not or whilst an Unbeliever or before he believed And is it not good nay best to keep to the form of sound Words For tho it is said that God justifies the Vngodly yet they are not ungodly when justified true that excludes all previous Qualifications to Faith but not that God justifies an Unbeliever that is in his Sins in the first Adam Obj. Is it not Christ and his Righteousness that which justifies us or is the matter of our Justification Will ye make Faith to be a Cause or the condition of our Justification before God Answ No by no means tho I know some Learned Men and sound in the Faith seem to hint as if Faith was a condition of our Justification But how that which God himself gives to us by his free and absolute Promises can be a condition of the Covenant or of our Justification I see not that which is part of the Covenant on God's part can't be the Condition of it on our part Also they call Faith the instrumental cause of Justification which we must leave them to explain they mean I think but as the Hand that applies a Plaister is a cause of the Cure We must say with a late learned Author Faith is no qualifying Condition nor any procuring Cause of our Justification tho without Faith God declares no Man a justified Person 2. Faith doth not cause or render the Satisfaction of Christ any ways the more satisfactory unto God for God was as much satisfied in Christ for his Elect before Faith as after tho the Satisfaction Merits and Righteousness of Christ are not applied so as the Man is pronounced a justified Person until he is united to Christ by the Spirit and so is help'd to believe on him Faith being the Hand that receives or that apprehends Jesus Christ Brethren The Holy Spirit in our Union with Christ puts upon us the Robe of Righteousness which was not upon us before we obtained that Spiritual Union it is offered unto all but it is upon all them that believe All our Orthodox Divines agree with us that Faith neither as a Habit or Grace or as an Act much less in respect of the Fruits thereof justifies us when therefore 't is said we are justified by Faith it intends not any Moral or Physical Causality in Faith as a Qualification but only by virtue of the Object it apprehends Mr. Bradford that Holy Martyr saith Not the Action it self of believing as it is a quality in Man doth so deserve but because it taketh that Dignity and Virtue from the Object Jesus Christ We do not mean that Faith by it self and of it self doth justify us which is only as an Instrument whereby we apprehend Christ who is our Justice Faith was accounted to Abraham for Righteousness not the action by which but that which he did believe or Faith not in respect of it self apprehending but in respect of the Object apprehended Faith justifies a Sinner in the sight of God not because of those other Graces that do always accompany it or of good Works which are the Fruits thereof nor as if the Grace of Faith or any act thereof were imputed to him for Justification but only as an Instrument by which he receiveth and applieth Christ and his Righteousness For any to say otherwise is to render Faith to be part of our Reconciliation or Satisfaction to God which is to lessen the Merits of Christ and take the Crown from his Head and make Justification not to be by Grace alone or by Christ alone Faith we know is the Creatures act tho given of God or a Grace bestowed upon us by which we are helped so to do yet with the Heart Man belâ—eveth c. The Doctrine of some Men about Faith justifying the Sinner tends to bring in a new Covenant of Works i.e. a mild Law of Faith and sincere Obedience in the stead of the severe Law of perfect Obedience and plainly renders the Satisfaction and Righteousness of Christ defective or insufficient as if Faith was part of our justifying Righteousness or as if we were not fully reconciled to God by the death of his Son but that he was only reconcileable and that it is Faith and sincere Obedience indeed which compleats that Reconciliation Brethren Faith I say again is said to justify us only in respect of the Object Jesus Christ whom it apprehended and it is no part of the matter which doth justify us the Righteousness of Christ being alone the material cause of our Justification nor doth Faith add any thing to Christ's Satisfaction or to his Righteousness which alone is imputed to us to our Justification before God Tho we say that Righteousness is not imputed to the actual and personal Justification of any Man till he has actual Union with Christ yet I deny that Faith in order of Nature is before Union or at least before the reception of the Spirit in order to Union tho not as to time for Christ takes hold of us before we can take hold of him also Faith is a Fruit of the Spirit and sure the Seed must be sown before there can be Fruit. We are passive in Regeneration but not in the act of Faith But when a poor Sinner receives the Spirit then it is that he in his own Person is declared and pronounced righteous he being in Christ is pardoned and actually acquitted and discharged from that Legal Guilt or from that Obligation he lay under to Condemnation in the first Adam the Sentence being then taken off and he loosed from those Fetters and Chains by which he was before bound and this therefore is more no doubt than simply justified in his own Conscience For tho Christ as our Surety when he rose from the dead received a full discharge for us yet until we are united by the Spirit unto him by which Faith is wrought in our Souls and our Eyes are inlightned we have not this great Blessing made over to us Mind that Passage of the Apostle again By whom now we have received the Atonement Now the Case is altered now we are in Christ Jesus Brethren we have not the Portion until we have the Person now the Law 's Sentence and Condemnation can no more reach us now that Husband is dead that cruel Husband and we are married unto another now we are actually acquitted or not till now personally justified Some add justified Foro Dei or in God's sight but so expressing it I fear hath clouded the matter because known to God before him or in his sight were all his Works from everlasting Justified before God may be taken two ways 1. In distinction from that before Men or in a Man 's own Conscience if they mean that I grant it 2. In respect had to that sight he hath of things who calls things and seeth things that are not as if they were As Abraham is called the Father of many
Faith was true and saving not a dead Faith good Works being the Fruits of saving Faith If this was not so how could he say in vers 23. that The Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness not his Act of Faith but the Object his Faith believed in or took hold of The Justification of a Sinner in a proper Sense is one thing and the Justification of a Believer as such a one is another thing How then can Mr. Clark say the Justification Paul speaks of and that which James speaks of is all one and the same thing This Man contends for a mild Law certainly the Moral Law remains a perpetual Rule of perfect Obedience let this Man shew us where and how he can prove that God in the Gospel only commands sincere imperfect Obedience to the Moral Law the Law surely loses no part of its sanction by the Gospel that is as holy just and good as ever Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect We are still to love the Lord our God with all our Hearts with all our Souls and with all our Strength Our Faith Love Patience c. ought to be perfect the Law or Commands of the Gospel know no bounds or limits tho the Law is abrogated as a Covenant of Works yet not as a rule of perfect Obedience See what Reverend Mr. Cross says i.e. Either the Gospel Law or Law of Faith must require perfection in those Duties or some other Divine Law or else God would become an indulger of Sin by Law if it be by another Law viz. the Moral that requires perfect Obedience and this sincere only then these Laws differ but in degree not in Specie or Kind because both require the same Duties or Works and so this Gospel Law would be no distinct Law but only the measure of sincere Obedience would receive a new Use of its giving right c. which we own it has to wit to be an index or mark of our Justification tho we can't own that use of giving right c. a distinct Law they must hold or quit their Cause or this Foundation of it for the Text sets the Law of Faith down as an opposite Law to that of Works and that they hold then if it be a perfect Law requiring perfect Obedience there is no possibility of Justification in this Life but this is not all the difficulty for it 's the adding a load to a burden Is this Gospel to a Man that is not able to perform the least part of the Moral Law to tell him that God or the Mediator requires perfect Obedience to it for the future and another too Or is this Gospel to say you shall perish eternally and have the Fire of Hell seven times heated if you obey not the Gospel it's indeed a conditional Hell but it is more dreadful than the Fire of Hell and the condition is more impossible because we have less Power to shun this difficulty of two perfect Laws Mr. Bull owns no other perfect Law but the Gospel since Man fell but by shunning one difficulty he falls into as great 1 Then the Moral Law is abrogated besides the falseness of the Doctrine it self for it is impossible that should cease to be our duty to love God with all our Hearts and Souls What advantage brings in Christ's Death to abrogate one perfecting Law and establish another here is little Gospel A second difficulty i. e. we must either say Christ has purchased to us pardon for Sins against the Gospel Law or none at all but that one Sin of Adam's if the Moral Law be abrogated after the fall we never sinned against any Law but the Gospel for we were under no other Law according to him c. Thus Mr. Cross Is not much of our Obedience under the Gospel Obedience to the Moral Law Nay is not the Moral Law the Rule of all our Obedience to God in all positive Gospel-precepts Reader This mild Law of theirs they say requires sincere Obedience as the condition of Justification now there is no sincere Obedience without it be universal c. how then may this fill a poor Christian with terror and slavish Fear I do all I hope sincerely but I may not obey universally some Precept through ignorance I may lie short of I can't tell when my Obedience is full Also according to them I can be but partially justified in this Life and therefore I am partially condemned and thus the Creature hangs till Death between Heaven and Hell Ah poor England poor Church of God where are thy brave old Heroes that stood up to maintain the Truths of Christ What Apostacy is here from the Orthodox Faith what decay of doctrinal and practical Christianity what dark Clouds spread over our Heavens How are many fallen from the Faith But I must leave Mr. Clark to an abler Pen I design'd no more than to make a few Remarks to provoke some others to reply to the Argumentative part of his Book which I see no great difficulty to answer Now that the Lord would scatter this Cloud and all other dangerous Errors let it be all our Prayers both Day and Night Yet I doubt not but the present opposition against this Fundamental Point of Faith will cause the Truth in the end to shine more clear and bright which the Lord grant in his Infinite Mercy to the praise of his own Glory Amen FINIS The Scope of the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 8.3 Rom. 3. Parts of the Text opened The Terms explained Rom. 8.33 1 Cor. 11.32 Eph. 2.3 Rom. 6.14 Rom. 13. ult The 2d and 3d Verses of Rom. 8. explained Rom. 7.12 1 Cor. 1.30 Joh. 1.16 The Method proposed 1st Proposition by way of premise The Elect fell in the first Adam and were brought under Condemnation All Men by Nature under Guilt of Original Sin Rom. 3.12 Psal 51.5 Job 25.4 Caryl on ob chap. 25. p. 706. Rom. 5.14 All Men naturally under the Guilt of actual Sins Rom. 6.23 All Men by nature Children of Wrath. Eph. 2.3 Rom. 8.7 Psal 7.11 Psal 5.5 Rom. 3.19 Rom. 10.4 Gal. 4.4 Vers 5. Heb. 9.15 The Elect were once under the Curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 Gal. 2.10 Rom. 6.17 Heb. 9.19 20 21. Rom. 5.10 Heb. 10.14 Vers 11. 2 Pet. 1.4 Sinners that believe not condemned already Joh. 3.18 and 36. Rom. 5.1 Rom. 3.28 Gal. 2.16 Gal. 3.24 Act. 13.35 Joh. 3.36 Rom. 4.5 Faith no procuring cause or condition of Justification Rom. 3.22 Fox p. 1659. The later Helvetian Confession Zanchy on Phil. 3. Assemblies large Catechism Rom. 5.11 Before God or in his sight all things were from Eternity Rom. 4.17 An Elect Sinner not pronounced justified before he is in Christ Rom. 5.17 When we receive Christ we receive his Righteousness and not till then Justification makes a relative Change Luk. 15.32 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. There was a federal Vnion of the Elect with Christ The Elect virtually justified when Christ rose from the dead Dr. Tho. Goodwin Christ set forth p. 76. Pag. 77. Ministers preach to Sinners as under Wrath and Condemnation Joh. 8.33 35 36. See his Book Christ alone exalted p. 235. The Holy Spirit in Convictions represents to Sinners their state is bad Eph. 2.3 Rom. 3.22 1 Cor. 6.11 1 Joh. 3.14 Called Scripture-Justification In his Introduction Pag. 1 5. Pag. 62. Pag. 85. * Phrasis hac side justificamur metonymica est aquipollet huic merito Christi side apprehensio justificamur Welleb Compend pag. 163. Can. viii Pag. 18. Joh. 8.36 Cant. 4.7 Chap. 5.2 Gal. 2.21 * But certainly all may see it is in effect the same with the Papists 2 Vol. on Gal. pag. 210. Gal. 1.8 Rom. 3.27 Pag. 43. Pag. 100. Pag. 96. Pag. 97. Rom. 4.11 Rom. 5.19 Dr. Owen on Justification p. 307. Pag. 105. Pag. 85. Pag. 46. Rom. 8.3 Mr. Sam. Clark Pastor of the Church at Bennetfink his Medulla Theologiae or the Marrow of Divinity Pag. 280. Rom. 8.3 Rom. 3.31 Rom. 11.6 Pag. 71. See Pool's Annot. Jam. 2.23 Mat. 5.48 Serm. on Rom. 4.5
Nations when he was not then the Father of one Isaac God saw us in the first Adam condemned and in the second Adam justified at one and the same time even from Eternity but will it follow from thence that we were both actually condemned and actually justified from Eternity yet as our Annotators note concerning Abraham he was the Father of many Nations in God's sight or before him who as Paul adds quickneth the dead and that calleth things that are not as if they were Will any say as to matter of Fact that thing is when God's Word says it is not now they affirm this because it was so to God or before him who beholds things long before they are or do exist or have a being So then my Brethren the Controversy if there be any lies not in the case of Justification in respect had to what a sight God hath of it or how matters are before his eyes before whom or in whose sight all things were done from Eternity which were not actually done until things and persons in time did or do actually exist But it lies in this viz. when or at what time a Sinner is pronounced a righteous Person being actually pardoned acquitted and discharged from Condemnation or personally justified as to matter of Fact 3. Brethren that Righteousness by which we are justified is call'd a Gift Do we receive the Righteousness of Christ before we received Christ himself Moreover certainly no Man receives Christ till he receives the Spirit of Christ Now the Apostle declares expresly that when we receive Grace at leastwise in the Seed then also we receive the Gift of Righteousness They that receive abundance of Grace and the Gift of Righteousness c. From the whole it is evident that until we do receive Christ and have Union with him we receive not his Righteousness or are not personally justified but are under the Condemnation of the Law Seventhly Moreover this further will appear because Justification of our Persons makes a relative Change tho not a real Change a relative Change is a Change of the State of the Person viz. He that was dead dead in Law is brought into a State of Life there is my Brethren the Life of Justification and the Life of Sanctification I mean the former viz. the Life of Justification This thy Brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found He that was a child of Wrath is now become a Child of God Such who were not God's People are now his People He that was condemned is now actually justified But if we were delivered from Condemnation before we were in Christ Jesus and so personally justified this Act of Justification makes no such relative change for then it will follow that the Elect were never dead in Law but alive and in a good State when Unbelievers and gross Sinners Swearers Drunkards Whoremongers Thieves and what not for such were some of you And not the Children of Wrath before but the Children of God and not condemned but justified not under the Law but under Grace Or else this Absurdity will follow viz. that a Man may be dead and alive a Child of Wrath and yet a Child of God be actually condemned and yet be actually justified at one and the same time Obj. The Elect we say are not justified in their own Consciences or have not the evidence of it until they believe They were acquitted and justified before but they did not know it Ans This will not help nor alter the case in the least the purport of this is i.e. my state was good but I did not know it I was alive a Child of God and Justified but did not know it or had not the feeling or sensible comfort and evidence of it in my own Soul I had a personal Right and Title to the eternal Inheritance but the Deeds and Evidence were not in my own sight Brethren it is one thing to have a thing in my own actual Possession and another thing to know I have it I am not a speaking of what a sight God might have of Men or how he sees or how things are before him before whom or in whose sight the World was from eternity but of things that actually be or do actually exist and take hold of Persons c. the Decree and Purpose of God without the execution of it brings nothing actually to be or to exist tho his Decree doth render the thing certain to be in time I deny not that fundamental and representative Justification of the Elect in Christ their Head or as a common Person which is before Faith which lies in Christ making full Satisfaction for all their Sins and meriting Faith for them I also grant a federal Union of the Elect with Christ as our Surety and blessed Sponsor from Eternity who also then received a grant of a discharge for them from Condemnation upon his holy Compact and Covenant with the Father on the account of what he was to do and suffer which made Justification and Salvation sure for them all see 2 Tim. 1.9 Tit. 1.2 I say it was sure for them 1. By God's eternal and unchangable Decree and Purpose 2. By virtue of that Covenant made between the Father and the Son in behalf of the Elect from eternity 3. And also by the Death and Resurrection of Christ for Christ was actually justified when he rose from the dead Now we grant that he was not justified as a single but as a publick Person viz. as the Head and Representative of all the Elect. See what a Reverend Author says For this was a legal acquittance given to Christ for all our Sins and so to us also considered as in him his Death was but the Satisfaction and Payment but this is the first Act of absolution yea and it is the Original Act which is upon record between God and Christ and our Justification and Atonement when we are justified by Faith in Christ is but a copy fetch'd from this Roll and Court-Sentence then pronounced But notwithstanding this I say tho Christ was thus justified and we virtually in him when he arose from the Dead and he received for us an actual discharge as our Surety yet the Elect do not receive an actual discharge or are not in their own Persons acquitted or pronounced justified and righteous Persons until they have actual Union with Christ and such as call this a contradiction do but betray their own Ignorance Take the said Doctor again in what he farther says viz. saith he Lest there be a mistake let me add this that it is necessary that we be justified in our own Persons by Faith notwithstanding this former Act thus legally passed whereby we lay hold upon what God did thus before for us in Christ to the end that God upon our believing may according to his own Rules justify his justifying of us unto all
they were Things before God or in his sight is one thing and things as to us or as actually existing is another thing That God sees the Elect justified and glorified too from Eternity is evident who are not actually and personally justified nor indeed can be said so to be until they personally exist and are in Jesus Christ 2. That to be federally fundamentally and representatively justified in Christ is one thing and to be actually and personally justified is another thing or Christ's receiving our Discharge and Justification as our Head and Surety for us is one thing and the application thereof or his giving of it out unto us pronouncing us just and righteous before God in our own Consciences and before all the World is another thing Thirdly We infer from hence that God magnifies his rich Grace exceedingly to us who believe or that the work of Grace is a glorious work upon the Soul and that Union with Christ is to be esteemed as one of the richest manifestations of his electing Love Fourthly That all Men out of Christ may see cause from hence to tremble considering what a woful State they are in and so strive to fly to Christ with speed Fifthly That such who are in Christ have cause to admire God's Free Grace and may from hence also take in a most precious and rich Cordial of the highest comfort and consolation for therefore Now there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus But no more at this time A POSTSCRIPT containing a few Reflections upon some Passages in Mr. Clark's new Book intituled Scripture-Justification NEver more need for all that are Orthodox I mean who are established in the Doctrine of Justification by the imputed Righteousness of Jesus Christ or by his active and passive Obedience alone according to the Scripture and as maintained by most of the Antient Fathers and all our worthy modern Protestant Divines to cement together in Love and Union and to pass by small matters of Difference considering what a grand design is carrying on by the great Enemies of the true Christian Religion for Satan never appeared in his Instruments more bold and bare-fac'd against this grand Fundamental of Christianity viz. that of Justification since blessed Luther's days who as an Instrument with others gave him such a Wound than at this present time Reader we had need bestir our selves and rouse up with holy Zeal for God for all even the Foundation is struck at Just as this precedent Sermon was going to the Press a Book came to my hand wrote by Mr. Samuel Clark a Man of great Learning and who indeed writes without much seeming Gall or Invectives against any Man's Person the better to vent his Indignation against the Doctrine he opposes striving to revive and maintain the Baxterian Error with such Confidence and barefacedness that if some able Pen do not answer him it may do much harm to weak and unwary Christians He says He would not for a World lift up the least thought much less a Finger or Pen or utter the least word derogatory to the free Grace of God or cast the least blemish or speck upon the Reformation or the worthy Persons that were Instruments in it Yet he hath been so unhappy as to attempt the razing and utter overthrowing of that grand Truth in which mainly the Reformation consisted viz. Justification by the imputation of Christ's active and passive Obedience through the free Grace of God apprehended and received by Faith alone without any thing wrought in us or done by us not by imputing Faith or any other act of Evangelical Obedience but the imputing of Christ's Obedience and Satisfaction exclusively of all things else whatsoever And that Faith is only said to justify us objectively or in respect had to the Object Jesus Christ which it taketh hold of To this purpose Luther Melancthon Calvin Zanchy Perkins Ames Dr. Vsher Dr. Goodwin Dr. Owen Dr. Sibs Dr. Preston Norton Burroughs Caryl Pemble the Assembly and indeed all other Antient and Modern Writers generally But contrary to this Doctrine see what Mr. Clark saith viz. That justifying Faith is the same thing in substance with effectual Calling Repentance Regeneration Conversion Sanctification Renovation forming of Christ in the Soul c. Ans What now is the Purport of this Notion Why that Faith in a large or comprehensive Sense i.e. Faith with all other Graces and inherent Righteousness God hath instituted and ordained to be our justifying Righteousness in his Sight as in other places in his Book he doth assert without mincing the matter Again he saith I would avoid many figurative Expositions of Scripture which others are feign to make use of to salve their Phaenomena as when we are said to be justified by Faith they take it Metonymically for the Object of Faith viz. the Righteousness of Christ which what is it else than to make the Scripture a meer Nose of Wax and a Leaden Rule and to comply with our Fancies c. Answ This is much like Bellarmine in another case it appears the Doctrine we are established in and upon which we build all our Hopes of Justification and eternal Life is but a Fancy What is now become of that Doctrine Paul preached and all our worthy Reformers How will this make the Papists and Quakers smile 'T is not according to Mr. Clark the Object of Faith not Jesus Christ that Faith apprehends and we alone trust in but it is Faith that justifieth us comprehensively taken that is Faith Love Charity good Works and sincere Obedience that is imputed to us to our Justification in the sight of God And that so far as you act in Faith Holiness and in sincere Obedience so far you are justified For he positively affirms viz. That our Justification at present while we are in this World is but partial imperfect and incompleat These are his Words Answ Now if we are not perfectly justified it follows then we are not perfectly delivered from Condemnation nor acquitted from the Guilt of all Sin and so not in a state of Life nor made free indeed by the Son of God and then also Christ's Dove is not without spot nor undefiled in respect to Justification And then also it follows as the Papists say there is no assurance can be had or attained in this Life or until Death nor can we be said to be compleat in Christ besides it confounds Justification with Sanctification nay it makes them but one and the same thing Nay more that by a Law Righteousness is to be obtained and so Christ is dead in vain Now I profess I can see but little difference between this Doctrine and that of Bellarmin's and other Papists If famous Luther and other worthy Reformers had wrought no better Reformation than this the Church of God would have received but little benefit from them nor would the Papists have been so angry with them
but the Notion of Mr. Clark and his Abettors certainly tends to raze and root out that antient Doctrine which the Apostles preached and those worthy Men laboured to restore about Justification Did Bellarmine ever deny that their good Works and inherent Holiness which they made the matter of their Justification before God were performed by the Grace of God and the Assistance of the Holy Spirit This Man only excludes legal Works from having any thing to do in our Justificâ—â—â—on but includes all Gospel-Works and sincere Oâ—edience he asserts these kind of Works and free â—â—ace are consistent and because not derogatory in point of Salvation therefore not in Justification He says that we must allow of Gospel-Works or Holiness to concur to Justification and this Doctrine will appear c. Answ Yet he would feign insinuate that this Doctrine of his is in effect the same with that of the old received Doctrine of our Divines who teach saith he That the sola fides solum yet not fides sola i.e. solitaria justificat tho Faith alone yet not that Faith which is alone does justify What 's the Purport of this Why because the Faith of God's Elect by which alone we apprehend or receive the Object Jesus Christ by whom we are justified is attended with good Fruits as Sanctification and Holiness by which it is known from a false and dead Faith therefore Faith good Works and Holiness is the matter or that which doth justify us before God or because Faith in respect of its own excellent Nature doth purify and sanctify us therefore God hath instituted and ordained Faith and inherent Holiness to justify us and because inherent Holiness and Sanctification tends to make us meet for Heaven therefore it is our only Title for Heaven Is it not said that God imputes Righteousness without Works and justifies him that works not How then do Works concur with or are included or joined with that Righteousness that is our Justification before God Take a Passage of Reverend Perkins viz. It is objected that true Faith is never alone I answer saith he thus Faith is never alone in the Person justified nor in Godly Conversation but is joined with all other Vertues yet in the act and office of Justification it is alone the Eye in the Body is not alone being joined with all other Parts Hand Foot c. nevertheless the Eye in seeing is alone for no part of the Body seeth but the Eye He shews that Faith alone is the Eye which sees the Object Jesus Christ and apprehends him and his Righteousness whose Righteousness only is the material cause of our Justification before God See the Assembly's Confession c. All whom God effectually calleth he freely justifieth not by infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and by accounting and accepting their Persons as righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone not by imputing Faith it self the act of believing nor any other Evangelical Obedience as their Righteousness but by imputing the Obedience and Satisfaction of Christ unto them they receiving and resting on him and his Righteousness by Faith which Faith they have not of themselves it is the Gift of God This agrees with that Doctrine Paul preached to the Romans and Galatians c. But from this Doctrine Mr. Clark and many more are departed what saith the Apostle If we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than what you have received let him be accursed Paul as Mr. Perkins notes saw the Galatians to be corrupted in the point of Justification false Teachers being got among them who preached Justification by Christ and by the works of the Law they did not exclude Christ's Merits but brought in the works of the Law with Christ in Justification before God as some now do the works of a new Law i.e. Gospel Law But let them tremble Where 's Paul's Doctrine for it is palpable this new Doctrine excludes not boasting or ground of boasting I argue thus viz. That Law doth not exclude boasting that commands works of Obedience as the Condition of Acceptance and Justification But this new Law these Men speak of commands works of Obedience as the Condition of our Acceptance and Justification Ergo It doth not exclude boasting But Mr. Clark intimates That works of the Law performed by our own Strength or without special assistance only admit of boasting Answ The Papists say that all their Works and inherent Righteousness are performed by God's Grace or special Assistance yet how do they boast Let the Creature perform good Works c. by what Assistance he will yet the Works are his Works and if such by which he is justified they admit of boasting Reader The Righteousness this Man contends for by which we are justified is not the Righteousness of one but the Righteousness of many i.e. every Man 's own Faith and sincere Obedience contrary to what Paul affirms Rom. 5.17 18 19. Christ did not saith Mr. Clark obey the Law in Man's stead Answ Then say I he hath not fulfilled all Righteousness for us nor answered all the demands of the Law nor doth God's Holy Nature and Justice require a perfect Righteousness to our Justification in his sight Was not perfect Righteousness part of that Debt we owed to God If so who pays the Debt for us the Penalty was but one part of our Debt Then also it seems the Law of perfect Righteousness doth not result from the Purity and Holiness of God but only from the Sovereignty of his Will not from the rectitude of his Nature Moreover why then did not God give this mild Law of Faith and sincere Obedience at first and so have saved himself of buying it so dear i.e. with the Price of the Blood of his own Son Christ's active Obedience he affirms is not imputed to us nay he says that imputing Christ's Righteousness to us is not a Scripture Expression 't is not found in any place of Scripture tho he says he denies not the thing Answ Righteousness was imputed to Abraham and he was the Father of all Elect Gentiles That Righteousness might be imputed to them also Now it must be Abraham's own Righteousness and so our own Righteousness that is imputed or else the Righteousness of Christ Again He may as well say Adam's active Disobedience was not imputed to us For as by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made righteous As Adam's Disobedience in his first Sin was imputed to all his Seed so is the Obedience of Christ imputed to all his or to all in him This Text I find he knows not how to answer see pag. 97 98. but boggles with it Obj. They object if the Righteousness of Christ be made ours we may be said to be the Saviours of the World as he was or to
Duty and that Debt we owed to God Dare you deny Christ as our Surety paid it Certainly had he not fulfilled the Preceptory part of the Law as well as born the Penal part for us we could not be justified from the Charge and Curse thereof But why must we because we say Surety hath done this be justified by the Law or Covenant of Works Are we Saviours or Mediators because we have his Righteousness imputed to us of meer Grace Is the Debtor the Surety because the Surety's Payment is accepted for him The old Covenant-Righteousness was an inherent Righteousness a Righteousness in a Man's self i. e. Adam's own Righteousness not a Righteousness imputed but inherent the Righteousness of your new Law is a Legal or Law-Righteousness and looks more like an old Covenant-Righteousness because 't is inherent or infused into you not put upon you or imputed to you as being wrought out for you without you And Sir is there no favour shewed to us because our Surety has paid this Debt Was it not great Love great Grace and Favour for God to accept of a Surety nay to substitute his own Son in our stead to satisfy all the Demands of the Law and Justice True we are not simply dealt with in a way of Mercy I mean pardoned only but in a way of Justice and Righteousness also Justification has more than Pardon in it as your Notion allows we found not the Surety but God found him therefore all is of God's free Grace tho also all is by the Obedience of Christ i. e. by his keeping Law for us and dying in our stead To plead for a Righteousness by Obedience to any mild Law is no other than to plead for a Legal Righteousness in our selves to justify us and that is as opposite to the Righteousness of God as the trusting in the Moral and Ceremonial Law it being opposite to Grace the Righteousness therefore of the Law by which no Flesh can be justified is a Righteousness rested in or trusted to that is inherent in us whatsoever Thoughts a Person may have of it i. e. as perfectly or only sincerely kept But to proceed Did not God send his Son that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us c that is in our Nature in our Head Christ and Believers as I said before are one in a Law-sense and evident it is that the Righteousness of the Law is not fulfilled in us in Sanctification because that is imperfect that is far from fulfilling it and there is no other way it can be said to be fulfilled in us but by imputation Moreover by Christ's coming to keep the Law in our Nature God hath magnified the Law and made it honourable and hereby we do not make void the Law through Faith but establish the Law in that the Son of God in Man's Nature yielded perfect Obedience thereto and died for our breach of it whose Obedience is ours by imputation to our Justification at his Bar. Pray observe that through Faith we attain a perfect Righteousness i. e. are interested in the most compleat Obedience of Christ to the Moral Law but now if Christ only satisfied for our breach of the Law by his Death and his perfect active Obedience has no hand in or is not the material Cause of our Justification before God how do we by believing in him establish the Law I say the Righteousness of the Law which is so called which the Apostle decries as unable to justify us is a resting in or trusting to our inperfect Conformity to it or to any other Law tho never so sincerely performed for this sort of Righteousness is always opposed to the Righteousness of Faith or of Grace If it be of Works of any Works whatsoever it is not of Grace all works of sincere Obedience to any Law of God are alike materially good But God has not ordained any Law of sincere Obedience to justify us because Grace excludeth all Works done by us in point of Justification in God's Sight We can no more be justified by the Law of the Gospel i.e. the New Law than by the Old Mr. Clark says The Justification Paul speaks of in the Romans and that which James speaks of is the same And further he says to be justified by Faith according to Paul and by Works according to James is all one Justification by Works springing from Faith is Justification by Faith in this Sense Answ Now we and the Orthodox say that Paul speaks of our Justification before God or of the Person James of the Justification of our Faith good Works demonstrating our Faith to be of the right kind or do declare to Men and to our own Consciences that we are justified Persons Paul speaks of the Justification of a Sinner James of the Justification of a Believer as it is said the People justified God that is declared he was just so our Gospel-Works springing from Faith declare that our Faith is true and we sincere Believers Yet he would have his Reader believe he is no Heterodox Person in this Point Paul speaks of Justification and Absolution of a Sinner at God's Bar through the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness James speaks of the Manifestation or Declaration of that Justification to the Conscience Paul speaks of the cause of our Justification before God James of the signs of it before Men. Paul speaks of the Imputation of Righteousness James of the Declaration of Righteousness Paul speaks of the Office of Faith by God's Ordination as it apprehends Christ c. James of the quality of Faith or of its own excellent Virtue Paul speaks of the Justification of a Person James of the Justification of the Faith of that Person Paul speaks of Abraham how justified James of Abraham's good Works as already justified and as declaring him so to be Paul speaks of Justification in a proper Sense as God's gracious act through Christ's Righteousness whereby a Man is imputed or counted Just and Righteous in God's Sight James speaks of Justification whereby we are not made Just before God but declared to be justified being sincere Believers and free from Hypocrisy Paul had to do with Legal and Judaizing Christians such who either brought in a Law or a self-Righteousness instead of God's Grace in imputing Christ's Righteousness or else setting up an inherent Righteousness with it as these Men do now And James had to do with such who might be justly called Antinomians i.e. such that abused the Grace of God or Doctrine of free Grace to encourage themselves in Sin boasting of a false and presumptuous Faith a dead Faith Now James's work is to shew the effects and nature of true Faith therefore he speaks not of Justification in a proper Sense when he says Abraham was justified by Works but declaratively only Faith wrought not with Abraham's Works in the Justification of his Person at God's Bar but in declaring and evincing that his