Apostles was that which instead of helping forward did hinder and pervert the Gospel of Christ he applieth himself to them in this manner This onely would I learn of you Received you the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith By the works of the Law that is by putting of your principles into practice Nay may I not adde by putting of your principles into practice by a more bright and clear rule then in the beginning of your description is inserted by you for the Law as written and engraven in stones with the addition of all the Mosaical precepts was a more ample and full discovery of the mind of God then can be obtained by your virtues of Soul your purity of humane nature or the first principles of morals as they are written in the heart of man and originally dictates of humane nature Yet by these by following these by labouring to live up to the light of these their own experience told them that they neither could nor did obtain the enjoyment of the holy Ghost but that rather their now declining the word of Faith by which indeed they receive it at first whatever pretences of holiness and godliness were the arguments to prevail with them so to do was in truth none other but the very witch-craft and inchantments of the Devil Farther The Apostle sets this your Spirit and Principles and that which indeed is the Spirit of God in aline Diametrically opposite one against another yea the receiving of the one opposeth the receiving of the other Now we have received saith he NOT the Spirit of the World that is your Spirit and principles of humanity to walk by it or live in it but the Spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2. 12. But what is the Spirit of the World He tells us in the verse before it is the Spirit of a man which Solomon calls the Candle of the Lord that which searcheth all the inward parts of the Belly Prov. 20. 27. by humane principles good motions to moral duties workings of reason dictates of nature to obey God as Creator These things flow from the Spirit of a man which is the Spirit of all the World They that preach or speak by this Spirit they preach or speak of the World of the virtues of the World and the World the whole World heareth them or know in themselves what they say Now when this Spirit is received imbraced and followed as the Spirit that is of God then it must be branded with the mark of the Spirit of error and of Antichrist because the act in so doing is most wicked yea and Christ himself is made head against by it But I say the holy Ghost is not obtained by these principles nor by the pursuit of them 2. Faith is not obtained by the pursuit of your principle but by hearing of another doctrine He that presseth men to look to and live by the purity of humane nature principles of natural reason or by the Law as written in the heart or Bible he sets the word of Faith out of the World for these doctrines are as opposite as the Spirits I spake of before For Moses describeth the righteousness that is of the Law that the man that doth these things shall live by them Now he that receiveth this Law to do and live by he hath set up and is in pursuit of a doctrine of another nature then that which is called the righteousness of faith that being such as for justification aâ—d deliverance from the curse maketh no mention at all of hearing the Law or of doing good works but of hearing of the mercy of God as extended to sinners and of its coming to us through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus The righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead but what saith it The word is nigâ—h thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mâ—uth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 5 9. This then is the doctrine of faith or the righteousness with which faith hath to do Now as old covenantâ— works are begotten in men by the doctrine of works so faith is begotten by the doctrine of faith Therefore after he had said faith cometh by hearing â—e insinuates it to be the hearing the preaching of the Gospel of peace peace by the blood of the cross and the glad tidings of good things ver 14 15 16 17. of good things promised for the sake of the Lord Jesus not for the sake of good deeds done of us by humane principles or the dictates of our nature Faith Then the second essential comes into the heart not by the preaching or the practice of your principles but by another a higher and far more heavenly doctrine And hence the Apostle compleatly puts the difference betwixt the worker of good works in the Spirit of the Law and the believer that taketh hold of grace by Christ that he may be saved thereby The one he calls Them that are of the works of the Law the other They which are of Faith This being done he tells us that as they differ in the principles to wit of Faith and Works so they shall differ in conclusion For the Law is not of faith the promise is onely made to faith therefore they onely that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham 3. The third essential is a new Heart and a new Spirit or mind and this also comes not by your principle that being but the old covenant that gendreth to bondage and that holds its Ismaels under the curse for ever there comes no new heart by the Law nor new Spirit It is by the new Covenant even the Gospel that all things are made now Jer. 31. 33. Ezek. 36. Heb. 8. 2. 2 Cor. 5. 17 18 19. The Apostle after a large discourse of the two ministrations and their excellencies 2 Cor. 3. tell us that the heart is nothing changed so long as it abideth in the works of the Law but remaineth blind and ignorant Nevertheless saith he when it shall turn from the Law to the Lord the vail shall be taken away But what is it to turn from the Law to the Lord Why even to leave and forsake your Spirit and principles and works from those principles and flie to the grace and merits the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when the heart is turned to Christ then the vail of Moses is taken off wherefore then the soul with OPEN face beholding as in a glass the glory of
the Knowledge or Faith or Spirit of the Lord Jesus as it's Foundation or Principle Yea Nature was his Foundation even his own Nature was the Original from whence his Righteousness and good Works arose The next Scriptures also viz. 2 Cor. 7. 1. Rom. 12. 1. overthrow you for they urge the Promises as Motives to stir us up to Holiness But Adam had neither the Spirit of Jesus or Faith in him as a Principle nor any Promises to him as Motives Wherefore this was not that to which or which we Christians are Exhorted to seek the Possession of but that which is Operated by that Spirit which we receive by the Faith of Jesus and that which is encouraged by those Promises that God hath since given to them that have closed by Faith with Jesus The rest also in Pag. 29. not one of them doth promise us the Possession of the Holiness we have lost or any mercy to them that have it You add And whereas the Promises of Pardon and of Eternal Life are Frequently made to believing there is nothing more Evidently declared then that this Faith is such as Purifieth the Heart and is Productive of good Works Pag. 30. Answ. If the Promise be made at all to believing it is not made to us upon the account of the Holiness we had lost for I tell you yet again that Holiness is not of Faith neither was Faith the Effect thereof But 2. The Promises of Pardon though they be made to such a Faith as is Fruitful in good Works Yet not to it as it is Fruitful in doing but in receiving Good Sir the quality of Justifying Faith is this Not to Work but to Believe as to the Business of pardon of Sin and that not onely because of the Sufficiency that this Faith sees in Christ to Justifie but also for that it knows those whom God thus Pardoneth he Justifieth as ungodly Now to him that Worketh not but believeth Mark here Faith and Works are Opposed Now to him that Worketh not but Believeth in him that Justifieth the Vngodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness Rom. 4. You add farther That the Promises may be Reduced to these three Heads that of the Holy Spirit of Remission of Sins and Eternal Happiness in the Injoyment of God Answ. If you can prove that any of these Promises were made to the Holiness that we had lost or that by these Promises we are to be Possessed with that Holiness again I will even now lay down the Bucklers For albeit The time will come when the Saints shall be absolutely and perfectly Sin-less yet then shall they be also Spiritual Immortal and Incorruptible which you cannot prove Adam was in the best of his Holiness even that which we lost in him The Threatnings you speak of Pag. 35. are every one made against Sin but not one of them to drive us into a Possession of that Holiness that we had lost Nay contrariwise he that looks to or seeks after that is as sure to be Damned and go to Hell as he that Transgresseth the Law because that is not the Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Christ the Righteousness of Faith nor that to which the Promise is made And this was manifested to the World betimes even in that day when God drove the Man and his Wife out of Eden and placed Cherubines and a Flaming Sword in the way by which they came out to the end that by going back by that way they might rather be Killed and Dye then lay hold of the Tree of Life Gen. 3. Which the Apostle also Respects when he calleth the way of the Gospel the New and Living Way even that which is made by the Blood of Christ Concluding by this Discription of the Way that is by Blood that the other is Old and the Way of Death even that which is by the Morral Law or the Dictates of our Nature or by that fond Conceit of the Goodly Holiness of Adam Heb. 10. Your Fifth Chapter tells us that the Promoting of Holiness was the design of our Saviours whole Life and Conversation among Men Pag. 36. Answ. 1. Were this granted it reacheth nothing at all the Design for which you in your way Present us with it For 2. That which you have Asserted is That the Errand about which Christ came was as the Effecting our Deliverance out of that Sinful State we had brought our selves into so to put us again in Possession of that Holiness which we had LOST For that you say is the Business of your Book Pag. 12. Wherefore you should have told us in the Head of this Chapter not so much that our Saviour Designed the Promoting of Holiness in General by his life but that the whole Design of our Saviours Life and Conversation was to put us again into Possession of THAT Holiness which we had lost into a Possession of that Natural Old Covenant Figurative Ignorant Holiness But it seems you count that there is no other then that now lost but never again to be obtained Holiness that was in Adam 3. Farther You also Faulter here as to the Stating of the Proposition for in the Beginning of your Book you State it thus That the Enduing Men with inward Real Righteousness or True Holiness was the Vltimate end of our Saviours coming into the World still meaning the Holiness we lost in Adam You should therefore in this place also have minded your Reader of this your Proposition and made it manifest if you could that the Vltimate End of our Saviours whole Life and Conversation was the Induing Men with this Adamitish Holiness But HOLINESS and THAT Holiness is alone with you and to make it his End and whole End his Business and the whole Business of his Life is but the same with you But you must know that the whole Life and Conversation of our Saviour was intended for another Purpose then to drive us back to or to Indue us with such an Holiness and Righteousness as I have Proved this to be You have therefore in this your Discourse put an unsufferable Affront upon the Son of God in making all his Life and Conversation to Center and Terminate in the Holiness we had lost As if the Lord Jesus was sent down from Heaven and the Word of God made Flesh that by a Perfect Life and Conversation he might shew us how Holy Adam was before he fell or what an Holiness that our Holiness was which we had before we were Converted Your Discourse therefore of the Life and Conversation of the Lord Jesus is none other then Heathenish For you neither Treat of the Principle his Godhead by which he did his Works neither do you in the least in one Sillable Aver the First the main and Prime Reason of this his Conversation only you Treat of it so far as a mean Man might have considered it And indeed it stood not with your Design to Treat a right with these things For had
consideration 1. As it respecteth Christ. 2. Man 1. As it respecteth Christ so it concerns his compleating the Redemption of Man by himself by his own personal performances John 6. 38 39. Heb. 10. 5 6 7 8 9 10. 2. As it respecteth Man it doth first and immediately respect our believing on him for Remssion of Sins and Eternal Life And this is the Will of the Father which sent me saith Christ that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last day John 6. 40. This then is the will of God That Men do believe in Jesus Christ. Again when the Jews asketh Jesus Christ what they should do that they might work the works of God he did not send them first to the Morral Precept or to it's first Principles in the hearts of Men by obeying that to fit themselves for Faith but immediately he tells them This is the Work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent John 6. 29. This is the Work of God that is this is his Commandement that we believe in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ c. and love one another as he gave us Commandement 1 John 3. 23. If any Man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine that is as I have said he shall feel and have the Authourity of this Faith in his heart both to give Peace and Joy in his heart and assurance and the Sealing of his Soul to Glory For all these things come in upon believing First in Christ. 1. By Faith we have Peace with God Rom. 5. 1. 2. We have Joy and Peace through Believing Rom. 15. 13. 3. Assurance comes also through Believing Joh. 6. 69. Heb. 10. 22. 4. Yea and the Sealings up to Eternal Life In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise Eph. 1. 13. 5. Sanctification and a right obedient temper is not to be found in Men before but after they have believed He purified their hearts by Faith Yea Heaven and Eternal Happiness is promised to them who are Sanctified by Faith which is in Christ Act. 15. 9. Chap. 26. 18. This First Text therefore hath been by you abused in that you have ungodly strained it but in vain to make it warrant your Heathenish preparations to Faith The Second Scripture He that is of God heareth Gods Words ye therefore hear them not because you are not of God John 8. 47. Answ. This Scripture supposeth Men must first be of God before they can hear God's Word before they can hear it with the hearing of Faith and therefore nothing respecteth those that before they have Faith live in the Law of Works and least of all those that become obedient thereto that thereby they may obtain everlasting life For these are not of God not of him in a New Testament Sence not Sons because they are born of Men of the will of Men of the Law and according to the Wisdom of Flesh and Blood John 1. 12 13. Your Third Scripture is And as many as were ordained to Eternal Life believed Act. 13. 48. Which Text you thus expound That as many of the Gentiles as were disposed or in a ready preparedness for Eternal Life believed that is those which were Proselites of the Gate who were admitted by the Jews to the hope of Eternal Life and to have a Portion in the Age to come without submitting to the whole Law or any more then owning the God of Israel and observing the Seven Precepts of Noah Answ. 1. That obedience to the Morral Law is not a preparative to Faith or an excellent and necessary qualification to the right understanding of the Gospel I have proved 2. That to be a Jewish Proselite was to live in the Faith of Messias to come is the strain of all the Scriptures that have to deal with them 3. But that ordaining men to Eternal Life respects an act of the Jews or that the Jews did dispence with the Gentile Proselites in their casting off all their Laws but the seven Precepts of Noah 4. Or that God counted this a fit or forerunning qualification to Faith in Jesus Christ neither stands with the Word of God nor the Zeal of that People 5. Besides the Words presently following seem to me to insinuate more viz. That the Jews and Religious Proselites that adhered to Paul at his first Sermon verse 43. did Contradict and Blaspheme at his second verse 45. And moreover that it was they that raised Persecution upon him and expelled him out of their Coasts verse 50. When the Gentiles even those that were more Barbarously ignorant at his coming when they heard that by Christ there was offered to them the forgiveness of Sins they believed verse 48. and Glorified the Word of the Lord. The Wisdom of Heaven so disposing such of their hearts that were before by him not by Jews ordained to Life And as many as were ordained to Eternal Life believed But you come again in Pag. 269. to the Scripture first urged by you If any man will do his will c. and you tell us That this must also needs be implyed he shall rightly understand the Doctrine too Which word understand you so carry as may best help you in case you should meet with an Adversary As if any should thus object that here you have granted that the Words make promise of an understanding of the Gospel yea require in it the very first act of the will then you readily shift it by saying That this is implyed onely suggesting that obedience to Morrals is expressed and therefore muh first be thought on and done But if one of your Brotherhood stop here and make the objection then you add It is Knowledge at least in all the necessary points thereof absolutely necessary and Essential parts from among which you long since did cast out Coming to God by Jesus Christ Yea you add That by that which you call the design of the Gospel it may be presumed that whosoever considereth it with a design of being so that is of living up to Humane Principles and that desireth to be possessed again of the Holiness he hath lost for that is it for the proof of which you have Written above 300 Pages he must needs believe the Gospel to have come from God and also be inlightned in the true Knowledge of at least the necessary points of it viz. All Morral Duties contained therein which are never a one of them as such an Essential of the Gospel but are such Duties as are consequential to the belief thereof Wherefore although you feign it this honest temper as you call it will not help you 1. To judge of the Gospel without Prejudice nor 2. To evidence it with satisfaction nor 3. Secure those in whom it is from Error and Delusion No Man being more Bruitish or Heathenish nor so void of satisfaction about it nor
him by but as a Seal of the Righteousness of THAT Faith which he had being yet Vncircumcised Now we know that Circumcision in the Flesh was a Type of Circumcision in the heart wherefore the Faith that Abraham had before his outward Circumcision was to shew us that Faith if it be right layeth hold upon the Righteousness of Christ before we be Circumcised inwardly and this must needs be so for if Faith doth Purifie the Heart then it must be there before the Heart is Purified Now this inward Circumcision is a Seal or Sign of this That that is the onely saving Faith that layeth hold upon Christ before we be Circumcised But he that believeth before he be inwardly Circumcised must believe in another in a Righteousness without him and that as he standeth at present in himself Ungodly for he is not Circumcised which Faith if it be right approveth it self also so to be by an after Work of Circumcising inwardly But I say the Soul that thus layeth hold on Christ taketh the onely way to please his God because this is that also which himself hath determined shall be accomplished upon us But unto him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt but to him that Worketh not but Believeth in him that Justifieth the VNGODLY his Faith is counted for Righteousness Rom. 4. He that is Ungodly hath a want of Righteousness even of the inward Righteousness of Works But what must become of him Let him Believe in him that Justifieth the Ungodly because for that purpose there is in him a Righteousness We will now return to Paul himself he had Righteousness before he was Justified by Christ yet he chose to be Justified rather as an unrighteous man then as one Indued with so brave a Qualification That I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness away with mine own Righteousness I chuse rather to be Justified as Ungodly by the Righteousness of Christ than by mine own and his together Phil. 3. You Argue therefore like him that desireth to be a Teacher of the Law nay worse that neither knoweth what he saith nor whereof he Affirmeth But you say Were it possible that Christ's Righteousness could be imputed to an Vnrighteous man I dare boldly affirm that it would signifie as little to his Happiness while he continueth so as would a Gorgeous and Splendid Garment to one that is almost starved c. Answ 1. That Christ's Righteousness is Imputed to men while Sinners is sufficiently testified by the Word of God Ezek. 16. 1 8. Zech. 3. 1 5. Rom. 3. 24 25. Chap. 4. 1 5. Chap. 5. 6 9. 2 Cor. 5. 18 21. Phil. 3. 6 7 8. 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. Rev. 1. 5. 2. And that the Sinner or unrighteous Man is happy in this Imputation is also as abundantly Evident For 1. The Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law are both taken off by this Imputation 2. The Graces and Comforts of the Holy Ghost are all Intailed to and followers of this Imputation Blessed is he to whom the Lord will not Impute Sin It saith not that he is Blessed that hath not Sin to be imputed but he to whom God will not Impute them he faith Therefore the non Imputation of Sin doth not argue a non being thereof in the Soul but a Glorious act of Grace Imputing the sufficiency of Christ's Righteousness to Justifie him that is yet Ungodly But what Blessedness doth follow the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to one that is yet Ungodly Answ. Even the Blessing of Abraham to wit Grace and Eternal Life For Christ was made the Curse and Death that was due to us as Sinners that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Faith in Jesus Christ That we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith Gal. 3. 13 14. Now Faith hath it's eye upon two things with respect to it's act of Justifying First it acknowledgeth that the Soul is a Sinner and then that there is a sufficiency in the Righteousness of Christ to Justifie it in the sight of God though a Sinner We have Believed in Jesus Christ that we might be Justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law Therefore they that believe aright receive Righteousness even the Righteousness of another to Justifie them while yet in themselves they are Sinners Why do they believe in Christ The answer is That they MIGHT be Justified not because in their own Eyes they are They therefore at present stand Condemned in themselves and therefore they believe in Jesus Christ that they might be set free from present Condemnation Now being Justified by his Blood as Ungodly they shall be saved by his Life that is by his Intercession For whom he Justifieth by his Blood he saveth by his Intercession For by that is given the Spirit Faith and all Grace that preserveth the Elect unto Eternal Life and Glory I Conclude therefore that you argue not Gospelly in that you so boldly Affirm that it would signifie as little to the Happiness of one to be Justified by Christ's Righteousness while a Sinner as would a Gorgeous and Splendid Garment to one that is ready to perish For farther Thus to be Justified is Meat and Drink to the Sinner and so the beginning of Eternal Life in him My Flesh is Meat indeed said Christ and my Blood is Drink indeed And he that Eateth my Flesh and Drinketh my Blood hath Eternal or Everlasting Life He Affirmeth it once again As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that Eateth me even he shall live by me John 6. Here now is a Man an Hungred what must he feed upon Not his pure Humanity not upon the sound Complexion of his Soul nor yet on the Dictates of his Humane Nature nor those neither which you call truly Generous Principles But upon the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God which was once given for the Sin of the World Let those then that would be saved from the Devil and Hell and that would find a Fountain of Grace in themselves first receive and feed upon Christ as Sinners and Ungodly Let them believe that both his Body and Blood and Soul was offered for them as they were Sinners The believing of this is the Eating of Christ this eating of Christ is the beginning of Eternal Life to wit of all Grace and health in the Soul and of Glory to be Injoyed most perfectly in the next World Your Twelfth Chapter is to shew That Holiness being Perfected is Blessedness it self and that the Glory of Heaven Consisteth chiefly in it Answ. But none of your Holiness none of that inward Holiness which we have Lost before Conversion shall ever come to Heaven That being as I have shewed a Holiness of another Nature and arising from another Root then that we shall in Heaven injoy 2. But farther Your Description of
other then Barbarous Quakerisme the stress of their Writing also tending to no other purpose But you tell us That you scarcely admired at any thing more in all your Life then that any worthy Men especially should be so difficulty perswaded to receive or imbrace this account of Justifying Faith and should perplex and make intricate so plain a Doctrine Answ. And doubtless they far more groundedly stand amazed at such as you who while you pretend to shew the design of the Gospel make the very Essential of it a thing in it self indifferent and absolutely considered neither good nor evil that makes obedience to the Morral Laws more Essential to salvation then that of going to God by Christ that maketh it the great Design of Christ to put us into a Possession of that promiseless natural old Covenant holiness which we had lost long since in Adam that maketh as if Christ rejecting all other Righteousness or Holiness hath Established onely this Yea that maketh the very Principle of this Holiness to consist in a sound Complexion of Soul the Purity of Humane Nature in us a habit of Soul truly Generous Motives and Principles Divine Morral Laws which were first written in Mens Hearts and Originally Dictates of Humane Nature All this Villany against the Son of God with much more as bad is Comprised within less then the first sixteen â—ages of your Book But say you what pretence can there be for thinking that Faith is the Condition or Instrument of Justification as it complyeth with onely the Precept of relying upon Christ's Merits for the obtaining of it especially when it is no less manifest then the Sun at Noon-day that obedience to the other Precepts must go before obedience to this And that a Man may not rely upon the merits of Christ for the forgiveness of his Sins and he must be presumptuous in so doing and puts an affront upon his Saviour too till he be sincerely willing to be reformed from them Pag. 223. Answ. That the Merits of Christ for Justification are made over to that Faith that receiveth them while the Person that believeth it stands in his own account by the Law a Sinner hath already been shewed And that they are not by God appointed for another purpose is manifest through all the Bible 1. In the Type when the bloody Sacrifices were to be offered and an Atonement made for the Soul the People were onely to confess their Sins over the head of the Bullock or Goat or Lamb by laying their Hands thereon and so the Sacrifice was to be slain They were onely to acknowledge their Sins And observe it in the day that these offerings were made they were not to Work all For he that did any Work therein was to be cut off from his People Lev. 4. ch 16. ch 23. 2. In the Antitype thus it runs Christ dyed for our Sins Christ gave himself for our Sins He was made to be Sin for us Christ was made a Curse for us Yea but say you What pretence can there be that Faith is the Condition or Instrument of Justification as it Complyeth with onely the Precepts of relying upon Christ's Merits that is first or before the Soul doth other things Answ. I say avoiding your own Ambiguous terms that it is the Duty the indispensible Duty of all that would be saved First Immediately now to close in by Faith with that work of Redemption which Christ by his blood hath purchased for them as they are Sinners 1. Because God doth hold it forth yea hath set it forth to be received by us as such Rom. 3. 23. to 27. 2. Because God hath Commanded us by Faith to receive it as such Act. 16. And I add If the Jaylor was altogether ignorant of what he must do to be saved and Paul yet bids him then before he knew any thing else Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and he should be saved that then Believing even Believing on Christ for a Righteousness to justifie and save him must go first and may nay ought to be pressed even then when the Soul stands ignorant of what else he ought to do Act. 16. 30 31 32. But you say It is evident as the Sun at Noon-day that obedience to the other Precepts must go before obedience to THIS that is before Faith in Christ. Answ. This you say But Paul said to the ignorant Jaylor that knew nothing of the mind of God in the Doctrine of Justification that he should first believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and so should be saved Again when Paul Preached to the Corinthians The first Doctrine that he delivered unto them was That Christ dyed for their Sins according to the Scriptures c. 1 Cor. 15. 1 2 3 4. But what be these other Precepts Not Baptism nor the Supper of the Lord for these you say are as poor and inconsiderable as that of coming to God by Christ even all three things in themselves neither good nor evil but of an indifferent Nature they must be therefore some more weighty things of the Gospel then these possitive Precepts But what things are they It is good that you tell us seeing you Tacitely forbid all men upon pain of Presumption and of doing affront to Jesus Christ that they rely not on the merits of Christ for forgiveness till they be sincerely willing to perform them first yet I find not here one particular Precept instanced by you But perhaps we shall hear of them hereafter therefore now I shall let them pass You tell us farther that such a relyance as that of acting Faith First on the Merits of Christ for Justification is ordinarily to be found amongst Vnregenerate and even the worst of Men. Answ. This is but a falshood and a slander for the Unregenerate know him not how then can they believe on him Besides the worst of men so far as they pretend Religion set up your Idol in their hearts viz. their own good meanings their own good Nature the Notions and Dictates of their Nature living that little which they do live upon the Snuff of their own Light the Sparks of their own fire and therefore woe unto them But you add How can it be otherwise then that that act of Faith must needs have a Hand in Justifying and the special Hand too which distinguisheth it from that which is found in such Persons Answ. 1. There is no Act of Faith doth more distinguish true Faith from false and the Christian from the painted Hypocrite then that which first lays hold on Christ while the Person that hath it stands in his own esteem ungodly all other like your self being fearful and unbelieving Rev. 20. 8. despise it and wonder and perish Act. 13. 40 41. 2. And this Faith by thus acting doth more subdue Sin though it doth not Justifie as subduing but as applying Christ's Righteousness then all the Wisdom and Purity of Humane Nature or the Dictates of that Nature
Entertained Accepted and Imbraced of God That is an Excellent Word He is Chosen of God and Precious Chosen of God to be the Righteousness that his Divine Majesty is pleased with and takes Complacency in God hath Chosen Exalted and set down Christ at at his own Right Hand for the sweet Savour that he smelled in his Blood when he dyed for the Sins of the World 2. By his Ascention he sheweth how he returned Conqueror and Victor over our Enemies His Ascention was his going home from whence he came to deliver us from Death Now it is said that when he returned home or Ascended he led Captivity Captive Eph. 4. that is carried them Prisoners whose Prisoners we were He rode to Heaven in Triumph having in Chains the Foes of Believers 3. In that he Ascended it was that he might perform for us the Second Part of his Priestly Office or Mediator-ship He is gone into Heaven it self there now to appear in the presence of God for us Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him as indifferent a thing as you make it to be seeing he ever-liveth viz. in Heaven whether he is Ascended to make Intercession for them 4. He Ascended that he might be Exalted not onely above but be made head over all things to the Church Wherefore now in Heaven as the Lord in whose hand is all Power he Ruleth over both Men and Devils Sin and Death Hell and all Calamities for the good and profit of his Body the Church Eph. 1. 19 20 21. 5. He Ascended to prepare a place for us who shall live and dye in the Faith of Jesus John 14. 1 2 3. 6. He Ascended because there he was to receive the Holy Ghost the great Promise of the New Testament that he might Communicate of that unto his chosen ones to give them light to see his wonderful Salvation and to be as a Principle of Holiness in their Souls For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet Glorified But when he Ascended on High even as he led Captivity Captive so he received Gifts for Men by which Gifts he meaneth the Holy Ghost and the Blessed and saving Opperations thereof Luke 24. Acts 1. 2. Thirdly As to his coming again to Judgement that Doctrine is urged to shew the benefit that the Godly will have at that day when he shall gather together his Elect and Chosen from one end of Heaven unto the other As also to shew you what an end he will make with those who have not obeyed his Gospel Mat. 25. 2 Thes. 1. 8. 2. Pet. 3. 7 8 9 10 11. Now 't is true all these Doctrines do Forcibly Produce an Holy and Heavenly life but neither from your Principles nor to the end you Propound to wit that we should be put into Possession of our first Old Covenant Righteousness and act from Humane and Natural Principles Your Ninth Chapter is spent as you as you suppose to shew us the Nature and Evil of Sin but because you do it more like a Heathen Philosopher then a Minister of the Gospel I shall not much trouble my self therewith Your Tenth Chapter Consisteth in a Commendation of Vertue but still of that and no other though Counterfeited for another then at first you have Described Chap. 1. even such which is as much in the Heathens you make mention of as in any other man being the same both in Root and Branches which is Naturally to be found in all men even as is Sin and Wickedness it self And hence you call it here A living up to your feigned highest Principle like a Creature Possessed of a Mind and Reason Again While we do thus we act most agreeable to the right frame and temper of our Souls and Consequently most Naturally and all the actions of Nature are confessedly very sweet and Pleasant of which very thing you say the Heathens had a very great Sence Pag. 113. 114. Answ. No marvel for it was their Work not to search the deep things of God but those which be the things of a man and to Discourse of that Righteousness and Principle of Holiness which was Naturally founded and found within themselves as Men or as you say as Creatures Possessed with a mind and Reason But as I have already shewed all this may be where the Holy Ghost and Faith is absent even by the Dictates as you call them of Humane Nature a Principle and actions when trusted to that as much please the Devil as any Wickedness that is committed by the Sons of Men. I should not have thus boldly Inserted it but that your self did Pag. 101. tell me of it but I believe it was onely Extorted from you your Judgement and your Apollo suit not here though indeed the Devil is in the right for this Righteousness and Holiness which is our own and of our selves is the greatest enemy to Jesus Christ the Post against his Post and the Wall against his Wall I came not to call the Righteous puts you quite of the World but Sinners to Repentance Your Eleventh Chapter is to shew what a miserable Creature that man is that is Destitute of your Holiness Answ. And I add as miserable is he that hath or knoweth no better For such an one is under the Curse of God because he abideth in the Law of Works or in the Principles of his own Nature which neither can cover his Sins from the sight of God nor Possess him with Faith or the Holy Ghost There are two things in this Chapter that Proclaim you to be aâ—â—â—gnorant of Jesus Christ. â— First you say It is not possible a wicked Man should have Godâ—â— Pardon Pag. 119. Pag. 130. Secondly You Suppose it to be impossible for Christ's Righteousness to be Imputed to an unrighteous man Pag. 120. Answ. To both which a little briefly God doth not use to Pardon Painted Sinners but such as are Really so Christ dyed for SINNERS and God Justifieth the VNGODLY even him that worketh not nor hath no Works to make him Godly Besides Pardon supposeth Sin now he that is a Sinner is a Wicked man by Nature a Child of Wrath and as such an Object of the Curse of God because he hath broken the Law of God But such God Pardoneth not because they have made themselves Holy or have given up themselves to the Law of Nature or to the Dictates of their Humane Principles but because he will be Gracious and because he will give to his beloved Son Jesus Christ the benefit of his Blood As to the Second Head What need is there that the Righteousness of Christ should be Imputed where men are Righteous first God useth not thus to doe his Righteousness is for the stout hearted and for them that are far from Righteousness Isa. 46. 12 13. The Believing of Abraham was while yet he was Uncircumcised and Circumcision was added not to save