Q. 30. How then did he save them, or was he their saviour, who died before his teaching and dying ?
A. He did not save them, nor was their saviour, nor did they ask any thing in his name, or receive any thing on his account.
Q. 31. Did Christ raise himself, according as he spake of the temple of Ids body, " Destroy this temple, and the third day I will raise it again?"
A. No, he raised not himself at all.
Q. 32. Hath God from eternity loved some even before they did any good, and elected them to life and salvation, to be obtained by Jesus Christ?
A. No, but he loved all alike.
Q. 33. Did God in the sending of Christ aim at the salvation of a certain num- ber, or his elect ?
A. No, but at the salvation of men in general, whether ever any be saved or no.
Q. 34. Are all those saved for ivhom Christ died?
A. The least part of them are saved.
Q. 35. 7s faith wrought in us by the Spirit of God, or are we converted by the effcacy of his grace?
A. No, but of ourselves we believe and are converted, and then we are made partakers of the Spirit and his grace.
Q. 36. Are all true believers preserved by the power of God unto salvation?
A. No, many of them fall away and perish.
Q. 37. Is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us for our justification?
A. No, but our own faith and works.
590 VINDICI^ EVANGELIC^.
Q. 38. Are tve to receive or apprehend Christ and his righteousness hy faith, that we may he justified through him?
A. No, but believe on him that raised him from the dead, and without that it suffices.
Q. 39. Are we able to keep all God's commandments 9
A. Yes.
Q. 40. Perhaps in our sincere endeavours, but can we do it absolutely and perfectly?
A. Yes, we can keep them perfectly.
Q. 41. What need a man then to apprehend Christ's righteousness and apply it to himself by faith?
A. None at all, for there is no such thing required.
Q. 42. What shall become of wicked men after the resurrection ?
A. They shall be so consumed, body and soul, as not at all to remain in tor- ments.
OF THE DEATH OF CHEIST, AND OF JUSTIFICATION:
TUB DOCTRINE CONCERNING THEM FORMERLY DELIVERED VINDICATED FROM THE ANIMADVERSIONS OF MR R. b[aXTER.] ^
Of this task I would complain if I durst, but I know not how it may be taken, and whether it may not occasion another apology. So are writings of this nature as waves, that thrust on one another. " Books," says one, " are like good turns; they must be new covered, or it will rain through." I was in some hope to have escaped this trouble ; but -r'oto; -rovcf ■rovov (p'spu.^ And Chrysostom tells us that ^roxxjj; 'yiy.ii rafci^ni n Z,t^n, x-a) B-opvSav fiiirros o ^apZv filo; iirriv? I desire to be con- tent with my portion, being better yet than that of Livius Drusus, who com- plained '•■ uni sibi nee puero quidem unquam ferias contigisse."* So it be in and about things of real use and advantage to the souls of men, I can be content with any pains that I have strength to answer. But this is an evil which every one who is not stark blind may see in polemical writings ; almost their constant
end is, Xoyojtta;^/^, -TrifiauToXoyia, d'^roXoy'ia: whence saith the apostle, Vivirai (p^cvos,
ipis, (iXae-f/'/ifiicei, ii'iroyoia.t -Troi/rtfa), '^rapaSia.rfiSai. Having, through the providence of God, whether on my part necessarily or wisely I know not (0io; oT?s), engaged in public for the defence of some truths of the gospel (as I believe), I was never so foolish as to expect an escape without opposition. He that puts forth a book sentences his reason to the gantelope : every one will strive to have a lash at it in its course; and he must be content to bear it. It may be said of books of this kind as Menander said of children (things often compared), To yivta-fai warifcc va'iiui, Xy^rx, ^ofoj, (p;«»r/;, — "An.xiety, fear, and trouble, aitend their authors." For my own part, as I provoked no man causelessly in any of my writings, defended no other doctrine professedly but the common faith of the protestant churches, of which I found the Saints of God in possession when I became first acquainted with them, so I have from the beginning resolved not to persist in any controversy, as to the public de- bate of it, when once it begins to degenerate into a strife of words and pei'sonal reflections. So much the more grievous is it to me to engage in this now in hand; of the necessity whereof I shall give the reader a brief account. That as to the matter of the contest between Mr B. and myself, Mr B. is my witness that I gave not the occasion of it ; so as to the manner of its handling, that I carried not on the provocation, I appeal to all that have read my treatise which is now animad- verted on. The same person " et initium dedit et modum abstulit," Some free- dom of expression that, perhaps, I might righteously have made use of, to pi-event future exacerbations, I designedly forbore. I know that some men must have BuW/vfls prifi^To.. Expressions concerning them had need be fivpoSpix^^s, or like the letters that men print one of another, which are oftentimes answerable to that of Augustus to Maecenas, " vale mel gemmeum, Medulliaj ebur ex Hetruria, laser