So that briefly in statu confectionis Adamus acceperit posse si vellet he received a power to be if he would sed non habuit velle quod posset but he had not power given him to will that he might be Which first power having willingly cast away man now can challenge no more but what God will give for God owes no Creature any thing If he gives it is of his free grace if he withholds he doth no man wrong In the second state in man fallen born of corrupt parents and yet not regenerate Although man hath lost that first grace of liberty to be if he will yet the will doth work freely but it is carried to evil only and can doe nothing else but sinne And the reason is because the privation of the knowledge of God in the understanding ensued on the fall together with the want of inclination in the heart and will to obedience Instead where of blindnesse and aversenesse from God succeeded the which man cannot shake off unlesse he be regenerate Briefly it is the fitnesse and pronenesse in man after his fall being unregenerate to chuse only evill Of this blindnesse and corruption of mans nature after the fall it is said All the thoughts of man are evill c. Gen. 6.5 and can the Ethiopian change his skin Jer. 13.23 And a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.28 and dead in sinnet by nature the sonnes of wrath Ephes 2.1.3 and we are not able of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 With these testimonies concurreth every mans experience and the weary conscience which proclaimeth that we have no liberty or pronenesse of will to doe that which is good but too great freedome and readinesse to practise evil unlesse we be regenerate as it is said Jer. 31.18 Convert thou me and I shall be converted c. Wherefore there is no love of God in us by nature and therefore we have by nature no readinesse to obey God From whence it comes to passe that the enmity between God and man is not in God but in man who will not now rank himself in the roome of a subject and yield to the Lord the place of a Commander There is only now this question between God and man Whose will should be done The Lord craves that man should subject his will to Gods will But man aspires to make his own will the rule of his actions and in this miserable state lives every man not renewed by grace he sets up within himself a will contrary to Gods most holy will And this is the fruit of Adams apostasy for in his Creation he had a perfect conformity to the law or will of God and had power to yield exact obedience to the same But now onely a readinesse to doe evill But no power of it selfe to doe good Thirdly in the third state Take a man as he is renewed we deny against all our adversaries that our will is a co-worker with grace by the force of nature But we say it worketh by grace with grace We deny that grace doth enable the will of it self to doe good works if it please But we say that grace worketh in the will to please and to doe such offices as God requires at our hands God doth not hang his work upon the suspended If of our will but he worketh in us to will and causeth us to doe the things that he commandeth to doe as in Ezekiel 36.27 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and doe them We will indeed saith Augustine but God worketh in us to will we work but God worketh in us to work we walk but God worketh in us to walk we keep his commandements but God worketh in us to keep them according to that in the Philippians 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure So that in this estate the cause for which the will beginneth to work well is this Because by the singular grace or benefit of the holy Spirit mans nature is renewed by the word of God there is kindled in the mind a new light and knowledge of God in the heart new affections in the will new inclinations agreeing with the law of God And the will effectually moved to doe according to these inclinations and so it recovereth both that power of willing that which God approveth and the use of that power and beginneth to be conformed and agreeable to God and to obey him Deut. 30.6 The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed c. and Ezekiel 36.26 a new heart will I give you c. and 16. Actâ— 14. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia and 1 Cor. 3.7 Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty And yet notwithstanding we must know first in this life the renewing of our nature is not perfect neither as concerning out knowledge of God neither as concerning our inclination to obey God And therefore in the best of men while they live here doe remaine sinnes both originall and others And Secondly that the regenerate be not alwayes ruled by the holy Spirit but are sometimes forsaken of God God withdrawing himself for a season either to try them that is to make their weaknesse without God known to themselves as in Peter or to chastise or humble them but yet are recalled to Repentance that they perish not Of the first the Aposte testifieth Rom. 7.18 I know that in me that is my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but I find no means so performe that which is good And in Marke 9.24 Lord I believe help my unbeliefe Of the second it is said Take not thy holy spirit from me and Esay 63.17 It is said O Lord why hast thou made us to erre from thy wayes and hardened our heart from thy feare Return for thy servants sake the Tribes of thine inheritance and in the 1 Kings 8.57 The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers let him not leave us or forsake us And therefore the regenerate in this life doth alwayes goe either forward or backward neither continueth in the same state Here then are deduced these two conclusions First as man corrupted before he be regenerate cannot begin new obedience pleasing and acceptable to GOD so he that is regenerate in this life although he begin to obey God that is hath some inclination and purpose to obey according to all his commandements and that unfeigned though yet weak and strugling with evill inclinations affections and desires and therefore there shine in his life and manners a desire of piety towards God and his neighbour yet he cannot yeild whole and perfect obedience to God because neither his knowledge nor love to God is so great and sincere as the law of God requireth And therefore it
A VINDICATION OF THE Orthodoxe Protestant Doctrine Against the INNOVATIONS OF Dr. DRAYTON and Mr. PARKER Domestique Chaplain to the Right Honourable the E. of Pembroke In the following Positions LONDON Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane 1657. To all the Lovers of Gods Truth Grace and Peace through Jesus Christ the faithfull Redeemer of all his Saints BELOVED FRIENDS THese are the times foretold wherein there shall be a falling away and defection from the Faith as a meere fore-runner of the great and terrible Day And there are many false Prophets arisen amongst us whose study and labour is to deceive poore soules if it were possible even the very Elect. Men confident in an arme of flesh Goliah-like defying the whole Israel of God Some of which number we have to deale with as may appeare in the ensuing Treatise I shall not much regard how I be esteemed of in the world for engaging in the quarrell Applause should not swell us and dispraise should not deject us neither greatnesse affright us When the glory of God lies at stake and his truth opposed his people must not stand by with a guilty silence but are bound by many obligations to defend the truth and withstand gain-sayers For my selfe I am neither worthy of note nor noted the unworthiest I confesse amongst the thousands of Levi. But though I be the meanest of Gods servants yet my witnesse is in heaven I have ever desired to doe the best service I could in Gods Church And this part I presume to present to those that desire to fear the Lord not begging Patronage from Greatnesse For what is good deserves acceptance and wherein I erre I desire pardon not defence The occasion of the publication hereof was a Dispute or rather Contest lately betwixt one Dr. Drayton and one Mr. Parker domestique Chaplaine to the Earle of Pembroke at Wilton in the County of Wilts and my selfe Where in the publique Congregation they stood up endeavouring to beat down the truth of the following Positions and to maintain the contrary as may appear by the proceedings betwixt the Doctor and my selfe which I have placed at the beginning Now although the points in controversie have been so fully and clearly asserted and vindicated by the Worthies of blessed memory and by our yet living Reverend Clergie That to any not puft up with spirituall pride admission of addition may seem superfluous and unnecessary And notwithstanding although dici non potest quod non dictum est priùs Yet in regard there are many people that have been much disturbed and dis-setled by reason of the audaciousnesse and impudence of the opposers of the ensuing truths and many of them are not able to buy Volumes Neither by reason of the weaknesse of their capacities can so readily apprehend the perspicuity and clearnesse of the truths upon the hearing of them nor yet easily distinguish betwixt them and Falshood vayled under Truth 's vizard I have therefore for their satisfaction and confirmation in the truth presented unto the publique some few collections which being seriously weighed and digested I doubt not by the blessing of God may enable the meanest if willing to discover truth from falshood That which others have done we desire to blesse God for it And if that which I have now done shall be any thing serviceable it hath obtained the end of him who is not unwilling to spend and to be spent for the Israel of God that being the end for which we are what we are Your selves are now upon the Stage be couragious fight the good sight of Faith And I assure my self and you that our victory shall be glorious through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be glory for ever Amen An obedient Son of the Church John Tendring Doctor Drayton's first Letter To his honoured Friend Doctor Tendring These Reverend Doctor I Have here sent you the two questions to be debated between us in a friendly way truly stated as I conceive whereof if you maintaine the first of them affirmatively and the second negatively I have engaged my self to defend the contrary in both That sinne must of necessity have a being in the Saints while they live in the mortall body That the righteousnesse of the law consisting in the love of God above all and of our neighbour as of our selves cannot in this mortall life be fulfilled in the Saints by the grace of Christ If I have not stated them according to your mind send them as you would have them stated to Your loving friend THO DRAYTON Doctor Tendring's Answer to Doctor Drayton's first Letter Reverend Doctor I Much marvell that you should so much alter the state of the Questions propounded to be debated As you have laid them down I assure you I understand them not The language is too intricate for one that desires to deale plainely and onely stands up for the defence of Gods truth according to the grace that is given Though your greater light hath discover'd it to be the doctrine of hell as you have been pleased to call it Our doctrines are plaine and we desire in the sincerity of our hearts the glory of God and the good of souls without carrying on of any interest that your doctrine relates to We are not ignorant from whence it comes and who they have been that have endeavoured to carry it on in this nation I shall say no more but with Gamaliel si sit à Deo c. But that you shall see our plainenesse lest peradventure you did not take a copy of what you wrote I have transcribed it word for word That which I should affirmatively maintaine you say you conceive is this That Sin must of necessity have a being in the Saints while they live in the mortall body Doctor the words were these to be witnessed by the Auditors and this God assisting I will maintaine That Sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their soules have a being in these houses of clay Then the second which I should negatively maintaine you say you conceive is this That the righteousnesse of the Law consisting in the love of God above all and of our Neighbour as of our selves cannot in this mortall life be fulfilled in the Saints by the graee of Christ. Sir I have a long time since been acquainted with Mults and Jus and Saints and such like words My words were as plaine as my meaning and this God assisting I will stand to maintain Negatively I deny that any man by grace can in this life perform such perfect obedience to the law of God as not to offend against the same It was your owne language Or to be thereby justified otherwise then in and through Christ of grace given Doctor many at the meeting will affirme this to be my language And this I have taught as the truth of God and I hope if I shall be thereunto called shall be enabled to seale it with my blood
condemned but not extinguished for in many things we offend all James 3.2 Again hereunto besides many these and many more testimonies of Scripture that might be alledged the suffrages of pure Antiquity in a sweet harmony doth agree I will quote some few of the Fathers it was the prerogative of Christ alone to know no sinne and to be found solus in hominibus qualis quaerebatur in peccoribus alone such amongst men as was sought amongst the beasts an immaculate Lambe without spot and all we like sheep have gone astray Esay 53.6 Gal. 3.22 optat l. 2. Aug. cont Relag l. 2. C. 32. so Gregory l. 3. in Reg. 6. saith There is no man which hath not in him some corruption which he may and should lament So Lactantius cont Gent. l. 6. cap. 13. No man can be without sinne so long as he is burthened with the garment of the flesh So Hierom. cont Jovin li. 2. No man is clean from sinne though he live but one day on earth So Bernard in Cant. Serm. 23 non peccare Dei justitia est not to sinne is the justice and property of God but the remission of sinnes is the justice of man And therefore as the Ivy will not dye untill the Oake be hewn down so our sinne will not dye as long as we live neither will it ever be abolished untill death ends the conflict betwixt the flesh and the spirit Again Ambrose de poenitent li. 1. cap 6. It is not saith he the voyce of thy family I am whole and need not a Physitian but heal me O Lord and I shall be healed Also he spake thus to the Novatian Hereticks of his time and it may fitly be turned over to the Jesuits of our time Darest thou O Jesuit call thy self clean and holy albeit thou wert clean in regard of thy work this one word were enough to make thee unclean With him agrees Aug. Serm. 29. de verb. Apost Sunt quidam inflati viri spiritu electionis pleni non magnitudine ingentes sed superbiae morbo tumentes ut audeant dicere invenire homines absque peccato There are saith he some that be like unto Vessels blown up with wind filled with a haughty spirit not sollidly great but swelled with the sickness of pride Who dare be bold to say that men are found on earth without sinne Of such as these saith he I demand What saiest thou then that art just and holy this Prayer Forgive us our sinnes Whether is this a Prayer to be said by Chatechists only or to be said of such as are believers and converted Christians Surely it is the prayer of regenerate men yea it is the prayer of the Sons of God for they call God their Father in heaven Where then are your just and holy ones in whom are no sins If the Regenerate and Sons of God have need to crave remission of sinnes What are you who say you have no sinne Liars saith the Apostle 1 John 1.9 And our blessed Saviour Luke 10.17 When you have done all you can yet say c. But against this they have a silly subterfuge albeit say they we were never so righteous yet for humility sake we should say we are unprofitable I answer them as Aug. answered the same objection in his time Propter humilitatem ergo mentiris then saith he for humilities sake thou liest But it is certain Christ never taught man to lie for humility This is but one of their old forged falshoods Again Bernard in Annunciat Mariae who lived in a very corrupt time yet retains this truth Quis meliori Propheta saith he de quo dixit Deus inveni virum secundùm cor meum tamen ipse necesse habuit dicere Deo Ne intres in Judicum cum servo tuo Who better than the Prophet David of whom the Lord said I have found a man after mine own heart and yet he had need to say Enter not into judgement with thy servant Bernard in Cant. Ser. 23. saith It sufficeth me for all unrighteousness to have him reconciled unto me whom I have only offended To be without sinne is the righteousness of God Mans righteousness is Gods indulgence pardoning his sinne We conclude therefore with him In serm contr vitium ingrat Wo to the miserable Generation to whom their own insufficiency seems sufficient for who is it that hath so much as aspired to that perfection which the holy Scripture commands us I grant that in some sence godly men are called perfect in holy Scripture in the 3 to the Phillip about the 14. it is written Let as many as are perfect be thus minded He moves the question seeing he had said immediately before that he was not perfect How doth he now rank himself amongst those that are perfect How agrees these two that he was perfect and not perfect Aug. in Ser. 38. answers he was perfect secundùm intentionem non secundùm preventionem perfect in regard of his intention and purpose but not in regard of prevention and obteining his purpose And hereunto agrees that of Bernard in Cant. serm 49. That great chosen Vessel saith he grants perfection that is a going forward but denies perfection for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not only he who hath come to the end but he also is walking to-towards it We are so perfect in this life that we are yet but walking to perfection Therefore St. Ambrose in Rom. 8.9 Apostolus aliquando quasi perfectis loquitur aliquando perfecturis aliquando laudat aliquando commonet The Apostle speaketh unto Christians sometimes as unto men that are perfect other times as unto men who are perfect in that which is required of them that is some-sometimes he praises them for the good they have done and otherwhiles he admonishes them of the good they have to doe And as for that place Luke 1.6 where it is said that Zacharias and Elizab. walked in the Commandements of God without blame The Jesuits of Rhemes wrest this to confirm their error this making not for them August hath two reasons whereby he proves out of the same Scripture That Zacharie was not without sinne First because he was a Priest and was bound to offer as well for his own sinnes as for the sinnes of the people Heb. 5.3 Secondly in that the Evangelist saith he walked in the commandements of God c. It is an argument he had not attained to the mark for they that are at their journeys end sit still To the which we may add a third out of that same place the dumbnesse inflicted upon him for his misbelieving evidently proves that he was not so perfect as to be without sin Besides this the Apostle constantly distinguishes betwixt peccatum crimen betwixt sinne and crime that is some grievous offence that gives slaunder and is worthy of crimination We affirm saith August That the life of holy men may be said to be without crime but not without sin And again he saith Men
live well if they live without crime But he who thinks he can live without sin doth not thereby make himself free of sin but debars himself of the pardon of his sinnes There is a two fold perfection or righteousnesse first Imputed which is by way of relation and doth perfectly justifie us befor God Secondly Infused by way of inhesion subjectively in us and this is but inchoated and imperfect and therefore cannot justifie us in the sight of God Or I say with Zanchius that the perfection within the holy Scriptures or writings of the ancient fathers is ascribed unto the Saints of God for their righteousnesse and good works is either Extrinsecall or Intrinsecall First the Extrinsecall or adventitious is that perfection of condonation when our imperfection is freely pardoned for the death and passion of Jesus Christ according to that saying of August All the Commandements of God are reputed as done when that is remitted which is left undone And this righteousnesse consisteth rather in the remissions of sinnes than in the perfection of vertue Secondly the Intrinsecall is that perfection of inhesion and this is said to be either absolute or comparative First it is said to be absolute when our hearts are sincere and simple free from hypocrysie and double dealing with God so Job was a perfect man and David was a man according to Gods own heart Because his heart was ever seeking after God and sincere towards him though through his infirmity he sinned against him Secondly Comparative in respect of others so Noah is said to be perfect Gen. 6.9 but observe it was in generationibus suis that is in respect of all others that lived in those Godlesse daies And so St. Paul meaneth 1 Cor. 2.7 We speak wisdome amongst them that are perfect that is amongst those that have greater measure of knowledge and understanding than the rest of men have And for any other absolute perfection St. Paul is absolutely against it when he professeth of himself that he had not attained unto it as in the place before quoted Philip. 3. And saith Bernard super Cant. Serm. 50. Who dares arrogate that to himself which St. Paul denyeth Or I say that the intrinsecall perfection is two fold First of Parts Secondly of Degrees First the former is when a man hath respect as the Prophet David saith unto all the commandements of God and alloweth not in his heart the breach of any of them Secondly the latter is when a man exactly performeth all that the Law in its full rigour requireth And he that is perfect in the first sense may fitly be resembled to a weak and feeble child that hath omnes partes integrales but not integraliter all the integrall and perfect parts of a man yet not integrally or perfectly But he that is perfect in the second sense is like a strong and full grown man that hath all his parts in their perfection And we confesse that the true servants of God in this life may have the perfection of parts Because that in some measure they may love every good and hate every evill though not continually as touching the exactnesse of performance Yet habitually as touching a constant resolution But that a man should have the perfection of degrees we utterly deny because that he can neither love the good nor hate the evill as he should doe And as for those Testimonies of Scripture that the Jesuits Bellarm. Becanus and others doe wrest against us to prove the perfection of the Saints in this life We answer with August First That some of those places are exhortations shewing us what we should doe not proving what we can doe for admonitions doe not shew ut tantum praestari possit quantum suadetur that so much can be performed which is enjoyned but they shew us quousque conari oportet how earnestly we should strive to preserve them though we be not able perfectly to observe them Secondly That many of those places doe shew us not what we are now in via in the way but what we shall be hereafter in patria at the end of our pilgrimage when we shall be freed from the imperfection of our flesh and cloathed with the Garment of perfect righteousness Thirdly That the Scripture in many places terms them perfect and immaculate which have defiled their Garments or polluted their Consciences Mark not with no sinnes which is impossible with no gross sinnes or damnable enormities which as I said before is commendable When they fashioned not themselves unto the world nor suffered sin to reign in their mortall bodies Fourthly The Scripture pronounceth men perfect blameless and blessed not because they have no sinnes but because their sinnes are not imputed unto them as Psal 32.1 And therefore though the Saints are called righteous and perfect not only in regard of the imputative righteousness and perfection of Christ but also in regard of that inherent righteousness which is wrought in them by the spirit of Christ Yet we must understand in what sense they are thus inherently called righteous For we must not think them to be so perfectly righteous as to be void of sin or to be justified in the sight of God Because that together with the sanctification of the Saints there is still in them a remainder of originall corruption by the touch and stain whereof their best works are corrupted and defiled and therefore we say that although the Saints and holy men of God may and have lived sine scandalo without offence and sine querela without reproof or without complaint on mans part by the observance of all outward precepts Yet it is imposible that the best of them should live and die sine peccato without sin 1 John 1.8.10 and that remarkable place in 4. Rom. 2. If Abraham had to glory it was not before God We grant that the Saints of God in this life may be called righteous or perfect in a four fold respect First Intentionally because they aim at and desire perfection for resting in a good condition is contrary to grace Grow in grace Secondly Inchoatively because they begin and goe on more and more in the works of righteousness Thirdly Comparatively because that in respect of other mens unrighteousness they may very well be termed righteous Fourthly Acceptatively because God accepteth them though not as absolutely just in themselves by reason of their manifold sinnes and defects yet in Christ and for Christ his sake through whom all their imperfections are pardoned as just and righteous men And thus you see how the Saints and true Servants of God may be called righteous and perfect But still we deny that they are therefore without sin or that they are thereby justified in the sight of God The best perfection of man in this life is to finde and to acknowledge himself to be imperfect as August speaketh In the next place I shall lay you down some reasons for the confirmation of this position That sin will
due to you for your sinnes in the name of the Lord Jesus that is for the merits and righteousnesse of Jesus Christ But some may here object and say The Righteousnesse is Christs and how can a man be justified by the justice of another I answer As sinne is ours by propagation so righteousnesse is ours by imputatiou and as Adam derived sinne by nature to our condemnation so Christ brought life by his obedience to our justification So if many be made sinners by the disobedience of one man Then how much more shall many be made righteous by the obedience of one man especially seeing the nature of Christ was farr more divine than the nature of Adam and thee fore more powerfull in ability to work this effect to justifie us than Adam's was to condemn us And in 1 Joh. 5.11 12. That eternall life which God giveth us that is that righteousnesse whereby he bringeth us to eternall life is in his Sonne And this the Apostle doth most excellently shew unto us when he saith that God made Christ to be sinne for us and as in the place before cited 2 Cor. 5.20 For as our sinnes were made the sinnes of Christ not by alteration of them inhesively into his own person but by assumption of them imputatively to make satisfaction for them as fully and as truly as if they had been his own inherent sinnes Even so the righteousnesse of Christ is as truly made ours by imputation as if we had most perfectly fullfilled the Law by our own actuall operation And therefore justification is a gracious and judiciall action of God whereby he judgeth the elect being in themselves liable to the accusation and condemnation of the Law to be just and righteous by faith in Jesus Christ through the imputation of his Justice to the praise of his glorious power and the eternall salvation of their souls Now for the Canses of justification they are especially first Efficient secondly Materiall thirdly Formall fourthly Finall and each one of these must be considered two wayes first Actively in respect of him that justifies us secondly Passively in respect of Man that is justified First The principall efficient Cause of this our justification actively considered is God freely purposing to send his sonne to be made man to work righteousnesse for men 1 Pet. 1.10 Gal 4 4. then in the fulnesse of time sending his son made of a woman made under the Law then revealing his son to us by the preaching of the Gospell and perswading us to believe the same and to lay hold on the sonne of God by the operation of his blessed Spirit and then accounting to us the obedience of his son for our righteousnesse To shew that he is the beginning the middle the end of our justification And to prove this the Lord himself saith Isay 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sinnes And the Apostle plainly saith Rom. 8.33 It is God that justifieth And the very Scribes that rejected Christ most impiously professed this most truly that none can forgive sinnes but God only And so Gregory saith It is meet that he should be the giver of Grace which was the author of nature Gregory in Psal poenitent pithily saith It is his office to absolve the guilty by whose justice he is made guilty Again The impulsive Cause that moved God to doe all this for man wee finde to be two fold first Internall secondly Eternall The first is The meer Grace and free Mercy of God towards man and that because he would be mercifull unto man Because we can ascribe none other Cause of Gods Will which is the cause of all things but only this Quia voluit because it pleased him And therefore St. Paul attributeth our Redemption to the Riches of hâ—â— Grace 1. Eph. 6 7. Rom. 3.24 and so likewise in 3. Tit. 4. he saith that after the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed in us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Whereby you see the Apostle maketh the Kindenesse and Love and Mercy of God to be the first efficient principal Cause or Motive that moved God to send Christ to be the means to save us And St. Aug. in Psal 30. Idoe de nat grat saith That it is the ineffable grace of God that a man guilty of sin should be justified from sin And especialy against the Pelagian Heresie that magnified nature to vilifie and almost to nullifie Grace He saith That the grace of God whereby Infants and men of years are saved is not procured by deserts but tendered freely without merits And so Anselmus in Rom. 12. saith That because all men are shut up under sin the Salvation of man commeth not in the Merits of men but in the Mercy of God The second is Christ God and Man which purchased by his Merits that we should be justified in the sight of God because the chastisement of our peace was laidupon him that we by his stripes might be healed Isay 55.5 Secondly The material Cause of our justification actively considered is Jesus Christ And the benefits we have by Christ are especially two First Redemption Secondly Propitiation First Redemption is a word borrowed from the use of warres and it signifieth freedome from captivity And thus Christ is our deliverance First From the wrath of God Because he is our reconciliation unto God through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Secondly From the Tyranny and Dominion of sinne Because That obeying from the heart the form of Doctrine which is delivered us that is the Gospell of Christ we are made free from sin and are become the servants of Christ which is our Righteousness Rom. 6 18 Thirdly From the punishment of sinne Because it is against Justice that the punishment should be inflicted when the sinne is pardoned For sinne being the cause of punishment it must needs follow that sublata causa c. the cause being defaced the effect must be abolished Object But against this it may be objected That the sinnes of the Elect are pardoned and yet they are continually afflicted and as the Prophet saith Psal 73.13 Chastised every morning And therefore how can it be that albeit he forgiveth the guilt of their sinnes yet as the Prophet saith Psal 99.8 he punisheth their inventions Sol. I answer That the miseries of men before the pardon of sinne are the punishments of sinne but the afflictions of the Saints after the remission of their sinnes are not to be reputed penalties from Gods anger but exercises of his Servants and arguments of his love For as many as I love I rebuke and chasten Rev. 3.19 Heb. 12.6 c. And that for a double end First principally for our Salvation that wee may