A40370:132
Of free justification
Of free justification by Christ written first in Latin by John Fox, author of the Book of martyrs, against Osorius, &c. and now translated into English, for the benefit of those who love their own souls, and would not be mistaken in so great a point.Of free justification by Christ written first in Latine by John Fox, author of the Book of martyrs, against Osorius, &c. and now translated into English, for the benefit of those who love their own souls, and would not be mistaken in so great a point.
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1694
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
It is not the Preaching of the Law, which pronounces the Sentence of Condemnation without mercy: but it is the very voice of the Gospel.
And this seems to me to be the chief difference between Moses and 1Christ, that like as he being as it were a certain earthly Christ, procures an earthly liberty to the people, and sets before them the duties that are incumbent upon them in leading their lives; so all the doctrine and benefits of Christ are peculiarly and chiefly directed unto life eternal, and calls us thereunto especially from this world. But if we suppose that these legal promises should notwithstanding be referred to eternal life, yet when they did not pass the bounds of that people only, and reached not to other Nations, but to those peculiarly, who waited for the Seed promised to them, therefore the promises of the Law ⟨p. 72⟩included faith at least by a certain silent condition. Wherefore as touching those legal promises, in which the holy Prophets held out unto them, that repented and were converted, pardon and many other benefits, in these must be considered, not only what is promised, but also, to whom the promise is made, as being such, as belonged not to others, but those only, who being descended from the Seed of Abraham, were contained in the Covenant, and had a right to the Lamb slain from the beginning. Therefore according to the authority of Augustin, we ought always to look to the root in such promises, and the mind should always be raised up to the Mediator of the New Covenant, in whom alone all the Promises of God are yea and Amen. Which seeing it is so, and seeing all the Promises of Eternal Life are contained in this only Mediator Christ, as in the only Ark of the Covenant, neither is there any faculty given us by God, which attains to the knowledge of Christ and the understanding of his benefits, but faith only;
And this seems to me to be the chief difference between Moses and 1