Sect. 1. Doctrine of Satisfaction and Justification Owned and Worded ac­cording to Scripture. Sect. 2. What Constructions we can't believe of them, and which is an abuse of them. Sect. 3. Christ Owned a Sa­crifice and a Mediator. Sect. 4. Justification Two-fold, from the Guilt of Sin, and from the Power and Pollution of it. Sect. 5. Ex­hortation to the Reader upon the whole.

Obj. 1. THough there be ma­many good things said, how Christ appears and works in a Soul, to Awaken, Convince and Convert it; yet you seem not [Page 6] particular enough about the Death and Sufferings of Christ: And it is generally Rumour'd and Charged upon you by your Adversaries, that you have little reverence to the Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction to God for our Sins, and that you do not Believe, That the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ, when He was in the World, is the alone ground of a Sinners Justification be­fore God.

Answ. §. 1. The Doctrine of Sa­tisfaction and Justification, truly under­stood, are placed in so strict an Uni­on, that the one is a necessary Con­sequence of the other, and what we say of them, is what agrees with the suffrage of Scripture, and for the most part in the terms of it; always be­lieving, that in Points where there arises any difficulty, be it from the [Page 7] Obscurity of Expression, Mis-transla­tion, or the Dust raised by the Heats of Partial Writers, or Nice Criticks, it is ever best to keep close to the Text, and maintain Charity in the rest. I shall first speak Negatively, what we do not own, which perhaps hath given occasion to those who have been more Hasty then Wise, to judge us defective in our Belief of the Effi­cacy of the Death and Sufferings of Christ to Justification: As,

§. 2. First, We cannot Believe that Christ is the Cause, but the Ef­fect of God's Love, according to the Testimony of the Beloved Disci­ple John, Chap. 3. God hath so lo­ved the World, that he hath given his only Begotten Son into the World, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have Everlast­ing Life.

Secondly, We cannot say, God could not have taken another way to have saved Sinners, than by the Death [Page 8] and Sufferings of his Son, to satisfie his Justice, or that Christ's Death and sufferings were a strict and rigid Satisfaction for that Eternal Death and Misery due to a Man for Sin and Transgression: For such a Notion were to make God's Mercy little con­cerned in Man's Salvation; and in­deed we are at too great a distance from his Infinite Wisdom and Pow­er, to judge of the Liberty and Necessity of his Actings.

Thirdly, We cannot say Jesus Christ was the greatest Sinner in the World, (because he bore our Sins on his Cross, or because he was made Sin for us, who knew no Sin) an Expression of great levity and unsound­ness, yet often said by great Preach­ers and Professors of Religion.

Fourthly, We cannot Believe that Christ's Death and Sufferings so satis­fies God, or justifies Men, as that they are thereby Accepted of God: They are indeed thereby put into a state capable of being accepted of God, [Page 9] and through the Obedience of Faith and Sanctification of the Spirit, are in a state of Acceptance: For we can never think a Man justified before God, while Self-condemned; or that any Man can be in Christ, who is not a New Creature, or that God looks upon Men otherwise then they are. We think it a state of Presump­tion, and not of Salvation, to call Je­sus, Lord! and not by the Work of the Holy Ghost. Master! And he not yet Master of our Affections: Savi­our! And they not saved by him from their Sins: Redeemer! And yet they not redeemed by him from their Passion, Pride, Covetousness, Wanton­ness, Vanity, Honours, vain Friend­ships, and Glory of this World: Which were to deceive themselves: for God will not be mocked, such as Men sow, such must they reap. And though Christ did Die for us, yet we must, by the Assistance of his Grace, work out our Salvation with fear and trembling: As he Died for Sin, so we [Page 10] must Die to Sin, or we cannot be said to be saved by the Death and Suffer­ings of Christ, or throughly justified and accepted with God. Thus far Ne­gatively. Now, Possitively, what we own as to Justification.

§. 3. We do Believe, that Jesus Christ was our Holy Sacrifice, and Attonement, and Prepiriation; that he bore our Iniquities, and that by his Stripes we were healed of the Wounds Adam gave us in his Fall; and that God is just in forgiving true Penitents upon the Credit of that Holy Offering, Christ made of him­self to God for us; and that what he did and suffer'd, satisfied and pleased God, and was for the sake of fallen Man that had displeased God: And that through the Offering up of him­self once for all, through the E­ternal Spirit, he hath for Ever per­fected those (in all times) that are sanctified, who walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. 8. 1. Mark that.

[Page 11] §. 4. In short, Justification consists of two parts, or hath a two-fold Con­sideration, viz. Justification from the Guilt of Sin, and Justification from the Power and Pollution of Sin, and in this Sence Justification gives Man a full and clear Acceptance be­fore God. For want of this latter part, it is that so many Souls Religi­ously inclin'd, are often under Doubts, Scruples and Despondencies, notwith­standing all that their Teachers tell them of the Extent and Efficacy of the first part of Justification. And it is too general an Unhappiness among the Professors of Christianity, that they are apt to cloak their own Active and Passive Disobedience with the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ. The first part of Justification we do reve­rently and humbly acknowledge is only for the sake of the Death and Sufferings of Christ; nothing we can do, though by the Operation of the Holy Spirit, being able to Cancel Old Debts, [Page 12] or wipe out Old Scores: It is the Power and Efficacy of that Propitia­tory Offering, upon Faith and Repen­tance, that justifies us from the Sins that are past; and it is the Power of Christ's Spirit in our Hearts that purifies and makes us acceptable be­fore God. For till the Heart of Man is purged from Sin, God will never accept of it. He Reproves, Rebukes and Condemns those that entertain Sin there, and therefore such cannot be said to be in a Justified State; Con­demnation and Justification being Contraries: So that they that hold themselves in a Justified State by the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ, while they are not Actively and Passively Obedient to the Spirit of Christ Jusus, are under a strong and dangerous Delusion; and for crying out against this Sin-pleasing Imagination, not to say Doctrine, we are Staged and Reproached as Denicrs and De­spisers of the Death and Sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. But be it [Page 12] known to such, they add to Christ's Sufferings, and Crucifie to themselves afresh the Son of God, and trample the Blood of the Covenant under their Feet, that walk unholily under a Profession of Justification; for God will not acquit the Guilty, nor Justi­fie the Disobedient and Unfaith­ful. Such deceive themselves, and at the Great and Final Judgment their Sentence will not be, Come ye Bles­sed, because it cannot be said to them, Well done Good and Faithful, for they cannot be so esteemed that live and die in a Reproveable and Con­demnable State; but, Go ye Cur­sed, &c.

§. 5. Wherefore, O my Reader! Rest not thy self wholly satisfied with what Christ has done for thee in his Blessed Person without Thee, but press to know his Power and King­dom within thee, that the strong Man, that has too long kept thy House, may be bound, and his Goods spoiled; [Page 14] his Works destroyed, and Sin ended; according to the 1 John 3. 7. For which end, says that Beloved Disciple, Christ was manifested, that all things may become New; New Heavens, and New Earth, in which Righteousness dwells. Thus thou wilt come to glo­rifie God in thy Body, and in thy Spirit, which are his; and live to him, and not to thy self. Thy Love, Joy, Worship, and Obedi­ence; thy Life, Conversation, and Practice; thy Study, Meditation, and Devotion, will be Spiritual: For the Father and the Son will make their abode with thee, and Christ will manifest himself to thee; for the Secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him. And an holy Unction or Anointing have all those, which leads them into all truth, and they need not the Teachings of Men: They are better Taught, being Instructed by the Divine Oracle; no bare Hear­say, or Traditional Christians, but fresh and living Witnesses: Those [Page 15] that have seen with their own Eyes, and heard with their own Ears, and have handled with their own Hands the Word of Life, in the divers Ope­rations of it, to their Souls Salvation. In this they Meet, in this they Preach, and in this they Pray and Praise: Behold the New Covenant fulfilled, the Church and Worship of Christ, the Great Anointed of God, and the Great Anointing of God, in his Holy, High Priesthood and Of­fices in his Church!

Sect. 1. A Confession to Christ and his Work, both in Doing and Suffering. Sect. 2. That ought not to make void our Belief and Testimony of his Inward and Spiritual Appearance in the Soul. Sect. 3. What our Testi­mony is in the latter respect: That 'tis impossible to be saved by Christ Without us, while we reject his Work and Power Within us. Sect. 4. The Dispensation of Grace, in its Nature and Extent. Sect. 5. A further Acknowledgment to the Death and Sufferings of Christ. Sect. 6. The Conclusion, shewing our Ad­versaries Unreasonableness.

§. 1. AND lest any should say we are Equivocal in our Expressions, and Allegorize away Christ's Appearance in the Flesh; meaning only thereby, our own Flesh, [Page 17] and that as often as we mention him, we mean only a Mystery, or a Mystical Sense of him, be it as to his Coming, Birth, Miracles, Sufferings, Death, Resurection, Ascension, Mediation and Judgment; I would yet add, to preserve the well-disposed from being stagger'd by such Suggestions, and to inform and reclaim such as are un­der the Power and Prejudice of them, That, we do, we Bless God, Religi­ously Believe and Confess, to the Glory of God the Father, and the Honour of his Dear and Beloved Son, that, Jesus Christ took our Nature upon him, and was like unto us in all things, Sin excepted; That he was Born of the Virgin Mary, and Suffered under Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governour, Crucified, Dead, and Buried in the Se­pulchre of Joseph of Arimathea; Rose again the Third Day, and Ascended into Heaven, and sits on the Right Hand of God, in the Power and Majesty of his Father, who will one Day Judge the World by him, even that Blessed Man, [Page 18] CHRIST JESUS, according to their Works.

§. 2. But because we so Believe, must we not Believe what Christ said, He that is with you shall be in you, John 14. I in them, and they in me, &c. Chap. 17. When it pleased God to re­veal his Son in me, &c. Gal. 1. The Mystery hid from Ages, is Christ in the Gentiles the hope of Glory, Col. 1. Un­less Christ be in you, ye are Reprobates? 2 Cor. 13. Or must we be industri­ously represented Deniers of Christ's Coming in the Flesh, and the Holy Ends of it, in all the Parts and Branches of his Doing and Suffering, because we Believe, and press the Necessity of Believing, Receiving and Obeying his Inward and Spiritual Ap­pearance and Manifestation of him­self, through his Light, Grace and Spirit in the Hearts and Consciences of Men and Women, to Reprove, Convict, Convert and Change them? This we esteem hard and unrighteous [Page 19] Measure; nor would our warm and sharp Adversaries be so dealt with by others: But to do as they would be done to, is too often no part of their Practice, whatever it be of their Pro­fession.

§. 3. Yet we are very ready to de­clare to the whole World, that we cannot think Men and Women can be saved by their Belief of the one with­out the Sense and Experience of the other; and that is what we oppose, and not his Blessed Manifestation in the Flesh. We say that he then overcame our Common Enemy, soiled him in the open Field, and in our Nature tri­umphed over him that had overcome and triumphed over it in our Fore­father Adam, and his Posterity; and that as truly as Christ overcame him in our Nature, in his own Person, so, by his Divine Grace being received and obeyed by us, he overcomes him in us: That is, he detects the Enemy by his Light in the Conscience, and ena­bles [Page 20] the Creature to resist him, and all his Fiery Darts, and finally, so to Fight the Good Fight of Faith, as to overcome him, and lay hold on Eter­nal Life.

§. 4. And this is the Dispensation of Grace, which we declare, has ap­peared to all, more or less; teaching those that will receive it, to deny un­godliness and wordly lust, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present World; looking for (which none else can justly do) the blessed Hope, and glorious Appearing of the Great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, &c. Tit. 2. 11, 12, 13. And as from the Teachings, and Experi­ence, and Motion of this Grace, we minister to others, so the very drift of our Ministry is to turn Peoples Minds to this Grace in themselves, that they may all, up and be doing, even the good and acceptable Will of God, and work out their Salvation with fear and trembling, and make their High and [Page 21] Heavenly Calling and Election sure; which none else can do, whatever be their Profession, Church and Character: For such as Men sow they must reap; and his Servants we are, whom we obey. Regeneration we must know, or we cannot be Children of God, and Heirs of Eternal Glory: And to be Born again, an other Spirit and Prin­ciple must prevail, leaven, season, and govern us, than either the Spirit of the World, or our own depraved Spi­rits; and this can be no other Spi­rit than that which dwelt in Christ, for unless that dwell in us, we can be none of his, Rom. 8. 9. And this Spirit begins in Conviction, and ends in Conversion and Perseverance: And the one follows the other; Conver­sion being the Consequence of Con­victions obey'd, and Perseverance a na­tural Fruit of Conversion, and being Born of God; for such Sin not, be­cause the Seed of God abides in them, John 3. 7, 8. but through Faithfulness, continue to the end, and [Page 22] obtain the Promise, even Everlast­ing Life.

§. 5. But let my Reader take this along with him, that we do acknow­ledge that Christ, through his Holy Doing and Suffering (for being a Son he learned Obedience) has obtained Mercy of God his Father for Man­kind; and that his Obedience has an Influence to our Salvation, in all the Parts and Branches of it; since there­by he became a Conqueror, and led Captivity Captive, and obtained Gifts for Men with divers Great and Pre­cious Promises, that thereby we might be partakers of the Divine Nature, ha­ving (first) escaped the Corruption that is in the World, through Lust. I say we do Believe and Confess that the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ Jesus affects our Salvation throughout, as well from the Power and Pollution of Sir, as from the Guilt, He being a Conqueror as well as a Sacrifice, and both, through Suf­fering: [Page 23] Yet, they that reject his Di­vine Gift, so obtained, and which he has given to them, by which to see their Sin, and the sinfulness of it, and to repent and turn away from it, and do so no more; and to wait upon God for daily strength to resist the Fiery Darts of the Enemy, and to be Comforted through the Obedience of Faith in and to this Divine Grace of the Son of God, such do not please God, believe truly in God; nor are they in a state of true Christianity and Salvation. Woman, said Christ, to the Samaritan, at the Well, hadst thou known the Gift of God, and who it is that speaketh to thee, &c. People know not Christ, and God, whom to know is Life Eternal, John 17. because they are Ignorant of the Gift of God, viz. a measure of the Spirit of God that is given to every one to profit with, 1 Cor. 12. 7. which re­veals Christ and God to the Soul. Flesh and Blood cannot do it; Oxford and Cambridge cannot do it; Tongues [Page 24] and Philosophy cannot do it; for they that by Wisdom knew not God, had these things for their Wisdom: They were strong, deep and accurate in them; but alas, they were clouded, puft up, and set farther off from the Inward and Saving Knowledge of God, because they sought for it in them, and thought to find God there. But the Key of David is an other thing, which shuts and no Man opens, and opens and no Man shuts; and this Key have all they that receive the Gift of God into their Hearts; and it opens to them, the Knowledge of God and themselves, and gives them a quite other Sight, Taste and Judg­ment of things, than their Educational or Traditional Knowledge afforded them. This is the beginning of the New Creation of God, and thus it is we come to be New Creatures: And we are bound to declare there is no o­ther way, besides this, by which Peo­ple can come into Christ, or to be true Christians, or receive the Advan­tage [Page 25] that comes by the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore we say, and upon good Authority, even that of our own Ex­perience, as well as that of the Scrip­tures of Truth, Christ will prove no Saving Sacrifice for them that refuse him for their Example. They that reject the Gift, do deny the Giver, in­stead of themselves daily, for the Gi­vers sake. O that People were wise! that they would consider their latter End, and the things that make for the Peace thereof! Why should they perish in a vain hope of Life, while Death Reigns? Of living with God, who live not to him, nor walk with him? Awake, thou that sleepest in thy Sin, or at best, in thy Self-righteous­ness; Awake, I say, and Christ shall give thee Life! For he is the Lord from Heaven, the quickening Spirit, that quickens us, by his Spirit, if we do not, resist it and quench it, by our Disobedience; but receive, love and [Page 26] obey it, in all the Holy Leadings and Teachings of it, Rom. 8. 14, 15. To which Holy Spirit I commend my Reader, that he may the better see where he is, and also come to the true Belief and Advantage of the Do­ings and Sufferings of our Dear and Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who saves from the Power and Pollution, as well as Guilt of Sin, all those that hear his knocks, and open the Door of their Hearts to him, that he may come in and work a real and through Reformation in and for them. And so the Benefit, Virtue and Essicacy of his Doings and Sufferings without us, will come to be livingly applied and felt, and fellowship with Christ in his Death and Sufferings known, accor­ding to the Doctrine of the Apostle; which, those that live in that which made him suffer, know not, tho' they profess to be saved by his Death and Sufferings. Much more might be said as to this matter, but I must be brief.

[Page 27] §. 6. To conclude this Chapter, we wonder not that we should be mistaken, mis-construed and mis-re­presented, in what we believe and do to Salvation, since our Betters have been so treated in the Primitive Times; nor indeed is it only a­bout Doctrines of Religion, for our Practice in Worship and Discipline have had the same Success: But this is what I earnestly desire, that however bold People are pleased to make with us, they would not deceive themselves in the great things of their own Sal­vation: That while they would seem to own all to Christ, they are not found disowned of Christ in the last Day. Read the 7th of Matthew; it is, he that hears Christ, the great Word of God, and does what he en­joyns, what he commands, and by his Blessed Example, recommends, that is a Wise Builder, that has founded his House well, and built with good Materials, and whose House will stand the last shake and Judgement. [Page 28] For which cause we are often plain, close and earnest with People, to consider, that Christ came not to save them in, but from their Sins; and that they that think to discharge and release themselves of his Yoke and Burden, his Cross and Example, and secure themselves, and Complement Christ with his having done all for them, while he has wrought little or nothing in them, nor they parted with any thing for the love of him, will finally awake in a dreadful surprize, at the sound of the last Trumpet, and at this sad and irrevokeable Sentence, Depart from me, ye Workers of Iniqui­ty, I know you not: Which terrible End, may all timely avoid, by hear­kening to Wisdom's Voice, and turn­ing at her Reproof, that she may lead them in the Ways of Righteousness, and in the midst of the Paths of Judg­ment, that their Souls may come to inherit Substance; even durable Riches and Righteousness in the Kingdom of the Father, World without end.