the simple enlightens the eyes But here he hath deceived himself with the ambiguity of the word Law which any smatterer in Divinity knows sometimes to be taken 1. Generally for the whole word of God as Psal 1.2 And most frequently all the Psalms through 2. Particularly and properly for the Decalogue or covenant of works given from the beginning but renewed upon Mount-Sinai Rom. 10.3,4,5 3. For the Gospel Isa 2.3 where it is said the Law shall go out of Sion So then as the Law in its primacy and proper signification doth signifie a doctrine and secondarily but most usually the doctrine of God so in Psal 19. it signifies the whole word of God which is in reference to that part of it only which holds forth Christ and Salvation gives life and light and wisdom that is the Gospel which is the power of God unto Salvation to the believer Rom. 1.17 So saith Calvin upon the place David here commends the whole doctrine of the Law as comprehending the Gospel and therefore including Christ in it So saith Mr. G. the ministers are said to open mens eyes by Preaching the word Act. 26.18 True but it is the word of the Gospel which is the ministration of the spirit Gal. 3.2 Which is the joyful news of the grace of God Act. 20.24 Whereby alone we are partakers of the promise Eph. 3.6 In which spiritual eyes are contained Isa 42.6 Faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10.14 By hearing of what or of whom The next ver will shew you As it is written how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace For the Law is not of faith Gal. 3.12 Sect. 13. The Dr. saith that the giving of Repentance is meerly the work of Christ here Mr. G. begins what shall I call it but to boast himself If I miscall it let the Reader judg We teach Repentance more and better than they Hereunto I shall say nothing but desire the Lord to open the mouths of all the Ministers of Christ that they may more abundantly preach true christian Repentance to a full and serious self-denial in all things That man may be taught to own the shame of his own doings that God may have the full glory of his free grace in Christ But Mr. G. suspects this word meerly when it is said that it is meerly the work of Christ to give Repentance Here I confess he hath picht upon the very point of all our differences All our controversies in a manner ly in this word meerly or onely That Christ onely and meerly Saves that he onely and meerly gives Repentance and Faith If we could but dispence to leave out this word the world would be at peace with us That it might be lawfull for them to say Christ and we Save Christ and we give Repentance and Faith Christ and we pacifie Gods Anger But utterly to thrust out man that he may have no finger in these matters makes him storm and fume and devise all manner of reproaches against us This word onely Faith i. e. onely Christ was the Apple of contention among the first reforming publishers of the Gospel What said one of the Worthies of former times Fulk de Christo gratis justificante do we seek after in Preaching in Writing in Labouring what do we else but that Christ only and meerly may be received by all as the Saviour and Redeemer of all Contrariwise your Popish opinions what do they breath what do they beat upon whither do they tend but to this one thing that Christ onely may not Reign alone in his Church That he onely may not Save and Redeem us by his self alone That he only and meerly may not be our high Priest who both made Satisfaction for our sins with one onely Sacrifice once made c. Though God hath established a ministry to preach Repentance yet hath he established none to give Repentance That is the peculiar prerogative of Christ After the Minister hath done his office by instructing in meekness those that are contrary-minded it remains still to be expected if God will give them Repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth 2 Tim. 2.25 Sect. 14. Of Faith I have spoken before in Sect. 12. how it comes by hearing Mr. G. demands further How he will make this good that Faith is the root of all gifts of grace seeing he saith Knowledg is wrought first Why did he put Repentance before Faith unless it went before it Or else doth he make Repentance and Faith the same To the first Question I Answer that the knowledg the Dr. speaks of is nothing else but the beginnings of Faith Neither doth the Scripture make such an accurate distinction between them Joh. 3.15 It is said that he that believeth on Christ hath Eternal Life Joh. 17.3 It is said that to know him is Life Eternal where Believing and Knowing are words of the same signification By his knowledg shall my Righteous Servant justifie many Isa 53.11 That is by Faith in him Also where Faith is called the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 This Evidence must needs include a knowledg So then knowledg as the beginning of Faith may be said to be wrought first and yet no gift precede Faith To the second why Repentance is mentioned before Faith I Answer as before that although Repentance go not before Faith yet hath it reference to that state which goes before Faith But that in nature nor time it doth not go before Faith I have partly manifested before And surely whatsoever is not Faith is Sin To his third Question whether we make Faith and Repentance all one I Answer no not adaequately Yet we say there is no Repentance truely acceptable unto God in whose difinition Faith is not And if Mr. G's observation be true we may call Repentance Faith and Faith Repentance and that by the Authority of the Scriptures Pag. 73. in marg Surely this is putting a less difference between them 4. He finds much fault with the Dr. although for ought I see he is guilty of the same himself that he hath not defined Faith and Repentance And this he tells us Cato-like he must needs note as a gross oversight if not a wilful neglect To this I Answer 1. That the same definition of these that he shall find in the Scripture I will find in these Sermons And therefore Mr. G. should not have passed his Censure till he had made a better search 2. If he had made an exact and logical definition it may be Mr. G. would not have been satisfied FINIS Books Sold by Will. Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street Books Lately Printed of Dr. Owen's 1. THE True Nature of a Gospel Church and its Government wherein in these following particulars are Distinctly handled I. The Subject Matter of the Church II. Formal Cause of a particular Church III. Of the Polity Rule or Discipline of the Church in General IV. The Officers of the Church V. The Duty of Pastors of Churches VI. The Office of Teachers in the Church VII Of the Rule of the Church or of Ruling Elders VIII The Nature of the Polity or Rule with the Duty of Elders IX Of Deacons X. Excommunication XI Of the Communion of Churches In large Quarto Price bound 3 s. 2. A Treatise of the Dominion of Sin and Grace Price bound 1 s. 3. A Brief and Impartial Account of the Nature of the Protestant Religion its State and Fate in the World its Strength and Weakness with the Wayes and Indications of the Ruin or Continuance of its Publick National Profession Price 6 d. 4. A Brief Instruction in the Worship of God and Discipline of the Churches of the New Testament by way of Questions and Answers with an Explication and Confirmation of those Answers Price bound 1 s. Where you may be Likewise supplied with the Rest of Dr. Owen's Books that are in Print
been pleased to establish our hearts with his free Spirit which David Prayed for Psal 51.12 and restore us somewhat sooner than he did David to the joy of his Salvation are we therefore not of Davids spirit And so as the Apostle saith we having the same spirit of faith according as it is written to wit of David I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe that the Lord for his own SONS Sake alone hath done away our iniquities as a cloud and our transgressions as a mist and that he will remember our sins no more and therefore speak 2 Cor. 4.13 But what is to be thought of Godly sorrow for sin and how we approve of it and practise it if there be not instead thereof obtruded upon us an inforced howling for wine and oil and self-love inconsistent with true faith and the genuine effects thereof I have spoken of it before Sect. 10. Hence the Dr. inferreth by way of answer to an objection That it is the power of Christ and the Beauty of Holiness that draws out the spirits of Gods people to a willing service unto him and not the fear of Damnation Psal 110.3 Here Mr. G. Answereth that therein the Dr. contradicts what he said before Pag. 37. That God hampers Ephraim meaning by chastisements Why so Hath God no way of chastising but by threatning Damnation Hath a father no other way to nurture his son but by threatning to hang him up strait or to run him through I Answer that here he speaks of a people as converted and believing But what he spake of Ephraim he spake of him in reference to his unconverted estate and so not speaking of the same M. G. may easily perceive there can be no contradiction That which he adds that Christ threatned the damnation of Hell to some Pharisees Matt. 23.33 And diverse other times to several Churches in the Revel Chap. 2. 3. is altogether as impertinent as the former because none of these places speak of particular believing Christians but either of notorious hypocrites and unbelievers or else of mixt congregations consisting of chaff and wheat which when he saith he will burn up with unquenchable fire he is to be understood of the chaff only for he hath promised to gather the wheat into his garner Matt. 3.12 Neither doth the Scripture any where determine by way of Sentence or denounce by way of threatning that the truly faithful if they sin so or so they shall be damned but the clean contrary namely that he that believeth in the Son of God hath Eternal life and shall not enter into condemnation but is passed from death to life Joh. 5.24 Sect. 11. The Dr. here affirms that the grass and pasture that Christ hath put a believer into is so sweet that though their be no bounds to keep in such a Soul yet it will never go out of this fat pasture to feed in a barren common This he hath said saith Mr. G. but not proved that the Pasture is so sweet Surely he might well have thought that none professing himself a Christian would have denyed it For the common pasture of all the faithfull is that which David speaks of Psal 23.2 He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters or the waters of comfort This is the table which the Lord prepareth for his people at which he maketh their cup to run over ver 5. How can they then but conclude with David in ver 6. surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life And therefore I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever I shall have no desire or delight to follow after lying vanities for they are vain He cannot but rejoyce that his lot is fallen in so good a ground that he hath so goodly an heritage for the Lord is the portion of his inheritance therefore doth he conclude with Peter here are the words of Eternal Life and whether shall we go Joh. 6.68 The grace and favor of God through Christ enjoyed by faith is that fountain of living water which is in the bellies of the faithful continually bubling forth unto Eternal life whereby they never thirst again to wit after those loathsome and stoln waters which although they may seem sweet to them that have tasted no better who therefore long after them yet to the faithful that have tasted that the Lord is gracious who have found that the loving kindness of the Lord is better than Corn than Wine and Oyl than any of the pleasures of Sin or promises of the World yea than life it self They cannot forsake those fountains of living water to hunt after broken cisterns which they know will hold no water But saith Mr. G. His Christ differs from the true Christ Oh! Mr. G. take heed what you do Our Christ is no other but the only begotten Son of God The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords The Christ of the Patriarchs of the Prophets of the Apostles of all the Saints of God in all Ages We have no peculiar Christ but him that came into the world to save sinners Take heed of stumbling at that stumbling stone which on whomsoever it falls it grinds them to powder And I beseech every one who hath the least dram of reverence unto the Lord Jesus Câ—rist to consider seriously whether here was any the least occasion given to speak thus reproachfully of the Lords Christ or of imagining any other Christ But the true Christ saith Mr. G. told his Disciples that dreamed of such dainties that they must drink of a bitter cup of Affliction What then Shall Christ therefore not be sweet unto them Doth not he himself say that in him they should have peace though in the world they should have tribulation Is not he an hundred fold recompence unto them even in this life for all their losses Mat. 19.29 whereby the bitter cup of affliction is so sweetned unto the truly faithful that they even rejoyce in tribulation Rom. 5.2 Some of the Disciples indeed dreamed of carnal dainties and a temporal Kingdom to sit upon Thrones And let them be told of such dreams of dainties that look for Quiet and Wealth and freedom from the Cross that hope by the assistance of the Sword of the Magistrate to crush all not only that oppose them but that do so much as dissent from them even in the smallest matter let those if there be any such be told of their carnal dreams As for us we have no such thought of freedom from the Cross so long as Ishmael is alive and abides in the house that is until the Lord of the house shall come who shall utterly cast out the bond-woman and her son who shall gather out of his Kingdom every thing that offendeth And notwithstanding we know that although the Cross be not joyous but grievous to the flesh yet is the spiritual bitterness of it taken away ever since
Vindiciae Evangelii OR A VINDICATION OF THE GOSPEL WITH THE Establishment of the Law BEING A Reply to Mr. Steven Geree's Treatise ENTITULED The Doctrine of the Antinomians Confuted WHEREIN He pretends to Charge divers Dangerous Doctrines on Dr. Crisp's SERMONS as Anti-Evangelical and Antinomical The Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets Rom. 3.21 Do we make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law v. 31. Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed c. Rom. 8.33,34 The Stone which is set at nought by the Builders is become the Head of the Corner Act. 4.11 Psal 118.22 By ROBERT LANCASTER Late Minister of the Gospel sometime at Quarly and Amport in Hampshire LONDON Printed for a Friend of the Authors and Sold by Will. Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street 1694. To the Reader READER IT may be expected by thee to have some short account of the late Reverend and Learned Author of this Treatise concerning whom they that knew him well can say That his Worth was little known in the World his whole LIFE being spent in a Retiredness from it for the most part It is the same Robert Lancaster who Wrote the Preface prefixt to Dr. Crisp's first Sermons where may be seen what design he prosecuted in his after-Writings in the Defence of the Doctrines delivered by the said Dr. Crisp and where may be had a taste of his sweet and gracious Spirit wherein he was a Teaching Example to all that were acquainted with his ordinary Conversation He walked in a chearful serious practice of Holiness and though his pilgrimage here was attended with a succession of great outward Afflictions yet he seemed to bear them without Murmurring and to live by Faith much above them Not long before he finished his Course here it was that he together with others were Removed from the Publick Exercise of his Ministry which was attended with many difficult Circumstances as to his outward concerns But yet the Bitter Opposition that had been and continued to be made against some great truths of the Gospel by persons of no small Figure caused him to set himself to the Vindication of them and to shew the great Mistakes of Mr. Rutherford Mr. Gataker Mr. Burgess and Mr. Geree and their Misrepresenting great Truths and in their Injurious charging of persons which he performed in a spirit of Meekness wherein he excell'd and manifested it in publick as well as private Disputes upon the same account when called thereto and with no less dexterity being thereto furnished not only by a distinct Understanding of Divine Mysteries but a great Accurateness in the knowledge of the Originals and of all the Oriental Versions being it may be one of the exactest Gramarians in all those Languages as well as in the other of his time He Published little in his Life being a man of a most peaceable and humble Disposition of great backwardness to shew himself whether this his Inclination or some other Reason hindred him from Publication of his Writings it is not easie to determine now neither is it of concern to us but whatever was the Reason delayed it was and God called him home to himself to rest from his Labours some of which the Intelligent Reader may see do here follow him for so God would have it to be his Friends entrusted with his Manuscripts of which more may follow this as a First Part being fully perswaded that they had a loud Call of Providence to bring out this Light that had so long been kept under a bushel and hold it forth now as in a seasonable time to the Church of Christ And lest any should be hindred from the benefit of it by a prejudicate opinion That the said Author was an Antinomian and Libertine an unbyast mind may be satisfied from his Preface to Dr. Crisp that he was neither if he retain a right Understanding of what those Sects hold and will but duly weigh what this Holy Man saith there in the just Vindication of himself and others from that Charge Part of which only for brevity sake and for the information of such as have not read the said Preface or have it not by them we may rehearse here As for us we make not void the Law but establish it We Affirm That it remaineth in its full force and power not only of commanding but also of Exacting and Terrifying of Cursing and Punishing every Son of Adam that is under it without abatement of the least jot or tittle and whether this be Antinomianism or no let the Church of Christ consider and Judge by the Word of Christ And as for the Imputation of Libertinism if they mean that which Calvin Chargeth the Libertines with in his Book against them We utterly disclaim it c. Here it is most manifest That he is not for the vacating of the Law neither as to Precept or Sanction but holds exactly with the Assembly in this Point whereto Others that are so ready to make this Charge have sufficiently declared their Contrariety But yet it is not to be avoided but notwithstanding this or what else can be spoken some Men regarding not so much as common Ingenuity may charge the Doctrines here defended for Antinomianism as the Antagonists to them in his time did and many at this day do and no wonder if we are not without such now who brand the Preaching of the Gospel to distressed Consciences The pardoning of Sinners as Sinners And divers other Vital Doctrines of the Gospel for such Heresie yea ridicule and scoff at the inviting of wretched miserable Sinners unto Jesus Christ Must we therefore loath and abhor these Glorious Fundamental Truths because some men pretending their Figure in the Churches do thus reproach them No God forbid though this may be a stumbling-block laid before the eyes of the Blind yet Wisdom shall be justified of her Children and none shall always beguile them with enticing Words or affrighten them by cloathing Truth in a Bear-skin For such as have once truly tasted the Lord is gracious will not be soon moved from him who hath called them to Glory and Vertue according as his Divine Power hath given unto them all things that pertain to Life and Godliness through the Knowledge of him But as they have received Christ so they will walk rooted and built up in him established in the Faith as they have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving As for the ensuing short Treatise and what may follow if God please they will undoubtedly recommend themselves to the candid acceptance of the Intelligent and Unprejudiced Reader by their own Weight and Evidence taken from the Word of God and therefore need not a Prefatory Recommendation neither is it any way meet to impose upon the Reader or anticipate his Judgment by any Human
unto us Eternal life and this Life is in his Son 1 Joh. 5.10,11 Here by unbelief it is apparent that not only the truth of God but also the sufficiency of that life laid up for us in his Son is questioned by him that chargeth Damnation upon himself Nay saith Mr. G. they do only question their own faith Surely he that questions his faith so as to charge Damnation upon himself questions the Author and Finisher of his Faith For how is he the Finisher of it if it fail even to Damnation He Questions the Virtue of the Death and Satisfaction of Christ whereby a faith that shall not fail is purchased Phil 1.29 He Questions the Power of God which is engaged to maintain our Faith even unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 But that is unsufferable which Mr. G. hath vented in the foregoing words That they do more wrong to those poor souls in saying so than these do unto Christ. Is there any comparison between man and God Is the greatest injury that can be done unto man precisely in that consideration which is the case in hand seeing it is opposed unto the injury done to Christ comparable in heinousness to the least injury against Christ Surely as the least work of Christ by the dignity of the person is of more Worth and Merit than any than all the Works of the rest of the sons of Adam yea of Adam himself in his Innocency yea of the Angels in Heaven So questionless the injury done against Christ is by the same dignity of his person of a deeper stain and demerit as the School speak than the greatest injury that can be done to the best of the sons of men which are but worms Job 25.6 Yea all Nations in comparison of him are but as the neglected drop of a bucket but as a small dust in a ballance that hath no weight to turn the scale hither or thither yea less than nothing Esay 40.15,17 The Lord preserve his People from such undervaluing words or thoughts of the Lord our Righteousness Sect. 9. The Doctor Objecteth from the mouths of some That if there be no fear of Damnation then men may do what they list No saith the Dr. Christ is the guide of his people he takes as strict order to restrain and keep in the Spirit of a man as to Save him Here observe that that Slander which is frequent in Mr. G. and others namely That a man Believing in Christ may continue still in his Wickedness was alwayes far from his mouth and thoughts But saith Mr. G. may not a man suspect himself to be no True Believer when he cannot see that Christ hath taken such strict order as to restrain and keep his spirit from such sins I Answer no he may not adde Unbelief unto his other sins He ought to walk by Faith though he cannot by Sight 2 Cor. 5.7 He ought to remember That this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation and therefore of his present acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 He ought to imitate David Wherefore should I fear in the day of evil when the iniquity of his heels compasseth him about Psal 49.5 He ought rather to give unto the Lord the glory of his Grace the glory of the Righteousness and Expiation of his SON Thou needest not fear saith Dr. Preston of Gods alsufficiency pag. 91. that thy disobedience if thou beest once within the covenant will cause the Lord to depart from thee that so thou shouldst charge Damnation upon thy self for he will not be unfaithful to thee though thou be weak in thy carriage to him For he keepeth covenant for ever He doth not suspend his promise of help upon our Disobedience That weighty saying of Luther is very considerable upon Gal. 5.2 When that great Dragon that old serpent the Devil who deceived the whole world and accuseth our brethren and in the presence of God day and night cometh and layeth to thy charge that thou hast not only done no good but hast also transgressed the Law of God say unto him Thou troublest me with the remembrance of my sins past thou puttest me also in mind that I have done no good But this is nothing to me For if either I trusted in mine own good deeds or distrusted because I have done none Christ should both wayes profit me nothing at all See also what the Holy Martyr Mr. Bradford answereth to this inference of Mr. G. in a Letter to Mrs. H. If we want this obedience and worthiness which he requireth should we doubt whether he be our Father Nay saith he that were to make our obedience and worthiness the cause and so to put Christ out of place for whose God is our Father But saith Mr. G. I do not say that any sin can cut off a true Believer from Christ or hinder his Salvation If this be true then may he not suspect the contrary which Mr. G. affirmed in the immediately foregoing words But saith he it must needs shake his hope and confidence and hinder his consolation What a thing doth de facto and what it ought to do de jure and of right are not all one And therefore this is not to the purpose We confess that all sins both original and actual great and small have this as their natural and continual effect that they wound the Conscience that they enfeeble the confidence that they damp the consolation of a Christian and so do as it were becloud the Heavens between us and the appeased face of God our Father which cloud is no otherwise dispelled but by the appearance of the Sun of Righteousness Faith ascending up even through the blackest cloud that is all darkness and no light and laying hold on the Propitiation But he tells us We are not of Davids spirit that are so little troubled for gross sins but can presently close with Christ upon such foul Falls Answer 1. Here Mr. G. goes beyond his knowledge No man knoweth the things of man but the spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 But the heart knoweth its own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joâ—… Prov. 14.10 But 2. Suppose the Children of God having less light of the Redeemer were thereby more under the spirit of bondage unto fear than the Children of the New Testament are who have received the spirit of Adoption to cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 we have the more cause to praise the Lord that hath reserved better things for us Heb. 11.40 than he did for many Prophets and Kings who have desired to see the things which we see and have not seen them and to hear the things which we hear and have not heard them Luke 10.24 to wit the full Revelation of the Mystery of the Gospel of Peace which in other Ages was not known as it is now in the time of the New Testament reavealed Eph. 3.5 I say if God hath
as a Christian wherefore he exhorts them not to be ashamed of it but to glorify God in this respect and then subjoyns the words which Mr. G. hath alledged And thus if the Christian Reader will wisely observe the drift of the Holy Ghost he will not easily be carried away with such impertinent and perfunctory allegations of Scripture Also he may easily see that this is an effectual and truly Christian humbling Doctrine not a snarling against Humiliation as Mr. G. would perswade To see the overflowing bowels of the Lords tenderness towards us that he will not any more call our sins to remembrance or suffer the least evil for them to come nigh our dwellings The discovery of this unmeasurable and undeserved love opens the heart effectually to a true serious and humble acknowledgment with Jacob that we are less than the least of all his mercies and loving kindnesses that have been ever of Old Gen. 30.10 Sect. 7 8 9. Here the Dr. affirmeth that altho' a faithful man should be overtaken with some gross fault yet ought he not to add thereunto unbelief by serving a writ of Damnation upon himself neither ought any other to do it For saith he thou that art ready to charge damnation upon thy self thou doest the greatest injury to the Lord Jesus Christ that can be For in it thou directly overthrowest the fulness of the grace of Christ Here Mr. G. although he grant the matter that none ought to charge Damnation upon another Yet lest he should altogether want matter of a Quarrel he lays to him 1. The unnecessary use of Logick because he proves what he saith though for any Terms of Logick he here useth none 2. Of Law-Terms because he useth the Phrase of serving a Writ of Damnation 3. Of Exceeding Heat because he saith it is a desperate thing in any man to serve such a Writ I entreat the Christian Reader to pardon me if I pass by such trivial Cavils which to recite is to refute which serve to nothing but to blot Paper to engender strife to hinder men from more weighty and serious Matter Sect. 8. But is the charging Damnation upon a mans self the greatest injury that can be done to Christ I Answer that to stretch such expressions as these upon the tentors is a very uncourteous thing When a man dehorts another from any vice what is more usual then to tell him that such a vice such a course is the most dangerous way he can go in that such company is the most dangerous company he can consort with Were it not a frivolous thing to draw such manner of speeches to the exact laws of comparison What sin saith Luther can be more execrable or horrible than to reject the grace and refuse that righteousness that commeth by Christ Which every one doth for the time he doth not believe it And a little after This Blasphemy is more horrible than can be expressed There is no sin which Paul and the other Apostles did so much detest as the contempt of grace and the denial of Christ and yet there is no sin more common And a little after he tells us further that all the world do so And upon the next ver 21. He adds that as the whole world do this so especially such as will be counted more Holy and Religious than others Were it not a frivolous thing to alledg that the false Teachers amongst the Galathians might have been more execrable in their Blasphemy if they had utterly excluded Christ For now they went about to joyn the Law together with him for justification But this saith Mr. G. is the next way to make men believe they have sinned against the Holy Ghost Is it so to tell them that they ought not to charge Damnation upon themselves To charge the sin against the Holy Ghost upon themselves is inevitably to charge Damnation upon them which he so earnestly dehorts Yea but the greatest injury to the Lord Jesus is to sin against the Holy Ghost So that if they that have charged Damnation upon themselves have done the greatest injury to Christ then have they sinned against the Holy Ghost I Answer that where Christ hath distinguished we ought not to confound Christ hath said there is Sin and Blasphemy against him and there is Sin and Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost He saith that all Sin and Blasphemy against him shall be forgiven unto men but the Sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Now here Mr. G. goes about to overthrow this distinction of Christ telling us that the greatest injury to Christ is the sin against the Holy Ghost but he must pardon us if we take Christs word before his at least till he have proved it better for here he offereth no proof at all but his own word directly against Christs Matt. 12.31 But surely saith he those that curse and swear by the name of the Lord Jesus by his blood and wounds c. And such as deny Christ at Peter did and persecute him as the Scribes and Pharisees did do greater injury to Christ than they that charge Damnation upon themselves for their past sins Oh Mr. G. You look with the Pharisees to much upon the outside These sins are more outward and obvious and are more sensible than the secret unbelief of the heart Is unbelief therefore less wicked Is it not the fountain from whence all these wickednesses flow Was it not want or weakness of faith that brought out all these you mention You should rather have gathered from such horrible effects the greater horribleness of the cause You know the ordinary Axiome Quod facit tale est magis tale 1. As unbelief bringeth forth all wickedness so it is the greatest of all wickedness 2. Which is more pertinent to the present purpose Unbelief as I have often heard Mr. Reinolds whom you cite in your Preface say is that which binds all the load of a mans other sins upon his back and thereby it is the main condemning sin If a man have received many deadly wounds yet if there be one medicine that would certainly heal them all and but one the rejection of this one medicine must needs be worse and more dangerous and destructive than all the wounds And the Dr. saith that such unbelief directly overthrows the fulness of the grace and satisfaction of Christ See here the Courtesy of Mr. G's Language He will not say this is a direct lye But it is utterly false Why For saith he when they thus charge damnation upon themselves they do not question Christs Satisfaction or Fulness of grace but their own Faith and Condition fearing they are none of Christs Here is a good boulster and Apology for unbelief It doth not question Gods Grace but the Apostle John is of another mind He that believeth not hath made him a Lyar because he hath not believed the Testimony that God gave of his Son This is the Testimony that God hath given