28.16 Is not that our Lord Jesus of whom the Apostle saith Other Foundation can no Man lay And Christ saith On this Rock I will build my Church And shall we now have this Egg laid That our good Works are the Foundation to the building us up unto Glory Sure this rotten Egg can never be endured in the Nostrils of any good Christian The first is like it as one Egg can be to another That our good Works have the same respect to Glory that the Seed hath to the Harvest Now every one knows that the Harvest grows immediately from the Seed and if we had no Harvest of Glory but what grows out of the Seed of our Works it would be a very dark dunghil Glory for our best Righteousness as to getting us Glory is but as menstruous Rags But for our Comfort the Scripture saith One sows and another reaps Christ hath in Infinite Grace sowed his Body as a grain of Wheat in the Earth John 12.24 out of which all our Glory must grow O how contrary is his Assertion to the whole Gospel which saith We are saved by Grace and not of Works lest any Man should boast Our Glory is so far from being the Harvest of our Works that the Apostle saith He hath saved us not according to our Works of Righteousness which we have done 2. Tim. 1.9 Neither for our Works nor according to them O how sad is it that my Dear Kratiste should by his Hand together with Forty Eight more midwife this rotten Egg into the World The third is of the same brood That Glory is the Wages of our Works which is diametrically opposite to the Apostle who wholly excludes Works saying in Rom. 11.6 If it be by Grace it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace But if it be of Works it is no more of Grace And the Apostle concludes to the shame of self-justiciaries Rom. 3.27 Where is boasting then it is excluded By what Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith So that Mr. Williams must not lay this Egg at the Apostle's Gate it being as rotten an one as any in the whole Council of Trent But one dash of the Rebuker's Pen That he hath accounted for what he hath written by subscribing the Assemblies Confession shall cleanse him from all whereas his subscribing that without his recanting this is but like some of the Clergy in Antisozzo that snatch up the Pen to subscribe the Articles of the Church of England and to their shame immediately preach against some of them in advancing Man's Free-will in opposition to God's Free Irresistible Grace and denying particular Election and the like For which we may mourn and say Proh Dolor §. XCIX It is not to be unminded how the Rebuker slides off the three first Conditions on which Mr. Williams his acceptance was to be grounded which are these If he concur in the Doctrine of Justification and the Change of Persons between Christ and Believers and Christ's undergoing the Father's displeasure for our Sins These he saith in 58 I will not mention to save Time and Paper A great Husband of Time and Paper But would not Time and Paper have been better imployed by far in setting these three Points in a true Light than to talk of whaffling Whelps and rotten Eggs I fear there are greater Reasons than to save Time and Paper that he waves them It being judged by many from his Writings that he is not extraordinary tight in the Point of Justification and therefore being conscious thereof he might not be free to expose himself by declaring his Judgment therein as to the Conditionality of Faith and New Obedience and how far our Works have any concern in our Justification notwithstanding the Scripture saith We are justified freely by his Grace And it may justly be suspected that he who could say We did not sin Adam 's Sin so denying the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might as well say That that Sin of his was not ours and so we not concerned in it so as to be condemned for it And thence might as well say that Christ's Righteousness which he performed in obeying and suffering the Law is not ours it was only wrought for our Good and so we not justified by God's imputing it to us but that we have only the Effects of it or this is the main viz. Pardon of our Sins if we repent and believe and walk in holy Obedience and so continue to the end of our Lives thereby denying assurance till the last breath and then for the sake of Christ's Righteousness on our sincere performance of our Duty we shall have Heaven and Happiness as his Gospel-Truth stated and before him Mr. R. B. But if this be current how can the Scripture be true that we are justified freely by his Grace and that we are justified by his Blood that he was raised for our Justification without one word of our Gospel-Obedience concurring thereto it being not according to Works of Righteousness which we have done And whereas the Word saith we are justified by Faith all sound Protestants the Assemblies Confession and the Doctrine of the Church of England do uno ore with one mouth agree that it is not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere it is not our Act of Faith justifies us but the Object of Faith that Righteousness of Christ which he wrought out for us which we lay hold on and receive by Faith It is that Righteousness made ours given to us by God and reckoned by God to us which alone doth justifie us on which account it is said It is God that justifies Rom. 8. But this my Kratiste waves lest he should bewray it is feared some halting in this as the Reporter saith he has done in the Point of Christ's Satisfaction Or else if he be right in it himself and if he had declared it he must have left his Friend Mr. D. W. in the Ditch who is sadly tardy in this case §. C. As to his second Point that he waves The Change of Persons between Christ and Believers this he might be allowed for he had said enough and too much of that in ridiculing it before with Christ's wearing a Mask a Vizor c. when he bare the Persons of the Elect in himself For which I beseech the Lord to give him Repentance and Pardon §. CI. But as to the third of Christ's bearing the Father's displeasure for our Sins he having said little or nothing of that before it might have been expected he should have said somewhat of it now if it had been only to confirm his Friend Mr. Williams who had abused the Doctor when he took the Doctor to task about it But this is so fully handled by Dr. Chancy and such full Evidence brought in by him of our Lord Jesus his undergoing the displeasure of God and sustaining the Wrath of God for our Sins when by God himself they were laid upon him
Faith in him or else we must feign that a Believer hath a Spiritual Life in him that is not from Christ if he have Faith before he is united to Christ as some pretend and so there would be two Spiritual Lives in a Believer one before Union to Christ which works Faith and the other from Christ upon acting our Faith But this Ass of our own Spiritual Life and the Oxe of Christ's Life in us will not draw well together So that I think I may safely conclude this is no Heresie to say that Union to Christ is before Faith much less is that which follows an Heresie to say that we partake of the Spirit by vertue of that Vnion This is brought in as part of the fifth Heresie Whence do the Branches partake of the Sap of the Vine but from the Root by Vertue of Union to the Vine 'T is strange to admiration that this should be question'd by those who like Peter seem to be Pillars in the Church to call it an Antinomian Heresie to say We partake of the Spirit by vertue of Vnion to Christ If the Spirit be not in us before Faith how can he convince of Sin in not believing and thereby work Faith Doth not the Scripture say plainly 1 Cor. 12.8 9. To one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another Faith by the same Spirit Doth the Spirit give Faith and is he not then in the Soul to work Faith before it is wrought Is not the Former before the Thing formed If so then sure my Dear Kratiste was in a great Mistake and has sadly imposed on those that profess Faith in our Lord Jesus to rank this for a Heresie That we partake of the Spirit by vertue of our Vnion to Christ which in Naturâ is before Faith The sixth as being much akin to the former I pass only with the naming of it 'T is Heresie he saith to say Justification in regard of Application must be before Believing Whose Saying this is or whence it is taken I know not If the meaning be that God applies it to us or reckons it to us before our Believing that we are Justified This is so far from Heresie that I think the contrary is a Contradiction Or 't is Nonsense for me to believe a Thing is mine before it is given me or applyed to me and so made mine And in that Sense the Application of Justification by God's Spirit to my Conscience that God hath loved me and given his Son for me this must first be applyed to me before I can believe it or else my Believing is but Presumption But if by Application of Justification before Believing he means that the Soul doth apply it to himself before his Believing I think he is to seek for any that hold that Tenet §. XXVII His seventh Heresie is this That the first Application ordine Naturae saltem is to an Vngodly Man eo nomine that he may believe That this is a blessed Gospel-Truth and no Heresie appears by what our Blessed Lord Jesus saith That he came not to call the Righteous but Sinners And his immediate Call made them follow him as Levi from being a Publican to be a believing Disciple Nay saith our Lord Publicans and Harlots enter into the Kingdom of God before you Ye believed not but the Publicans and Harlots believed Matth. 21.31 32. Here was Application to ungodly Wretches eo nomine that they might believe and when Publicans and Harlots they did believe and so came off from their Ungodliness Yea the Dog Syrophenaecian as Christ called her she had Faith given her while she was a Dog even to the Admiration of Christ himself who said O Woman great is thy Faith And saith the Apostle for a full Proof that the Application is to an ungodly Man eo nomine While we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Nay as God will have it the very word ungodly which they oppose as Heresie is asserted in the Scripture that the first Application of Christ is to an ungodly Man in Rom. 4.5 To him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness If the Blessed Apostle saith God justifieth the ungodly I trow this is no Heresie in him but if Heterodox Dr. Crisp say the same words then 't is an Antinomian Heterodoxy Now there 's a great out-cry what do you make God to be Is God such a Friend to Sin as to justifie the Vngodly Doth it become the Holiness of God to justifie an ungodly Man This is the way to vindicate all licentious Antinomianism That God justifies the Vngodly and that while he is an Enemy he is reconciled to God O out upon such profane Antinomians We can allow the Apostle Paul to use such Language because we can distinguish this into he doth not justifie the Vngodly that the Apostle means so whatever he saith but we cannot bear it that Apochryphal Tobias should say so nor that Mysterious Nonsense say so as Mr. Williams called Mr. Cole we cannot bear it in him for this is to open a gap to Profaneness to say God justifieth the Vngodly §. XXVIII The eighth Heresie is to assert That we believe that we may be justified declaratively The Case I take to be thus The Apostle saith in Gal. 2.16 We believe that we may be justified by the Faith of Jesus from whence the Neonomians conclude that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere our Act of Faith is that very Thing which justifies us or that we are justified by our Work of Faith if not by Works of Faith and Holiness which sometimes they joyn yet at least by a Work by our Act of Believing Whereas the Orthodox according to the Homilies and Doctrine of the Church of England from plain Scripture put Faith it self from us as that Act that justifies and say Faith justifies only declaratively as it manifests to the Conscience our being justified by Christ's Blood Rom. 5.9 and freely by his Grace not our Grace of Faith through the Redemption that is in Jesus Rom. 3.24 Titus 3.7 It is still ascribed to his Grace not any Grace in us our Grace of Faith being only the Instrument or Hand given us of God to receive Christ and all in him If Justification be as they would have it from any Act of ours as the Ground or Cause of it then we are not freely justified by his Grace but by our Work of Believing which if not a Popish is an Arminian Tenet to blemish the Free Grace of God in Jesus Christ So that it may be safely concluded that it is no Heresie to say our Justification by Faith is declarative in as much as the Essence of Justification is by the Blood of Jesus and the Grace of God imputing it to us is the form of our Justification which being received by Faith is thereby manifested or declared to the Conscience by the Illumination of the Holy
into which his Posterity should be sub-divided If it was not I conceive the Fault was theirs not God's as if it would have been a Fault in God if he did not give means for all to be Saved when they had Damned themselves Thus Antisozzo has in a manner laid Salvation open in common to Elect and Non-elect to Vessels before of old ordained to Condemnation Jude 4. as well as to Vessels of Mercy for whom the Kingdom was prepared from the Foundation of the World Matt. 25 directly contrary to the Confession of the Assembly which they both have Subscribed though I find not that they ever recanted this Expression The Assembly say on the Point of God's Decree directly that none but the Elect can be Saved thus These Angels and Men their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be increased or diminished neither are any other redeemed by Christ effectually Called Justified Adopted Sanctified and Saved but the Elect only For the proof of which they quote 2 Tim. 2.19 John 13.18 17.9 6.64 65. 10.26 Rom. 8.28 I lay down my Life for the sheep and ye Pharisees ye believe not because ye are not my sheep Thus these great Men have asserted and this our Neonomians subscribe to in order to deceive the Simple to believe they are Orthodox when here 't is visible how Heterodox these two great Contenders for the New Law are plainly deviating from the Assembly in allowing a Possibility for the Non elect to be Saved But I beg for them the Mercy of God to give them the Eye-salve of his Spirit to shew them their Mistake §. XXXIV The Ninth and Tenth Heresies are scarce worth mentioning they being only some curtailed Expressions that the Antagonists to the Free Grace of God in his eternal Love to poor Sinners in Christ do take from the Writings of some of the Asserters of our Sins being fully done away by the Death of our Lord Jesus and from thence this Pharisaical Spirit quarrels at them and charges them for laying a ninth Heresie It is denied that God requires Faith as an indispensible Qualification in them whom he will Justifie by Christ's Merits How this is worded by his Antinomians he mentions not whether they deny Faith indispensibly in Infants or Lunaticks or no So that this Quarrel needs little answer seeing they know that we are as much for Faith as themselves if not more as it excludes Works in the Point of Justification but not for Faith to take the Crown off from the Head of Jesus and it self to wear the Honour of Saving us in whole or in part §. XXXV Such another is his Tenth Heresie All that a Believer can pray for is the farther Manifestation of Pardon for he knows that all his Sins are pardoned This is a manifest Breach of Charity for he knows they pray for more and though they may at some Seasons have full Assurance of being accepted in the Beloved Jesus wherein they see all their Sins were done away in his Blood when he to Sanctifie the People Suffered without the Gate Whereupon they upon Believing cry Glory to him who hath loved them and washed them from their Sins with his Blood Yet they daily pray for fresh Discoveries of the same which as to their Consciences is a Fresh Pardon or renewing of Pardon I hope my Dear Kratiste will not deny That by one Offering he hath for ever perfected those that are Sanctified and that he Sanctified the People with his own Blood when he Suffered without the Gate If so then all successive Pardons upon fresh Acts of Faith are only the Clearing up of Pardon to the Conscience that there should be no more Conscience of Sin Whereas the Grand Pardon in the Court of Heaven was as Mr. Pemble says when Christ was delivered for our Offences and raised for our Justification which is not manifest to the Conscience till Faith comes And thus this Heresie vanishes having only left us a Testimony that the Neonomians do Boggle in the point of Pardon and would hook in our Faith to be a Joynt-Saviour with Christ by being a procurer of Pardon rather than a Manifestation of it §. XXXVI It is an Amazement his 11th Heresie which is this A Believer is to work from Life and not for Life For answer If a Man be a Believer he is a Living Member of Christ and so he Works from Life in Christ Sure then this cannot be the Heresie intended here to say he works from Life Then this is his Heresie That a Believer works not for Life But how can that be Heresie to say A Believer doth not work for Life when the word saith The Gift of God is Eternal Life Rom. 6.23 If it be Gift then it is not Work'd for by us do Men call that a Gift that is wrought for that is Wages Death indeed is wrought for by Sin for the Wages of Sin which is in our best Works is Death but Life is the Free Gift of God How then can it be called Heresie to say A Believer works not for Life Antisozzo was once of another Mind I find but the Rebuker does well to conceal his Name for to call this Heresie must needs cast a sad Reflection What more substantial Truth is there than that a Believer works from Life and not to gain Life by his Works Whither shall we run if we do not maintain this for Truth That a Believer works not that he by his good Works might procure to himself Eternal Life No but he works from a Divine Principle of Life in him that he may glorifie God for the Gift of Eternal Life through his Son Jesus Christ O! how true is that of Luther Every Man hath a Pope in his Belly and how ready are we to run into the Dregs of Popery to Work for Life §. XXXVII The Twelfth is 'T is Heresie to say It 's a great Truth that God sees no Sin in a Believer I hope it is a great Truth and no Heresie that God saith I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy Transgressions and as a Cloud thy Sins Isa 44.22 And if blotted out it is to shew that God doth not see them And if God saith He has cast them into the Depth of the Sea and he has cast them behind his Back and he will remember them no more Is it not the same thing as not to see them And doth he not say He hath not beheld Iniquity in Jacob not but that they had Iniquity enough but when their Sins are covered with the Robe the fine white Linnen of Christ's Righteousness then it may be said without Imputation of Heresie 't is a great Truth and a Blessed one that God sees no Sin in a Believer Sure my Dear Kratiste had strangely forgot himself to call this glorious Truth a Heresie §. XXXVIII The Thirteenth Sin can do no real hurt to a Believer Answer If as Sin abounds Grace much more abounds which
the said Lecture by Free Grace Preachers O the Infinite Goodness of God! that out of this Collision and by their Causeless departure from that Work which God had called them to he hath made his Grace to superabound in that place §. XV. All Objections made against Mr. Williams 's Book are accounted for O! how happy would it be if this were made out What all accounted for This is so high that I dare say the Rebuker will think twice before he say it again because there are many Objections or Exceptions in Dr. Chancy's Esq Edwards and other Books unaccounted for to which no Satisfaction was ever given and particularly that of his saying The Righteousness of God by Faith which the Apostle desired to be found in Phil. 3. did principally intend our Gospel Holiness Which dismal Interpretation I do not find had any Publick Recantation made to it and so all Objections are not accounted for §. XVI If Mr. Williams shall hereafter Write or Preach any thing in derogation of the subscribed Articles it will oblige him to make Satisfaction but for his Book that has received its Compurgation I must beg your Pardon here Can it suffice the whole World where his Book has been sent and his Errors taken vent that at last he hath subscribed the Articles drawn up but never published so as to counterpoize his Book His Book still speaks being countenanced by 49 Ministers whom he has drawn in to sign his fair stating Truths and Errors And what less than a publick renouncing the Errors found therein attested by those that subscribed his Book can be a Satisfaction especially renouncing that of Phil. 3.9 O! that we had as warm a Zeal for the Righteousness of God as holy David had then we should not say that all in Mr. Williams's Book is accounted for so long as that mention of Christ's Righteousness being to be found in is called our Gospel Holiness and that this is not publickly renounced For David saith in Psal 71.15 I will make mention of thy Righteousness even of thine only What have we to rejoyce in or boast of but this Righteousness only and not set up our Gospel Holiness in the place of Christ's Righteousness which is the Righteousness of God §. XVII At length our Rebuker is come into the Field of Battle against Dr. Crisp and without any Prologue falls foul on him in page 23 charging the Dissenting Brethren as he calls the Congregational Pastors Mr. G. G. T. Cole Nath. Mather c. with having dipt too deep in Dr. Crisp's Doctrines which he calls Crispian Heterodoxies thus It 's an unquestionable Truth that some of them had vented such strange Doctrines that it gave umbrage that there might be found among them one or two or so that had dipt very deep in those CRISPIAN HETERODOXIES of which one is That the Elect any are in the sight of God justified or intituled to Eternal Life before they are effectually called To which in the Spirit of Meekness I would say first this is a Scurrilous Term at best to say it is a Crispian Heterodoxy for the Doctor to say with many Famous Divines before the Doctor was extant That in the sight of God such are intituled to Eternal Life before called of which there may be a taste by and by But for the Rebuker to cast such Dirt on the Name of one whom his great Opponent Mr. Williams could bestow a Commendation on that he believed Reverend Dr. Crisp a Holy Man this is the Rebuker's setting up a Sign over his own Door with this Title Here lives a Bespatterer of a fervent Exalter of the Lord Jesus Solomon tells us what he is who condemns the just Prov. 17.15 which I pray God may not be said of the Rebuker that he is an abomination to the Lord But righteous Lips are the delight of Kings Prov. 16.13 Not fulsome flattering Lips to a Supporter of Antichrist It had been a due piece of Modesty before he had stigmatized the Doctor thus to have evinced some Heterodoxies of him he scoffs at but thus to run a tilt and stab his precious Name before any Proof of Heterodoxy is not becoming a Minister of the Gospel or a Gentleman much less doth it become an Old Disciple of Jesus Christ our Lord who was meek and though reviled reviled not again but he hath told us Judgments are prepared for Scorners Prov. 19.29 which I beseech the Lord to divert from the Head and Family of the Rebuker What a Scoff or Scorn is here put on a fervent Servant of the Lord Jesus his Enemies being Judges to Nick-Name him at the first dash Crispian Heterodoxy and so to make his Name and Family the Reproach of City and Country whereas many Thousands in both have for Fifty and Five Years since he dyed accounted his Name under Christ as sweet Oyntment having had their Souls refreshed with the Savour which was cast abroad in his opening the Excellencies of his Lord and Master in his Sermons among so many Thousands I 'll give one of the greatest Instances that is in an Expression of that Great Divine the Reverend Mr. Thomas Cole who departed this Life the 16th of September 1697 who was so ravished and transported with the Sermons of Dr. Crisp that he said over and over in the presence of many That if he was worth but 100 l. in all the World and Dr. Crisp ' s Sermons were not to be had under 50 l. he would give it rather than not have them and this he said several Years after his first saying so And said before a great Number of Eminent Ministers whereof the Reverend Mr. How was one That if Dr. Crisp be an Antinomian then I am one and he told me that Mr. How said And so I am also if he be one And if I mistake not he said Dr. Bates was one in the Company that said And so am I. But now that the New Law is set up they draw off their Suffrage and the Doctor 's Works are called Crispian Heterodoxies §. XVIII In Page 23 the Rebuker brings in the Dissenting Brethren called upon by the United ones to renounce some odd Notions as he calls them the third of which I note it being That any are in the sight of God justified or intituled to Eternal Life before they are effectually called c. This is to be renounc'd as a Crispian Heterodoxy though countenanced by Men of greater Name than Dr. Crisp If known to God are all his Works from Everlasting which the Rebuker cannot deny then in the sight of God all are Justified from all Eternity I say in God's sight that are not actually Justified in their own Persons till united to Christ by Faith But besides that sort of Justification of the Elect in God's sight from Eternity there are several Scriptures which import that which is tantamount to Justification of the Elect actually though not personally in God's sight from Eternity as Jer. 31.3 Yea
standing in Christ's Person being found in him having put on Christ and his Righteousness as the Apostle Paul hath it in Phil. 3.9 who according to some Mens way of dogmatizing and making Antinomians is the King-leader of them all by saying as we frequently must quote That God made him Sin for us and us the Righteousness of God in him I must beg Pardon for casting this Salt so oft into the bitter Waters to make them sweet these two Passages into their Broth of Antinomianism and until you race them out of the Bible they will be a good defence of the Change of Persons between Christ and Sinners §. LXX These Two Pillars are the Jakin and Boaz Establishment and Strength in him that King Solomon our Lord Jesus hath erected before the Temple the Basis of the Commutation of Persons Christ made Sin for us and Righteousness to us and I am sure The Gates of Hell will never prevail against them let the Socinians or Deists or Quietists and let their Friends the Arminians be never so rampant One Athanasius one Hylary one Mr. Cole could withstand Ten Thousand Batteries and be no more shaken than a pair of Three penny Fellows can shake down the Monument and so extinguish the Memory of the Papists burning of London in 1666 witness Mr. Cole's sealing his Doctrine with Triumph at his departure dying in the Joy of what he had preach'd though by Mr. Williams called Mysterious Nonsense he saying a little before his Death in opposition to our Modern 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the resisters of the Truth Now I can spit in the Face of the Devil and so dyed in the Joy of having preach'd the Doctrine of Justification by Free Grace through Christ without any Works of ours concurring thereunto §. LXXI In Page 43 he asks Where has this Doctrine of Justification been settled all this while since the Reformation This is just copying after the Papists Where was your Religion before Luther We answer It was in the Scripture and in abundance of faithful Witnesses and so was this Doctrine in particular Read but the Apostle Paul and he 'll tell you where it was settled viz. In our being chosen in Christ before the World was and in Grace given us then in him and in Christ's being made Sin for us and the Righteousness of God to us Besides if you will read Calvin Twiss and Luther with multitudes more in your Study you will find how they settled it Antisozzo hath it in part also and why may not Dr. Tho. Goodwin come in for an Author O no now I remember a great Reason for said Kratiste he speaks in his Treatise on the Ephesians of the Spirit himself dwelling in Believers but I utterly deny it said he And I affirm said he he dwells in Believers only by his gracious Operations To which was opposed The Spirit himself witnesses with our Spirits that we are the Children of God And besides the Rebuker 't is like will say he is as dreadful an Antinomian as wild a Monster as the Dregs of it Dr. Crisp therefore I will not allow him to be an Author in this great Point of Justification for he is all for Free Grace §. LXXII He proceeds It is strange to me That Councils General and Provincial Synods Assemblies of Holy Learned Men should so oft so strenuously assert and confirm by the Word of God this great Truth and yet never once dream of Dr. Crisp ' s Commutation of Persons upon which to superstruct the Doctrine of Justification But it will appear more strange by and by I am perswaded that my Dear Kratiste with his Eagle-eyed Talent should so far over-shoot himself as to talk as if he had read all Councils and Synods c. when it will appear he has not well read our English Homilies setting forth clear Gospel-Truth in the Doctrine of the Church of England He is got into a large Field with a mighty Challenge like a Goliah defying all Councils c. to shew the Commutation of Persons He wages War under the Banner of all Councils c. as he thinks whereas one little David with a Stone out of the Brook of Life the River that makes glad the City of God one Text of Scripture will answer all his Rodomantado Challenge What if Councils c. that contract principal Articles of Faith into short Terms have not used the Doctor 's very words yet if they are consonant to Scripture one would think they may pass without such a strangeness Are there no Sentences in Antisozzo and Melius that are not in Synods and Councils and yet pass for Authentick I am confident the Doctor could not think it worth his while to tumble over the Records of all Councils c. to authorise him to speak to the Rebuker's approbation if the Scripture do but warrant him in his Change of Persons 't is enough and that is very abundant in Terms that may bear him out As where it speaks of Christ in us the hope of Glory do not we sustain his Person there or rather he being in us our hope he sustains our Persons in hope It speaks of our putting off our Sins in the circumcision of Christ Col. 3.11 which cannot be otherwise than by Christ's sustaining our Persons when he was circumcised and so our putting off our Sins is by our being in him representatively when the Fore-Skin of Christ's Flesh was cut off in order to the putting off our Sins in our Faith in a circumcised Christ It speaks of our being buried with him of our being raised in him of our being found in him What is this but a Change or Commutation of Persons I live saith the Apostle yet not I but Christ lives in me Is not this a Change of Person that answers Dr. Crisp's Commutation And yet still we are not Christ Personal but Christ Mystical and Christ was not Paul Personal but Paul and all Believers Mystical as sustaining their Persons as many Eminent Divines besides the Doctor speak without being accounted strange Monsters §. LXXIII For further Satisfaction in this great Point I refer the Rebuker to the great Pains of Dr. Chancy who hath gathered the Sentiments of very great Men among whom take this of Luther on Gal. 3.14 who saith It behoveth him to bear the Punishment and Wrath of God not for his own Person but for our Persons and so making A HAPPY CHANGE with us he took upon him our Sinful Person and gave unto us his Innocent and Victorious Person Is not this as monstrous a wild Sense as Dr. Crisp's But my Dear Kratiste hath more Sense than to call this new uncooth unintelligible Non-sense because of the great Name of Martin Luther Another of Dr. Chancy's Quotations is out of Mr. Stone of New England no Antinomian unless made so by the Rebuker he adds in the same Page 102 of Dr. Chancy There must be an Exchange between the Mediator and us 1 Tim. 2.6 There must be an
for my part if I did not look on the Lord Jesus as sustaining my Person on the Cross and sustaining it every moment not only by his common Providence but in himself and by himself as Flesh of my Flesh I must look on my self as I am in my self a lost wretched forlorn Creature to be miserable in Hell to all Eternity But I flee for refuge to him to be kept in this Faith I in them holy Father and thou in me that they may be perfect in one John 17. That is in himself the blessed Lord Jesus sustaining our persons to whom be Glory for ever §. XCI I come now to his Postscript which is sharp and stinging to purpose as if he had not sufficiently degraded Dr. Crisp in the body of the Rebuke he blackens him by comparing the Doctor to Apocryphal Tobias and Mr. Williams to Canonical Daniel thus All this is nothing but a tryal of Skill between the Apocryphal Story of Tobias and the Canonical History of Daniel Tobias and Daniel being the first Names of the Doctor and Mr. Williams as much as to say all the Doctor 's Sermons are Apocryphal Stories but Mr. Williams s Books of Gospel-Truth are Canonical History To which I may return there is also the Canonical History of Tobias and there is the Apocryphal Story of Daniel relating the filthiness of the Elders with Susanna For instance Tobijah which signifies my good Lord hath near as honourable a memorial put upon him in Canonical Scripture as Daniel God my Judge 'T is true Daniel is called O greatly beloved and God grant that our Daniel may be so also upon a due sense of his Miscarriages in his Books and Converse It is also true in Zach. 6.10 14. of Tobias he was to take Silver and Gold and make Crowns And 't is said The Crowns shall be for Helem and Tobiah c. Here was a Crown for Tobijah signifying the Crown of Righteousness and I question not but your traduced Tobijah hath been wearing one before the Throne and before the Lamb and casting it down before him this Fifty Five Years Here were several Crowns made and I hope one remains for my Dear Kratiste for the blessed Jesus pardons and so overlooks innumerable Failings and will give a Crown of Righteousness to all that love him that will submit to his Righteousness Then for the Apocryphal Story 'T is true Tobiah is brought in with his Dog following him but no Dogs barking at him Such Things are reserved for these latter days But how is Daniel brought in He like my dear Kratiste comes in giving a faithful Rebuke to a sad Report of a Lascivious Elder and saith O thou Elder that art waxen old in Wickedness thy Sins are come to light §. XCII What Issue have we of this tryal of Skill Is your Tobias the more Apocryphal because his Name is in the Apocrypha And is your Daniel the more Canonical in his Writings because his Name-sake was 〈◊〉 Man greatly beloved Or on the other side may not your Tobias have a Crown given him as well as Tobijah had one And may not your Elder have a severe Rebuke given him as well as Daniel's Apocryphal Elder had one For every one shall receive according to his own Work So that this Apocryphal Witticism might have been spared for any honour it can bring to your Daniel or dishonour to Tobias But this is plain evidence that the Rebuker hereby declares that he takes all the Discourses of Dr. Crisp of the Free Grace of God in Christ to be Apocryphal Stories and all that Mr. Williams hath writ is Canonical History especially his Gospel-Truth stated which is supported by himself and Forty Eight more Vouchers This must pass for Canonical though he makes room therein for more to be saved than ever God chose in Christ and though he saith to this purpose That God hath set up a New Law that doth not require SINLESS Obedience §. XCIII In the next place he treats the Doctor more roughly if not prophanely for he calls the asserting the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and Faith the unpardonable Sin against the Doctor whereas we know of no unpardonable Sin but that against the Holy Ghost which some in opposing clear Gospel Free-Grace come very near unless they do it ignorantly But to talk of an unpardonable Sin against the Doctor and that for asserting what the Doctor never denyed is a strange strain of Wrath against his Memory His words are these in Pa. 56 57 That although the express Word of God doth express the necessity of Regeneration to our entring into the Kingdom of God and requires Repentance that our Sins may be blotted out and Faith in Christ that we may be justified This the Rebuker calls the Brethrens fully bearing Testimony against the Antinomians and adds that their asserting this is the unpardonable Sin against Dr. Crisp The Rebuker means that Mr. Lob accounts this Testimony of the Rebuker to be the unpardonable Sin against Dr. Crisp which I may say is Gratis dictum sed non gratiosé It is freely said but not graciously I do not see what could be spoken with more malignity to say it is never to be forgiven by Dr. Crisp's Vindicators to say Regeneration Repentance and Faith are necessary Sure my dear Kratiste cannot be thought not to have read Dr. Crisp where he may find this Charge That the Doctor accounts it a horrid Crime to assert Faith Repentance and Regeneration necessary to be most false I appeal to the Rebuker's Conscieâ—ce for I 〈◊〉 not but he hath read the Doctor 's Sermons or Dr. Chancy's Quotations where he brings in Dr. Crisp saying in express words quite contrary to this Charge and fully owning the need of Sanctification c. In Fol. 46 Dr. Crisp saith thus There is no Person that is a Believer but after he hath received Christ he is created in Christ Jesus unto good Works that he should walk in them I say he that sprinkleth them with clean Water that they may become clean from all their Filthiness writes his Law in their inward parts So that I say mark well my words That Sanctification of Life is an inseparable companion with the Justification of a Person by the Grace of Christ Now can any Thing be more clear than that it is no unpardonable Sin with Dr. Crisp to assert the necessity of Regeneration Repentance and Holiness For that he saith Sanctification which includes them all is inseparable from Justification that one is never without the other As much as to say with the Apostle Christ who is made of God to us Righteousness for Justification he is at the same time made of God to us Sanctification §. XCIV Now methinks 't is strange that he should be branded with your Titles of Apocryphal wild Monster Crispian Heterodoxy especially to blast him in the business of Holiness Repentance c. who so strenuously hath asserted its inseparableness from Justification
from helping to wash away the Guilt or Fault that they need to be wash'd in the Blood of Christ to take away their own Guilt and Fault and the making one Debt for our Lord Jesus to satisfie even that of the Fault in our best Works is a strange way for our clearing our selves from a former Debt or Fault §. CXLV I would humbly recommend to all that stagger in this Point but especially to the Dignified Persons of the Church of England to look again and again into the Sound Fundamental Doctrines of the Church as they are exemplified in the Homilies appointed by several Acts of Parliament to be read in the Churches when there is no Sermon which Acts have never been yet repealed and I may say are as necessary in this Degenerate Age of the evacuating the great Truths of our Religion as when first made These Homilies speak home to the Point that the Bishop is upon of Christ's bearing our Sins Those Holy Servants of the Lord that composed them soon after the Nations coming out of the Blind Popish Religion they say in the second Sermon of Man's Misery thus He Christ paid our Ransom to God with his own Blood and with that he CLEANSED us from our Sin They don't say he bare the Punishment only but he by his Blood shed on the Cross then at that time he cleansed us from our Sins How could that be if our Sins our very Sins were not then translated to Christ as Dr Crisp from the Scripture and these Homilies saith So that for Mr. Williams or the Bishop or any Man to say it is near Blasphemy to say our very Sins were laid on Christ is to run a Dagger to the Heart of the Doctrine of the Church of England and to evade plain Scripture as well as to make Dr Crisp an Antinomian for it for the Doctor herein runs parallel to the Sound Orthodox Doctrine of the Church for which besides the main Bulwark of the Scripture he hath many Acts of Parliament to back him from the Slanders of the Despisers of the Free Grace of God §. CXLVI I being now perusing these Homilies and considering how the Reverend Bishop in his Letter insists so much on Conditions required by God of Man in order to God's Favour I make bold to make a little Remark how much the Bishop differs from those Antient Doctors of the Church and from himself if he be true to his Subscription to the Doctrines of the Church First let us see what the Bishop saith then what the Homilies say In Page 67 the Bishop saith I could easily prove that in all the Transactions between God and Mankind some Conditions on our side were required in order to his Favour So it was in the State of Innocency a tydy Argument so it continued after Man's Fall But I pass over these and come to the Terms of Salvation as declared by Christ himself The main Business of his Preaching was to put Men upon performing such Conditions as were necessary to their Salvation Promising Blessedness to the Humble Merciful Pure in heart Matt. 5.3 4 c. What do these things mean if they be not Conditions on our parts necessary in order to Happiness But God he still insists on our own endeavours by striving to enter c Do not these note the necessity of the Performance of Conditions on our side And therefore all Imaginary Notions of such a Change of Persons as hath no regard to any Act of ours is wholly repugnant to the main Scope and Design of the Gospel Thus the Bishop What is become here of the whole Tenor of the Gospel we are Saved by Grace being Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus not of Works lest any boast this is thrust quite out of doors for what are these Conditions and these Acts of ours but Works which though called for and necessary to glorifie God by way of Service and Thanks yet not any way to Justifie us or Save us For we are Saved by Grace and not of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace 'T is for another end that all our Holiness is called for to Repent be Humble Pure of Heart and Merciful 'T is to magnifie God that hath saved us by Christ Saints shall be Holy Humble Pure of Heart in Heaven Is that in order to get God's Favour No but to serve and glorifie God for his Favour and we are to do the Will of God as near as we can on Earth as it is done in Heaven not to get Heaven which Christ alone hath bought for us but to magnifie God for giving himself Son and Spirit to us and for giving Heaven and all Spiritual Blessings with him begun in this Life and perfected above to make our Works Conditions on our parts to get Heaven is to Rob our Lord Jesus of his Crown and Glory and to set it on the Head of our sorry imperfect Works But besides the whole Current of the Gospel that we are saved by Grace let us see what the Bishop hath signed to and is dignified by even the Doctrines of the Church of England and they are clear for our Interest in Christ and Salvation to be all of Grace they drive us from all Works of our own and say in that second Sermon of Man's Misery No part of our Justification is of our selves no part not the least dram of our Works is to come in for any share in our Justification And in the next line they say Our Justification cometh only by Jesus Christ Here is not the least tittle of our Acts of Obedience insisted on or Gospel-Conditions to get Salvation 't is only by Christ all they insist on is to render Thanks to God for Free Salvation by Christ as it follows What Thanks worthy and sufficient can we render to him Let us burst forth with joyful Voice praising this Lord of Mercy Then they reiterate our not being able to do any thing of our selves wholly to renounce our selves and say very unlike the Bishop's Letter In our selves we may not glory which of our selves are NOTHING but Sinful neither may we rejoyce in any Works we do How nothing but Sinful and no rejoycing in any Works we do May we not Joy in performing the Conditions and doing Acts to obtain God's Favour No no there is no rejoycing in any thing for we are nothing but Sinful As for Conditions to get God's Favour they knew none but Jesus Christ he was the great Condition he being the great only compleat Saviour the Alpha and Omega first and last in our Salvation This Doctrine would be accounted Rank Antinomianâ—sm in Dr. Crisp a dangerous Error to take Men off from good Works to tell them we are nothing but Sinful and we may not rejoyce in any Works we do But this is honest good sound Orthodox yea glorious Doctrine in the Hearts of those that have tasted of Salvation by Free Grace and is establish'd as
I said and need say again over and over by Parliament and subscribed to by all the Bishops and Ministers of the Church of England and that which I conceive they are bound still to read in their Parishes when there is no Sermon which is much neglected And hence it is that Men warp from their own avowed Doctrines which they get their Living by Which Neglect the Governours of the Church would do well to see rectified or rather His Majesty in Parliament for the Defection from the true Doctrine of the Gospel is great For which plain dealing need I beg the Bishops Pardon §. CXLVII They proceed to evacuate our doing good Works in order to get Salvation by them and say farther When we were perished he saved us And all these heavenly Treasures are given us not for our Deserts or good Deeds which of our selves we have none mark that we have none but of his meer Mercy freely Where do they leave room for Conditions to make us meet for an Interest in Christ Not a tittle of that 't is they say of meer Mercy freely They proceed and say If all this be freely for whose sake is it and answer roundly Truly for Christ's sake for whose sake God is 't is already done God is fully satisfied pacified and set at one with Man He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World They aver that God is now already pacified with Man nay and set at one with Man They also scruple not to say That Christ took away our very Sins and inforce it from that excellent Scripture With that one Oblation he hath made perfect for evermore them that are Sanctified And this excellent Sermon they conclude a passage which is for the great abasing of Man to take him off from trusting to his complying with the Terms of the Gospel or expecting to get God's Favour as the Bishop doth by any thing that we can do Thus they conclude which I recommend to all that set up for doing so as to expect acceptance with God for it Let us learn to know our selves say they without any cracking and confess that as of our selves cometh all Evil and Damnation so likewise of him cometh all Goodness and Salvation This must sound harsh in our new Neonomian Divinity nay with some that pretend to go much nearer the Gospel strain That nothing but Evil nothing but Damnation comes of our selves What is our Prayers Tears Alms Fasting nothing but Evil nothing but Damnation Sure you great and good Reformers you mistake No we are sure we are in the right We don't say you must not do good Works no not for a World But we say all our best Righteousness in point of Justification or acceptance with God as it is of our selves as it is defiled and tainted by our corrupt Natures so it is nothing but Evil and so it is nothing but Damning Now we see may our Modern Opposers of free Justification by Christ alone without any Works or Conditions of ours say how you have tainted Dr. Crisp we see 't is you have help'd him to be such an Antinomian by putting such a slur on good Works on our best Deeds as to say from us comes all Evil and Damnation and nothing but Sinful No say they if any have taught him 't is the same that taught us and that is the Word of God which saith all our Righteousness is as filthy Rags Nay we learnt it from the Apostle who said after his Conversion his Righteoâ—sness was Dung. This we learnt also from the Church of God of old when she was in a sad pickle to gain God's Favour for an Interest in Christ in Ezek. 16. When thou wast in thy blood I said to thee Live That was the time of Love Thus we see God sees not as Man sees that which to Man would have been a time of Loathing to God was a time of Love The like case we have in the Apostle Paul what good Deeds did God insist on with him as the Bishop pleads that he might gain God's Favour when he was breathing out Blood and Slaughter against Christ in his Members then it was our Blessed Lord Jesus made it a time of his Love For which to him be Honour and Glory in the Churches for ever and ever §. CXLVIII But the Bishop insists on it that it is but an Imaginary Change because saith he it is not proved that Christ is that Sinfulness that we were by his being made Sin and we are the same Righteousness as he is we being made the Righteousness of God in him the Bishop saith Here is a Change supposed but I do not find it proved What not proved when it is backed with plain Scripture That he was made Sin for us and we made the Righteousness of God Doth not this of necessity prove a Change Could Christ possibly be made Sin for us without taking on him our Persons Would you have it That Christ was made Sin for himself That would be horrid Blasphemy But to be made Sin for us must infer That he did truly beare or sustain our Persons which is the Change argued for Or if not then he did not bear our Sins And if so What 's become of the Gospel and our eternal Salvation For if Christ did not bear our sins as our Surety and Representative as our Head and sustaining our Persons then we are yet in our Sins and there remains no more Sacrifice for sins so we must dye in our sins and Christ died in vain but Absit So on the other hand We are made the Righteousness of God that is of God-Man Jesus Christ Is not here a Change of Persons we Righteous in the Person of Christ or in Christ having his Righteousness put upon us imputed to us by God which is not an Imaginary but a real Imputation and putting it upon our Persons the Righteousness of God being unto and upon all that believe Rom. 3.22 And so we the blessed Ones to whom the Lord imputes Righteousness without Works or any Acts of ours to get into God's Favour Psal 32.1 though this is strenuously argued against by the Bishop §. CXLIX The Bishop saith This is no ground to build our Faith on viz. This Change of Persons that Christ was made Sin for us and we the Righteousness of God in him I say God help us if this be not good firm rocky Ground to build our Faith on I am sure other Foundation can no Man nor Church lay than Jesus Christ the Lord our Righteousness to build on That he was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him and that we might receive thereby the Blessings of Abraham from him that in his Seed which is Christ all the Families of the Earth might be blessed with Believing Abraham §. CL. I might refer the Bishop again to the Doctrines of the Church whereof he is an Honourable Presider which in this Case
A Pins head stolen damning in it self § 78 The Potters power over the Clay § 80 A Pother about Conditionality § 81 Proper satisfaction denied by the Rebuker § 82 The Parliament against jesting with Christ as the Rebuker § 89 Paulting Mr. Williams in the Pillery with rotten Eggs § 98 Paper to be saved saith the Rebuker to avoid the great point § 99 Pelagius to be writ against by all § 1 110 Peace not to be purchased with loss of Truth § 120 When Perish'd we are saved without our Works Homilies § 147 Poyson spit at the Sun don't defile it § 154 The Perfections of God illustrated by Allegory § 157 Poyson on Gold not defile it § 158 Christ by himself purged our sins § 158 Q. Quickened by Christ when dead § 26 Christ a Quickning Spirit § 26 R. The Righteousness of Christ only to be mentioned § 16 194 Our Representative being in Christ from Eternity Clark § 18 Christ Reputed a Criminnl he calls Heresie § 24 Reconciliation before Faith Pemble § 29 The Rebuker saying Christ's death made God placable § 33 We are Righteous as Christ How § 44 57 62 Raised in Christ shews he sustained us § 72 Redintegration of the Rebuker to Mr. Williams occasion'd his Rebuke against Dr. Crisp § 76 A Rigid satisfaction denied by Mr. A § 82 Christ a Ransom paid all § 82 So owned in the Homilies § 85 150 Rebuke before all some that offend openly § 118 S. Sarcasms on Mr. Lob by Mr. A § 2 Substance of the Gospel that Christ came c. § 3 6 Socinus as the Rebuker saith Christ destitute of Righteousness if c. § 4 Sin Christ was made for us all over and § 4 Subscribing the Articles not sufficient § 16 Socinianism called but an Error by Mr. A § 19 Sinless Sin Christ bare if he bare not the Fault § 23 Our Sins owned by Christ to be his Psal 40. § 24 The Spirit in us before Faith no Heresie § 26 Sin cast into the Sea to shew God sees it not § 37 Sin lessens not God's Love to Believers Pemble § 39 All not of Faith is Sin § 40 Sinning Obedience allow'd by God's Law Williams § 50 78 Sin the smallest is Damning the Assembly § 50 Satisfaction own'd by Williams and soon spoil'd § 51 Very Sin not laid on Christ Williams § 51 61 How Christ as Sinful as we § 58 Sin Glareing what Terrour it makes § 61 Christ made our Sinfulness if made our Sin § 63 Christ as Surety sustains us a Surety slighted § 65 82 The Spirit himself in us denied by the Rebuker § 72 Synods never dreamt of this Change Mr. A § 72 Stone in New England against Neonomians § 73 Scampering over Fathers Councils c. by the Rebuker § 75 Christ could not cannot Sin § 77 Socinians and Neonomians compar'd in allowing Sin § 78 Sins little past by of Course they say § 78 Stealing a Pins head is Sin and Damning § 78 Scotch Church saith Christ paid thy Debt § 85 We Sustained in Christ by doing the Law in him Homilies § 86 A Stage-player Christ is if he bare us saith the Rebukes § 89 We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Co-body with Christ § 90 A strange Strain of the Rebuker's Wrath § 93 Servant of the Lord not to strive as Rebuker § 97 Saphiras Equivocation exceeded by Rebuker § 117 Selling Innocency and Peace for nothing Rebuker § 120 Satisfaction once owned by Antisozzo § 125 Scriptures to prove Christ bare our Sin § 142 Salvation by Grace a Spur to Sanctity § 153 The Sun not defiled by Poyson spit at it so our Sin did not defile Christ § 154 The Serpent a Type of Christ § 155 The Sacrifices called Sin as Christ was § 156 T. Dr. Twiss Forgiveness before Faith at Christ's death § 25 Turn why dye called the Triumph of the Law § 42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how the Rebuker so § 48 55 God a Tyrant say Arminians § 80 Tobias Canonical with a Crown § 91 he had not a barking Dog § 91 Translation of Sin to Christ Calvin § 102 Tears over Kratiste about the Marriage § 113 The Towering Spirit of the Rebuker § 118 Truth to be sought as well as Peace § 120 U. Vnintelligible to the Rebuker for Christ to take our Persons § 8 Vnion before Faith call'd an Heresie § 26 The Vngodly Justified § 27 Vnconverted Justified at Christ's death Pemble § 30 Very Sins not laid on Christ saith Mr. Williams § 51 61 A Vizor Christ wears if beare us Rebuker § 89 The Vnpardonable Sin against Dr. Crisp an Abuse § 93 The Vntruth of the Rebuker to say no more subscribed to § 115 W. Wisdom Justified of her Children § 2 Mr. Williams for Non-elect to be saved § 33 for a Law that admits Sin § 50 denies our very Sins on Christ § 51 denies and undenies a Change § 139 Works before Faith Sin § 40 Our best Works defiled the Assembly § 41 A Wooden God only for a Wooden Law to Sin § 50 Vessels of Wrath § 80 The Wish of the Rebuker answered § 85 Works necessary saith Dr. Crisp § 94 Whaffling Whelps the Rebuker calls his Opposers § 95 Good Works our Foundation for Salvation Mr. Williams § 98 Waving the Doctrine of Justification by the Rebuker § 99 Wrath of God borne by Christ § 102 FINIS