Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A66347
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Gospel-truth stated and vindicated wherein some of Dr. Crisp's opinions are considered, and the opposite truths are plainly stated and confirmed / by Daniel Williams.
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Williams, Daniel, 1643?-1716.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing W2649; ESTC R24559
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134,616
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268
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that it runs as a Line through all his Discourses and is the foundation he builds most upon P. 298. I say all the Weight and all the Burthen and all that very Sin it self is long agone laid upon Christ and that laying of it upon him is a full Discharge and a general Release and Acquittance unto thee that there is not any one Sin now to be charged upon thee See p. 375. 281 285. and hence he shews that the Elect are justified before they do believe otherwise till such Believing the Person of the Elect doth bear his own Transgression and is chargeable for his own Transgressions p. 616 617. See more Ch. 9. Wherein the Difference is not The Difference is not 1. Whether Christ made a full Atonement for sin 2. Nor whether that shall in time be applied to the Elect for their actual Remission as the Effect of it 3. Nor whether we be so far released thereupon as that God can demand no Atonement from any who shall submit to the Gospel-way of the Application of it 4. Nor whether the Law be answered and God's Honour so vindicated thereby that the sins of Men cannot hinder an Offer and Promise of Forgiveness and Life 5. Nor whether when we are pardoned the whole meritorious Cause of Pardon be that Atonement and what is required of Sinners is only a Meetness to receive the Effects of it 6. Nor whether this Atonement was the only way of Forgiveness which we can apprehend All these I affirm The real Difference The real Difference is 1. Whether the Elect were actually discharged of all their sins at the time that Christ made Atonement This the Doctor affirms and I deny 2. Whether that very Act of God's laying Sins upon Christ on the Cross be the Discharge of the Elect from all sin This the Doctor affirms and I deny The Truth confirmed The first point of Difference thou mayst find handled in Chap. 1 9 11 12. the last I do refer to in this Chap. viz. that the very Act of laying of Sin on Christ upon the Cross is not the actual immediate Discharge of the Elect from sin 1. It was not the Will or Purpose of God or Christ that the laying of our sins on Christ should be the immediate Discharge of the Elect. I suppose thou wilt grant that if it was not the Will of God or Christ that this should discharge them then it did not discharge them And it 's plain God did not will it should be so For we have a full Account that it is the Elect when he is a Believer that is to be discharged Joh. 6. 40. This is the Will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life The Decree it self adjusted this Order 1 Pet. 1. 2. Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto Obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Christ. This is further evidenced elsewhere even in all such Places as be produced to prove that Faith and Repentance is required to our actual Remission and that declare the Impenitent and Unbelieving to be unpardoned For we cannot suppose that Christ's revealed Will in his Word is repugnant to his Purposes when dying or that he should add other Requisites to the Pardon of the Elect if they were immediately pardoned on his Death 2. This overthrows the whole Scheme so wisely contriv'd for the Distribution of the Effects of his Death Things are so adjusted that forgiving the Elect should be an Effect of Christ's Kingly Office as well as his Priestly Office He is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins Acts 5. 31. The Holy Ghost is to influence in the Application of Christ's Merits for Forgiveness 1 Cor. 6. 11. But you are washed but you are sanctified but you are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Hence the Design of the Gospel-Ministry is to open mens eyes and turn them from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive Forgiveness of Sin Act. 26. 18. It 's a Mercy received in this Order which is quite overturned if the Elect be discharged when Christ died 3. By the opposite Errour the Elect would have been discharged if Christ had never risen again For if meer laying our Sins on Christ did acquit the Elect let Christ never have risen we were rid of them they ceased to be ours and so could not condemn us by returning upon our Persons tho' Christ had continued dead yea his continuing dead had been the surest Release Whereas we are said to be begotten to a lively hope by Christ's resurrection 1 Pet. 1. 3. and saved thereby 1 Pet. 3. 21. 4. Yea if taking sins off from the Elect and laying them on Christ was their Discharge they would be discharged before the sufferings and Death of Christ This appears for they were laid on Christ before he suffered and according to the Doctor 's Scheme were taken off us to lay on Christ and their being laid on Christ made the Sufferings of Christ to be just From which it must follow that the Elect were eased of their Burthen before Christ suffered yea it would be easily proved they were released tho' he had not suffered 5. If this Errour hold the Gospel-Notion of Forgiveness by the Blood of Christ is destroyed Forgiveness denotes the Person guilty and it 's a judicial Act of God as a Rector acting by the Gospel-Rule and this supposeth the full and perfect Atonement made by Christ and the Grant made in the Virtue thereof But in the Doctor 's Opinion the Person is never guilty for sins were laid on Christ before we were born and therefore they were never upon us A judicial Act by a Rule there is none for the Gospel-grant of Pardon is not to the Elect as elect but as penitent Believers neither is the Atonement of Christ supposed to our Forgiveness For the Doctor owneth that our sins being laid on Christ is before the making of the Atonement and without our sins lay on Christ he could not justly be punished So that our Discharge being a Transferring of sin from us to Christ and this being done before Christ made Atonement we are discharged not for the Atonement of Christ nor by an Act of Forgiveness for the sake of this Atonement I need not add that by this Notion Heathens may be in a pardoned state and there 's no need of the Gospel or Knowledge of Christ to bring them out of a state of Wrath. Testimonies Thou hast read before Ch. 1. How the Assembly and the Elders at the Savoy declare We are not justified before the Spirit apply Christ to us in our effectual Vocation They both agree in Conf. ch 8. a. 1. That God from Eternity gave Christ a People to be his Seed and to be by him in time redeemed
we submit to the VVord as it brings every Thought into subjection 〈◊〉 Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. Are guided by his Teachings Eph. 2. 20. VVe are the Glory of Christ when we labour in his VVork and walk worthy of his Name 2 Cor. 8. 23. He is all in all when Jews and Gentiles put on the New Man which is created after him in righteousness and true holiness c. Col. 3. 11 12. VVhen we live and die to him as our Supreme Lord and submit all our Actings to his Glory as our End Rom. 14 11 12. These places express that Christ is hereby Exalted consult them and thou wilt find it so 2. The Truths I have stated do tend to the Exaltation of Christ in this manner and none can doubt but they lead to his Glory as he is King All that can be objected is Whether I do exalt him enough as Priest To which I say I have spoken as the Word directs and I am willing to own any thing that lays Man low and exalts Christ as the only Atonement the only Purchaser of all our Blessings the only Procurer of our Acceptance the Author and Finisher of all Grace Nothing can add to his Satisfaction or Fulness Pardon Peace Life all are the Effects of his sole Merits We must do all in his Name act in his Strength daily live on him for all Supplies and look to him for Acceptance without whose Incense the best Man and the best Action were an Abomination What I contend for is his Government so wisely contrived to apply his Blessings to Men in a state of Tryal 3. The Opinions of Doctor Crisp as opposed to these Truths cannot exalt Christ yea by the above Description every one of them cast a Reproach upon Christ. I 'll ask thee Is Christ exalted when he is made the very Blasphemer and loaded with the filth of Sin and thereby odious to God till he sweat it out P. 51 c. Is he exalted in making Sin so Innocent to the Elect when they commit it that though they do the Fact yet the filthy Form of it is not theirs but Christ's and therefore they are not defiled thereby but are as holy as Christ as lovely as Christ even when they Murther c. Is Man debased and Christ exalted when there is a Change of Person between Christ and them we as Righteous as Christ and he as Loathsom as we and we should not charge our selves with Sin when the greatest Enormities are committed Is Christ exalted as King when all his Commands are made mere Counsels He is a King but hath neither Promises nor Threats annexed to his Laws He hath no Right to Chastize for Sin He offers Blessings on Terms pleads earnestly sends his Spirits and Ministers to strive but all this while his Spirit nor Word do nothing to save us our Compliance with his Calls yields no Benefit our Rejection of them puts no Hindrance our grossest Villanies should not be bewailed in order to Pardon nor himself believed in to that end Our Sins can do us no harm at all nor is Holiness though so oft urged by him a jot of our way to Heaven Is Christ exalted as a Head that hath actual Members oft sixty years Slaves to the Devils Enemies to himself and Life and People without his Spirit or a Line of his Image and publick Curses c. Is he honoured as Mediator that Men are invested in all his Covenant-Blessings washed and adopted before they so much as own that God to whom he is a Way or renounce his Enemy the Devil or confess their Sin purpose any amendment see their need of him or desire to fear or love him yea do resolve the contrary Is Christ exalted as a holy Redeemer by being represented so intent on our mere Impunity as to contrive so little for our Holiness he repents and believes for us and requires no such things from us as a Means of Benefits the Holiness he here improves the best to is but Dung and Filthiness though he pretends to encourage expostulate and reprove yet indeed he governs his Elect as Brutes neither Hope nor Fear must influence them he hath no Rule to Judge them but the Decree of Election though he warns us so oft of the Solemnities of the Last Day No Man must intend his own good in any Duty he performs though he speaks so much of his Reward yet they have no respect at all to what we do they will be as much ours for the greatest neglects The Comforts of Assurance it self depends on no Signs of Renovation but concluding in our selves upon an inward Voice that our Sins are pardoned and this all that Faith which the Gospel speaks so much of How many more might I instance which represent Christ inglorious and reflect on the Truth Wisdom Holiness and Justice of his nature The Platform of his Government the Divineness of his Purposes in Redemption and the Substance and Scope of his Word and Gospel CHAP. XXIII Of the Honour of the Free Grace of God I Shall briefly consider whether Dr. Crisp's Opinion or the described Truths do most exalt the Free Grace of God To this end I shall touch on these Heads 1. We must be sure it is the Free Grace of God we speak of This is the Love Mercy and Benignity of God to Sinners To conceive aright of this Note That it is not every thing that Man can fancy to be Free or Grace or Free Grace that is the Free Grace of God No it must be a Grace free becoming the Nature of God suitable to all his other holy Perfections consistent with his Dominions executing it self in the VVay and Instances appointed by his VVisdom limited to the Objects both for Number and Qualifications as described by his VVord and serving all it's glorious Purposes of Redemption This is the Free Grace of God The Grace of God in Truth Col. 1. 6. The true Grace of God which Peter had at large described 1 Pet. 5. 12. This Grace consists with an Atonement made by Christ with the Threatnings denounced in the Gospel with the Ruine of all unbelieving apostate ungodly Sinners with God's peremptorily insisting on Gospel-Terms in the Distribution of Benefits or else it would clash with his VVord c. It 's not less the Free Grace of God because it is not so free as we may dream it is As some do fancy it would have been more Free Grace if he had not exacted a Dying-Sacrifice or if it had alike extended to all sinful Men as well as some or included Devils as well as Men or made the Elect perfectly holy and happy as soon as born excluding all Labour Pain Sin and Sorrow But we see such Free Grace is not the Free Grace of God though it seems more Free or more Grace to vain Surmisers it is not Free as if it dispensed Privileges by no certain Rule and that God is as free to forgive and save the