The Scripture Gospel Defended, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. My Reaſons againſt a tedious needl…ſs C…nfut…ti…n.
Sect. 1. THE chief thing that I intended next to be done, that is, To Confute the Hundred Errors before named; I am, on further thoughts, diſcouraged from performing: 1. Becauſe, upon peruſal, I find that I have already done it ſo oft and largly in many Books unanſwered, that repetition is like to be diſgracefully nauſeous: 2. And they that will neither anſwer nor read what I have written 34 years ago, or 20, are not like to read what I ſhall write now.
In my Confeſſion of F…ith, Printed 1655. I have ſo largely opened this Controverſy, about Juſtification, Faith, and Works, in neceſſary diſtinctions, and many ſcore ſelf-evident Propoſitions, and many ſcore Arguments, and abundance of expreſs Texts of Scripture, and above an hundred Teſtimonies of Proteſtant Churches Confeſſions, and eminent Divines, that I find very little needful to be added: And why ſhould I think they will read more that will not read that?
In my Apologies, I have Anſwered them that have oppoſed, and have had no reply.
In my Treatiſe of Juſtification, I have done it over again.
In my Catholick Theology, I have thrice overdone the ſame by Explication and Confutation diſtinctly.
In my Treatiſe of Juſtifying Righteouſneſs, in a Diſputation, and an Anſwer to Dr. Tully, and to Mr. Cartwright, I have done the ſame, perhaps too largly.
In my Methodus Theologiae, I have opened the Caſe methodically and briefly.
In my Life of Faith, I have clearly explained it: And muſt I expect no Anſwer, and yet do all again?
2. But my great diſſwaſive is, that it will ſwell the Book to ſo great a magnitude, that few will read it; ſhould I cite all, or mo… of the plain Texts of Scripture that confute them, how great a part of the Bible muſt I Tranſcribe? Yet do they lay Salvation on points that no one Text of Scripture mentioneth.
Sect. 2. 1. If I ſhould cite all the Texts that prove that we are truly Sinners, though Chriſt hath been a Sacrifice for our ſin, and that the guilt of Fact and Fault, on us, is not taken off by Chriſt's taking the penalty; but we are verily ſinners ſtill; How great a part of the Bible may I recite to prove it?
Sect. 3. 2. If I muſt prove that Chriſt is and was no ſinner, by true imputation of our ſin, as to the guilt of Fact or Fault, but only as a Sacrifice bear the Penalty; it would be a reproach to the Adverſaries, to need a Confutation of their Blaſphemy, and all the Goſpel would confute them.
Sect. 4. 3. Should I cite all the Texts that prove us to need, and have an Inherent and Acted Righteouſneſs by Grace, beſides Chriſts Perſonal Righteouſneſs Meriting for us, above six hundred Texts of Scripture expreſly prove it; and how tedious and needleſs a work is this?
Sect. 5. 4. Should I prove that All Righteouſneſs, ſo far maketh Righteous; and that making Righteous, is a Juſtifying, which goeth before Judging us Righteous; and that it is a putid contradiction, to ſay, that any Righteouſneſs doth not make Righteous, in tantum, School-boys would turn it into a deriſion of the oppoſers.
Sect. 6. 5. Should I prove by Argument, that no Accident can by ye ſame numerically in divers Subjects, nor tra…ſi… a Subjecto in Su…jectum; and ſo the Habit, Act, and Relation of Righteouſneſs in Chriſt's Perſon, cannot …n it ſelf be our Habit, Act, or Relation, unleſs our Perſons, and Chriſt's, be really the ſame; every novice in Logick, would be too much occaſioned to inſult over the ignorant gain-ſayer.
Sect. 7. 6. Should I prove, that to Juſtify Efficiently by making Righteous, and to Juſtify Conſtitutively (being our Righteouſneſs) and to Juſtify by Plea, or by Witneſs, or by Evidence, and to Juſtify in Eſtimation or Account, and to Juſtify by deciſive Sentence of a Judge, and to Juſtify Executively, and to Juſtify privately in Conſcience, and to Juſtify publickly before Rulers or the World, or more publickly, at the Bar of God, are ſeveral ſences, of the Word Juſtification, and ſeveral ſorts; what man of ſenſe would not pity the Confounder that denyeth it, and talk, as if the Word had but one ſence?
Sect. 8. 7. Should I prove that by Imputing, Paul meaneth truly accounting a man Just that is ſo; reckoning that to him which he hath, and not feigning him to have what he hath not; even Dr. Criſpe hath ſpared me that labour, venturing to ſay, that the contrary ſence of Imputing, maketh God a Lyar, or deceived. God never judged a man Righteous, that was not firſt made ſo.
Sect. 9. 8. Should I prove, that by Works, Paul meaneth thoſe that make not the Reward of Grace, but of Debt; and James meaneth thoſe that are …he effects of Free Grace, and purely ſubordinate to Chriſt, as commanded by him; the expreſs Texts do make it needleſs.
Sect. 10. 9. Should I prove, that Chriſt is our King, and Ruleth and Judgeth by his own Law, and hath not made us Lawleſs, and all Judgment on Rule is now committed to him, and that the very Law of Nature, is now his Law; and alſo the Law of S…pernatural Revelation, called by Paul, the Law o… Chriſt, the Law of Faith and of Gr… ; and by James, the Law of Liberty; the whole ſcope of the Goſpel, ſ…veth me that labour.
Sect. 11. 10. Should I prove, that Chriſt in …ſſe objectivo, as the Object of Faith, is the very ſpecifying form of that Faith it ſelf; and ſo, that to be Juſtified by the Object as ſuch, and not by that Faith it ſelf, is a notorious putid Contradiction; or ſhould I ſtand to prove that Faith it ſelf, is ſaid by Paul, to be Imputed for Righteouſneſs in meer ſubordination to the meritorious Sacrifice and Righteouſneſs of Chriſt, and in conjunction with Free Pardon and Adoption purchaſed by Chriſt; how needleſs a work is this made by the Text?
Sect. 12. 11. Should I ſtand to prove, that Elect Infidels, Atheiſts, or wicked Men are not Juſtified, while ſuch (ſave as God maketh them Juſt by Converſion & Pardon) all the Scripture tell us, it is needleſs, and that Eternal Electing to Juſtification, is not Juſtifying; nor yet Chriſts dying for us, till He be given to us, as well as for us.
Sect. 13. 12. Should I ſtand to prove, that men ſhall be judged according to their Works, and that God is the Rewarder of them that diligently ſeek him; and that Chriſt hath frequently promiſed Rewards, and that the ſame Salvation, which, as to Value, is no Debt, but meerly a Free Gift of Grace through Chriſt, is yet, as to the Order of Conveyance, given on Condition as a Reward, that Fatherly Love may attain its ends by Saptential means, and not only by Power; Morally, producing Moral Effects, in conjunction with Love and Power; and thus, that the pardoning and ſaving Acts of the Covenant, impoſe Conditions, as receptive qualifications, which yet are all the Effects of Grace, the whole Scripture maketh this a needleſs task.
Sect. 14. 13. Should I prove the diſtinctneſs; 1. Of the Law and Covenant of Innocency. 2. And of the Law and Covenant of Mediation. And, 3. Of the Mediators Law and Covenant of Grace impoſed on us, and ſealed in Sacraments; and that the ſame is both a Law and Covenant, and that the Covenant of Grace, is the Inſtrumental Gift of Pardon and Juſtification; How much of the Bible muſt I tranſcribe?
Sect. 15. The like I may ſay, of moſt of the reſt, which I doubt, I have been too large in proving in all the ſix, or ſeven, or eight Books before named. I thought alſo, to have diſtinctly anſwered th… Printed Pinners-Hall Lecture, but he that cann… find it more than fully anſwered, in the foreſaid Books, either never read them, or Anſwers to ſuch a man, will be vain.
And I am ſorry, that the ſame hand in another Lecture, elſewhere publiſheth, that [That any are brought to believe in Jeſus, is as great a Miracle, as the Reſurrection of Chriſt from the dead] p. 223. And after [There is not a greater Inſtance of the Power of God in the whole World, than this, in bringing over the heart of a ſinner to believe in Chriſt.]
It grieveth my Soul to think what Scandals are thus given by good Men to Papiſts, Infidels and prejudiced Scorners, and what work they will make with it. No doubt but Faith is a great and difficult Work, and wrought by Almighty Power: For God hath no other Power, but Omnipotency: omnis Dei Potentia eſt Omnipotentia, quia Infinita. Gods Power is his Eſſence: But the Inſtances and Demonſtrations of it, are as various as the Effects. Your Finger or Tongue, moveth not, but by Omnipotency: But every Motion or Fly, is not as great an Inſtance or Demonſtration of Power, as Faith is. Nor Faith ſo great an Inſtance as the making of Angels, Men, Heaven and Earth, Sun, Moon, and Stars, their Natures, Motion and Order: Divines have hitherto taught, that Power is eminently manifeſted in Creation and Natural Preſervation, tho' with Wiſdom and L…ve; and Wiſdom Eminently manifeſted in Government, and Love in Glorifying (tho' they were conjunct in each) Man cannot work Miracles, and that ſo great. And I do not believe that God damneth all unbelievers, as for want of an Act as great as the motion of the Sun, or making the World.
And if it be a Miracle, and as great a one as Chriſt's Reſurrection, How can any believer doubt at all? Why was Chriſt's Reſurrection Preached by the Apoſtles, ſo much as the Proof of the Truth of Chriſtianity, and not the Faith of every believer? Then we need not go far to prove the Chriſtian V…ity: Every poor Boy or Woman that believeth, hath the fulleſt Proof, and as great and miraculous as Chriſt's Reſurrection, Why ſend we not Infidels and Doubters to this Miracle, which is about them in all ages in thouſands: Over-doing is undoing.
And yet no doubt, the Author ſaith truly, that Faith in Chriſt is ſo hard a Work, that he that never found it hard, hath none (or hath it but in the ſeed, and yet unrooted, or untryed. But alas! Infidels find it too hard to them.
To conclude, Inſtead of the larger part of the Proof or Confutations which I intended; 1. I ſhall with this, Annex a brief Treatiſe, reſolving a multitude of Controverſies about Juſtification, which I have laid by, about Fifteen Years.
2. I refer you to the foreſaid former perforformance of it.
3. Were I not diſabled by Pain, and the approaches of Death, I would be ready to Anſwer any ſober, rational Objector.