of God as Rector Antinom If you understand Judicial in respect of the Justice of God answered by the Righteousness of Christ purchasing all good Gifts and Blessings for Sinners that deserve nothing but Wrath it may be said of Justification But if you understand Judicial in respect of any Duty Grace or Qualification that is found in us tho' wrought by the Spirit I abhor it as an abominable Position And your Saying the Wedding Garment was Faith and not the Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith is a wretched wresting and Abuse of Scripture turning the sweet and precious Doctrine of our Lord and Saviour against himself I shall meet with you again upon these Points more largely therefore I pass them over briefly now But in the mean time take notice that all our Protestants and particularly the Assemblies Catechism define Justification and Adoption always Acts of Free Grace Neonom If so doth he despense these blindly and promiscuously without any regard to our being Believers c. or no Whether our Faith be true or no any one would blush to affirm Antinom I would know whether if God distribute his Free Grace to poor wretched and worthless Creatures according to his Election and distinguishing Mercy doth he do it blindly because he finds no Reason in them And I pray doth God dispense the Grace of Faith blindly if he doth it without respect to Men's being Believers first So if they believe before they shall have the Gift of Faith and their Faith must be true too before they have Faith given I can ' but think you are Fricatae Frontis or you would blush at the delivery of these things Neonom With respect to what is above declared the Gospel is a Law of Faith a Law of Liberty c. And it especially insists on that Sincerity of Grace and Holiness which the Rule of the Promise makes necessary in it's Description of the Person whom it makes Partaker of it's included Benefits Antinom You do here begin to make Conclusions on your Premises but your Premises not holding Water your Conclusions will no way follow you conclude the Gospel is a Law of Faith We have briefly shewed as you have given occasion that the Gospel as such is no Law and hath not a Sanctio it 's wholly a Promise of Life and the Performance of the Promise doth not depend upon any thing a Sinner can do as a Foederal Condition I shall shew fully hereafter that there is no ground from that place Rom. 3. nor that of James 1. to conclude the Gospel to be a Law i. e. A Command of Duty for a Condition with a Sanction of Threats upon the Non-performance or Promises as Rewards upon the Performance whether the Condition be Perfect of Imperfect Obedience You make the Sincerity of Grace and Holiness to be this Condition and you call it the Rule of the Promise which you say is not the Precept neither neither is it the Promise but a Rule that is neither Precept or Promise So what your Rule is he is wise that knows And you say this Rule makes Sincerity necessary in the Discription of the Person So the Rule of the Promise describes a Person only and therefore makes him not but tells us he must be sincere before he hath any thing to do with the Promise From whence hath he this Sincerity described From Law or Gospel From God or himself If from God then by way of Grace and Gift and so through the Promise If of our selves it 's Dross They that are in the Flesh cannot please God and therefore much less perform such a Duty for which God will give the promised Benefits Neonom And the main of our Ministry consisteth in pressing Men to answer the Rule of Gospel Promises Antinom What this means is very strange when you say the use of Faith and Holiness as to Benefits is not from their Conformity to the Precept Therefore what do you press them unto when you press them to answer the Rule of the Gospel When the Conformity to the Precept doth no good I suppose in the same Sence as you say Obliquity in regard of the Precept will do no hurt But the main of our Ministry consists in Preaching Christ and bringing Sinners unto him and building them up in him Neonom And disswading Men from those things which the Gospel threatens shall hinder their Interest in all or any of their Benefits with an Aggravation of their Misery if they be final Rejecters of Grace Antinom Whatever befalls Sinners retaining their sinful state and rejecting Grace is from the Law and not from the Gospel To talk of a Gospel-Threat is a Catechresis at best and nothing else can save it from being a Bull. But what are those that will hinder a Sinner from the Benefit of being turned from Darkness to Light This I can suppose is the Non-improvement of the Grace which you take every one to have which either hinders or makes that they are not converted Neonom We call Men to be reconciled to God upon which we know God will be at Peace with them Antinom But you tell them not according to 2 Cor. 5.18 That all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ And this is the ground of the Ministry of Reconciliation and the ground of Perswasion to Sinners to be reconciled unto God But this Portion of Scripture to the End of the Chapter you take to be hardly Canonical Neonom These things will help thy Conceptions still remembring that the Merits of Christ are the Cause of this Ordination Antinom The Councel of God is the Cause of the Ordination of Salvation Means and Order But you mean they will help to blunder and confound poor Men's Conceptions Per Nebulam per Caliginem per Somnium Non lectore tuis opus est sed Apolline libris But you would have us not to forget the Causa sine qua non of this rare Gospel Scheme You should have told us that your own corrupt Imagination was the Procatarctick Cause of this new Law Ordination Neonom His Righteousness imputed is the Cause for which we are Justified and Saved when we answer the Gospel Rule Antinom It 's ad Graecas Calendas when a poor wretched Sinner must be saved then Christ is the cause of setting up this new Law and that we should be justified thereby when we perform the imperfect Conditions thereof and that 's your answering the Gospel Rule Since Christ hath put a Barr upon the Old Law now we must set up for a Righteousness of our own to answer the Gospel-Rule by and that 's not Conformity to the Precept neither but answering the Gospel-Rule by Imperfection Is not this sad Divinity Neonom And I exclude not this Righteousness when I affirm That the Righteousness of God Phil. 3.9 principally intended the Gospel-Holiness of a Person Justified by Christ's Righteousness Both which by Faith in Christ all his Members shall be
he must have a new justification upon the commitment of some sins which the first did not reach 2. Whether the general Exercise of Faith and Repentance so far as to answer the Gospel-rule be a sufficient Condition for Justification from some Sins and not from all Calvin Well now Gentlemen we have danc'd pretty fairly about this Point with your Whethers let us dance back again or else we shall be giddy and the World turn round with us Neonom My Brains are more setled than so I will lead him another dance yet Mr. Antinomian come dance with me again you know little of my mind yet I will tell you the real differences 1. Whether an elect sinner be at any time a guilty person in God's esteem This you deny and I affirm I have proved it in our Debate 1 3 7 12. D. W. p. 174. Antinom This is not fair you have taken a great leap back to begin with from a Believer to an Elect Person which you say you have proved in former Debates we have answered and therefore need not harp always on one string Neonom Whether the Remains of Sin defile us This I affirm and the Doctor denies against all Protestants who prove it of Original Sin against the Papists Antinom If you understand defilement as to our Justification I say the remains of Sin do not defile us if it be understood in respect of Sanctification you 'l see Gentlemen that I shall assert Sin 's defilement of the best of our Duties so much that it makes them as Dung and yet this Neonomian is so audacious as to say this he affirms and the Doctor denies and that he goes with the Protestants when every ordinary Christian may see that he goes with the Papists in every thing and opposeth me in this point of the Saints defilement by sin Neonom Whether a justified person falling into gross Enormities is defiled thereby and contracts guilt upon himself thereby This the Doctor denies and I do affirm Antinom You have not proved one word that was said of the guilt of a justified person i. e. it 's one thing to contract guilt of Conscience and another thing to be judicially condemned Said you not but just now that God may present to a Christian's view former sins for further humblings where he doth not judicially charge sin a Believer may have guilt then upon his Conscience and not be guilty before God 2. Do you not say a Believer ought not to question his Justification but upon such causes as make him question his state and truth of Faith 3. Where is it that I say any sin doth not defile especially gross Enormities if they need the fresh applications of the Blood of Christ by Faith they do defile and defile Conscience too but the Blood of Christ reaching the Conscience in believing washeth away this guilt and defilement where your humblings and resolves will not Neonom Whether God esteems the repeated Abominations of Believers not to be their own Crimes and they not to be sinners but they are Christ's sins This the Doctor affirms and I deny Antinom Your affirmation and negation is not worth troubling ourselves about were it not to undeceive such as are deluded by you we have told you our minds already sufficiently about that we do affirm That all Sins and Abomination of every Elect Person was laid on Christ by God and accounted his Judicially and that in justification the Justified Person hath not his sins not one from the first moment of his justification imputed unto him before God whatsoever contracted guilt he may have upon his Conscience at any time by reason of relapses is but God's presenting former or present sins to his view for his humbling without judicial charging of him in the Court of Heaven Neonom Whether a justified person upon new Provocations is charged by God and ought to charge himself as guilty and defiled so as in God's appointed way to repent believe and renew his Covenant and be earnest with God for forgiveness This the Doctor denies and I affirm Antinom In part I deny it and in part I do not 1. A justified Person upon new Provocations is not charged by God as under and liable to the condemnation of the Law under Wrath and Curse 2. It 's one thing to confess guilty to the Fact and confess a Man's self under the Sentence the former ought to be but the other ought not A Man that 's a Felon may come to the Bar and confess himself guilty when he hath the Pardon in his Pocket Do we not assert that it 's our duty to confess sin repent c. but these things must flow from Faith fix'd on the pardoning Mercy of God in Christ or else all our Humblings and Resolves what do they signifie Do we not assert Faith and Repentance renewing our Covenant is exerted in God's way and not yours Neonom Whether all Sins past present and to come are actually pardoned at once This you affirm and I deny Antinom Among all these Enquiries about the state of the Question I think you are nearest to it now for now you speak plainest and I shall speak my mind as plainly that all a justified Persons sins are pardoned at once as well those that are to be committed as they that are committed already Neonom Whether God hath required new Exercises of Faith and Repentance for their actual Pardon This you deny and I affirm Antinom He requireth not new Exercises of Faith and Repentance as federal Conditions of actual Pardon it is always in and through and for the sake of Christ at first and afterward and by Faith renewed this Grace is manifested anew unto the Soul and Repentance follows thereupon as a Fruit thereof Pardon renewed to justified ones is but in taking of the present view of their sins as you say that God hath set before them he makes them to hear joy and gladness Psal 5.8 i. e. a repeated manifestation of their Pardon in believing Neonom Whether a Believer ought to be assured of the Forgiveness of his repeated Provocations just when he hath committed them and before he hath humbled himself renewed actings of Faith on Christ repeated his Covenant prayed for Pardon for Christ's sake as after he hath thus done This you affirm and I deny Antinom This that I affirm is That there is the same ground of believing Pardon in Christ to a justified one before his Confessions and Humblings as after 2. That his assurance of Pardon after these Humblings is not grounded upon them but the Promise and his free and full Justification 3. That he is to betake himself to these Humblings in Faith of the Promise of Pardon or else all the rest will leave him as they find him 4. And after you have muddied and confounded the clear Gospel as much as you can you tell us there must be a renewing our actings of Faith in Christ and praying for Pardon for Christ's sake which
are pardoned but yet continues to pray for a further manifestation of Pardon Did not David tell us what it is Psal 1.10 Restore to me the Joy of thy Salvation Neonom For were it so yet it is for our Sins it would sound strange to pray Forgive us the Sins of Christ Antinom Yes we pray for the Pardon of our Sins that were laid on Christ and though we do not pray to forgive us the Sins of Christ yet we pray to God to forgive us for the sake of Christ whose bearing of Sin and Satisfaction wrought we always plead believing But you will banter Christ's bearing Sins Neonom The Saints in Scripture esteemed them their Sins and themselves Sinners when they committed Sin and found it's Motions Jer. 14.7 Isa 59.12 Job 7.21 Psal 25.11 D. W. p. 25. Antinom So do we though they and we ought to acknowledge Sin always in Faith of the pardoning mercy of God in Christ we should ask Pardon in Faith nothing doubting but sometimes there may be but weak Faith next to none in God's Children and great Doubtings and therefore great Guilt lying upon their Consciences and from thence great Darkness in times of Temptation Thence did flow those Pathetical Expressions of many of the Faithful from God's hiding of his Face and the Weakness of their Faith as if they were reprobated ones and cast away and so it is even now sometimes And though we believe Christ hath born our Sins yet this is the greatest Ground of true Gospel-brokenness of Heart that they were our Sins and are now the Product of corrupt Flesh the Old Man remaining in us which we labour under endeavouring to get more and more into Christ by a strong Faith that the Body of Sin the Source of Corruption in us may be destroyed Therefore Repentance and Godly Sorrow is exercised even for our Sins laid on Christ Neonom 3. God reckons Sins to be their own he reproves them he forgave them 1 John 2.12 Jer. 33.8 Rev. 2.20 Rev. 3.19 2 Tim. 4.16 D. W. p. 26. Antinom Sins are Sins and our Sins we have said it again and again and therefore reprovable in us and to be forgiven in us by the Application of Pardon All this hinders not but that we be without Fault before God and our Sins cast behind his Back we have a Perfection and Fulness of Pardon and all Grace in Christ Jesus though Sin it self was never reconciled to God and therefore God sets us to the killing of it Christ destroyed Sin on the Cross as to the obstructing God's compleat Love to the Persons of the Elect so that it cannot condemn before God but it is Sin Yet in the Elect and will accuse and condemn wherever it is or at least the Law will by Reason of it and therefore it hath it's Influence this way sometimes on the Holiest Men. It 's in the Nature of Sin to condemn but God doth not condemn for Sin though he condemns Sin daily in the holiest Men and through Unbelief they are apt to think their Persons condemned of God himself When God denounceth Judgment against a sinful Church or Nation they are ordinarily hypocritical prophane and Apostate and therefore a mixt People many or most under a Covenant of Works and a People in their Sins which God awakens by Threatnings or Judgments themselves and therefore the places quoted by you affect us not The Force of your arguing lies here Those Sins that God calls our Sins and we ought to call our Sins are not laid on Christ and taken away but God calls Sins our Sins and we ought to call them so Ergo. The Major is utterly false For all places that we bring to prove that Sin was laid on Christ do call them our Sins and we speak of them as such and it's cause of Abasement in our selves and thankful Admiration of the Free Grace of God in Christ and so the Church acknowledge their Sins Jer. 14.7 8. Isa 59.12 16 17. Neonom Mark what will follow hence No Elect Members of a Church are justly censured for Offences and no Christian Criminal could be punished for they are not the Sinners the Sin is not theirs Antinom It is a shame to hear a Mininister argue in this manner Your Argument runs thus If the Sins of the Elect were laid on Christ by Imputation then no Church or Court of Judicature can proceed to condemn an Offender Ergo. Baculus stat in Angulo ergo pluit Doth Man see and judge as God doth Is there no difference between Forum Divinum and Humanum Ecclesiastick and Civil the Law before Man and his Administration of it knows no difference of Persons it proceeds secundum allegata probata Churches censures is in order to a Justification before the Church that by Faith and Repentance it may appear that God hath forgiven such an one that he belongs to Electing and Redeeming Grace and the Sinners Sin laid on Christ and when they find that they are soon reconciled to an offending Member And you say If Sins were laid on Christ no Christian Criminal can be punished A very sad Case indeed for then any Criminal condemned justly by Man's Law can never be saved For if Christ bore not his Sins he can't be pardoned nay may not a Godly Man through Temptation fall into a Crime whereby he may justly suffer in Foro humano and doth this hinder his Salvation by Christ And is it an Argument his Sins were never laid on Christ Are not these consistent a Sinner and condemned by Man's Law and an absolved Sinner by the satisfy'd Law of God Was not the converted Thief a Sinner justly condemned by Man though absolved by God because Christ bore his sins on the Cross and if he had repented before he had been hanged on the Cross would it have freed him from Man's Sentence Satisfaction to God's Law is not to Man's nor Satisfaction to Man's is not to God's Men stay not Execution of a Malefactor because he repents to Salvation but Man's Law must take it's course upon him I doubt not but the Ordinary of Newgate can teach you better Divinity than this A Man may be in one respect guilty and in another not And so likewise God deals with his Children two ways in case of their eminent Falls in a way of his common Providential Government of the World in foro mundi as he dealt with David that those Evils of Affliction Judgments in the Apprehension of the Men of the World should befall them and so in the Participation of external common Calamities there should not be any manifest difference between them and other Men. Therefore the Wise Man saith That Love and Hatred is not known by these things But notwithstanding all this the other and certain way of God's dealing with them is according to the Covenant of Grace which is the Secret of the Lord he fully pardons their Sins is reconciled to them in Christ will never leave or forsake them
it be not an imperfect Covenant that hath an imperfect Condition 2. It 's not in the least meritorious of the Benefits conferred by no means i. e. by any Intrinsick Value and Worth either adequate to or excelling the Benefits received No your meaning is what you have for it is well worth your Money it 's a good Bargain But by your Favour every Foederal Condition is ex pacto meritorious so that you may challenge your Bargain upon Performance if it be but 20 Guineas to purchase an 100 l. per Annum So that we have only your Word for it that it 's not meritorious when it 's so in reality the nature of the thing speaks it to the Understanding of all Men of Sence No no do not think to wheedle Christ out of his Merits and God out of the Honour of his Free-Grace and us out of the comfort of both 3. You say it 's not performed in our Natural Strength No and yet a condition of Covenant made with Man A most unreasonable thing to require a Condition of a Covenant of one that we know hath no strength to perform it If a rich Man should offer an Estate of 1000 l. a year to a poor Man that he knew was not worth a Groat provided he fetched him Twenty Pound of his own Money this Act would be reckoned a mocking and ridiculing this poor Wretch God did not require that small Condition of Adam but that he actually had natural Strength to perform it You will say God will give him Ability to perform so he did to Adam previous to the Covenant As the rich Man tells the poor I will give thee 20 l. to pay me for my Estate he 'll say Well Sir when you give it me I will then bargain with you and when I have it though you gave it me I shall reckon it mine as much as if I had raised it my self or another had given and if we bargain I shall expect to have my Bargain upon this condition Though it 's a good Bargain yet it 's a Bargain and whatever I have of you is Debt I can sue for it as purchased by me saith the poor Man Now see how well qualified this Condition is no no believe it God makes no such lame Bargains as these Yet you say according to the Constitution of the Covenant it is required of us in order to the Blessings consequent thereupon by vertue of the Promise This I must confess is an Orthodox Paradox indeed What mean you by the Constitution of the Covenant Is it not as other Covenants by the Constitution of your Scheme Is it not by a Condition and Promise And is not this Condition performed Foederale Meritum And is not Do this and Live Ordo foederalis and the Blessings consequent ex pacto and therefore Debt Think not to beat us out of our Senses that the Blessings of a Covenant are only à consequentia Ordinis vel posterioritatis As one Man follows another in a narrow Path or Ordine Naturae as a Son is after a Father But here it is in Ordine ad Virtute pacti in order to a Foederal Right and Challenge of the Benefits as a due Debt But how do you understand that Clause By vertue of the Promise Neonom It 's from God's Will in the Promise that they are made to be Conditions He connected the Benefit and the Duty though he chose those Conditions that were fit yet their fitness would not have availed to our Interest in the Benefits unless he had promised that they should avail A Penitent Believer had not been saved but for the Promise though it 's unlik◠a God to have saved any that were not such D. W. p. 55. Antinom Wherefore God's Will in the Promise Are not the Promise and the Conditions both equally willed by God Is God's Will in the Promise any thing besides that Will of God that is in the Condition The plain Truth is this is a puzzling Doctrine God's Will in the Promise that makes Conditions But how You tell us he connected Benefit and Duty But in what manner For he connected Benefit and Duty in the Covenant of Works and it was as much God's Will in the Promise as you can pretend to if I understand the Riddle But you say he chose fit Conditions It was fit God should choose his Conditions and it became his Wisdom and Power to make fit Conditions But imperfect lame sinful Conditions of a Covenant do not become a holy and perfect God to choose to cast away perfect Conditions and take Imperfect in their room But though God chose fit Conditions yet they would not have availed sufficient you reckon but not efficient God's choice of Persons or things in your Sence makes them not certainly future yet we find that many things that God hath chosen do avail to attain the End to which he chose them tho' there be no Promise of their availing But it seems God makes a Covenant with Man and is fain to enter into Bond for Man's Performance of the Condition and perform them himself at last in giving the first Grace But what indeed should be the true English after all this Splutter about a Condition It 's but a little thing wrapt up in the Promise and is ours by vertue of Promise So that at last our conditional Covenant is become Absolute for we have the Duty as well as the Benefit by Promise The Penitent Believer hath his Faith and Repentance as a part of eternal Life given to him by Promise Neonom And consequently the Benefits and Mercies granted in this Order are and must be suspended by the Donor or Disposer of them till it be performed and such a condition we affirm Faith to be Antinom And a fine business you have made of it And consequently i. e. Foederally for it 's no otherwise consequently There must be a Suspension of the granted Benefits not by the Donor that 's improper but by the Bargainer And how long Till he is pleased to give the Man Money to make the Purchase with And is not this Reason if he be to find the Money And is it any Fault in the poor Man that he doth not make the Purchase when he that should sell him the Estate hath all the Purchase-money in his Hands You bid poor Sinners come and buy and you say not with the Prophet without money and price but you must have such a parcel of Mony to do it with which Money is in God's Hands They will tell you when God gives us the Money we will buy and till then it 's not our Fault He is a hard Master if he looks to reap where he sowed not Neonom These Conditions are our Duty by God's Command and no less so by being made Terms of the Benefit in the Divine Grant D. W. p. 55. Antinom It seems you make more Conditions than one we shall meet with them by and by 2. You make the Covenant
the New Testament are so often repeated which shew Justification to be sought only in the Person of Christ John 1.12 and 3.15 16. and 6.40 47. and 14.1 54. Rom. 4.5 and 3.26 Acts 10.43 and 25.18 Rom. 3.26 A Sinner is justified by Faith not properly as it is a Quality or Action Pemble of Justific ch 11. § 2. which by its own Dignity and Merit deserves at God's Hands Remission of Sins or is by God's favourable Acceptance taken for the whole and perfect Righteousness of the Law which is otherwise required of a Sinner but only in Relation unto the Object of it the Righteousness of Christ which it embraceth and resteth upon Justification is a Gracious Act of God upon a Believer whereby for the Righteousness sake of Christ Imputed by God Nortons Eang p. 300. and applyed by Faith he doth freely discharge him from Sin and Curse and accept him as Righteous in the Righteousness of Christ and acknowledge him to have a Right unto Eternal Life Q. 73. How doth Faith justifie a Sinner in the sight of God A. Faith justifies a Sinner in the sight of God not because of those other Graces that do always accompany it Assemb Large Catech. or of good Works which are the Fruits thereof nor as if the Grace of Faith or any Act thereof were Imputed to him for Justification only as it is an Instrument by which he receiveth and applyeth Christ and his Righteousness Q. 32. What is Justification A. Justification is an Act of God's Free Grace whereby he pardoneth all our Sins Shorter Catech. and accepteth us as Righteous in his sight only for the Righteousness of Christ received by Faith alone Whom God effectually calleth he freely justifieth not by Infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins Confess c. 11. and by accounting and accepting their Persons as Righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone not by Imputing Faith it self the Act of Believing nor any other Evangelical Obedience as their Righteousness but by Imputing the Obedience and Satisfaction of Christ unto them they receiving and resting on him and his Righteousness by Faith which Faith they have not of themselves it is the Gift of God We are accounted Righteous before God only for the Merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith Artic. 11. of the Church of Engl. and not for our own Merits and Deservings wherefore that we are Justified by Faith only is a most wholesom Doctrine and very full of Comfort c. The Righteousness of Christ as it 's Christ's and performed by him so it is ours as it 's Meritorious of Grace Efficacious of Faith it self that is to be wrought in us it 's ours therefore I say by way of Right because by the Decree of the Father and Purpose of the Son it 's wrought for us tho' not in our Possession as to Sense and Acknowledgment of so great a Benefit bestowed Haec enim agnitio this Acknowledgment ariseth from Faith The Righteousness of Christ is said to be Imputed to us and his Merits to be applyed by Faith not before God but in our Consciences as there is a Sense of it begotten in our Hearts by Faith and an Acknowledgment of the Saving Application from the Love of God which we taste by Faith and Spiritually perceive Justifying of us and Adopting us to be his Sons from whence ariseth Peace of Conscience Whence the Righteousness of Christ is said to be Imputed to us by Faith because it is not known but by Faith that it is Imputed to us by God and then at length we are said to be Justified by that kind of Justification and Absolution from our Sins which begets or produceth peace of Conscience Dr. Twiss C. 1. p. 2. de Elect. He speaks of Justification in a double Acceptation 1. As the Righteousness of Christ is applyed to us before Faith and Repentance by reason of which Righteousness we obtain Efficacious Grace to believe in Christ and Repent 2. He understands Justification to be that Notification that is by Faith made to our Consciences or in the Court of Conscience and this is saith he that Imputation of Christ's Righteousness Remission of Sin Justification and Absolution which follows Faith There 's none of us saith he say that wicked vitious Person allowing themselves to live in their Sins are bound to believe Christ dyed for them for my part I think otherwise that whilst all are commanded to believe in Christ they are not bid presently to believe that Christ dyed for them but rather to rest themselves upon Christ by Faith to renounce themselves and their own Works and cast themselves down at the Feet of Mercy this is only properly called Faith on Christ fides in Christum the other is only Faith concerning Christ Hence Mr. Norton hath these words Orthod p. 315. These are both Truths 1. Justification hath a Being before the Elect do believe 2. That the Elect are not Justified before they do believe Justification is the Object Faith is the Act or being actually Justified is an Effect Faith is the Instrumental Cause the Cause is before the Effect Maccovius Disput XVI distinguishes Justification into Active and Passive Active Justification signifies God's Absolution of a Guilty Person from Guilt for the sake of Christ's Satisfaction and accounting him Righteous for his Righteousness Imputed The Differences between this and Passive Justification by Faith are 1. This is one undivided Act of God Absolution by Faith is repeated 2. Active precedes Faith Passive follows c. A Digression concerning the Necessity of Repentance to Forgiveness Neonom GEntlemen if you please for a Diversion after this Arduous Attempt that I have made to bring in the true Doctrine of the Catholick Church let us make a little digression for our Recreation and treat upon a Point that hath not so much difficulty in it for having got in Faith to justifie as a qualifying Act I doubt not now but to pleasure some of its Relations and find them a place in Justification too Antinom Stay not so hasty I do not find you have yet attained your End about Faith festina lentè cry not Victoria yet but however Gentlemen seeing he is for a digression let him have it for he hath been in digression from Truth all along I know not how he can digress from the way he hath been in hitherto but by coming into Truth Neonom You judging we are justified before we do believe it 's no wonder if you tell us We are forgiven before we confess Sin p. 255. and repent and therefore I would enquire of the necessity of Repentance to Forgiveness D. W. p. 113. Antinom As a Qualifying Condition Gentlemen this is no digression for it 's the Right Line and Method that Bellarmine and all the Papists have taken in handling the Doctrine of Justification first to bring in Faith to justifie as
change the term Justification into Forgiveness for though Justification includes Forgiveness yet Justification is not always meant by Forgiveness for Justification is a single Act of God and a Person once Justified is always so but by Forgiveness is meant often especially in the Old Testament a Renewal of the Sence of our Justified Estate the shining of God's Face upon us after Falls and Relapses into Sin and thence we pray daily for Pardon without a Supposition that when we pray for Pardon we are not in a Justified Estate neither do think when we have prayed for Pardon we are ever the whit more disposed and fitted in God's sight to receive it but wait upon God for it with a great sence of our Loathsomness and Unworthiness in our selves flying to Christ and his Righteousness to be covered with it in Believing by which Imputed Righteousness alone we look upon our selves as disposed for Pardon Your places mentioned prove not what you design viz. that in our first Forgiveness which is our Justification That Repentance is required as a disposing condition to the receiving it Acts 3.19 speaks but of the Publick Manifestation of the Righteousness of the Saints at the last day not that they stand unjustified till that day viz. the day of Refreshing and of Christ's second Appearing v. 20. And as for that place Acts 2.38 he commands Gospel Duties but to be performed as Effects of the Promise in performance of the Mercy promised the words of the next Verse shew For the Promise belongeth to you therefore Repent and Repentance is there no more a disposition to Forgiveness than Baptism and the end of that Ordinance is to shew that Forgiveness belongs to us already for it 's the Seal of the Promise and to be Baptized into Forgiveness is no more than to be Baptized into the Seal and Confirmation of the Covenant of Promise or Forgiveness which you believe belongs to you as the Covenant is called the Covenant of Circumcision Acts 7.8 And a Seal is not of a Pardon to be wrote but of that which is Wrote and Signed already Neonom Repentance is a Grace to which Pardon is promised and upon the working of it Forgiveness is given and Impenitency continues Guilt where-ever it reigns D. W. p. 115. Calvin Forgiveness is promised to Persons not to Graces and Qualifications Forgiveness is given to true Penitents and those to whom Forgiveness is given are truely Penitent and both Repentance and Remission of Sins are given it may be we perceive Repentance first but God gives Remission first for so long as there is none of the Grace of Forgiveness bestowed there will never be true Gospel Repentance the Grace of the Promise must be bestowed first by Christ exalted to God's Right Hand God saith He had pardoned David before he Repented and what was it that moved him so kindly to Repentance as is mentioned Psal 51. but the sence of Pardon The Lord had told him by Nathan that he had put away his Sin Neonom How much of the Bible must I Transcribe if I quote all places to prove these Ezek. 18.30 Acts 3.19 Mark 1.4 Luke 13.3 Heb. 6.16 Calvin The Papists have quoted as many as you can think on but could never yet carry the Point As to that place of Ezek. 18.30 it hath been spoken to already It supposeth not that they had any Qualification for Remission by Repentance for they were to make them a new Heart first a Condemned Sinner besure can never do that work nor work at it God must perform the Promise of Grace in breaking his Heart of Stone by the Revelation of Pardoning Mercy and make him a new Heart before he can have a Heart to Repent Acts 26.18 imports no more than that the Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation and thereby Sinners are raised from Darkness to Light i. e. from the Darkness of a Natural State to the Light of Grace thereby in Christ's own Light they see Light the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Infinitive Mood is here put for the Genitive Case governed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foregoing the Light a Sinner is brought into is the Light of receiving Remission of Sins the Gospel Promise seen and applyed by Faith is that Light in the Soul wherein it is brought unto God the first Act of the Soul in Saving Conversion is believing for the Soul cannot turn from Sin to God by any Act of Repentance that 's Saving but by Jesus Christ and Faith in his Blood therefore in order of Nature Forgiveness must be had before there can be coming to God and therefore Ephraim cries for turning the Saints through Grace know they cannot come at God but by and through Christ and therefore their Complaints were so great and Repentings so heavy when God hid his Face from them I need not treat upon the other places they are all of the same strain Acts 5.31 is against you Luke 13.3 will not prove the Gospel a Law as I shall have occasion to shew Neonom The Sin against the Holy Ghost is Vnpardonable because it 's impossible to bring the Committer of it to Repentance Heb. 6.16 Calvin The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not in respect of the power of God but in regard of the Will and Pleasure of God Whom he will he hardneth When God hath left them to despise Christ and to Crucifie him again as it were to put him to open Scorn and Contempt not sinning Ignorantly but Presumptuously there 's no Repentance the reason why there 's no Repentance is because there 's no Forgiveness neither will they seek after it Neonom Are all these things consistent with Pardon before Repentance Can I be subject to perish and pardoned at once Calvin Yes a Traytor may be in the Cart and have the Halter about his Neck just when the Pardon comes Neonom Can God command Repentance under a Promise of Pardon and suppose I must be pardoned before Calvin Yea he always does so he performs the Promise to enable us to obey the Command and he annexeth the Promise to encourage us to the Duty The performance of the Promise to us is the true necessary condition of our performing any Duty to God acceptably Neonom And doth God do all before and nothing after Calvin Yea he doth abundantly more than we can ask or think before and after too Neonom 13. There 's no Saving Faith that includes not this purpose in it and so saith Dr. Owen Calvin Whatever you quote out of Dr. Owen the World knows he was against you in this Point his whole Book witnesseth that he never said that Faith justified as a Qualifying Grace much less Repentance there may be many things in Faith that toucheth not upon that Nature of it whereby it hath more to do in its peculiar Office in the Justification of a Sinner than any other Grace Neonom Without this purpose we do not accept of Christ as the way
to the purpose you have answered it all yourself in your second Whether viz. That God doth not upon new Crimes judicially charge the Christian with those Sins he had pardoned before tho' he may present to his view some former Sins for his further Humblings And so he doth those new Crimes you speak of God presents them to this view for his further Humblings And I will add in order to the quickning his Addresses to the Throne of Grace in the Faith of Forgiveness and drawing forth and enlarging his Heart in the Love of the Lord Jesus in sense of his Love seeing much is forgiven him Neonom Humiliation Confession Sorrow for Sin new Resolutions and looking to Christ for Healing are the Duties of Saints upon new Faults in order to repeated Acts of Forgiveness c. Antinom That these are our Duties at all times even when we fall not into notorious Relapses we deny not even when and whilst we live in the Faith of our present Pardon and Forgiveness and upon our Relapses our Recovery is by the same Faith which carries us forth to performance of these Duties in order to the mortifying Corruption and giving glory to God in all his Attributes for strengthning Power against Sin and Joy in the Holy Ghost which comfort in believing in restoring of Joy and Gladness in the sense of our Justification and Salvation by Christ is the Forgiveness intended Neonom If a Man were thrice stung must he not thrice look to the brazen Serpent D. W. p. 176. Antinom No doubt of it the brazen Serpent was a Type of Christ and looking to it was the Type of a Sinner's Faith When a Sinner hath Christ in Justification his Life is in him and he must live by the Faith of the Son of God God renews the Expressions and Manifestations of his free Pardon unto Believers from time to time accordingly it 's received by Faith to our daily healing and comfort the vertue of Christ remains the same it 's our Faith is repeated Neonom Believers ought to be more assured of Pardon and joyful after the renewed Acts of Repentance and Faith D. W. p. 177. Antinom They ought not to take up their assurance from their own Performances but from the free Grace in the Promise received by Faith and ought not to suspend Faith till they have repented and humbled themselves this were to pray and repent in Unbelief which makes it all vain and void Neonom It 's otherwise against that wise Order which God hath stated for a due Reverence to him Numb 12.14 Antinom God hath no Order of due Reverence to him established in the Covenant of Grace but Paternal and that 's by a Spirit of Adoption as a Son honoureth his Father and there 's none of this without Faith in the Fatherly Love and Compassion of the Father God hath nowhere ordered that his Children should put themselves into the Hands of his severe Justice when they have sinned and conclude themselves unjustified for a considerable time before they look to Christ for healing they that were stung in the Wilderness did not go to use a great many Medicines first but were immediately to apply themselves to the brazen Serpent for healing So should Believers upon all their falls Miriams being shut out of the Camp seven days was no Argument that God had not forgotten her before the seven days were up God makes some of his People in their falls Examples to others as to outward Afflictions of which they had in the days of the old Testament a more penal Aspect and more Judicial than we ought to make them to have in the days of clearer Gospel-grace as I can make appear divers ways Neonom The People of God have had those sad Fits which you condemn when Sin greatly breaks out they do well become them Paul calls a contrary frame under Guilt a being puffed up 1 Cor. 5.2 Antinom You basely slander the Doctor in making as if he were an Enemy to the serious Gospel remorse of God's Children from a right Principle and due Frame as we have made appear 2 Paul nowhere calls Faith in pardoning Mercy a puffing up that 's from a Spirit of Security and Insensibleness which we have in the Acts of Sin and after till the renewing our Acts of Faith 3. Paul nowhere commends a guilty Frame or Sadness meerly from Guilt But 2 Cor. 7.10 in the Case you mention absolutely condemns such sadness and sorrow as you commend as such which is contrary to true godly Sorrow Sorrow from Guilt only is according to the World and works Death Neonom Consider God remits or binds in Heaven according to what his Church doth justly on Earth either the Pardon of the Non-repenting Offender is suspended or Censures are vain D. W. p. 178. Antinom God's remitting or binding in Heaven is variously understood not to enlarge now upon it I do not apprehend that a justified Person falling into Sin and censured justly by a Church is therefore unjustified before God if so he is fallen from Grace in the highest sense Nor if he be a Hypocrite and in his Hypocrisy be reconciled to the Church in his Hypocrisy that therefore he is justified in Heaven or in foro Dei no I distinguish between forum Dei and Ecclesia a Man may be righteous before God and not before the Church vice versa but I apprehend to bind in Heaven what the Church doth justly on Earth is to confirm and bless his own Ordinances to their designed end and purpose either to the bringing home a lapsed justified Person or to discover him to be a Hypocrite and therefore they shall not be in vain Neonom Need I give you David 's experience Psal 32.3 5. When I keep silence my bones waxed old Antinom That place is impertinently quoted if you read the whole Psalm you will find that it begins with the true Gospel-blessedness of a Believer and after tells you what a miserable condition he was in when he fell under guilt and acted not faith concerning his justified and pardoned state the frame he speaks of as contrary to his sadness was a frame of Faith and Prayer and what was his faith acted upon but on the forgiveness of his sins as Ver. 1 2. Neonom The Assembly and Congregational Elders do both declare God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified D. W. p. 178. Antinom The Assembly saith Christ by his Obedience and Death Assemb Confess c. 11. s 3. did fully discharge the Debt of all those that are thus justified and did make a proper real and full satisfaction to his Father's Justice on their behalf And they say in Answer to that Question Larger Catech. Q. 70. What is Justification A. Justification is an Act of God's free Grace unto sinners in which he pardoneth all their sins therefore them that shall be committed as well as those that are committed already accepteth their persons righteous
displeasure Neonom I will tell you the Doctor 's mistake Because God laid our Sins on Christ to make Attonement for forgiveness of the Elect therefore God cannot be offended with the Elect for them before they repent Antinom Your Mistakes are wilful and foul ones too or else you would not act so dishonestly 1. This Doctrin of laying Sin on Christ you are always bantering take heed it prove not of dangerous consequence to you 2. Hath the Doctor spoken one word of the unconverted Elect in this matter or of the Elect before they repent But your spleen is moved because he founds the security of Believers from the Wrath of God towards them for Sin upon Christ bearing Sin and making full satisfaction for it you cannot brook it that Christ's Righteousness should have this honour I will tell you one thing If you have no better security from Wrath than the Evangelical Righteousness you shew in this Book I can say without a Spirit of Prophecy The Wrath of God abides on you Neonom Because God doth not hate the Believer as an unreconciled God when he sins therefore he is not at all displeased with him because of the Gospel-sins Antinom Because God manifests displeasure against the Sins of his People therefore say you God is displeased with their Persons that 's your mistake it 's not in the nature of God to love and hate the same Object neither hath God such affections as we have If God hate not as an unreconciled God he can do nothing towards that person but what are the effects of love there 's few earthly Parents can correct a Child but it 's in their mind wholly to do them good and to free them of some ill habit or corruption the Child calls the Father's carriage Anger and it looks so to him in a wise Father but all this while his Heart earns toward the Child and longs to be Kissing it Neonom He thinks because a Refiner is not angry with his Gold therefore a Holy God is not angry with Rational Offenders Antinom The Persons of true Believers are precious and honourabâ—e in the sight of God 10000 times more than Gold can be and securer from the anger of God than any Gold can be from the Refiner's anger I suppose your Rational Offenders are your Abominable Believers Neonom Because God will not hate a Believer so as to damn him therefore he cannot be angry with his People so as fatherly to chastize them Antinom If God cannot hate a Believer so as to damn him then he cannot punish or afflict him in this World with the same affection wherewith he doth damn any one but all that befalls him in this World proceeds from the same affection of love that saves them from damnation as to God there 's the same cause of the afflictions and chastisements of Believers as there is of their glorification they all proceed from his Eternal and Unchangeable Love from the sure Mercies of the Covenant of Promise and therefore are all in a way of benefit and advantage towards them God loves a Child of his as much in its infancy and nonage as in its grown state tho' his carriage is different the diversity of state requiring it And as to Fatherly Chastisement if you understand it aright we deny not but such are those of God's Children but you must know the Spirit of God Heb. 12. tells us the comparison will not hold but as a small illustration of it for God's thoughts affections designs are not as Man 's a Father may correct a Child in anger and passion and so for his pleasure as the Apostle saith but God never doth so a Woman may lay aside natural affections and forget her sucking Babe yea murder it but as God cannot lay aside his innate love so he cannot forget to exercise it in all things Neonom Because God afflicts from Sin therefore he doth not afflict for Sin Antinom If you mean from Sin and for Sin in the same sense that Sin is a reason of affliction in some sense or other we deny it not but if you mean it be a judicial cause of affliction as it is in a wicked Man we utterly deny it for such must be attoning to the Law transgressed in part or in whole the Law designs not the salvation of the sinner in any of its executions but it s own satisfaction in his destruction it looks not at his amendment but ruin And therefore if you mean that God as a Father doth so afflict we deny it for to say so were to make him change to invalidate the satisfaction of Christ and make him worse than an earthly Father Neonom As if he could not rebuke for what is past if he resolve not against their amendment for time to God Antinom God resolves their Amendment and therefore chastiseth and God rebukes their Sins and shews Man that he hath transgressed that Faith be exercised the more lively on the propitiation of Jesus Christ who satisfied God for Sin and that they may the more admire the free and pardoning Love of God and that his dealings are so favourable it 's the Lord's Mercy we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not and that Sin may be made more sinful and hateful to them Neonom The Doctor was led into this Opinion by not considering that Anger and Displeasure be not Passions in God but a Will of Correcting and are denominated from the kinds and degrees of Correction Antinom Quite contrary he took up his Opinion because he believed they were not so and that God's correcting his Children is from his Love and Good-will and that whatever the Degrees are the Specifick Nature is toto genere distinct from Punishments in anger Calv. 1. There is no reason why God should exact the Debt of Sin in the suffering of Believers because Christ hath fully satisfied his Father's Justice for their Sins 2. Their Sorrows and Afflictions cannot carry a Curse in them and therefore not the Wrath and Displeasure of God for he hath born their Sorrows and carried their Grief not that they should not have Sorrow but that their Sorrows should have nothing of the Sting of Sin the Curse of the Law in them 3. They are under the Grace of Adoption therefore Chastening is the Fruit of Adopting-love Heb. 12.6 And it 's one of the good things God hath allotted to them as Children and that for many great Ends 1. To be Partakers more and more of his Holiness in general Ver. 10. for their Profit and Advantage 2. To be conformed unto Christ therein who learned Obedience by suffering Heb. 5.8 3. To fill up that which is behind of the Afflictions of Christ in his Mystical Body Col. 1.24 4. That we may have fellowship with Christ in his Sufferings and therein be conformable to his Death Phil. 3.10 5. That as the Sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolations may abound by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 6.