the greatest multitude of zealous professors they drowne them with themselues in the dead fayth and instead of a true fayth in Christs righteousnesse doe make them to rely and hang vpon their owne holinesse workes and well-doings whereby people are euer troubled in conscience or else glory with the Pharises Luke 8.11 in a prepostrous false bastard sanctification and Anabaptisticall mortification and obedience in doing the law of God flowing from no true loue or charity and so as the former profaine Ministers doe make dogg-christians so greedily feeding vpon the fifthy pleasing carrion of the secret lurking vaine glory of their owne holynesse obedience workes and well-doings that these most Iudas-like and traiterously trample the pearle of free iustification and free grace vnder the feete of their Pharisaicall affections and doe not onely fall a barking like doggs at the few * Meaning those of his Antinomian and lawlesse sect foresayd true Ministers of Christ and so trouble the true beleeuers with all manner of caluminations raylings and slanderings as that they are against sanctification and good workes whereas they onely bring in the true meanes of true sanctification and of doing all good workes and that those true teachers destroy the law when they truely stablish the law with such-like innumerable caluminations but also sticke euen violently like doggs to fly in the true Ministers and people of Gods faces and are ready if they can to teare out their very throats with bitter hatred and cruell persecution are not these truely Christs dogg-christians the Disciples of such false masters plainely declaring that whilst they contend for the law they are both in words and deedes the greatest destroyers of the law and that their bragging obedience is most grieuous disobedience all their holy sanctification is dubble sin and iniquity and that their whole worship of high esteeme with men is idolatrous and abomination before God traiterous to their King and dangerous to the betraying and destruction of their whole Country and Kingdome wherein such liue Therefore in my hearty loue and in the sincerity of my bettered affections I pray you take heed of this blinde zealous dead fayth and content not your selues in the carnall knowledge of free iustification c. Thus farre of his skirmish Wherein thou mayest good reader obserue how he magnifieth himselfe as the onely true Prophet opposed by many hundred of false Prophets those hee rankes together with their hearers and seuerall congregations into two companies the one a heard of hoggs the other a kennell of doggs and of these two he makes vp the vniuersall body of the Church of England as which God hath giuen vp to bee plagued with such ministers of the blind dead fayth as his vsuall manner of language is to call it So as in summe he makes the Church and nation of England to be an accursed Isle of hoggs and doggs Againe for all this note how sliely like the subtile serpent hee seekes by insinuation to patronize his doctrine vnder the authority of the Church of Englands established doctrine as grounded thereon and consonant thereunto and so consequently vnder the Kings protection a pestilent peece of policy and practice though by necessary consequence hee makes the Defender of the fayth no better that which my very thought abhorreth then one of his hogg or dogg-christians and on the other side labours to make all his aduersaries odious as being in their doctrines enemyes to the King and State a notable practise of heretickes in all ages and such are all Ministers in Court City Country all Courtiers Citizens Country-men that follow not this man in his conceited true liuely fayth Come we in the next place to his maine battalion which hee rangeth into 3 squadrons Namely hee sets downe the state of the doctrine in 3 Propositions which he cals his 3 Protestant positions The first is that the horrible filthinesse of sin is such to Gods infinite pure and righteous nature that God cannot but abhorre curse and detest the creature that hath any sin in his sight as these and such like scriptures teach Deut. 27.26 2. Pet. 2.4 Rom. 5.12.15 Esa 59 2. Iob. 15.16 The second is I beleeue that for remedy of this my misery by sin God by the power of his imputation doth though mystically yet soe truely cloth mee with the wedding garment of his sons perfect holinesse and righteousnesse Esa 61.10 that all my sins both of my person and works being truely abolished not out of me 1 Ioh. 1.8 that there may be place for fayth Heb. 11.1 Rom. 4.18.19 to 21. but yet vtterly abolished out of Gods sight Col. 1.22 I and all my workes are of vniust made iust before God that is perfectly holy righteous from all spot of sin in the sight of God freely by faith only without works And I say By fayth onely without workes because onely true fayth seeth this and onely true fayth inioyeth this And thus by Christs stripes am I healed Esa 53.5 And so God is well pleased and at peace with mee For being iustified by fayth we haue peace with God Rom. 5.1 And am truely blessed Rom. 4.6 For as many as are of this fayth of free iustification are blessed with faithfull Abraham Gal. 3.8.9 and shall be certainely glorified for whom God iustifieth them he also glorifieth Rem 8.30 All which Protestant position of free iustification is abundantly and clearely taught by these and such like scriptures Esa 43.25 Esa 44.22.23 Ioh. 1.29 Heb. 1.3 Heb. 9.26 1. Ioh. 1.7 Reu. 1.5.6 Dan. 9.24 Rom. 3.21.22 Rom. 5.17.18.19.21 Eph. 5.26.27 Reu. 3.18 Col. 1.22.23 Rom. 8.4 Col. 2.10 Rom. 9.30 Heb. 10.14 Esa 62. Phil. 3.8.9 Tit. 1.15 Heb. 11.4 The 3 is my third position is that this true fayth of free iustification doth infallibly inflame the heart with true loue Gal. 5.6 which makes the true beleeuer to breake off from and mortifie his former corrupt and profane conuersation and brings forth a declaratiue obedience and redinesse to euery good worke and a free and cherefull walking in all Gods will and commandements declaratiuely to manward which is true sanctification as these and such like scriptures teach Tim. 2.11 to 15. 1. Ioh. 3.5.6.9 Eph 2.10 Rom. 6. Eph. 4.22.23.24 Math. 5.16 This is the Protestant fayth this is the established doctrine of our Church these are the 3 positions that here hee makes the woman-Disciple to speake I haue too lately receiued and which haue so changed mee out of the blinde zealous dead fayth into the true liuely iustifying fayth Thus you haue his 3 Protestant positions as hee calls them set downe word for word which an indifferent reader yea a sound Protestant perusing and knowing no more of the authors minde then what is here expressed hee would at the first sight perhapps take all for harmelesse and sound doctrine But when he shall consider how all these positions as Protestant as they bee stand in opposition to all that doctrine which is
generally taught by the most sound learned and orthodox Diuines in England and so I may safely say in all the world then hee may well suspect a Pad in the straw and a serpent to lurke vnder the greene leaues and some thing more in it then at the first appeareth For touching the first position What one Protestant Diuine doth not hold and teach that sin is most detestable to God which his pure eyes cannot behold and that it makes a man odious in Gods sight Witnes the bitter and cursed death of the son of God himselfe which hee suffered for sin otherwise wee had all remained vnder the curse left to eternall perdition the iust punishment and reward of sin if it had not bin remoued by Christ So as herein the author hath no colour of accusation against his hoggs and doggs his aduersaries but this first Position serueth onely as an vsher to lead in the rest or as a harbinger to take vp the best rome in mens conceit for the rest of the traine by prepossessing the readers minde with an expectation of sutable doctrine in that which followeth Num 23.8 Wherein we shall finde that he playes but the cheater who showing one peece of good gold out of his purse would perswade his gull that his purse is full of such when all the rest is but counters or counterfet gold double guilt For the second position what Protestant Minister of the Church of England of what ranke soeuer bee he reckoned among his hoggs or among his doggs that holdeth not and teacheth not that the onely remedy to remooue mans misery by sin is Iesus Christ his death and passion his obedience actiue and passiue his whole righteousnesse freely imputed of God to euery true beleeuer What Protestant Diuine or other but holds iustification to be by fayth freely without workes And that those whom God iustifyeth hee so acquiteth them in abolishing their sin that hee remembreth it no more but casts it behinde his backe seeth it not any more in asmuch as he doth graciously for his sonnes sake not impute it to them So as what needes all that heaping vp of places of scripture as if none but the Author tooke notice of them or as if his doctrine were so vnknowne or doubted of as it needed such a cloud of proofes Yet some particulars in this position would bee a little talked with all As 1. where hee sayth That all sins in the beleeuers are vtterly abolished out of Gods sight by being not imputed This is most true Yet it puts mee in minde of that which I heard long agoe scattered abroad by this very Author that God seeth no sin in his children Which Aphorisme taken vp of the vulgar may breede in them that beleeue not presumptuous thoughts and resolutions voyd of the conscience of sin Therefore this poynt would be a little opened True it is God seeth no sin in his beleeuing children for which hee inflicteth the curse or any satisfactory penalty vpon them Thus when Balack would haue had Balaam to curse Gods people hee answered How shall I curse where God hath not cursed And v. 19. God is not as man that hee should lye or repent hath he sayd and shall hee not doe it Behold I haue receiued commandement to blesse and hee hath blessed and I cannot reuerse it And hee renders the reason He hath not beheld iniquity in Iacob neyther hath he seene preuersenesse in Israell the Lord his God is with him and the shout of a King is among them Surely there is no inchantment against Iacob nor diuination against Israell For Christ hath borne Israels sin in him hath God the Iudge fully punished it his iustice is fully satisfed for all Israels debts So that all being satisfied and discharged in our surety Christs righteousnesse and satisfaction made ours now God seeth not sin in his beleeuing children as a iudge to punish them yet he may be sayd to see as a father to chastise them Or when he chastiseth his childe hee seemeth to see his sin though done away in Christ and pardoned in Gods Court to the end his childe may come to see it and so haue the euidence of pardon sealed vnto him in the Court of his owne conscience And this is that which all sound Protestant Ministers teach and beleeue A second thing I note in his second position is if not an absurdity yet an obscure speech his words are All my sins both of my person and workes are truely abolished not out of me that there may be place for fayth Why Are sins abolished actually by imputation before fayth bee wrought that the abolishing of sin makes way to fayth True it is Christ hath taken away our sins and by death abolished death before we haue fayth to apply it for our fayth is from the merite and vertue of his death Otherwise I know not what sense to make of his words vnlesse hee meane that fayth alone takes place in the beleeuer working and doing all infallibly and freely as else where he expresseth himselfe without the Law of the ten Commandements 3 I note a falshood in it for he sayth All my workes are of vniust made iust before God What these works are I finde in other of his scatered pamphlets to wit all naturall ciuil religious sanctified actions which being in themselues as he sayth foule and filthy are made perfectly holy and righteous by free iustification Now this is a thing both imposible and were also vniust for God to doe it It is impossible for God to make a worke that is vniust to bee iust Indeed Antichrist arrogateth this omnipotent or rather impotent power as deriued from God to make ex iniustitia iustitiam righteousnesse of vnrighteousnesse but Gods omnipotency stretcheth not to make an vniust worke to be iust For then he might seeme to be both improuident and vniust in appointing his sonne to take away sin by the sacrifice of himselfe in case God could haue made of sin no sin by his meere omnipotency Indeede God can make a thing to cease to bee or hee can make a thing to bee which had not a being as hee did all the world but hee cannot so abolish a thing as to cause the former being of it not to haue bene a being after it hath once actually bene So of a wicked worke God is so powerfull so good so iust as that hee cannot make the wickednesse to bee good for that implies a contradiction but hee can and doth so abolish the wickednesse of our workes by Christ by not imputing of them as if it had neuer bin But to say our workes are of vniust made iust this as it is a phrase not vsed in scripture so in the Antinomians sense it tends to the bringing in of a heauenly state of perfection in this life For he would inferre herevpon that a man once in Christ iustified is altogether without sin in Gods sight abusing that place of Iohn 1 Ioh.
of those who hauing a forme of godlinesse deny the power thereof from such turne away Of which sort are they which creepe into houses and lead captiue silly women laden with sins led away with diuerse lusts euer learning and neuer able to come to the knowledge of the truth And as Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses soe do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the fayth But they shall proceede no farther for their folly shall bee manifest to all men as theirs also was All which how fully it is verefied and exemplified in the Author we haue to deale withall this little discourse seconded with the subscription of his owne handy worke will abundantly testifye Now because the letter is teadious so as to answere to euery circumstance would clogge our discourse with many vnnecessary and vnprofitable matters therefore I will epitomize or contract the whole into one briefe view and pitch vpon such points as the Author stands most vpon and wherein he placeth the maine strength of his battalion And first I will muster vp his scattered skirmishes and brauadoes And those I finde to be diuided into two speciall companies The first is a brauado setting forth his cause with many specious and glorious titles as his ascribing it to Gods gratious calling that it is the true liuely iustifying faith which he maintaineth which words hee often repeateth that it is of the household of true faith the most holy and heauenly calling into the true liuely iustifying fayth that it is the gracious leauening of the Gospell that it is the effectuall calling to true christianity and assured free saluation that this leauen is the wedding garment of Christs perfect holinesse and that this is the good and old way which Abraham walkt in that it is the established protestant doctrine of our Church of England grounded vpon the word of God which euery one ought to imbrace if hee will be a loyall subiect to his Protestant King againe This is the Protestant fayth this is the established doctrine of our Church that he is as one true Prophet to a great number of false Prophets that he with a few more goe with a right foot to the truth of the Gospell such as call the people to a chearefull zealous godly life onely for and by the ioy and excellency of free iustification but marke how deepely considered onely those few doe apply the law purely and truely that these are the few foresayd true ministers of Christ and such as follow them the true beleeuers that they onely bring in the true meanes of true sanctification and of doing all good workes that these are the true teachers who doe truely establish the law that these are the onely true ministers and their followers the onely true people of God that this doctrine is and may bee proued in euery point with two or three plaine scriptures and two or three plaine testimonies of Orthodox Protestant writers These and the like bee the glorious guildings wherewith hee doth so fairely inammile his leaden cause which anon will come to the Test The second company wherewith he skirmisheth all along is of such reproches as hee casts vpon all those that are aduersaries to his opinion I take them in order as they lie That to auouch the contrary is a sinfull preiudice of Gods truth that it is a blaspheming of the true liuely iustifying fayth such are too much leauened with the sowre leauen of the deuouter sort of Pharisees which with the false brethren among the Galatians leauened and corrupted the faith of the Galatians Thus the pentificians where they find certainety of Saluation they call it presumption c. and that with a conceited holinesse of doing and keeping the morall law this is a dangerous leauen of the Pharisees which vnder the visour and conceit and opinion of sincerity and obedience to God and zeale of God is but hipocrisie Christs marriage garment is now a dayes eagerly opposed and subtilly betrayed with a Iudasses kisse in this regard these are the perilous times wherein men and women are euer learning and neuer able to come to the truth of the assurance of their free saluation and that there is in a manner now no fayth on the earth because the dead fayth before God is no fayth although it be varnished and guilded ouer with a blinde prepostrous zeale and opinion of obedience and walking in all gods commandements as Paul before his conuersion was in this blind zealous dead fayth which phrase is very frequent with him that it is another Ghospell that the blinde zealous dead faith thinkes it knowes something when it knowes nothing as it ought to know that they are not some few teachers among vs that trouble the people of God by Preaching another Gospell but especially when God meanes to punish an vngratefull Church and Nation many false teachers This great prophet Iwis as of old there are many hundred false Prophets to one true Prophet hanging relying and depending yea bragging of their obedience workes and weldoings and keeping of the law these bad ministers and teachers that trouble the people of God are and for the iuster iudgement and scourge of the great vnthankefull multitude euer haue beene the greatest multitude and these are deuided into two sorts the first sort are such as are euill beasts slow bellies that vse to preach a little for their liuing sake and for their bellie but care not for the sauing of soules but for their ease their pompe and worldly esteeme and those ministers make onely Hoggschristians that trampling free iustification and the Pearles of the Gospell vnder the feete of their durty affections doe care for nothing but rooting in the earth and filling the belly but the other sort of bad teachers although their right eye also of true fayth bee out and doe more deepely delude themselues and others in the dead fayth yet they haue the light of nature more strongly stirring in them described Rom. 2.14.15 where it is sayd that the Gentiles which haue not the law doe by nature the things conteined in the law which shew the effect or worke of the law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing them that is with feare of punishment when they doe ill and will preach it as the true Gospell I warrant you and excusing them that is hoping to speede well when they doe well and this light of nature they varnish ouer with titles of the Gospell whereby especially young Ministers being carryed with a preposterous zeale of Gods glory Rom. 10.2.3 in workes and conceited weldoings they slight ouer fayth and free iustification with a wet finger thinking with the Papists by a carnall vnderstanding of them that they are quickly or rather learned too fast and so doe preach neyther true law nor true Gospell but a corrupting blending and marring of both law and Gospell whereby they put out the right eye of
THE LAW AND the Gospell reconciled OR The Euangelicall Fayth and the Morall Law how they stand together in the state of grace A treatise shewing the perpetuall vse of the Morall Law vnder the Gospell to beleeuers in answere to a letter written by an Antinomiâ—◠〈◊〉 a faithfull Christian Also how the moraâ—â—â—â— of the 4th Commandement is continued in the Lords day proued the Christian Sabbath by diuine institution â—â—fe Catalogue of the Antinomian doctrinoc By HENRY BVRTON 1 TIM 1.5 The end of the Commandement is charity out of a pure heart of a good conscience and of fayth vnfained Vt Rota intra rotam currit sic lex intra Gratiam et obseruantia legis intra diuinâ— curriculum misericordiae est Ambros. de Iacob c li. 2. cap 11. LONDON Printed by J. N. for Thomas Slatter and are to bee sould at his shoppe in Blackfryars 1631. TO THE HIGH and Mighty Prince Charles by the grace of God King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the Fayth c. GRatious Soueraine this small treatise humbly pleades your Royall Patronage by a double title the one from the Author of it your old seruant who oweth all he is to your Maiesty the other from the worke it selfe being a defence of the Morall Law of God against the Antinomian Libertines in these daies who deny to beleeuers any more vse thereof And what one subiect can more iustly clame your Maiesties protection then this of the Morall Law sith you are not only by a proper title Defender of the fayth but by a common trust committed to Kings keeper of both Tables The discharge of which trust as it tends much to the honour of the great Lawgiuer who hath made you his Vicegerent to see his Lawes well executed So it is the maine propp and pillar to support and secure your royall Throne The consideration whereof when I saw these sonnes of Belial thus vndermining the Kings Throne hath prouoked my zeale both to God and to your Maiesty to write this simple Treatise For to deny the Morall Law to be of any more vse to belieuers or to be so much as a rule of conuersation or that they owe obedience vnto it in poynt of duety and conscience this strikes at the very root and cutts in sunder the kâ—â—ot not onely of christian charity but euen of all ciuill society and happy vnion and communion betweene King and Subiects Head and Members For first the rule of Gods true and vnmixed worship commanded in the first Table is taken away Secondly the rule of all christian and ciuill duties betweene man and man in whatsoeuer relation they stand of equality or inequality Commanded in the second Table and all this with one stroke of cutting off the Morall Law from belieuers And particularly these Antinomians cut off all dutifull and conscionable obedience to Princes grounded on the fift Commandement wherein they being principall Parents namely of our Country all due honour and obedience in the Lord is commaunded to bee giuen them in the first place as of children to their Father Againe on the other side they breake downe the bankes that God himselfe hath pitched to confine the course of Kings whose hearts in the Lords hand like the riuers of waters keeping within their bankes refresh the Land on euery side with their sweete streames but being without the bankes of Gods sacred lawes how soone might they ouerflow and drowne all Therefore it was the care of the wise and good God to the end he might prouide for the hapy welfare both of the King and People to leaue it in charge to the King of Israell that he should haue a coppy of the Law alwaies by him to reade therein day and night Deut 17.18 19 20. to learne thereby to feare the Lord his God to walke humbly among his brethren to doe iustice and iudgement to the end hee may prolong his dayes in his Kingdome hee and his Children in the middest thereof But these Lawlesse Antinomians enemyes to God to Kings and States would robb Christian Kings of this blessed Booke of Gods Law that soe if they could strippe them of the grace and feare of God in their hearts letting loosse the reynes of all honestie and conscience they might vsurpe a gouernment after the lust of man not after the law of God and so precipitate ineuitable ruine to Princes and Common-weales For take away Gods Law and what law of man can bynde the conscience eyther in poynt of obeying or of commanding For though it hath euer beene a Maxime among the very heathen that humaine Lawes and such as were ratified by solemne oathes and couenants betweene Prince and people they held sacred and inuiolable as that Law of the Medes and Persians the Kings writing and seale c. Dan. 6.16 Yet the maine ground that bore vp all the rest was the conscience they had by naturall instinct of Gods eternall Law written in their hearts accusing or excusing knowing that God was an auenger of the breach of lawes oathes couenants such as were agreeable to his Law This then being the strongest ligature to combine the Head and Body politicke in a firme society whereby it becomes inuincible perpetuall and glorious these sonnes of Belial would dismember all Wherein they plainely shew who is their syre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lawlesse one whose Motto is Volumus et iubemus wee will and command which style Platina notes to be first taken vp by Boniface the third who first vsurped the Papall Headship ouer the Church So as casting off all lawes of God and man hee became that great Beast described in the Reuelation whom no law or reason can bound or limit accounting it a disparagement to his tyrannicall greatnesse to bee confined within the lists of any lawes oathes vowes couenants though neuer so iust and sacred Now the Lord Iesus so blesse your Maiesty that trampling this Antinomian Anomian heresie both syre and sonnes vnder your sacred feete you may long and happily raigne ouer your people as a tender father ouer his children while your chiefe care is first for the mayntenance of Gods pure worship without mixture and for the execution of iustice and iudgement these two being the summe of both the Tables and the supporters of the Kings Throne which the Lord euer defend from all Antinomian Anomian spirits In this Treatise also J haue occasionally proued the diuine institution of the Lords day our Christian Sabbath denyed by some And as your raigne hath beene honoured with a pious law for the due obseruation of this great Holy-day of Christ So I trust that this my vindicating of it to its owne right of diuine institution will not a little helpe to the better execution of that your Christian law Which that it may be more reuerently and religiously obserued both in Court City and Country to the purging out of profanesse and to the increase of all christian graces in your
3.6 9. Where he concludes that the iustified man not onely cannot sin but also abstaineth from all appearance of euill These are his very words And hence is that cursed heresie of the Pelagians and Pontificians reuiued by the Antinomians that there is such a prefection in this life as a man may liue altogether without all sin for all his sins of vniust are made iust saith he The nomination whereof is a sufficient confutation For in many things we sin all Iam. 3.2 And if we say wee haue no sin wee deceiue our selues and the trueth is not in vs. 1 Ioh. 1.8 4d I note another falsehood where he sayth By fayth onely with out workes freely I am perfectly holy and righteous from all spot of sin in the sight of God and why because only true faith seeth this and only true fayth inioyes this How are we iustified by faith freely because only true fayth seeth this What if true fayth while during the time of some temptation the exercise of it is suspended do not see nor inioy the fruite of iustification must we therefore passe sentence vpon our selues that we are not iustified nay certainly we are therefore iustified from all sin because God not imputing sin seeth no sin in vs and not because we see and inioy our reconciliation and peace with God For though God be continually pacified towards his faithfull children in Christ yet doe not they allwayes by the act of fayth see and inioy Gods fauour towards them This was Dauids case and is and may be the case of euery child of God Yet whensoeuer wee doe see and enioy our iustification by hauing peace with God through Christ we doe by the eye and apprehension of fayth see and enioy it But our seeing and enioying is not the cause that wee are iustified but the consequent effect and fruit of it being apprehended by fayth 3ly For his 3d Position therein stand his Triarian forces here his files are so doubled and the rankes are so closse that it seemes to be impregnable impenetrable But howsoeuer they stand thicke without yet they are thin and hollow within so that being but once by a wedge diuided they are able no longer to abide the field Therefore obseruing it well I finde sundry aduantages to bee taken First from his commending of fayth in the efficacy of it that it infallibly inflames the heart with true loue making the true beleeuer to breake off his former corrupt conuersation c. Secondly that hee vseth one word twice to wit Declaratiue obedience Declaratiue and a free and cherefull walking in all Gods will and Commandements declaratiuely to manward Which may seeme to some to be eyther idle or a riddle but we shall declare the mystery of it by and by In the meane time all this hitherto in his 3d position hath no other appearance but of sound and orthodox doctrine agreeable to the Scriptures and so to the doctrine of our Church if there bee no more in it then what the outer rinde makes show of For what Protestant Church or what one sound Protestant of our Church doth not teach or beleeue that that most noble and diuine Lady grace of true sauing and liuing fayth doth infallibly to vse his owne word inflame the heart with loue which makes the true beleeuer to breake off from and mortifie his former corrupt and profane conuersation and brings forth a declaratiue obedience and redinesse to euery good worke and a free and cheerfull walking in all Gods will and Commandements declaratiuâ— to manward which is true sanctification Herein we all agree Whereis the difference then Yea but the author comes afterwards in the same position and although he protest these his positions to be the Protestant fayth and the established doctrine of our Church he proclaimes a defyance against the blind zealous dead fayth as meerely opposite to this his true liuely iustifying fayth And this dead fayth whose is it by whom is it taught by whom intertained Euen by the vniuersall bulke and body of our Church which he deuides into two sides the left side consisting of profane sensuall hoggs and the right side of zealous Anabaptisticall Doggs as he stiles them Now if the case stand so that all those protestants generally whom he calls doggs and hoggs doe hold the selfe-same doctrine in truth as the author setts downe in words and yet theirs is the blind zealous dead faith and his the truely liuely iustifying faith it concernes vs a little more narrowly to examine his words to see whither some mysticall sense bee not couched in them or whither hee hath dealt not so candidly nor so ingeniously as by his roauing and rauing language may iustly bee suspected but hath kept vp some reseruations as precious pearles which if hee should vent among so many hoggs and doggs as he liues amongst hee might iustly feare lest the one sort should and that worthily trample them vnder their feete and the other turne vpon him and all to teare him But now it being brought to the vpshot whither hee or we haue the true liuing iustifying fayth hee must permit vs perforce we bringing our warrant from God to makâ— a priuy search and to rifle his Cabbinet to see whither hee haue this Pearle of the Kingdome yea or no. Nor are wee ingaged to doe this in regard onely of our faith towards God as wee are Christans but also of our fidelity and loyalty to our King the Lords Annoynted as wee are subiects for asmuch as hee challengeth all men that hee that will bee a loyall subiect to his Protestant King ought to embrace this doctrine of fayth which he onely the A per se Doctor doth teach Wherein then is the maine difference betweene vs that makes his the onely true liuely iustifying fayth and ours the blinde zealous dead fayth Surely in this that his fayth is so liuely actiue vigorous and potent perfect and compleat that of it selfe it produceth all the fruites of sanctification without hauing any thing to doe with the word of God especially the morall law as a rule of our actions or as a glasse of our imperfections when as wee on the other side acknowledge that our fayth at the best estate during this life is not so perfect and euery way compleat but as a lampe it needeth the continuall supply of the holy oyle of Gods spirit of grace to cause it to flame forth the more in the workes of sanctification which grace of the spirit is ministred and supplyed vnto vs by the Ministry of the word of God as the Oyle-pipe through which it runneth and for as much as in the state of grace and fayth we know but in part and prophesie in part and consequently our fayth is imperfect being mingled with much ignorance therfore we haue need of the Morall law wherof both the old and new Testament are a large commentary both as a rule whereby to frame our thoughts words and workes and also as a
glasse wherein looking the face of our soules and beholding our speckes and imperfections we may get them washed in the fountaine of Christ blood and may make straight pathes vnto our feete Heb. 12 i3 least that which is lame be turned out of the way but rather that it bee healed This is that perfect law of liberty wherein who so looketh and continueth therein hee being not a forgetfull hearer but a doer of the worke this man shall be blessed in his deed Iam. 1.25 This is that glasse 2 Cor. 3.18 wherein wee beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory euen as by the spirit of the Lord. So farre are we from holding a state of perfection of faith in this life as though our faith could doe all things of it selfe and did not neede a dayly supply of grace which must bee procured by the word of God eyther preached or read or meditated and conferred vpon and that also by the meanes of prayer Lord increase our fayth But this our Aduersary shutts out the law quite as out of date to a true beleeuer and of no vse at all not so much as to be a rule of life and conuersation his liuely faith doth all and hath noe neede of the word of God to direct or assist it Now that this is the summe of his doctrine concerning his liuely faith yee may gather from his owne words saying fayth infallibly inflames the heart with true loue making the true beleeuer to breake off his former corrupt conuersation c. This word Infallibly implies that faith doth by a continued and vninterrupted act inflame the heart with loue to doe all workes of sanctification and so it hath no neede of Gods word as a rule to bee guided by but the spirit is instead of the word But you will say So much is not expressed in the letter True But you must know that this is the doctrine which he priuately instilleth into his Disciples As in one of his scattered writings I find these words that this fayth of free iustification doth cause vs to walke infallibly in the steps of the workes of our father Abraham whereby like Abraham freely without the law of the ten Commandements wee walke holily righteously and soberly in all Gods Commandements declaratiuely to manward Yea comming sometimes to contest with mee and to charge mee for preaching the dead fayth himselfe did vtter so much to mee by word of mouth that after a man is once inlightned by fayth the spirit guides him so as he hath no need of the word or of the Morall law for a rule to direct him This Doctrine is so familiar among his Disciples as they professe it and are prowd of it so farre are they from making scruple or dainety of it as once to deny it So that this is one of the markes and properties of his liuely fayth that it hath no neede of the Morall Law to bee a rule vnto it in poynt of conuersation or in the workes of sanctification otherwise neyther is it the true liuely fayth nor this the true sanctification A second property and prerogatiue of this his liuely fayth is this that it oweth no obedience to the Morall Law in poynt of duty Hee denyeth the works of sanctification to bee duties What are they then Fruits sayth he So say we too fruits they bee yet duties too Here is the difference then Because wee say the fruits of fayth are duties therefore hee sayth ours is the dead fayth Al this hee hath auouched and that most vehemently as his manner is to my face And howsoeuer he hath not in plaine words expressed so much in this his letter as being more shy and cautelous what hee publisheth abrode hauing bene hampered by me and others and puzzled with some arguments which hee could not answere but sayd hee would answere them when they were written Yet ye may easily gather so much out of his writing For he cals the obedience of a beleeuer onely declaratiue and to bee done declaratiuely to manward Note it well This declaratiuely to manward excludes all duty to Godward For else what vse is there in this place eyther of Declaratiue or much lesse To manward For all obedience in conuersation is declaratiue and all declaratiue is to manward So as all this mans obedience is to manward in poynt of declaration but none to Godward in poynt of duty For if it bee of duty in obedience to Gods law then his fayth also should be the dead fayth But herein stands the prerogatiue of his true liuely fayth that as it doth not so much as reflect the eye vpon the morall Law as to learne obedience from the rule thereof so much lesse doth it acknowledge it oweth any obedience thereunto as a duty to God On the contrary we for holding and teaching that the Morall Law and so Gods word stands not onely for a rule of direction for sanctified obedience but also requireth of the faythfull a cheerfull yet dutyfull conformity thereunto we I say for this very cause must heare Hoggs or Doggs Hogg-christians or Dogg-christians as holding the blind zealous dead fayth So thus stands the state of the question betweene vs about the liuing and the dead fayth and herein we come now to ioyne yssue First then wee are all agreed on both sides that the true liuely fayth is no other but that whith the scriptures teach and allow for the true liuely fayth which promised and granted I argue thus That fayth Proposition which the Scriptures teach and allow for the true liuely iustifying fayth that and no other is the true liuely iustifying fayth But the Scriptures teach and allow that and no other Assumption for the true liuely iustifying fayth which resting only on Christ for iustification by the onely imputation of his righteousnesse doth notwithstanding looke vpon the Morall Law of God as a rule of Christian conuersation and sanctification acknowledging the conformity thereunto as a duty which God requireth of euery true beleeuer according to that Luk. 1.74.75 That we being deliuered from the hands of our enemies should serue him c. Therefore this fayth and none other is that which the Scriptures teach and allow for the true liuely iustifying fayth The Proposition is vndeniable The Assumption I proue And first from the very giuing of the Morall law in mount Sinai For it was giuen in and by and vnder Christ the Redeemer * Deut. 18.18 As the Apostle sayth It was giuen in the hand of a Mediator which Mediator was personally Moses but typically Christ of whom Moses was a type and figure And Christ was that heauenly * Exo. 25.40 Heb. 8.5 Patterne or Antitype according to which were all those things deliuered to Moses in the Mount yea not onely the Ceremoniall Law but also the Morall Law giuen by Christ himselfe where hee sayth I am the Lord thy God which hath
brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage wherevpon followes Thou shalt haue none other Gods before me Thou shalt not make c. For these words I am the Lord thy God whicb brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage are a preface to the whole Decalogue or ten Commandements setting forth the Author of them vnto us not onely by his name Iehouah but by that neere relation of Confederacy or Couenant of grace made to vs in Christ saying Thy God And that this is the very Couenant of grace made to vs in Christ vnder which the Law is giuen appeareth by this that the words of the Preface containe not onely a history of that peoples temporall deliuerance from the Egyptian bondage but also and especialy the mystery of the Redemption of all the true Israel of God by Christ or their spirituall deliuerance from the bondage of sin and Satan This is a thing most cleare though few obserue it For was not the Paschall Lambe slaine and the blood sprinckled vpon all Israels doore posts and the Angell passed ouer them and Egypts first-borne were slaine and Gods first-borne deliuered And was not Christ prefigured thereby as the Lambe slaine from before the foundation of the world Yea all those passages of Gods people from Egypt to Canaan came to them in Types as the Apostle sayth 1. Cor. 10 Besides other types obserue here two notable ones which ioyntly are pregnant to our purpose first of Christs ascension secondly of sending the Holy Ghost 1. the history in Exodus well obserued makes it plaine that vpon the 40th day after their comming out of Egypt Moses Aron and Hur went vp into the Mount where Moses hands are by Aron and Hur supported while Ioshuah with Gods people fight against Amaleck Now Moses the Prophet Aron the Priest and * Hur signifieth a Prince and he was of the family and tribe of Iuda Hur the Prince for so was his name by interpretation all put together were a type of Christ who on the fortith day after his resurrection ascended into the Mount of Heauen where as our Prophet Priest and Prince hee holds vp the hands of his intercession for his Church militant while she fights with spirituall Amaleck Sin Sathan Antichrist the World the Flesh c. The other Type I note was iust 10. dayes after which from Egypt makes 50. dayes and that was the giuing of the Law in Mount Sina Acts. 2 and therefore called the Iewes Pentecost and we know that on the day of Pentecost iust 50 daies after Christs Resurrection and 10 daies after his Ascention did the Father and Christ send downe the Holy Ghost in his manifold gifts and graces to lead his people into all truth and to reueale fully the Law of Christ vnto them Now therefore the as the type thing typed are for their vse to the faythfull people of God one and the same thing So as the ancient Isralites did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke 1. Cor. 10.3.4 for they drank of that spirituall rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ So that giuing of the Law in Mount Sina being a type of the comming down of the holy Ghost bringing reuealing the Law of Christ to his Church both of them in summe and vse are to the faithfull one and the same law for though they differ in the manner of administration and in the measure of manifestation yet not in the matter it selfe Christ being the summe and matter of both And thus we clearely see that the Morall Law giuen in Mount Sina being giuen by Iehouah our God in Christ the Redeemer and that vnder the couenant of grace being giuen to the Israel of God in the old Testament to which the comming downe of the Holy Ghost in the new Testament fully answereth that it remaines as a perpetuall rule of a holy life to all Gods people to the end of the world So that here by the way an inuincible argument is hence drawne to proue the perpetuall morality of the sabbath to the end of the world against all Antisabbatarians because it was giuen vnder the couenant of grace to be kept But wee will reserue the further discussing of this poynt to the choise of all least the intermingling of it here should interrupt the maine matters in hand Obiection But the Apostle sayth The law is not of fayth How then comes the Law to bee giuen vnder fayth Answere The Law in that place is to bee taken for the first Couenant to wit of workes giuen to Adam in Paradise in the state of innocency which hath no communion with fayth belonging to the second couenant namely of grace But the Law as it was giuen in Mount Sina the literall veile being remooued was not deliuered as the first Couenant but as a rule of conuersation to the faythfull vnder the second Couenant Obiection But the Apostle calls the giuing of the Law in Mount Sina the first Couenant in opposition to the second as Agar to Sara the bond-woman to the free Sina to Sion and Hierusalem Answere The Apostle compares it so onely in regard of the literall killing sense to which the Carnall Iew was captiuated and thereby slaine while not looking vnto Christ the Redeemer that brought his people out of the spirituall Egypt and bondage they sought to bee iustified by the workes of the Law which Saint Paul beats downe the to ground in that Epistle to the Galatians But to the belieuing Iewes the Morall Law was none other but the sweete yoake and light burthen of Christ while they behold him as it were on the top of Iacobs ladder a Redeemer of his people by his owne innocent blood whereby hee expiated all their breaches of the Law fulfilling the Law for them And in no other regard doth the Law in Mount Sina and that in Mount Sion stand opposite but as the letter to the spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 while the carnall Iewes could not diserne the pith of the spirit vnder the barke of the letter or by way of comparison the one excelling the other in the manner and measure of mynifestation as 2 Cor. 3.10 Wherevpon the learned and iudicious Caluin vpon those words Gal. 4.24 fayth that the Iewes liberty was hidden vnder the vaile of ceremonies and of the whole economy or dispensation of the Law by which they were then gouerned So that in externall shew nothing but seruitude appeared Yet the seruile generation of the Law hindred not but that the godly fathers who liued vnder the old Testament had for their mother the spirituall Ierusalem which is free â—o that it was partly the Iewes blindnesse and partly the veile couering those Mosaicall mysteries which made that Law in Sina seeme to bee no other but the Couenant of workes made with Adam in his Innocency Question But here by the way it may bee
asked wherein doth the first Couenant and the second chiefly differ Answer There are sundry opposite differences betweene the two Couenants 1 The first Couenant was of mans works the second of Gods grace and these two in the poynt of iustification are opposite one to the other Rom. 11.6 2ly The first couenant was made with Adam and all his posterity vniuersally the second onely with Abrahams seede called the womans seede Gen. 3.15 to wit Christ and all the Elect. so Rom. 4.1 3ly The first couenant stood vpon mans owne righteousnesse the second stands vpon anothers righteousnesse to wit Christs rigteousnesse made ours by imputation 4ly The first couenant stood vpon the mutability of mans will so as it was quickly broken but the second stands firme vpon the sure foundation of Gods immutable will good pleasure and eternall purpose in himselfe so as it can neuer bee broken being an euerlasting Couenant 5ly The first was a couenant of iustice without mercy the second a couenant of iustice and mercy together iustice fulfilled by Christ and mercy extended in and for Christ to all the Elect. 6 The first Couenant had no other reward reuealed to the first Adam from the Earth earthy but what was confined to the earthly Paradise but the second hath the Kingdome of Heauen set open in Christ the second Adam the Lord from Heauen vnto all the Elect. These and the like differences betweene the first Couenant and the second well considered and conferred together will plainely shew that the Law giuen vnder Christ the Redeemer in Mount Sina was not that first Couenant of workes For besides the fore alledged reasons there is mention made of Gods mercie in the second Commandement and of the promise of the land of the liuing the Kingdome of Heauen tiped in Canaan in the fifth Commandement Which mercy and kingdome were not comprehended in that first Couenant of workes But so much of the first proofe of our Assumption which was that true iustifying fayth though it rests vpon Christs righteousnesse onely for iustification yet it lookes vpon the Morall law as a rule of Christian conuersation and acknowledgeth the obedience thereunto as a duty which God requireth of euery true belieuer The second proofe is in Math. 5. Reade for this from the 16. verse to the end of the chapter Where our Master Christ in his diuine sermon vpon the Mount expounddeth to his disciples and all faythfull hearers and doth as it were giue them a Commentary vpon the Morall law which the same Christ deliuered to Moses in the Mount which hee sets before his scholars as a rule of the duties of sanctification and christian conuersation Math. 5.20 in which their righteousnesse they must exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees otherwise they could not enter into the Kingdome of Heauen But how shall Christ escape the censure as one that preacheth the dead fayth surely I know not while his faythfull Ministers preaching the same doctrine are censured as preaching the blinde zealous dead fayth and are called doggs for their labour But because Christ preached and pressed the Morall Law as a rule of Christian obedience and called that also their righteousnesse therefore did he teach or meane that this was their righteousnesse in the sight of God Nothing lesse For he that said Math. 5.20 Except your righteousnesse exceede the righteousnesse of the scribes and Pharises yee shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heauen sayd also VVhen yee haue done all these things that are commanded you say wee are vnprofitable seruants we haue done that which was our duety to doe Marke he cals our obedience to the Law of God our duty yet so as wee are not thereby iustified And yet wee preach the same doctrine of our Master Christ must bee rated as Doggs as preaching the dead fayth The 3d proofe is from that exquisite forme of Prayer prescribed by Christ in the fifth petition Math. 6 12. Forgiue vs our debts as wee forgiue our debters All sins are debts to God All sins are breaches of the Morall Law therefore the keeping of the Morall Law is a debt that wee owe to God The Proposition is Christs The Assumption is the Apostles So as nothing remaines for the Aduersary to deny but the Conclusion The fourth proofe is from the Apostles words Gal. 5.6 that which the aduersary also alledgeth for the proofe of his third position In Iesus Christ neyther circumcision auaileth anything nor vncircumcision but fayth which worketh by loue Loue to God and to our neighbour is a duty we owe to God and to our neighbour But the Morall Law is the rule of this loue Therefore fayth working by loue lookes vpon the Morall law as a rule of those duties of loue we owe to God and our neighbour That loue is a debt the Apostle prooueth Ro. 13.8 Owe no man any thing but to loue one another so that is a debt that we owe one to another And if loue be a debt to man then much more to God Againe that the Morall Law is a rule of this loue the same Apostle prooueth in the same chapter v. 9. For this Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steale Thou shalt not beare false witnesse Thou shalt not couet and if there be any other Commandement it is briefely comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe Loue worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore loue is the fulfilling of the Law So that the conclusion remaines firme that fayth working by loue lookes vpon the Morall Law as a rule of those duties of loue we owe to God and our neighbour The fifth proofe is from the Apostles words Rom. 12.1 c. I beseech you therfore brethren by the mercies of God Proposition that yee present your bodies a liuing sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable seruice And bee not conformed to this world Assumption but bee transformed by the renewing of your minde that yee may proue what is that good and acceptable Conclusion and perfect will of God c. Now from this generall exhortation hee descendeth to particular duties as so many branches springing from our reasonable seruice of God From thence to the very end of the Epistle Whence I argue thus All Christian duties of loue to God and to man are branches of our reasonable seruice of God But the Morall Law containes all christian duties of our loue to God and to our neighbours Therefore the keeping of the Morall Law is our reasonable seruice of God The Proposition is euident by the whole context of the Apostle in the foresayd part of his Epistle The Assumption is vndenyable proued before The sixt proofe is from 1. Thes 4 1. c. Further more then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Iesus that as yee haue receiued of vs how yee ought to walke and to please God so yee