sincere and upright walking towards all men The Apostle comprehendeth both when he saith that he endeavoured always to have a good Conscience towards God and towards men Towards God in the Righteousness of his Son towards men in the Righteousness of a Christian Conversation which is matter of rejoycing amongst men But Mr. G. goes on And hence saith he is St. John's Phrase By this we know that we know him if we keep his Commandements 1 Joh. 2.3 v. 29. Ye know that every one that doth Righteousness is born of God 1. Concerning our estate towards God and consequently our peace with God We believe the fundamental Evidence to be the Testimony of the spirit of God The things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 You have an unction from the Holy One and ye know all things 1 Joh. 2.20 And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us The Evidence whereof we conceive not to a Doctrinal Evidence or Revelation besides the Word but the manifestation of that unto us which is contained in the Word It is as I may say Revelatio revelans distinct from the Word but not properly Revelatio revelata as some I think have misconceived of which revealed Evidence we are not now a speaking but onely of that revealing Evidence whereby our hearts are effectually inclined to close with the Word in which kind we believe the spirit of God not onely to be the principal but irresistible and only effectual in his own Power And what light soever the other Evidences besides this have they have it together with their being from this spirit as by the forecited Scriptures is apparent 2. The next Evidence We believe to be Faith laying hold upon the free Promise of God's Grace towards us in Christ This the Apostle desires to be the Evidence or Conviction of things not seen i. e. that whereby we are convinced of our interest in the invisible Treasures of the Gospel which otherwise eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have they entred into the heart of man to conceive And as the spirit of Christ is by Analogy the soul of a Christian namely That whereby all the Members are knit together into one Body for he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit so Faith is as it were the eye of this soul whereby it is able to discern things not seen And as the eye onely is that which sees bodily and earthly things so faith onely is that which is held forth in the Word as the means to see spiritual things This is held forth not onely in Heb. 11.1 but also in all those Examples which are there mentioned by way of Induction to prove the same And it is also a great part of the meaning of those places in Romans and elsewhere in which we are said to be justified by faith onely or by Faith without Works So the Reverend Prolocutor of the present Assembly affirmeth when he saith That the Righteousness of Christ is said to be imputed to us by Faith because it is not discerned to be imputed to us of God put by Faith contra Armin. lib. 1. part 2. sect 25. 3. Works of sanctification may be conceived to evidence 1. To others 2. To our selves First to others So are ordinarily to be conceived of when they are spoken of in the nature of Evidences Shew me thy Faith by thy Works Jam. 2.18 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another Joh. 13.35 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5.16 In this way they are onely Evidences unto the judgment of Charity which judgment is sufficient for one man to have towards another reserving the judgment of certainty to an higher or more concerned Tribunal Secondly to our selves So they may be considered two ways 1. Barely as they are Works squared out according to such a rule and to be judged of accordingly So the Law of God being the Rule and thereby the Evidence of the goodness of Works no Work in the Moral Nature of a Work can be judged good which is not every way consonant thereunto for it curseth and thereby utterly disalloweth the Action and thereby the Actor wherein there is the least dissonancy or aberration therefrom No Action therefore of Man having any other goodness but its consonancy to this Rule and no other Evidence thereof but the approbation of this Rule can be judged to be truly good so as to give evidence to the Conscience that things are well with it For the curse which hangs over the imperfection of the doing is of far more efficacy to scare the heart out of all its peace than any pretended goodness can be to pacifie it For as Calvin saith A man must not deceive himself gathering that therefore his work is not altogether evil because it is imperfect and that therefore that good which is in it is nevertheless accepted of God Instit lib. 3. c. 2. sect 4. Whosoever therefore judgeth of himself by that inherent goodness of his work either he hath no peace or deceives himself as Calvin here saith and that which he hath is false and groundless For the law or the testimony thereof unto our works barely considered it is impossible it should speak peace unless it can first speak or evidence Righteousness For peace is the fruit of Righteousness not simply and abstracted considered but as it is evidenced Now the Apostle saith That the Righteousness of God wherein we are accepted is manifested without the Law Rom. 3.21 And therefore as the Papists and others destroy all peace with God and assurance of his favour Doctrinally and in downright terms so they which have all their peace this way destroy all peace and assurance of Gods favour by consequence and in effect 2. As they are the effects of Faith and in which it is evidenced so we confess that not only in the pure and prime act of Faith there is an evidence but also in all the acts of Christian Love even to our selves But how Not by discovering an inherent legal goodness in them for that we rejected in the last but only as true Christian faith is active and evidenced in them For otherwise my Prayers though they be never so zealous my Love if it be never so vehement if Faith be not evidenced in them can appear to be no more than the prayers and love of an Unbeliever But if Faith to wit the assurance of Gods favour be manifested in them then there is not only in them an evidence of Goodness unto them but also of Peace unto them by this Faith which is manifested in them As for Example I Love my Neighbour Why What is it that sets me about this work which kindles this Love in me It is because I know God in Christ hath loved me
Notwithstanding in some late ones there are some very dangerous expressions tending exceedingly to the dishonour of Christ attributing even the abolishing of the hottest wrath that can be in God unto our performances which it were meet they should rather humbly for the honour of Christ retract than for the maintaining of their own reputation go about to salve and maintain and that they who will not admit of any expression which they conceive may derogate from their own Works and Holiness should not dare to be so bold with the peculiar honour and dignity of the Lord Christ which he will not give unto another as to arrogate it to themselves and their own doings Is this that Humiliation and Repentance so much spoken of I thought it had been the utter denial of our selves even the reserving unto our selves nothing but shame and confusion and of faces that we might with regard of any thing in us lie naked and destitute and hopeless and helpless before the Mercy Seat of the Lord. Not a proud Luciferian advancing of our Humiliation with such terms and titles that greater cannot possibly be given to the Lord Jesus Christ himself the King of Saints 2. This peace is considered as manifested unto us and sealed to our Consciences and in that regard also it doth not depend upon works of Sanctification that we have or can do Now this peace is nothing but the stamp and impression of the other upon our hearts And as it is performed without works so it is manifested without works only by Faith which is a gift of God whereby we look out of our selves for Peace and help that so saith the Apostle it might be by Grace that the promise might be sure to all the Seed Here the Apostle plainly affirmeth That the Promise wherein is comprehended our peace with God is made sure unto us only by Faith which as I said looks out of our selves for its ground and object and not by Works For then the Apostle plainly implies that the Promise should not have been sure to all the Seed And therefore in Chap. 5. Ver. 1. upon our being justified by Faith he immediately infers without the intervening of the sight of any Works that we have peace with God And that this may not be understood only of the former peace he shews it plainly in the following words by the effects of a manifested peace in the Conscience and rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Neither is this a weak unsetled peace which must be strengthned and under-propped by Works But it is a firm and setled peace even such a one as bears up the Heart even to Rejoyce in Tribulation ver 3. So that only by this believing in Christ We rejoyce with joy unspeakable 1 Pet. 1.8 Yea by Believing we are filled with all joy and peace Rom. 15.13 Hereunto Calvin giveth testimony In Christ we have boldness and access with confidence by the Faith of Him This surely doth not befall unto us by the gift of Regeneration which as it is alwayes imperfect in this flesh so it containeth in it self manifold matter of doubting Calv. Instit lib. 3. cap. 13. Sect. 5. Here he not only challengeth our assurance and thereby our peace wholly unto Faith but also he plainly denies it unto the gift of Regeneration which he affirms by the weakness and imperfection of it to be rather the cause of doubting than believing And therefore the truly Faithful have alwayes found it necessary in the search for peace to go out of themselves to lay aside their own Righteousness as an hinderance rather than a furtherance as Calvin saith and to make mention of the Lords Righteousness onely mentioned in the free Promises of his Grace without works This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 And this was a promise not onely for weak ones not yet well confirmed in works of Holiness but even for an Apostle to lay claim unto and that upon no others terms or plea than that expressed that he was the chief of sinners Contrariwise that inherent works or holiness have to do in the business of peace and salvation of the soul Mr. G. endeavours to prove by two Scriptures The First is Psal 8â—…8 God will speak peace to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly He might have done well to have shewed us how he would draw his Inference from hence It is because it said that God will speak peace to his Saints therefore their sanctity or holiness is the ground means or evidence of their peace and salvation Then I Answer 1. That he might as well infer from the fore-mentioned place Christ came to save sinners therefore sin is the ground means and evidence of salvation whereas it is onely a bare expression of the Object And even so it is in this place 2. It is Observable that which Junius and some other of the Learned have observed That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benignity kindness or gratiousness ought rather to be translated in propriety his Elect Ones his Beloved Ones those to whom he is bountiful and so he translates it in this place erga eos quos benignitate prosequitur so that it signifies how God is affected towards them not how they are qualified towards Him And then your Collection of the dependance of peace upon inherent holiness cannot be deduced from hence As for the latter words but let them not turn again unto follow They are not a commination or threatning but a gracious dehortation grounded upon the goodness before revealed And therefore Vau here is rather illative than discretive as it is most frequently and then the Text should run thus That seeing the Lord followeth them with loving kindness therefore let them not turn again unto folly The other Text is that of Paul Tit. 3.5 That not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost Whence he infers that as Mercy is the moving Cause so Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost is a means of saving our souls The ambiguity here lies in the words Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost I confess some Learned Men do understand by the washing of Regeneration as Calvin and others an inherent Alteration in us but I take it rather for our Justification as Melanct. on Joh. 3. or forgiveness of sin For as our Natural Generation makes us the Natural Sons of our Natural Parents so our New Birth or Regeneration is that which constitutes us the Sons of God Now we are not made Sons by any inherent Qualifications but by our Adoption which is the immediate effect of our Justification neither of which are inherent in us but are onely Relations from God upon us And in this place to me it
which was due to our sins Yea say they but the undergoing of this is not to make satisfaction But Christ did not his Work by Words Neither is it enough to acknowledge his satisfaction in Words onely Was his satisfaction a full Appeasement Did it fully answer the whole demand of God's Justice for all the sins of those that are his to the uttermost farthing If not then the acknowledgment of satisfaction is but verbal it is the full payment that makes satisfaction nothing less If a man owe an 100 l. and pay but 99 he hath not made satisfaction He cannot say as Christ did consummatum est it is finished But say they it it but a fatherly anger and displeasure I Answer That is in some respect the greatest and heaviest Anger that can be An ingenuous Child had rather have all the World angry with him than his Father I am sure the True believing Child of God had But if a Father have received a full satisfaction for the fault of his Son will he yet be displeased and retain his Anger Surely none can justifie that in an Enemy much less in a Father How then can it be in such a gracious Father as we have who is an infinite everlasting Ocean of Love Compassion and Well-pleasedness unto his Children Yea but say they further This expression of Anger and Correction for sin is from his Fatherly Love I Answer That who so is compelled to undergo Anger though it be but a mans for that fault for which a full satisfaction hath been exhibited even to the uttermost will not easily be perswaded that that Anger is out of or agreeable to love but rather out of extreamity of rigor It is true indeed that all the afflictions of Gods Children or Chastisements and Corrections for so they are called in regard of the distastefulness to the flesh and in regard of some effects per accidens which they have bearing some Analogy to the effects of Parents chastising their Children I say all the Afflictions of Gods Children are from his Fatherly tenderest Love The Lord never manifests himself more sensibly unto their hearts than in the heaviest of their Afflictions He takes away earthly comforts out of their sight that he may satisfie them with Heavenly Insomuch that hereupon the Martyrs have in the midst of the flames been as it were in Beds of Roses and triumphed as more than Conquerors through him that loved them which they could not have done in the sence though but of a Fathers Anger and in the just desert of their sins if they had suffered from the hand of God as evil-doers And therefore that Rebukes and Chastisements are always effects of Anger as well as Love and namely that they are such towards Gods Reconciled Ones needed Mr. G's Proof not his bare Affirmation The Godly Martyrs and First Restorers of Religion in this and other Nations have born witness to this Truth Patrick Hamilton that Noble Witness of Gods Truth in Scotland makes the Voice of the Law indeed to be The Father of Heaven is angry with thee Whereunto he makes the Voice of the Gospel to give a satisfying Answer Christ hath pacified him toward me In his places Translated by Frith So Luther in Gal. 5.15 Let us learn saith he even in great and horrible Terrors when our Conscience feeleth nothing but sin and judgeth that God is angry with us and that Christ hath turned his face from us not to follow the sense and feeling of our own hearts but to stick to the Word of God which saith That God is not angry So Calvin Instit lib. 3. cap. 19. Sect. 6. Although the Faithful do not feel sin to be extinguished nor Righteousness altogether to live in them yet there is no reason why they should fear or be cast down as if still they had God offended with them for the remainders of sin And elsewhere Judicio castigationis non ita saevit Deus ut irascatur Instit lib. 3. cap. 4. Sect. 31. God is never so much as angry in chastising his People and in Sect. 32. He answereth the Objections to the contrary So Peter Martyr in Rom. 5.9 We ought to determine with our selves that seeing the Anger of God is ended and taken away that nothing is sent upon us by Him but with a Fatherly and friendly mind otherwise Afflictions and Adversities might in their own nature make us afraid and perswade us that God is angry with us which can no way possibly be seeing reconciliation is made by the death of Christ Sect. 3. To prove the full deliverance of the Faithful from Wrath the Dr. cites that of Isa 53.11 He shall see of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied Here although Mr. G. I conceive grants the matter yet This Proof he saith is meerly mistaken For saith he it is all spoken of Christ himself who shall see of the travail of his own soul and be satisfied that is saith he the fruit of the travail of his soul Hereunto I Answer That in all safe ways of expounding Scripture Two Things ought principally to be taken notice of 1. The Analogy of Faith 2. The Circumstances of the Text. Let us lay these Two to the present Text. 1. The Analogy of Scripture holds forth every where that Christ came not to make satisfaction to himself as Mediator but to his Father who as the Learned speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stands for the whole Trinity Take his own Testimony I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me Joh. 5.30 When he offered himself a Sacrifice of propitiation or satisfaction as Mr. Tindal translates it to whom was his Sacrifice presented that it might propitiate and satisfy The Apostle tells us He offered himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 not to himself For although he be indeed God yet in this office he is considered as Mediator and as the person offering and Mediating and God is considered as to whom the Mediation is made and the sacrifice offered There is one God there is the person Mediated and one Mediator between God and man the Man Christ Jesus There is the person Mediating together with the person in whose behalf the Mediation is made Christ therefore came not to satisfy himself and therefore it is not probable nor consonant to the Analogy of faith that here it should be meant of the satisfaction of himself 2. Consider will not the circumstances of the Text it self yield as much In the words immediately before he saith That the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand How shall the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand Mark here first that he is here speaking of the pleasure of the Lord not of the pleasure of Christ But how prospereth the pleasure of the Lord in his hands How but as the next words express by being satisfied with the Travail of the Soul of his Son That which Mr. G. objecteth That
the words are he shall see of the Travail of his Soul as pointing to the effect of Christs sufferings not to the sufferings themselves doth nothing infring what I have said For supposing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here doth signifie of or proceeding from whereunto for the present I do not remember a parallel yet supposing it doth denote the effect what is the proper and immediate effect of the Travail of the Soul of Christ but satisfaction active as it is in the satisfier Christ which immediatly produceth satisfaction passive as it is in God the party satisfied That other effects are afterwards mentioned they ought not to exclude that which is Primarily and expresly set down to wit satisfaction which is a point of faith which ought not to be darkened upon such slight or weak ground as Mr. G. hath here brought In Sect. 4. Mr. G. would gladly bring in the Dr. as finding fault with the cloudiness of Protestant Divines whereas he mentioneth none either in general or particular And as he was a modest man far from the bitterness and invectives of many that have spoken against him both in press and pulpit so did he never in his Sermons maintain any professed opposition to any one much less to all Protestant Learned men And for my own part I dare undertake by the assistance of Christ to maintain that there is no matter of moment in all his Sermons which the best and most Orthodox Protestant Divines that are extant have not asserted before for which the odious imputation of Antinomianism was never cast upon them And this I hope I shall partly manifest to the indifferent Reader in this present answer Sect. 5. To prove that Christ alone underwent the wrath of God for us the Dr. cites that of Isaiah 63.3 He hath trodden the wine-press alone And in this and his other proves Mr. G. acknowledgeth he hath trod in the steps of the Protestant Writers So then he is not altogether so opposite to them as Mr. G. would bear us in hand But saith he in this place both he and they were mistaken which saith he is not meant of Christs sufferings for Sin His Reasons are two 1. Because Christ is said to be an agent in treading the wine-press both here and Rev. 19.13 Whereas in his sufferings he was passive 2. Because in his sufferings and satisfaction he looked for none to help but here it is said he looked for some to help To the 2. I answer that metaphorical speeches are not to be stretched beyond the intention of the Holy Ghost In propriety of speech Christ could not look for help from man in any kind and miss of his expectation for he knew what was in man Joh. 2.25 And therefore neither could he wonder which is the effect of Ignorance What then may be the Scope of the Holy Ghost Surely to beat down the pride of man who is alwayes arrogating somthing to himself especially in the matter of Salvation But saith the Prophet when the work was a doing when the wine-press was a treading then none would none durst appear The Son of God might have looked long but he should have found no help in them in any kind Psal 146.3 And he might wonder as it were at the confidence of man in his great promises what he will do and at his challenging what he can and doth do but the issue will be that it will surely fall in the Suds if the Lord Jesus bring not Salvation by his own Arm. This exposition I am sure is consonant to the Analogy of faith whereas Mr. G's attributing in a proper sence unto Christ a frustrate expectation is not 2. In that he saith that Christ here is active whereas in his Suffering and Satisfaction he was passive I Answer that herein he hath little observed the manner of the expression of the Holy Ghost which speaks of Christ even in his sufferings under the notion of a Conqueror and that even upon the Cross when he was a paying the satisfaction he was in the Conquest of his enemies He spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it Col. 2.15 The Sufferings of Christ do not hinder him from being actively Victorious nay they are his actual and active Victory And so he makes his members likewise even in their sufferings more than Conquerors through him that loved them Rom. 8.36,37 Even when they are killed all the day long Suffering and Conquest Spiritual Conquest are not so inconsistent as Mr. G. would perswade us As for his scoff of Doctor infallibilis in the Margent he might have kept it at home till he had met with a man which arrogated any such thing to himself or a people that ascribed any such thing unto any We say of him as Paraeus doth of Calvin Par. in 2d cap. ad Gol. Lect. 22. We pretend not his Name we were not Baptized into it although his Doctrine we do deservedly hold and defend as being agreeable to the Holy Scriptures yet not because it is his but because it may be evidently shewn to agree with the Truth of the Gospel Sect. 6. The Dr. saith A Believers Afflictions are not For but From Sin This Distinction saith Mr. Geree is silly contradicts it self is pure non-sense Mr. G. speaks such Language as he hath Learned but not in the School of Christ Mr. Calamy in a Sermon before the House of Commons December 22. 1641. hath these Expressions It is not enough to be broken For sin we must also be broken From sin And a little after Let me most earnestly Exhort you to Repent From sin as well as For sin Now if I should take Mr. Geree's Expressions and Reasons to confute this distinction I should call it silly and contradictory to it self and non-sense because a Medicine is said to be For not From the Plague and it is to preserve From it in that it is For it might not any man justly for saying it is Non-sense c. account me a Ridiculous Reviler Surely there are no Reasons against Afflictions for and from sin but they may with equal Weight that is none at all be applyed against repentance for and from sin That the same distinction will not well suit with his similitude of a Medicine for the Plague is because such medicine hath but a single relation i. e. only to the Disease it is to Cure But Afflictions may have a double One to sin considered as past and unavoidable in reference unto which it may be said to be Affliction For sin another to sin considered as future or rather not committed in reference unto which it may in some respect be said to be affliction From sin that is to preserve from sin not as the effect per se of the afflictions but as afflictions do some way occasionally stir up Faith which stirs up in the true Believer a real wrestling against all sin And herein did the Dr. sufficiently
the Lord Jesus made it a trophy of victory So that we dare boldly say with Calvin Instit lib. 3. cap. 2. sect 28. That whatsoever miseries and calamities befal those who are beloved of the Lord they cannot hinder that his loving kindness should not be coâ—…leat felicity And a little after If all things abound unto us according unto our desire and we be uncertain of the love or hatred of God our felicity will be accursed and therefore miserable But if the fatherly face of God shine upon us our very miseries will be blessed But saith Mr. G. that which keeps us from breaking our bounds is rather bitterness than sweetness as the Scripture saith he testifieth but alledgeth none only he brings two Scriptures 1 John 3.9 1 Pet. 1.23 to prove that which none denies that the remaining of the seed of God within us which is immortal keeps us within bounds Yea we deny not but that Afflictions are very useful as I said to Gods Children Yet so that they also do some way sweeten rather than imbitter the pastures where the Saints do feed though not to the flesh and outward man yet to the spirit and inward man For it is grace revealed that teacheth effectually to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.11.12 Psal 26.3 Thy loving kindness is ever before mine eyes and therefore I have walked in thy truth Christ is able to rule his own Wife by the scepter of his Grace Sect. 12. In the three last Sections the Dr. attributes unto â—hrist 1. The giving of Spiritual Sight to see in a gracious manner both our own filthiness and vileness where a closing with Christ begins This saith he we have not from the Law which though it be a perfect looking-glass yet it gives no eyes 2. Repentance 3. Faith 1. Here Mr. G. after his manner hath found a contradiction Why Because hereafter he affirms Justification to be before all qualification But here he saith there is first the opening of the eyes and from the opening of the eyes proceeds a closing with Christ Whereupon saith Mr. G. follows Justification So that this Justification after closing is Mr. G's Inference not the Dr's Assertion But I Answer and Grant that our Justification is considered two wayes 1. In the Court of Heaven so it is antecedent to any qualification So saith Dr. Twiss The Righteousness of Christ as it is Christs in that it is performed by Him so it is ours in that it was performed for us and that before Faith as meriting for us effectual Faith For the Righteousness of Christ is said to be imputed to us and his Merits to be applyed to us by Faith not before God but in our own Consciences But of this as Mr. G. saith more hereafter Onely this we must alwayes carry along with us that without Christ that is without being implanted into Him as the Branches into the Vine and so without being united to Him and justified by Him We can do nothing Joh. 15.5 2. Here at length Mr. G. hath found somthing that he can as he thinks with some confidence call Antinomianisme that the title of his book may not seem to be a meer slander Here saith he the Dr. bewraies his malice against the Law of God And this he repeats again What is the ground of this heavy charge Surely only this that he saith that a gracious sight of our own vileness is the work of Christ alone and that the Law gives no eyes to see Surely if this be such deep Antinomianism there are more Antinomians than many are aware of For First He grants the Law to be a perfect Looking-Glass to represent the filthiness of a person Secondly He doth not deny but by the Law a man may have a deep sight of his own vileness as Cain and Judas had Thirdly He only affirmeth that although the Law compared with the heart and conversation of men afford the object to wit the filthiness that is to be seen yet it gives neither eyes to see nor a gracious manner of seeing These two are only from Christ from his Grace not from the Law Both in nature and grace there is the same fountain of Life and of the effects of Life as eyes and sight That only which gives life gives sight Now the Apostle utterly denies the former that the Law can give life and thereby he denies it able to give sight But contrarywise as Christ only gives life so He only gives sight Ephes 1.17,18 And that not by the Law but by meer Grace But how doth Christ give a gracious spiritual sight or eyes I Answer by the Unction of his Spirit 1 Joh. 2.20 who is therefore called the spirit of Wisdom and Illumination Ephes 1.17 And the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 But doth Christ give these spiritual eyes without any outward means I Answer that I conceive that spiritual eyes with other gifts of grace may be considered two wayes In their Root and in their Fruit In their Being and in their Actuating In the former sense they are the immediate effects of the spirit per modum causae Physicae But in the actuating or putting forth of Faith or Sight there is the intervening of the word per modum causae moralis sive objecti as the object to be seen which is therefore said to enlighten the eyes Psal 19.8 And so Faith is said to come by Hearing Here the Word and the Spirit are alwayes conjoyned Esay 59.21 Well then seeing without Christ and his Spirit there is no enlightning either by the word of the Law or the Gospel Why may he not enlighten as well by the Law as by the Gospel This is Mr. G's Objection I Answer with the Apostle The Gospel only is the ministration of the Spirit and not the Law Gal. 3.2 2 Cor. 3.8 But the Law contrariwise is the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 It is the Killing Letter 2 Cor. 3.6 It is the Ministration of Death ver 7. It is the Ministration of Condemnation ver 9. We must observe saith Paraeus That the Law is not the Ministry of the Spirit that is by the Preaching of the Law the Holy Ghost is not given and therefore neither Faith nor Confidence nor any hope of Adoption or Salvation Par. in Gal. 3.2 I may add nor any other thing which is a proper effect of the Spirit such as is a gracious sight of our own vileness The Law Commands only but it Helps not But if it did give Eyes or Sight it should Help as well as Command Neither is this any reproach unto the Law of God which is Holy Just and Good It is Our fault not the Laws that it is not able to give us Life nor the effects of it It is weak not through any impotency in its self but through our flesh Rom. 8.3 But Mr. G. cites against us out of Psal 19.7,8 That the law converts the soul makes wise
the simple enlightens the eyes But here he hath deceived himself with the ambiguity of the word Law which any smatterer in Divinity knows sometimes to be taken 1. Generally for the whole word of God as Psal 1.2 And most frequently all the Psalms through 2. Particularly and properly for the Decalogue or covenant of works given from the beginning but renewed upon Mount-Sinai Rom. 10.3,4,5 3. For the Gospel Isa 2.3 where it is said the Law shall go out of Sion So then as the Law in its primacy and proper signification doth signifie a doctrine and secondarily but most usually the doctrine of God so in Psal 19. it signifies the whole word of God which is in reference to that part of it only which holds forth Christ and Salvation gives life and light and wisdom that is the Gospel which is the power of God unto Salvation to the believer Rom. 1.17 So saith Calvin upon the place David here commends the whole doctrine of the Law as comprehending the Gospel and therefore including Christ in it So saith Mr. G. the ministers are said to open mens eyes by Preaching the word Act. 26.18 True but it is the word of the Gospel which is the ministration of the spirit Gal. 3.2 Which is the joyful news of the grace of God Act. 20.24 Whereby alone we are partakers of the promise Eph. 3.6 In which spiritual eyes are contained Isa 42.6 Faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10.14 By hearing of what or of whom The next ver will shew you As it is written how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace For the Law is not of faith Gal. 3.12 Sect. 13. The Dr. saith that the giving of Repentance is meerly the work of Christ here Mr. G. begins what shall I call it but to boast himself If I miscall it let the Reader judg We teach Repentance more and better than they Hereunto I shall say nothing but desire the Lord to open the mouths of all the Ministers of Christ that they may more abundantly preach true christian Repentance to a full and serious self-denial in all things That man may be taught to own the shame of his own doings that God may have the full glory of his free grace in Christ But Mr. G. suspects this word meerly when it is said that it is meerly the work of Christ to give Repentance Here I confess he hath picht upon the very point of all our differences All our controversies in a manner ly in this word meerly or onely That Christ onely and meerly Saves that he onely and meerly gives Repentance and Faith If we could but dispence to leave out this word the world would be at peace with us That it might be lawfull for them to say Christ and we Save Christ and we give Repentance and Faith Christ and we pacifie Gods Anger But utterly to thrust out man that he may have no finger in these matters makes him storm and fume and devise all manner of reproaches against us This word onely Faith i. e. onely Christ was the Apple of contention among the first reforming publishers of the Gospel What said one of the Worthies of former times Fulk de Christo gratis justificante do we seek after in Preaching in Writing in Labouring what do we else but that Christ only and meerly may be received by all as the Saviour and Redeemer of all Contrariwise your Popish opinions what do they breath what do they beat upon whither do they tend but to this one thing that Christ onely may not Reign alone in his Church That he onely may not Save and Redeem us by his self alone That he only and meerly may not be our high Priest who both made Satisfaction for our sins with one onely Sacrifice once made c. Though God hath established a ministry to preach Repentance yet hath he established none to give Repentance That is the peculiar prerogative of Christ After the Minister hath done his office by instructing in meekness those that are contrary-minded it remains still to be expected if God will give them Repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth 2 Tim. 2.25 Sect. 14. Of Faith I have spoken before in Sect. 12. how it comes by hearing Mr. G. demands further How he will make this good that Faith is the root of all gifts of grace seeing he saith Knowledg is wrought first Why did he put Repentance before Faith unless it went before it Or else doth he make Repentance and Faith the same To the first Question I Answer that the knowledg the Dr. speaks of is nothing else but the beginnings of Faith Neither doth the Scripture make such an accurate distinction between them Joh. 3.15 It is said that he that believeth on Christ hath Eternal Life Joh. 17.3 It is said that to know him is Life Eternal where Believing and Knowing are words of the same signification By his knowledg shall my Righteous Servant justifie many Isa 53.11 That is by Faith in him Also where Faith is called the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 This Evidence must needs include a knowledg So then knowledg as the beginning of Faith may be said to be wrought first and yet no gift precede Faith To the second why Repentance is mentioned before Faith I Answer as before that although Repentance go not before Faith yet hath it reference to that state which goes before Faith But that in nature nor time it doth not go before Faith I have partly manifested before And surely whatsoever is not Faith is Sin To his third Question whether we make Faith and Repentance all one I Answer no not adaequately Yet we say there is no Repentance truely acceptable unto God in whose difinition Faith is not And if Mr. G's observation be true we may call Repentance Faith and Faith Repentance and that by the Authority of the Scriptures Pag. 73. in marg Surely this is putting a less difference between them 4. He finds much fault with the Dr. although for ought I see he is guilty of the same himself that he hath not defined Faith and Repentance And this he tells us Cato-like he must needs note as a gross oversight if not a wilful neglect To this I Answer 1. That the same definition of these that he shall find in the Scripture I will find in these Sermons And therefore Mr. G. should not have passed his Censure till he had made a better search 2. If he had made an exact and logical definition it may be Mr. G. would not have been satisfied FINIS Books Sold by Will. Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street Books Lately Printed of Dr. Owen's 1. THE True Nature of a Gospel Church and its Government wherein in these following particulars are Distinctly handled I. The Subject Matter of the Church II. Formal Cause of a particular Church III. Of the Polity Rule or Discipline of the Church in General IV. The Officers of the Church V. The Duty of Pastors of Churches VI. The Office of Teachers in the Church VII Of the Rule of the Church or of Ruling Elders VIII The Nature of the Polity or Rule with the Duty of Elders IX Of Deacons X. Excommunication XI Of the Communion of Churches In large Quarto Price bound 3 s. 2. A Treatise of the Dominion of Sin and Grace Price bound 1 s. 3. A Brief and Impartial Account of the Nature of the Protestant Religion its State and Fate in the World its Strength and Weakness with the Wayes and Indications of the Ruin or Continuance of its Publick National Profession Price 6 d. 4. A Brief Instruction in the Worship of God and Discipline of the Churches of the New Testament by way of Questions and Answers with an Explication and Confirmation of those Answers Price bound 1 s. Where you may be Likewise supplied with the Rest of Dr. Owen's Books that are in Print