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TO THE READER. A POSTSCRIPT to the Second Book.

SInce the Writing of all that followeth, I have seen the New Edition of Dr. Crisp's Ser∣mons: There are prefixed to it, twelve Re∣verend Names, Mr. Griffiths, Mr. Cockains, Mr. Chancys, Mr. Howes, Mr. Alsops, Mr. Nat. Mather, Mr. Increafe Mather, Mr. Knowles, Mr. Powels, Mr. Turners, Mr. Bures, & Mr. Gammons. The Preface is Mr. S. Crispes invective against me, unnamed, with the Citation of some Preachers Words as contrary to mine.

I must desire those Conformists that will write the next friendly debate, and will charge Heresy on the Non-Conformists, that they will lay the charge on none, but the guilty; and that they take not all whose Names are prefixed to be of the judgment of Dr. Crispe (a Conformist): For I am past doubt, that Four or Five of them are against it. If you ask, why then did they give their Names to be han∣ged up like a Sign before the Door of a House of Seduction, it's like they have something more to say Page  [unnumbered] for it than I know of: But their Words shew you that they only testifie the Sermons to be the Drs. own. They are men of Peace, and inclined to gra∣tifie others in attesting a truth, and I suppose, in∣tended not to promote untruth by it.

But I see the corrupting Design is of late, grown so high, that what seemed these Thirty Four Years sup∣pressed, now threatn•th as a torrent to overthrow the Gospel, and Christian Faith, and to deny the tru• Office of Christ as Mediator and his Grace and Righteousness, by seeming ignorantly to extol them▪ And Satan designeth to make us a common scorn to Papists and Malignants, by the palpable grosnes• of such mens undeniable Errours. And therefore I dare neither give them my Name, nor be silent in such a common scandal and danger, while I can speak and write.

It offendeth me that I must but briefly name their errours, instead of a large confutation of them, while the whole Scripture is against them; but I have done it oft largely, which they will not answer. And the Booksellers will Print no Books that are large and insen∣sible of our danger, think th•y are but few that need it.

One errour the Preface addeth to the hundred▪ which were it a truth, would carry the cause for them, and bring me to a recantation, viz. That Christ and the Elect are one and the same Person. It is not a Relative personality that is the question; for so Christ himself had many Persons, as one and the same man may have the Person of a Father, of a Husband, of a Master, of a King, &c. But it is Physical or Substantial Personality, which Mr. Crispe saith, is more than natural, we being one Spirit, and Bone of his Bone, and Flesh of his Flesh▪ And if this be so, I shall grant that we are as righ∣teous as Christ, and Christ now in Heaven (and Page  [unnumbered] n•t on the Cross only) is guilty of all our sins, and was indeed as they call him, the greatest blasphemer, hater of God, adulterer, &c. in the World.

But 1. If all the Elect be really many distinct Persons, t•en, either Christ must be also as many dist•nct Persons, or not be the same Person with them a•l, or any of them. But the Elect are many di∣stinct Persons, and shall be so for ever: Peter was not Paul or John: They do not the same Acts: They be not guilty of the same numerical sins: Every man shall answer for all that he hath done in the Body, and not for all that all others of the Elect have done. All the Elect shall not sit on the twelve Thrones, as Ap•stles: All did not Preach the Gospel as Paul did, nor Persecute as Paul did: Over∣throw distinct i•dividuation here or in Heaven, and how dismal will be the consequence? And here, will not each man have right to anothers House, Wife, Food, Goods, if they are but one Person?

To be one in Spirit, is no more to be one Person, than seeing by the same Sun-light maketh all Lyes to be one Eye. For the Spirit is not our personality.

And if you make Christ to be many Millions of Persons, where is his Ʋnity in himself, or with any.

2. If Christ and the Elect, be all one, and the same Person, then the Elect are really God himself: For the Person of Christ, is God: These men are unfit to confute the Schools who have long maintain∣ed that the very human nature of Christ, is not a part of his Person, but an accident of it; because he is but one Person, which is the second in Trinity from Eternity, and is God (of which see Derodon de Supposito.) And if we are all one God, then God suffers when we suffer, and God judgeth himself when he judgeth us: May not Men pray to such then, and Worship them as Gods, and Trust in them Page  [unnumbered] as Gods? Is not this Idolatry worse than Image-Worship, or than Anti-christianity?

3. If Christ and the Elect be one and the same Person, then Christ sinneth when ever they sin: And Christ suffered for his own sin, even that which he by them committed: And then he pardoneth his own sin; (or who pardoneth him)? But all this is false.

4. And it would follow, that all the Elect are Me∣diators to themselves, and dyed for their own sins, and pardon their own sins, and justify themselves, and believe in themselves, and save themselves.

5. And are all Christ's threatnings against him∣self, which are against us? Doth Satan overcome him, when ever he overcometh us? Is his Law made for himself, that is made for us? Doth he command a Father to correct Christ, when he commandeth him to correct his Children? Doth the Magistrate hang Christ when he hangeth a Malefactor, tho' Elect, (that sinneth by surprize.)

6. Where there are divers Bodies, and divers Souls, and divers Ʋnderstandings, and divers Wills, there are divers Persons: But of all these, in Christ and us there is a diversity.

I believe that the Ʋnion between Christ and the Glorified, will be neerer than we can well now conceive: But not such as will make us one and the same Per∣son with Christ. I have read in Phanatick Fryers, such as Barbanson, and Benedictus de Benedictis, and in Gibienf the Oratorian, of our Deification, and being Goded with God, and that it is the only perfection to know no being but God: And I have read of such Heathen as Worshipped Demon-Gods, that once were men. And it is the top of the now prevalent Bruitism, or Sadducism, to believe that all Souls are but one God, and as Candles that are in∣dividuate by the Oily Matter, when extinct, are all Page  [unnumbered] one in the common Air; and that there is nothing but God and Matter. But I hope few good Christians will so far lose the knowledge of themselves, as to take themselves to be the same Person with him that is God: Angels forbad John to Worship them, tho' he took them not for God. Do those Churches ex∣ercise Discipline upon such as are one Person with Christ? Do they Excommunicate Christ for sin? No wonder that Dr. Crispe chargeth David as speaking untruth, for complaining of his sin, and Gods displeasure; tho' John says, He is a Lyar that saith he hath no sin, and all God's Saints have profess'd Repentance; but I read not that Christ did ever Repent of sin.

I doubt some will think that I feign Mr. Crispe to say what he doth not, his words are these:

First, He accuseth me as saying [To say our Union with Christ so makes us Flesh of his Flesh, that we are the same PERSON with Christ; this is so gross, that I will not bestow time to confute it.] He answers

I believe that it is more than Political, but not such as maketh us one Person with Christ. Andrew Osiander, is condemned by Protestants for feigning that the Essence of God is our Righteousness. Nestorius was condemned by General Councils, as supposed to feign Christ to have two Persons: What would these Councils have judged of them that feign him to have Million of Persons, or Millions, to be all one Per∣son with him?

Page  [unnumbered]As to Mr. Crispes Epistle, it calleth more for Pitty, than Confutation: He pretendeth out of his Notes, to tell what I Preached at Pinners Hall, Jan. 17. 1673. and Aug. 11. 1674. (so long since.) And he begins with a gross untruth, that I said,

I do not believe that the man purposed to lye, but trusted h•s false Ears, and Notes. The World knoweth how voluminously I have written to the contrary: Never such an Opinion came into my head: But contrarily I have copiously proved, that even common Faith, much more the first justifying Faith, is the work of Gods Spi∣rit: My Catholick Theology, proveth it all at large. I doubt not but both first and second Faith is by Scripture Argument; but never dream'd that it was not the Work of the Spirit: Indeed I find few of his accusing Notes, that be not falsific•tious by his defective or patcht Recital.

I am sorry that he hath wronged the Memory of such good men as Mr. Fowler, and Mr. Cole, by telling the World how unstudied, and yet how con∣fident they have been in some points. But he did worse in citing Dr Manton, that incurr'd their Cen∣sure for defending me in that very Pulpit, where he saith I Preach'd against such accusers as he; and was wholly of my judgment. And reciting Arch∣Bishop Usher, who perused my Confession written against the Antinomians, and altered not a word in it, before I published it; I got him and Mr. Gataker to read it (and it was the last Work that Mr. Gataker did in the World, as his Epistle and his Sons shew.)

Had the Prefacer read but that one Book, my Con∣fession. written in 1655. and there the explications Page  [unnumbered] of the Co•troversies, and the many score plain Texts and Arguments, and the hundred Testimonies of Synod, and Protestant Divines, for the Doctrine which I defend; and specially if he have read my Explication of all these Controversies, in my Catoh∣lick Theology, and Methodus, and Dispute of Ju∣stification, and of Justifying Righteousness; and yet h•d call'd for an answer to Mr. Cole or Mr. Fowler, I should have told him that he, and such as he, are too hard or deaf for me to answer.

But he impertinently citeth other men, that say, we are justified by Free Grace, and the Righteous∣ness of Christ, and not by Works; as if he would falsly intimate that I deny it, when I neither trust to, nor know any Righteousness that is not meerly subordinate to the Rig•teousness of Christ; and take his Righteousness Habun•l, Active and Passive, to be the only and perfect Meritorious Cause of our Ju∣stification, and Salvation of Grace and Glory: And I wonder not, that Paul counted his own Righte∣ous•ess by the •aw to be dung in compa•ison of be∣ing found in Christ, having his Righteo•sness. But I abhor the opinion, that C•rist's Righteousness given us, is all without us, and none within us, when Christ dwelleth in us; as if 600 Texts of Scripture were all false, that speak of the necessity of an inherent and act•ve Righteousness. I abhor the opinion of any works necessary to Justification or Salvation, or to any common Blessings in the sense of Paul; such as make the reward to be of Debt, and not of Grace. I think few men living, are less tempted to mag∣nify or trust to any worth of th•ir own, than I am. I look not for a bit of Bread, or an h•urs Ease, or Life, or the Pardon, or Acceptance of one Duty, or of my Holiest Affections (so faulty are they by their great Imperfection) but meerly from the Free Grace of Page  [unnumbered] God, and the Merits and Intercession of Christ. But should I take all for Errour that this Preface reciteth as such, and all for truth that Dr. Crispe and such men write; I should look for wiser men than him or Mr. Cole, to Anathematize me, rather as an Anti-Gospeller, than a meer Antinomian. And I am the sorryer for the prefixing of t•e Twelve Reverend Names, when I find by their Epistles that they had read this Preface, so full of false Citations and gross Errour, and say not a word against it, nor a∣gainst such a Book.

Mr. Cockain, in his Epistle, directing it to them that live Godly in Christ Jesus, t•lls them, that the Kingdom of God within them, shall never be shaken; and the Divine Nature that hath swallowed them up, shall for ever satisfy them with variety of Contentments. And is not that ours which is within us? And is this Kingdom and Divine Na∣ture, nothing but that which Christ did without us, imputed to be done by us? And if this be no sub∣ordinate Righteousness, what doth the word signify so many hundred times used in the Scripture?

Let them but grant Justification by Faith, and let them assign Faith what Office therein they can reasonably imagine, without flat denying all Pauls Doctrine, and they will confute Dr. Crispe. Say but that Faith is imputed to us for Righteousness, and give not the lye to Paul, and sure we shall be recon∣ciled. But if they will tell us that by Faith, Paul meaneth not Faith, but Christ's Righteousness; they must prove that they have more than a Papal Power to make God's Word, by making the Sense, when God maketh but the Letter, before we can renounce the Scripture and believe them. And yet, if they will expound Imputation soberly, we shall grant them the matter (that Christ's Righteousness is accounted to us Page  [unnumbered] of God, as the only Meritorious Cause of our Ju∣stification and Salvation) tho' we believe that by Faith, Paul meaneth Faith.

But if they still say, that by Faith is meant only the Object of Faith, and not the Act; could we but get them to forbear Anathematizing Men for being so Learned, as to understand English, we might yet hope at least, to keep the flame of their Zeal out of the thatch within the Chimney; by telling them the dif∣ference between the Object of Faith, as such, and the person that is the Object, otherwise considered. In real Existence, Christ, tho' not yet believed in, is the sole meritorious Cause: But it is only in esse cognito, that Christ is the Object of Faith. And School-Boyes that have no damnable Learning, may teach these confident men, that the Object as an Ob∣ject believed, is the very form in specie of the Act of Faith: It is an Act without it, but not this Act, viz. the Christian Faith. As sin in esse reall is damning, but in esse cognito objectivo, it is the form of the Grace of Repentance; so is it here. But if they will grant that by Faith is meant Faith, and not say that Paul condemneth Justification by Faith, as being but Justification by Works; let them but tell us, how it justifieth: I say not efficiently at all; but only as a meer receptive qualification: If they say as an Efficient Instrument, they give it much more than I do; and lay it on the Act or the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉Credere, as they speak: For, what else is the Instrument; I hope they mean not that Christ and his Righteousness is but the Instrument: But of this, more after.

I thought it meet to have recited many hundred Texts of Scripture, which they directly contradict, which good Men should rather believe than them: But if the Reader will peruse my Confession, he will find it there done already.

Page  [unnumbered]And I thought it necessary to commend the good Lives of many of them (excepting the Schism and Ʋnrighteousness that Faction doth involve them in) lest the Grosness of their Verbal Errours, which come from unskilfulness in Words and Methods, should tempt many to judge of the Men by their Words, and Opini∣ons; and should harden the malignant to justifie all their hard Censures and Ʋsage of the Non-Confor∣mists for their sakes. And yet Mr. Crispe is one of my sharp Censurers, for charitably excusing Men from lesser Errours than his own (while he falsify∣eth my Words about our difference with the Papists.)

I have said oft, and long agoe, that I cannot be so harden'd against God's miraculous Judgments in New-England, on Mrs. Hutchison and Mrs. Dy∣er, and the Case of their Governour, and Mr. Whee∣ler, recited by Mr. Weld, in his Book, called, The Rise and Fall of Antinomianisme in New-England, as to depise those with the Scripture, to bear Satan seeming an Angel of Light or Righteousness. I once more counsel them that are prejudic'd against my Writings, to read Mr. Bradshaw (an Independant) of Justification, Mr. Truman's Grand Propitiati∣on, Ant. Watton de Reconciliatione, Mr. Gata∣ker against Saltmarsh, and on Lucius and Piscator. Ben. Woodbridge (the first Graduate of the New-England Colledge,) Mr. Thomas Warren, Mr. Hotchkins, Mr. Gibbons of Black-Fryers, his Le∣cture at Giles, Placeus in Thes. Salmuriens. Testar∣dus, Codurcus; but above all, Vinc. le Blancks Theses; and the Breme Divines, S. Charles Wolsley of Justification, and the foresaid Book of Mr. Weld a New-England Congregational-man: The Subject of which, I suppose two or three of the Twelve Epistlers (the two Mr. Mathers, if not Mr. Chancy also) will give you a truer Account of, than Dr. Page  [unnumbered]Stubs (a man miserable in life and death) did do.

Once more I conculde, that if Christ was one Per∣son with the Elect, before they were men, he was one Pe•son with these that were no Persons: If he were one Person with them, before their Conversion, he was one Person with Millions of wicked men, and slaves of the Devil, and the haters, and persecutors of Him∣self, and of Holiness. A•d seeing they hold that this Ʋnion is not dissolvable, do they not feign him now in Heaven to be one Person with all the Elect wicked sinners on Earth?

I still say, I will not lose my Charity as to the Persons of these blind Zealots, and unskilful Talkers: But how conscionably soever they live, it is no thanks to their ungodly unchristian Doctrine. If they prevail to make England believe that elect wicked Infidels are as righteous as Christ; and that it is impossible that any sin should hurt them, or that any Prayer or Du∣ty should do them any good, (the express Words of Dr. Crispe) and that to intend their own good by any, is to wrong the Free Grace and full salva∣tion by Christ (with the rest like this): I should have more hope of the Turks and Heathens, than of that Land that receiveth and practiseth these Prin∣ciples, notwithstanding Mr. Cokain's Benediction to those that practise what this Doctor taught.

The God of Truth and Mercy, save a poor Nation from the extream Factions that run deeper daily into the guilt of Impenitency and doleful Divisions; and let not sober Peace-makers mourn in despair, over a hopeless Generation of self-destroyers, as having labour∣ed for Peace in vain.