an affected simplicity and simulat smoothness do palpably laboure to involve and pervert it I shal first represent in your words and in its own colours the error which you would impose and then discusse these reasons and insinuations whereby you endeavour rather cunningly to cover and convey it then plainly to maintain it The scope then and aime of your discourse is that the proposall of life in the Gospel through the death of Christ is to as many as receive it and live according to it that that which giveth us an interest in the death of Christ is â—aith with a liâ—e conâ—orme to the ralâ—s of the Gospel and that because of the fruits of faith love purity of heart and victorie over the world therefore Iustification is ascribed unto it in Scripture The meaning of which expressions in plain language is that it is by good works joined with faith nay by good works principally and faith referred to them as the root thereof and not by faith only as the instrument whereby the perfect Righteousness of Jesus Christ is laid hold upon and becometh ours in Gods sight that we are justified Now that this your opinion is false and is to be rejected appeareth by these many and plain Scriptures By the deeds of the Law there shal no flesh be justifyed in his sight Rom. 3. 20. The man is blessed to whom God imputeth righteousnesse without works Rom. 4. 6. By grace we are saved not of works lest any man should boast Eph. 2. 8. 9. Not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us Tit. 3. 5. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them 2. Cor. 5. 19. God hath saved us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Iesus before the world began 2 Tim. 1. 9. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2. Cor. 5. 21. Iesus Christ is made of God unto us Wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption 1. Corin. 1. 30. He is the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESSE Ier. 23. 6. We are justified freely by Gods Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus Whom God hath set forth to be a propisiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3. 24 25. By the righteousnesse of Christ the free gift came upon all men to the justification of life and by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. 5 18. 19. We are justifyed by the faith of Iesus Christ and not by the works of the law Gal. 2. 16. He that worketh not but believeth on him that justifyeth the ungodly his faith is counted unto him for righteousnesse Rom. 4. 5. And lastly A man is justifyed by faith it without the works of the law Ro. 5. 28. This 〈◊〉 hope is plain Scripture language without any subtilâ—y How can you then joine our works of the Law with the righteousnesse of faith even the righteousness of Jesus Christ which faith doth apprehend appropriat for our Justification in Gods sight contrary to these most manifest testimonies Certainly if men would but seriously examine and consider what Gods word doth so plainly and rationally hold forth anent this purpose how quickly would that pure and perfect light dispel darknesse clear doubtings and give us both a right understanding and sound and easie expression therein God did creat and appoint man to bear and be conformable to his image for the manifestation of his own glory and thereby to partake and enjoy his favour for our felicity for that end he gave his holy and righteous Law on the one hand being both the way to and bearing the promise of life unto the obedient and on the other pronouncing wrath and death against such as should be disobedient The sanction and pain of this divine Law being by 〈◊〉 incurred and all mankind standing thereby condemned and bound over to wrath in Gods sight the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation appeareth holding forth Jesus Christ manifested in our flesh and therein fulfilling all righteousnesse suffering in both Bodie and Soul dying shedding his bloud and making his Soul an offering for a propitiation and ransome for satisfiing Divine justice and reconciling us unto God rising again for our Justification and being made perfect through suffering became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him that is believe and receive this Gospel-covenant whereof he himself was also the Minister holding him forth for Wisdom Righte ousnes Sanctification and absolute Redemption-to all that come unto and imbrace him And therefore as at first Christ came into the world by doing the will of God and making his Soul an offering for sin to bring in everlasting Righteousnes even the Righteousnesse of God through faith in his Name so because he was obedient unto death even the death of the Cross God hath therefore highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name and vesting him with all power in Heaven and in Earth hath made him the Head of all things unto his Church and committed unto him all Judgement that he may one day render both vengeance unto the Disobedient and Unbelievers and receive unto himself and the Fathers Glory his own who through faith in his Name are justifyed in Gods sight and by his grace purifyed and preserved unto his heavenly Kingdom This being then the plain Gospel-revelation to lost and condemned sinners what els doth it require then that in the knowledge and sense of this our sinful wretched and miserable estate flowing from Jesus Christ our Wisdom we by faith lay hold on him and his Righteousnesse for our ransome from wrath and alone acceptation in God's sight and also for obtaining of Sanctification consisting in the purging away of all filthiness of the flesh and Spirit which the penitent Convert as he feareth its guilt and wrath doth in like manner detest and abhorre and the perfecting holiness in the fear of God And lastly for compleat Redemption from and victorie over Sathan the World the body of this death it self in the triumph of the Resurrection and the plenarie possession of Eternal life By all which it is evident that whatever be these other graces and blessings which we partake in and through our Lord Jesus yet it is through and by faith alone as an instrument and in respect of its peculiar aptitude for that end apprehending or laying hold on Christ Jesus the only Propitiation and his Righteousnes the alone Satisfaction that we are justifyed in Gods sight And really Sir when in this sincere and clear light I have proposed this matter I wonder what vanity or ignorance could seduce you to the doctrine which you here deliver To grant as you do Justification to be a judicial act whereby no doubt we are to understand that
God as the great Judge attempeâ—ing justice with mercie doth thereby accept of a Ransome and Surety offered and therefore absolve yea justify the Criminal and yet notwithstanding of the evident Scripture testimonies that shew the Lord our Righteousness to be in very deed this Ransome and Surety and faith only its instrumental application to join good works with it and state both as the condition of our Justification is not only reproved by the Papists their more consequent explication who because they admit of works in Justification do therefore hold it not to be a judicial act but rather a gracious work but by the common sense of all men in these similare instances from which the manner of explaining these things is borrowed If in our ordinarie Courts the Law being transgressed and the transgressor convicted the pronouncing of the doome of judgement and its execution were stopt by the interposition of a ransome and surety offered so fully satisfying and acceptable in the eyes of the judge that for his sake the poor Criminal were both pardoned and received to special favour would any rational man say that the person guilty were thus absolved and justifyed either for his act of laying claime to the price and pledge as a condition seing it is only the moral instrument whereby the true motive of the ransomers satisfaction is applyed or yet for the act it self together with the absolved person his consequent good behaviour which is the parallel of your interpretation which is yet more absurd And not rather affirme plainly that it is for the ransome and surety only that the man is acquit and accepted Certainly common ingenuity which must acknowledge all the defects of this similitude to be the manifest advantages of the point principally pressed will both cede to the conviction of its evidence aud transferre it plainly to the case in hand Having thus set down a Scriptural and easie account of this important truth which reflecting upon almost all Protestant Divines with whom in this we agree and wandering in your raveries after no better guid then Patrick the Pilgrim you say is by us handled with much niceness and subtilty for it s further clearing and the better discoverie of your vanity I shal now examine your discourse in its particulars and 1. you say Iustification and Condemnation are two opposite legal termes By legal I know you mean judicial and therefore in place of urging your mistake I seriously wish that the tenor of what ensues had been consistent to so true and solid a ground but you add That they relate to the judgement shall be given out at the last day a strange fetch to compasse a false designe I might remember you that the Scripture is express That being justifyed by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ and there is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus who by their assured partaking of his grace and in consequence of their true faith in him and Justification therethrough walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and that thence it is evident that as it is God that judgeth so it is by an act of his free grace in Jesus Christ antecedent to the last judgement that we are reconciled unto him and justified in his sight But your own words viz. For though we are said to be now justified as the unbeleeving are said to be condemned already this is only that we are now in the state of such as shall be solemnly justified or condemned do sufficiently reprove you because 1. It is certain that the unbelieving are not improperly and with respect only to that future judgement said to be condemned already but as by reason of sin judgement is already come upon all unto condemnation and he that beleeveth not the Son shall not see life is under the curse and the wrath of God abideth on him so it is manifest that now it is that they stand truely under the condemning power and sentence of Gods holy Law from which it is most unquestionable that condemnation doth directly proceed against all transgressours however in the forbearance of God they are not only for a time reprived but place left for a ransome 2. To be justified freely through grace doth plainly import the person justified to be antecedently under condemnation if by the offence judgement had not come upon all to condemnation there had been no need of the Righteousnes of Christ to the Iustification of life How then can the opposite instance of Condemnation be by your referred unto the last day Far less made an argument to deferre untill that judgement our Iustification which of necessity doth presuppose it Certainly you cannot but grant it to be most absurd to think that Believers shall in that day be first condemned and thereafter justified 3. When you say That it is in that day that men shall be solemnly justified or condemned you clearly resolve the matter viz. that as the solemnity of the judgement of that day shall be only declarative and finally executive so it evidently concludes that the judgement then to be pronounced was given and established of before Pray Sir do you think the Spirits of just men made perfect are not as yet justified But 4. you grant that we are now in the state of such as shall be solemnily justified or condemned which clearly shews your insinuation premised to be only a designe to obscure by words without knowledge in as much as the question remains the same anent this state and how we now attaine to it as anent the justification which you would deferre And 1. What is the state of Iustification Is it not that we who were under the Curse and aliens are accepted unto favour pardoned and brought near Wherein doth it then differ from actual Iustification 2. How is it that we attain to this state Sure not by works either alone or in conjunction with faith as we have heard from Scripture and shall be further evinced But if it be by faith alone as the instrument laying hold on the sole meritorious Righteousnes of Christ our difference is only verbal wherein you foolishly resile from Scripture phrase If you shall further add that by faith we do indeed attain to this state but only inchoatly or unfixedly and changeably then you evidently impinge both upon the perfection of Christs Righteousnes and the faire and certain grounds of the Saints their perseverance It followeth in your discourse Now at the great day we must give an account of our actions and we must be judged accordingly And I note in your ensuing words That since all must be condemned if God enter into judgement with them and that not only if he should charge us with our transgressions but even if he should only reckon with us upon our good works and for that imperfection and weakness wherewith as they are from us they are tainted doth not the certainty of this judgement
unto the grace of God in Christ Jesus while in the mean time you do still arrogate them as a condition on the creatures part you the more declare the folly but in nothing diminish the sinfulnesse of your vanity These things need not to be illustrat questionless who ever doth consider his lost condition by reason of sin and wrath and hearkeneth unto that fundamental Gospel-precept deny thy self imprimis all self-righteousnesse and beleeve will find the power thereof so deeply descending into his Soul that all the desire trust and hope thereof will be fixed on Jesus Christ alone and to be found in him not having his own righteousnesse which unto his sincere reflection will be so far from appearing a condition that it will disappeare as dung but that Righteousnesse which is through the faith of Christ the Righteousnesse which is of God by faith But who can sufficiently declare and regret the madnes and ingratitude of this pride of man Jesus Christ is made of God unto us Righteousnesse and yet we will thereto join our own for Justification in Gods sight He is also made unto us Sanctification that in Him we may bring forth the fruits of holinesse unto the glory of God and the very same fruits will we impropriat to be the condition and as it were the price of our acceptance even with himself who is our only acceptation and our all Sir be not deceived as they who in the sight of sin and fear of wrath fâ—ee unto Christ alone for a refuge do finde his Righteousness not more sufficient then freely offered to every one that willeth for Justification in Gods sight so your Doctrine requiring both faith and a holy life as the previous conditions to give an interest in Christs Death and ascriving Justification to faith because forsooth of the pitiful fruits of our righteousnesse and not that perfect Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ which it doth apprehend is wholly dissonant unto the method of the Gospel and cannot possibly attain its end What shall be then said of your ensuing words Now judge but a little what it is to have a right apprehension of things since I have in a few plain words told you that which with much nicety swels among you to Volumes Really Sir if I may use the liberty of answering by you permitted I would say what a sad thing is it to have a wrong and conceited apprehension of things since you have in a few involved words in such a manner obscured and confounded a plain point of truth that notwithstanding of express Scripture-light yet it hath necessarily required a great many words clearly to unsold it There remaineth now to be considered the main reason whereby as you shut up so you would seem to enforce the opinion which we have heard and that is the necessity of a holy life which you say Your way of Iustification doth clearly declare as being that whereupon we shall be solemnly judged justified and absolved at the last day and afterward you add That it may correct the error of many carnall Christians who love well to hear of Salvation by the death of Christ provided they be bound to do nothing themselves that they may be saved 'T is answered 1. That there are many seeming Christians who have a name that they live and are dead who have and do delight in a form of knowledge but want the power of whose delusion the error which you mention may be a part is an old and true regret And yet the explication by you delivered being so many wayes unsound and peccant as we have heard cannot possibly be an antidote 2. As these carnal Christians pretending to lay hold on Jesus Christ for Righteousnesse and yet wholly neglecting the study of holiness are of all men the most sadly deceived and most wretched deceivers so your manner of Justification derogating from the holy Iustice of God and the perfect Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ flattering the natural mans pride to which of all vices we are most prone and seducing souls from the free Grace of the Gospel cannot be less dangerous and pernicious But 3. This your reason for departing from Justification by faith only as encouraging to licentiousness is so directly the objection which the Apostle Paul taketh notice of and fully answereth after his having declared the truth of Justification as by us professed that we are thereby exceedingly fortified The passage is thus the Apostle having shewed that it is by the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ that the free Gift cometh upon all men to Iustification of life and that it is by the obedience of one that many are made righteous and summing up the whole matter that it is grace that reigneth through Righteousnesse unto eternal life by Iesus Christ our Lord he subjoineth What shall we say then shall we continow in sin that grace may abound Seing it is not by our works but of free grace through faith in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ that we are justified from sin shall we therefore in as much as sin commendeth grace and our good works availl not continow in sin that grace may abound The plain insinuation of what you object Now hear the Apostles answere both for us and himself 1. He saveth justification by faith only cannot encourage to sin because such as do thereby truely lay hold on Jesus Christ partake of his death and are made conformable thereto How shall they then that are dead to sin live any longer therein Sin may indeed remain but that they who through faith in his Death are planted in the likenesse thereof and become as crucified with him should live any longer in sin is not possible To the same purpose it is that the Apostle Iohn saith whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin and he cannot sin because he is born of God And yet if any false pretender should therefore say either that he cannot transgress or that his transgressions are no sins and so license himself unto wickedness he but deceiveth himself and the truth is not in him 2. Paul saith that Justification through faith importeth a more certain assurance of good works then any thing by you urged The necessity of good works which ye plead for is only that of a condition strict indeed as to its obligation but very uncertain if not desperat as to its cause and reall existence being previously required unto our acceptance by and being in Christ as I have already shewed whereas the Apostle tells us plainly that according to the truth of Justification by him and by us asserted the necessity of good works is causally certain depending upon such infallible causes that whereever true Faith is the study of holiness must necessarily ensue and where this is not the pretense of Faith and Justification thereby is but vain and groundlesse For seing by Faith the only requisite on our part for Justification we are not only dead indeed with Jesus Christ unto sin but planted
cause as appropriat unto them by the reproach and mocking of their Adversaries As for after contests if any were among their own subdivisions they were no doubt the sad consequents of other evils wherewith it pleased the Lord that his own should be tried but if you think that for all the competition the Titles are still vacant I wish from my heart that both you and your partie may be thereby animat to put in and to shame and exclude all lowd Pretenders by reall demerite To this you subjoin another great Article that Our Ministers who complained of Bishops their medling in matters of State when the scene turned did therein absolutely Govern And to this challenge you make your N. C. returne the Popes Answere for his Usurpations viz that all was done in order to Religion on purpose that you may make the reply That the Pope and Presbiterians doe much agree in Politiques Sir waving the immodest terme of impudence and other arrant peccancies against truth where with you set forth your Modest representing of faults as yow are pleased to call it I returne shortly for answere this clear and certain position wherein I am sure we cannot disagree viz. that as the direction of Conscience appertains to the Pastoral charge so the Ministers of Gods Word ought both to advise exhort and warne thereanent according as in every occurrent the circumstances of the thing which make its season do thereto cleare their call and accesse This truth is evident in its own light whoever owneth Conscience the Word of God to be its Rule and its Ministers to be our Teachers and Guides cannot deny it All the difficâ—ltie is in the right performance the exceeding goodnesse and rare beautie of a word in season is no ordinary attainment because to every purpose there is time and judgement therefore the miserie of Man is great upon him If I should ascribe the exactnesse of this observance to our Ministers I should forget them to be Men but as to the instances which you alleage of their warnings given against the Engagement 1648 and all deeds directly relating to it And of their Ministeriall accession to a prudent exclusion in the year 1649 of such as had proven Unfaithfull their singular importance as to the very summe of the work of God hath been so signally comprobat by after events that if upon the matter you doe condemne these practises you in effect doe adjudge Ministers to absolute silence at least in opposition to State determinations whatever be the concernment of the Cause of God or good Conscience It were superfluous to mention the difference of Prelatick medlings or what are the Popes invasions the meanest capacitie may easily distinguish a Ministeriall advice in point of Conscience all either attribute to or assumed by Ministers in State or any other extrinsick affaire from these corrupt practises And with the same facility join Prelacie and Papacie in their common pride and usurpation You add a particular reason wherefore Ministers should not medle with war and matters of bloud because of its contrarietie to the Pastoral dutie which obligeth to feed and not to kill But as none hath been more guiltie of this Sanguinary medling then these who with most ceremony would appear to observe the letter of the Rule so considering what I have lately touched of your Clergie and who did principally direct the suppression and executions of the late Risers in Armes I am in the opinion you designed this reflection more for your own Lords then our Leaders but it is enough I agree with you fully that Pastors ought not to be Criminall Judges farre less instigators to war and bloud yet if in these matters you allow to Conscience any place they are no doubt Subjects proper both for Ministerial warning and advice For a conclusion of your charge ye surprise both your N. C. and me with a challenge of Superstition whereof you say wee are in many things guilty sed quis tulerit Gracchos de Seditione querentes Sir yee are not so wittie in this anticipation as yee trow for tho ye have taken the first word of fliting yet the successe is rather a foaming out your own shame then the fixing of that reproach upon us which was the mark ye yought to hit What Sir did ye dream by this device to terrifie your N. C. into a forbearance to charge you with the guilt of Superstition or did you think by this artifice to vindicat your partie and be avenged at once on these great Worthies who have so manifestly laid open unto the World the Superstition of the men of your Kidney and Gang that though they have travelled to Rome to fetch water to wash these spots and have put their invention upon the rack to palliat them with all imaginable pretenses yet the shame of their Nakednesse was so unfolded by these searching Seers that it could never be hid But Sir are ye in good earnest or have ye been in the foregoing lines so transported with rage in fighting against Defensive Armes and wresting the sword of just defence out of the hands of poor Innocent and oppressed Subjects that in this paroxysme ye have forgotten to be honest and rational at once Did you beleeve that you spoke truth when you represented us as such If I thought ye did and continued to doe so still I professe I am so litle your enemie that I would pitie you as one who walketh in the darknesse of gross delusion and knoweth not whether he goeth because the darkeness hath blinded his eyes But I would gladly know how ye make out the charge Ye did wisely only in one thing to condescend upon none of these many things wherein you say we are guilty of Superstition when ye make your charge good ye will be admired for your invention till then it will neither be shame nor reproach to the N. C. to be silent or laugh at the audacitie of such a Novice But to be serious with you Sir if ye would not take it amisse to be Catechized in the Chair doe ye understand what Superstition is that ye call us so Are we such to you in many things because in every thing we owne the Scriptures as the Rule of Faith and manners and assert that there is a sufficiency in these to make wise to Salvation and that without the wild mixture of humane inventions they are able to make the man of God perfect thorougly furnished unto every good work Is it because we own no Office-bearers in the house of God save such as are of his own appointment Is it because we judge the Episcopal Hierarchie Apocryphal and cannot acknowledge the Prelat and his juncto for the Courts and Officers of Jesus Christ Is it because we maintain that all things in the house of the God of Heaven ought to be done according to the will of the God of Heaven and because we stand fast in the libertie where with Christ hath made
Titulo he was no Tyrannus Exercitio however I am farre from justifying the Usurpers their practices or denying altogether his Majesties Clemencie whereof the indemnity given to the same Usurpers doth exhibite so faire an evidence but this I must say that as I do wholly impute the withholding of much of the Kings goodness and favour from us to the malign influence of the unlucky conjunction of accursed Prelates whereby some even of the great and most solemn acts of his Maiesties intended bountie have been frustrat and depraved so such hath been and is the implacable spite and rigour of their Malice and Persecution that not only it hath surmounted their resentment of the Sectarian invasion and made them ascribe all these Mischiefs to us who were their most constant Enemies but by many degrees exceeded all the violences wherewith the Englishes during their Domination among us can be charged If you require a proof instead of a long condescendence that I might adduce the case of the then Tories in the North and late Risers in the South with the respective measures where with they have been treated being impartially pondered and compared is an irrefragable instance As to the trip you mention of these who ceased for fear of loss of Stipend publick praying for the King which they had in print owned for a dutie As at the worst you can call it but a trip which I think if not the respect you owe to your Arch-master Sharp who at that time not only desisted whith others but as he may remember did overture it to his Brethren to pray in publick for the then Protector yet the many horrid lapses whereof upon smalâ—er temptations yours are guilty might have made you forbear to mention it so all circumstances being examined and the practices of the Prophets and People of God in old times duely considered a Prudent correction of an over-zealous assertion will be found its more just censure But your N. C. adding oyl to your flame by telling you that for our particular failings you have renounced all you go on in your accusation and laying aside our private faults as if our publick alone were more then your indignation can decipher and expressly waving all design of reflection that by this smoothing unguent you may render the spears of your envy better pointed you tell us That all you do is but to let us see we are but as other men and not such wonders as we would have the world believe Sir though the world knowes that this is but your accusation and not our arrogance yet I must add that so strangely hath the apostasie and wickedness of your course prevailed in this Land that a very small measure of Faitfulness is enough without any miracle to make any man both a sign a Wonder but you proced to tell us of Monstruous faults we committed in exacting the Oath of the League over above that it was a bond of Rebellion as you hinted in your first Dialogue I have fully there refuted And as to the Nationall Covenant you say it was a cruell imposing upon Consciences to make a Nation sweare what they could not understand A man would think that you having turned us from being wonders oâ— piety to be Monsters of Cruelty and after so high a charge givenâ— that you were big with some amazing discovery to ensue but behold the ridiculus Mus you made the Nation renounce all the articles of poperie and amongst the rest Opus operatum a Latine word and abstruse conceit with many other niceties that simple people did not understand and to mend the jest you add was it not a contrâ—diction to make them sweare against Worship in an unknown Tongue and yet in the Oath which is an act of Worship to use it yea you made them preface this with a great lâ—e that it was after full mature consideration of all particulars whereof they were not capable beside the Tyranny of making men sweare in matters whereof some were debetable c. Before I enter upon this weighty challenge of words I cannot but note the ingenuity that hath escaped you Your Brethren commence our work from the 37 and tell us that we were false pretenders to old foundations but you by a plain impugnation of the National Covenant as it was first contrived and sworne in the 1580. 81. and 90 do clearly intimate the true consequentiall extent of your common prejudice and very plainly signify that Malignancie and Poperie for all the industrious dissembling of your Partie are nevertheless of a near cognation nay forgetting that this Covenant was framed at first by King Iames his speciall command and by his reiterat authority and example very solemnly confirmed and even by King Charles in the beginning of the troubles expressly ordained to be renewed so prevalent is the malice of your errour that all the regard to the powers whereof at other times you do so vainly boast doth not here in the least restrain you from staging these two Kings with us as Monstruous imposers But to the objection it self 'T is answered first that it is indeed a cruell imposing upon Conscience to make a Nation sweare an Oath they could not understand but do you think that because opus operatum is a Latine word that therefore the people who under Poperie had been too much acquainted with Latine termes and phrases and at the first breaking up of the light oâ— Reformation amongst us had often both in private and Publick heard the Popish errors of Justification by works Opus operatum c. fully explained and refuted neither did nor could understand its meaning Or because to you the opinion of Opus operatum appeares an abstruse conceit and many other Popish tenets renounced in that Covenant seem to be but niceties must they therefore be so to all And was it impossible for these Servants of the Lord who where imployed in the conversion of the Nation and did at first tender that Oath to make the grossness of these popish falshoods and of this in particular though under a Latine name sufficiently plain even to the meanest capacities Certainly Sir the very simple ones whom you despise do laugh at the weakness of this arguing 2. As you do not remember that this Covenant was first taken uâ—on the back of our Reformation from Poperie when all the errors therein renounced were recent in mens memories so you consider not that thereby we first declare the true Christian Religion to be that which is revealed to the world by the Preaching of the blessed Evangell and received and beleeved by the Kirk of Scotland c. And therefore do abhorre and detest all contrarie Religion and Doctrine but chiefly all kinde of Papistrie in generall and particular Heads as they are damned by the word of God and in speciall the Usurpâ—d Authority of that Roman Antichrict c and finally all his vain Rites and Traditions brought into the Kirk without or against
above all things plead the necessity and alone sufficiency of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ for our Justification But to restore your words to their own channell you say that since all must be condemned if God enter into judgement therefore God gave his Son unto the death for us that thereby we might obtain Salvation And though by this passage it be clearly enough imported that it is before God and by the sentence of his Law that all men stand condemned and that therefore he hath given his Son whose Death and Bloud is the Propitiation and in whom he is well pleased to be a ransome for liberation and acceptation to all that believe on him whereby Justification by faith in Jesus Christ without the deeds of the Law is in substance granted yet for ushering in your good works to share with faith in Justification by a strange connexion you subjoin And all judgement is committed by the Father to the Son and Iesus Christ hath proposed life through his death to as many as receive his Gospell and live according to it But I must take notice 1. That by laying down the commission of judgement given to the Son as a ground to his proposing of the Gospel offer you manifestly repugne to our Lords own words and testimony expressly distinguishing the character of his first coming which was in the form of a servant to minister not to be ministered unto and by performing the Fathers commandment to save the World and not to judge it from that of his second coming which shall be with power and great glory to the Salvation of all that look for him and to judge and to execute judgement upon all that are ungodly 2. By making our Lords commission to judge antecedent to his ministration of the Gospel you invert Truth and plain Scripture-evidence whereby it is clear that our Lord was first sent into the World to preach the Gospel and lay down his life for sinners that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life And then because of his compleat and perfect obedience is exalted to be the Head of all things unto the Church and hath Authority also to execute judgement committed to him because he is the Son of Man But. 3. By this your doctrine you in effect subvert the grace of the Gospel in as much as in the place of the Gospel-covenant offering pardon and peace to poor lost sinners through Christ Jesus and with and in him all grace and glory you introduce our Lord as having by his death indeed merited the privilege of a new offer of life unto sinners but making and renewing the same in no better termes then these of the Law-covenant for as the Law sayeth that the man that doth these things shall live by them so you tell us that the termes of the Gospel-tender are to receive the same and live according to it Now if the Law doth offer life to such as receive and live according to it and our Lords proposal stand in the like termes admit the proposers not to be the same yet the proposals are certainly coincident and therefore although the eternal transaction betwixt the Father and the Son may be of Grace yet it is undeniable that in your opinion the tenders of the Law and Gospel as to us-ward do rune in the same tenor and the condescendence of both prerequiring our works is equally to be reckoned of debt These being the consequences of that Gospel-method by you here contrived and its designe no less evident to make works with saith the condition and procuring cause of our Iustification at least in the sight of Christ as the Judge appointed I add 1. That your attributing of Iustification to Christ as judge ordained over all in the last judgement is contrary to the Scripture that telleth us that it is one God that justifieth it is Christ that died marke the distinction made and no doubt reason it self informing us that it is the Law and Law-giver and not the Judge which define dutie determine paines and condemne the transgressors poenae enim persecution non Iudicis voluntati mandatur sed legis authoritati reservatur It doth also confirm that it appertaines unto God only as the Law-giver to remit the punishment incurred and accept and justify sinners upon an aequipollent satisfaction 2. The Authority to execute judgement being given to our Lord as the Mediator and because he is the Son of Man in which respect he is not the principal Author and efficient but only the meritorious cause of our Iustification not the very act but only the solemn declaration thereof can be ascrived to him in this capacity unless you can conceive that our Lord is not only both the Ransome and the accepter thereof but that by becoming the Propitiation he also becometh the partie to be appeased which are palpably inconsistent 3. The plain Scripture-truth in this point is that our Lord having compleatly obeyed the will of God and being made perfect through suffering is therefore highly exalted above every name and hath all power and judgement committed to him whereby as he doth here in time enrich with all Grace guid support and preserve all that beleeve in him and also over-rule restrain and punish all his and their Adversaries so shal he in the last day appear first to receive and welcome all his redeemed ones formerly justified by his Righteousnesse and sanctified by his Grace unto his Fathers joy And then with them to judge the reprobate and take vengeance on all that know not God and obey not the Gospel by which it is evident that Justification proceeding from God for Christs sake and necessarily preceeding both our Sanctification here and Glorification in the last day cannot be referred unto that judgement which is only declarative and executive according to these words Come ye blessed of my Father nor explicate according to its scheme And therefore although our Lord do therein for our encouragement in well doing and the commendation of the riches of his bountie make mention of our good works and shall certainly in that day also crown his own free grace in us with a reward yet thence to inferre that our Justification before God and in order to his holy justice having for its alone cause the Righteousnes of Jesus Christ and imported in the compellation ye blessed of my Father is founded on our weak love and scant charity which even the Righteous in that day seeme ashamed to owne is both a groundless error and high presumption But I proceed to your next words viz. That Christ Iesus hath proposed life through his death to as many as receive his Gospel and live according to it That this is a manifest perversion of the free Grace of God whereby our Lord Jesus doth freely hold out himself unto us not only for to be our Righteousnesse for Justification but also our Sanctification through his Spirit unto the glory of God and therefore
doth not require our holinesse as an antecedent condition seing it is indeed his own subsequent Giâ—t the obvious evidence of so clear a truth may sufficiently confirme and the following argumeâ—ts do unanswerably evince 1. Our Lords own words the surest Rule for understanding the proposal controverted do contain a free tender and not the termes by you represented Hear what he saith to Nicodemus Whosoever beleeveth in the Son of man shall no perish but have eternal life For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 3. 15 16. Iohn addeth he that beleeveth on the Son hath everlasting life chap. 3. v. 36. And again our Lord sayeth this is the work of God that you beleive on him whom he hath sent And this is his will that every one which seeth the Son and beleeveth may have everlasting life Verily verily I say unto you he that beleeveth on me hath everlasting life Iohn 6. 29 40 47. Surely these are Gospel proposalls yea the very summe and substance of its offer whereof your condition of a conformable life maketh no part I might add Paul's words to the Jailour believe on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shall be saved but it is so much the strain of the whole New Testament that it were unnecessary to enlarge 2. If when we were Enemies and not for works of Righteousnesse which we have done we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son then the proposal of life and Justification is made through faith in his Name without the condition of these good works which you join with it but so it is that the antecedent is plain Scripture therefore that the consequent is identick with it as Justification and Reconciliation are cannot be denied 3. That which is the end of our Election Calling and Redemption by Jesus Christ is his undertaking for us in that respect and is the fruit of our faith and of our acceptation therethrough yea and is the product of the Fathers care over us as accepted in the Beloved cannot be said to be required of us as a condition antecedent to our justification no more then the same thing can be thought to be really both antecedent and subsequent But so it is that we are chosen and called to be holy and created in Christ Iesus unto good works through faith it is and that not of our selves it is the Giâ—t oâ— God that we become partakers of Christ for Reconciliation and of all his graces for Sanctification and lastly we are in him Gods husbandrie that we may bring forth the fruits of righteousnesse Therefore c. 4. Your requiring of good works together with faith previous to our acceptance by Jesus Christ is an uncertain and desperat thing in as much as it is evident that unless we be first accepted of him and united to him it is not possible for us to do any thing without me you can do nothing are our Lords own words Say not that this Argument equally militats against previous faith if we did hold faith as it is our act to be required as a proper potestative foregoing condition of our acceptance the objection might be of some moment but since we do affirme faith to be only the instrumental act to which the word of power exciting the Soul doth thereby lay hold on and close with Jesus Christ it is thence manifest that immediatly without any other prerequisite he becometh our propitiation peace and all 5. To these may be added that this your Doctrine joining good works to faith for attaining to our Lords acceptation subverteth the peace taketh away the joy of Beleevers checketh Paul's exultation in his so much professed assurance of the love of God in Christ Jesus and lastly as to sinners in extremity called immediatly before the twelfth hour removeth all ground of hope but I am already too full in a matter so clear and so largely handled by many more able Pens I might here subjoin that as your joining of good works as a condition with faith in the proposal of the Gospel is a manifest perverting of the free grace of God upon which these good works having a subsequent dependence cannot by any reall antecedent influence possibly move it so your turning faith by this conjunction to be a motive of the same nature and to be also respected in the quality of a condition is a palpable depravation of its use and comfort It s true our Divines taking the word condition in a large sense as it signifieth any thing prerequired do ordinarily say that faith and faith only is the condition on our part of the Gospel-covenant but that it is not therein a condition as a condition doth properly and legally import viz. that which though by convention only yet hath a meriting or moving influence upon the other parties performance and such as works previously required either in the Covenant of works or in that of Grace as you would have it certainly hath and can have no other I firmly maintain I further grant that the requiring of faith as a proper condition doth no less exact the existence of the thing then if it were repute to be necessary as an instrument yet that it clearly changeth the office of faith in the new Covenant unto that of the condition of works under the old and that by respecting it as a condition on our part it doth diminish that immediat regard we ought to have to and comfort which we derive from Jesus Christ and his Righteousnesse tendered unto us to be laid hold upon as the alone motive and satisfaction acceptable to God for our Justification cannot be denied But I go on with your discourse you add And as that which giveth us a title to the favour of God is the bloud of Christ so that which giveth us an interest in his death is faith with a life conforme to the rules of the Gospel But passing your conjunction and this your third and which I am certain would require more study to discover therein a connexion then you did adhibite in the using let me ask if the bloud of Christ giveth us a title to the favour of God is it not then the sufficient and sole price and purchase of our Iustification in his sight And must not faith its alone proper application render us accepted to the Beloved What then can your So further import Viz. so that which giveth an interest in the death of Christ is faith with a life conforme to the Gospel Can you or any man elsâ— conceive that a man by faith alone in the propitiation the bloud of Christ should be reconciled unto God and yet not attain to an interest in Christs death without a holy life superadded and concurring in the same causality Nay these things are plainly inconsistent 2. The fairest sense that your words can bear is that as we are restored to a
capacity of favour with God by the bloud of Christ so it is faith with a life conforme to the Gospel that gives us an actual interest in his Death and thereby unto the peace of God but seing the result of this in plain language is no other then that our Lord having by his own bloud ransomed fallen and forfeited mankind hath in liew of the first Covenant made with man and by him transgressed proposed to us a second adding to the condition of a holy life required by the fâ—â—st that of beleeving That this is altogether dissonant both to the declared love of God and the grace revealed by Jesus Christ in his Gospel any Christian may discern Your next words are And a fourth And the root of this new life is a faith which worketh by love purifieth the heart and overcometh the world and there fore Iustification is ascribed unto it in Scripture But pray Sir how is it that faith becometh such a fruitful root Is it not by laying hold on Christs Righteousnesse by which pardon being obtained and we reconciled unto God we have right unto and so do attain in due time the benefite of all the promises of Grace which in Christ Jesus are yea and Amen or that the same faith which layeth hold on him as our Righteousnesse in Gods sight doth also unite us to him for Sanctification and ingraffing us as it were in him through the communication of his grace purifieth the heart and overcometh the World Or lastly is it not that by faith we are brought to the bloud of Sprinkling which is both the bloud of atonement that sprinkleth from an evill Conscience and also the Laver which cleanseth from all sin and wherewith we are sanctifyed This being then the Scripture account and it being most apparent that Christ through faith becometh first our Righteousnesse for remission of sin and Justification in Gods sight and then our Sanctification unto Good works your own acknowledgement that faith is the root of this new life of holiness may evince that a holy life subsequent to faith and our acceptation therethrough cannot be therewith joined as a condition for our Justification But that which followeth in your discourse and therefore i. e. because of the above enumerat fruiâ—s which it produceth Iustification is ascribed unto faith in the Scripture is the grossest error of all because 1. It directly repugnes to Scripture clearly intimating that it is unto faith as the instrument only whereby the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ is unto us applyed that Justification is in Scripture ascrived If we be justifyed by the faith of Jesus Christ and if by the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ the free gift cometh upon all to the Justification of life if he be the propitiation through faith in his bloud and our righteousnesse which is of God by faith are you not affrayed to say that Justification requiring a satisfactorie righteousnesse is ascrived to faith because of its poor and imperfect fruits in us and thereby to â—light and vilipend the perfect Righteousnesse of Christ the immediat object whereon it layeth hold and our only acceptation in Gods sight 2. Because this your error derogates from Divine justice We have already heard you call Justification a legal or judicial act and consequently an act wherein free grace doth not more favour the lost sinner then justice doth regard a valuable ransome and surety If Iustification then be ascribed in Scripture to faith this must certainly be understood either as faith is in it self or is relative to a compleat and adequat satisfaction Now to think that faith in it self or as it is an act or habite which is the Gift of God or its fruits which beside that they are also the gift of God and our dutie as from us are mixed with much weakness and imperfection or lastly that any thing else then the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ apprehended by faith can be commensurable to holy Iustice is more then redargued by the simple proposal 3. This your ascribing Iustification unto faith in regard of a holy life which it produceth doth no less detract from the praise of the glory of the grace of God wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Is it the praise and commendation of this wonderful love and grace that he spared not but gave his only begotten Son to be a ransome for sinners and that it is in the Beloved that we are accepted and justifyed and should not you be ashamed to say that it is unto faith as the root of a holy life and not as it doth respect and take hold on him who was made to be sin for us and knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousnesse of God in him that Iustification is in Scripture ascrived 4. This your error as it is contrary to the Scripture and derogatorie to the Righteousnesse of Christ the Holinesse of Divine justice and the Glory of free Grace so it is the manifest product of and cannot but be a most dangerous temptation to that inward and spiritual pride in the heart of man of all sin the most subtilly insinuating deeply rooted and pernicious A price or something meriting or moving at least of our own is that which the natural man liketh well nay knoweth not how to renounce was it not a subtile and strange effect of this pride and corrupt selfe Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul When as the thing required by the Lord was to do justly love mercy and walk humbly with God And whence did the Iews their stumbling at the Gospel proceed Was it not that they went about to establish their own righteousnesse and therefore they did not submit themselves unto the Righteousnesse of God Say not that this accusation against you is unwarranted I know you tell us That your explanation ascribes all to Christ through whom it is that our sinnes are pardoned our services accepted and grace and glory conveyed to us But it is evident that these are but vain words in as much as though you here tell us that our services are accepted through Christ yet almost immediatly before we heard you say that it is faith and a life conforme to the Gospel by way of antecedent condition which gives us an interest in his bloud Now that our services cannot be prerequired by way of condition to his acceptance of us and also only accepted as performed by us in himâ— is of it self manifest 2. Though you should more clearly and consistently ascribe all unto Jesus Christ yet by turning his grace into a condition the subtilty and folly of your pride doth but the more bewray it self For as simply to obtrude our own good works which in the acknowledgement of the most exact and confident legalist are both commanded and given us of God is a proud presumption so the more you attribute either the strength or the acceptance of performances
together with him in the likeness of his Resurrection and alive through him unto God that we also should walk in newness of life the necessity of holiness is evidently thereby as much assured as the acts of life are in their proper principle How can it then be alledged that in our way the necessity of holiness is less secured then in yours Nay such is the certainty of this truth that true Faith in Jesus Christ is the root and principle of the new life of holiness that as it is by you acknowledged so I cannot but wonder how reason could so quickly desert you as to think that any necessary effect such as you must grant good works to be of true Faith can be rationally joined with its cause in the consideration of a condition which your discourse imports If fire or life were in any case required as a condition he that should thereto join heat or motion necessarily thereon dependent were plainly ridiculous I need not take notice of what may be objected from these seeming Beleevers who because of their profession are said to be in Christ and yet for want of fruits to be cut off as it doth not more militat against us then against you who acknowledge true faith to be alwayes fruitful so it answereth it self But 3. because by necessity its like that you do understand the obligation to holiness as if in your way it were rendered more binding and pressing and thence would commend your explanation as more engaging unto a holy life I shall not here resume what I have already declared viz. 1. That to press the necessity of holiness antecedently to our being and acceptation in Jesus Christ is vain and fruitless 2. That to join our imperfect holiness with Christs unspotted and alone sufficient Righteousnesse which is faiths value is proud and presumptuous but rather represent these true grounds of the necessity of holinesse which are found in our way equally yea more obliging then all your vain pretenses And 1. We say with the Apostle that the holy and just and good Law of God remaineth in its entire force threatning and condemning all sin whereever found and as the poor sinner convicted is thereby urged to flee for refuge unto Christ who alone delivereth from the wrath to come so he who expecteth Salvation by the Death of Christ and doth not witness the truth of his profession in a holy life is in so farre no less exposed to its severity and terror neither can the Beleever sinning whatever may be the difference of his state in Gods sight more pretend to the peace and favour of God without repentance renewed and faith in Christ reacted whence the study of holiness will undoubtedly revive and flow then the wicked persisting in his impenitence What is then the difference betwixt you and us You must acknowledge that the great obligation of holiness doth descend from the Law of God and we grant that this holy Law continueth in the same force and power against all sin I say not sinners whereever found whether in the Beleever or Unbeleever so that thereby in our way licentiousnesse to sin must be equally excluded If you say that by requiring Faith alone for Iustification we relaxe the study of holiness I must again tell you that true faith in Christ Iesus the thing which we require cannot be without the study of holiness Next if any person should thence delude himself unto licentiousness the Holy Law of God remaining in the same severity against it cannot but in our way wherein that high aggravation of turning the Grace of God unto wantonnesse is more manifest be also more powerful If any man go on to urge us with the possible delusions of presumption and libertinisme whereunto the Devil both hath and may abuse the truth and free grace of God he but fighteth with the Devils weapons whereby mans wretched frailty is indeed discovered but the truth by Paul plainly asserted against the like cavâ—â—â—aâ—ions and by us owned not in the least impugned Nay I may further affirme that as all error is delusâ—on and inductive of more so where one hath been tempted to abuse the proposal of free Grace hundreds through Natures pride both desiring and overvaluing propriety have stumbled upon this your so descrived conjunction of our good works and fallen into that not entire submitting unto the Righteousness of God and a going about to establish their own Righteousness by which sin the rock of Salvation became unto the Iews a rock of offence 2. As the Law in the severity of its sanction doth still abide in force to deterre from all sin to bring in and reclaime unto Iesus Christ our Righteousnesse and also our Sanctification so it s more binding Authority derived from the greatness and goodness of God it s own holiness and perfection are upon none so powerful and in none so effectual as these who through faith have laid hold on Christ Iesus for Righteousness and therethrough alone have attained unto peace I need not tell you that true repentance discovering the sinfulness as well as the guiltiness of sin cannot but endeare holiness and that God appearing in Christ Iesus in that inconceivable glory of his Holiness Iustice Love and Mercy and justifying us through Faith in his Name cannot but beget a deeper reverence and a greater regard to his will and commandments then all the thunderings of mount Sinai the greatest motive to holiness in the construction of your way But when I consider that Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousnesse and that the Law through Faith is not made void but more established and therefore we are chosen and created in him unto holiness and good works to the Glory of God when I observe the connexion that God hath established and his word holds out betwixt Iustification and Sanctification 1. In his purpose Eph. 1. 4. 2 Thess. 2. 13. 2. In his promise Ezek 36. 25 26 27. Micah 7. 19. 2 Pet. 1. 4. 3. In his precept Tit. 3. 8. 4. In Christs purchass Tit. 2. 14. 5. In the Gift of Christ to his people 1 Cor 1. 30. 6 In the sincere desire of and great dâ—light in holiness as well as pardon recorded of the Saints in all the Scripture specially Psal. 51. 103. 3. 7. In the description of lustification given us by Paul in the first 6 chap. Rom. and Gal. 2. I seriously wonder how you or any man can doubt but a holy life both in its obligation and also in its performance is by the way of Iustification by Faith only molsty assured 3. In the way of Justification by faith only not only the obligation of the Law of God remains in the manner declared but also our Lord for our further encouragement unto holiness hath graciously intimat that even these good works wâ—ich we performe in his strength shall be by the same grace from which they flow also graciously rewarded Wherefore the Apostle saith
their errors which in effect amounts to all by you here asserted however having already at great length handled this purpose and not loving to vex any with odious names I shall only adde that when you shall believe and teach that Christ alone is our Righteousness and Peace and that it is by the faith of Jesus Christ and not by the works of the Law that we are justified then shall you have a good report of all men and of the truth itself Next you subjoin that we know that all that Calvin and his followers aime at in the matter of Arminius his points is that all our good be ascribed unto God how then can he be erroneous in this matter who asserts that Sir having already waved these debates I shall not now resume them but though I have formerly accorded and am still perswaded that this general principle rightly understood and seconded with a sincere practice would prove a happie antidote against the Arminian errors yet I am far from the opinion that its bare profession which hardly any other then an Atheist will disown should acquit you as to soundness in these controversies Where you say that Calvin aimed at no more I might tell you 1. That that might be true and yet he and Arminius differ in the manner 2. It is certain that Calvin's aim was farther from Scripture-revelation to vindicat both the Soveraignity of God and the deep mysterie of the Divine counsel and decrees from mens narrow self-devised and presumptuous notions and apprehensions also more evidently to defeat the errors of Universal Redemption and the uncertainty of Perseverance bottomed upon the same ground But since Arminius himself and all his followers would be far from denying God to be the alone Author and fountain of all good what need of more words for redarguing such a pitiful vindication Now follows your purgation of Quakerisme which I confess is plain and positive and I am indeed convinced though ignorant of them that the grounds of that accusation which you are ashamed to name are in effect ridiculous the severity of that mode is no doubt too strict for yours of the Latitude However it shall still be my wish that its large comprehension may not at least include some of the peculiar principles of that Sect which to the discerning of all that have penetrat into its deeps you do very justly terme the subtilest device yet broached for the overthrow of the Christian Religion To this you adde but if that spirit be not the womb from whence all these Sects and errors have sprung amongst us let all that look on judge Pray Sir what spirit do you meane that there is a chasma here is manifest but whether in the print as is obvious from the letter or rather in your brains as the futility of the reasons subjoined do more evidently perswade may be very rationally doubted In the mean time if for the better examining of your discourse I may supply the first I suppose you meane that the Presbyterian spirit is the womb spoken of and this you go about to prove because none fall to them viz. to Quakers as I judge but such as were formerly most violent in their i. e. the Presbyterian for all is here manck and conjectural way But 1. If you knew how to reason fairly to give your Argument a collour of probability you should have taken it not from the falling away of the most violent which may be the issue of that excess from the soundest profession but from the most serious in whom the natural tendency of opinions is best discerned 2. That the more serious Presbyterians do remain stedfast and unbrangled with these delusions is that which you dar not deny 3. Even of these most violent that you speak of the number fallen away is so few that urged to a condescendency you would be ashamed to reckon them 4. Your argument whatever way understood is no more applicable to Presbytery then to Christianity nay if such loose reasoning were of any moment the thousands of heresies which the Christian Religion hath occasioned should postpone it to Paganisme But you say though you are sure that we are far â—nough from being Quakers yet our principles have a natural tendency that way and for evidence you demand whence think you have they suckt there rejecting of all forms and order under a pretence that the spirit is not to be prelimited but from your notions against Liturgies and for extemporary heats 'T is answered 1. Seing that we disprove your imposing of Set-forms and reject your Liturgie from solid Scripture-grounds as I have already evinced the Quakers their abuse thereof being the same whereby they pervert the plainest Scriptures signifieth nothing in your behalf As for the mention you make of extemporary heats though your profane spirit doth not stick to mock at the true manner of spiritual prayer so much practised in Scripture and by the people of God in all ages under this false character yet I think your own vanity may make you blush at such a conceited repetition 2. If I did not love to exceed in candor more then you do hate calumny I could retort to you with very good reason that it is not so much the very abuse of our grounds against your Liturgies that have deluded the Quakers unto the rejection of all form and order as it is the manifest irreligion of your rigor in imposing and dead formality in practising of these vain inventions that have stumbled not only Quakers into their fancies but many thousands into palpable Atheisme Next you tell us that the liberty we take to medle in matters too high for us and judge of every thing without thinking on the reverence we owe the Church opens a wide door for their pretensions to a liberty of the spirit renouncing all modesty and humility Really Sir this arguing appeares to me so mean that I can scarce repete it without blushing we have heard you frequently object that our Ministers did labour much to ty up the people in an implicite faith and here you taxe us for the contrary excess if you say that the fault here mentioned might be true of our Ministers and your former challenge hold of the people you miss your mark since you cannot charge our Ministers with that falling away which you object but why do I trifle As you cannot convince our way either of the excessive liberty or irreverence alledged so it is evident that it is only our not subjecting our faith to your Lordly Prelacy and complying with every foolish device of man in the matters of God that moves your spleen But you proceed to object that our humor of separation begets that giddiness in people that no wonder they being shaken from the Unity of the Church also stagger through unbeliefe Thus you move every stone that you may reach us in former times the rigor of Presbytery against separation was a great clamour and
these distinctions as I have said is very easily and plainly resolved by these several aptitudes of a person in order to a commanded performance which depending upon circumstances may be thereby so diversified that what in the ordinary and unperturbed condition of things would be accounted an excesse of our particular calling and an usurpation in an eâ—â—â—aordinary occurrence becometh a necessary duty of our general calling and seeing the certainty and usefulness of this distinction according to the continual variety of humane affaires may be undeniably instanced in thousands of experiences and particularly in that more ready then regular concurrence which we see practised in the case of fire or any such surprising calamity the more zealous then orderly interposition which all men would allow to a son even in the presence of a righteous Magistrat for preventing or staying a sudden outrage intended against his fathers person that resentment of justus dolor which the common law indulges to a husband against his wife and an adulterer found in the act in his own house and in many such cases I think I say that these things considered without pursuing any further inquiry I may from the grounds already laid down fairly conclude that as Phineas his fact was not extraordinary in respect of any special warrant neither probable nor necessary in this subject but a pure product of that large measure of holy zeal wherewith he was endued and whereunto all men ought to aspire so there may be certain exigences of the glory of God which tristing with a suteable degree of the same zeall without waiting the consent of a godly far more without regarding the opposition of an ungodly Magistrat may upon the general grounds and obligations to righteousnesse lawfully provoke and excite to convenient action Now if it be objected that this conclusion being only general allowing the power but not defining what is the exigence requisite to its exercise may more readily prove a snare and an offence then conduce to any good purpose It is answered 1. That seing my undertaking was to vindicat the Scripture truth of Phineas his deed recorded for our instruction from mens mistakes and Naphtali from their calumny if I thence rationally elicite the inference made the accidental hazard of mens misapplication flowing from their own weakness and corruption cannot more properly be charged upon Naphtali then vpon his Surveyer but it is in effect an inconvenience which all are concerned to explicate 2. I freely acknowledge that such is the fervour of corrupt passion far more rapid almost in all then the pure zeal of God is to be found active in any that too much caution tenderness and fear can scarce be adhibite in a subject wherein even the most warrantable provocation of holy zeal is ordinarily attended with such a concurrence of self-interest and other carnal temptations as it is impossible without the signal assistance of the Spirit of grace to have its exercise in any notable measure or manner without the mixture of a sinful allay beside the evil of ill example whereunto it may be very readily and most pernicioâ—sly drawn and therefore seing the consideration resulting from the concurrence of all circumstances whereupon the right dignoscing of such deeds doth mostly depend is oftentimes most difficult and delicate the more easie and safe course and best use of this whole doctrine is rather to give judgment upon a case of that nature when actually existent and its whole contexture exposed to certain examination then to set down general rules directive of such practices But 3. As the Lord hath delivered unto us the rules of righteousness in themselves certain and evident and absolutely comprehensive of all cases incident so he who knoweth and doth the same is no doubt of a good understanding and whose heart is sound in the Lords statutes walking therein continually in fear humility and uprightness he walketh surely and shall not be aehamed The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimonie of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes Here is the complete and fixed Rule and who so taketh heed thereto diligently in faith and fear is not only fitted and prepared for all ordinary duty but thorowly furnished unto all good works It is true that in all heroick and more elevat acts beside the rule and common vertue whence it flowes we do find the exciting and impelling motions of the Spirit frequently mentioned as customary and necessary thereto but seing unto every righteous performance the assistance of grace is requisite and the impulse and excitation mentioned is nothing else but a greater measure of that assisting grace which the extraordinariness of the case and the difficulties therein occurring do call for and at most doth only determine to the species as Lawyers speak of the action but it is not at all its rule and warrant the interveening of such motions dot not alter the rule or restrict its obligation nor yet hinder the action so performed to be to all an imitable example That actions following from and depending upon special antecedent commands which for the most part are singular in their matter as well as in their manner are not to be taken for examples is very readily confessed but that an extraordinary motion first supposing duty and in the next place only requisite and given because of some uneasiness in the execution should restrict the duty in general to the person so gifted when the same or the like measure of assisting grace is rather to be by all desired is not at all agreeable I say first supposing duty for that great giâ—ts or strong impulses are not the rule of duty either under an ordinary or extraordinary exigence much less do give men a call to go beyond the rules of their calling as the Surveyer captiously alledgeth Naphtali to suggest is by me heartily conceeded as a very important point for clearing the truth which I maintain That which only remains to be adverted to is that although these singular motions and impulses be indeed subsequent subservient both to the rule of duty to a mans calling resulting therefrom and from the circumstances wherein he is stated yet they seem to have such a peculiar determining influence in these heroick performances as to the species of the action that it is not so much the particular deed that we are to heed for our imitation as we are to emulaâ— the grace and principle of zeal which produceth it and is therein so conspicuously relucent for our upstirring to acts in like manner as God shall give us the opportunity From all which it is obvious that as it is the opportunity res facti and the assistent motion of the Lord's Spirit which chiefly do determine by way of excitation as to the particular species of an heroick enterprise so it is only