generally taught by the most sound learned and orthodox Diuines in England and so I may safely say in all the world then hee may well suspect a Pad in the straw and a serpent to lurke vnder the greene leaues and some thing more in it then at the first appeareth For touching the first position What one Protestant Diuine doth not hold and teach that sin is most detestable to God which his pure eyes cannot behold and that it makes a man odious in Gods sight Witnes the bitter and cursed death of the son of God himselfe which hee suffered for sin otherwise wee had all remained vnder the curse left to eternall perdition the iust punishment and reward of sin if it had not bin remoued by Christ So as herein the author hath no colour of accusation against his hoggs and doggs his aduersaries but this first Position serueth onely as an vsher to lead in the rest or as a harbinger to take vp the best rome in mens conceit for the rest of the traine by prepossessing the readers minde with an expectation of sutable doctrine in that which followeth Num 23.8 Wherein we shall finde that he playes but the cheater who showing one peece of good gold out of his purse would perswade his gull that his purse is full of such when all the rest is but counters or counterfet gold double guilt For the second position what Protestant Minister of the Church of England of what ranke soeuer bee he reckoned among his hoggs or among his doggs that holdeth not and teacheth not that the onely remedy to remooue mans misery by sin is Iesus Christ his death and passion his obedience actiue and passiue his whole righteousnesse freely imputed of God to euery true beleeuer What Protestant Diuine or other but holds iustification to be by fayth freely without workes And that those whom God iustifyeth hee so acquiteth them in abolishing their sin that hee remembreth it no more but casts it behinde his backe seeth it not any more in asmuch as he doth graciously for his sonnes sake not impute it to them So as what needes all that heaping vp of places of scripture as if none but the Author tooke notice of them or as if his doctrine were so vnknowne or doubted of as it needed such a cloud of proofes Yet some particulars in this position would bee a little talked with all As 1. where hee sayth That all sins in the beleeuers are vtterly abolished out of Gods sight by being not imputed This is most true Yet it puts mee in minde of that which I heard long agoe scattered abroad by this very Author that God seeth no sin in his children Which Aphorisme taken vp of the vulgar may breede in them that beleeue not presumptuous thoughts and resolutions voyd of the conscience of sin Therefore this poynt would be a little opened True it is God seeth no sin in his beleeuing children for which hee inflicteth the curse or any satisfactory penalty vpon them Thus when Balack would haue had Balaam to curse Gods people hee answered How shall I curse where God hath not cursed And v. 19. God is not as man that hee should lye or repent hath he sayd and shall hee not doe it Behold I haue receiued commandement to blesse and hee hath blessed and I cannot reuerse it And hee renders the reason He hath not beheld iniquity in Iacob neyther hath he seene preuersenesse in Israell the Lord his God is with him and the shout of a King is among them Surely there is no inchantment against Iacob nor diuination against Israell For Christ hath borne Israels sin in him hath God the Iudge fully punished it his iustice is fully satisfed for all Israels debts So that all being satisfied and discharged in our surety Christs righteousnesse and satisfaction made ours now God seeth not sin in his beleeuing children as a iudge to punish them yet he may be sayd to see as a father to chastise them Or when he chastiseth his childe hee seemeth to see his sin though done away in Christ and pardoned in Gods Court to the end his childe may come to see it and so haue the euidence of pardon sealed vnto him in the Court of his owne conscience And this is that which all sound Protestant Ministers teach and beleeue A second thing I note in his second position is if not an absurdity yet an obscure speech his words are All my sins both of my person and workes are truely abolished not out of me that there may be place for fayth Why Are sins abolished actually by imputation before fayth bee wrought that the abolishing of sin makes way to fayth True it is Christ hath taken away our sins and by death abolished death before we haue fayth to apply it for our fayth is from the merite and vertue of his death Otherwise I know not what sense to make of his words vnlesse hee meane that fayth alone takes place in the beleeuer working and doing all infallibly and freely as else where he expresseth himselfe without the Law of the ten Commandements 3 I note a falshood in it for he sayth All my workes are of vniust made iust before God What these works are I finde in other of his scatered pamphlets to wit all naturall ciuil religious sanctified actions which being in themselues as he sayth foule and filthy are made perfectly holy and righteous by free iustification Now this is a thing both imposible and were also vniust for God to doe it It is impossible for God to make a worke that is vniust to bee iust Indeed Antichrist arrogateth this omnipotent or rather impotent power as deriued from God to make ex iniustitia iustitiam righteousnesse of vnrighteousnesse but Gods omnipotency stretcheth not to make an vniust worke to be iust For then he might seeme to be both improuident and vniust in appointing his sonne to take away sin by the sacrifice of himselfe in case God could haue made of sin no sin by his meere omnipotency Indeede God can make a thing to cease to bee or hee can make a thing to bee which had not a being as hee did all the world but hee cannot so abolish a thing as to cause the former being of it not to haue bene a being after it hath once actually bene So of a wicked worke God is so powerfull so good so iust as that hee cannot make the wickednesse to bee good for that implies a contradiction but hee can and doth so abolish the wickednesse of our workes by Christ by not imputing of them as if it had neuer bin But to say our workes are of vniust made iust this as it is a phrase not vsed in scripture so in the Antinomians sense it tends to the bringing in of a heauenly state of perfection in this life For he would inferre herevpon that a man once in Christ iustified is altogether without sin in Gods sight abusing that place of Iohn 1 Ioh.
3.6 9. Where he concludes that the iustified man not onely cannot sin but also abstaineth from all appearance of euill These are his very words And hence is that cursed heresie of the Pelagians and Pontificians reuiued by the Antinomians that there is such a prefection in this life as a man may liue altogether without all sin for all his sins of vniust are made iust saith he The nomination whereof is a sufficient confutation For in many things we sin all Iam. 3.2 And if we say wee haue no sin wee deceiue our selues and the trueth is not in vs. 1 Ioh. 1.8 4d I note another falsehood where he sayth By fayth onely with out workes freely I am perfectly holy and righteous from all spot of sin in the sight of God and why because only true faith seeth this and only true fayth inioyes this How are we iustified by faith freely because only true fayth seeth this What if true fayth while during the time of some temptation the exercise of it is suspended do not see nor inioy the fruite of iustification must we therefore passe sentence vpon our selues that we are not iustified nay certainly we are therefore iustified from all sin because God not imputing sin seeth no sin in vs and not because we see and inioy our reconciliation and peace with God For though God be continually pacified towards his faithfull children in Christ yet doe not they allwayes by the act of fayth see and inioy Gods fauour towards them This was Dauids case and is and may be the case of euery child of God Yet whensoeuer wee doe see and enioy our iustification by hauing peace with God through Christ we doe by the eye and apprehension of fayth see and enioy it But our seeing and enioying is not the cause that wee are iustified but the consequent effect and fruit of it being apprehended by fayth 3ly For his 3d Position therein stand his Triarian forces here his files are so doubled and the rankes are so closse that it seemes to be impregnable impenetrable But howsoeuer they stand thicke without yet they are thin and hollow within so that being but once by a wedge diuided they are able no longer to abide the field Therefore obseruing it well I finde sundry aduantages to bee taken First from his commending of fayth in the efficacy of it that it infallibly inflames the heart with true loue making the true beleeuer to breake off his former corrupt conuersation c. Secondly that hee vseth one word twice to wit Declaratiue obedience Declaratiue and a free and cherefull walking in all Gods will and Commandements declaratiuely to manward Which may seeme to some to be eyther idle or a riddle but we shall declare the mystery of it by and by In the meane time all this hitherto in his 3d position hath no other appearance but of sound and orthodox doctrine agreeable to the Scriptures and so to the doctrine of our Church if there bee no more in it then what the outer rinde makes show of For what Protestant Church or what one sound Protestant of our Church doth not teach or beleeue that that most noble and diuine Lady grace of true sauing and liuing fayth doth infallibly to vse his owne word inflame the heart with loue which makes the true beleeuer to breake off from and mortifie his former corrupt and profane conuersation and brings forth a declaratiue obedience and redinesse to euery good worke and a free and cheerfull walking in all Gods will and Commandements declaratiuâ— to manward which is true sanctification Herein we all agree Whereis the difference then Yea but the author comes afterwards in the same position and although he protest these his positions to be the Protestant fayth and the established doctrine of our Church he proclaimes a defyance against the blind zealous dead fayth as meerely opposite to this his true liuely iustifying fayth And this dead fayth whose is it by whom is it taught by whom intertained Euen by the vniuersall bulke and body of our Church which he deuides into two sides the left side consisting of profane sensuall hoggs and the right side of zealous Anabaptisticall Doggs as he stiles them Now if the case stand so that all those protestants generally whom he calls doggs and hoggs doe hold the selfe-same doctrine in truth as the author setts downe in words and yet theirs is the blind zealous dead faith and his the truely liuely iustifying faith it concernes vs a little more narrowly to examine his words to see whither some mysticall sense bee not couched in them or whither hee hath dealt not so candidly nor so ingeniously as by his roauing and rauing language may iustly bee suspected but hath kept vp some reseruations as precious pearles which if hee should vent among so many hoggs and doggs as he liues amongst hee might iustly feare lest the one sort should and that worthily trample them vnder their feete and the other turne vpon him and all to teare him But now it being brought to the vpshot whither hee or we haue the true liuing iustifying fayth hee must permit vs perforce we bringing our warrant from God to makâ— a priuy search and to rifle his Cabbinet to see whither hee haue this Pearle of the Kingdome yea or no. Nor are wee ingaged to doe this in regard onely of our faith towards God as wee are Christans but also of our fidelity and loyalty to our King the Lords Annoynted as wee are subiects for asmuch as hee challengeth all men that hee that will bee a loyall subiect to his Protestant King ought to embrace this doctrine of fayth which he onely the A per se Doctor doth teach Wherein then is the maine difference betweene vs that makes his the onely true liuely iustifying fayth and ours the blinde zealous dead fayth Surely in this that his fayth is so liuely actiue vigorous and potent perfect and compleat that of it selfe it produceth all the fruites of sanctification without hauing any thing to doe with the word of God especially the morall law as a rule of our actions or as a glasse of our imperfections when as wee on the other side acknowledge that our fayth at the best estate during this life is not so perfect and euery way compleat but as a lampe it needeth the continuall supply of the holy oyle of Gods spirit of grace to cause it to flame forth the more in the workes of sanctification which grace of the spirit is ministred and supplyed vnto vs by the Ministry of the word of God as the Oyle-pipe through which it runneth and for as much as in the state of grace and fayth we know but in part and prophesie in part and consequently our fayth is imperfect being mingled with much ignorance therfore we haue need of the Morall law wherof both the old and new Testament are a large commentary both as a rule whereby to frame our thoughts words and workes and also as a
it to be a duty as one of their Disciples saide Away with this scuruy sanctification and putting all vpon an imaginary fayth and perfection in Christ it becommeth so much the more plausible to flesh and blood which is so prone and ready to listen after any doctrine that giues liberty to their vntamed lusts So that when such Disciples heare their teachers say Beleeue onely and so be merry in Christ sing care away to the duety of sanctification away with mortification Repent no more for yee are perfectly iustified God seeth no sin in you yee are perfectly saued and the like no maruell if being carnall and they hypocriticall persons they catch at such doctrines as may nuzzle them in their carnall lusts as is too apparent by the fruite which groweth necessarily from such a roote of bitternesse whereby many are defiled For perswade a man once that being in Christ and so iustified from all his sins Montanistae omnem panitentiae virtutem è medio sustulerunt Hieronead Marcellinam Et lib. 2. aduâ—rsus Iouinianum se Centuria 2. c. 5. hee hath no more neede of repentance and what a flood-gate is opened to all impiety when there is noe more conscience of sin Thus they reuiue the heresie of the Montanistes who denied repentance to be needefull This they ground vpon Heb. 6.11 Not laying againe the foundation of repentance from dead works Whence they conclude that beleeuers haue no more to doe with repentances where as the Apostle there speakes of the Doctrine not of the practise of repentance reprouing those Hebrewes that they were no better proficients iâ— Christs schoole when instead of being able to teach others they were still A B C darians hauing need to be catichized in the very common rudiments knowne Principles of Religion as Heb. 5.12 Againe they say that they are as pure from all sin in Christ and as perfect in righteousnesse and holinesse as Christ himselfe is alledging that in Iohn 1 Iohn 4.17 Herein is our loue made perfect that we haue boldnesse in the day of iudgement because as hee is so are we in this world Hence they conclude such absolute perfection to bee in the beleeuer as in Christ now glorified in heauen And therefore when they say that a beleeuer is perfectly saued in this life they expresse themselues in plaine words to meane that a beleeuer is perfectly glorified in this life and that there is noe difference betweene our state here and in heauen but onely in our sense and apprehension I should not I confesse haue beleeued that euer any man endued with common sense and reason would haue so much as once conceiued much lesse uttered such a senselesse and monstrous Paradox had I not my selfe heard one of their Antinomian Ministers affirme so much to me and others together For I asking him what difference there was betweene the state of grace here and that of glory here after hee answered none at all but in our sense and apprehension And thereupon another Minister asking him whither we were perfectly glorified in this life he answered wee were whereupon I abhorring such an insolent and Luciferian speech presently auoyded his company and further speech To this height of pride are they come who teach the empty and windy faith of Iustification against Sanctification the fruit of a true liuely fayth But are wee perfectly glorified in this life so as it differs not from that in heauen but in our sense and apprehension Then when a iustified man sinneth it is but in his sense and apprehension if that or rather they are in this poynt without sense apprehension of sin Then when wee are afflicted diseased and the like it is not so indeede but onely in our sense and apprehension because a man perfectly glorified can neyther sin nor suffer any sorrow diseases or death Yea our fayth is no more the foundation of things hoped for and the euidence of things not seene we haue no longer hope of eternall life but in our sense and apprehension For wee are already possessed of the thing hoped for we are already perfectly glorified O senselesse stupidity But they vrge As he is so are wee in this world he is pure perfect vndefiled therefore are we so to Therefore say they wee are so perfect as wee cannot be more But St Paul sheweth plainely the meaning of St Iohn saying 2 Cor. 3 8. But we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory euen as by the spirit of the Lord. Now though from hence they would inferre that we haue the same image of Christs glory in full perfection yet the next words FroÌ„ glory to glory plainely shew that though the state of grace bee a glorious estate as being an initiation of glory being begun here in the soule yet wee goe from one degree of glory and grace vnto another and neuer attaine to full perfection till this mortall shall put on immortality and this corruption shall put on incorruption 1 Cor 15. Rom. 8.29 So that the image of Christ which wee beare vpon vs here is a conformity vnto Christ our Head in the participation of his glorious graces but in such a proportion as here we are capable of and as God hath distributed to euery man the measure of fayth And the state of grace is in a perpetuall growth here as 2. Pet. 3.18 Ephe. 4.12.13 Psal 84.7 The path of the righteous being a perpetuall progresse like to the morning light shining more and more vnto the perfect day Prou 4..18 But why doe I spend arguments against such as deny vndeniable Principles But thus wee see how a false and imaginary faith whereof these men doe dreame begets in them such damnable imaginations high presumptions euen to the destruction of grace while they would stretch it beyond the line No maruaile therefore if they abolish quite any further vse of the morall law syth they deny Sanctification it selfe as a duty prescribed and commanded in the law Exo. 19.5.6 So that if the Doctrines of these men might preuaile what could bee expected but a deluge of Atheisme and profanesse and all lawlesse licentiousnes and dissolutenesse to ouerflow and drowne the world For they cry downe and abolish all duties contained and commanded in the Morall Law both towards God and towards men Doe we thinke these men can be good subiects to their Prince who deny they owe him any honour in the way of duety enioyned by the commandement 1 Pet 2 17 Honour thy Father and Mother whereof one maine branch is Honour the King And if they doe not of duety honour their King on earth how shall they honour their King in heauen To instance in the fourth commandement they quite abrogate the Morall Law to beleeuers and consequently the fourth commandement which is the sanctification of the sabbath-day But they reply that the Iewish Sabbath-day is abolished