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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45151	Peaceable disquisitions which treat of the natural and spiritual man, preaching with the demonstration of the Spirit, praying by the Spirit, assurance, the Arminian grace, possibility of heathens salvation, the reconciliation of Paul and James, the imputation of Christ's righteousness, with other incident matters : in some animadversions on a discourse writ against Dr. Owen's Book of the Holy Spirit / by John Humfrey ...	Humfrey, John, 1621-1719.	1678 (1678)	Wing H3702; ESTC R21932	66,481	118

speaks of is that Justification which we have in that Text of Genesis where it is said And Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for Righteousness Or That Juslification Paul speaks of is that Imputation of Faith for righteousness which is spoken of in that Text in Genesis That Justification which St. James speaks of is that Justification which we have in that Text in Genesis Or is that Imputation of Faith for Righteousness as is spoken of in that Text in Genesis Therefore St. Pauls justification and St. James justification are the same Justification Again That Faith which St. Paul speaks of is the Faith that is spoken of in that Text in Genesis or the same Faith as was imputed to Abraham for righteousness in that place That Faith which St. James speaks of is the same Faith which is spoken of in that Text in Genesis Or the same Faith that was imputed to Abraham for righteousness in that place Therefore the faith that St. Paul speaks of and the faith which St. James speaks of is the same faith also And when the Faith is the same and the Justification the same we must distinguish of Works then out of question to reconcile these Scriptures Of Works then let us distinguish and the distinction is this There are Works which are inconsistent with Grace and Pardon so that if we had them we should have no need of Christ's righteousness or sacrifice but the doing of them would make the reward to be of debt or make life to be due out of district justice He that doeth them shall live in them That is Works which the Law requires unto Justification And these are the Works St. Paul speaks of and the reasons which he alleadges why we are not justified by these Works is because no man hath them This is that which he apparently urges for he ascends in his dispute from the Law of Moses to the Law of Nature which concerns both Jew and Gentile in his three first Chapters to the Romans so that if any man be justified it must be without them Therefore we conclude saies he that by faith without them that is without having them a man is justified There are then Works also which are consistent with Pardon and Mercy though we have them so that when we have done these we do need the righteousness and satisfaction of our Redeemer to cover their imperfection and for acceptation of our persons no less than if we had Faith alone without any and these are Works of sincerity required of us in the Gospel It is no wayes derogatory I say to Gods Grace and Christs Merits for a man to be justified by these works any more than to be justified by Faith alone in regard to Debt or Merit upon which account St. Paul excludes works in his Disputation It is of these Works I must say as the Apostle saies it is of Faith that it may be of Grace And these are the Works St. James speaks of when he saies By Faith and Works also that is all one as by a Faith working by Love in Pauls words otherwhere And the being justified by Faith working by Love or by a Faith productive of Works or by these Works and Faith also which being such Works as fall short of the Law and do need grace and forgiveness for their acceptation with God is all one with St Pauls by Faith without works of the Law or without such as the Law requires unto justification Thus are Paul and James reconciled I will advance hence then my former argument That justification by Faith without works which St. Paul speaks of is that Justification or that Imputation of Abrahams Faith for righteousness which is spoken of in that Text in Genesis That justification by Works and Faith also which St. James speaks of is that Justification or that Imputation of Abrahams faith for righteousness which is spoken of in that Text in Genesis Therefore St. Pauls justification by faith without works and St. James justification by faith and works also or by works and not by faith only is the same in the two Apostles The medium upon which all three Syllogisms depend is the Apostles citing the same Text both of them for that which either of them assert while one saies by faith without works and the other by works and not by faith only The major and minor therefore in all three are undeniable and in the conclusion of the last I am sure the Doctor and I shall agree together I have another thing to offer to the thoughts of the Dr. that whereas he tells us of a Commutation between Christ and us in his taking upon him our sins and our partaking of his righteousness I do apprehend this expression and doctrine to be Christian holy and good according to the sense of that Text He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and the like places But only there is a difference to be put between the use of the notion against the Socinians in the point of Satisfaction and the use of it against the Mediocreans in the point of Justification I do believe such a Commutation as the Dr. speaks of is necessary to that great work which Christ undertook for Mankind as it concerns the whole world in the procuring Reconciliation and Life for all upon the terms of the Redeemer for if he had not taken on him our sins to suffer in our behalf which is his being made sin for us and fulfilled the whole Law also for us that God might without dishonour to him as Rector dispense with it so as to impute to us our faith and imperfect obedience for righteousness which is our being made the righteousness of God in him there would have been no satisfaction offered and consequently no Reconciliation or Redemption But as for such a Commutation in the point of Justification which concerns particular Believers I am yet to learn what to make of it from this Reverend person To enquire then to the bottom the foundation of this Commutation is laid I see by him in the Mystical Union between Christ and his Members which must pertain therefore only to such and that as a fruit or effect of the Spirit of Christ given to them if it be so to that end When this indeed is a thing that does not belong at all to the operation of the Third person of the Trinity but to the work of the Son and the arbitrary ordination of the Father Whatsoever influence Christ hath upon the soul as our Head by the operation of the Holy Ghost or whatsoever is an effect of the Spirit when once given for uniting us to him it must have this Union for its ground or foundation But whatsoever arises to us from Christ another way and is no effect of the Spirit it may not be ascribed without contradiction to that spring from whence it comes not The Dr. judges right that such a

he does and by the Operations of it what he does And why then will he fall foul on the Dr. When he agrees with him in the substance what need is there he should pursue a flea in the circumstances of words only or variety of expression Another is that where he excepts at the Doctor for alluding in his words to some Texts that speak of miraculous gifts and so cannot be applied to us and also for a critical note he had before on the Hebrew word put on him Isa 42.1 from whence he collects that in Gods giving us the effects of his Spirit the Spirit it self is also given I will compound with this Author The Doctor shall submit his critical note to the Spirit of the Prophets and this man shall let the Doctor speak but the same things by way of allusion to Scripture whether they be proved thereby or not which other Divines do speak and affirm ordinarily without that allusion In his second Chapter he shews us what these effects are for the producing of which the holy Spirit is given which he undertakes to do here from that Text Luke 11.13 where After two parables of the man asking three Loaves for his Friend and of a Son asking Bread of a Father our Saviour tells us that God will give his holy Spirit to those that ask him From hence he gathers that the effects for which God gives his Spirit are such as are needful because it is Bread the Son and the Friend asks and profitable because a Fish and Egg also is given Here he tells that our need is to be measured by the end That the end is our salvation Consequently the Spirits operations on the mind are to produce all those effects as are necessary to eternal life These are Faith Knowledge All Vertue or graces which make us practical Christians and Perseverance Here are his needful effects then his profitable and not necessary are degrees of Goodness which are more highly so or degrees of Knowledge that are less profitable Here he discourses whether God does give the Spirit for these things profitable upon our asking and tells us God may give us things better or more sutable and so deny them Then he shews us how the Spirit is prayed for in the Lords prayer because when we ask for any grace or vertue we ask for him to work it In the whole then of this Chapter we have nothing against the Doctor or the Doctor against him but a good Sermon I suppose we have which he might have preached somewhere and adapts it to this occasion which makes it look though well yet feat and unlike a beaten Divine who in shewing what the effects of Gods Spirit are would have cast them into some proper and fuller order and then proved them by Scripture and quite let alone this Sermon His third Chapter is about Regeneration which he makes room for by an Objection that this will be thought but a lame account of those qualifications that are needful to salvation seeing one thing most necessary thereunto is omitted and that is Regeneration And here then must Regeneration be brought in and shewn us that it is not such a thing as Dr. Owen makes it but is comprized in his Moral graces and vertues Regeneration then as a state he defines it is to become a sincere Disciple of Jesus Christ And here though one might well require a little more accuracy in a definition there is no body like to differ with him upon the matter The Doctor may use other terms and expressions and he uses these but they both intend the same thing This is certain He that doth righteousness is born of God The Doctor belike hath said that Regeneration is a proper Term and he will prove it to be metaphorical Be it so The Doctor must be candidly understood then that he means it is a proper metaphor To wit that there is such a secret and powerful work of the soul signified thereby as does bring in a new disposion into the inner man as well as reforms the outward life which is that only in effect he contends for Let them grant saies the Doctor that their Moral reformation of life does proceed from a Spiritual reformation of our nature the difference will be at an end And what saies this Author He answers This difference is at an end before it began for we have alwaies granted it And why is the difference up then that hath no beginning or cause for it The Doctor is perhaps too warm in the allusion but the meaning is acknowledged the same with his who is as it were quite cool and off from it There is indeed one point as to the manner of the Spirits operation wherein these two Champions will differ but that belongs to another Chapter Here he speaks of Regeneration only as a state and therefore I pray let him be quiet yet a while till he comes thither In his fourth Chapter he laies down the several graces of the holy Spirit which having done once before I cannot apprehend it to be momentous in his making two Chapters of it These graces then again are Faith Teachableness in order to it All Christian vertues The improvement of them Progress in them Perseverance to the end To this we oppose nothing and there is no dissention with the Doctor The Doctor or another perhaps would have marshalled these things otherwise but that all these are the operations of Gods Spirit or such effects for which the Holy Ghost is to be implored is beyond dispute amongst us What he hath thrust in here upon that subject of Gods dwelling in good men I take to be another excellent good Sermon CHAP. III. Of Assuranee and praying by the Spirit the subject of his fifth Chapter with indifferency whether it be by a Form or conceived Prayer I Come to his fifth Chapter which is to shew us what effects we are not to expect from the Spirit having shewn before what effects as he reckons them are promised by it And there are three pretended gifts he saies which are none of these effects and so may not be hoped or prayed for upon that account Immediate Revelation of the sense of any Scripture Absolute assurance of our particular election and the dictates of Extempore prayer These are three things belike he designes to have a sling at which he may do but I must tell him in the way whether any thing of this kind may be expected from the holy Spirit or not I am not satisfied with his argument or the way of his bringing it about that the effects for which we are to pray to God to give us his Spirit are only things needful and therefore we may not expect his help in extemporary prayer and these two other matters This indeed may be argued from the Parables in the context that the gift it self of the Spirit is a thing needful A gift which next to Gods giving his Son is the greatest and

is our head but he governs us by his Spirit which is infused though I think no habit be and when we are lead by this Spirit as there is Rule there is Influence and this Union must be Real and Mystical and not that which is Political only Suppose a man wh●se head was high as the Heavens yet so long as the same soul animates all the members the feet as in the head it is one man Christ our head is in Heaven and we on earth yet as the same Spirit is in us which is in him the head and members make one dy nay in the words of the Scripture one Christ O Agrippa believest thou the Prophets O thou Author of this Book against Dr. Owen Believest thou these mysteries of the Christian Religion I know that thou believest For the later sort There is one place in his Book where we have two of his pernicious errors together The Doctor belike hath said that though a man should reform his life and be changed from vice to vertue and that by hearing the word preached This is the most I count he saies and which may be exemplified in Herod who heard John and did many things yet if there be not an habitual righteousness infufed it signifies nothing to regeneration To this purpose is it only and altogether the Doctor speaks Hereupon this Gentleman breaks out and challenges him before his own party as he speaks and before the world for contradicting the Scripture He that doeth Righteousness is born of God and then charges him with Pelagianism He professes he is in earnest and that this is rank Pelagianism that the Doctor allows so much to be done without saving grace I have the more reason to be moved at this because a certain person of quality and of a ready judgement having this Author by him turned me to this place as if the Doctor was much to be blamed when I must needs say that this Gentleman hath no where exposed himself so much in his Book as here where he endeavours to expose the Doctor There is no man that reads practical Divines that lay down characters of the truly godly man the sound Believer and how far the Hypocrite may go but does know they speak commonly as the Doctor does and there are few one would think so inconsiderate or raw but should also know here how to distinguish so easily as between the matter of what is done and the manner of the performance Good works may be considered quoad operis substamtiam or quoad modum quo ordinaniur id vuam aevernam There is no good act no not the least that can be done is performed in that manner as it ought or as it is required to be accepted in order to salvation but a man must be born of God according to his text and have the assistance of the Spirit But for the matter of the work or of our duty this Author must consider better that the Regenerate and Unrepenerate are alike as to that One can hear and pray and give alms and abstain from evil as well as the Other and many times the veryest Hippocrite pretends most Nay what saies this Gentleman to Socrates Aristides Epimomdas Plato Plutark Cato What saies he to Almanzor that Mahomet in Einperor whose life is set out by Sir Walter Rayleigh in a little Book for such singular vertues especially as to his goodness and righteousness that I find him not paralleld by any Christian Will this Author censure Sir Walter for a Pelagian for such a narration or will he make me one if I believe it Or will he come over here and when he hath placed such in a state of Nature and so out of a state of Grace will he allow an Heathen or Mahometan to be a regeherate person Hath the Gentleman read Ruiz or one such a kind of Schoolman as he all over Let him see when they have denied against pelagius all ability in man to do any thing even but to give an occasion which is active and not passive only to infuse in us their justifying grace whether they are also ignorant of some such distinction It is no Pelagianism in the Schools to say a man can do many things civily morally good through the power of nature education custome for company sake for glory but it is so to say he can do any thing without preventing grace in order to his justification There is no need therefore of such vehemence nor of any such expressions he uses otherwhere I will desire the Doctor to consider whether the Father of lies be not the representative of such shameful Writers as he is the example of These kind of words are not well There is a great deal of acrimony I see with a little truth mixt methinks like the fire and hail that ran together in one of the Egyptian Plagues in the Books of many late rising adversaries to this learned pious and reverend person It were happy if the opprobrious words of the prejudicate would make thewise mend their faults It were well also if such an inconsiderate confident piece of elation of mind as here indeed is be but repressed with the shame and blushes of another Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an oyle and not break my head CHAP. VII Of Dr. Owen's Book of Justification and of the reconciliation of St. Paul and St. James and the Imputation of Christ's righteousness upon his account HAving said this for the Doctor I have a little now also to say to him I was reading his later Book of Justification when this Author came to my hands and I had thought of making some remarks upon it I am not satisfied with what he hath offered for the reconciliation of St. James and Paul on that subject This is the reason I suppose that is the most solid why so many do choose here of late to go with the mediocrian or steer the middle way in that point I perceive that Dr. Tully with our first Reformed Divines and this excellent Doctor are for distinguishing of Faith and Justification but will not let us by no means distinguish of Works for the reconciliation of the Apostles I do wonder at this The Apostle James and the Apostle Paul do both agree that we are justified by Faith The one saies we conclude that a man is justified by Faith and the other saies also it is by Faith Their seeming difference is only about works when one saies by Faith without Works and the other by Faith and Works also And how then comes it to pass that we must not distinguish of Works but of Justification and Faith to compose the difficulty I will offer the Doctor therefore here one Argument under his favour which shall be but one and that not as others have so far as I know for then it were like he had already weighed it It is this That Justification which St. Paul