Gospel and the Ministry of Christ and his Prophets and Apostles The Doctor had not entertained these Opinions if he had considered that God's Electing Decree is no Legal Grant nor a Formal Promise to us The Decree includes the Means and the End willing the first in order to the last and as it puts nothing in present being so it barrs not God as a Governour to fix a Connexion between Benefits and Duties by his revealed Will So if the Doctor had animadverted That Christ's Sufferings were the Foundation of our Pardon but not Formally our Pardon For them our Sins are forgiven when-ever they be forgiven without them Sin cannot be forgiven and they were endured that the Sins of all the Elect when Believers should be forgiven But yet they are not forgiven immediately upon nor merely by his enduring those Sufferings but there were by Divine Appointment to interpose a Gospel-Promise of Pardon the Work of the Spirit for a conformity to the Rule of the Promise in the Person to be pardoned and a judicial Act of Pardon by that Promise on the Person thus conformed to the Rule thereof To clear this Point Consider 1. The Law is sometimes taken for the Preceptive part of God's Will with the Sanction of the Covenant of Works In this Covenant Life was promised to sinless Obedience and Death was threatned against every Sin without admitting Repentance to Forgiveness Upon the Fall Life is impossible by the Law with this Sanction And hence to preach it to Sinners as a way of Blessedness is
sinful and vain and no Saving Benefit is dispenced to any of us by this Rule 2. The Gospel includes the Moral Preceptive part of the first Law with some additional Precepts which suppose our Apostate state as Faith in an atoneing Saviour and Repentance for Sin These could not be enjoyned as Duties on innocent Man by a Rule of Happiness and Misery nor could they be necessary to his Right to Life because they would suppose him a Sinner The Gospel is taken in a large sence when I say it includes all the Moral Precepts but yet the Gospel doth so and they are the Commands of Christ as Redeemer to whom all Judgment is committed as well as the Law of the Creator 3. The Gospel hath another Sanction to the Preceptive part of the Law than the Covenant of Works had Though nothing be abated in the Rule of Sin and Duty yet Blessings are promised to lower degrees of Duty and a continuance in a state of Deuth with a barr to the Blessing are not threatned against every degree of Sin as the Covenant of Works did Can any doubt this to be the Grace of the Gospel-Promise Doth it promise Life to all Men however vile and impenitent they be Or doth it threaten Damnation or a Continuance of it on any true penitent believing godly Man because he is imperfect This Change of the Sanction supposeth the Death of Christ and his honouring the Law by his perfect Obedience wherein God hath provided for his own Glory while he promiseth Life by Forgiveness to imperfect Man and yet he insists on some degree of Obedience to which of his mere Grace he enableth us This the Covenant of Redemption secures to the Elect tho' the Grant therein is pleadable only by Christ as the stipulating Party for us and our personal Claim depends on the gospel-Gospel-Covenant whereof Christ is Mediator 4. This Gospel-Sanction determines as certain a Rule of Happiness and Misery as the Law of Works did though it be not the same For while it promiseth Pardon to all believing repenting Sinners and declares a barr to pardon to the impenitent Rejecters of Christ and Gospel-Grace it fixeth true Repentance and Faith unfeigned to be the Terms of Pardon So when it promiseth Heaven to the sincerely holy persevering Believer it fixeth sincere Holiness and perseverance in Faith as the Terms of possessing Heaven Hence the Use of Faith Holiness c. to these Benefits is not from their Conformity to the Precept but their Conformity to the Rule of the Promise Our applying Christ's Righteousness and relying on it would no more Justifie us than our sincere Holiness would Save us were it not for this Gospel-Promise That God will Justifie for Christ's sake all such as believe 5. Hence by Gospel-Grace there is a great difference between perfect Faith and utter Unbelief between sincere Holiness and formal Profaneness or Wickedness True Love to God and prevailing Enmity imperfect spiritual Duties and rebellious Neglects c. By the Law of Works nothing was Holiness but what was perfectly so c. But read the Bible if thou doubtest whether there is not a true Faith Holiness Love c. which be short of Perfection 6. God in the dispensing of Gospel-promised Blessings doth judicially determine a Conformity to this Rule of the Promise When he forgives he judicially declareth a Man hath true Faith when he admits into Heaven he judicially declares a Man sincerely Holy and Persevering As upon a view of his Guests he cast out him that had not on the Wedding-Garment viz. True-uniting Faith so he judicially determined That they who were not cast out but admitted to share in the Marriage Feast viz. made Partakers of Union with Christ and the Benefits thereof had True Faith and not a mere Profession As by keeping out the foolish Virgins for not having Oyl in their Lamps viz. the Spirit of Grace and persevering Holiness so by admitting the wise Virgins he judicially declared they had a Spirit of Grace and persevering Holiness Can any think that Forgiving Adopting Glorifying or the conveyance of every other promised Benefit given on God's Terms are not judicial Acts of God as Rector If so doth he dispence these blindly and promiseuously without any regard to our being Believers c. or no Or whether our Faith be true or no Any one would blush to affirm it With respect to what 's above declared the Gospel is called a Law of Faith a Law of Liberty c. and it especially insists on that sincerity of Grace and Holiness which the Rule of the Promise makes necessary in its Description of the Person whom it makes Partaker of its included Benefit And the main of our Ministry consisteth in pressing Men to answer the Rule of the Gospel-Promises and disswading Men from those things which the Gospel threatens shall hinder their Interest in all or any of its Benefits with an Aggravation of their Misery if they be final Rejecters of its Grace We call Men to be reconeiled to God upon which we know God will be at peace with them These things will help thy Conceptions still remembring that the Merits of Christ are the cause of this Gospel-Ordination His Righteousness imputed is the cause for which we are justified and saved when we do answer the Gospel-Rule And I exclude not this Righteousness when I affirm That the Righteousness of God Phil. 3. 9. principally intends the Gospel-Holiness of a Person justified by Christ's Righteousness both which by Faith in Christ all his Members shall be perfect in The Grace of God is hereby stated as free as is consistent with his Government and Judicial Rectoral Distribution of Rewards and Punishments and none need the Riches of Grace more than I. Reader Note That in this Book I still speak of the Adult and not Infants When I say The Difference is not I state my own Concessions and mean not that the Doctor is in all these of my mind Thou must expect to take up my full sence by a view of several Chapters and not only one because sundry Chapters referr to the same Points more or less And forget not That though the Doctor oft in his Book speaks to Men as Believers yet every thing is true of the Elect viz. They have as much a Title to all Saving Blessings only they do not know it This was his Judgment I have carefully avoided any Reflexion on Reverend Dr. Crisp whom I believe a holy Man and abstained exposing many things according to the Advantage offered if by any means this Book may become useful to such as most need it That the Father of Lights would lead us into all Truth and Love is the Prayer of thy Servant in the Gospel London May 4. 1692. D. Williams ERRATA PAge 3. Line 7. add 365. p. 5. l. 8. for ew r. we p. 8. l. 15. for 289. r. 274. p. 10. l. 17. r. Propogation p. 28. l. 4 for Chaist r. Christ p. 38.
is their Father though they resolve against being Separate Men can though God saith they cannot partake of the Table of the Lord and of the Table of Devils 1 Cor. 10. 21. For Union and Communion with Christ be the Heart of the Benefits included in partaking of the Lord's Table Reader Weigh these things and thou canst hardly conceive what Act of God an Union before Faith can be ascribed to It 's not to the Decree for that only resolveth it shall be in future It 's not to God's appointing or Christ's engaging to be a Mediator for thereby he undertook in time to raise a Seed which in the fulness of Time God would gather in one in him Eph. 1. 10. It 's not in Christ's assuming the humane Nature for that admits all Mankind to be united to him as well as the Elect. And what Mr Sterry and others talk of a radical Union with Christ as he is the top Branch or the universal Spirit of the Creation in a Nature distinct from his Divine and Humane it's fordid to such who know of but two Natures in Christ and if granted would not prove the Doctor 's Notion of actual Union TESTIMONIES The Assembly Confess Ca. 26. a. 1. and the Elders at the Savoy Chap. 27. a. 1. affirm That we are united to Jesus Christ by-his Spirit and by Faith A. 5. Only the Elders add We are not thereby made one Person with Christ. The Lesser Catechism hath this Question How doth the Spirit apply to us the Redemption purchased by Christ A. By working Faith in us and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual Calling The New England Synod confute this as Errour 37. We are compleatly united to Christ before or without any Faith wrought in us by the Spirit They sum up their Confutation of this in these VVords If there be no Dwelling of Christ in us no coming to him no receiving him no being married to him before and without Faith But the former is true Errour 16. which Boston Church charged Mr. Hutcheson with was That Union to Christ is not by Faith Errour 38. The Synod Confutes is There can be no true closing with Christ in a Promise that hath a Condition expressed Errour 69. Though a Man can prove a gracious VVork in himself and Christ to be the Author of it if thereby he will prove Christ to be his this is but a sandy Foundation He never read Doctor Owen who did not find him as express in this as any Man can be Norton Orthod Evang. P. 291. Union in order of Nature though not of Time followeth Vocation P. 181. Union not without the Act of Faith P. 222. It 's by the Spirit and Faith The Grounds of the Dr's Mistake Because Christ is appointed and given to raise a Body eternally elected thereto therefore he thinks they are this Body before they be raised Because all After-Grace is from Christ as our actual Head therefore he thinks Christ cannot by his Spirit work the first Grace as our designed Head VVhereas the Spirit makes us an Habitation to God Eph. 2. 22. And it 's a strange conceit that Christ can exert no Act of Power on a dead Soul in order to Union but Men must infer that Union prior to it Because the natural Body cannot see without a Head therefore Christ cannot convert a Sinner to bring him into his mystical Body One might better infer the Head cannot see without the Body and the Body sees as much as the Head and the Head sees no better than the Body and so conclude Christ can see nothing till every elect Person be a Member and every Member seeth as well as Christ and the dim Sight of every Member makes the Sight of Christ as blind as his Because Christ received Gifts for the Rebellious that God might dwell among them therefore God dwells among them before those Gifts operate or be communicated to them Whereas the Apostle Eph. 4. 10 11 12. tells us how these Gifts are the Means by which the Elect are converted and made Believers and so come to partake of Union with its peculiar Effects Because from the Parable of the Vine the Gardiner puts the Graff into the Tree before there 's Sap or Fruit therefore he thinks a Man is in Christ before God puts him in Christ by the Spirit and Faith which is the only ingraffing the VVord tells us of besides external Church Privileges Rom. 11. 17 19. I may as well argue a Member of Christ must always do wicked VVorks because the Graff bears always Fruit of its own Kind and not after the Kind of the Stock into which it is ingrafted How sad is it to strain and abuse Parables or Metaphors against the Scope of the Gospel because God condescends to explain some Truths thereby as if all that belongs to the Metaphor teach and prove any Doctrine because that one Point for which the Lord useth it is illustrated thereby VVhat VVork may soon be made by fond People if this be true Because we are chosen in Christ from eternity that is elected to obtain Life by him as Mediator therefore we are one with him before any uniting Bonds Reader I forbear to represent the Nature of this Union as he seems to state it P. 104 105 648 649 615. hoping he meant better than many of his VVords do import but for thy own Good know that upon believing we are made Partakers of Gospel-Benefits we are related to him for all the Advantages which the Metaphors of this Union express He loveth enricheth and honoureth us as a Man doth his Wife He directs rules and quickens us as a Head doth the Members He ministers Grace for Fruit and Exercise as the Root doth to the Branches Yea This Relation he 'll keep undissolved and yet more the very Spirit that his Humane Nature received in Fulness abides in and worketh a Conformity to the Life and Temper of Christ in all his Members which at last he will perfect to the utmost of our Capacity But yet fansie not that we are deified with God or christified with Christ or one natural Person with him as if he had a superangelick Nature which was a sort of a commen Soul or that our distinct Personality shall ever cease with other Notions destructive of God's Government and of all Judgment Beware of confounding God and the Creature or making Christ the Subject of our Graces because he is the Author of them Obj. But you said in the Errour that Men are said to receive Christ against their VVills A. The Doctor tells us Our first receiving of Christ is when Christ comes by the Gift of the Father to a Person while he is in the Stubbornness of his own Heart and the Father doth force open the Spirit of that Person and pours in his Son in spight of the Receiver P. 99. In P. 98. It 's as a Physician poureth Physick down the Patient's Throat and so it works against his Will
5 15 16 17 18 19. It 's the same with Churches see the 2d and 3d. Chap. of the Revelations IV. Men should govern their Expectations and Fears according to the Conformity of their Hearts and Behaviour to the Rule of the Promise It 's Unbelief not to expect the Good promised when we answer the Condition of it It 's obstinate Hardness and Security not to expect the threatned Evil when we are guilty of the Sin or Neglect threatned There 's no grounded Hopes or Fears but this way all else are Enthusiastick The End of God in these Declarations of his Will are not otherwise complied with God often condemns all Hopes as vain that are not thus regulated and by this Rule the Servants of God governed themselves I need not cite Texts for things so plain V. God is better pleased with his People in the exercise of Grace and Holiness than when they neglect these and do the contrary What Notions have Men of God of Grace and Sin that they should need Proof for this Is it not by the Exercise of Grace and Holiness that we approve our selves to God 2 Tim. 2. 15 Is it not With such Sacrifices God is well-pleased Heb. 13. 16. Was it not by his Faith and Divine Walk that Enoch pleased God Heb. 11. 5. What meaneth the Apostle You have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God 1 Thes. 4. 1. The Saint's Charity is called An Odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable well-pleasing to God We are charged to walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing Col. 1. 10. Of the Obedience of Children he saith This is well-pleasing to the Lord. What great things of this Nature are spoken of Prayer Praises and other Good VVorks VVhereas God is fretted grieved vexed provoked to anger and abhorrence by our Sins and Neglects How can we apprehend that God is as well pleased with us when testifying our Enmity as our Love when rejecting his Authority as doing his Will Are the Fruits of the Spirit alike to him as the Fruits of the Flesh And can the Image of the Devil render us as grateful as his own Image and the Life of his Son Obj. It 's for Christ's Incense these are accepted Ans. But Christ's Incense will not be applied to our Sins but to our Graces and Duties and that shews they are more pleasing to God than our Sins be And again They are these Graces and Duties which are accepted for the sake of Christ His Incense will not be denied to them and thereby they are well-pleasing to the Lord and tend to render us so Davenant de Justitia Actuali and Others say much more VI. The Holiness Graces Perseverance Obedience and Good Works of Believers do them much Good and are profitable to them Read over what I have proved at large and canst thou doubt whether they benefit us when they are the VVay to Heaven the Means of Happiness c. A wise Man may be profitable to himself though not to God Job 22. 2. Godliness is profitable to all things having the promises of this life and that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. These Things are profitable to Men Tit. 3. 8. Not only to other Men but principally to our selves Though I have all Faith if I have not Charity I am nothing and whatever else I suffer yet without this it profiteth me nothing 1 Cor. 13. 2 3. Circumcision or Uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7. 19. Sure that 's something In keeping these there is great Reward Psal. 19. 11. Glory Honour and Peace to every one that doth good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of Persons with God Rom. 2. 10 11. Nehemiah and Hezekiah pleaded a false Plea if it were true there 's nothing to be gotten The Care of Saints to adapt their Actings to the Rule of the Promise is a very needless thing So run that ye may obtain 1 Cor. 9. 24. If a Man strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully 1 Tim. 2. 5. The Galatians must be but little moved when told Ch. 3 4. Are ye so foolish c. Have ye suffered so many things in vain for all is in vain Is Peace of Conscience nothing Is inward Rejoycing nothing Yet how Paul came by these he tells you 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our Rejoycing is this The Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity not with Fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World His Directions for inward Joy and Peace you have Gal. 6. 4. Let every Man prove his own Work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone I shall not trouble thee with Reasons to prove that Grace Holiness and Obedience are useful to prevent Evil. I leave it to thy Experience if thou art a good Man and referr it to what thou wilt feel hereafter i thou art a bad Man If there were no more these do prevent Sin which in Chap. 17. I hope to prove is not so innocent as to do us no harm Reader To summ up all I appeal to thee 1. Whether God doth require any more of any Sinners for Salvation than that they believe in Christ repent of Sin persevere in true Holiness sincere Obedience or good Works internal and external and if we do so can we perish hath not Christ provided all else and doth not the Promise secure Life upon doing these 2. If any Sinner believe not and repent not hath Christ ever promised to save him Will any decree or the Merits of Christ secure him Again if any penitent Believer shall apostatize prove ungodly and unfruitful hate God or neglect to love God and his Neighbour wholly c. Shall this Man be saved Hath not Christ determined the contrary Will his first Faith save him A Resolution of these two things according to the very Scope of the Word will decide the Main of this Controversie These assert the Rule of Christ's rectoral Distributions and the Decree comes not in opposition to the Methods of his Government by which we are to govern our Hopes and Fears TESTIMONIES The Assembly Confess Chap. 19. a. 6. and the Elders at the Savoy declare Chap. 19. a. 6. The Promises of the Law in like manner shew them God's Approbation of Obedience and what Blessings they may expect upon the Performance thereof although not as due to them by the Law as a Covenant of Works so a Man's doing and refraining from Evil because the Law encourageth to the one and deterreth from the other is no Evidence of his being under the Law and not under Grace Both the Assembly and the Elders say Chap. 15. a. 6. The Persons of Believers being accepted through Christ their good Works also are accepted in him not as though they were in this Life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in his Sight but
he looking upon them in his Son is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere although accompanied with many Imperfections Both also tell us Chap. 18. a. 2. That the Promises are made to Graces The Elders Chap. 15. a. 2. say That Believers Sinning are renewed through Repentance to Salvation Of the Necessity and Benefit of Faith I have given their Judgment before The Assembly and Elders Chap. 1. a. 7. tell us Those things which are necessary to be known believed and observed for Salvation are clearly propounded The Assembly's Large Catechism Q. How doth Christ execute the Office of a King A. Among other things they say In rewarding their Obedience and correcting them for their Sins Q. How is the Grace of God manifested in the second Covenant A. Among other things Requiring Faith as the Condition of their Interest in him c. Giving his Spirit to his Elect c. to enable them unto all holy Obedience as the Evidence of the Truth of their Faith and as the Way which he hath appointed them to Salvation Q. What hath God required that we may escape the Wrath and Curse c. A. That we may escape the Wrath and Curse of God c. He requireth of us Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus and the diligent Use of the Means c. You see they think Obedience and Good Works are rewardable that the Exercise of Graces do us much Good that Obedience is the Way to Salvation that we have much to do and that to escape the Wrath and Curse I shall transcribe part of the New-England Synod's Confutation of that Speech of the Antimonians If I am Holy I am never the better accepted of God If I be unholy I am never the worse This I am sure of be that elected me must save me To this the Synod answer This Expression imports that though a Man's Conversation be never so holy and gracious yet he can expect never the more Manifestation of Gods Kindness and Love to him Contrary to P. 50. ult and Joh. 14. 21. It implies That though a Man's Conversation be never so vile yet he needs not fear nor expect any Expression of God's Displeasure and Anger to break forth against him contrary to 2 Chron. 15. 2. And in a Word it imports That God neither loved Righteousness nor hated Sin and did take no Delight in the Obedience of his People Contrary to Psal. 45. 6 7. and 147. c. It 's true the Foundation of Election remaineth sure but it 's as true that whom he chooseth he purposeth to bring to Salvation through Sanctification of he Spirit 2 Thes. 2. 13 14. The 19th Errour of Mr. H. All Commands in the Word are Law and are not a Way of Life Errour 43. the Synod Confutes is The Spirit acts most in the Saints when they endeavour least Errour 48. Conditional Promises are legal Errour 50. It 's Poverty of Spirit when we have Grace yet to see we have none in our selves Doctor Owen Of Justif. P. 222. We grant that 1. God doth indispensibly require of him a justified Person personal Obedience which may be called his Evangelical Righteousness 2. That God doth approve of and accept in Christ his Righteousness so performed 3. That hereby that Faith whereby we are justified is evidenced proved manifested in the Sight of God and Men. 4. That this Righteousness is pleadable unto an Acquitment against any Charge from Satan the World or our own Consciences 5. That upon it we shall be declared righteous at the last Day and without it none shall be And if any shall think meet from hence to conclude unto an Evangelical Justification or call God's Acceptance of our Righteousness by that Name I shall by no means contend with them Where-ever this Enquiry is made not c. but how a Man that professeth Evangelical Faith in Christ shall be tried judged and whereon as such he shall be justified We grant that it is and must be by his own personal sincere Obedience P. 156. It is commonly said Faith and new Obedience are the Condition of the new Covenant c. If no more be intended but that God in and by the new Covenant doth indispensibly require these things of us in order to his own Glory and our full Enjoyment of all the Benefits of it it is unquestionably true P. 158. our whole Obedience through his gracious Appointment hath a rewardable Condecency with respect unto eternal Life P. 207. These Duties are so far necessary unto the Continuation of our Justification as that a justified State cannot consist with the Sins and Vices that are opposite unto them So the Apostle affirms If we live after the Flesh we shall die P. 208. If this be that which is intended in this Position That our own Obedience and good Works are the Condition of the Continuation of our Justification namely that God doth indispensibly require good Works and Obedience in all that are justified so that a justified State is inconsistent with the Neglect of them it is readily granted The Ground of Doctor Crisp 's Mistake He thinks because God eternally intended us all Benefits in the way he determined therefore he appoints nothing to Men as the Means of partaking of those Benefits Whereas this way Christ himself may as well be excluded by the Decrees he not being the Cause of Election but the Means of effecting it and all Endeavours for Life Health Estates c. may be as well prevented for God hath determined how long we shall live how rich we shall be c. Because a Sinner can obtain nothing by virtue of the Covenant of Works therefore what a Believer doth can avail nothing by the Grace of the new Covenant Because Christ hath merited all things as a Priest with a Right and Purpose to bestow them on the Elect therefore he can fix on no way to bestow them on his elect Subjects as Motives to obey him as a King Because he hath delivered us from the legal Rule of Misery and Happiness therefore he hath no Promises or Threats to govern us by in this State of Trial. Because Christ is the only Way of Atonement and Purchase therefore there can be no other way of his own ordaining to obtain the Effects of his Purchase Because we can merit nothing as of debt for doing therefore we can of Grace receive no Benefit by doing though God doth promise it Because we can do nothing for Life with a Thought of buying it therefore we may do nothing for Life as the End that moves us in the Use of indispensibly required Means Because God of his Mercy saves us at last therefore he shall not in the mean while duly govern us in order to Salvation Because we cannot merit Pardon therefore God can order no Grace or Duty to be through Christ rewardable with any other Blessing CHAP. XIV Of intending our Souls Good by Duties we perform TRUTH THough we ought
Sam. 12. 9. Why hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord to do this Evil in his Sight It was an Evil it was in God's Sight it 's charged by God on David Psal. 90. 8. Thou hast set our Iniquities before thee I hope Moses was not mistaken All God's Reproofs of his People for Sin all his Calls to Reformation from Sin all his Declarations against them as polluted by Sin are so many Arguments to prove this yea all his Threats all his Anger all his Corrections witness hereto Sure all these are not the Effects of Christ's Sins 2. A Believer ought to charge himself with his own Sins God commands this in all the Calls to Confession Humiliation c. Doth not Paul reprove the Corinthians for neglecting this Did you ever find a Saint in Scripture still refuse to own his Guiltiness before God upon his Falling into Sin Against thee have I sinned and done Evil in thy Sight Psal. 51. 4. I have sinned against Heaven and before thee Luk. 15. 21. Read Ezra's Nehemiah's and Daniel's Confessions 3. New Transgressions need renewed Pardon and all Sins are not pardoned at once To say nothing how impossible it is I believe Christ would never teach his own People to pray daily for Pardon if they did not need it and it could not be repeated Mat. 6. 12. Forgive us our Debts How oft do we find the Servants of God renew their Prayers for Remission They oft beg God would blot out Sin as a Debt Psal. 51. 9. Wash it away as a Stain remit it as a Fault remember it not as a Crime binding to Punishment the Church complains we have rebelled and thou hast not pardoned Lam. 3. 42. So Job 7. 21. 4. Humiliation Confession Sorrow of Heart new Resolutions and looking to Christ for Healing are the Duties of Saints upon new Faults and the Work God hath appointed them in order to his repeated Acts of Forgiveness though these do not forgive us yet it 's this way God declareth he will forgive Jer. 36. 3. It may be the House of Judah will hear c. and return every one from his evil Way that I may forgive their Iniquity and their Sin 1 Joh. 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins The Apostle includes himself and calls the best a Liar that disowns his Sins and thinks he needs no Pardon Confession is what should be repeated as Sin returns and this so qualifies for Pardon according to the Promise that Forgiveness upon it is an Act of Faithfulness in God 1 Cor. 11. 31. If we would judge our selves we should not be judged VVhich the Apostle speaks to Believers guilty of undue Approaches to the Lord's Table Read the Scriptures and wilt thou not find Saints repenting and acting Faith in order to Pardon and God pressing them thereto for that very purpose and continuing a Controversie with them while these are neglected If a Man were thrice stung must not he thrice look to the brazen Serpent for Healing See Solomon's Prayer in a Type of Christ's Intercession as it respected the Temple there thou wilt find who were pardoned 1 Kings 8. 33 34 35 38 39 48 49. 5. Believers ought to be more assured of Pardon and joyful after renewed Acts of Repentance and Faith then assoon as they have grosly sinned and before these Acts. It 's otherwise against that wise Order which God hath stated for a due Reverence to him and for Caution to Man who is so prone to offend Num. 12. 14. If her Father had spit in her Face should she not be ashamed seven days Let her be shut out of the Camp seven Days The People of God have had those sad Fits which the Doctor condemns and when Sin greatly breaks out they do well become them Paul calls the contrary Frame under Guilt a being puffed up and Calls to Mourning 1 Cor. 5. 2. and commends their Carefulness Indignation Fear Zeal Revenge and godly Sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 8 9 11. And till there was much of this in the incestuous Person he was not restored And indeed considering God remits or binds in Heaven according to what his Church doth justly on Earth either the Pardon of the not repenting Offender is suspended or Censures are vain Need I give you David's Experience Psal. 32. 3 5. When I kept Silence my Bones waxed old through my roaring all the Day long for Day and Night thy Hand was heavy upon me I acknowleged my Sin unto thee I said I will confess my Transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin Here 's great Darkness and Trouble before Confession here 's Forgiveness upon it and it 's the Iniquity of his Sin is pardoned not the Action separated from its Filthiness And V. 6. This Practice of his was to be a teaching Instance to all Saints in the like Case For this shall every one that 's godly pray unto thee c. TESTIMONIES The Assembly and Congregational Elders Chap 11. a. 5. do both declare God doth continue to forgive the Sins of those that are justified and although they can never fall from the State of Justification yet they may by their Sins fall under God's fatherly Displeasure and in that Condition they have not usually the Light of his Countenance restored to them until they humble themselves confess their Sins beg Pardon and renew their Faith and Repentance And Chap. 15. a. 6. As every Man is bound to make private Confession of his Sins to God praying for the Pardon thereof upon which and the forsaking thereof he shall find Mercy c. The Provincial Synod of London P. 16. Condemn this as one of Doctor Crisp's Errors The Lord hath not one Sin to charge upon any elect Person c. Another Errour is If a Man know himself to be in a State of Grace though he be drunk or commit Murther God sees no Sin in him The New-England Synod confute this as Errour 64. A man must take no notice of his Sin nor of his Repentance for it Doctor Owen Of Justif. P. 202 203 205 207. at large asserts That Sins are not actually pardoned before they are committed that there is Guilt contracted by new Sins that the Conscience of a Believer is pressed and he is humbled and required to repent and must renew Acts of Faith for the Pardon of new Sins New-England Synod condemns that as Errour 20. To call in question whether God be my dear Father upon the Commission of hainous Sins as Murther Incest c. doth prove a Man to be in the Covenant of Works The Ground of the Doctor 's Mistake Because our Sins were laid on Christ that God might to his Glory forgive them in his appointed way therefore they are actually forgiven before God forgives them in that way or that way be complied with Because God doth blot out and wash throughly away and not remember the pardoned Sins of penitent Believers
they preached the Gospel See their Call to turn to God from Idols as part of it 4. The nature of the Gospel requires that the Ministry should include these things and it be preached in this manner It 's the Gospel of the Kingdom Luk. 9. 60. It 's the Law of Christ to whom all Judgment is committed Gal. 6. 2. The Law of Liberty The Law of Faith c. The great design of it is to destroy Satan's Empire and recover lost Sinners to God To this end it reveals that Salvation is to be had in Christ if we come to God by him though we be lost in our selves And it is the Call of God in Christ to come to him and hear him Nay it 's the Charge of Christ who is for dying made Lord both of the dead and living Now can any think that many Duties must not be parts of the Gospel as well as Believing Or That Christ hath not Arguments from Benefits and Dangers from Promises and Threats to strengthen his Charge The Preceptive part of the whole Law is in his hand and there is Authority in all his Injunctions and Calls Else what means Obeying the Gospel Subjection to the Gospel Disobeying the Gospel Obeyed the Truth Obedience of Faith and many such Expressions And that there be Gospel-Threats and Promises annexed to his Precepts I have fully proved And I could easily shew that the Substance of all Obedience is said to be Obedience to the Law Truth and Word of Christ. If things be so can we think that we preach not the Gospel when we preach Duties Or that we preach not the Gospel when we urge Obedience to these Duties from Gospel-Promises and Threats As if all Christ's Commands were mere Counsels It 's no Preaching with Authority if we omit this It 's no answering the Eng of Gospel if we wave this There 's no aptitude in the Ministry to draw Christ without this The Apostle gives us another Specimen Col. 1. 28. whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ. What 's Snatching Men as Brands out of the Burning Compelling to come in c. What Pleas do the Apostles use Rom. 12. 1. 1 Pet. 4. 17 18. 2 Pet. 3. 11 12 14 c. 5. They do not preach the Gospel of Christ at all who preach contrary to the scope of this Truth no nor they duly who neglect to Preach according to it Christ never sent such News to Sinners That they were always Pardoned and Adopted and they need only believe it to know that it is so He never told them That they have nothing to do to the Participation of Saving Benefits he hath Believed for them and Repented for them c. Woe to them that will live as believing this Christ knew how to support the Honour of his Grace without overturning his Throne To Preach at this rate may excite the Affections of some but without a Miracle will never Convert a Soul and it needs an Antidote which I hope some of the Upholders of it have It 's the same with the Language of the Tempter the Arguings of the Flesh and the Conceits of presumptuous Sinners Could they that knock'd at the door Mat. 7. 21. be kept out Or the five foolish Virgins be excluded who went out to meet the Bridegroom if this be true Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come will be the Language of the Spirit to the Impenitent Mat. 3. 7. He is my Brother saith Christ that doth the Will of my Father Mark 3. 35. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to godliness he is proud knowing nothing c. 1 Tim. 6. 3 4. He that talks of preaching Christ without preaching his Laws his Title to rule us his Offers his Method of Grace and his Motives to urge Men profaneth and plays with that sacred Name TESTIMONIES The Assembly and Elders at the Savoy have given us their Thoughts in what I have cited of the Conditionality of the Covenant the Necessity of Faith to Union with Christ and Justification Free Offers of Christ to Sinners and Necessity of Holiness Consult the places See Large Catech. Q. What doth God require of us that we may escape his Wrath and Curse A. He Requireth of us Repentance towards God Faith towards our Lord Jesus and diligent Use of the Outward Means c. The Elders at the Savoy Declar. ch 20. a. 3. The Revelation of the Gospel unto Sinners made in divers times and by sundry parts with the Addition of Promises and Precepts for the Obedience required thereto c. But I cannot enlarge or I could shew how Doctor Owen pleads for this Gospel-Ordination and shews there be Threats and Promises therein See what the New-England Synod say on the former Heads They cite Errour 33. To act by Virtue or in Obedience to a Command is legal They thus confute it So is it also Evangelical The Mystery of the Gospel is said to be revealed for the Obedience of Faith 〈◊〉 16. 25. The Lord is Author of Eterâ—â—â—â—alvation to all that obey him Heb. 5. 9. c. The 29th Errour of Mrs. H. was That such Exhortations as these Work out your Salvation with Fear Make your Calling and Election sure are spoken to such as are under the Covenant of Works Mr. Norton Orth Evang. p. 211. Believers obey the Gospel perfectly with the Perfection of Parts The Gospel is the Law in Christ The Rule of Righteousness is the same in the Law and in the Gospel though the Manner and End of Obeying are changed P. 105. The Obedience of good Men is rewarded by the Promise annexed to the Precept See what all these say in the Chap. of the Conditionality of the Govenant The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because Christ's Sufferings procured Salvation and assure it to such as Obey the Gospel therefore the Gospel enjoyneth nothing to be Obeyed Because the Law enjoyned Doing as the perfect Righteousness for which Life was a Debt therefore the Gospel requireth nothing to be done as the Means of Partaking of that Salvation which is merited by Christ. Because it's legal to Preach the Sanction of the Law of Innocency therefore it 's not Gospel to press the Gospel-Sanction The Reverend Mr. Cole affirms There 's Law enough in the Gospel The Gospel holds forth the Danger and Remedy too See his Treat of Regen p. 101. Had Doctor Crisp noted this Truth many Mistakes had been prevented CHAP. XXI Of Legal Preaching BEfore I proceed let me inform thee That Legal Preaching hath an uncertain Sound 1. If by Legal is meant the Precepts and Revelations of God in Christ for the Conversion and Government of lost Man under Gospel-Threats and Promises then to be Legal Preachers as Preachers of this Law we account our Duty and Honour All
the Prophets even Isaiah himself yea Christ and his Apostles were all Legal Preachers The Law in this sence is that which Converts Comforts Healeth Saveth c Whatever is spoken in Praise of the Word of the Truth of the Commandments of God and Christ are spoken of the Law in this sence And it is the same with the Gospel as I have proved chap. 20. And they are Enemies to Christ and Souls that disdain to be such Legal Preachers 2. But there is a Legal Preaching which is opposed to the Gospel and this indeed is a Crime the word being used as a Reproach this must be intended if Men understand what they speak of And to that this Chapter refers TRUTH Legal Preaching is to Preach the Law as a Covenant of Innocency or Works or to Preach the Mosaick or Jewish-Covenant of Peculiarity But it is not Legal Preaching to require and persuade to Faith Holiness or Duties by Promises and Threatnings according to the Grace of the Gospel and direct Men to fear and hope accordingly ERROUR Legal Preaching is to call People to act any Grace or do any Duty as a required Means of Salvation or inward Peace or to threaten them with Death or any Affliction to cause Fear if they commit the grossest Sins and backsside and fall away or to promise them any Blessing upon their Obedience to the Commandments of Christ or urge the Threatnings to persuade Sinners to believe and repent Proved that this is Doctor Crisp's Opinion P. 616. If Persons are not united to Christ and do not partake of Justification before they do believe c. then mark what will follow That there will be bringing to life again the Covenant of Works c. Obj. How doth this follow I Answer Thus you must of necessity press upon your selves these Terms or such like I must do that I may have Life in Christ I must believe there is no Life till I do believe Now if their be Believing first then there is Doing before Living P. 561 562. This likewise batters to the ground that way of urging Men to holiness which some hold forth That if Men do not these and these good Works and leave these and these Sins then they must come under the wrath of God c. The Love of God constrains the Faithful and not the Fear of Wrath a sense of being delivered from it not a fear of Wrath to come P. 559 560. Obj. Some will say The Preaching of the Terrours of the Law and the Wrath of God and Damnation and Hell-fire unto Men is a safer way to take Men off from Sin than to preach Gracc and Forgiveness before-hand c. A. I say If we preach Wrath and Damnation we must either make them believe they lyc under the Wrath and that Wrath shall come or we must make them believe that though there be Wrath yet it shall not fall upon them Now if we tell them of Wrath and Damnation and say they are secure from them and they belong not to them to what purpose do we tell them of Wrath we had as good hold our tongues c. And he shews how it 's bringing back the Covenant of Works to tell them that God will be angry with them if they commit Sin or do not such and such Duties Wherein the Difference is not 1. It is not Whether it is Legal Preaching to preach Duties or Holiness as if Men must perfectly believe and obey or they shall unavoidably perish 2. Nor That it 's Legal Preaching to denounce Wrath and Hell as Miseries from which there is no relief by Christ in the way of the Gospel 3. Nor That it is Legal Preaching to press Men to Faith Repentance and other Duties as if they were to be performed in their own strength without the Grace of Christ and Influences of the Spirit 4. Nor That it is Legal Preaching to promise Salvation to any Action if the Performer thereof be Unregenerate Unbelieving and Impenitent 5. Nor That it is too much Legal Preaching to be always pressing the Duties of the Law of Nature but to neglect Preaching Faith in Christ and Repentance Regeneration c. and so to neglect to make the Person Offices Sufferings and Intercession of Christ as also our Relation to him and Dependance on him as Mediatour with other Gospel-Mysteries known to their Hearers 6. Nor That it 's Legal Preaching to preach that our Faith Holiness or Good Works stand in the same place now as Perfect Obedience did under the Law viz. To render the Reward to be of Debt or be the Meritorious Righteousness for which we are Justified 7. Or That it is Legal to preach that our best Obedience doth not deserve Wrath by the Law as a Rule of Misery and Happiness Or That it doth not need Forgiveness or is any Supplement of Christ's Righteousness yea or to neglect to call Men to renounce all in themselves as any Atonement for Sin or Cause of Pardon and to look to Christ as the only Propitiation Purchaser of all our Blessings and Cause of the Acceptance of our Persons and Performances 8. Nor That it is Legal Preaching to omit to urge Men to Obedience by Gospel Motives as what Christ Suffered the Love of God in him the Benefits afforded by him the Helps he vouchsafes the Relations he admits us to and the like 9. Nor That it is Legal to shew Men their Misery and Sinfulness and not to inform them of the Gospel-way of Salvation 10. Nor That it is too Legal to neglect to improve holy Souls to an ingenuous Obedience from Love to God as well as a holy Fear 11. Nor that it is Legal to encourage such Fear as imports a Life of Torment destructive to our Hopes and Joy Or as if every Miscarriage should over-turn Assurance though the dominion of Sin be not justly suspected 12. Nor that it is Legal Preaching to assert Judaism or the Mosaic Pedagogie viz. to press Circumcision Sacrifices a Covenant of Peculiarity Jewish Priesthood Sabbath or an Abuse of the Law in Opposition to Christ our Saviour who is the End of all Types c. All these I affirm These indeed make up that Preaching of the Law which is opposed to Christ to Grace and to the Gospel The real Difference 1. Whether it 's Legal Preaching to require People to Repent and Believe that their Iniquities may be forgiven for Christ's sake This I deny and the Doctor affirms against the scope of the Gospel as I have proved chap. 8. 10 12 20 c. 2. Whether it be Legal Preaching to press Holiness and Gospel Obedience as necessary to the Salvation of a Justified Person This the Doctor affirms and I deny upon Reasons given chap. 8. 13. 17. 3. Whether it be Legal to threaten such Penalties as are short of Damnation against such Offences as are consistent with Sincerity and yet avoidable by serious care and diligence This the Doctor affirms and I deny for which see
State 2 Pet. 3. 17. Seeing you know these things beware lest you also being led away with the Errour of the Wicked fall from your own Stedfastness He will most safely walk in Love and maintain Assurance that is in awe as his Sins grow strong and his Graces decline I might shew that all God's Threats are despised if without this Fear yea his being our future Judge is slighted his wise Methods of Government are dis-regarded and one great help to our Salvation lost by opposing this Fear Fear him that can cast Soul and Body into Hell is Christ's Charge Luke 12. 5. And if thou do that which is Evil be afraid Rom. 13. 4. And if we must fear the Magistrate as the Minister of God's VVrath here much more eternal VVrath if we sin our selves into such Symptoms as the Gospel declares a Danger of eternal Damnation by for though the Gospel doth not say as the Law that all Sinners shall be damned yet it saith that all impenitent Sinners shall be damned And this we are bound to preach and not gratifie the Devil to the Ruine of Souls But they are in danger who are above this kind of Preaching and Security Libertinism and Stops to the Conversion of Sinners will prevail as this Preaching grows unfashionable Nay let me hear a Man of this Opinion preach a few Sermons and I 'll demonstrate he 'll give the Lie to his own Principle by urging Fear by some Arguments from Danger or he 'll expose himself to the Contempt of all when-ever he disswades from Sin TESTIMONIES I have recited so much belonging to this Head Chap. 1 8 11 12 13 16 17 19 20. that I need only add to the last Chapter New-England Synod condemns as Errour 32. After the Revelation of the Spirit neither Devil nor Sin can make the Soul to doubt Errour 48. Condional Promises are legal Errour 52. It 's legal to say we act in the Strength of Christ. Errour 56. A Man is not effectually converted till he hath full Assurance Errour 57. To take delight in the holy Service of God is to go a whoring from God Errour 59. A Man may not be exhorted to any Duty because he hath no power to do it Errour 70. Frequency or length of holy Duties or Trouble of Conscience for the Neglect thereof are all Signs of one under a Covenant of VVorks Errour 68. Faith justifies an Unbeliever that is that Faith that is in Christ justifieth me that have no Faith in my self Errour 76. The Devil and Nature may be the cause of a gracious Work All these that Synod confutes as also that Speech if Christ will let me sin let him look to it upon his Honour be it With these Notions so exclusive of Fear and Care were they pester'd Doctor Owen Of Justif. P. 52. assures us he had written very much of the Nature and Use of Threatnings under the Gospel and the Fear that ought to be ingenerated by them in the Hearts of Men. The Grounds of the Doctor 's Mistake Because the Law of Works made Life to be of Debt for perfect doing therefore it s legal to call Men to do what Christ commands in order to any Benefit which he promiseth by the Grace of the New Covenant to bestow on such as shall so obey him Because it 's legal to denounce Wrath as unavoidable therefore it 's legal to denounce VVrath that it may be avoided Because God is not angry with his People for Sin when he hath forgiven them it upon Repentance therefore they should not be called to fear his Anger as a disswasive from Sin or Motive to Repentance when they have sinned Because we cannot say the Elect shall at last be damned being that God will bring them to Faith and Repentance that they may be saved therefore it 's legal to tell them they shall be damned unless they believe and repent though Christ oft tells them so Because the Believer is not in a state of Wrath therefore it 's Legal to warn him against Apostacy from the Terrour of that VVrath which Apostacy would bring him under And Note Reader That all awful Expressions against Apostacy are especially directed to true Believers Because we should not destroy the Hope or Joy of an humble watchful Christian therefore it 's legal to allarm and awaken the drowsie careless backsliding Christian. CHAP. XXII Of the Exalting of Christs I Do observe that the Pretence for these Opinions is That they exalt Christ and Free Grace Under this shadow Antinomianism set up in Germany This was the great Cry in England above fifty years since The Synod of New-England expose this as one of the Speeches of them whom they call Autinomian Here is a great stir about Graces and looking to Hearts but give me Christ I seek not for Graces but for Christ I seek not for Promises but for Christ I seek not for Sanctification but for Christ Tell not me of Mediation and Duties but tell me of Christ. P. 19. Dr. Crisp very often bears upon this Point as if all he said were to advance Christ and Grace I shall therefore enquire Whether the Opinions of Dr. Crisp or the Truths I have stated do most exalt Christ and Free Grace It were enough to say That I have proved his Opinions to be Errours and what I have laid down to be Truths Then Christ is more exalted by these Truths He needs no Lyes to advance his Praise and knew how to provide the best for his own Glory by what he hath revealed But for farther Evidence I shall insert 1. How Christ is said to be exalted according to the Gospel It is not what we fancy will Exalt him but what he declares conducive to his Praise that he will accept for Glory He that will not allow Men to worship him in a way they think most devout but binds them to his own Rule to exceed which is Superstitious will less venture his Glory to our ignorant Methods whereby we are apt to diminish his real Glory when we conceit he is exalted It 's an Honour becoming his Person and Offices which is his Honour and not what seems dazling to our blind Affections His Divine Glory cannot be added to but only declared It 's only the Glory of Christ as Mediator that I shall speak of As to this Christ is exalted when every Knee bows to him Phil. 1. 11. VVhen made a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sin Act. 2. 23. VVhen his Kingdom is enlarged Ifa 49. 4 5 6. VVhen his People are filled with the fruits of Rightcousness Phil. 1. 11. VVhen their Grace is perfected 2 Thes. 1. 11 12. VVhen they suffer and act vigorously for him Phil. 1. 20. VVhen we own his Priestly and Kingly Office relying on the first as that whereby Satisfaction is made and all the Blessings for Sinners purchased yielding to the Kingly Office as that whereby he applieth the Effects of his Merits Zech. 6. 13. VVhen