more apt to catch in low-built thatcht Cottages than in high-built Castles and Princely Palaces the higher we go still the more peace The highest Region is most sedate and calm Stars have the strongest influence when in conjunction Angels tho legions have no wars among them and as willingly go down as up the Ladder without justling each other And the Most High God is the God of Peace let us also be the Children of Peace And I do assure the Persons with whom I contend That whilst they hold the head and are tender of the Churches Peace I can live in charity with them here and hope to live in glory with them hereafter I remain Reader thine and the Truth 's Friend John Flavell THE CONTENTS OF THE Causes and Cures c. THE Etymology and definition of the word Error Introd p. 2 3. The difference between Heresy and Error Introd p. 4. Twenty general Observations Disc. p. 7. Obs. 1. Truth is the object and natural food of the Vnderstanding p. 7. Explain'd and confirm'd P. 8. Obs. 2. Several sorts of Knowledge amongst which the supernatural knowledge of saving Truths revealed in the Scriptures is the best 9. Obs. 3. Vnto the attainment of Divine Knowledge out of the Scripture some things are naturally yet less principally requisite in the subject and something absolutely and principally necessary 11. As the irradiation of the mind by the Spirit of God the benefits of which 12. Obs. 4. Among the manifold impediments to the obtaining of true Knowledge and setling the mind in the truth and faith of the Gospel these three are of special consideration viz. Ignorance Curiosity and Error p. 13. Obs. 5. Error is binding upon the Conscience as well as Truth and altogether as much and sometimes more influential upon the Affections and Passions than Truth is 14. Obs. 6. 'T is exceeding difficult to get out Error when once it is imbib ' d and hath rooted it self by an open profession 15. Obs. 7. Men are not so circumspect and jealous of the Corruptions of their Minds by Errors as they are of their Bodies in times of Contagion or of their Lives with respect to gross Immoralities 17. Obs. 8. 'T is a great Iudgment of God to be given up to an Erroneous Mind 19. Obs. 9. 'T is a pernicious Evil to advance a mere Opinion into the place or seat of an Article of Faith and to lay as great stress upon it as they ought to do upon the most clear and fundamental Point 21. Obs. 10. Error being conscious to it self of its own weakness and the strong assaults that will be made upon it evermore labours to defend and secure it self under the wings of Antiquity Reason Scripture and high pretensions to Reformation and Piety 23. Obs. 11. God in all Ages in his tender care for his Churches and Truths hath still qualified and excited his Servants for the defence of his precious Truths against the Errors and Heresies that have successively assaulted them p. 25. Obs. 12. The want of a modest suspicion and just reflection gives both confidence and growth to Erroneous Opinions 27. Obs. 13. There is a remarkable involution or concatenation of Errors one linking in and drawing another after it 29. Obs. 14. Errors abound most and spring fastest in the times of the Churches Peace Liberty and outward Prosperity under Indulgent Governors 31. Obs. 15. Errors in the tender bud and first spring of them are comparatively shy and modest to what they prove afterwards when they have spread and rooted themselves into the minds of multitudes and think it time to set up and justle for themselves in the World 33. Obs. 16. Nothing gives more countenance and increase to Errors than a weak and feeble defence of the Truth against it 35. Obs. 17 Errors of Iudgment are not cured by compulsion and external force but by rational conviction and proper spiritual remedies 36. Obs. 18. Erroneous Doctrines producing Divisions and fierce Contentions amongst Christians prove a fatal Stumbling-block to the World fix their Prejudices and obstruct their conversion to Christ p. 38. Obs. 19. How specious and taking soever the pretences of Error be and how long soever they maintain themselves in esteem among men they are sure to end in the loss and shame of their Authors and Abettors at last 40. Obs. 20. If ever Errors be cured and the Peace and Vnity of the Church established men must be convinced of and acquainted with the occassions and causes both within and without themselves from whence their Errors do proceed and must both know and apply the proper rules and remedies for the prevention or cure of them 42. Divine Permission an occasion of Error 44. Which must be prevented by avoiding 1. A want of love to the Truth 45. 2. Pride and wantonness of the mind 46. 3. The neglect of Prayer ibid. Culpable Causes of Errors in men are 1. A wrangling humor at the pretended obscurity of the Scriptures p. 47. Cod's wisdom manifested in leaving some difficulties in the Scriptures 49. For the prevention of this cause these Rules following to be heeded and practis'd viz. R. 1. To expound all obscure Texts of Scripture according to the analogy and proportion of Faith p. 50. R. 2. Not to wrest Scripture from its general and common sense in favour of our preconceived Opinions 51. R. 3. When we meet with a difficult place of Scripture to search the Context throughly 52. R. 4. Let one Testament freely cast its light upon the other the Old on the New and the New on the Old ibid. R. 5. Observe the sense which the current of Expositors do agree in and which naturally agrees with the scope of the place 53 Cause 2. The abuse of the Liberty given by Christ to all his People to read the Scriptures and to judge of the sense of them by a private judgment of Discretion ibid. Remedy of it is to observe the limits which Christ hath set to this Liberty which Limitations are 1. A liberty to read and study but not publickly to expound and preach the Word 57. 2. Christians of different Abilities ought to study some parts of Scripture rather than others 59. Cause 3. Slothfulness in a due and serious search of the Scripture 61. How to find the institution of the Sabbath in the Scripture 64. How to find the institution of the Baptism of Infants there 65. Several Considerations to cure this slothfulness 67. Viz. A serious search of the Scriptures is our duty ibid. No action of ours that is not agreeable to God's will is acceptable to him 68. This is the path in which the wisest and best of men have gone before us 69. Every discovery of the Will of God obtain'd in this method is highly pleasant 70. Confirms our Faith 71. An impartial search into the Will of God will be a testimony of our Integrity and Sincerity ibid. Cause 4. Instability of judgment and unsetledness of mind about the truth
Analogy or proportion of Faith which is St. Paul's own Rule Rom. 12. 6. Let him that prophesieth i. e. expoundeth the Scripture in the Church do it according to the proportion of faith The Analogy or proportion of Faith is what is taught plainly and uniformly in the whole Scriptures of Old and New Testament as the rule of our Faith and Obedience Whilst we carefully and sincerely attend hereunto we are secured from sinful corrupting the word of God Admit of no sense which interfereth with this proportion of Faith If men have no regard to this but take liberty to rend off a single Text from the body of Truth to which it belongs and put a peculiar interpretation upon it which is absonous and discordant to other Scriptures what woful work will they quickly make Give but a Papist liberty to take that Scripture Iam. 2. 24. out of the frame of Scripture A man is justified by works and not by faith only and expoâ—â—d it without regard to the Tenor of the Gospel-doctrine of Iustification in Paul's Epistles to the Romans and Galatians and a gross Error starts up immediately Give but a Socinian the like liberty to practise upon Iohn 14. 28. and a gross Hâ—resie shall presently look with an Orthodox face Rule II. Never put a new sense upon words of Scripture in favour of your preconceived Notions and Opinions nor wrest it from its general and common use and sense This is not to interpret but to rack the Scriptures as that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 2 Pet. 3. 16. Interpretis officium est non quid ipse velit sed quid censeat ille quem interpretatur exponere as Hieron against Ruff. speaks We are not to make the Scriptures speak what we think but what the Prophet or Apostle thought whom we interpret In 1 Cor. 7. 14. we meet with the word holy applied to the Children of Believers that word is above 500 times used for a state of separation to God Therefore to make it signify in that place nothing but Legitimacy is a bold and daring practising upon the Scripture Rule III. Whenever you meet with an obscure place of Scripture let the Context of that Scripture be diligently and throughly searched for 't is usual with God to set up some light there to guide us through the obscurity of a particular Text. And there is much truth in the Observation of the Rabbines Nulla est objectio in Lege quae non habet solutionem in lâ—tere There 's no scruple or objection in the Law but it hath a solution at the side of it Rule IV. Let one Testament freely cast its light upon the other and let not men undervalue or reject an Old Testament Text as no way useful to clear and establish a New-Testament Point of Faith or Duty Each Testament reflects light upon the other The Iews reject the New-Testament and many among us sinfully slight the Old But without the help of both we can never understand the mind of Godâ— in either 'T is a good Rule in the Civil-Law Turpe est de Lege judicare tota lege nondum inspectâ We must inspect the whole Law to know the sense of any particular Law Rule V. Have a due regard to that sense given of obscure places of Scripture which hath not only the current sense of Learned Expositors but also naturally agrees with the scope of the place A careless neglect and disregard to this is justly blamed by the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 7. Cause II. A Second evil temper in the Subject disposing and inclining men to receive and suck in erroneous Doctrines and Opinions is the ABVSE of that just and due CHRISTIAN LIBERTY allowed by Christ to all his people to read examine and judge the sense of Scriptures with a private judgment of discretion This is a glorious acquisition and blessed fruit of Reformation to vindicate and recover that just Right and gracious Grant made to us by Christ and the Apostles out of the injurious hands of our Popish Enemies who had usurped and invaded it The exercise of this Liberty is at once a Duty commanded by Christ and commended in Scripture 'T is commanded by Christ Iohn 5. 39. Search the Scriptures saith Christ to the people 1 Cor. 10. 15. I speak as to wise men judge you what I say And the exercise of this private judgment of discretion by the people is highly commended by St. Paul in the Bereans Acts 17. 11. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so This Liberty is not allowed in that latitude in any Religion as it is in the Christian Religion nor enjoyed in its full liberty as it is in the Reformed Religion whose glory it is that it allows its Principles and Doctrines to be critically examined and tryed of all Men by the Rule of the Word as well knowing the more it is sifted and searched by its Professors the more they will be still confirmed and satisfied in the truth of it But yet this gracious and just liberty of Christians suffers a double abuse One from the Popish Enemies who injuriously restrain and deny it to the people Another by Protestants themselves who sinfully stretch and extend it beyond the just degree and measure in which Christ allows it to them The Pope injuriously restrains it discerning the danger that must necessarily follow the concession of such a liberty to the people to compare his superstitious and erroneous Doctrines with the Rule of the Word St. Peter in 2 Pet. 1. 19. tells the people they have a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto they do well that they take heed Certainly the Pope forgot either that he was Peter's Successour or that ever St. Peter told the people they did well to make use of that liberty which he denies them Mr. Pool tells us of a Spaniard that used this expression to an English Merchant You people of England said he are happy you have liberty to see with your own eyes and to examine the Doctrines delivered to you upon which your everlasting Life depends but we dare not say our souls are our own but are commanded to believe whatever our Teachers tell us be it never so unreasonable or ridiculous This is a most injurious and sinful restraint upon it on the one side And then Secondly 'T is too frequently abused by stretching it beyond Christ's allowance and intendment upon the other side when every ignorant and confident person shall under pretence of liberty granted by Christ rudely break in upon the Sacred Text distort violate and abuse the Scriptures at pleasure by putting such strange and â—oreign senses upon them as the Spirit of God never meant or intended How often have I heard that Scripture Micha 4. 10. They shall be brought even to Babylon confidently interpreted for almost but not full hâ—me
Gospel-Unity THe Text 1 Cor. 1. 10. open'd p. 410. A Duty and the Arguments inforcing it 410 11. Doctrine Vnity among Believers is a necessary Mercy and indispensible Duty 414. What Vnity among Believers is explained 415. Consists in a Mystical Vnion with the Head and a Moral Vnion among themselves ad 419. This Vnity desirable as it conduces 1. To the Glory of God 419. 2. To the Comfort and Benefit â—f Souls 421. 3. With respect to the World 422. Use. By way of Exhortation to Vnity 424. Motive 1. 425. Mot. 2. 427. Mot. 3. 428 Mot. 4. 432. Mot. 5. 433. Mot. 6. 436. Use 2. Direction 436. Direction 1. 437. Direction 2. 440. Ministers to mind their proper work ibid. The People to mind theirs 441. Direction 3. 442. Direct 5. 444. Direct 6. 445. Direct 7. 446. Direct 8. 447. A Table of the Scriptures Vindicated and Explained C C. stands for the Causes and Cures of Mental Errors Ap. 1. for the 1st Appendix Ap. 2. for the 2d Appendix Serm. for the Sermon of Gospel-Vnity GEnesis cap. 17. v. 7 8. Ap. 1. p. 233. v. 9 10. C. C. p. 65. Ap. 1. 225. Leviticus cap. 26. v. 40 41. C. C. p. 70. Ap. 1. p. 198. Numbers cap. 23. v. 21. Ap. 2. p. 363. Job 12. 11. C. C. p. 7. Psalm 58. 3. C. C. p. 3. 89. v. 30 31. Ap. 2. p. 374. Canticles 2. 6 7. Serm. p. 423. Isaiah 9. 16. C. C p. 136. Jer. 15. 16. C. C. p. 70. 50. v. 20. Ap. 2. p. 364. Mal. 3 16. C. C. p. 107. Matt. 15. 14. C. C. p. 88. Joh. 17. 23. Serm. p. 422. Acts 2. 38. C. C. p. 65. v. 46 47. Serm. p. 421. cap. 7. 38. Ap. 1. p. 199. cap. 15. 10. Ap. 1. p. 236. cap. 16. 2 3. Ap. 1. p. 226 229. Rom 1. 26. C. C. p. 19. cap. 4. 9 10. Ap. 1. p. 234. v. 11. Ap. 1. p. 220. v. 13. Ap. 1. p. 234. cap. 5. 17 20. Ap. 1. p. 189. cap. 6. 1 2. Ap. 2. p. 309. cap. 8. 28. Ap. 2. p. 389. v. 33. Ap. 2. p. 336. cap. 9. 4. Ap. 1. p. 203. cap. 10. 2. C. C. p. 102. cap. 11. 16. C. C. p. 65. v. 17. Ap. 1. p. 290. cap. 12. 2. C. C. p. 67. v. 6. C. C. p. 50. cap. 15. 5. Serm. p. 419. 1 Cor. 3. 12 13. C. C. p. 41. cap. 7. 14. C. C. p. 51. 65. 2 Cor. 3. 6 7. Ap. 1. p. 197. Galatians 1. 6. C. C. p. 154. cap. 3. 1. C. C. p. 118. v. 12. Ap. 1. p. 205. v. 17. Ap. 1. p. 176 229. cap. 4. 17. C. C. p. 102. cap. 5. 1. Ap. 1. p. 236. v. 23. Ap. 1. p. 230. v. 4. Ap. 1. p. 284. Ephesians 4. 14. C. C. p. 118 72 74. Philippians 2. 12. Serm. p. 424. Colossians 2. 6 7. C. C. p. 76. v. 10 11. C C. p. 66. cap. 3. 10. C. C. p. 8. 1 Thessalonians 4. 11. Serm. p. 440. 2 Timothy 4. 3. C. C. p. 90. Hebrews 5. 13 14. C. C. p. 59. James 4. 8. C. C. p. 74. 2 Peter 1. 12. C. C. p. 77. cap. 2. 1. C. C. p. 18 34. v. 3. C. C. p. 118. cap. 3. 16. C. C. p. 47 48. p. 51. p. 135. 1 John 2. 13. C. C. p. 59. cap. 3. 7. Ap. 2. p. 385. Jude v. 4. Ap. 2. p. 3 10. v. 13. C. C. p. 3. 73. v. 16. C. C. p. 46. CORRIGENDA PAge 10. l. 23. for you r. your p. 18. l. 23. for their r. there and l. 2 4. for as r. a p. 23. in the Margent r. tenetur p. 37. l. 23. r dissent in judgment p 51. l. 19. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 54. l. 22. â—or full liberty r. fullness p. 62. l. 19. r. sparsâ—m p. 72. l. penult r. wait p. 80. in the Marg. for assailed r. absolved p. 89. l. 7. for cary r. carry p. 120. l. 4. add wait p. 155. l 4 r. preventives p. 167. l. 19. r. temerity p. 249. dele as it is and add in its place in this sense ADVERTISEMENT THere is lately Printed a Book Intituled A Demonstration of the first Principles of the Protestant Applications of the Apocalyps together with the Consent of the Ancients concerning the fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations By Drue Cressener D. D. Printed for Tho. Cockerill A Blow at the Root OR THE CAUSES and CURES OF Mental Errors The INTRODUCTION FINDING by sad Experience what I before justly feared that Errors would be apt to spring up with Liberty though the restraint of just Liberty being a practical Error in Rulers can never be the cure of Mental Errors in the Subjects I judged it necessary at this Season to give a Succinct account of the Rise Causes and Remedies of several Mistakes and Errors under which even the Reformed Churches among us as well as others do groan at this Day I will not stay my Reader long upon the Etymology and Derivations of the Word We all know that Etymologies are no Definitions Yet because they cast some light upon the Nature of the thing we enquire after it will not be lost labour to observe that this word ERROR derives it self from three Roots in the Hebrew Language 1. The Frst word Primitively signifies to deviate or decline from the true Scope or path as Unskilful Marks-men or Ignorant and Inadvertent Travellers use to do The least variation or turning aside from the true Rule and Line tho it be but an hairs breadth presently becomes an Error We read Iudg. 20. 16. of 700. Benjamites who could every one sling stones at an hairs breadth and not miss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. and not err This by a Metaphor is applied to the Mind or Judgment of man and denotes the warpings thereof from the Straight Perfect Divine Law or Rule and is usually Translated by the word Sin 2. It is derived from another word also which signifies to wander in variable and uncertain motions You find it in the Title of the 7th Psalm Shiggaion of David a wandring Song or a Song of variable Notes and Tunes higher and lower sharper and flatter In both the former Derivations it seems to note simple Error through meer Weakness and Ignorance But then 3. In its Derivation from a third Root it signifies not only to Err but to cause others to Err also and so signifies a Seducer or one that is active in leading others into a wrong way and is applied in that sense to the Prophets in Israel who seduced the People Ezek. 13. 10. The Greek Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 takes in both these senses both to go astray and when put Transitively to lead or cause others to go astray with us Hence is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Planets or wandring Stars the title given by the Apostle Iude ver 13. to the false Teachers and Seducers of his time An Error then is any departure or deviation in our
Whether any Condition required by it on our part have any thing in its own nature meritorious of the Benefits promised nor 4. Whether we be able in our own strength and by the power of our Free-will without the preventing as well as the assisting Grace of God to perform any such work or duty as we call a Condition These things I told you were to be excluded out of this Controversy But the only Question betwixt us is Whether in the New Covenant some act of ours though it have no merit in it nor can be done in our own single strength be not required to be performed by us antecedently to a blessing or privilege consequent by vertue of a promise And whether such an act or duty being of a suspending nature to the blessing promised it have not the true and proper nature of a Gospel-condition In your Reply contrary to all rule and reason you include and chiefly argue against the very Particulars by me there excluded and scarcely if at all touch the true Question as it was stated and by you ought accordingly to have been considered I might therefore justly think my self discharged from any further concernment with you about it for if you will include what I plainly excluded you argue not against mine but another man's Position which I am not concerned to defend You here dispute against meritorious Conditions which I explode and abhor as much as your self You say p. 34. of your Reply that a Condition plainly implies something of merit by way of condignity or congruity which is false and turns the Question from me to the Papists And were it not more for the clearing up of so great a Point for the instruction and satisfaction of others than any hope you give me of convincing you I should not have touched this Question again unless I had found your Replies more distinct and pertinent But finding the Point in controversy of great weight I will once more tell you 1. What the word Condition signifies 2. In what sense it is by us used in this Controversy 3. Establish my Arguments for the conditionality of the New Covenant 1. And first we grant That neither our word Condition nor your term Absolute are either of them found in Scripture with respect to God's covenanting with Man so that we contend not about the signification of a Scripture term But though the word Conditional be not there yet the thing being found there That brings the word Conditional into use in this Controversy For we know not how to express those â— sacred Particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If If not Vnless But if Except Only and the like which are frequently used to limit and restrain the Grants and Privileges of the New Covenant Rom. 10. 9. Matt. 18. 3. Mark 5. 36. Mark 11. 26. Rom. 4. 24. I say we know not how to express the true sense and force of these Particles in this Controversy by any other word so fit and full as the word Conditional is Now this word Condition being a Law-term is variously used among Iurists and the various use of the word occasions that confusion which is found in this Controversy He therefore that shall clearly distinguish the various senses and uses of the word is most likely to labour with success in this Controversy I shall therefore briefly note the principal senses and uses of the term and shew in what sense we here take it Of Conditions there be two sorts Conditions 1. Antecedent 2. Consequent As to the latter namely consequent Conditions you your self acknowledge p. 100. That in the outward dispensation of the Covenant many things are required of us in order unto the participation or enjoyment of the full end of the Covenant in glory So then the Covenant is acknowledged to be consequently conditional which is no more than to say with the Apostle Without holiness no man shall see God or that if any man drawâ— back his soul shall have no pleasure in him c. Our Controversy therefore is not about consequent Conditions laid by God upon Believers after they are in Christ and the Covenant the Covenant so considered à posteriori will not be denied to be Condiâ—tional The only Question is about Antecedent Conditions and of these we are here to consider 1. Such as respect the first Sanction of the Covenant in Christ. 2. Such as respect the application of the benefits of the Covenant unto Men As to the first Sanction of the Covenant in Christ we freely acknowledg â—t hath no previous Condition on Manâ—s part but depends purely and only upon the Grace of God and Merit of Christ. So that our Question proceeds about such antecedent Conditions only as respect the Application of the Benefits of the Covenant unto Men. And of these Antecedent Conditions there are likewise two sorts which must be carefully distinguished 1. Such Antecedent Conditions which have the force of a meritorious and impulsive Cause which being performed by the proper strength of Nature or at most by the help of common assisting Grace do give a Man a right to the reward or blessings of the Covenant And in this sense we utterly disclaim antecedent Conditions as I plainly told you p. 61. of my Vindiciae c. Or 2. An Antecedent Condition signifying no more than an Act of ours which though it be neither perfect in every degree nor in the least meritorious of the benefit conferred nor performed in our own natural strength yet according to the constitution of the Covenant is required of us in order to the blessings consequent thereupon by vertue of the Promise and consequently the benefits and mercies granted in the Promise in this order are and must be suspended by the Donor or Disposer of them until it be performed Such a Condition we affirm Faith to be But here again Faith 〈…〉 the Condition of the New Covenant is considered 1. Essentially Or 2. Organically and Instrumentally In the first consideration of Faith according to its Essence it is contained under Obedience and in that respect we exclude it from justifying our persons or entitling us to the saving-mercies of the New Covenant as it is a work of ours and so I excluded it p. 133. of my Method of Grace which you ignorantly or wilfully mistake when in your Reply p. 88 89. you object it against me Faith considered in this sense is not the Condition of the Covenant nor can pretend to be so more than any other Grace But We consider it Organically Relatively and as most speak Instrumentally as it receives Christ Ioh. 1. 12. and so gives us power to become the Sons of God it being impossible for any Man to partake of the saving benefits of the Covenant but as he is united to Christ. For all the Promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. And united to Christ no Man can be before he be a believer for Christ
being in Christ and on that as well as on many accounts necessary The difference between him and other good men seems to lie not so much in the things which the one or other of them believe as about their order and reference to one another where 't is true there may be very material difference but we reckon That notwithstanding what is more controversible in these Writings there are much more material things wherein they cannot but agree and would have come much nearer each other even in these things if they did take some words or terms which come into use on the one or the other hand in the same sense but when one uses a word in one sense another uses the same word or understands it being used in quite another sense here seems a vast disagreement which proves at length to be verbal only and really none at all As let by Condition be meant a deserving Cause in which case 't is well known Civillians are not wont to take it and the one side would never use it concerning any good Act that can be done by us or good Habit that is wrought in us in order to our present acceptance with God or final Salvation Let be meant by it somewhat that by the constitution of the Gospel-Covenant and in the nature of the thing is requisite to our present and eternal well-being without the least notion of desert but utmost abhorrence of any such notion in this case and the other side would as little refuse it But what need is there for contending at all about a Law-term about the proper or present use whereof there is so little agreement between them it seems best to serve and them it offends Let it go and they will well enough understand one another Again Let Justification be taken for that which is compleat entire and full as it results at last from all its Causes and Concurrents and on the one hand it would never be denied Christ's righteousness justifies us at the Bar of God in the Day of Iudgment as the only deserving cause or affirmed that our Faith Repentance Sincerity do justifie us there as any cause at all Let Iustification be meant only of being justified in this or that particular respect As for instance against this particular Accusation of never having been a Believer and the honest mistaken Prefacer would never have said O horrid upon it s being said Christ's Righteousness doth not justify us in this case For he very well knows Christ's Righteousness will justifie no man that never was a Believer but that which must immediately justifie him against this particular Accusation must be proving that he did sincerely believe which shews his interest in Christ's Righteousness which then is the only deserving cause of his full entire Iustification There is an Expression in Vol. 1. p. 46. That Salvation is not the end of any good work we do which is like that of another we are to act from Life not for Life Neither of which are to be rigidly taken as 't is likely they were never meant in the strict sense For the former this Reverent Author gives us himself the handle for a gentle interpretation in what he presently subjoyns where he makes the end of our good works to be the manifestation of our Obedience and Subjection the setting forth the praise of the glory of the Grace of God which seems to imply that he meant the foregoing negation in a comparative not in an absolute sense understanding the glory of God to be more principal and so that by end he meant the very ultimate end so for the other 't is likely it was meant that we should not act or work for life only without aiming and endeavouring that we might come to work from life also For it is not with any tolerable charity supposable that one would deliberately say the one or the other of these in the rigid sense of the words or that he would not upon consideration presently unsay it being calmly reasoned with For it were in effect to abandon Humane Nature and to sin against a very Fundamental Law of our Creation not to intend our own felicity it were to make our first and most deeply Fundamental Duty in one great essential branch of it our sin viz. To take the Lord for our God For to take him for our God most essentially includes our taking him for our supream good which we all know is included in the notion of the last end it were to make it unlawful to strive against all sin and particularly against sinful oversion from God wherein lies the very death of the Soul or the sum of its misery or to strive after perfect conformity to God in holiness and the full fruition of him wherein its final blessedness doth principally conâ—ist It were to teach us to violate the great Precepts of the Gospel Repent that your sins may be blotted out Strive to enter in at the strait Gate Work out your salvation with fear and trembling To obliterate the Paterns and Precedents set before us in the Gospel We have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified I beat down my body lest I should be a castaway That thou mayest save thy self and them that hear thee It were to suppose one bound to do more for the salvation of others than our own salvation We are required to save others with fear plucking them out of the fire Nay we were not by this rule strictly understood so much as to pray for our own salvation which is a doing of somewhat when no doubt we are to pray for the success of the Gospel to this purpose on behalf of other meâ— T were to make all the threatnings of Eternal Death and promises of Eternal Life we find in the Gospel of our Blesâ—ed Lord useless as motives to shun the one and obtain the other For they can be motives no way but as the escaping of the former and the attainment of the other have with us the places and consideration of an end It makes what is mentioned in the Scripture as the Character and commendation of the most eminent Saints a fault as of Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. That they sought the better and Heavenly Countrey and declared plainly that they did so which necessarily implies their making it their end But let none be so harsh as to think of any good man that he intended any thing of all this if every passage that falls from us be stretch'd and tortured with utmost severity we shall find little to do besides accusing others and defending our selves as long as we live A Spirit of meekness and love will do more to our Common Peace than all the Disputations in the World Vpon the whole We are so well assured of the peaceful healing temper of the present Author of these Treatises That we are persuaded he designed such a course of managing the Controversies wherein he hath concerned himself as
not on the one hand to injure the memory of the Dead and on the other to prevent hurt or danger to the Living Nor do we say thus much of him as if he sought or did need any Letters of Recommendation from us but as counting this Testimony to Truth and this expression of respect to him a Debt to the spontaneous payment whereof nothing more was requisite besides such a fair occasion as the Providence of God hath now laid before us inviting us thereunto John Howe Vin. Alsop Nath. Mather Increase Mather John Turner Rich. Bures Tho. Powel AN EPISTLE TO THE READER Candid Reader CEnsure not this Treatise of ERRORS as an Error in my Prudentials in sending it forth at such an improper time as this I should never spontaneously have awakened sleeping Controversies after God's severe castigation of his people for them and in the most proper and hopeful season for their Redintegration And beside what I have formerly said I think fit here to add That if the attacque had been general and not so immediately and particularly upon that Post or Quarter I was set to defend I should with Elihu have modestly waited till some abler and more skilful hand had undertaken the defence of this Cause If ever I felt a temptation to envy the happiness of my Brethren it hath been whilst I saw them quietly feeding their Flocks and my self forced 〈◊〉 some part of my precious 〈…〉 time devoted to the 〈…〉 combating with unquiet and erring Brâ—thren But I see I must not be my own chuser Notwithstanding I hope and am in some measure persuaded That publick benefit will redound to the Church from this irksâ—me Labour of mine And that this strife will spread no further but the Malady be cured by an Antidote growing in the very place where it began And that the Christian Camp will not take a general Alarm from such a â—ingle Duel The Book now in thy hands consisteth of Four parts viz. 1. A general Discourse of the Causes and Cures of Errors very necessary at all times especially at this time for the reduction and establishment of seduced and staggering Christians and nothing of that nature having occurred to my observation among the manifold Polemical Tracts that are extant I thought it might be of some use to the Churches of Christ in such a vertigenous Age as we live in and the blessing of the Lord go forth with it for benefit and establishment 2. Next thou hast here the Controversies moved by my Antagonist first about the Mosaick Law complexly taken which he boldly pronounces to be an Adam's Covenant of works And secondly about God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. which he also makes the same with that God made with Adam in Paradise and affirms Circumcision expresly called a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith to be the Seal of the said Covenant of Works first made with Adam 3. Finding my Adversary in the pursuit of his design running into many Antinomian delirations to the reproach and damage of the Cause he contends for I thought it necessary to take the principal Errors of Antinomianism into examination especially at such a time as this when they seem to spring afresh to the hazard of God's Truth and the Churches Peace wherein I have dealt with becoming-modesty and plainness if haply I might be any way instrumental in my plain and home way of Argumentation to detect the falsity and dangerous nature of those notions which some good men have vented and preserve the sounder part of the Church from so dangerous a contagion 4. In the next place I think it necessary to advertise the Reader That whereas in my first Appendix under that head of the Conditionality of the New Covenant I have asserted Faith to be the Condition of it and do acknowledg p. 246. that the word Condition is variously used among Iurists yet I do not use in any sense which implies or insinuates that there is any such condition in the New Covenant as that in Adam's Covenant was consisting in perfect personal and perpetual obedience or any thing in its own nature meritorious of the benefits promised or capable to be performed by us in our own strength but plainly that it be an act of ours tho' done in God's strength which must be necessarily done before we can be actually justified or saved and so there is found in it the true suspending nature of a condition which is the thing I contend for when I affirm Faith is the condition of the New Covenant How many senses soever may be given of this word Condition this is the determinate sense in which I use it throughout this Controversy And whosoever denies the suspending Nature of Faith with respect to actual Justification pleads according to my understanding for the actual Justification of Infidels And thus I find a Condition defined by Navar Iohan. Baptist. Petrus de Perus c. Conditio est Suspensio alicujus dispositionis tantisper dum aliquid futurum fiat And again Conditio est quidam futurus eventus in quem dispositio suspenditur Once more My Reader possibly may be stumbled at my calling Faith sometimes the Instrument and sometimes the Condition of our Justification when there is so great a Controversy depending among Learned Men with respect to the use of both those terms I therefore desire the Reader to take notice That I dive not into that Controversy here much less presume to determine it but finding both those Notions equally opposed by our Antinomians who reject our actual Justification by Faith either way and allow to Faith no other use in our actual Justification but only to manifest to us what was done from Eternity I do therefore use both those terms viz. the Conditionality and Instrumentality of Faith with respect unto our Justification and shew in what sense those terms are useful in this Controversy and are accommodate enough to the design and purpose for which I use them how repugnant soever they are in that particular wherein the Learned contend about the Use and Application of them To be plain when I say Faith justifies us as an Organ or Instrument my only meaning is that it receives or apprehends the Righteousness of Christ by which we are justified and so speaking to the Quomodo or manner of our Justification I say with the general Suffrage of Divines we are justified instrumentally by Faith But in our Controversy with the Antinomians where another different Question is moved about the Quando or time of our actual Justification there I affirm that we are actually justified at the time of our believing and not before and this being the Act upon which our Justification is suspended I call Faith the Condition of our Justification This I desire may be observed lest in my use of both those terms my Reader should think either that I am not aware of the Controversy depending about those terms or that I do herein manifest the vacillancy of
make one assault How many wavering Professors at this day lie in Temptation's way and how great a harvest have Errorists and Hereticks had among them There 's not a Mountebank comes upon the Stage but he shall find ten times more Customers for his Druggs than the most Learned and Experienced Physician The giddy-headed Multitude have more regard to Novelty than Truth The Remedies How necessary and desirable are some effectual Rules and Remedies in this Case O what a mercy would it be to the Professors of these days to have their Minds fixed and their Judgments setled in the Truths of Christ Happy is that man whose Judgment is so guarded that no dangerous Error or Heresie can commit a Rape upon it To this end I shall here commend the four following Rules to prevent this vertigenous malady in the heads of Christians Rule I. Look warily to it that you get a real inward implantation into Christ and lay the foundation deep and firm in a due and serious deliberation of Religion whenever you engage in the publick profession of it To this sense sound the Apostle's words Col. 2. 6 7. As you have therefore received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith as you have been taught Fertility and stability in Christ a pair of inestimable Blessings depend upon a good rooting of the Soul in him at first He that thrusts a dead stick into the ground may easily pull it up again but so he cannot do by a well-rooted Tree A colour raised by violent action or a great fire soon dies away but that which is natural or constitutional will hold Every thing is as its foundation is 'T was want of a good root and due depth of earth which soon turned the green Corn into dry stubble Matt. 13. 21. Rule II. Labour after an inward experimental taste of all those Truths which you profess This will preserve your minds from wavering and hesitation about the certainty and reality of them We will not easily part with those Truths which have sensibly shed down their sweet influences upon our hearts Heb. 10. 34. No Sophister can easily perswade a man that hath taâ—ted the sweetness of Honey that it is a bitter and unpleasant thing Non est disputandum de gustu you cannot easily perswade a man out of his Senses Rule III. Study hard and pray earnestly for satisfaction in the present Truths 2 Pet. 1. 12. That you may be established 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the truth that now is under opposition and controversie Be not ignorant of the Truths that lie in present hazard Antiquated Opinions that are more abstracted from our present Interest are no tryals of the soundness of our Judgments and integrity of our Hearts as the controversies and conflicts of the present Times are Every Truth hath its time to come upon the stage and enter the lists some in one Age and some in another but Providence seems to have cast the lot of your Nativity for the honour and defence of those Truths with which Error is struggling and conflicting in your time Rule IV. Lastly Be throughly sensible of the benefit and good of establishment and of the evil and danger of a wavering Mind and Judgment Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines saith the Apostle for it is a good thing that the heart be established c. Heb. 13. 9. Established Souls are the honour of Truth It was the honour of Religion in the primitive days that when the Heathens would proverbially express an Impossibility they used to say You may as soon turn a Christian from Christ as do it The Fickleness of Professors is a stumbling-block to the World They 'l say as Cato of the Civil Wars betwixt Caesar and Pompey quem fugiam video quem sequar non video they know whom to avoid but not whom to follow And as the honour of Truth so the flourishing of your own Souls depends on it A Tree often removed from one Soil to another can never be expected to be fruitful 't is well if it make a shift to live Fifth Cause Another inward Cause disposing men to receive Erroneous Impressions is an unreasonable EAGERNESS to snatch at any Doctrine or Opinion that promisesh ease to an anxious Conscience Men that are under the frights and terrours of Conscience are willing to listen to any thing that offers present relief Of all the Troubles in the World those of the Mind and Conscience are most intolerable And those that are in pain are glad of ease and readily catch at any thing that seems to offer it This seems to be the thing which led those poor distressed Wretches intimated Micah 6. 6. into their gross Mistakes and Errors about the method of the remission of their Sins Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and â—ow my self before the high God shall I come before him with Burnt-offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousand of Rams or with ten thousand of Rivers of Oyl Shall I give my First-born for my Transgression the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my Soul They were ready to purchase inward peace and buy out their pardon at any rate Nothing but the twinges of Conscience could have extorted these things from them Great is the efficacy and torment of a guilty Conscience Satan who feels more of this in himself than any other Creature in the World and knows how ready poor ignorant but distressed Sinners are to catch at any thing that looks like ease or comfort and being jealous what these troubles of Conscience may issue into prepares for them such Erroneous Doctrines and Opinions under the names of Anodines and quieting Recipe's by swallowing of which they feel some present ease but their Disease is thereby made so much the more incurable 'T is upon this account he hath found such vent in the World for his Penanees Pilgrimages and Indulgences among the Papists But seeing this Ware will not go off among the Reformed and more enlightned Professors of Christianity he changeth his hand and fitteth other Doses under other names to quiet sick and distressed Souls before ever their frights of Conscience come to settle into true Repentance and Faith in the Blood of Christ by dressing up and presenting to them such Opinions as these viz. That they may boldly apply to themselves all the Promises of pardon and peace without any respect at all to Repentance or Faith in themselves that it is not at all needful nay that it is illegal and sinful to have any respect to these things forasmuch as their Sins were pardoned and they justified from Eternity and that the Covenant of Grace is in all respects absolute and is made to Sinners as Sinners without any regard to their Faith or Repentance and whatever Sins there be in them God sees them not To such a Charm of Troubles
Law to omit forbear or give over to curse that People any more But did or can the Law forbear or cease to curse those that are absolutely under it as a ministration of death and condemnation Pray consult Rom. 3. 19. and Gal. 3. 10. Are you aware what you say when you place Believers absolutely under the Curse of the Law and then talk of the New Covenant's victory over it and after all this leave them as you do absolutely under the cursing power of the one and still under the victorious grace of the other For shame my Friend give up your absurd notion and repent of this folly I would not willingly shame you before the World I did all that lay in me to prevent it But however Pudor est medicina pudoris the only way you have left me to prevent your glorying in your shame is this way to make you ashamed of your vain-glory As for that Scripture you alledge to countenance your fancy Rom. 5. 17 20. you might to as good purpose have opened your Bible and have taken the first Scripture that came to hand and it would have done your Position less harm For the Apostle's scope there is to demonstrate the perfection of the abounding Righteousness of Christ for the full discharge of Believers from the guilt of sin and curse of Adam's Covenant and cuts the throat of your Position which it is alledged to prove I have stood the longer upon the clearing of this first Point because this being fully cleared it runs through and clears the whole Controversy betwixt us For now it will be evident to all That neither Abraham's nor Moses his Covenant complexly taken as Mr. Cary takes it could possibly be for this reason an Adam's Covenant of Works and if not a Covenant of Works then how dark or legal soever the Dispensations of them were they must needs be the same Covenant of Grace for substance under which we are and so the main Controversy betwixt us is hereby at an end I know not how many Covenants of Works or how many of Grace Mr. C. fancies there are But Orthodox Divines constantly affirm That as there never were but two ways of Life to mankind the one before the Fall by perfect doing the other after the Fall by sincere believing So answerably there can be but two Covenants betwixt God and Mankind viz. the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace The last of which hath indeed been more obscurely Administred and in that respect is called the Old Covenant yet that and the New are essentially but one Covenant And the Church of God which for many Ages stood under that Old Covenant did not stand under it as an Adam's Covenant or the First Covenant of works for the undeniable Reasons above given And therefor Abraham's Covenant from whence we derive our Childrens Title to Baptism must of necessity be the very same Covenant for substance with this New Covenant which all Abraham's believing off-spring and their Infant-seed are now under And in proving this one point I have sufficiently confuted both Mr. C's Solemn Call and this his feeble vindication of it together But lest he should take this for the only Absurdity proved upon him tho' it be tiresome to me and must be ungrateful to him give me leave to touch one more among many and that the rather because I make great use of it in this Controversy and Mr. Cary both yields and denies it If his own words be the Messengers of his meaning either he or I must mistake their errand I had in my Prolegomena distinguished of the Law as strictly taken for the Ten Commandments and more largely and complexly taken as including the Ceremonial Law The former I considered according to God's intention and design in the promâ—lgation of it which was to add it as an Appendix to the Promise Gal. 3. 19. And the carnal Iews mistaking and perverting the end of the Law and making it to themselves a Covenant of Works by making it the very Rule and Reason of their justification before God Rom. 9. 32 33. Rom. 10. 3. I told him That the Controversy depended upon this double sense of the Law for that it ought not to be denominated from the abused and mistaken End of it but from God's chief scope and design in the promulgation of it which was to add it as an Appendix to the Promise as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there imports and so must be published with Evangelical purposes Let us now hear Mr. C's sense of this matter In his Call p. 131. he yields the distinction in these words In his Reply p. 43. proving the Law to be a Covenant of Works from Rom. 10. 5. he saith The Jews were right enough in reference to the true nature of the Law That it was a Covenant of Works c. though they were out in respect of its proper use and intention which was not that any should attain unto Life and Righteousness thereby but to shew them the nature of Sin and the Holiness and Righteousness of God to convince them of their sin and misery without Christ and their necessity of a Saviour which they being ignorant of and still going about to establish theâ—r own Righteousness which was of the Law and refusing to submit themselves unto the righteousness of God c. they stumbled at that stumbling stone and were accordingly broken snared and taken Rom. 9. 31 32 33. Rom. 10. 3. And this saith he was the true ground of the dispute between the Apostle and them This was Orthodoxly spoken and would end the Controversy would he stand to it But This was the nature of it in the first sanction of it as the fruit of God's special designation and appointment and that it is the greatest violation and perverting of Scripture that can lightly be met with to affirm that this is uttered and declared by Paul c. only because the Jews had perverted it and reduced it as they thought to its primitive intention And again p. 44. he saith he hath proved that it was the same with Adam's Covenant in both respects that is intentionally as well as materially considered And once more p. 20. he expresly denies that the Law was added as an Appendix to the Promise calls that a crude assertion of mine and asks me Why it might not be added as an Appendix rather to the first Covenant of Works to re-inforce that And after all gushes out many slighting and opprobrious terms upon me which I will not throw back again but rather leave him to reconcile himself with himself I shall only ask Mr. Cary a sober Question or two instead of Recriminations and rendring reviling for reviling First How the Iews were right enough in reference to the true nature of the Law as it was a Covenant of Works and yet out in respect of its proper use and intention which was not that any should attain unto Life and Righteousness
to confound Law and Gospel Adam's and Christ's Covenant but the distinction betwixt them is his own therefore my assumption was just That this blood was typically the blood of Christ and that the Holy Ghost signified the one by the other is plain from Heb. 9. 7 8. And I never met with that man that scrupled it before Mr. Cary. So then my first Argument to prove Abraham's Covenant of Circumcision to be the Covenant of Grace and not an Adam's Covenant or any part thereof stands firm after Mr. C's passionate Reply which I hope the Lord will pardon to him though he had scarce Charity enough left to desire a pardon for his Friend who had neither wronged the Truth nor him Argument II. My second Argument was this If Circumcision was the seal of the Righteousness of Faith it did not pertain to the Covenant of Works for the Righteousness of Faith and Works are opposite But Circumcision was the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 11. Ergo. The sum of what he answers to this p. 72 73 c. as far as I can pick his true sense out of a multitude of needless words is this He confesses this Argument seems very plausible but however Abraham was a Believer before Circumcision and tho indeed it sealed the Righteousness of Faith to him yet it sealed it to him only as the Father of Believers and denies that ever Jacob or Isaac or any other enrolled in that Covenant were sealed by it but to all the rest beside Abraham it was rather a token of servitude and bondage This is the sum and substance of his Reply But Sir let me ask you two or three plain Questions 1. What is the reason you silently slide over the Question I asked you p. 41. of my Vindiciae c Did you find it an hot Iron which you durst not touch 'T is like you did My Question was this Had Adam 's Covenant a seal of the righteousness of faith annexed to it as this had Rom. 4. 11 The righteousness of faith is evangelical righteousness and this Circumcision sealed Say not it was to Abraham only that it sealed it for 't is an injurious restriction put upon the Seal of a Covenant which extended to the Fathers as well as to Abraham however you admit that it sealed evangelical righteousness to Abraham but I hope you will not say that a Seal of the Covenant of Works for so you make Circumcision to be ever did or could seal evangelical righteousness to any individual person in the World I find you a man of great confidence but certainly here it failed you not one word in Reply to this 2. I told you your distinction was invented by Bellarmine and shew'd you where it was confuted by Dr. Ames but not a word to that 3. I show'd That the extending of that Seal to all Believers as well as Abraham is most agreeable to the drift and scope of the Apostle's Argument which is to prove that both Iews and Gentiles are justified by Faith as Abraham was and that the ground of â—ustification is common to both and that how great soever Abraham was yet in this case he hath found nothing whereof to glory And is not your Exposition a notable one to prove the community of the priviledge of Justification because the Seal of it was peculiar to Abraham alone p. 47 48. Sir You have spent words enough upon this Head to tire your Reader But why can I not meet with one word among them that fairly advances to grapple with my Argument or answer the important Questions before you upon which the matter depends If this be all you have to say I must tell you You are a weak manager of a bad Cause which is the less hazard to Truth Argument III. In the Covenant of Circumcision Gen. 17. God makes over himself to Abraham and his Seed to be their God or gives them a special interest in himself But in the Covenant of Works God doth not since the Fall make over himself to any to be their God by way of special interest Therefore the Covenant of Circumcision cannot be the Covenant of Works The sum of your Reply in p. 76. is under two Heads 1. You boldly tell me That God doth in the Covenant of Works make over himself to Sinners to be their God by way of special interest but it being upon such hard terms that it 's utterly impossible for Sinners that way to attain unto life he hath therefore been pleased to abolish that and make a new Covenant and bring Exod. 20. 2. to prove it This is new and strange Divinity with me 1. That God should become a People's God by way of special interest by vertue of the broken Covenant of Works This wholly alters the nature of that Covenant for then it was a Law that could give life contrary to Gal. 3. 21. unless you can suppose a Soul that 's totally dead in Sin to have a special interest in God as his God 2. This Answer of yours yields the Controversy about the nature of the Sinai Law for this very Concession of yours is the Medium by which our Divines prove it to be a Covenant of Grace 3. This Concession of yours confounds the two Covenants by communicating the essential property and prime privilege of the Covenant of Grace to Adam's Covenant of Works Either therefore expunge Ier. 31. 33. as a Covenant of Grace I will be their God and they shall be my people or allow that in Gen. 17. 7. to be specifically the same and that Exod. 20. though more obscurely delivered 4. You assert That God may actually become a Peoples God by way of special interest and yet the salvation of that People be suspended upon impossible terms You sent them before to Purgatory but by this you must send them directly to Hell for if the salvation of God's peculiar People be upon impossible terms 't is certain they cannot be saved And lastly It is an horrid reflection upon the Wisdom and Goodness of God who never did or will make any Covenant wherein he takes fallen Men to be his peculiar People and make over himself to be their God and yet not make provision for their Salvation in the same Covenant but leave their Salvation for many Ages upon hard and impossible terms i. e. leave them under damnation 2. I told you in my Vindiciae c. p. 49. that you were fain to cut Abraham's Covenant Gen. 17. into two parts and make the first to be the pure Covenant of Grace which is the promisory part to the 9th verse and the Restipulation as you call it p. 205. to be as pure a Covenant of Works Which I truly said was a bold Action and in so calling it I gave it a softer name than the nature of it deserved The sum of what you reply to this is 1. By denying the matter of fact and charging me with misrepresentation and in
of the Promise in our hearts yea the effects of those absolute Promises of the first Grace Ezek. 36. Ier. 32. Or else notwithstanding Christ's performance of Redemption on his part we can neither be justified nor saved For I don't think you intend to lay the Conditions of Repentance or believing upon Christ who in the New Covenant hath laid them upon us tho in the same Covenant he graciously undertakes to work them in us and yet your words sound in that wild Antinomian Note But I suppose you take my Notion to be as self-repugnant as your own when I say Faith is an antecedent Condition to Justification because I also say this Grace is also supernaturally wrought in us and is not of our selves This staggers you and is the very stone you stumble at all along this Controversie for in your sense p. 34. every Condition is meritorious by condignity or congruity First What do I say more in all this than what those Worthies before-mentioned do expresly affirm Doth not Dr. Owen the man whom you deservedly value make Conditions both in Adam's Covenant and the New with this difference that Adam's Covenant required them but the New Covenant effects them in all the Foederates Sir We take it for no contradiction to assert That the planting of the Principle and the assisting and exciting of the Acts of Faith are the proper Works of the Spirit of God and are also contained in the absolute Promises of the New Covenant Ezek. 36. 26 27. Ier. 32. 39 40. And yet Faith notwithstanding this is truly and properly our work and duty and that upon our believing or not believing we have or have not an actual interest in Christ Righteousness and Life For though the Author of Faith be the Spirit of God yet believing is properly our Act and an Act required of us by a plain Command 1 Iohn 3. 23. This is the Command of God That ye believe And if its being wrought in God's strength makes it cease to be our Work I would fain know what Exposition you would give of that place Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your own Salvation c. for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do And as this Faith is truly and properly our work though wrought in God's strength for it is not God but we that do believe so it is wrought in us by him by your own confession before the application of pardoning Mercy which is consequent in order of nature thereunto and therefore hath the true nature of an antecedent Condition which is that I contend for and did you but understand your own words you would not contend against Oh but say you p. 34. every Condition is meritorious either by way of congruity or condignity This is your ignorance of the nature of a Condition with which I find you as unacquainted as with the nature of a Covenant A Condition whilst unperformed only suspends the act of the Law or Testament it being the will of the Testator Legislator or Donor that his Law or Testament should act or effect when the Condition is performed and not before but it is not essential to a Condition to be a meritorious or impulsive cause moving him to bestow the benefit for the sake thereof A man freely gives another out of his love and bounty such an Estate or Sum of Money which he shall enjoy if he live to such a year or day and not before is this quando dies veniet this appointed time the meritorious or impulsive cause of the gift surely no man will say it but that it is a causa sine quâ non or a Condition suspending the enjoyment of the gift no man will deny that knows what the nature of a Condition is An act meritorious by way of Congruity is that to which a reward is not due out of strict justice but out of decency or some kind of meetness Merit of condignity is a voluntary action for which a reward is due to a man out of justice and cannot be denied him without injustice Our Faith is truly the Condition of the New Covenant and yet we detest the meritoriousness of it in either sense But you object my words to me in my Method of Grace where I assert the impossibility of believing without the efficacy of supernatural Grace p. 102 103. Sir I own the words you quote and am bold to challenge the most envious Eye that shall read those lines to shew me the least repugnancy betwixt what I said there and what I have said in my Vindiciae Legis c. p. 9. of the Prolegomena and p. 61. of that Book You shew your good-will to make an advantagious thrust but your Weapon is too short and can draw no blood But leaving these weak and impertinent Cavils let us come to your Solution of my Arguments p. 98. by which I proved the Conditionality of the New Covenant My first Argument was this If we cannot be justified or saved till we believe and are justified when we believe Then Faith is the Condition on which those consequent Benefits are suspended c. The sum of your Answer without denying distinguishing or limiting one Proposition is this That here Faith is properly put into the room of perfect Obedience and is to do what perfect Obedience was to do under the Law whereas say you Faith is only appointed as an Instrument to receive and apply the Righteousness of Christ which is the alone matter of our Justification before God and Faith it self is not our Righteousness as it would be if it were a Condition p. 105 106. Not to note the weakness and impertinence of this Answer I shall only take notice of what you here allow and grant That Faith is appointed as an Instrument to receive and apply the Righteousness of Christ which is the alone matter of our Iustification before God Whence I infer three Conclusions First That we cannot be justified before God till we believe except you can prove that the unaccepted and unapplied Righteousness of Christ doth actually justify our persons before God Secondly That the justification of our persons before God is and must be suspended as by a non-performed Condition untill we actually believe Which two Conclusions yield up your Cause to my Argument which you here seem to oppose Thirdly That hereby you perfectly renounce and destroy your Antinomian Fancy before-mentioned That if Christ have fulfilled the Law and purchased Heaven for men nothing can remain but to declare this to them c. for it seems by this they must receive and apply Christ's Righteousness by Faith or they cannot be justified you say not declaratively in their own Consciences but before God And thus instead of answering you have confirmed and yielded my first Argument and only oppose your own Mistakes not the sense or force of my Arguments in all that you say to it or the Scriptures
that the want of a due observation of this plain Scripture-distinction betwixt God's free and absolute Covenant made with Sinners in Christ and our Covenants with God by way of return thereunto is the true reason of all our mistakes about the true nature of the Gospel-Covenant whilst we jumble and coâ—found together that which the Scriptures do so plainly distinguish To your first Answer I say It is true the Scriptures do distinguish betwixt Covenant and Covenant that of Works and that of Grace It also distinguishes the same Covenant of Grace for substance according to its various administrations into the Old and New Covenant It also distinguishes betwixt the promissory part of the same Covenant of Grace and the restipulatory part not as of two opposite Covenants as you distinguish them Gen. 17. but as the just and necessary parts of one and the same Covenant It also distinguishes betwixt Vows made by Men to God in some particular Cases and the Covenant of Grace betwixt God and them But what 's all this to your purpose Or in what point doth it touch my Argument You desire me to cast mine eye upon Ezek. 16. and Psal. 89. I have done so and that impartially and do assure you I admire why you produce them against my Argument That in Ezek. speaks of the enlargement of the Church by the accession of the Gentiles to it and the sense of those words seems to me to be this That this enlargement of the Church is a gracious addition or something beyond what God had ever done in his former dispensations of the Covenant to that People And for Psal. 89. I know not what you meant to produce it for unless it be to prove what I never denied That notwithstanding our failures in duty towards God God will still keep his Covenant with us though he will visit the Iniquities of his Covenant-pâ—ople with a Rod. To your second Answer That we are to deliberate the terms and count the cost with respect to those duties which are in order to the participation of the full end of the Covenant in glory by which I suppose you mean Self-denial Perseverance c. I have no Controversy with you about that Our Question is Whether there be no deliberations required of or to be performed by men who are not yet in Christ by justifying Faith but under some preparatory works towards Faith And whether at the very time of their closing with Christ there be not a consent of the Will unto those terms required of them If you say there be as by the places I alledged it evidently appears there are then you yield the point I contend for If you say they are not before or at the time of believing to consider any terms or give their consent to them by word or writing such an Answer would fly in the very face of those Scriptures I produced for then a man may be in covenant without his own consent he that deliberates not consents not non consentit qui non sentit And therefore you durst not speak it out for which modesty I commend you and so leave me with half an answer not touching that part viz. Antecedent deliberations which were concerned in this Argument And now let your most partial Friends judge Whether from this performance of yours you have any just ground for that vain boast which concludes your Answer viz. That the Covenants themselves which those Privileges are bottomed on are now repealed and that there is no room left for any other Argument to infer the Baptism of Infants at least I shall willingly commit it to the judgment of all intelligent and impartial Readers Whether Mr. Cary hath any real ground in this performance of his for such a Thrasonical Conclusion such a vain and fulsome Boast I find that with like confidence he hath also attempted a Reply to Mr. Ioseph Whiston a Reverend Learned and Aged Divine who hath accurately and successfully defended God's Covenant with Abraham against Mr. Cox and doubt not if Mr. Cary and his Party have but confidence enough to expose it to the publick view and to adventure the Cause of Infant-baptism upon it the World will quickly see an end of this long-continued and unhappy Controversy which hath vexed the Church of God and alienated the Affections of good Men and that the Wisdom of Providence hath permitted and over-ruled this last Attempt to the singular advantage of the Truths of God and tranquillity of good Men whose concernment at this time especially is rather to strengthen their Faith and heighten their Encouragements from God's gracious Covenant than to undermine it when all things beside it are shaking and tottering round about them And now Sir for a Coronis to all those things that have been controverted betwixt us about the Covenants of God and the right of Believers Infants to Baptism resulting from one of them which I have asserted and argued against you in my first Answer and you have silently and wholly pass'd over in your Reply hoping to destroy them all at once by proving God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. to be a pure Adam's Covenant of Works I judge it necessary as matters now lie between us to give the Reader the grounds and reasons of my Faith and Practice with respect unto the Ordinance of Infant Baptism and that as succinctly and clearly as I can in the following Theses which being laid together by an unprejudiced and considerative Reader will I think amount to more than a strong probability That it is the will of God that the Infant-seed of Believers ought now to be baptized But here I must remind the Reader and beg him to review what I have said before in thâ— third Cause of Errors That to arrive to satisfaction in this point requires a due and serious search of the whole Word of God with a sedate rational and impartial mind comparing one thing with another though they lie scattered at a distance in the Scriptures some in the Old Testament and some in the New Bring but these things to an interview as we do in discovering the change of the Sabbath and we may arrive unto a due satisfaction of the Will of God herein This I confess calls for strength of mind great sedulity attention and impartiality and yet what man would think all this too much if it were but to clear his Childrens Title unto a small Earthly Inheritance I intend not to give the Reader here an account of all the Arguments drawn from several Scripture Topics by the strenuous Defenders of Infants Baptism but to keep only to the Arguments drawn from God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. which is the Scripture mainly controverted betwixt us You affirming boldly and dangerously that Covenant to be no other than an Adam's Covenant of Works and I justly denying and abhorring your Position upon the grounds and reasons before given which you neither have nor ever will be able to destroy Now
Grave and learnned Gataker hath learnedly and industriously vindicated that Scripture from this abuse of it by Antinomians in his Treatise upon that Text entitled God's Eye upon his Israel where after a learned and critical search of the Text he telleth us it soundeth word for word thus from the Original He hath not beheld wrong against Jacob nor hath he seen grievance against Israel So that the meaning is not That God did not see sin in Israel but that he beheld not with approbation the wrongs and injuries done by others against his Israel and shews at large by divers solid Reasons why the Antinomian sense cannot be the proper sense of that place it being cross to the main tenour of the Story and truth of God's Word which shews that God often complained of their Sins often threatned to avenge them yea did actually avenge them by destroying them in the Wilderness nay Balaam himself who uttered these words unto Balak did not so understand them as appears by the advice he gave to Balak to draw them into sin that thereby God might be provoked to withdraw his protection from them And for Ier. 50. 20. it makes nothing to their purpose Many expound the sin there sought after and not found to be the Sin of Idolatry which Israel should be purged from by their Captivity according to Isa. 27. 9. But the generality of sound Expositors are agreed That by the not finding of Israel's and Iudah's Sin is meant no more but his not finding those Bonds or Obligations against them to eternal punishment which their Sins had put them under 4. In a word This Opinion clashes with their other Principles For they say That though there was pardon and remission under the Old Covenant which they allowed to be a Covenant of Grace yet it was but gradatim and successively as they offered Sacrifices If a man had sinned ignorantly until he brought a Sacrifice his sin lay upon him it may be a week a months distance between before they could have their pardon Vide Dr. Crisp of the two Covenants p. 256 257. Now I demand If this were the state and case of all God's Israel under the Old Testament Why do these men affirm that God can see no sin in a Believer and why do they expound the words of Balaam so contradictorily to this their other Opinion For they will not deny but God sees unpardoned Sins in all and here is a week or month or more time allowed between the commission and remission of their Sin And so much of the 5th Antinomian Error Error VI. That God is not angry with the Elect nor doth he smite them for their Sins and to say that he doth so is an injurious reflection upon the Iustice of God who hath received full satisfaction for all their Sins from the hand of Christ. There are several Mistakes and Errors in these Assertions and I suppose our Antinomians were led into them 1. By their abhorrence of the Popish Doctrine which errs more dangerously in the other extream for they wickedly assert our Sufferings to be satisfactory for our Sins which is the ground of Popish Penances and voluntary Self-castigations 2. From a groundless apprehension That God's Corrections of us for our Sins are inconsistent with the fulness of Christ's satisfaction for them Christ having paid all our Debts and dissolved our Obligations to all punishment it cannot consist with the Justice of God to lay any Rod upon us for our Sins after Christ hath born all that our Sins deserved This mistake of the end of Christ's death occasions them to stumble into the other Mistakes they imagine that Christ's Satisfaction abolished God's hatred of Sin in Believers But this cannot be God's antipathy to Sin can never be taken away by the Satisfaction of Christ though his hatred to the Persons of the redeemed be for the hatred of Sin is founded in the unchangeable Nature of God and he can as soon cease to be holy as cease to hate Sin Hab. 1. 13. Nor was Christ's death ever designed to this end though Christ hath satisfied for the Sins of Believers God still hates Sin in Believers His hatred to their Sins and love to their Persons are not inconsistent As a man may love his Leg or Arm as they are Members of his own Body and notwithstanding that love hate the Gangrene which hath taken them and lance or use painful corrosives for the cure of them Neither do our Antinomians distinguish as they ought betwixt vindictive Punishments from God the pure issues and effects of his Justice and Wrath against the Wicked and his Paternal Castigations the pure issues of the Care and Love of a displeased Father Great and manifold are the differences betwixt his vindictive Wrath upon his Enemies and the rebukes of the Rod upon his Children Those are Legal these Evangelical Those out of wrath and hatred these out of love Those unsanctified but these blessed and sanctified to happy ends and purposes to his People Those for destruction these for salvation To narrow the matter in Controversy as much as we can I shall lay down three Concessions about God's Corrections of his People Concession I. We chearfully and thankfully acknowledge the perfection and fulness of the satisfaction of Christ for all the Sins of Believers and with thankfulness do own that if God should cast all or any of them into an ocean of temporal Troubles and Distresses in all that sea of Sorrow there would not be found one drop of vindictive Wrath. Christ hath drunk the last drop of that Cup and left nothing for Believers to suffer by way of satisfaction Concession II. We grant also That all the Sufferings of Believers in this World are not for their Sins but some of them are for the prevention of Sin 2 Cor. 12. 7. some for the tryal of their Graces Iam. 1. 2 3. some for a confirming testimony to his Truths Act. 5. 41. Such Sufferings as these have much heavenly comfort concomitant with them Concession III. We do not say That God's displeasure with his People for Sin evidenced against them in the smartest rebukes of the Rod is any argument that God's love is turned into hatred against their Persons no no his love to his People is unchangeable Having loved his own he loved them to the end Iohn 13. 1. yet notwithstanding all this three things are undeniably clear and being throughly apprehended will end this Controversy 1. That God lays his correcting Rod in this World on the Persons of Believers 2. That this Rod of God is sometimes laid on them for their Sins 3. That these Fatherly Corrections of them for their Sins are reconcileable to and fully consistent with his Justice compleatly satisfied by the Blood of Christ for all their Sins 1. That God lays his correcting Rod in this World upon the persons of Believers This no man can have the face to deny that believes the Scriptures to be the Word of
be puffed up for one against another for who maketh thee to differ from another 1 Cor. 4. 6 7. What respectful language did Holy Mr. Brewen give to his own godly servants Remember Christians that there is neither rich nor poor bond nor free but all are one in Christ Jesus This indeed destroys not the civil differences God hath made between one and another Grace will teach the godly servant to give double honour to a Religious Master or Mistress the private Christian to a godly Magistrate or Minister It will teach the People to know them which labour among them and are over them in the Lord and admonish them and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and to be at peace among themselves 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. and it will also teach Superiors to condescend to men of low degree and not to think of themselves above what they ought but with all lowliness meekness and long suffering to forbear one another in love keeping this way the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4. 2 3. Direction V. This gentle language and respectful deportment would naturally and constantly flow from the Uniting Grace of Wisdom Humility and Love were they more exalted in the hearts of Christians Wisdom would allay those unchristian heats Prov. 17. 27. a man of understanding is of an excellent Spirit so we render it but the Hebrew signifies a cool Spirit the wisdom that is from above is gentle and easie to be intreated Iames 3. 17. Humility takes away the fewel from the fire of Contention only from Pride cometh Contention Prov. 13. 10. How dearly hath Pride especially Spiritual Pride cost the Churches of Christ Love is the very Cement of Societies the fountain of Peace and Unity it thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13. puts the fairest sence upon doubtful words and actions it beareth all things Love me saith Anstin and reprove me as thou pleasest 'T is a radical grace bearing the fruits of Peace and Unity upon it Direction VI. Be of a Christ-like forgiving Spirit one towards another Eph. 4. 31 32. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Hath thy Brother offended thee how apt art thou also to offend thy Brother and which is infinitely more how often dost thou every day grieve and offend Jesus Christ who yet freely forgives all thy offences Remember Friend that an unforgiving is a sad sign of an unforgiven person They that have found mercy pity and forgiveness should of all men in the World be most ready to shew it Direction VII Be deeply affected with the mischievous effects and consequents of Schisms and Divisions in the Societies of the Saints and let nothing beneath a plain necessity divide you from Communion one with another hold it fast till you can hold it no longer without Sin At the fire of your contentions your enemies warm their hands and say aha so would we have it Your Prayers are obstructed Mat. 5. 24. First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Edification is hindred Feaverish bodies thrive not Eph. 4. 15. God is provoked to remove his Gracious presence from among you Be of one mind saith the Apostle live in peace and the God of peace shall be with you 1 Cor. 13. 11. implying that their contentions would deprive them of his blessed company with them The glory of your society is clouded if ye have bitter envyings and strife in you hearts glory not Iames 3. 14. Glory not in your Church Privileges personal gifts and attainments whatever you think of your selves you are not such Christians as you vogue your selves for living in a Sin so directly contrary to Christianity The name of Christ is dishonoured You are taken out of the world to be a people for his name that is for his honour but there 's little credit to the name of Christ from a dividing wrangling people The alluring beauty of Christianity by which the Church gains upon the world Acts 2. 46 47. is sullied and defaced and thereby as I noted before conversion hindred and a new stone as it were rolled over the graves of poor sinners to keep them down in their impenitency Tremble therefore at the thoughts of Divisions and Separations St. Augustine notes three sins severely punished in Scripture The Golden Calf with the Sword Iehojakims cutting the Sacred Roll with a dreadful Captivity but the Schism of Korah and his Accomplices with the Earth's opening her mouth and swallowing them up quick Direction VIII Let all Church-Members see that they have Union with Christ evidencing it self in daily sweet Communion with him Lines drawn from a Circumference come nearest to one another in the Centre When God intends to make the hearts of men one he first makes them new Ezek. 11. 19. I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you And the more any renewed heart tasts the sweetness of Communion with God by so much it is disposed for Unity and Peace with his People Our frowardness and peevishness plainly discovers all is not well betwixt God and us Nothing so opposite to or abhorred by a soul that enjoys sweet Peace and Communion with Christ than to live in sinful jars and contentions with his people Return therefore to the Primitive Spirit of Love and Unity forbear one another forgive one another mortifie your dividing Lusts cherish your Uniting Graces mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine ye have learned and avoid them Rom. 16. 17. In a Word and that the Word of the Apostle in the Text I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment FINIS * Utinam tam consertis manibus compertam comprehensamque veritatem semel retiâ—ere possâ—mus quâ—m protinùs agnitam festivis oculis hilares exosculamur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chatta a Scopo aberravit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shaga 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tagna in Hiph * I am persuaded saith Mr. Gurnal some men take more pains to furnish themselves with Arguments to defend some Error they have taken up than they do for the most saving Truths in the Bible Austin said when he was a Manichean Non Tu eras sed Error meus erat Deus meus Thou O Lord wert not but my Error was my God Gurnal's Christian Armour part 2. page 36. †Cum unaquaeque Haeresis sui commenti parentem habeat Diabolum ac pudore tà m exosi nominis teneatur pulcherrimum quod super omnia est nomen Salvatoris profitetur Scripturarumque dictionibus amicitur Athanas. contra Arian * Take