LOGICA GENEVENSIS CONTINUED: OR, THE SECOND PART OF THE Fifth Check to Antinomianism : CONTAINING A Defence of "Jack o'Lantern," and "The Paper Kite," i. e., Sincere Obedience;-of the "Cobweb," i. e., The Evangelical Law of Liberty ;and of the "Valiant Serjeant IF," i. e, The Conditionality of Perseverance, attacked by the Rev. MR. BERRIDGE, M. A., Vicar of Everton, and lute Fellow of Clare-Hall, Cambridge, in his Book called "The Christian World Unmasked." Quandoque bonus dormitut Homerus.-HOR. Mr. Eerridge's uncommon Piety and Zeal give an SECTION I. Mr. Berridge advances the capital Error of the Anti- nomians, when he says, that "Faith must UTTERLY exclude ALL Justification by Works ;" and when he A View of the Doctrine of the Solifidians with respect to the Gospel Law, or the Law of Liberty, which Mr. Berridge indirectly calls a "Cobweb," and with respect to Sincere Obedience, which he directly calls "a Jack o' Lantern."-With two notes, shew- ing, that Mr. Berridge holds the Doctrine of Merit of Congruity, as much as Thomas Aquinas, and III. An Answer to the dangerous Arguments of Mr. Berridge against Sincere Obedience, in which it is proved, that Christ is not "at the head of the Antinomian Preachers" for making our Duty feasible as Redeemed Sinners; and that Mr. Berridge's rash Pleas against Obedience, as the Condition of Eternal Salvation, totally subvert Faith itself, which he calls "the Total Term of all Salvation." IV. When Mr. Berridge grants, that "our Damnation is wholly from ourselves," he grants that our Salvation is suspended upon some Term which through Grace we have power to fulfil; and in this Case, Unconditional Reprobation, Absolute Election, and Finished Salvation, are false Doctrines; and Calvin's whole System stands upon a sandy Foundation: With a Note upon a Pamphlet called “A Check upon Checks." V. Mr. Berridge candidly grants the Conditionality of Perseverance, and consequently of Election, by showing much respect to "Sergeant IF," who 66 guards the Camp of Jesus:" But soon picking a quarrel with the valiant Sergeant, oddly discharges him as a Jew, opens the Camp to the Antinomians, by opposing to them only a sham Sentinel, and shows the Foundation of Calvinism in a most striking light. CONCLUSION. In which the Author expresses again his brotherly Love for Mr. Berridge, makes an Apology for the Mistakes of his pious Antagonist, and accounts for the Oddity of his own Style in answering him, INTRODUCTION, HAVING animadverted on Mr. Hill's Finishing Stroke, 1 proceed to ward off the first blow, which the Rev. Mr. Berridge has given to practical religion. But before I mention his mistakes, I must do justice to his person. It is by no means my design to represent him as a divine, who either leads a loose life, or intends to hurt the Redeemer's interest. His conduct as a Christian is exemplary; his labours as a Minister are great; aud I am persuaded that the wrong touches, which he gives to the ark of godliness, are not only undesigned, but intended to do God service. There are so many things commendable in the pious Vicar of Everton, and so much truth in his Christian World unmasked, that I find it a hardship to expose the unguarded parts of that performance. But the cause of this hardship is the ground of my apology. Mr. Berridge is a good, an excellent inan, therefore the Antinomian errors, which go abroad into the world with his letters of recommendation, which speak in his evangelical strain, and are armed with the poignancy of his wit, cannot be too soon pointed out, and too carefully guarded against. I flatter myself that this consideration will procure me his pardon, for taking the liberty of dispatching his valiant "Sergeant," with some doses of rational and scriptural antidotes for those who have drunk into the pleasing mistakes of his book, and want his piety to hinder them from carrying speculative into practical Antinomianism. |