384 workf of Obediefce no Condition of 3nfti f cations. C H A r. 31. he exprefTeth more clearly within a line or two , calling Regeneration& new obedience parts of the Condition ; thus making men able to Regenerat them - felves , with forne help of the Spirit , according to his former doetrine. Paffiog his inveighing pag. 134. & forward , againfl the orthodox do- dtrine , concerning Jullihcation by faith alone ; and loading it with Socinian reproaches , wherein he bewrayeth more acquaintance withPopish, Soci- nian & Arminian Principles & Confequences , than with the Gofp.l doctri- ne , either in Th°!orie or pra&ce, iI proceed to examine his grounds ,which he Iaieth down Chap. 7. pag. 140,14 r. and profecuteth to the end of that Chapter. His grounds are Ten in number. The firft is. That works of Evangelical obedience are never in Scripture oppofed to God's grace in reference to ruftif,cation dr Salvation. 1Af. (i) Here we have the fundamental epour his whole dilcourfe hinted to us ; when he put - teth Ju(lification & Salvation together, making all that is antecedently re- quired unto Salvation , to be alto antecedently required unto Juflification ; Or he muff acknowledge no juf}ìfrcation, until! Salvation come ; (2) A per - fed contradiCion to this ground of his we have F :phef. i: F, 9, Io, for by gra- ce are ye Paved, through faith , not of tnorkr , left any man should boafi : for we are:his wcrkmanshipe , created in Chrifi refur unto good works , which God bath before ordained , that we should walkin them. Here grace is oppofed to works, to good works , unto which we are created in Chrifi Jefus, & in which we are to walk, and that in reference CO the Salvation , that is in jollification. The man was fo wife for his own unhallowed ends, as never once to take notice of this place. He cannot but grant, that Works & Grace are oppo- fed to other : but he giveth us a very fceptick evafron , telling us , that then by works we are to under Rand either works antecedent to çonverfion , or as they are denyed (1 think he would have faid deemed, or fome fuch thing) to inerite, at the hands of 'God ; or the works of the Law of Mofes , as erroneou fly contended for by the jetrer; or the workr of the Law ar Typical d5' as oppofed to things typified ; or the works cf the Law , as the Law it in its rigour oppofed to the milder oeconomie of the Gofpel. And yet all this will not helpe the matter, for Paul Eels us, that even Abraham was not juftified by his works , but by faith, in oppolition to works Rom. 4: i, 2, 3. And Abraham's works here excluded from juflifica- tion , can be reduced to none of thefe heads of works here mentioned; They were not works antecedent to Converfion;for in oppofition to thefe it is faid, his Faith was reckoned unto hits for Righteoufnefs , long after his Convey lion. Nor did the holy father dreame of any merite in his works, nor we- re thefe the works of the Law in any of the fenfes mentioned; for Faith was reckoned to Abraham for Righteoufnefs,even when he was in uncircumcifion, Rpm. 4: 9, Io, it. &c. He taketh notice of Tit. 3: 5. not by works of Righteou fnefr , which we have done, but according to his mercy, he faved us: but givethusp.143. this glare. This change of their condition was not effetled , or fo much as begun among them by any reformat ion oftheir own, till the Gofpel came to work it (which it meant by the appearing of the kindnefs d? Love of God verf 4. & is of like import with. Ch. 2, i2. 4nf. By what either Law or Keafon hie reftraineth that appearing of the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=