whether in this our Author it be not an amphibious prevaricating and Delphian Oracle Case And to put the matter beyond dispute consider Reader That to be justified doth not only import but irresistibly presuppose an actual as distinguished from a personally possessed interest in such a righteousness as that wherein God may salva justitia and that not in a remote meritorious but immediate and substantial sense without the least interfering with the infinite unlimited spotless Justice and Holiness of his Divine Nature whence this Righteousness is reckoned the Righteousness of God received by Faith or the compleat and perfect demands of the Law whence it is also that Christ as being made under the same is accounted in an immediate sense THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS the latter being a full revealed Transcript of the former or can groundedly and positively in his very act of justification without any manner of reserves pronounce us just and that not in a bare meritorious and as such subservient sense of the same the Diverting Kettledrum of these our Spiritual Dâ—agooners to stave us off from our diligent attendance upon the Carbâ—nado'd and traduced Martyrs and Witnesses of our blessed Jesus in their distinct as well as materially faithful Testimonies concerning him from and in such a Righteousness as actually adequately and materially corresponds with the forementioned Perfections of God both in his Nature and Law for as possession properly such gives no man a juridical Title unto that whereinto he enters by possession so neither does Faith which is in this case at most a meer possessing grace entitle even an elect Vessel unto any one of the least of the promises in the whole of Scripture but it is his juridical forensick though founded in grace relation unto and interest in this Righteousness that gives him an undoubted Title and Right unto his Justification and all that is consequential of the same hence it is that Faith follows and that in two respects 1. AS a manifestating or evidencing Instrument with all it's Adjuncts Concomitants and Subsequents whence it is that Christ as the Author and Finisher of the same becomes the Wisdom of God unto such a Soul 2. AS an uniting applying clothing grace-conveying heart-renewing and fruit-bearing instrument and that in all the vigorous exercitious actings thereof both objectively and subjectively whence it is also that Christ as the Author and Finisher of the said Faith becomes the Power of God unto such a Soul but all this is meerly the fruit of a previous Title otherwise God could not be just in justifying neither could his elect ones be justly reckoned upon as Sons but rather Bastards or Impostors But all this blunder in our Author as in the close of this Charge p. 10 11. is no more but to bring in the Vertues and Graces of the Spirit as the matter of our Justifying Righteousness provided that Faith as an Instrument will but eye and betake it self unto the Righteousness of Christ and engagge the Soul to rest wholly upon the same in the bare merits thereof for it's Justification before and Acceptation with the Lord. Projicit ampullas sesquipedalia verba Hor. AS to the Second Charge II. HIS Second Charge p. 11. is That the Doctor Asserts and Defends that Doctrin which is the bane of all godly Fear and Dread of all suspicion of our selves of Spiritual Watchfulness and a wary and cautious behaviour Crispianis unmask'd p. 11 which yet are Graces and Duties much commended in Holy Scripture and greatly practised by the Servants of God This false imputation of his is managed with the same scurrilous and lying Spirit and to the same ends that his former and subsequent ones are produced for against the Dr. As 1. THAT he never gives thee an account upon what grounds it is that the Dr. urges this or the other discerpted sentence that he for his own vile ends does continually throughout his Pamphlet quote 2. NEITHER does he declare for what ends and from what principles as tending thereunto together with their uses and advantages as assigned unto them of the Lord in their proper places it is that the Dr. speaks for or against both duties and graces As for instance He tells us That the Dr. a bold and fearless man laughs at such silly creatures as fear and distrust their having Faith or no and being regenerated and sanctified or no and withal that he merrily brings in such an Crispianis unmask'd p. 11. one complaining thus I have neglected the Day of my Visitation I had once the Opportunity the presence of the Spirit of God Alass My fear is that that was the Day of God's Grace to me and now there is no more hope left for me And thereupon concludes Which words as you 'll find he speaks in way of Mockery And in several other places you will find him deriding such whining timorous Christians as these representing them as Persons of shallow Understandings and of a Temper not becoming the Gospel What Ground he hath received for this frontless and wretched Branch of this part of his Charge let the very place from whence he cites it determine p. 345. where speaking of God's laying Iniquity upon Christ that it is so entirely his own Act that none of our Duties be they the best that we can perform can have any Hand therein Therefore I shall be the more large in transcribing the Doctor even in this Page and that which follows that thou mayst apparently discern into the villanous Treachery of this Author and justly guess thereby at the base ends in the same The Doctor speaking from those words in Isa chap. 53. 6. that our Sins are already laid on Christ tells us It should therefore serve to put the People of God upon the Admiration of the great love of God seeing it is only the Lord that layeth Iniquity upon Christ to give unto the Lord the Praise of the Glory of his Grace Oh! Dr. Crisp 's Works Vol. II. Pag. 345. let nothing go away with that seeing none but the Lord doth the thing And to this end Beloved the Lord must open your Eyes that you may see It it is he alone that doth it but till you see it what ever you may think of your selves you will sanctifie to Nets and Drags instead of them If Righteousness seem to be the easing of burthens in Spirit then Righteousness shall be and will be exalted above measure From whence proceeds these strange Expressions Oh the Omnipotency of Fasting and Prayer and Repentance I What is this but to give the Glory of the Lord to our services as if they discharge us of our Sins when it is the Lord only that doth discharge us of them But I must hasten THERE is another observable Passage in these words more observable indeed than heeded by the most of them and that is to be taken from the circumstance of Time when the Lord laid Iniquity upon Christ The Text saith
A SHORT REVIEW OF SOME REFLECTIONS Made by a Nameless Author UPON Dr. Crisp's Sermons In a piece Entituled Crispianism Vnmask'd With some Remarks upon the Union in the late Agreement in Doctrin among the Dissenting Ministers in London Subscribed the 16th of December 1692. and that as referring unto the present Debates Exek 8. 7. Behold a hole in the Wall v. 11. Every Man his Censer i. e. Attonement or Inherent Righteousness in his Hand but not the Obedieâ—ce of one Rom. 5. 19. v. 12. Son of Man hast thou seen what the Hâ—use of Israel do in the dark every Man in the Chambers of his Imagery Prov. 17. 24. Wisdom is before him that hath understanding but the Eyes of a Fool are in the end of the Earth as roving in his implicit Universals Matth. 13. 25. While Men slept his Enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his way i. e. would not be known or openly Subscribe to his Work Isa 28. 17. Judgment also will I lay to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet and the Hail i. e. sharp and impartial dealings drawn from a deep and weighty Consideration of the Divine Perfections shall sweep away the Refuge of Lies and the Waters i. e. an over-powering and continued Testimony unto the Truth by the Spirit shall overflow the hiding-place Latet anguis in herba By THOMAS EDWARDS Esq London Printed for Will. Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-steeet Where you may be supplied with Mr. Edwards's Inquiry into the Gospel-Truth You may likewise be supplied with most of Dr. Owen's and Mr. Beverley's Works and likewise those other lately Published in Vindication of Dr. Crisp's Works 1693. THE Introduction Reader THere appeared lately and that openly upon the Stage in a Religious Sense or rather pretence an Italian Quack-Salver who failing to pass off his Drugs with that Expedition and Success that his high Conceptions of them might possibly suggest him with is withdrawn behind the Curtain and yet we may justly suspect his return upon us in this his Anonymous Proxy from the Matter and Process of this his Treatise as Mountebanks in their unsuccessful Attempts leave the Remainders of their dying and yet restorative Hopes on the Cryptical Efforts and renewed Endeavours of their Jesters or Jack-Puddings in their managing even the same Design though but in Disguise as they themselves had done before Therefore thou wilt find that all that this our Author produces against Dr. Crisp is no more as to the Matter and Manner Ends or Design thereof than what thou hast formerly seen fully opened and undeniably invalidated by others especially in a Treatise called NEONOMIANISM UNMASK'D and A REJOYNDER by its Author in Defence of the same unto which I expect not any sober or tolerable Reply The which our present Latent Author though I am apt to think conscious of his fault by his flattering Preamble to his bitter and false Charge against the Doctor takes no more notice of than the Journeyman-Taylor did of his Master's Reproof for sewing awry or amiss but desired he might stitch out altogether This our Author as we shall find doth in the Close of his Treatise Vain Glory Itching Fancies Carnal Appearances and Prevaricatory Practises are the infallible Sprouts of a self-Justiciary Therefore considering how fully the Truth and that under a Fundamental Consideration thereof hath been from Dr. Crisp's Works defended and maintained I shall be the more concise in my just Remarks upon this our Masquerading Stage-Player as not being willing actum agere Only I would desire thee to consider these few Heads 1. That the present Controversie lies not between Protestant and Protestant in the general as such i. e. Church of England-Man Presbyterian Congregational or Baptist either as to Forms of Worship or Modes of Discipline and their different perswasions therein neither doth it primarily or positively consist in the order of God's Dispensation in the Covenant of Grace for herein many upright Souls may unexitially be mistaken though this be the subterfuge our Adversaries most miserably betake themselves unto to amuse both their Readers and Hearers with but whether indeed there be such a Covenant of Grace as is mainly constitutive of a Representative Headship in a prâ—per and not barely and sâ—lely a Political Sense together with an actual real Commutation in an external Juridical Acceptation of Sin and Righteousness between Christ and the Flâ—ct not by Infusion but Imputation This is that they would under their gâ—ngling Pretences of the Merits of Christ Holiness Duties and Works remâ—ve out of the way which when done Farewel Reformation and the Covenant it self to Beet for by this they absolutely condemn our Separation from the Church of Rome and expâ—se us justly to the Charge of Shifm and Schismaticks and stabilitate the Council of Trent Nay I dare confidently assert and can make it evidently appear that there is never a Jesuit in the World but might unequivocally and that safely as well as gladly and roundly would if requested thereunto subscribe unto their Treatises Wherefore 2. Note That when-ever these our self-Justificaries speak mostly of the Doctrin of Justification and therein would express themselves by the Preposition in but for or by as knowing that the two latter are more capable in the Letter tho' not in the least as to the Analogy of Faith of a remoter Construction as to a Causality in the same and consequently becomes a more adapted suitable and undiscerned retirement to lodge their rotten Hypothesis in hence it is also that their revived Cerberus's Head dogmatically asserts without any manner of proof or so much as once offering at the same * Mr. D. Williams 's Defence of Gospel-Truth p. 3. That Merit and Matter in Judicial Acts or the same which is a positive Falshood either as to their identick or essential Coincidence or their more proper and dâ—â—â—inct uses and Applications tho' hereâ—n their wicked retiring holes do lye Thus â—â—â—â—ing them into a convertibility of terms they think to secure themselves as much as may be from othe Observations of others whereas in their Teachingâ— and Writings they absolutely contradict their own Assertion by separating between Merit and Matter in our Justification as that they take Merit of Christ's Righteousness from the Matter of the same which as they say abides in him and apply it to the matter of our own Righteousness the former being in Christ the latter in us which indeed is but our Justifaction not Justification by vertue of the same therefore thou wilt find by a diligent attendance upon their Treatises in the whole scope and design of them that they allow unto Christ but a meer Adjunctive station unto the Covenant of Grace or to be but a by-stander and Looker on upon poor Sinners That as they come in by Faith and Repenâ—ance notwithstanding their acknowledging that it is by his Merits and Spirit then it is that he steps in to apply a promise and that as
The Lord hath laid on him the Iniquity of us all Satan knows well enough of what great consequence this Circumstance of Time is both to the Manifestation of the Glory of God's Grace and to the establishment of the Comforts of God's People and therefore he hath raised a foul Dust to misguide poor Wretches that they may not lay hold upon this Circumstance and the Comfort that will flow from it The Text saith not The Lord doth lay Iniquity on him or the Lord will lay Iniquity on him much less that the time is overslipt now and the Lord will not lay Iniquity upon him Satan is very busie with tender ignorant Hearts either to perswade them that the Work is now a doing or the Work hereafter shall be done but yet is not done or the time is overslipped it might have been done if Men had not neglected the Opportunity but now it is too late it is never to be done The last of these hath troubled the Hearts of many People whence comes these expressions I have neglected the day of my Visitation saith one I have neglected the Opportunity the Presence of the Spirit of God my fear is that was the day of God's Grace to me but I have let it slip and now there is no more Hope left for me but Beloved let the evident Word of the Lord himself be your guide and know that every thing that is spoken contrary to the Mind of the Lord revealed in his Word is but the natural Fruit of the Father of Lies who is a Lyer from the beginning The Lord hath laid Iniquity upon Christ Hath he done it already and is it now to be done Nay hath he done it already and doth he revoke it and will not suffer it to be done The point then briefly is this THIS Gracious Act of the Lord 's laying Iniquity upon Christ is not now or hereafter to be done much lâ—ss a thing he never wills but it is a thing the Lord hath already done EVERY School-boy will be able to tell you that this Expression hath laid imports the time past the word being in the Preter-Perfect Tense it is not in the Present Tense nor in the Future Tense the Lord will lay but in the Preter-perfect Tense the Lord hath done it it is an Act past NOW Reader be thy own Judge or desire no Clandestine or surreptatious and forced Subscriptions from thee whether Doctrins Graces and Duties are not owned by the Doctor provided they be kept within their prescribed limits out of and from which our Author would for a base self-justiciary end divert them and therefore summons us to listen to what the Infallible Scripture of Truth says Crispianism Vnmask'd p. 11 12 13 14. though for vile and infallible ends as by him produced from Prov. 28. 14. 1 Cor. 16. 13. Heb. 3. 12. Phil. 2. 12. Heb. 4 1. Râ—m 11. 20. 1 Cor. 10. 12. 1 Pet. 1. 17. Psal 34. 9. 76. 11. 147. 11. Luk. 12. 5. See v. 1 4. Heb. 12. 28 29. But ask him do any of these Texts tell us that a Fear and Dread of God or any other Duty or Qualification in our Souls contribute in the least to a laying of Sin upon Christ which ought first to have been proved had he dealt either in a way of reverential awe towards God or due Respect and Regard towards Man But we shall find enough of this as we go on As to the Third Charge III. THAT He hath imbib'd the Principles and Doctrin of this Author Crispianism Vnmask'd p. 15. viz. the Doctor 's says our Author cannot pray And for this quotes him p. 370. thus When People pray for any Grace omitting what Intervenes viz. that God hath passed over to Men all their Praâ—er is that God would manifest c. not regarding either what goes before or after therefore I shall transcribe the substance of the same Dr. Crisp's Works Vol. II. p. 370. WELL then if you pray in Faith that your Sins are forgiven upon this Ground i. e. our Sins being already laid on Christ because God hath made this Grant and you find it upon Record then it seems your Sins were forgiven you before your Prayer was made You will say God hath granted this before and now you pray to God that he would make good that Grant to you which he hath granted before Beloved what is thiâ— more than to make that evident to your Understandings and to give you the knowledge of that which he hath before granted that you may have the Comfort of it I refer the Reader to the place it self for our Author's Refutation both in the matter and design of his Treacherous Charges NOW from whence he runs to his old Arminian inference that If any Man believes this it is impossible he should give himself to Prayer Crispianism Vâ—mask'd p. 15. and be frequent and ardent in his Addresses to Heaven For what should he pray for when there is no obtaining any good at all by it And thereupon tells us that to pray for the Forgiveness of Sins is needless and to enforce his malicious Charge very wretchedly quotes several Texts of Scripture as Psal 65.2 34.17 50.15 69.33 145.18 19. Pag. 16 17. Prov. 15. 29 Exod. 32. 11 14. Josh 10. 12 13 14. 1 Sam. 7. 9. 1 Kin 17. 1. 18 28. 42. 45. 2 Chron. 20. 5 22. Isa 37. 15 37. Jonas 2. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 12. 8. The Doctor still speaking which our Author never regards in any of his Charges that our Sins are already laid on Christ therein referring unto a Gracious Act of the Father as well as compleat undertaking of the Son and that it is by Prayer we come to receive the full manifestative and applicatory Testimony of the same unto our Souls and now to put Prâ—yer Graces of the Spirit or any other Duty in the room and place thereof is not only useless and unbeneficial but also derogatory unto the Glory of God Therefore he lays down hiâ— objections and answers in the following words in the Page whence our Author cites him Some object and say Christ puts us upon Prayer and in Prayer that God would forgive us our Trespasses How can our Iniquities â—e laid upon Christ already when we are to pray that God would forgive them to us It is a vain thing for us to pray to God to forgive them when they were long ago foâ—given Dr. Crisp's Workâ— Vol. II. p. 369. I answer They were reckoned to Christ long before we pray for the forgiveness of our sins and yet we do well in the Praâ—ing for the forgiveness of them We have a common answer known to all There is a twofold forgiveness of sins a forgiveness of sins in Heaven and forgiveness of sins in the Consciences of Men. Forgiveness of sins in Heaven is that which is acted by God alone Forgiveness of sins in the Consciences of Men is the manifestation of God's former act So
and built This will evidently appear from its contrary and that as relating unto the apparent Apostacies that have discovered themselves in the Treatises of some later as well as former Writers who notwithstanding their Vigour against the Papacy even to a Preparation for its Burial by a winding-sheet yet upon trial of them in the Fundamental Points which we must stick unto or we not only lose all but east a most wretched Aspersion upon the Providences of God and vindicate the Proceeding of our Enemies in the Death of the Martyrs of Reformation have been driven to shelter themselves under its argumentative Umbrage and to draw forth the Arrows of their Defence out of it Quiver yea and as it is too notoriously known to assign in a manner unto it from Protestanism in the general the very right Hand of Fellowship in Christoanity and all because the bottom is the same on which they are fixed both in their Hopes and Trust it being natural for every thing to incline to it s designed and as such proper and uniting Center Jo. 5. 40. comp ch 6. 64 65 68 69. Hinc illae lachrymae The matter and truth in Controversie having been by others so justly and fully stated and defended we may be the more brief with this our blank Author especially considering how weak as well as false his Attempts are against the same His confident and grave Trumpeter tells us in the Preface That the wrath of Man works not the Righteousness of God much less I am sure doth our Author's lurking and yet open Politicks with their false Reserves contribute in the least to the Manifestation of the same wherewith his Pamphlet is sufficiently stuffed for as Wrath is the resultive Operation of Anger which Anger is a Passion created in the Soul by God himself and drawn forth into its proper exercise by him into that which the Scripture calls Zeal for his Glory so also is Politicism in Man a meer exurgency from that reasoning faculty within him by which he is distinguished as well as by others of his Qualifications from the Beasts that perish but all thesâ—re discriminatively adjudged as to their sinful or gracious position frame or operation ae they co-work with or for or against the Righteousness of God and that as to their principles and ends the very Text our Prefacer produces sufficiently Demonstrates the same 1 Sams 2. 13. c. 1 Kin. 18. 27. 2 Kin. 3. 13 14. ch 1. 10. Luk. 9. 54 55. Judg. 5. 23. Eph. 4. 26. Ab equis ad asinos Our Author in his first and part of the second page highly commends after a little vent of his Gall Dr. Crisp's Sermons and that for some certain uses and ends that he is pleased to assign unto them That he exalts Free-Grace Christ's Righteousness his Paths in expressing the astonishing love of Jesus and that in the Redemption of Mankind how Mercy and Truth Righteousness and Peace met and kissed each other in him that Justice and Goodness had their equal discovery in his satisfaction and how that he depresses good Works and holy Duties but observe how he takes him p. 2 as to satisfying God's Justice or meriting any thing for us Here the hooks lies from being ingredieats of Justification and so on I doubt this word irgredients will prove but a very nasty one by then we have compared it with his ten charges against the Doctor but for all this we must endeavour as inoffensively and honestly as we can to rescue him out of his Hands for I never iiked ovem lupo committere or Agninis lactibus canem alligare since we see our Author hath no sooner got him into his clutches by his fawning reserved acknowledgments but like the Lyon in the Fable tears him to pieces Some few things to be remarked out of our Author p. 2 3 4. before we enter precisely upon his Decemvir'd Charge against the Doctor 1. His inconsistency even whilst he endeavours falsly to charge the Doctor wirh the same besides as we shall see in the Close of his Treatise how he overthrows the whole of his Forgery and that even with his own Pen unto our Hands from comparing what he says p. 2 3 and 4. and several other places with what his Armour-bearer in the Preface expresses Far be it from me to censure or arraign the State and Spirit note those words State and Spirit of the Reverend Dr. Crisp whose Soul I take to be in Heaven and whose Intentions and Designs might be sincere and good though not so distinctly see the nature order and mutual Relaâ—ions and Dependencies to and upon each other Pref. l. 17 22. Author p. â— His Zeal for Christ's imputed Righteousness makes him vilifie and almost mark that word exclude an inherent Righteousness of our own comp p. 3. Though the Author of these Sermons often attempts to perswade you thas he is no Antinomian i. e. that he is not against the Law of Righteousness and Holiness that he is no discourager of of Faith and good Works and the several Duties of Religion yet nothing is more evident than this that he is a professed Enemy to these and useth all the Art he can to make others so Suit but these together and thou wilt find a Preliminary Transcript of both his Treachery and Iâ—consistency wherewith we shall be sufficiently glutted anon besides p. 58. He makes him a Derider of the new Birth with many other false as well as bitter Sarcasms which should they be but in the Hundredth part of them true would absolutely bespeak the Doctor a Reprobate Gal. 4. 29 30. Scarce one or but very few of his Stigmatizing marks if Faith in its Analogy be attended unto that can be reckoned of the spots of God's Children 2. HIS Displeasure against him for separating between Justification and Sanctification which the Holy Scriptures as he says always joyn together p. 3. but not as to the ends for which our Author and his Jesuitical Fraternity would have them promiscuously jumbled together does the Scripture joyn them and in no other a Sense doth the Doctor separate them 3. HIS solemn Appeal unto the Searcher of Hearts before he enters upon this his allowed deliberate and studied false Dealings with the Doctor of his Innocence in the same I could tell him of the like Attempt of another with whom God hath met in the very Language of his Imprecation Let him and such remember Ananias and Sapphira BUT to the charges themselves Or ab equis ad asinos from bad to worse But before we proceed note Reader THAT there is not one Charge of the whole ten that our Author produces against the Doctor wherein he may be said to have done him the least piece of Justice or to deal equitably with him according to the matter he hath in Hand and that in the very literal Dependant Construction of the same which if otherwise thou findest upon an unequivocal plain and candid comparing of the
rather doth he not assign to it its proper place according unto Act. 13. 48. Gal. 1. 15 16. This Orthodoxy though nauseous to our Authors Arminian Palate and which puts him upon so many miserable shifts may be proved and cleared from several exemplary Instances in Scripture as well as positively Doctrinal points in the same for it is not the most Gracious Internal Actings of the Soul tho' wrought and maintained of God himself that works a Change in our personal Covenant-State consider it well Reader and weigh it in the ballances of the Sanctuary and that without respect of Persons or Parties for as God's Act in Justification is purely Forensick and therein respects our Persons and depends not in the least upon his Physical Operation which is entirely regenerative whose subject therein properly is our Natures so also neither doth our part in him in the act of Conversion it self depend upon our actual closing with him any further than our passive recipiency of him makes way for the same both in its productive cause and continued irresistible and yet Gracious complying Designs This is clear from Joh. 1. 12. wherein a passive Reception of Christ is that which precedes an active one See also 1 Joh. 4. 10 19 Isa 65. 1. Joh. 15. 16. comp v. 5. ch 1. 48 49. 50. Phil. 1. 6. Ezek. 16. 60 61 62 63. Thus it was with Aâ—am the Proto-Applicatory Subject of this Grace after his fall How did the Lord deal with him in order to his Recovery Did he wait for an actual Exhibition of his Faith to justifie him for the same Nay did he not rather pursue him when Rebelliously under the obstinate Fruits and reigning Effects of his and ours in him Federal Act of Apostacy But with what even a promise But what was this promise the Seed of the Woman And what was this Seed in the root or primary Acceptation of it I suppose Christ which is evident in Eve's mistake Gen. 4. 1. besides many other undeniable Scriptural positive Proofs therefore reckoned upon as the first Born first Fruits yea first Gift and to have the Preheminence in all things before even Faith or any other work of the Spirit which is fully expressive of not only the nature as to the matter but executive form it self of the Covenant of Grace which Covenant consists of Promises or as Dr. Goodwin says That the Covenant of Grace is Election-purposes and decrees wrapt up in promises But what are these promises Mr. Strong in his Treatise of the Covenants tells us That they consist not only of two kinds viz. personal and real but that the former takes place in the administration of the same from the latter If so then our Doctor is right that Christ is not only the first Gift but that until we receive him in a passive Sense how can he be unto us the Finisher much less the Author of our Faith And 't is true that God convinces our first Parents of their sin and therein begins with Adam which is somewhat remarkable though Eve was first in the Transgression yet chose rather to deal with the former as that in and by him as a Representative Head he dealt with all his posterity But what is the Fruit of all his convincing though just Proceedings against him Nothing but a continued act of Rebellion and that notwithstanding all the mild Proceedings of the Lord with him even in the cool of the Evening not so much as a bare acknowledgment of a matter of Fact in a Transgressive Sense but rather an aggravating of the same by their or our first Parents ultimate tho' tacit casting the cause thereof upon God rather than themselves Which way doth the Lord take to restore them or to bring them to himself It is evident by the application of a promise and that under a personal Consideration before any of that which betokens a real one Gen. 3. 15. comp v. 21. The Person included in the promise they first receive and thereupon their Cloathing or Justifying Garment typified in the Coats of Skins which were made or wrought out and also truly applied by the Lord himself Rom. 3. 23 24 25 26 Thus it was with Paul himself who had a passive part in Christ I speak it not of that which is barely decretive or redemptive even before his actual closing with him Act. 9. 3 4 5. comp v. 6. And is not this Dr. Crisp's Doctrin in his distinguishing between a passive and active recipiency of Christ namely That God out of his Bowels of Pity and Mercy will reach out his Christ to those that have no Hands to receive him no Faith to believe in him but are rather as froward Patients shutting their Teeth against their Remedy And is not this evident without the least reserve in the case of Paul as well as that of Adam as that the part the Elect have in him in a convertive Sense proceeds primarily from a passive Application of them unto their Souls as precedaneous unto their actual knowing and voluntary closing with him Act. 22. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Nay take it in the most gentle of God's Proceedings with his Adult Elect in the Act of Conversion or his bringing them over by Faith unto himself they are primarily passive herein Consult for an instance but the case of Lydia and the Lord 's dealing with her Soul Act. 16. wherein it was evident that her Faith was the Fruit of Union or that she had a passive part in the Lord besides that of a decretive and so a Fountain one and that of a redeemed purchased and so a truly virtual one before she actually closed with him in the recipiency of Faith properly so for it is well known though Faith be the instrumental cause yet that it is the Spirit that is personally and so peculiarly the efficient cause of our Justification and that not by an infusion of qualities but positive substantial Application of that Righteousness as being his voluntary gracious undertaken Office whereof and wherein he makes it not only to appear that Christ is the Meritorious but material cause of the same and that not by the Mediums of Graces as Mediator only but the solid actual Obedience of him who on that very account became their Representative Head Joh. 16. 13 14. comp Rom. 5. 19. And though none of these stand asunder in the compleat uniting as well as operative and consequently Testimonial Act of our Justification but to say or suppose that the two former are not subsequent unto and do not wholly depend upon the latter and that as to the very essence of our justified State as well as Order is at one blow to build and establish the Covenant of Grace upon that of Works and thereby to assign such a CAVSA SINE QVA NON unto our believing as our Author very closely infers p. 4. l. 30 31 32 c. that Faith is not so much a Manifestation as an entitling Grace and what that
this day He says My second is that which is procured for any one thereunto he hath a right The thing that is obtained is granted by him of whom it is obtained and that to them for whom it is obtained To this is answered 1. In the Margent that I should make Appendix to Dr. Owen 's Answer to Biddle p. 35. great Changes in England if I could make all the Lawyers believe this strange Doctrine but of what the Lawyers believe or do not believe Mr. B. is no Competent Judge be it spoken without Disparagement for the Law is not his study I who perhaps have much less skill than him self will be bound at any time to give him Twenty Cases out of the Civil and Cannon Law to make good this Assertion which if he knows not that it may be done he ought not to speak with such Confidence of these things Nay amongst our own Lawyers whom perhaps he intends I am sure I may be informed that if a Mâ—n intercede with another to settle his Land by conveyance to a third Person giving him that Conveyance to keep in trust until the time come that he should by the Intention of the Conveyer enjoy the Land though he for whom it is granted have not the least knowledge of it yet he hath such a Right unto the Land thereby created as cannot be disanull'd This is the very thing for which it is that Dr. Crisp brings in this Text and Beza's Annotation thereupon and that in the very Page whence the Charge is fetcht Namely that Justification is truly and properly the work of God himself and cannot be the work of Faith Nay he goes farther Suppose says he Dr. Crisp's Works Vol. 2. Pag. 325. you should have the words to run as they are commonly render'd I answer Then are we to distinguish in Faith of two things there is the Act it self of believing and the Object on which we do believe and so the words may be understood thus Being justified by the Righteousness of Faith or by the Righteousness of Christ which we do believe We have Peace with God and so ascribe our Justification to the Object of our believing the Righteousness of Christ and not to the Act of Believing The truth is Beloved the Act of Believing is a Work and as much our Work as our Fear and Prayer and love is and the Apostle should contradict himself when he saith We are saved by Grace through Faith not of Works if he mean the Act of Faith And he might as well have said We are not justified by Works but we are justified by Works This he further distinguishes in the same Page unto which I refer thee which our Author with various huffing Reflections and rotten Inferences most partially and falsly quotes in his 6th and 7th Pages That to be short there is not only a distinction between the Act and Object of Faith and that as properly relating unto our Justification and Righteousness therein but also to God's Act of our Justification in Heaven as fully Precedaneous to the termination thereof in Conscience Dr. Owen upon the 1 Cor. 1. 30. in his refutation of Socinus and Bellarmine tells us That Christ is made of God Righteousness unto us in such a way and manner as the nature of the thing doth require Say some it is because by him we are justified However the Text says not That by him we are justified but he is of God made Righteousness unto us which is not our Dr. Owen of Justification p. 502. Justification but the Ground Cause and Reason whereon we are justified Righteousness is one thing and Justification is another Now either this Righteousness is in an eternal decretive and material sense truly and irrevocably theirs before they believe or upon what Grounds is it that God can be reckoned just in his justifying of them even when they believe But there is a secret grub lies at the bottom of all this our Author's Indignation which we must endeavour to find out See Dr. Owen against Mr. Baxter in the fore-mentioned Appendix Now I say that in the sense wherein I affirm that Justification is terminated in Conscience I may yet also affirm and that suitably to the utmost Intention Dr. Owen 's Appendix against Mr. Baxter in his Answer to Biddle pag. 19. of mine in that expression that Justification by Faith is not a knowledge or feeling of Justification before given nor a Justification in or by our own Consciences but somewhat that goes before all such Justification as this is and is a Justification before God And is not this true How many scores of our ancient solid Reformers might be brought in to attest this truth wherein and whereby they distinguish'd themselves in a Fundamental sense as Protestants from Papists But it seems as our Author thinks Dr. Crisp did not pitch upon a right Text in this of Rom. 5. 1. though it and it s Context undeniably prove he did to fix this his Discrimination upon and therefore alters the Scene of the Charge against him i e. from a distinguishing to a confounding Explication p. 7. where he to his own Admiration no doubt Learnedly explains Gal. 3. 24. for if the Apostle's Sense or Meaning be the same in one place of his Epistles as well as in another when he speaks more especially of being justified by Faith which our Author firmly asserts why then should he make a distinction between the Act and Object of Faith from Gal. 3. 24. which he denies unto the same Apostle from Rom. 5. 1. in Beza's Interpretation and the Doctor 's Quotation of him for that end A strong Memory I see is exceeding requisite for a Lying and Prevaricating Spirit This is not far unlike the Devil's Proceedings with Job who when he saw that his Accusation of him before God for an Hypocrite did not prove true or hold Water then does he slily seek by his Wife in an Instrumental Sense to cause him to part with his Integrity Just thus it is that our Author most shamefully spews out his own Treachery Dr. Goodwin upon Eph. 2. 6. saith that Our Salvation is in God's Gifts and in Christ's personating of us mark this piece of Crispianism and apprehending of us it is perfect and compleat though in our Persons as in us it is wrought by degrees Further. pag. 218 219. He Doct. Goodwin upon the Epistle to the Eph. ch 2. 6. p. 217 218. 219. tells us You see the distinction between in Christ and with Christ we are said to be quickned with Christ why because that Work as it is wrought in Christ once for us hath now some Accomplishment in us but speaking of the Resurrection to come he does not say we are raised up in Christ but raised up with Christ do but learn to distinguish for the want of this makes many Men to mistake A Man before he is called he is justified in Christ but not with Christ that is
it is not actually applyed to the Man's Person his Person is not put in foro verbi in the State of Justification Learn I say to distinguish between receiving a thing in Christ and receiving it with Christ you receive it with Christ when it is actually applyed to your Person we now sit together in Christ in Heaven would you desire no other sitting in Heaven with Christ than now you have Certainly you would As you sit in Christ so likewise you would sit with Christ so take a Man before such time as he believeth and is converted to God would he have no other Sanctification Would you have for your Child suppose you believe him to be elect or had an immediate infallible Warrant so to think no other Sanctification or Justification than he hath then No you would have him Sanctified with Christ and justified with Christ which is to have that which he had in Christ applyed to him and he put actually in his own Person in the state of it The want of the consideration of these things causeth a great mistake in this Age you shall find that still the Scripture useth that Phrase of these things which we not only have in Christ as in a common person but it must be applied unto our own Persons also for would any Man desire to be no more glorified than he is now Yet as we are perfectly glorified in Christ now so we were perfectly justified in Christ when he arose and perfectly justified from all Eternity Who shall condemn the Elect of God Saith the Apostle Yet these must be applied to our own Persons and our Persons must actually be put into this condition When we come to Heaven then he saith we shall sit with Christ in his Throne Rev. 3. but while we are here on Earth then it is sitting in Christ The Consideration of this distinction would in a word clear the great Controversie that is now between the Antinomians as they call them and others about being justified before conversion whether a Man be justified before conversion or no or whether he be not so afterward as in some Sense he was not before I say we are justified in Christ from all Eternity and we are justified with Christ when we believe NOW if thy Doctor be not a thorow pac'd Crispian I know not who is and let me tell this Author by the way that if he dare appear openly in this Controversie and in which I offer him a full unreserved meeting whereunto let him bring what numbers and degrees of Persons he possibly can either by hook or by crook according to the constant practise of those of his perswasion to back him in the same I question not but by the wisdom power and Grace of God sufficiently to manifest that Dr. Crisp fully accords with all those more antient and modern REFORMERS truly and undeniably reckoned upon as such though perhaps differing in other things as to the Doctrines ef Justification Sanctification Graces and Duties thereupon both in their spring nature order form matter and uses and that in the full scope and agreeing with the compleat tenure of the Covenant of Grace it self But our Author tells us p. 8. from the text he had cited p. 5. That the Apostle by way of Antithesis constantly opposeth Faith to Works in Justification Crispianism Vnmask'd pag. 8. that is an act of ours to some others of our own not an Act of ours to one of God as this Author would have us think The opposition which you may observe in St. Paul's Writings of Faith to Works is sufficient to perswade that it is but a Dream of the Doctor that to be justified by Faith is to have in our Spirits the Manifestation of God's Justification This hath no relation at all to what the Apostle so often saith c so far he Now this Antithesis according to our Author 's manifest Design therein one Mr. Antisozzo has notably anatomized in his Explication of Phil. 3. 8. c. unto which I refer the Reader for his being undeceived and shall let Dr. Good-win answer this from the fore-mentioned Treatise Whether it be the Act of Faith that justifies or that is accounted a Mans Righteousness when Dr. Goodwin on the Ephes Part 2d p. 301. we are said to be saved through Faith Surely no for God might have took work as well if he would have taken it as an Act he might have taken any Act Love it self THERE is this reason lies in the bottom of my Spirit against it besides all that else the Scripture saith against it That if when I go to God to be justified I must present to him my believing as the matter of my righteousness and only Christ's death as the merit of it which is the very controversie on foot this day for all our Author's seeming acknowledgment of the righteousness of Christ and the bare instrumentality of Faith in the reception thereof in order to our Justification What will follow Two things are clear to me First That the heart is taken off from looking upon the righteousness of Christ wholly and diverteth it to it 's own righteousness in the very act of believing for righteousness and presenteth that to God which the Scripture is clear against I say it doth take the heart off from the righteousness of the Lord Jesus or the eying of that and causeth it to divert into it self and present its own Faith to God Secondly Every man that will believe to be justified and go to God and say Lord justifie me he must have an evidence that he hath Faith for how else can he present that as the matter of his righteousness Now Millions of Souls cannot do this they were in a poor case if they should be put to it THE Apostle saith it was of Faith that it might be sure If Justification had been founded on the act of Faith it had been as sure on works as faith for that faith that draws out an act of love is as apt to fail as that act of love But here is no uncertainty while I believe to be justified by the righteousness of Christ but my faith is swallowed up there though I may doubt of my faith relying on him yet I have a sure object I have a sure matter to represent to God for me whereas if believing was that I had to represent to God to be justified by suppose my faith fail me I have not a sure matter of righteousness to represent to God THE very object Faith believes on is a contradiction to this that the act of Faith should be the matter of my Justification Yet further Q. Is not faith an act Iâ—'s true it is in a Grammatical signification an act but in the sense in the true real import of it it Dr. Goodwin on the Eph. part 2d p. 287 288. is meerly passive Faith doth not give any thing to God as Charity and Love doth but it only suffers God
and of Fasting◠〈…〉 pâ—oportion of these answerable to the latitude and height of such transgressioâ—◠〈…〉 ease this takes away the burthen this lays the Soul at rest and quiet it Bâ—t he â—â—olly diâ—regards what follows namely Therefore when a Soul hath Transgrâ—ssed if iâ— be 〈◊〉 most or almost all the pantings of it are after extraordinary enlargemeâ—ts in bitterness and heâ—viness and mourning and melting and tears these are accounteâ— they that wash away Iniquity But beloved let me tell you it is impossible that all the righteousness of men though it were more perfect than it can be should lay one iniquity or any of the least circumstance of one iniquity upon Christ If a Man could weep his heart out if his heart could melt like Wax and dissolve into Water and gush out Riverâ— of Teâ—rs for sin all this could not carry away the least dram of the filthiness of 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 â—oul unto Christ nor unload the Soul of any sin to load Christ with it And is not all this true can any of our Duties cause God to lay sins upon Christ Doth not herein â—e the secret yea radical difference as to what our Author would basely insinuate both in the matter and manner and that very distortively from what it iâ— thâ—t the Dr. assertâ— the same between the Protestant and Popish Doctrin See Hos 8. 13 compard with the Marginal Râ—ading Where the Lord's charge even against a professing People is not thâ—ir rejectiâ—g of his Sacrifice but a postponiâ—g of it unto their own and thereby assigning the meritâ— of all their acceptance both in pardoning and justifying Grace unto the Sacrifice of the Lord provided that their own believing repenting c. have but a precedent or at least a mixed interest therein but what the consequence thereof was is evident even a toral disappointment of them not only in their hopes and expectations but also that That which they seemed to have or thought they had would prove but an emptiness or a Lie unto them in that they should find themselveâ— but in Egypt still i. e. neither changed in their state or nature He further cites him leaving out a part of the Objection and Answer also whence he picks his Charge wherein thou mayst yet further see into the Orthodoxy of the Doctor together with the Jesuitical design of our Author As Obj But some will say Though our performances do not lay our iniquities upon Christ â—et they do prevail with God and Dr. Crisp 's Work Vol. II. Serm. 6. p. 319. move God with pity towards us and stir up God to take our iniquites off from us and lay them upon Christ Now our Author comes in God cannot but melt will some say to see the tears of his People and the bitterness of their Spirits and their crying and their earnestness and their sorrows These cannot but prevail with him â—o have compassion on them To which he replies in these words I know this is the general conceit of too many in the World But beloved let me tell you there is nothing in all the Creatures in the World that hath the least prevalency with the Lord let them do what they can all our Prayers all our Tears all our Fastings all our Mournings all our Reluctancy and fighting against our Corruptions they move God not a jot to lay our sins upon Christ But he leaves out what immediately follows wherein the Doctor explains himself thus God is moved only from himself If they move God what must they move him to If God be moved at any thing he is moved according to the nature of the thing that is done If the nature of the thing produce evil effects God must be moved to do evil to Men if good effects if there be good in the things they move him to Good Now I ask is there good or evil in any thing Men do When they have sinned they pray and they confess and they mourn and they fast is there evil or good in these looked upon in their own nature No Man can deny but that there is abundance of Iniquity in the best Performances a Man doth and God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity That which must move God to do good must have a goodness in it self all the motive therefore in the Lord is simply himself Now doth the Doctor contradict himself at all in any of this Let him that runs both read and judge These proceedings in the manner of them may allusively be applied unto what old Jacob charges upon his Sons Simeon and Levi viz. That they made him even to stink in the Land i. e. under a pretence of estastablishing an Ordinance of God which was Circumcision they had deceitfully and villainously but gratified their own Lusts by the same Thus it is in reference to Reformation when Persons so cry up Holiness which is an indispensible Qualification as well as mark of a Child of God yet so as to dethrone what is of a higher nature both in kind and degree they are as experience all along informs us enforced to betake themselves to such visibly-pitiful subterfuges and wretched Prevarications in the Prosecution of their designs therein that even Holiness and Reformation themselves have become nauseous to them about us yea such has been their methods and measures in their seeming endeavours after a promoting of them as that they are so far from being truly expressive of the same both in their nature and kind as that indeed if practically attended unto would prove destructive unto the very receiveâ— dictaâ—es of the Light of Nature it self and that in the common moral operation of the same Wheâ—ce it is that true Holiness in the universal nature thereof is not only so little regarded by and appearing in most of their followers but also become a meer fancy and but a by-word unto those who expresly prefer Morality uâ—to Grace by denying unto them any essential difference in the same These things indeed both in their Principles and Practices are the very Achan of our Israel and though they have put a stop in some measure unto the Camp of real Reformation in its more apparent progressiveness therein yet I am satisfied that God is in this very day of Controversie a leading all such Abbetors of them so into the Valley of Decision as will manifest that his grand contest with them is not so muâ—h their espousing but appropriating even of his own truths his Silver Gold and pleasant things definitive of the Graces wrought by and Duâ—ies enabled unto by his own Spirit unto their own Temples all which however black they may seem for the present yet are absoâ—ute Tokens of God's being nigh at haâ—d and thâ—t with a purposed design to decide the matter in dispute for his sumâ—oning of 〈◊〉 herâ—uâ—to is as is evident but in order to his speedy appearance Jâ—el 3. 5. â—â— â—2 〈◊〉 v. 1 14. for God will remember Amalek for standing in the way