The paraselene dismantled of her cloud, or, Baxterianism barefac'd drawn from a literal transcript of Mr. Baxter's, and the judgment of others, in the most radical doctrines of faith, compar'd with those of the Orthodox, both conformist and nonconformist, and transferr'd over by way of test, unto the Papist and Quaker / by Thomas Edwards ...

The INTRODUCTION.

Reader;

THE following Treatise is not so much of the direct Nature of a Contro∣versy, whatever like it may occasionally fall in, or within compass of the same, as it is literally, by way of Quotation, expressive of the di∣stinct Judgments of several Perswasions, and that about the main Sal∣vation Points of the Christian Religion (such I mean as lie more immediately next unto the Notion of a Deity, the mysterious Doctrines both of a God in Trinity, together with that ineffable Discovery of eternal Love in the Hypostatical Union) which when thou hast perused, thou art at full liberty to make thy discriminative choice of either of them; and this we must all certainly do sooner or later: for there is not in the least any Medium between them; but Life entirely, or Death entirely, and that both spiritual and eternal, are held forth disjunctively or immix∣edly, i. e. not partly Life, and partly Death, either in the one or in the other: This I say is so, in a doctrinal Sense or Acceptation; for I determine no Man's final State, as to his particular Person; no! That is a sovereign Flower of an un∣changeable God's Prerogative, which must not be touch'd upon by any one, Deut. 29. 29. But this I say, as worthy Mr. Perkins of old did, That a Papist, as a Pa∣pist, cannot be saved, i. e. upon those Principles whereon such lay their stress of hopes for Salvation; viz. That the Righteousness of Christ made way in the Merit's thereof, for the Justification of the Person of a Sinner, in the material Righteousness of Faith, Repentance, Holiness, &c. before God. Now if the rankest Papist in the World will not acknowledg and own this as the very Foundation of his hopes for Glory, I am utterly at a loss: Nay I am so far from being mistaken in this Point, that do but allow of it, and I shall easily or with a wet Finger reconcile both Papist and Protestant; and so overthrow the very standing or vertical Spring of the Re∣formation, yea the very Natures of both Covenants in their publick, federal, and as such substitutive Headships, whereon as Covenants they mainly depend. The Thoughts of which cause me to lay before thee what Mr. Troughton, in the close of his Preface to his second part of Lutherus Redivivus, recites out of Mr. Norton.

Taking Heresy for a fundamental Error, i. e. such as whosoever liveth and di∣eth in, cannot be saved. The Dialogue containeth three Heresies; The first de∣nying the imputation of the Sin of the Elect unto Christ, and his suffering the Punishment due thereto. The second denying that Christ as God-man, Media∣tor, obeyed the Law, and therewith that he obeyed for us as our Surety. The third denying the imputation of Christ's Obedience unto Justification, destroy∣ing the very being of a Sinner's Righteousness, by taking away the Obedience of Christ unto the Law, and Imputation, which are the matter and form, i. e. the essential Causes of Justification; and placing a Sinner's Righteousness in a ficti∣tious Atonement or Pardon of Sin, such as in effect manifestly doth not only deny it self to be the effect of, but denyeth, yea and defieth the very Being of the mediatorial Obedience of Christ to the Law for us.

The nine subsequent Heads being according to my Apprehension the Substance of the Protestant Reformation, as Apostolical, I think meet to lay here before

thee. And that because of the several Citations out of divers Authors inserted in the twice told three Columns of this Piece, do either fall in with one or other of them, or are wholly rejective of the same: This thou wilt find out by comparing each with other. Only by the way take notice of what Mr. Theophilus Gale de∣clares as the Excellency of Mr. Strong's Treatise of both Covenants.

1. That God never did nor will deal with Mankind merely in a way of Dominion, but also in a way of Covenant. 2. That both Covenants are made with Men not immediately, but in and by some publick Person. 3. That it is Union with either of these publick Persons, that brings a Man under their Covenants. 4. That it is impossible for a Man to be under both Covenants.

The Heads designed follow, as,

1. That Predestination, and consequently Election and Reprobation, are absolute; Rom. 9. 11, 15, 16, 22, 23. ch. 11. 5, 7, 28. Ephes. 1. 5, 11. The following Texts hold forth the Marks, not Causes of Reprobation; 2 Cor. 13. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 8.

2. That the Covenant of Grace had not a temporal but eternal Origination, was in all Generations particular and special, the same in matter and effect, never of an universal nature, or differently transacted Mediums between God and Man, any further than as Type and Antitype stood related each to other, and that not only as abiding in the Purpose and Decree of God, but as made, agreed and en∣tred upon, by a mutual personal Compact between the Father and the Son; and that none but those that were personally and formally inserted then in that Covenant, and that respectively in each Individual of them (tho not then created, yet as truly known as if so, in God's intuitive Vision, 1 Pet. 1. 2.) ever have been or shall be in time actually taken into the same; Prov. 8. 30, 31. compared with John 17. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Heb. 2. 11, 12, 13. 2 Tim. 1. 9. Rev. 13. 8. Luke 10. 20. John 10. 3, 4, 5, 16, 26, 27, 28, 29. Isa. 59. 21. For the confirmation of this Truth, take Dr. Owen's Testimony unto the same.

(1.) That the Lord Jesus Christ was the principal subject matter of this Cove∣nant, the Undertaker in it, and Surety of it, the Scriptures expresly declare; for the great Promise of it was concerning him and his Mediation, with the Be∣nefits that should redound unto Mankind thereby in Grace and Glory. And the preceptive Part of it required Obedience in and from him, new and distinct from that which was exacted by the Law of Creation, altho enwrapping all the Commands thereof also. And he was the Surety of it, in that he undertook un∣to God whatever by the terms of the Covenant was to be done for Man, to accomplish it in his own Person; and whatever was to be done in and by Man, to effect it by his own Spirit and Grace; that so the Covenant on every side might be firm and stable, and the ends of it fulfilled. Exercit. Vol. 2. Heb. p. 50.

(2.) Such is the Distinction of the Persons in the Unity of the divine Essence, as that they act in natural and essential Acts reciprocally one towards another; namely, in Understanding, Love, and the like; they know and mutually love each other. And as they subsist distinctly, so they also act distinctly in those Works which are of external Operation. And whereas all these Acts and Ope∣rations, whether reciprocal or external, are either with a Will, or from a free∣dom of Will and Choice, the Will of God in each Person, as to the peculiar Acts ascribed unto him, is his Will therein peculiarly and eminently, tho not exclusively to the other Persons by reason of their mutual In-being. The Will of God, as to the peculiar Actings of the Father in this matter, is the Will of the Father; and the Will of God, with regard unto the peculiar Actings of the

Son, is the Will of the Son; not by a distinction of sundry Wills, but by the distinct Application of the same Will unto its distinct Acts, in the Person of the Father and of the Son. And in this respect the Covenant whereof we treat differeth from a pure Decree, for from those distinct Actings of the Will of God in the Father and the Son, there doth arise a new Habitude or Relation, which is not natural or necessary unto them, but freely taken on them. And by virtue hereof were all Believers saved from the Foundation of the World upon the account of the Interposition of the Son of God, antecedently unto his Exhi∣bition in the Flesh. For hence was he esteemed to have done and suffered what he had undertaken so to do, and which through Faith was imputed unto them that did believe. Ibid. p. 56.

(3.) When God came to reveal this Counsel of his Will, this Branch and Part of the eternal Compact between him and his Son, and to represent unto the Church what had been transacted within the Vail for their Faith and Edificati∣on, as also to give them some previous insight into the manner of the accom∣plishment of these his holy Counsels, he did it by the Institutions of a Priest∣hood and Sacrifices, or a sacred Office and sacred kind of Worship, suted and adapted to be a resemblance of this heavenly Transaction between the Father and the Son. For the Priesthood and Sacrifices of the Law were not the original Exemplar of these things, but a Transcript and Copy of what was done in Hea∣ven it self, in Counsel, Design and Covenant, as they were a Type of what should be afterwards accomplished in the Earth. Now altho the Names of Priest and Sacrifice are first applied unto the Office mentioned under the Law and their Work, from whence they are traduced under the New Testament, and transferred unto Jesus Christ, that we may learn thereby what God of old instructed his Church in, yet the things themselves intended and signified by these Names, belong properly and firstly unto Jesus Christ, upon the account of this his Undertaking, and the very Names of Priests and Sacrifices were but im∣properly ascribed unto them who were so called, to be obscure Representations of what was past, and Types of what was to come. Ibid. p. 61, 62.

3. That Original Sin is absolutely distinguished in its inherent communicative Defilement, from what it is under an external and personally juridical Charge; Gen. 3. 6, 7, 8, &c. Psal. 103. 3. Psal. 32. 1, 2.

4. That peculiar Redemption, as wrought out by an immetaphorical Sacrifice, and identically substituted Sufferings, offered, laid down, and accepted of as a Price, Solution, or personally proper Ransom, is vastly dissonant from the same in its Consequences and infused Effects, which consist barely (as physical) in a Deli∣verance from the Dominion of Sin, a Communication of Grace, and thereby an actual, gracious and presential Enjoyment of and Fellowship with God, both here and eternally. For whether is it Persons or a Law that was purchased by Christ? If Persons, the Athenian Club must down: If a Law, then Bellarmine's Cap must up, lin'd with a new Covenant of Works, and wreath'd with his Motto, Sic volo sic jubeo, stat pro ratione voluntas. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Gal. 2. 20. John 10. 15. Rom. 8. 32. Col. 2. 13. Psal. 56. 13.

5. That a proper representative Headship, entirely as such, highly, yea essentially differs from that which is more particularly a Headship of Preheminence, Political∣ness, Rectoralship and Influence, tho all wholly and eminently in Christ; Rom. 5. 12, 17. Isa. 45. 24, 25. ch. 54. 17. Jer. 23. 6. compare ch. 33. 16. 1 Cor. 12. 12. Col. 1. 18. ch. 2. 3. Isa. 9. 6. 1 Cor. 15. 45.

6. That personal Justification is positively and materially distinct both in its Order and Place, Nature or Kind, from a Heart-Renovation or Change of the inward Man; Ezek. 16. 8, 9. Zech. 3. 4, 5, 7. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Luke 1. 74. Psal. 56. 13. our Lord speaking to Peter, John 13. 8. where Christ says not, If I wash thee not thou shalt have no part in me; but, If I wash thee not thou never hadst it, as pre∣vious unto the same, i. e. hast it not at present even before I wash thee. Psal. 40. 2. the Psalmist rejoices in his being freed from a damnatory State, brought into a justified one, and that thereby his Walkings with God were established.

7. That inherent Sanctification is the Fruit both of the Change of our State and Nature; and not any thing either of the Nature or Essence of that Reformation which purely arises from the refining and new furbishing of old depraved moral Principles; Mat. 7. 17, 18. Hos. 14. 5, 6, 7, 8. Psal. 1. 3. John 15. 5. Ephes. 2. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Rom. 8. 1.

8. That the Doctrine of Assurance is the Scripture Protestant Doctrine, and which all the People of the Lord are enjoined by way of Precept, and encouraged by infinite Promises to pr•…•…ss after, and is attainable; 2 Pet. 2. 10, 11. Hos. 6. 3. Job 22. 21. Ephes. 1. 17, 18. 1 Cor. 15. 55, 56, 57, 58. Ephes. 2. 16, 17; 18, 19.

9. That true Grace in its saving nature and kind carries in the very Bowels thereof the Promise of Perseverance unto Glory; Phil. 1. 6. Rom. 14. 3, 4. Isa. 35. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 5.

The Substance of these Positions, Reader, is what the old Protestant Reformers, as such, adhered unto, yea for which in all Generations they earnestly contend∣ed against their most subtle and violent Opposers; and many of them as by Provi∣dence called unto their Trials did in Faithfulness testify unto the same, even un∣to Blood. New Attempts have been made formerly and of late, both by Craft and Subtilty, Violence and Impudence, and that under a pretence of Moderation, and a new-coin'd milder way to strip us of the same, as thou wilt easily find from the Quotations express'd in the following Tract, unto which I shall refer thee, and the guidance of that blessed God, who ever was and ever will (notwithstanding the seeming Success of his Enemies) be seen in the Mount of Difficulties in defence both of his Truths and People; which puts me in mind of the following Lines.

Away Despair, my gracious Lord doth hear: Tho Winds and Waves assault my Keel, He doth preserve it: he doth steer, Ev'n when the Boat seems most to reel. Storms are the Triumph of his Art: Well may he close his Eyes, but not his Heart.

Herb. Poem, p. 145.

It may not be improper here likewise to insert the following Passage relating to the chief Author of the bold Attempts lately made against the Truths of the Go∣spel, as it is in Mr. Walter Cross's Sermon of Justification, preach'd at Pinners Hall Lecture in 1695. p. 10.

The Scholastick Pitcarne, Provost of the Old Col∣lege of St. Andrews, weeps over this Opinion, and its Reverend Author thus: cap. 285. O Reverend Baxter, for what end, or to what good hast thou wrote so many Volumes for thy conditional Justification by Faith and Obedience? To how many Contentions hast thou given occasion? How many precious Hours

hast thou lost to thy self and thy Reverend Brethren? Into an Abyss of how many anti-Gospel Errors are they now sunk, who glory in thee as their Guide and Patron? Who after they have once left the way of Truth, scarce know where to stop; and yet thou still tellest the World, all thy Disputes are about the Wool of a Dog, for thou differest only in Words and Names from thy Brethren.

To conclude, Reader, take along with thee this following Advertisement or Neonomian Test; that whenever any Position of Truth seemingly so is laid down by them, whereby they delude the Hearts of the simple, it is in such terms as are capable of letting go that which thou or another think they hold forth in the face of them, and yet sufficiently retentive of their Errors, even to an utter Exclusion of the Truth it self. As for instance, we shall for the present allow them perhaps more than ever yet they have acknowledg'd, or are willing to own (if they do not think us Imposers for the same) as that whereby under a shadow of Orthodoxy they would absolutely undermine the Doctrine of Justification, and the whole of both Covenants, as each are founded upon their different or distinct, substitutive and representative Person or Headship. Now suppose they should own Election in its proper Sense, suppose also they should acknowledg a peculiar Redemption, and that of individual distinct Persons, as particularly selected from the rest of Mankind; yet the Question is, how and when are they justified? Is it that they are materially justified in the sight of God, before or only when they actually be∣lieve? they may perhaps own that they are materially justified before God, and that even before they actually believe: Let us see then upon this supposed Concessi∣on, how far this may, according to their usual Fetches and Prevarications, secure them in their undiscerned heretical Reserves, and thereby indeed overthrow the whole of that Doctrine, which they seem to own. As thus, they are materially justified before God, and that before they actually believe, in that the Righte∣ousness of Christ in the matter thereof is always in the approved sight of God for them, as having a Sufficiency of Merit in it to plead for, and procure that Faith, Repentance, Sincerity, Holiness and Obedience, which in time upon their actual Believing and persevering Reformation, through the Merit of this material Righte∣ousness, becomes their Robe of justifying Righteousness before God, upon which the Sentence of a juridical Condemnation or Justification must pass; and so far is it materially owned by them as our Righteousness, and no further: and herein let them disprove me if they can. This is their new Law forsooth of Justification, as purchased by the Righteousness of Christ: whereas do but observe the Apostle, Rom. 5. 19. who speaking of the Disobedience of one, and the Obedience of another, mentions not in the least any two distinct Laws, (wherein he had a fair Opportuni∣ty so to do if any such thing had been) whence that by a Disobedience unto one of them many were made Sinners, and that by an Obedience unto another of them, or some peculiar mediatorial Law, a remote meritorious Righteousness must come forth to make many righteous by a third Law; or that a former Law was vacated by Obedience to a middle Law, and all to bring in Justification by a third Law: Not at all, for the Apostle as acted by the Spirit of the Lord, speaks but of Diso∣bedience and Obedience, without the Interposition of two different Laws unto which apart they must stand related, but that both had a positive relation either in Condemnation unto Death, or Restoration unto Life, to one and the self-same Law. And tho our Adversaries would confidently assert, that the Law of Inno∣cence

had no relation unto the moral Law, or that of the ten Commandments, which is quite contrary to Scripture and all sound Interpreters; yet see Rom. 5. 12, 13. By one Man Sin entred into the World—and until the Law Sin was in the World, but Sin is not imputed when there is no Law. How came it then to be in or imputed unto the World, before the coming of the Law? and that the self∣same Sin that was in the World before the coming of the Law, should be the self∣same Sin that was charged upon and imputed unto the World after its Promulgati∣on? for it is plain from the scope of the place, that this Sin has its Denomination of being a Sin from one and the same Law as well before as after its Publication. It is indeed, as one well observes, that from that one Species of Sin in Adam, the whole Genus or Kind is shewn, as the same Law being more clearly unfolded doth express; Deut. 27. 26. Gal. 3. 10. I shall shut up this with some Observations of Dr. Light foot:

Adam heard as much in the Garden as Israel did at Sinai, but on∣ly in fewer words, and without Thunder. Again, how could there be a greater Sin committed than that when Adam at that one clap brake all the ten Com∣mandments? 1. He chose himself another God when he followed the Devil. 2. He idolized and defiled his own Belly; as the Apostle's Phrase is, He made his Belly his God. 3. He took the Name of God in vain, when he believed him not. 4. He kept not the Rest and Estate wherein God had set him. 5. He dishonoured his Father which was in Heaven, and therefore his days were not prolonged in that •…•…and which the Lord his God had given him. 6. He massa∣cred himself and all his Posterity. 7. From Eve he was a Virgin, but in Eyes and Mind he committed spiritual Fornication. 8. He stole (like A•…•…han) that which God had set aside not to be meddled with, and this his stealth is that which troubles all Israel, the whole World. 9. He bare witness against •…•…d, when he believed the witness of the Devil before him. 10. He coveted an evil Covetousness, like Amnon, which cost him his Life, and all his Progeny!

Miscella. p. 282, 283.

Melius est pro pietate dissidium, quam concordia sucata.

Nazian.

Si autem de veritate sumitur scandalum, utilius est ut scandalum oriatur, quam veritas relinquatur.

Bern. Mat. 18. 7.

Wo unto the World because of Offences: For it must needs be that Of∣fences come; but wo to that Man by whom the Offence cometh.

Mat. 11. 6.

Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.

Thine in the Truth as it is in Jesus, THOMAS EDWARDS.