Justification Without Conditions, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Containing some Animadversions upon Mr. Cranfords Epistle to the Reader.
MR. W. for the better grace of his Book, hath obtained a Commendatory Epistle from Mr. Cr. wherein some things are delivered contrary to truth, and most injurious to them, whom Mr. W. hath made his Adversaries. Its true, he begins his Epistle with a deserved Commendation of the Doctrine of Justification. That it exceedingly illustrates the glorious riches of Gods Free-grace, and magnifies his Justice, is the onelyonly support of comfort to a wounded Conscience, takes away from man the cause of boastings, and is altogether above the invention and credulity of Reason. Wherein I do cordially concur with him, accounting it (as Luther did) the Sun which enlightens the Church,Vid. Luth. in Psal. 130. the Paradise and Heaven of the Soul; therefore it was not without cause, that our first Reformers so earnestly contended for it, it being (as they have well observed) the sum of the Gospel,Calv. in Rom. 1.17. Luther Sup. and of all the benefits which we have by Christ; the principal point of the Doctrine of Salvation, the pure knowledge whereof doth preserve the Church. How much short of them in this particular, is the zeal of some amongst our late Reformers, who have scoffingly called it, the Antinomians common place? Mr. Cranfords Testimony therefore to the singular excellency of this Doctrine, is so much the more welcome, seeing there are so few that have it in a right esteem; though as he (and much more as Mr. W.) hath stated it, the beauty and lustre of it, is not a little obscured. It looseth all those praises which in Mr. Cranfords Parenthesis are ascribed unto it. For (1) how doth the riches of Gods grace appear, if our Justification doth depend upon terms and conditions, performed by us? For as Mr. Walker bSocinian. p. 2…4.hath noted, Whatsoever is covenanted and promised upon a condition to be performed, is not absolutely free, nor freely given. They are not justified by Grace, who are justified upon the performance of conditions. (2) What support is this for a wounded Conscience, to tell him that is conscious of his extream weakness, and inability, That God will forgive his sins, if he do perform such and such conditions; which he is no more able to do, then to remove a mountain? Mr. Calvin hath well observed, Nisi fidem tremere ac vacillare volumus cCalv. Inst. l. 3. c. 2. sect. 29., &c. That unless we would have our faith to be always wavering and trembling, it ought to rest onelyonly upon the free promise of Grace in Jesus Christ; And he gives this Reason for it, Quoniam conditionalis promissio, &c. Because a conditional promise which sends us to our own works, promiseth us life no otherwise, then if it were placed in our own power. Nor (3) doth this take from men the cause of boasting; Boasting (saith the Apostle) is not excluded by works,Rom. 3.27. call them by what name you will, either Legal or Evangelical; if they are our works, they give to us occasion of boasting;Rom. 4 4. for to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned of Grace, but of Debt; a work or condition whensoever it is performed, makes the thing covenanted, a due debt, which the performer may demand, and the promiser is bound to give. (4) It is not above the invention and credulity of Reason, That God should justifie a Righteous man, but that God should justifie sinners, and meerly upon the account of anothers righteousness; as heretofore it seemed foolishness both to Jews and Gentiles, so ever since it hath been a stumbling block to the wisdom of the flesh; it is such a mystery as will never contemper with the most rational principles of the natural man. Hence have arisen all those jarrings and contendings against this truth, in regard of its disproportion unto carnal Reason, which believes no other Gospel, but hoc fac & vives.
§. 2. The Doctrine of the Gospel (sayes Mr. Cr.) concerning the Justification of a believing sinner, is plainly delivered in the Scripture. But by his favor, the Scripture no where calls Believers sinners, nor yet makes Believers the adequate subjects of Justification. It is most true, That all Believers are justified, and it is as false that men are Believers, before they are justified: An unjustified Believer, and a justified Sinner, are expressions palpably guilty of Self-contradiction. We read in Scripture of Gods justifying the ungodly dRom. 4.5., reconciling the world e2 Cor. 5 19. i. e. Homines ex …oto mundo electos ad salutem. Vid. Estium in loc. Electos vocat mundum, non solum quia in mundo, sed de mundo sunt, natura nihil aliud quam mundus erant, i. e. Peccatores, damnati, ac inimici Deo. Vid. Ferum in Joh. 3.16., and enemies to himself fRom. 5.8, 10., and of his quickning them that are dead in trespasses and sins gEphes. 2.1, 5.. Now Believers (as hath been hinted hSup. cap. 1. sect 3.) are never called ungodly, or enemies to God; they are no where said to be dead in trespasses and sins; they have their name from their better part, and from that esteem that God hath of them, who beholds them holy and righteous, without any spot or blemish of sin iCant 4.7. Psal. 51.7. Col. 1.22. Eph. 5.27..
§. 3. In the next place Mr. Cr. gives us in a List of all the causes which do concur unto our Justification; in the enumeration whereof, he will finde the Author he commends at a greater distance from him, then those whom he opposeth. He may, if he please, compare his Doctrine with Mr. Baxter… Notions (whom Mr. W. follows at the very heels) Thes. 56.26, 73, &c. in his Aphorisms, who denies, That Christs obedience is the material, the imputation of his Righteousness, the formal cause of our Justification, or that Faith is the Instrument, by which we do receive it; he plainly ascribes the same kinde of causality unto Christ, and Faith making them to differ onelyonly secundum magis & minus; that Christ is the sine qua non principalis, and Faith the sine qua non minus principalis (he might have listed sin in the same rank; which too, is a sine qua non of our Justification;) That Faith and works in a larger sence, are meritorious causes of Life and Blessedness. Now we say with Mr. Cr. (1) That God is the efficient cause, or the onelyonly Justifier; that he hath no motive or inducement, but his own Grace and Love, to will not to punish us, and to give to us his Son, thorow whom we have Redemption… and Deliverance from the curse of the Law.Deut. 7.7. Rom. 3.25. John 3.16. We say too (2) that Christ is the onelyonly meritorious cause of our Justification (taking Justification pro re volita, for a transient effect of the Will of God,) that Jesus Christ hath by his death and satisfaction, fully procured and merited our Discharge and Absolution from the penalty of the Law, which we deserved by sin: For which cause, he is said to have purged our sins by himself, i. e. Without the help and assistance of other means, Heb. 1.3 kExcludere voluit omnia alia media vel adminicula, cum purgationis & praetium & virtutem in Christo statuit. Calv. in loc.. There are many who ore tenùs in word do acknowledge, That Christ is the meritorious cause of our Justification, that in deed do deny it: The Papists in the Councel of Trent lSess. 6. Can. 7. Bellarm.say, That God is the efficient, the glory of God the final, the death of Christ the meritorious cause of our Justification. But yet we know, that they allow not this effect unto it, unless other things do concur on our parts they say, That Faith, Charity, &c. do Impetrare remissionem, & suo quidem modo mereri; Obtain, and after a sort merit forgiveness, though not by their own worth and dignity, yet by vertue of Gods Covenant and Promise. Too many of our Protestants (setting aside the word merit, which yet Mr. B. thinks may be admitted) do tread directly in their steps; they ascribe as much unto works, as Papists do. It is a poor requital unto Jesus Christ, to call him the Meritorious cause of our Justification, and in the mean while to deny the merit of his death, as to the immediate purchases thereof, and to ascribe at least a partial meritoriousness to other things. (3) I shall go further with Mr. Cr. I freely grant him (which I believe Mr. W. will stick at) That Faith is the Instrument, by which we receive and apply the Righteousness of Christ unto our selves, whereby the gratious sentence of God, acquitting us from our sins, is conveyed and terminated in our Consciences. We say indeed, That Faith doth not concur to our Justification, as a proper Physical Instrument (which is a less principal Efficient cause.) Mr. Rutherford saith well mExercit. Apol. p 42., That Faith is not the Organical or Instrumental cause, either of Christs satisfaction, or of Gods acceptation thereof on our behalf. By believing we do not cause, either our Saviour to satisfie for our sins, or God to accept of his satisfaction: Every true Believer is perswaded, That God hath laid aside his wrath and displeasure towards him for his sins, having received a sufficient ransom and satisfaction for them in the death of his Son. Sed hoc fides non facit, (saith he) sed objectum jam factum praesupponit. Faith is a Receptive, not an Effective Instrument, an Instrument not to procure, but to receive Justification and Salvation, which is freely given us in Jesus Christ. It is called an Instrumental cause of our Justification, taking Justification passively,Alsted. in Supplem. Cham. ut sup. not actively; or in reference to that passive Application, whereby a man applies the Righteousness of Christ to himself, but not to that active Application, whereby God applyeth it to a man, which is onelyonly in the minde of God. Therefore Calvin nCalvin in Joh. 6.29.calls Faith, Opus passivum, a passive work.
§. 4. Mr. Cr. proceeds, This Doctrine (saith he) hath in all ages been opposed and obscured, sometimes by open Enemies, sometimes by professed Friends, and such as would be accounted the great Pleaders for Free-grace. It is most true, That this Article of Free Justification hath, and will be a Bone of Contention to the worlds end. It is the cheif cause of all those contests and quarrels, which have arisen between the Children of the Free-woman, and the Children of the Bond-woman. Mr. Fox oEpistle before Luther on Gal.hath well observed, It is so strange to carnal Reason, so dark to the World, it hath so many enemies, that except the Spirit of God from above do reveal it, Learning cannot reach it, Wisdom is offended, Nature is astonished, Devils do not know it, Men do persecute it. Satan labors for nothing more, then that he may either quite bereave men of the knowledge of this truth, or else corrupt the simplicity of it. It is not unknown what batteries were raised against it, in the very infancy of the Church, how the Wits and Passions of men conspired to hinder it; what monstrous consequences, were charged upon the Doctrine; and what odious practises, were fathered upon them, that did profess it; never was any truth opposed with so much malice and bitterness as this hath been, and by them especially that were most devout and zealous pActs 13.50. Rom. 10 pr.. But when it could not be withstood and stifled, Satan endeavored then to deprave and adulterate it, by mixing of the Law with the Gospel, our own Righteousness with Christs; which corruption the Apostle hath strenuously opposed in all his Epistles, and more especially in that to the Romans and Galatians;See Gal 5. pr▪ where he excludes all and singular works of ours, from sharing in the matter of our Justification: For the eluding of whose Authority, carnal Reason hath found out sundry shifts and distinctions, As that the Apostle excludes onelyonly works of Nature, but not of Grace; Legal, but not Evangelical works; and that our works though they are not Physical, yet they may come in as Moral causes of our Justification. It is certain, That the most dangerous attempts against this Doctrine, have been within the Church, and by such as Mr. Cr. calls Professed Friends, who have done so much the more mischief, in regard they were least apt to be suspected: Justification by works was generally exploded amongst us, whilest it appeared under the names of Popery and Arminianism, which since hath found an easie admittance, being vented by some of better note, such as would be accounted Pleaders for Free-grace.
§. 5. Mr. Woodbridges Discourse (saith Mr. Cr.) deals not with the Errors of Papists, Socinians, Arminians, but with Antinomian Error. How unjustly our Doctrine is called Antinomian, hath been shewn before; and Mr. Cr. may be pleased to take notice, That Mr. Rutherford accounts the Opinion we oppose, the very cheif of the Arminians, Socinians, and Papists Errors about Justification, to wit, That no man hath his sins remitted before he doth actually believe qApologit. Exercit. p. 37. Arminianis nihil prius est in votis, &c.. As for his Allegation out of Mr. Shepherd. Mark those men that deny the use of the Law to lead unto Christ, if they do not fall in time to oppose some main point of the Gospel, &c. It doth not touch us, for we deny not the use of the Law to bring men unto Christ; we look upon the Law, as the Ordinance of God, to convince men of their sin and misery, and thereby to indear to them the Grace of the Gospel, Gal. 3.22, 24.1 Tim. 1.8. We say with the Apostle, The Law is good, if men do use it lawfully. i. e. In a way of subserviency, and attendance upon the Gospel, the better to advance and make effectual the ends thereof. And as we deny not this use of the Law, so neither doth our asserting, That all the Elect before their conversion, and Faith, stand actually reconciled to God, and justified before him, obscure the Gospel. I doubt not but the judicious Reader will expect a better proof of this charge, then Cranfords word. Have all those Reverend Divines before mentioned, obscured the Gospel? What is the Gospel, but the glad tidings, that Christ is come into the world to save sinners; that by his subjecting of himself to the curse of the Law, he hath freed them from the curse, who were given him by the Father? How is this truth obscured, by our saying, That God did everlastingly will▪ not to punish his Elect; and that in Christ he beholds them just and righteous, even whilest they are sinful, and wicked in themselves? Do not they much more obscure the Grace of the Gospel, who make it depending upon terms and conditions, performed by us, then we, that affirm it to be free and absolute? They that assign no certain and actual effect, to the death of Christ; or we, that say (according to the Scripture) that all the Elect were thereby freed from the Law, delivered from the Curse, reconciled unto God, made perfect and compleat in the sight of God? And therefore though Dr. Downham doth call it, A strange Assertion, I shall not be ashamed to own it: The Lord complains, That the great things of his Law were counted strange, Hos. 8.12. We read in Eusebius, That the Christian Faith (though it were from the beginning) was called foreign, New and strange. The multitude cast this aspersion upon our Saviours Doctrine, Mark 1.27. and the Athenians upon Paul, Acts 17.19, 20. The imputation of novelty and new fangledness, hath been commonly cast upon the truths and ways of God: Many things are new in respect of Observation, which are not so in themselves rSee Bolton of Error, p. 147.. We have known, that godly men have looked upon some things as very strange, which in tract of time have been generally imbraced. Dr. Downham, no doubt, thought it strange, that any godly man should say the Angels of the Seven Churches were not Diocesan Bishops; and yet I believe Mr. Cr. is not of his Opinion. If it were the Doctors meaning, That this Assertion of Justification before Faith, was never heard to come from the mouth of a godly man, before Pemble; either his memory was very weak, or his charity was too much straitned. He could not be ignorant of what hath been alledged out of Calvin, Za…che, Parker, Chamier; one of those passages in Chamier (before mentioned) is cited by the Doctor in that very Book sN. Cov. p. 136.which Mr. Cr. quotes. He knew likewise, That all our old Protestant Divines have defined Justifying Faith, to be a certain perswasion, and full assurance of the pardon of our sins; from whence it must inevitably follow, That pardon of sin precedes our Faith, for every object is before its act. And as strange as it seemed unto this Doctor, he himself sayes tDownh. of Justif. l. 6. c. 6. sect. 9.little less; for in answer to Bellarmine, (who would prove that a man may be justified without special Faith) he granteth, It is true in respect of our Justification in the sight of God; which special apprehension, or application of Christ (saith he vLib 6. c. 4. sect. 5.) though scorned by Papists, yet it is of all Graces the most comfortable, most profitable, most necessary, most comfortable; for the very life of this life, is the assurance of a better life; most necessary, because without this special receiving of Christ, first by apprehension, and then by application we can have no other saving Grace: How can we love God, or our Neighbor for his sake? how can we hope, and trust in him? how can we rejoyce or be thankful to him, if we be not perswaded of his love, and bounty towards us? Most profitable, because from it all other Graces do proceed, and according to the measure of it, is the measure of them, &c. Doubtless, That Faith to which these properties do belong, doth best merit the name of Justifying Faith: So then according to this Doctors Judgement, the Assertion is not so strange as true.
§. 6. Mr. Cr. goes on, and much faster then a good pace, [This Opinion (says he) that the Elect are actually reconciled to God before they believe, is confuted in this Treatise, and proved contradictory to Scripture, fit onelyonly (1) to sow pillows under the elbows of prophane men; (2) to overthrow the comfort of Believers, destroying the ground, nature, and end of Faith.] How solidly it is confuted, the Reader will see anon, when the weight of his proofs shall come to be examined; I doubt not, but an impartial Judge will acquit it, both from being contradictory to Scripture, or guilty of those horrid Consequences which he hath cast upon it. I marvel, that so rational a man (as Mr. Cr. is held to be) should say, That all this charge is proved; part of which is not so much as mentioned by Mr. W. (who is liberal enough of his criminations,) which makes me to think, That he writ his Epistle, before he read his Author, or at least, That he is a man that will be satisfied with slender Proofs against persons, and Doctrines which he doth not fancy. It is true, Mr. W. hath endeavored to obtrude upon us some ugly Consequences, which are as remote from our Doctrine, as Earth is from Heaven. Mr. Cr. is not ignorant, how much peaceable and prudent men have disliked this practise of wyer-drawing mens Opinions, and raking absurdities out of them (per nescio quas fidiculas consequentiarum, as Bishop Davenant zAdhort. ad pacem. c. 12. p. 153. Vid. Chiling-worths Answer to Knots, p 39, 40.expresseth it) By small threds of consequencies, which they themselves do disclaim, and abhor from their whole heart; whereupon sayes that Learned Bishop, Good men ought to deal more fairly, then to fasten an Heretical sence on other mens words, when the Writers themselves, which are the best Expounders of their own words, can, and use to reduce them to a Catholick sence. Mr. Cr. knows, That the very same Consequences are fathered upon the Doctrine of absolute Election, Justification by Faith alone, and the certain perseverance of true Believers.Faustus Rhegiensis. The Semi-Pelagians of old would have forced this inference from Austins Opinion of absolute Predestination: If Gods decree be absolute, Nemo vigilet, nemo j…junet, nemo libidini contradicet, &c. The Papists say, It follows, That if we be justified by Faith onelyonly, then we need not do good works. The Remonstrants and their followers say aSee J. G. hi… Animadversions on Loves Speech., That if a Believer cannot fall from Grace, then need he not fear to commit any sin whatsoever. Nor do these Consequences flow any whit more naturally from our Tenent, then they do from these. Doth it follow, That because all the Elect are by means of Christs death, actually reconciled unto God, and freed from the condemnation of the Law, That therefore men may live as they list, that they need not hear, believe, and obey the Gospel? How doth this sow pillows under mens elbows, or lull asleep in security, more then the Doctrine of absolute Election? Seeing as all men are not elected, so neither are all men reconciled unto God; nor can any man know, That he is elected and reconciled unto God, but by, and thorow Faith; which Faith is wrought in men by the Preaching of the Word, and doth certainly produce a holy life bJustificatus per filem, non potest nisi deinceps justè operari, Aug. Let a Believer sin if he can, Preston N. C. p. 361..
§. 7. I confess, I am yet to seek of the Reason of his other Deduction, That this Assertion of actual reconciliation before Faith, overthrows the comfort of true Believers, and destroyes the ground, nature, use, and end of Faith▪ Is it an uncomfortable Doctrine to tell men, That we are not sharers with Christ in effecting of our peace with God, and in procuring the pardon of our sins; and that Christ hath finished this work before we knew it? Is it not much more comfortable to poor souls, that Christ hath absolutely, and by himself obtained forgiveness for sinners, then that he hath procured this Gr…e but conditionally, upon condition we perform such and such …, for which we have no strength or ability in our selves? Whence have the Saints drawn all their comfort? Surely, not from Faith, or any other work of theirs, but by Faith from Christ, and from the perfection and al-sufficiency of his Sacrifice: Not onelyonly the Protestants, but the Papists themselves (though in the Schools they contend for the dignity and congruity of works, that they are Moral causes, or necessary conditions of Justification and Salvation; yet on their death beds, they utterly renounce them, they) exhort men in distress of Conscience, to roul themselves wholly▪ upon Jesus Christ. In a form prescribed for visiting of the sick, the Priest or Minister was enjoyned to put these Questions to the sick party cVid. Bishop Ushers answer to the Jesuite, p. 568. Ib. in lib. de Succes. eccles. p. 191.. Dost thou believe to come to glory, not by thy own merits, but by the vertue and merit of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ? And dost thou believe, That our Lord Jesus Christ did die for our salvation, and that none can be saved by his own merits, or by any other means, but by the merit of his passion? Whereunto, when the sick person answered affirmatively, I do believe it; the Priest is bid to exhort him, in this wise, Go to therefore, as long as thy soul remaineth in thee, place thy whole confidence in his death onelyonly, have confidence in no other thing; commit thy self wholly to his death, with this alone cover thy self wholly, intermingle thy self wholly, wrap thy whole self in his death, &c. Dangerous (saith Bernard dBern. in Psal. qui habitat. Ser. 1.) is the habitation of those that trust in their own works: And in another place eUbi tuta firmaque infirmis securitas & requies nisi in vulneribus salvatorū? Tantò illi… securior habito, quanto ille por…utior ad salvandum, in Cant. Ser▪ 61., Ubi tuta, &c. What safe …est or security can the weak soul finde, but in the wounds of his Saviour? As he is mighty to save, so dwell I there with most safety. Parisiensis in his Book of Divine Rhetorick, Thou must beware (saith he) in thy striving with God, that thou dost not build upon a weak foundation, which he doth; that trusts in his own works. Gerson often inculcates this fPart. 1. Serm. de nuptiis Christi. Tract. de distinct. vision. part. 2. de verbo Dom. & part. 3. do Consolat. Theolog., That before the tribunal of God, we must onelyonly plead the merits of Christ: Bishop Gardner gFoxes Acts & Monuments, Vol. …., though he would not have this gap to be opened to the people, yet he acknowledged it to be the most comfortable Doctrine to such as were in his condition, he being then on his death bed: Which is the more to be observed, because in his life time, he had stickled so much for our Adversaries Conditional Justification h3. Vol. p. 525.. Bellarmine himself iBellar. l. 5. de Justif. c, 7▪, when he had written divers Books for Justification by Inherent Righteousness, in the end concludes, That for fear of vain-glory, and by reason of the uncertainty of our own works, Tutissimum est, &c. It is the safest way to place all our trust in the Mercy of God, and of Jesus Christ; so that we may say as Moses, Their rock is not as our rock, our Enemies themselves being Judges, Deut. 32.31.
§. 8. Mr. Cr. hath not the least reason to charge us with destroying the Ground of Faith; for the Ground of Faith is either Fundamentum Quod, or Fundamentum Quo. Material and Personal, or else Doctrinal and Ministerial. We say with all true Christians, That the onelyonly Material or Personal Foundation, whereupon a poor soul can build securely for Life and Justification, is Jesus Christ i1 Cor. 3.11. Certum, propriumque fidei fundamentum Ch…istus est. Aug. Euchirid c. 5.. Now the Doctrinal Foundation whereby our Faith is united to the former, we affirm with Calvin kInstit. l. 3. c. 2. sect. 7. & 29. Opusc▪ 318.(and many more) that it is, Gratuita misericordiae in Christo promissio, The free promise of Mercy; in opposition to those Conditional Promises which send men partly to Christ, and partly to their own works; and therefore our Adversaries are much more obnoxious to this Censure, of Destroying the Ground of Faith, who allow it no other support, then Conditional Promises, whereby mens hope and confidence is made to lean more upon themselves, then it doth on Christ; much more upon their own works, then it doth upon his Righteousness. The forementioned Author lSi quantulacunquè portio in opera nostra conferatur, cate… vacillabit fides. Cal. Opusc. p. 280. Fidei nulla erit certitudo, si operibus nitatur salus hominum. Ib. p. 282: In hunc modum si distrahatur salutis fiducia, nihil poterit, quàm vacillare; quid hoc aliud est quàm subvertere ab imo fundamentum? Ib. p. 317.hath well observed, That if our Faith doth relie never so little upon our own works, it cannot possibly stand fast; that soul will never attain to any setled assurance of his Salvation, that builds his Faith upon such a sandy foundation.
§. 9. The nature of Faith receives not the least prejudice by our Doctrine; for if we define it (as most of our old Protestant Divines mMelancthon, P. Martyr, Calvin, Perkins, &c▪have done) Certa & indubitata persuasio; A firm and certain perswasion of the favor of God, and the pardon of our sins, it confirms our Tenent; for mens sins must be pardoned before they can believe it, or else of necessity they must believe a lie. All men know that the object doth precede the act, unless it be when the act gives a being to the object: Or if we make it to be fiducia, the trust or reliance of the soul upon Jesus Christ, it receives no small encouragement from this consideration, That Christ hath finished whatsoever was necessary by Divine appointment, for the Justification of sinners, not expecting the least condition to be performed by us for that end: Our Faith is never so impregnable, as when it rests entirely upon Jesus Christ. And as for the ends and uses of Faith (which are cheifly to give us boldness, and confidence towards God; to purifie our hearts, and to work by love, &c.) They are all of them promoted and furthered by the Doctrine we teach; for what is it, that gives us boldness towards God, but the merit and perfection of Christs sacrifice? whereby the mouth of the Law is stopped, the accusations of Satan are all answered, and the justice of God is fully satisfied. Again, What other means is there so effectual, to purifie our hearts, to constrain us to love him, &c. as the freeness, absoluteness and immutability of his love to us; who whilest we were sinners, and enemies, reconciled us to himself by the Blood of the Cross, and blotted out our sins, as if they had never been committed?
§. 10. Mr. Cr. censure of Curcellaeus's Opinion, is just and seasonable, who judgeth these Differences amongst Christians about Justification to be of so small concernment, that they ought not to breed a controversie: For surely they are none of those foolish questions and strivings, which we are bid to avoid; if there be any point in the whole Doctrine of Godliness, for which we ought foreign, (as Saint Jude speaks) to contend earnestly. This challengeth our utmost zeal for the maintenance of it; seeing the glory of Gods Grace, the dignity of Christs Blood, and the comfort of our own souls lies at stake in the issues of it; our life, peace, and everlasting Salvation is concerned herein: There is no truth that the Apostle doth so frequently press, and so earnestly contend for, as this Article of our Free Justification; That no works of ours do concur to the procuring of it.De Reform. Eccles. ad Interim. Mr. Calvin hath observed, That if we were accorded with the Church of Rome, in all other points, save in this one particular, the distance between them and us is so great, That it is impossible we should ever be reconciled: And I must needs say, That I see no material difference, between them and our Adversaries, about this matter.
§. 11. Mr. Cr. in the close of his Prefatory Discourse, tells the Reader, Thou art beholding to the Learned Author for the penning of this Tract; but for the publishing of it to another. And Mr. W. hath framed it in the form of a Letter to a private Friend, that the Reader might guess, he had no hand at all in publishing of it; whereas a near Kinsman of his, assured me, That Mr. W. in a Letter to himself, had confessed that his Sermon came abroad by his own appointment; which I do the rather believe, knowing his relation to the Stationer, for whom it was Printed. However I am glad, that it is made publick, that this point may be the better cleared by a deliberate examination of the utmost that can be said against it; onelyonly I wish, that this task had lighted upon some other man, who hath more leisure, and better abilities to undertake it; that so precious a truth might not suffer, through the unskilfulness of a feeble Advocate. How much the Reader is beholding to Mr. W. for Penning or Printing of his Sermon, will appear in the issue of this debate.