in Sins and Trespasses and there must be an Almighty Power put forth to quicken them besides the bare Call Turn ye turn ye It is God that must work both the Will and the Deed for without me saith Christ you can do nothing If so what is the Call to turn without the Spirit of God effecting the turn but a manifestation of God's Right to command which you may call the triumph of the Law You will not say that God hath lost his Right to command us to turn to him though we are dead and are not able to turn till there goes forth from God with his Call an Almighty saving Power of turning us to him and on this account the Church prays Turn thou me and I shall be turned Jer. 31.18 And till then the Call is but God's triumphing in his Sovereignty in the Law over poor dead Sinners §. XLIII The eighteenth is a very weak Heresie though a long one and in truth no more a Heresie than 't is Heresie to say Christ took not the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham but however this comes in the Bed-roll to fill up the number and 't is thus The Eternal Life in which the Angels were created and confirmed by Christ differs from that Eternal Life which Believers have in Christ The one is a Creature Life or a created Life the other is the Eternal Life of God communicated in time This though not of the Essence of Christianity or a Fundamental may be a little explained and so it will appear that it is no Heresie But some Persons are glad of a small Occasion to quarrel The only Ground for quarrelling at this Expression is That the Life of a Believer is the Eternal Life of God by which I suppose is meant of God-Man the Lord Jesus Christ Now take it in that Sense then Christ being the Life of every Believer they have the Eternal Life of God-Man in them so as the Angels have not Christ took not their Nature they are not Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones and Believers are Eph. 5.30 He is not their Resurrection and Life as he is the Believers Is it not a great Truth that by Vertue of their Union to Christ by Faith in his Flesh and Blood the Flesh and Blood of him who is the Eternal Son of God they have that Eternal Life in them from him which the Angels have not As to the Eternal Life which the Angels have and shall enjoy what is it but a created Life Whereas the Life of Christ in his Saints and with them to all Eternity is their participation of his Life as he is more than a meer Creature as he is God-Man and they one with him partaking of the Divine Nature as the Branches partake of the very Nature of the Vine not that they are Godded with Christ God-Man but in an ineffable manner they partake of his Divine Nature being made one Body incorporated into him and so one with him which must comprehend an Eternal Life being in them which is more than meerly created they being filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.19 That is as they have Christ in them the hope of Glory in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead Bodily but in Believers he dwells only Spiritually §. XLIV The nineteenth they make a great one viz. That Believers are as Righteous as Christ I mean not in a way of Similitude but in a way of Equality Here is high Disingenuity to quote part of a Sentence For Mr. Mather from whom this is taken though he said somewhat to this purpose at Pinners-Hall yet he put in several Qualifications of the Expression whereof one was That they were as Righteous as Christ as they did partake of his Mediatorial Righteousness and of that part only of that Righteousness which was wrought out for them To this there may be more said when I answer the Rebuker's saying That Mr. Williams had denyed his Redeemer if he had not denyed Dr. Crisp's Assertion of a change of Persons In the mean time I leave this Scripture to be pondered That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Christ 1 Cor. 5.21 §. XLV The twentieth is That Christ's Incarnation was no part of his Humiliation This is brought in I suppose to insult over the Grave of Mr. Mather who could doubtless have so explained his meaning as it needed not have put Mr. Williams on shewing his great Parts and Learning to go to confute it for an Antinomian Heresie in interpreting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a new English word well enough agreeing with the Neonomian Doctrine calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exaninition which he might as well call exany-thing or to make it chime his next Interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exinanition instead of his calling it exany-nition it may be exany-wigeon or any thing else as his mighty Learning may coyn for it If Mr. Mather in that Expression meant it of meer Incarnation without respect to Mediation for Sinners how was his Incarnation any Humiliation more than God the Father his dwelling in the Heart of the Humble and Contrite is his Humiliation May not God the Father or God the Son assume what shape they please as well as the Holy Spirit assumed the shape of a Dove and yet that no Degradation or Humiliation It is true God is said to humble himself to behold things in Heaven but that is spoken Figuratively as his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men but to say God is humbled by it is harsh and so to say that Christ's meer Incarnation was his Humiliation is to deny him the liberty to assume what form he pleases or to make it a diminution of his Glory is what I suppose cannot well be maintained I am sure his Incarnation was a Glorious Exaltation of our Humane Nature and would it not be harsh to say he could not exalt our Nature without depressing his own God is able of Stones to raise up Children to Abraham much more is Christ able to take our Nature when made Sinless and not thereby degrade his own But let Mr. Williams run away with his Triumphs over Mr. Mather calling him Blow-flame and make an exaninition or an exany-thing of him when all is done this Expression among wise Christians will hardly pass for an Heresie to say Christ's meer Incarnation was not a part of his Humiliation though his Incarnation as Mediator was §. XLVI The last the one and twentieth is We coalesce upon believing into one Mystical Person with Christ which is distinguish'd from Legal Vnion which is before Faith Whose Expression this is I am to seek but methinks 't is very harmonious with the Gospel and if this deserves the Name of Heresie we must seek a New Gospel What can be more coalescing than that of Christ You in me and I in you Or that of the Apostle We are Members of his Body c.
of the Gospel and pray as our Lord Jesus teaches That God would forgive their DEBTS for the sake of Christ our Surety who hath bought us with the Price not of corruptible Things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of the Lamb without Spot the Lord Jesus Christ that Blood being the only Current Coyn in Heaven for poor Sinners Debts Shall God say ye are bought with a Price and shall vain Man dehort us from the Notion of a Pecuniary Debt Take away this and you will take away all the Gospel in a little time It will soon be lost if the Rebuker's Learned Man's Doctrine must pass for currant That we must not insist on Christ's paying a rigid proper Satisfaction If by rigid he means a full compleat perfect Satisfaction to the last Farthing then I say to deny or wave this and the Apostle warrants it let him be accursed for by it he overthrows the whole Gospel which lyes in this That Christ hath ransomed bought and redeemed us by his Blood which cleanses us from all Sin And this gave a full compleat Satisfaction to God upon which account he said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and on the same account the Apostle saith If any bring any other Gospel let him be accursed §. LXXXIV I cannot but continue an admiration that my Dear Kratiste once famous for strenuous arguings for the Truth should quote and confirm such a Passage as is fitter to come from Raconia and Rome than the Pen of a Gospel Divine What not insist on Christ's proper yea rigid Satisfaction If not a proper one and a full one that 's a rigid one then 't is none at all But they would abate the Poyson of it by saying not insist on it under the Notion of a Debt and Debtor so the Rebuker But I pray why may not God's Terms and Notions be insisted on rather than the Socinians God bids us pray forgive our Debts and saith We are bought with a Price And what is that Price but Christ's paying our Debts For the sake of which Price only God in his infinite Mercy forgives the Debts of all that believe in the Lord Jesus But to insist on this Notion looks like our Rebuker's Antinomianism he charges Dr. Crisp withal If we say that Christ paid our Debts by the Price of his Blood and Life then this looks as if we were discharged in God's sight from all our Sins at Christ's Death or rather at his Resurrection and then that of the Apostle would be rigidly insisted on for our Justification at Christ's Resurrection He was delivered for our Offences and raised for our Justification Rom. 8. But of this the Neonomians must have a care lest they by it come over to the Antinomians Therefore 't is necessary for them to wish with the Rebuker they were worthy to advise not to insist so strictly on that Notion of Debt and Debtor §. LXXXV To answer his Wish with another Wish I heartily wish I were worthy to advise all Neonomians all New Law Men to be so humbâ—e and good to themselves as to peruse and learn the Sentiments of our Reformers from Popery that made the Book of the Homilies in which are many excellent Passages to uphold this Notion of Christ's paying a Price for us In the first part of the Sermon of Salvation they have these Heavenly Expressions God provided a Ransom for us that was the most precious Body and Blood of his own most dear and best beloved Son Jesus Christ who beside the Ransom fulfilled the Law for us perfectly And a little further they are more clear saying He for them paid the Ransom by his Death he for them fulfilled the Law in his Life so that now in him and by him every true Christian Man may be called a fulfiller of the Law O what can be more positive and plain Is not here a rigid-proper Satisfaction and that in the Notion of a Debt calling it a Ransom Nay he paid their Ransom And what can be a more rigid Satisfaction than fulfilling the Law every tittle for them in his Life and paying a Ransom in his Death O! that my Dear Kratiste would by himself a little blush at this and what the Church of Scotland in Knox his Reformation in Fol. 8 he calls the Gospel Christ's being a Debtor for our Sins and Christ paid our Debt The Law saith Pay thy Debt the Gospel saith Christ hath paid it for thee §. LXXXVI I pray what Titles may we expect in the next Rebuke to be given to these Holy Men these Fathers in our Church of Christ in England and Scotland upon the emerging out of Popery Sure they must also be called a parcel of Antinomians Sure Dr. Crisp got his Dregs of Antinomianism from you a company of Apocryphal Tobias's What did we fulfil the Law in Christ Sure you wont dare to say so Then all our Neonomian Scheme is spoiled of our being accepted in part on account of our Evangelical Righteousness in Obedience to a Law wherein God doth not require Sinless Obedience Then if we fulfilled the Law in Christ all our thundring Anathemaes against Antinomianism will fall on our selves If this be true that you Reformers have said then how shall we be able to flourish our Colours with a bravado that this is unintelligible uncooth novel Doctrine such as never any Council Synod or Nation ever brought into their Creed But my Dear Kratiste knows that what is said in the Homilies is said by the whole English Nation that these Sermons have many Acts of Parliament to confirm them for True Sound and Orthodox Doctrine and particularly this that we in him fulfilled the Law And I wish that all our Divines as well Conformists as Nonconformists would seriously lay this to Heart and be humbled so far as they swerve from this blessed Truth That he paid the Debt for us and we in him fulfilled the Law Where is the Neonomian Vaunt now O how good is it to be humble and not challenge all the World against the Notion of Debt and Debtor or the like For here the Great Assembly of the Nation King Lords and Commons in Parliament for the utter Confusion of Neonomianism have confirmed this almost One Hundred and Fifty Years ago and many times since which hath stood for Sound Doctrine in the Church of our Lord Jesus in England many Years before Dr. Crisp was born and Fifty Five since he went to Rest viz. That in him and by him every true Christian Man may be called a fulfiller of the Law If they fulfilled the Law in him and by him did not Christ sustain their Persons in himself when he fulfilled the Law for them How else can they be said to fulfil the Law in him if they were not in him and sustained by him This we are taught here for the utter silencing and shame of those that call it Antinomianism §. LXXXVII This great Expression of
our Reformers from Antichristian Dotages That in Christ and by Christ we are fulfillers of the Law may help our Rebuker to rectifie his saying in Pa. 47 If Christ's putting on the Person of Sinners be left out it 's better out than put in till it be known what it signifies 'T is strange that our sharp sighted Rebuker cannot tell what it signifies when the first emergers out of Popery the Reformers are so positive that we fulfilled the Law in Christ which cannot possibly be without his sustaining our Persons Could all those Worthies of the last Age Luther Calvin c. know what it signifies and we that stand on their Shoulders cannot we see as far as they But they cannot see that will shut their Eyes Doubtless many of our New Law Men would say but for the out-cry of every sound Protestant that this Expression That we fulfilled the Law in Christ had been better left out of the Doctrine of the Gospel than put in for it hath strengthened a many of those he calls Antinomians So that now we cannot without great difficulty run down the Doctrine of Christ's sustaining our Persons but these Antinomians as we call them will be too hard for us so long as the Epistles of Paul and the Doctrines Establish'd by Law are so armed against us §. LXXXVIII But some may say Why should these old musty Homilies be trump'd up now against the Great Baxter and his Successor the Gospel-stater of Truth Those Good Men are gone to Rest and with them let their Homilies sleep No say I they being dead yet speak and their plain honest simplicity will go farther with every good Christian that we in him fulfilled the Law than the Sceptical Notions of Mr. D. Williams such as this That God provided for his own Glory while he promiseth Life by forgiveness and yet insists on some degree of Obedience Here instead of our fulfilling the Law in Christ this Gospel-Truth stater brings in our Obedience in our selves insisted on by God in his forgiving Sins Such a medly of God's forgiveness upon our Obedience the Reformers rejected as spurious Popish Doctrine They are so far from attributing our Obedience to be insisted on by God in forgiving our Sins that they will not allow Faith it self to come in for any share in farthering our forgiveness but say plainly of Faith thus Our Faith in Christ much more our degrees of Obedience saith unto us thus It is not I that take away your Sins but Christ only and to him ONLY I send you for that purpose forsaking therein all your good Vertues What 's that but your degrees of Obedience Thus through the good hand of God we are helped by our great Reformers to quell this New Law Doctrine of the Neonomians setting up some Gospel-Holiness of ours in co-partnership with the everlasting Gospel of being saved only by Grace through Faith and that Faith not of our selves it is the Gift of God to whom be Glory for that he hath freely given Christ and all with him §. LXXXIX My next Notice I take is with Grief and Sorrow at the dismal contemptuous treatment the Rebuker gives of Christ's sustaining the Person of Sinners This great tremendous Point which is sustained by many Reverend Persons my Dear Kratiste makes a Banter of in Pa. 53 saying What then can these Expressions signifie but that Christ wore the mask the vizor the disguise of Sinners that he was personatus histrio like a Stage player that puts on the Person of a King when indeed he is but some sorry fellow Do such Terms of our Blessed Lord become the Pen of an adorer of the Blessed Jesus to impose such a Sense and such horrid Consequences from a Doctrine professed by all sound Protestants when God himself saith he made him Sin for us And Thousands of Adorers of him adore him for this Thing that he was made Sin for them though he knew no Sin and on that account say he sustained their Persons that is that they were in him and fulfilled the Law in him and by him as the whole Nation of England have declared for Good Sound Orthodox Doctrine almost 150 Years And now shall such an Inference be fetch'd from it as scoffs thus at our Lord Jesus As if the Parliament of England in establishing that Expression by Law for good Doctrine as if they had thereby declared that our Lord was a sorry Fellow a Stage-player acting the part of a King that he wore a Mask a Vizor in so doing If such Language had been used in any Interlude Show May-game Stage-play or Pageant then the Act of Parliament would have forced the Rebuker to pay Ten Pounds For it saith If any Person in any of those five places shall Jestingly or Prophanely use the Name of God or of Jesus Christ or of the Holy Ghost or of the Trinity which ought not to be used but with great Reverence they shall forfeit Ten Pounds 3 James 1.21 And if a Stage-player or Buffoon shall forfeit Ten Pounds what shall a Divine who should both know and teach better Things what should he forfeit if he print such prophane Jesting with our Dear and Blessed Lord whose Name is dreadful O! that Men were wise to Sobriety and not suffer themselves to launch into such exorbitant Expressions concerning our Blessed Lord. To tax his opposers with such an Inference from Scripture Premises it puts me in mind of what Antisozzo saith in Fol. 191 Sed male dum recitas incipit esse tuus He that recites such Passages without necessity and abhorrence they begin to be his own Passages But I hope my Kratiste will never fall into such Language again §. XC There is a very great word to the Point of Christ's sustaining our Person in Ephes 3.6 which is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body but may be rendred fellow-heirs and fellow-body or co-body As Believers are heirs fellow-heirs co-heirs with Christ and of Christ so they are of the same body fellow-body co-body with Christ and in Christ And as before the Apostle forgave in the Person of Christ so here the believing Gentiles are fellow-body with Christ And what is this but his sustaining their Persons and they his Person But this is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness To our learned topping Gentlemen it is uncooth unintelligible and better left out than put in till it be known what it signifies Just so the Socinians concerning the words Trinity in Vnity 't is to them Nonsense and Contradiction as all the Gospel is to Flesh and Blood as that a Wicked Man should be saved by the Righteousness of one that he never saw in his Life by a crucified Jesus but to them that are caâ—ied he is as sustaining our Persons as we are in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 co-co-body he is Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God And
us that it is ours by Faith wrought in us and more and more Revealed as Faith increases it being revealed from Faith to Faith mark it is to Faith So that this Heresie amounts to no more than this as for a Person to say That Christ and Pardon with him first takes hold of us is the Root of an endless Life in us and so works Faith in us This with you is Heresie but with us sound Truth else we should never have either Pardon or Faith and this we must averr rather than to say that Faith is the Condition or Root or Principle from which our Pardon flows or grows because to call Faith a Condition of Pardon any other way than as it is an Eye that Pardon is revealed to and an Hand that receives a Pardon first given is to make Faith a Co-partner with Christ's Blood and God's Free Grace which must not be asserted §. XXIII His third Heresie to be renounc'd I think is as Ridiculous as the first and that is this 'T is a Heresie to say It was Sin as to the Anomia that Christ bore The Fault of Sin was laid on Christ That is with them Christ did not beare the Anomia the Iniquity of Sin and Christ did not beare the Fault of Sin that is to say with the Neonomians Christ bore Sin without the Anomia of it or Christ bore Sin without the Fault of it which is the same as to say Christ bore Sinless Sin and Faultless Sin which is besides its being a Catachresis or Bull to bear Faultless Sin 't is a total Overthrow of the whole Gospel and of all our Salvation by Christ's Sufferings for if Christ bare only Faultless Sin then he bare only the Punishment and that very Unrighteously too and left the Fault for us to do away as well as we can with Tears of Repentance and with our New Obedience which will never wash our Black-a-moor Souls White or else we must beare the Fault to all Eternity for nothing can wash away the Stain and Pollution but the Blood of Christ But by their Doctrine Christ hath not done away the Anomia nor borne the Fault But in plain English I must say to my Dear Kratiste and all his Friends that vent and vend such Doctrine It looks very Boldly and Affrontingly to teach the Holy God to speak He saith over and over in the Old and New Testament that Christ bare our Iniquity our Transgression our Sins he bare our Sins in his Body he hath done away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself he bare our Sins our very Sins without any distinction of Punishment Guilt Stain Fault or Filth he bare our Sin and for these Gentlemen to talk of bearing Sin without the Fault or to talk of Faultless Sin how bold a Stroke at the Root of the Gospel is this and how dreadful a Thought must this make in all that come to God for Pardon through the Blood of Christ to hear it asserted by the great Gospel-Staters that Christ bare Sin 't is true but he left the Fault for the Sinner to wash off by his Holy Life and to do otherwise they call Antinomian Heresie But for Argument If Sin be laid on Christ without the Fault then 't is no Sin for what is Sin but the Transgression of the Law And what is that but Fault And besides this is to make God infinitely Vnjust and also Cruel to our Lord Jesus his Dear and Only begotten Son to inflict the Heavy Dreadful Punishment which was laid on him for Sin when this Sin as to the Fault that deserved the Punishment was not laid or charged on him So that Christ was by such Doctrine punished where no Fault was charged From such Doctrine the Good Lord deliver all that desire Salvation by and through our Lord Jesus This is strange Doctrine to tell us of Faultless Sin borne by Christ But it is the same sort of Divinity as a Gospel-Threat or a Glad-Tyding-Threat first we have Gospel Threat that 's our New Gospel and now comes Faultless Sin and that 's the Curse that Christ bore But by the way there could be no Curse in Christ's Sufferings if he did not beare the Fault as well as the Punishment But Blessed be God our Good Old Bibles have no such Language in them but tell us plainly he bare our Sins our very Sins and hath washed us from our Sins that is from all the Fault Stain and Pollution in his Blood Therefore leaving this Idle Heresie let us ever adore him that hath done away our Sins our very Sins all that appertains to them by the Sacrifice of himself to whom be Glory for ever and ever §. XXIV He proceeds to aggravate this third Antinomian Heresie as he calls it and saith 't is Heresie to say Christ was reputed a Criminal not only by Man but by God This is the more strange because my Dear Kratiste the Rebuker owns that Christ suffered loco nostro vice nostra in our place in our stead And how this could be and he not a reputed Criminal is a Paradox unless he means in our place was no more than as the Socinians say for our good only 't is true this he is charged with and he gives but too much occasion for it but I cannot believe he excludes Christ in his Suffering making Satisfaction to God in our stead and his bearing away our Sins by his Suffering and imputing his own Righteousness to us for our Good But whatever he grants here we see he brings in this Clause of Christ being reputed a Criminal by God to be one of those which he calls Abominable Doctrines In the same page 25. Which if not Antidoted against he saith will prove a Bane and Poyson to the Soul O whither is my Kratiste driven in the Hurricane of his disturbed Zeal for Mr. Williams Could Christ beare our Sins and be punished for our Sins even to that Extremity as to cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Could the Just suffer Justly for the Unjust and not be a reputed Criminal What shall we make of the Justice of God to say Awake O Sword against the Man that is my Fellow If this Fellow of God this Blessed Holy Spotless Lamb of God had not the Sins of his People so charged on him that he was look'd on as a reputed Criminal standing in their place with all their Sins laid on him and so though he was not a Criminal in the least actively yet he was look'd upon by God as a Criminal representatively in their stead whose Crimes and Sins he bore This is the General Argument of all the Orthodox How could God justly punish him if he was not a reputed Criminal as standing a Surety for us What was Imputed to him if not our Sin when he bare our Sins and cryed out My Soul is exceeding Sorrowful to Death But to be plain it appears our Lord Jesus was a reputed Criminal when Innocent to
which Men shall be damned For Men shall be damned for Sinning Obedience so far as the Law hath Power over any Man and if they are saved it cannot be by a Sinning Complyance with their New Law but meerly of Grace on account of the perfect Holy Law of God which admits of nothing but Sinless Obedience by its being fulfilled by our Lord Jesus for us and by his Blood taking away our Sins in coming short of the Holy Law of God Now if our Rebuker will continue rebuking I would pray he would imploy his Talent in rebuking such Doctrines as bring in a Law of God that allows of Sin rather than on saying We work from Life and not for Life Whereas 't is a mad sort of Work for Life to work under their New Law that allows Sinning Obedience §. LI. In Page 31 Mr. Williams is brought in with an Ecce Homo Behold the Man by the Rebuker in magnifying his Soundness in the great Point of Christ's Satisfaction and saith I will speak a great Word NONE no none not the Apostle Paul himself has ever more clearly stated this Truth of Christ's Satisfaction than Mr. Williams saith my Kratiste for which I refer you to his Gospel-Truth Chap. 2. where Mr. Williams saith Though our Sins were imputed to Christ with respect to the Guilt thereof so that he by the Father 's Appointment and his own Consent became obliged as Mediator to bear the Punishment of our Iniquities and he did bear those Punishments to the full Satisfaction of Justice Here 's a great Word None ever more clearly stated c. for this great Confession of Mr. Williams and I am glad he owns our Guilt was imputed to Christ so much of our Sins was imputed But we have a Proverb That some Cows will give a good mess of Milk and kick it all down and spill it when they have done so our great Truth-stater hath in a few Lines kick'd all this down For though he allowed that our Sins were imputed to Christ as to the Guilt of them and that he bare the Punishments yet he warily hides the Socinian here and forbears saying Christ bare the Sins 't is only the Guilt of them was imputed and the Punishment borne This 't is true he owns but what became of the very Sins if Christ did not bear them We know what God saith of them He laid on him the Iniquity of us all and he bare our Sins in his Body on the Tree but if Dr. Crisp or Mr. Cole say so 't is Antinomianism But what saith the Admired Gospel stater after his none more clearly stating this Truth Why he plainly denies Christ's bearing our Sins for within four Lines after his extolled vindicating the Doctrine of Satisfaction he hath these words It is an Error saith Mr. Williams that he laid all the very Sins of the Elect on Christ Is not this a Man to be admired that in flat opposition to the Scripture denies God's laying the Sins of the Elect on Christ For to say he did not lay the very Sins on Christ is to give God the Lye in plain English for the Scripture saith plainly without a Trope or Figure The Lord laid on him the Iniquity of us all Did God lay our Iniquity on Christ and not our very Iniquity Did he bear the Sins of many and not their very Sins Will he have so much audaciousness as to make God a Cheat To make us believe he laid our Sins on Christ but when it comes to the up-shot it is not our Sins not our very Sins but somewhat like our Sins that is Guilt imputed and Punishment borne but for the very Sins they were not laid §. LII I confess 't is much to find from such a Pen That God imputed the Guilt of our Sins to Christ but if he comes after and saith he means by Guilt imputed as he saith of Sins laid on Christ 't is not the very Guilt where are we then We must stand to his Courtesie for not saying so He may better say so of Guilt imputed than of Sins laid because Sins laid is very Scripture whereas Guilt imputed is a borrowed Term. Therefore I beseech my Dear Kratiste to stay his Admiration of him in saying None has ever more clearly stated this Truth for fear it be found that none has more sullied it For what can the rankest Socinian say more in derogation to the Truth of Christ's Satisfaction for our Sins than to say 'T is an Error to say our very Sins were laid on Christ Nay such an Error as I fear my Dear Kratiste can sublimate by his Art of Bespattering to make it to be the Dregs of Antinomianism to say our very Sins were laid on Christ §. LIII Let us see a little what Consequence he makes of this Error Why then Christ was the Murderer saith Mr. Williams Christ was the Blasphemer Adulterer c. And for this Dr. Crisp must be arraigned with the Dregs of Antinomianism laid to his Charge as if he was the Author of such horrid Expressions that Christ was such an one in himself whereas he hath excellent Authority both Humane and Divine for all that he has asserted If Dr. Crisp had said that Christ was made Sin and a Curse and the Scripture had been silent therein Mr. Williams and his Champion might have had Ground for the Accusation But if so why should not Dr. Luther come in for a Snack and Dr. Calvin for a Lash But as the Case is Dr. Paul the Apostle must have the severest Stroke for saying God made our Lord Jesus Sin for us and a Curse But because for Shame they will not charge him with gross Blasphemy for so saying they will distinguish away the force of the Words by saying he meant that Christ bore the Punishment and not the very Sins but left the Sinner to bear them §. LIV. And farther that Dr. Crisp may not bear all the Load that these Rigid Gentlemen lay on him I shall give some Humane Testimonies which concur with him though they have had abundance from Dr. Chancy and others which must needs convince their Conscience they being many of them unanswered but for the present purpose they must have some of them again therefore let us see what Mr. Calvin saith on Gal. 3.13 It is thus Two Things are here to be considered not only in the Person of Christ but also in his Humanity One is That he was the Lamb of God without Spot full of Blessing and Grace The other That he took our Person therefore he was a Sinner and under the Curse not so much in himself as in us O my Dear Kratiste why do you not spend some of your Talent on this uncouth novel unintelligible Stuff of this Great Person as well as on the Apochryphal Story of Tobias And when your Hand is in pray let Bold Martin Luther have a taste of your sowre Sauce on his sweet Meat which he gives you on Gal. 3.14
the Sin of many by the Bishop's saying This makes us apt to lessen the Divine Perfections and our just sense of the difference of Good and Evil and our Obligations to all sorts of Duties Cujus contrarium Nothing more contrary For what can honour more the Glory of God's Holiness and the Infiniteness of his Grace and Goodness than his sending his own Eternal Son to undergo that horrid Task by his own consent of bearing our Sins that we might be free And what greater Argument of the difference of Good and Evil than Christ's suffering so great an Evil as the bearing our Sins that we might have so great a Good as Reconciliation to God Pardon and Eternal Salvation thereby And what greater spur to all the Duties of Holiness than our being delivered from all our Enemies Sin Death and Hell by the precious Blood of his Dear Son O! what an ingagement is this to serve him without fear all the days of our Lives And this Love of God in Christ being shed abroad in our Hearts will constrain us so to do much more than all the thundring Terrors of the Law which only work Condemnation But this Grace of God bringing Salvation this teaches effectually to deny ungodliness and to live righteously c. Therefore I humbly conceive the Bishop is out in saying It makes us apt to lessen the Divine Perfections whereas all the Torments in Hell of all final Unbelievers to all Eternity cannot so heighten and glorifie the Justice and Holiness of God as our Lord Jesus shedding his precious Blood which is called the Blood of God doth heighten and glorifie both his Holiness and his Grace to all that believe in this Lord Jesus and accept of him and this way of Salvation by him and him alone §. CLIV. But the frightful Charge against Dr. Crisp is That this Change of Persons makes Christ the Sinner then Christ is the Murderer and the Adulterer not David I answer Could not Christ bear the Sin and be the reputed Criminal without his being really and personally the Sinner What more common among Men than for a Surety to bear the burden of that Debt which he never contracted a penny of yet lyes in Goal for the whole and before he comes out pays the whole So our Lord Jesus standing in our place paid the whole as the voluntary Surety in our stead and yet was no more the Murderer than David was the Christ But he took David's Person on him and put himself on David to be his Righteousness as David sweetly sings O God my Righteousness Psal 4.1 But the great Jealousie is That Men think if Christ did really bear the Sins of the Elect the very Murder and Adultery of David c. that this did defile and taint the Holy Nature of Jesus Christ and so they would infer that the Free Grace Teachers would be saved by a defiled polluted Saviour Whereas there is nothing more inconsistent for there is none that believes the infinite incomprehensible Holiness and Purity of our Lord Jesus Holy with all the perfection of Holiness as God his Eternal Father is Holy but must conclude it is impossible that his Holy Nature should be tainted or polluted by the Sins of the Elect charged upon him and lying upon him for if instead of bearing the Sins only of all that the Father had given to him he being God-Man he had born the Sins of Ten Thousand Worlds full of Sinners they could not have defiled his Holy Nature there being an infinite disproportion between his infinite Holiness and Man's finite Sins so that they could no more defile him than a Viper's or a Toad's spitting Poyson against the Sun can defile the Sun Therefore I say with boldness If we believe our Lord Jesus to be true God and consider the infinite Purity of this Holy God our Lord Jesus Christ in our Humane Nature we cannot conceive that this Humane Nature could possibly be tainted or contaminated by his being made Sin for us and by bearing our Sin for the same Scripture that saith God made him to be Sin for us saith also He knew no Sin that is so as to be in his Holy Person guilty of any Sin of his own or to allow of any Sin to go unpunished §. CLV It would do well for all that stumble at our Sins our very Sins being by God laid on Christ and he as our Surety made Sin for us and that think that this will lessen the Divine Perfections and our Sense of the difference of Good and Evil to consider that our Lord Jesus is called by the same Name as the Sacrifices of old were called that had the Sins of the People laid on them they were called Sin so is our Lord Jesus Nay he compares himself to the Serpent Was the Serpent cursed beyond all the Beasts of the Field Christ is said to be made a Curse for us Did the Brazen Serpent lifted up heal all that look'd to it of their Stings of the Fiery Serpents So saith our Lord Jesus As the Serpent was lifted up shall the Son of Man be That whosoever believeth in him that being taken for looking to him and being Saved he shall not perish but have everlasting Life Can any sober Christian think that God himself would lessen the Divine Perfections of his Nature or of his Son Jesus who is one with himself Whom he charges all Men to Honour as they Honour the Father by his giving up his Son to Death for us all and by putting our Sins on him and giving the Name of Sin and comparing him to the Serpent for being a Curse We should rather from hence learn the Infinite Love of the Father and the Son and his Infinite Hatred of Sin insomuch as nothing could expiate it or take out the Stain of it from us but the Blood of him that was God §. CLVI And because our whole Concern to all Eternity depends on God's making Christ to be Sin for us and thereby glorifying the Divine Perfections of his Wisdom Holiness and Goodness not lessening them as is intimated I think it may to some be useful to give an Instance or two of the Sacrifices that had the Sins of the People laid on them how they as Types of Christ were called Sin they are in near 100 places called Sin and Guilt and yet at the same time they were called Most Holy as in Lev. 6.17 it is said of the Meat-offering It is most Holy as the Sin-offering and the Trespass-offering and more plainly in v. 25. This is the Law of the sin-offering it shall be killed before the Lord It is most Holy Nay so Holy it was that in Verse 27. it is said Whosoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy Now though these were so Holy yet it is to be observed that in both these places the 17th and 25th Verses that the word which we translate Sin-offering is in the Original only Sin the word being Chattath
for my part if I did not look on the Lord Jesus as sustaining my Person on the Cross and sustaining it every moment not only by his common Providence but in himself and by himself as Flesh of my Flesh I must look on my self as I am in my self a lost wretched forlorn Creature to be miserable in Hell to all Eternity But I flee for refuge to him to be kept in this Faith I in them holy Father and thou in me that they may be perfect in one John 17. That is in himself the blessed Lord Jesus sustaining our persons to whom be Glory for ever §. XCI I come now to his Postscript which is sharp and stinging to purpose as if he had not sufficiently degraded Dr. Crisp in the body of the Rebuke he blackens him by comparing the Doctor to Apocryphal Tobias and Mr. Williams to Canonical Daniel thus All this is nothing but a tryal of Skill between the Apocryphal Story of Tobias and the Canonical History of Daniel Tobias and Daniel being the first Names of the Doctor and Mr. Williams as much as to say all the Doctor 's Sermons are Apocryphal Stories but Mr. Williams s Books of Gospel-Truth are Canonical History To which I may return there is also the Canonical History of Tobias and there is the Apocryphal Story of Daniel relating the filthiness of the Elders with Susanna For instance Tobijah which signifies my good Lord hath near as honourable a memorial put upon him in Canonical Scripture as Daniel God my Judge 'T is true Daniel is called O greatly beloved and God grant that our Daniel may be so also upon a due sense of his Miscarriages in his Books and Converse It is also true in Zach. 6.10 14. of Tobias he was to take Silver and Gold and make Crowns And 't is said The Crowns shall be for Helem and Tobiah c. Here was a Crown for Tobijah signifying the Crown of Righteousness and I question not but your traduced Tobijah hath been wearing one before the Throne and before the Lamb and casting it down before him this Fifty Five Years Here were several Crowns made and I hope one remains for my Dear Kratiste for the blessed Jesus pardons and so overlooks innumerable Failings and will give a Crown of Righteousness to all that love him that will submit to his Righteousness Then for the Apocryphal Story 'T is true Tobiah is brought in with his Dog following him but no Dogs barking at him Such Things are reserved for these latter days But how is Daniel brought in He like my dear Kratiste comes in giving a faithful Rebuke to a sad Report of a Lascivious Elder and saith O thou Elder that art waxen old in Wickedness thy Sins are come to light §. XCII What Issue have we of this tryal of Skill Is your Tobias the more Apocryphal because his Name is in the Apocrypha And is your Daniel the more Canonical in his Writings because his Name-sake was 〈◊〉 Man greatly beloved Or on the other side may not your Tobias have a Crown given him as well as Tobijah had one And may not your Elder have a severe Rebuke given him as well as Daniel's Apocryphal Elder had one For every one shall receive according to his own Work So that this Apocryphal Witticism might have been spared for any honour it can bring to your Daniel or dishonour to Tobias But this is plain evidence that the Rebuker hereby declares that he takes all the Discourses of Dr. Crisp of the Free Grace of God in Christ to be Apocryphal Stories and all that Mr. Williams hath writ is Canonical History especially his Gospel-Truth stated which is supported by himself and Forty Eight more Vouchers This must pass for Canonical though he makes room therein for more to be saved than ever God chose in Christ and though he saith to this purpose That God hath set up a New Law that doth not require SINLESS Obedience §. XCIII In the next place he treats the Doctor more roughly if not prophanely for he calls the asserting the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and Faith the unpardonable Sin against the Doctor whereas we know of no unpardonable Sin but that against the Holy Ghost which some in opposing clear Gospel Free-Grace come very near unless they do it ignorantly But to talk of an unpardonable Sin against the Doctor and that for asserting what the Doctor never denyed is a strange strain of Wrath against his Memory His words are these in Pa. 56 57 That although the express Word of God doth express the necessity of Regeneration to our entring into the Kingdom of God and requires Repentance that our Sins may be blotted out and Faith in Christ that we may be justified This the Rebuker calls the Brethrens fully bearing Testimony against the Antinomians and adds that their asserting this is the unpardonable Sin against Dr. Crisp The Rebuker means that Mr. Lob accounts this Testimony of the Rebuker to be the unpardonable Sin against Dr. Crisp which I may say is Gratis dictum sed non gratiosé It is freely said but not graciously I do not see what could be spoken with more malignity to say it is never to be forgiven by Dr. Crisp's Vindicators to say Regeneration Repentance and Faith are necessary Sure my dear Kratiste cannot be thought not to have read Dr. Crisp where he may find this Charge That the Doctor accounts it a horrid Crime to assert Faith Repentance and Regeneration necessary to be most false I appeal to the Rebuker's Conscieâ—ce for I 〈◊〉 not but he hath read the Doctor 's Sermons or Dr. Chancy's Quotations where he brings in Dr. Crisp saying in express words quite contrary to this Charge and fully owning the need of Sanctification c. In Fol. 46 Dr. Crisp saith thus There is no Person that is a Believer but after he hath received Christ he is created in Christ Jesus unto good Works that he should walk in them I say he that sprinkleth them with clean Water that they may become clean from all their Filthiness writes his Law in their inward parts So that I say mark well my words That Sanctification of Life is an inseparable companion with the Justification of a Person by the Grace of Christ Now can any Thing be more clear than that it is no unpardonable Sin with Dr. Crisp to assert the necessity of Regeneration Repentance and Holiness For that he saith Sanctification which includes them all is inseparable from Justification that one is never without the other As much as to say with the Apostle Christ who is made of God to us Righteousness for Justification he is at the same time made of God to us Sanctification §. XCIV Now methinks 't is strange that he should be branded with your Titles of Apocryphal wild Monster Crispian Heterodoxy especially to blast him in the business of Holiness Repentance c. who so strenuously hath asserted its inseparableness from Justification