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
faults of your vain airie and insipid reasonings upon the matters themselves by you treated If you have foolishly and petulantly impugned not only the work of God and his Covenant in these Lands the Ordinances of the Government Discipline and Worship of his House but also endeavoured to unsetle and subvert the very foundations of Justification by Faith in Christ Jesus without the deeds of the Law a sent Gospel-ministerie determined Sacraments and Christian Liberty And if your N. C. pretending to be the Respondent hath on the other hand manifestly betrayed the Cause by such a faint ridiculous and absurd defence as you were pleased to suggest the folly of this your wrangling remaineth with your self alone the matters therein handled as they continow still to be the firme truths signal blessings and especial means given us of God for the declaring of his Glory and the promoving of our Salvation and are not by your discourse in the least prejudged so they are so farre from excusing that they greatly aggravat these jejune and gustless Methods wherewith you manage this your conference but foreseeing this censure you cunningly cast in our way the mention of better subjects whether with a designe thus to evade or by your insinuat distinction betwixt the forgoing matters as dry and arid and your subsequent speculations as these better things only to be pursued to drive on the deceit of an irreligious indifferencie so much at present studied by the Adversarie and his Emissaries let others Judge Two things only I must say 1. That to go about to smooth the World with the pretensions of sublime and Seraphick attainments and in the mean time from these hights as it were but really in a convenient accommodation to every guise whereunto carnal ease doth invite and outward peace perswade to slight despise and labour to relaxe from the conscientious observance of these ordinances and midses which the Lord hath given and appointed as the only way leading to himself and the felicity of his favour is the most delusive appearance of an Angelick light wherewith Sathan can possibly palliat his blackest enterprises 2. Though your subsequent discourse were much more sound and candid both in its tenor and scope then truely it is yet therein to figure your self to be as it were a new burning and shining light teaching your N. C. in such a strain as if all of us whom by him you personat were wholly ignorant of the truth of Religion both in its methods and ends and altogether strangers to its life is visibly more disingenuous and arrogant then sincerely charitable Say not that I am ill natured if you find these words a little more pointed it s you that hath sharpened them Nay if I should assume a furder confidence of boasting in behalf of the Lords Ministers and the true Seekers of his face found amongst us according to the measure of the grace which God hath distributed unto us and even become a fool in glorying for the abasing of your self-flatterie I do neither want a just provocation nor a clear precedent for my warrant But seing there are several things by you here proposed which may be for the use of edifying to a serious and considerat Soul and wherein a real union would indeed prove a most effectuall corrective both of sinistruous designes and evill mixtures I shall therefore wave the direct prosecution of such discoveries and wishing that that power light and life which is in true and pure Religion may indeed end all our differences I heartily join my assent to your subsequent discourse with all the harmony and affection that truth doth allow That some do place Religion wholly in debates others in external Forms others in some privat devotions others in the regulation of the outward man and others in certain inward speculations and self-devised strains are things not so strange as grievous but as to know the Father the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent is the summe and substance of Religion and Eternal life in which profession we are all agreed so it is the power of this knowledge descending from Christ Jesus our Wisdom and apprehending him for Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption which is mostly and most sadly wanting If in the conduct thereof men were abhorring and denying themselves and in the acknowledgement of him who hath called us unto Glory and Virtue laying hold on these great and precious promises which in Christ Jesus are all yea and amen then from the application of His Righteousnesse should the peace of reconciliation and joy in the Holy Ghost abound from the communication of his life and grace should the Divine seed propagat and diffuse it self through the whole man and from and by this truth and power of Religion Believers should be transformed into the likeness and image of God and rendered partakers of the Divine Nature by which it is manifest that as Christ Jesus is the only foundation so it is that in him alone there is Salvation neither is there any other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved The power as well as the reward of Natures light was long since forfeited in Adam and though in the succeeding Ages God left not himself without a witness in that he did good and gave the invisible things of him from the creation of the World to be clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead yet the ungodliness of men still prevailing and holding the truth in unrighteousness this weaker light served only to render them without excuse 't is true the Patriarchs were burning and shining lights but it was from Divine revelation and the oracles and promises of God in which they saw Christ's day and rejoiced and not from natures light that this their radiancy was derived The dawning opened by Moses had certainly a great splendour and therein Christ Jesus the end of the Law for Righteousnesse was very observably held forth but as it pleased the Lord to vail the glory of this discovery with many types and shadows not making it a great ridle as you do unadvisedly affirme but keeping and conducting that people under the Pedagogie of that more burdensome and severe dispensation until the fulness of the time should come so then it was that he sent forth his own Son a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel to bless them in turning away every one of them from their iniquities to turne them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctifyed by faith that is in him thus our Lord Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel and the great designes thereof not lying in that preposterous in coherent order by you represented are first by proposing to us that stupendious mysterie of the
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
consideration the matters of Decencie whereof both the conveniencie and use flows only from the common exigence of all humane actions do not fall And that this is the true notion of Christian liberty the Scriptures whence I take it and wherein it is so clearly distinguished from the Jewish bondage there also described Iohn 4. 21. Gal. 3. 4 and 5. Col. 2. are so plain that nothing can be added Only I observe that because by this liberty we are delivered from these performances whereunto the exercise of Religion requiring in every act of worship or service toward God the Faith and Conscience of a Divine prescript without which it is impossible to please him was formerly by Moses Law astricted Therefore it is indeed and is rightly termed liberty of Conscience which while you and others do conceive to be nothing else then a freedom to think things to be free in themselves that are not commanded by the Lord you do not only grossly mistake it as distinguished from the Jewish servitude but open a door to humane lust and invention to incumber and deprave the whole body of Religion and the worship of God with whatsomever fopperies they please to devise seing that in your opinion it is impossible that Christian liberty of Conscience can be thereby prejudged Now to prove that your exactions are high impingements upon this freedome I need not mention these compliances which you crave and are in effect directly opposite to the will of God but even your other ceremonies all added as in and by themselves significant to the worship and service of God without the warrant either of his word or of the common exigence of all performances and so thereby made Religious in their use and object and therefore certainly belonging to Conscience needeth no other argument to eviâ—ce it then the subsumption of a condescendence Having thus in some measure cleared what I proposed lest you or any other should account these things to be matters of meere doubtfull disputations I must adde that as it hath alwayes been observed that the greatest urgers of conformity in the externalls of humane invention have been very little if at all serious in the life and substantials of Religion so the great prejudice thence ensuing to the power and practice of Godliness partly by reason of the imposers evill lusts and ends partly by reason of that spirit of delusion to which they are given up and partly by reason of the vanity of the things imposed and the Lords abhorrence of them doth both discover that Mysterie of Hypocrisie and Wickedness which secretly worketh under these vain formes and should ever render them most odious to all the lovers of truth and holiness I might here further adde that as your impositions are invasive of Christian liberty injurious to Conscience and corruptive of the pure and acceptable worship of God and consequently such as no power on Earth can lawfully command them or we therein obey so were it but for the offence that may thence redound to the stumbling of the weak and hardening of the imposers to proceed from small beginnings to the grossest mixtures all conscientious Men may very justly be therefrom deterred but to this I shall speak at greater length 5. Having shewed that Paul's Christian civility doth make nothing for your imposed conformity and that to turne the free exercise of a charitable compliance unto a yoke of bondage is a perversion intolerable I shall summe up the whole matter with this brief reflection viz. that admitting the things required of us were only such externals and nothings as you would groundlessly perswade and that our forbearance had in it more of weakness then sound reason yet the free Spirit of Christianity which you alleage and Paul describeth Rom. 14. is so farre from urging us to your desired compliance that I am very confident to affirme that if the severest Non-conformist had had the rule to dictate pardon the supposition blessed be the Dictator he could not more manifestly and directly have condemned your rigid exactions in thir matters then the Apostle doth in this place I need not insist upon particulars the whole chapter is most expresse Let not him that eateth and you think all the points of the controverted conformity of no greater moment despise him that eateth not How do you then vex them with hard Laws and grievous pains more then you do heynous Malefactors Who art thou that judgest another mans servant Is a demand which one day will concerne Kings and Rulers more then any of their Subjects Why do they then judge Why do they set at nought their brethren for all shall stand and that on even ground before the judgement seat of Christ Let us not therefore judge one another but let us judge this rather that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way You assure us and seem perswaded that the things pressed are of themselves nothing but to him that esteemeth them unlawfull to him they are unlawfull and he that doubteth is damned if he do because he doth not of faith How then can you require this conformity and of how different a temper was the free and charitable Spirit of the Apostle who not only indulgeth the weak Non-Conformist but becometh such himself to evite his offence If thy brother be grieved with thy meat or with any of the matters now in debate for you make no difference now walkest thou spoken in my opinion to the Prince as well as Peasant not according to charity destroy not him with thy meat or your acknowledged humane inventions for whom Christ dyed Say not that the things in controversie being concluded by Law are no more free or in the condition of the things here mentioned for if not only judging and despising the Forbearer be here forbidden but even the conâ—raire practice when to him offensive how much more must the designed framing and strick executing of Laws for no other visible end then the violenting of scruplers and racking of their Consciences acknowledged by your self for the widest step to Atheism that can be made be in this Scripture condemned If you urge that to carry this indulgence so high is to frustrate all humane Laws seing the person unwilling to obey may alwayes pretend from Conscience the privilege of forbearance And as de facto you reason Any offender may decline Discipline and say that the thing being indifferent by command it becomes necessary and so a burthen of Conscience 'T is answered that as the burthen of Conscience doth not stand in a necessity by Divine precept of the things imposed otherwayes the Lords commandments that are certainly most easie should thence become most grievous but in effect in a forced obligation to practice in things wherein Conscience requiring the Lords warrant in order to his acceptation cannot at all finde it so the liberty and privilege here spoken to is only in order to Conscience viz. That
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
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
That being made free from sin and become servants to God we have our fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life Now then if there be a constraint in love and gratitude above the perswasion of fear and if the desire of reward be powerful above the apprehension of punishment these considerations are certainly cumulative and in our way above any thing that yours doth contain That I may therefore summe up this discourse anent the necessity of holiness Know that without holiness none shall see the Lord But hence it doth so ill follow that holiness by way of previous condition is to be joined unto our Faith in order to our Justification that on the contrary as God hath elected us in Christ Jesus to be holy so he also justifieth us through Faith in his Name not because we are but that in and by him we may be partakers of the glorious riches of his free grace in begun holiness here and consummat holinâ—ss in Glory hereafter and hereby is our obligation unto and study of holiness so far from being remitted that it is both promoved by the same standing fierie Law against all sin ungodliness and strengthened by that alsufficiency of grace which is in Christ Jesus for our compleating to whom through Faith we are united And lastly we are bound and encouraged unto it by all that is most binding in the Laws Authority and obliging in Divine bounty To all which this consideration may also be superadded that as the exercise of holiness remaineth with us still under the obligation of Divine precept and is certainly the end and effect of our acceptation in Gods sight so the same being the necessary consequence and inseparable effect of beleeving and thereby becoming its most assured test must upon this ground stirre up as effectually unto the truth and sincerity of Faith whence it flows and which doth again incite to the sincere closs and constant study of holiness by a reciprocal influence as your vain stating of it as a condition in our Justification doth but lamely perswade its persuite But I hasten to the last part of your discourse viz. That it is upon the necessity of holiness that we shall be solemnly judged justified and absolved at the last day I cannot now enlarge upon these mistakes that are again by you crouded into these few words it may here suffice that I tell you that it is without all doubt that on that day all men shall be solemnly judged according to the holy Law of God and therefore seing by the deeds of the Law there shal no flesh be justifyed in his sight The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that beleeve without the mixture or conjunction of our imperfect righteousness in the often forementioned respect is only thereby the more recommended 2. Where you say that it is upon this so understood necessity of holiness or upon our holiness that we shall be in that day solemnly justifyed and absolved you erre and impinge most grosly contrary to Scripture-evidence the value of Christs Righteousnesse the holiness of Gods Justice and the glory of free Grace as I have already demonstrat I grant indeed that in that day when our Lord shal gather into one welcome and appear glorious in all Beleevers he will also confess them before his Father and the holy Angels commemorate their charity and good works and in the exceding riches of his bountie reckon his own grace in them unto the increase of their reward but thence to inferre that it is upon our holiness that we are justifyed and absolved in Gods sight is destitute of all truth and reason Nay the very figure of that judgement wherever represented in Scripture bearing only in order to Beleevers their solemne reception and welcome from our Lord and Saviour as such who are already in him blessed and justifyed and by him redeemed and sanctifyed doth most plainly and powerfully confute it And thus I hope I have evidently demonstrat not in the language of men or in Schoole termes which on purpose I have declined but in the express revelation of the Gospel that that Doctrine of yours which you make your N. C. only to taxe as singular in its phrase and you your self do the more commend as being closely Scriptuâ—al is in effect both vain and antiscriptural in matter as well as expression What you mean by preferring the stile of the Catholick Church to Modern and Scholastical expressions under which the Doctrine of all the Reformed Churches is unavoidably comprised let others judge but as for the abuses which you mention viz. the presumption of such who love to hear of Salvation by the Death of Christâ— provided they be bound to do nothing themselves that they may be saved seing there can be nothing more engaging and effectual unto holiness then that which in Scripture termes we do assert viz. That we are saved and called with an holy calling not according to our works or doings but according to his own purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus the sin thereof remaineth with the Authors and pure and certain truth is neither thereby lessened nor ought to be stumbled at And therefore having fully redargued the falsehood of your Doctrine and the vanity of all your pretenses that I may once for all vindicat this most precious and important truth of Iustification by Faith only from all calumnie and warne all of that delusion which you would very unjustly make proper to our way I plainly and positively affirme that the study of holiness is a most necessary and indispensable dutie unto the justifyed Beleever 1. By the necessity of Divine precept at length above declared 2. By the necessity of loves constraint holiness being both amiable in it self and the high path way leading unto the seeing and enjoying of God who therein delights 3. By the force of fears perswasion in regard of Gods fatherly displeasure against all sin a motive most tenderly perswasive to all that are truely godly 4. By the obligation of gratitude which is indeed the cords of a man and cannot but powerfully engage the Beleever to the constant acknowledgement of God's free love and grace and to walk worthy of him who hath delivered us from death and called us with so heavenly a calling 5. For the manifestation to our selves of our faith and justifyed state to our own peace and comfort 6. For the adorning of the Gospel to the edification of others nay in a word if our felicity be in God if glory be our desire if free grace be the most powerfull attractive and sufficient help and if there be any dread and terror from Gods displeasure the study of holiness is by the united force of all these motives most strongly recommended and by the wonderful free love of God in our Justification through faith in Christ Jesus only yea infinitly intended In the next place your N. C. having acquit
such extenuations I verily think all circumstances considered their exigence duely ballanced that the deed was rash precipitant of evil example but wherefore accursed since against such a sacrum caput and a person self-devoted upon whom and his associats by executing justice both our Rulers and the whole Land may so certainly consecrate themselves unto the Lord that he might bestow a blessing upon us I confesse I hesitate In the next place you adde that though the providence of God sheilded one of your fathers toâ—ally from his fury and preserved the life of the other though with the losse or rather disabling only of his arm yet his malice was not to be blamed for that assassinations were only wanting to complete the parallel betwixt that Spirit and the Iesuits which is indeed the same moving in different characters But seing you would appeare so accurate an observer of Providence why do ye not also remember how easily and safely the invader did escape Surely whatever may be the moment of these circumstances of the sight of the Sun and the chief street of our royal City as to the aggravation for which you adduce them yet in order to this passage of the escape they are of a more important consideration to render it remarkable If you say that eventual impunity doth not argue innocency the retorsion is so just and manifest against your reasoning from the Bishops their providential preservation that I need not insist But this was an assassination only wanting to complete the parallel betwixt that Spirit and the Iesuits which is indeed the same moving in different characters Sir if I did intend the patrocinie of this fact I could tell you 1. That there can be no proper assassinat without an interveening price which in this case you do not so much as alledge 2. Admitting your meaning to be only of a deliberat insidiating murther yet I would have you to consider that it is from the matter and not from the manner that the guiltiness of many deeds doth principally descend For as we must acknowledge the greatest villanies to have been sometimes perpetrat in forme of justice so it cannot be denyed that very eminent acts of righteousness have been performed without any legal process as the deed of Phineas and the other examples above adduced with many such like Histories that might be alledged do plainly hold out and really when I consider but this one viz. how Saul's murthering of the Lords Priests and Iehu his killing of the Priests of Baal as to their summare manner of procedor of so near alliance nay that this later hath plainly in respect of the dissimulation used a worse appearance then the former I think this one reflection may direct you unto a more solid judgment in thir matters 3. The Iesuits their mischievous plots flowing from a pernicious principle enslaving mens consciences to an implicite compliance to their dictats without all regard to forms of justice and being levelled against innocent persons in order to their most wicked ends and designes are not only most remote yea most opposite to Naphtali's doctrine but nothing countenanced by this very fact wherewith you urge us But having above seriously disowned this rash and inconsiderat attempt and already cleared how that it is not only the matter but the concurrence of circumstances bearing such a pressing exigence as either cannot be satisfied by or needeth not to attend the ordinary course of law which doth sustain their more singular and heroick attempts your paralleling of that Spirit of Naphtali's I suppose so congruous both in principles and practice unto undeniable scripture grounds and precedents with that perverse and cruel one working in the Iesuites and making them to be the same moving in different characters is like unto the rest of these bold and groundless calumnies wherewith you study to reproach However it were to be wished that you who upon so unlikely grounds have the confidence to draw parallels were upon the other hand as ingenuous as to consider these most certain and evident arguments of pride violence falshood irreligion whereby your prelatick Spirit doth discover it self to be not only Jesuitick but unquestionably Antichristian and diabolick Now in the close and after having made it your work all along to brand any measure of zeal for God to be found amongst us with the characters of a â—our unsociable violent and cruel disposition you adde that you charge not this fact upon the party but acknowledge that all of them abhorre it but yet you subjoine that without all uncharitableness you may charge it on the Author of Naphtali And thus having before mentioned Naphtali as one of their Books and Authors at lest owned by them the vanity and deceit of this your insinuation is too too palpable But seing that which is crooked cannot be made streight it shall suffice me to say that as I have evinced Naphtali's doctrine to be none other then the just vindication of Phineas his practice copied from our first Reformers and also shewed that the fact which you do here objecte hath not thereon any rational dependence so your particular charge with all the foolish clamour of your party upon this account against Naphtali doth not so much reflect upon him as on Phineas and the Holy Ghost by whom he was acted After this you cause your N. C. complain of your design To make him regardlesse of the state of the Church and neglective oâ— the interest of Christ contrary to that tender affâ—ction we ought to bear him and the example of his Saints and only after the manner oâ— Gallio's indiffâ—rency And to this you Answer That all things have two sides and so this doctrine oâ— resignation on the wrong side seems like unconcerned stupiditâ— and yet rightly considered it is one of the highest pieces oâ— Christianity Whence you go â—n from the infinite Power Goodnesse and Wisdom of God to reprove the â—olly aâ—d presâ—mption of anxiety aâ—ent the Lords management oâ— matters specially the concâ—râ—â—ments of his Church and to perswade us to commit the â—ame to him and to rest securely on this thaâ— all things cooperat c. But still you say We are to concerne our selves in the good of the Churâ—h as by fervent soliciting of â—od in her behalf wâ—ereby our zeal for God's glory and charity to the Brethren are expressed so by improving all opportunities of doing good in as for as we are called upon all hazards Yet even in this we are with David not to meddle in matters too high for us And with Paul notâ— to sâ—retch our sâ—â—ves beyâ—nd â—ur line And with all not to let deâ—ecting melancholy possess our selves contrary to the end and contrivance of Reliâ—ion which is to beget in us â—verlaâ—ing joyes which by such sorrows are mostly marred Sir I have set down this passage at large not that I find in your answere abstractly considered any error seing it is very certain that the wrongs
by the Protestant and Popish Cantons with many other letters and declarations is but one evidence and that irrefragable against you What impudence is this then whereinto you are hardened But the Electors of Cullen amd the Palatine both Protestants lay neuters And what then Do we not know how rare a things it is in a time of danger for all concerned to unite even in the most uncontroverted duties Beside the Elector of Cullen was then recently deposed and excommunicate and his people specially his principal Clergie and he at great variance for the Reformation by him intended And the Palatine inclining to favoure in effect aiding the Princes with 400 horse was by the evil success of the war forced to retreat and excuse himselfe Next you adde That the Elector of Brandenburg and Maurice of Saxe armed for the Emperour And I grant That Albertus Ioannes Brandenburgici quanquam erant religionis Ioannes quidem etiam foederis Protestantium tamen quod Caesar non propter Râ—ligionem sed quorundam rebellionis ulciscendae causa belluâ— sucsipi diceret suam illi operam addixisse But as their resting upon Caesar's assertion and promise for the security of Religion was by all the circumstances of that war declared to be but an emptie pretext so Iohn's breach of faith in this his ingagement can as little be denyed as his relation of Son in law to Henrie of Brunswick then detained captive by the Langrave seemes to have been his great motive However it is certain that the Elector of Brâ—ndenburg for whom it is like that in your heedless way you take one of his above mentioned Brothers did stand off neuter endeavouring rather to mediate as the History testifies and we may see by his interposing betwixt the Elector of Saxe and Maurice at the seige of Lipsick As for Maurice his part it was indeed foulest and deservedly condemned by all equal Judges But seeing you can adduce no other argumeâ—ts for your pretended vindication then undeniable wrong and perfidy the truth and righteousness of that defensive war on the Princes their part against the Emperour needeth not my further patrociny And yet As if you had said something to purpose you have the boldness to conclude in these words So you may see what pitiâ—ul Hisâ—orians they are who alledge the precedent of Germany O os durum Who would not Laugh at such excessive confidence above the excuse of all possible ignorance The fourth instance which you go about to cleare is that of Sweden and you say That King Gustavus with the States of that Kingdome did in the Year 1524. peaceably receive the Reformation and who would not wish that Religion and Reformation might have had the same fate every where Neither were there any broils about it till after seventy years that Sigismond King of Polland the Son of their former King and therefore by them acknowledged though a Papist was by force entering the Kingdome resolving to root out the Protestant Religion Whereupon they deposed him no strange thing in the Sweedish History that being before an Elective Crown and but newly then become hereditary and the States still retaining the supreme Authority Sir I must confess that this is a passage whereunto I can make no reply your undertaking was to convince us by undeniable evidence of History of the falshood of that vuâ—gar error That the Reformation was carried on that is maintained as I have before shewed by resistance and here you give us an instance of a Kingdome not only resisting but deposing their King because of his invading of Religion Which in place of a vindication is a full and plain concession For as to what you insinuate that that Crown had been a little before Elective I told you upon the instance of Boheme that though it had been even for the time Elective yet it could not make for you much less when you acknowledge that then for as for your own or the Printers escape referring the change to the Year 1644. I urge it not it was become successive And where you alledge that the States did still retain the Supreme Authority if you understand it otherwayes then according to that power and priviledge which appertains to our Parliaments it is only your own fiction But you subjoyne that If this serve not to vindicat the Sweds at least the Reformation was not introduced by wars among them And pray Sir who of us did ever defend such a practice To introduce and to maintain are things so different that they can not be fairly confounded The last shift you make is That the actions of that state were never looked upon as a precedent to others But if so why then do you mention them and if they be indeed a precedent certainly it is hard to determine whether you be more false in your general assertion anent the establishing of the Reformation or ridiculous in this part of your vindication The fift instance you mention is That Denmark received the Reformation peaceably But seing this hypothese excluds the question controverted anent the maintenance of Religion by armes not casible without the antecedent violence It is evident that it is rather transiently then pertinently by you adduced The sixt instance is tabled by your N. C. thus But you cannot deny there was force used in Helvetia and Geneve Aâ—d to this you answere both in the manner and termes of your accustomed vanity That this shewes what a superficial Reader of History your N. C. is And then you tell us Tâ—at Zurich received the Reformation peaceably but being maligned by the other Cantons and by them injured at the Popes instigation it broke out into a civil war purely defensive upon Zuriches part Likeas the Cantons are not subject to one another but free States only united in a League It is answered that here upon the account of Religion there was force used in Helvetia is clear from your own narration How then do you taxe your N. C. for this allegeance as a superficial Reader of History As for that that it was used by one associat against another and not by subjects against their superior it is only accidental from the condition of these Cantons the other circumstances of that war And seing that neither the Gospel nor Reason do lay any special restraint upon subjects in case of their Superiors intolerable persecution because of Religion as I have already shewed this precedent is no small confirmation of the practices by us maintained 2. I must tell you further that this war on Zuriches part was not so purely defensive as you give it out in asmuch as it is certain from Sleidan 4. and 8. Books that the provoking injuries were for the most part committed upon their citizens without their territories and the first act of hostility by the interclusion of passages was done by these of Zurich so that although their guards were indeed surprised yet dating the war from the hostile interclusion