Let me exhort you not to receive for Truth all things that you find asserted in some Men's Books, Sermons, and Writings, though recommended by such Men you have so great a Veneration for. I hope some of those Ministers that have set their Hands to Mr. William's late Book, will see Cause to repent of their rash Act, and great Inadvertency; for we cannot see but that the said Book brings in another Gospel, or is a Subversion of the Gospel (tho' the unwary Reader may not soon discover the Poison that lies hid in it) and 'tis full of hard, and uncouth, or unintelligible Terms, Notions and Expressions, not formerly known to the Christian World: 'Tis strange to me that he should intimate and hold forth the Gospel to be a Law, or Command of Duty, as a Condition with the Sanction of Threats upon Non-performance, and Promises of Rewards upon Performance of sincere Obedience; for if Sincerity of Grace and Holiness be not the Condition of that which he often calls the Rule of the Promise, which he nevertheless says is not the Precept, I understand him not: Doth he not mean a Man must be holy, sincere, or a New Creature, before he ventures on the Promise of the Gospel, or can be justified, which is the Error my Text opposes; as if the free Promise of the Grace of God in laying hold on Christ and his Righteousness justifies us not, but that we must get some inherent Qualifications of Holiness, as the Rule of the Promise, before we venture upon it, or throw our selves upon Jesus Christ, and so must receive him as Saints and not as Sinners; which is directly contrary to what all our true Protestant Writers and Modern Divines have all along asserted. The Papists say, a Man must be inherently righteous before he can be declared just; and that Faith justifies, as it infuses such a Righteousness in us: And this Man says but little else, if I understand him; i. e. a Man must answer the Rule of the Gospel-Promise, asserting that the Gospel doth judicially determine a Conformity to the Rule thereof; and when God forgives, he judicially declares a Man hath true Faith, and by Faith he means doubtless more than a laying hold on Christ, viz. the making good the Baptismal Covenant, i. e. to love, serve, and sincerely to yield Obedience to the Gospel; so that Faith must by him be taken in a large and comprehensive manner:
Let me exhort you not to receive for Truth all things that you find asserted in some Men's Books, Sermons, and Writings, though recommended by such Men you have so great a Veneration for. I hope some of those Ministers that have set their Hands to Mr. William's late Book, will see Cause to repent of their rash Act, and great Inadvertency; for we cannot see but that the said Book brings in another Gospel, or is a Subversion of the Gospel (tho' the unwary Reader may not soon discover the Poyson that lies hid in it) and 'tis full of hard, and uncouth, or unintelligible Terms, Notions and Expressions, not formerly known to the Christian World: 'Tis strange to me that he should intimate and hold forth the Gospel to be a Law, or Command of Duty, as a Condition with the Sanction of Threats upon Non-performance, and Promises of Rewards upon Performance of sincere Obedience; for if Sincerity of Grace and Holiness be not the Condition of that which he often calls the Rule of the Promise, which he nevertheless says is not the Precept, I understand him not: Doth he not mean a Man must be holy, sincere, or a New Creature, before he ventures on the Promise of the Gospel, or can be justified, which is the Error my Text opposes; as if the free Promise of the Grace of God in laying hold on Christ and his Righteousness justifies us not, but that we must get some inherent Qualifications of Holiness, as the Rule of the Promise, before we venture upon it, or throw our selves upon Jesus Christ, and so must receive him as Saints and not as Sinners; which is directly contrary to what all our true Protestant Writers and Modern Divines have all along asserted. The Papists say, a Man must be inherently righteous before he can be declared just; and that Faith justifies, as it infuses such a Righteousness in us: And this Man says but little else, if I understand him; i. e. a Man must answer the Rule of the Gospel-Promise, asserting that the Gospel doth judicially determine a Conformity to the Rule thereof; and when God forgives, he judicially declares a Man hath true Faith, and by Faith he means doubtless more than a laying hold on Christ, viz. the making good the Baptismal Covenant, i. e. to love, serve, and sincerely to yield Obedience to the Gospel; so that Faith must by him be taken in a large and comprehensive manner:
