Free Grace AND a Free Gospel. II

In our last post we saw how Thomas Boston was so affected by a little book called The Marrow of Modern Divinity. A book with such a title written today would be a compendium of errors, but the book Boston found was published in 1646 (A second part was published in 1648, but Boston found only the first part at Simprin. The full text may be found here). The date tells us that what Boston had found was the marrow of Puritan divinity. The book gathered together the choicest passages out of authors such as Luther, Calvin, Perkins, Thomas Goodwin, Theodore Beza, Thomas Hooker, and a forest of the best British and continental theologians of the 16th and 17th centuries.
The author was one Edward Fisher, an English gentleman and a scholar of Brazenose College, Oxford. He presents the First Part (which is what we are interested in) as a conversation between four men, EVANGELISTA, a Minister of the Gospel. NOMIST, a Legalist. ANTINOMISTA, an Antinomian. NEOPHYTUS, a Young Christian. The subject of their conversation is the place of the Law in the Christian life, the Covenants, the Gospel, and conversion. One of the most enlightening and suprising portions of the book is the section on The Warrant to Believe on Christ. There Fisher presents a wonderfully free Gospel offer. Boston observes on this that, "from this deed of gift and grant [of Mark 16.15] it was that the ministerial offer was appointed to be made in the most extensive terms." Fisher wrote: "Go and tell every man without exception, that here is good news for him; Christ is dead for him; and if he will take him, and accept of his righteousness, he shall have him."
Fisher's concern in the book was to undermine both legalism and antinomianism, and present the full Gospel way of faith and salvation by grace. He had himself been oppressed by legalism for twelve years, labouring to justify himself by works and, when he discovered the true Christian teaching on Justification, he wrote his little book and published it so that all the world cound discover the same thing. His intentions were good, and his little book is as enlightening and arresting today as it was in 1646 and in 1700. Boston's Simprin parishoners were amazed at the change it effected in their young minister's preaching. No longer was it heavy, confused and unsure, it was full of life, power, and authority from the King of Kings.

But Thomas Boston was not to be left to preach this free Gospel unmolested. God willing our next post shall explain why not.