the nâ—â—â—ssary qualification of the Patient or Reâ—â—iver i. e. naturally and legally necessary such as dispositio materiae is said to be in Physicks 3. And as for the notion of an Instrumental Cause of Justification it is past doubt that properly taken neither Faith nor any act of ours is any such nor doth justifie us efficiently at all But if any be so fond of the invented notion of an Instrument as that they will use it though unaptly they must say 1. That it is not an Efficient but a Recipient Instrument Dr. Kendall calls it like Boys catching the Ball in their Hats or as a Spoon is in eating But it is not an Instrument of Physical Reception but Moral To Trust is no more a Reception than to Love The active Acceptance of a Saviour given with his benefits is a Moral Receiving of him which disposeth us as the Condition of the Covenant to receive Justification that is to be justified And in this lax sense you may call it all these if you please viz. a Condition a Dispositive Cause and a Receiving Instrument 4. A Meritorious Cause it is not in a Commutative or strict sense But if you will call that meritorious which is pleasing to God as congruous to his free gift and design of grace whence some are called Worthy in the Gospel so the thing is not to be denied and so all are reconciled Contr. 17. Is justifying Faith an act of the understanding or will Ans Both and therefore it is no one Physical act only nor Instrumental in a strict Physical sense Contr. 18. What act of Faith is it that justifieth as to the Object whether only the belief of the truth of the Promise or of the whole Gospel also or the affiance on Christs Righteousness or on his Truth or on his Intercession or taking him wholly for our Saviour Prophet Priest and King And whether Faith in God the Father and the Holy Ghost do justifie or all these And if but one which is it and wheâ—her all the rest are the works which Paul excludeth from Justification Ans To say that only one Physical act of Faith is it that we are justified by and all the rest are those works is a perverse corrupting of Christianity and not to be heard without detestation For it will utterly confound all persons to find out which that one act is which they indeed can never do And it will contradict the substance of all the Gospel There is no such thing as Faith in Christ which containeth not or includeth not Faith in God as God both as he is our Creator and as reconciled by Christ and as the Giver of Christ to us John 3.16 and as the end of all the work of Redemption Nor is there any such thing as Faith in Christ which is true and saving that includeth not or connoteth not the Knowledge of Christ and Love and Desire and Thankfulness and Consent Nor did ever God tell us of a Faith in Christs Imputed Righteousness only that must justifie us which is not also a Faith in his Person Doctrine Law Promise and Example and his Intercession in the Heavens And to say that only the Act of Recumbency on Christs Righteousness as imputed to our Justification is that act of Faith by which we are justified and that Believing in God his Majesty Truth Wisdom Goodness and the believing in Christ as he is the Prophet Teacher King of the Church and the Resurrection Life and Judge of all and believing in the Holy Ghost as the Sanctifier Comforter and Witness and Advocate of Christ and believing and trusting the Promise of God for Life Eternal or for any grace except Christs Righteousness imputed that all this Faith in God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and all our Love to Christ and desire after him and prayer for his grace and thankfulness for it c. are all none of the Faith which Justification is promised to but are the Works by which no man is justified and that he is faln from grace that seeketh to be justified by such works that is by true Faith in God as God and in Christ as Christ This is a new Gospel subverting Christs Gospel and making Christianity another thing and this without any countenance from the Scripture and contrary to its very scope The Faith by which we are justified is one Moral act containing many Physical acts even our fiducial Consent to the Baptismal Covenant and dedication of our selves to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be our Reconciled God our Saviour and our Sanctifier to give us Pardon Adoption Holiness and Glory which is our Christianity it self as such Contr. 18. But though this be the Faith quae justificat which justifieth us is it not only Recumbency on Christs Imputed Righteousness quâ— talis which hath the Office of Instrumentality and is â—ides quâ— justificans Ans Such quibbling and jingling of a meer sound of words is usual in ludicrous Disputations of Lads But it 's pity it should pass as the last remedy against plain truth in so great a matter First it must be remembred that no Faith justifieth efficiently and therefore neither quae nor quâ justificans is to signifie any such thing but a meer Moral qualification of the recipient subject so that to be justified by Faith is but to be justified by it as that which God hath promised Justification on as the qualifying Condition But if it be not the same thing that is here called Fides quae and quâ but in the first part they speak of the Habit and in the second of the Act had it not been plainer to say The same Habit of Faith hath several Acts as believing in God in Christs Intercession Kingdom c. but none of these Acts do justifie us but one only viz. trusting to the Imputation of his Righteousness And so both the quae and quâ is â—denied to all Acts save that one This is their plain meaning which is denied to be truth and is a human dangerous invention Yet it 's granted them that it is not every Act of Faith that is made the Condition of Justification or Salvation It is necessary that the formal Object Gods Veracitâ— be believed to make it true Faith and that the Gospel or Covenant of Grace be believed with Consent as aforesaid to make it to be the true Christian Faith in essence and it 's of necessity that every thing be believed which we know that God revealeth But it is the Christian Faith that hath the Promise of Justification and that not any one single Act of it but all that is essential to it and that which belongeth but to its Integrity ad bene esse when it existeth is also so far conducible to our Justification as Abrahams believing that Isaac should live and have seed when he went to sacrifice him yet Justification may be without some Acts as Salvation may without many due Acts of Obedience
good men as Mr. Fowler and Mr. Cole by telling the World how unstudied and yet how confident they have been in some points But he did worse in citing Dr Manton that incurr'd their Censure for defending me in that very Pulpit where he saith I Preach'd against such accusers as he and was wholly of my judgment And reciting Arch-Bishop Usher who perused my Confession written against the Antinomians and altered not a word in it before I published it I got him and Mr. Gataker to read it and it was the last Work that Mr. Gataker did in the World as his Epistle and his Sons shew Had the Prefacer read but that one Book my Confession written in 1655. and there the explications of the Coâ—troversies and the many score plain Texts and Arguments and the hundred Testimonies of Synod and Protestant Divines for the Doctrine which I defend and specially if he have read my Explication of all these Controversies in my Catohlick Theology and Methodus and Dispute of Justification and of Justifying Righteousness and yet hâ—d call'd for an answer to Mr. Cole or Mr. Fowler I should have told him that he and such as he are too hard or deaf for me to answer But he impertinently citeth other men that say we are justified by Free Grace and the Righteousness of Christ and not by Works as if he would falsly intimate that I deny it when I neither trust to nor know any Righteousness that is not meerly subordinate to the Rigâ—teousness of Christ and take his Righteousness Habunâ—l Active and Passive to be the only and perfect Meritorious Cause of our Justification and Salvation of Grace and Glory And I wonder not that Paul counted his own Righteousâ—ess by the â—aw to be dung in compaâ—ison of being found in Christ having his Righteoâ—sness But I abhor the opinion that Câ—rist's Righteousness given us is all without us and none within us when Christ dwelleth in us as if 600 Texts of Scripture were all false that speak of the necessity of an inherent and actâ—ve Righteousness I abhor the opinion of any works necessary to Justification or Salvation or to any common Blessings in the sense of Paul such as make the reward to be of Debt and not of Grace I think few men living are less tempted to magnify or trust to any worth of thâ—ir own than I am I look not for a bit of Bread or an hâ—urs Ease or Life or the Pardon or Acceptance of one Duty or of my Holiest Affections so faulty are they by their great Imperfection but meerly from the Free Grace of God and the Merits and Intercession of Christ But should I take all for Errour that this Preface reciteth as such and all for truth that Dr. Crispe and such men write I should look for wiser men than him or Mr. Cole to Anathematize me rather as an Anti-Gospeller than a meer Antinomian And I am the sorryer for the prefixing of tâ—e Twelve Reverend Names when I find by their Epistles that they had read this Preface so full of false Citations and gross Errour and say not a word against it nor against such a Book Mr. Cockain in his Epistle directing it to them that live Godly in Christ Jesus tâ—lls them that the Kingdom of God within them shall never be shaken and the Divine Nature that hath swallowed them up shall for ever satisfy them with variety of Contentments And is not that ours which is within us And is this Kingdom and Divine Nature nothing but that which Christ did without us imputed to be done by us And if this be no subordinate Righteousness what doth the word signify so many hundred times used in the Scripture Let them but grant Justification by Faith and let them assign Faith what Office therein they can reasonably imagine without flat denying all Pauls Doctrine and they will confute Dr. Crispe Say but that Faith is imputed to us for Righteousness and give not the lye to Paul and sure we shall be reconciled But if they will tell us that by Faith Paul meaneth not Faith but Christ's Righteousness they must prove that they have more than a Papal Power to make God's Word by making the Sense when God maketh but the Letter before we can renounce the Scripture and believe them And yet if they will expound Imputation soberly we shall grant them the matter that Christ's Righteousness is accounted to us of God as the only Meritorious Cause of our Justification and Salvation tho' we believe that by Faith Paul meaneth Faith But if they still say that by Faith is meant only the Object of Faith and not the Act could we but get them to forbear Anathematizing Men for being so Learned as to understand English we might yet hope at least to keep the flame of their Zeal out of the thatch within the Chimney by telling them the difference between the Object of Faith as such and the person that is the Object otherwise considered In real Existence Christ tho' not yet believed in is the sole meritorious Cause But it is only in esse cognito that Christ is the Object of Faith And School-Boyes that have no damnable Learning may teach these confident men that the Object as an Object believed is the very form in specie of the Act of Faith It is an Act without it but not this Act viz. the Christian Faith As sin in esse reall is damning but in esse cognito objectivo it is the form of the Grace of Repentance so is it here But if they will grant that by Faith is meant Faith and not say that Paul condemneth Justification by Faith as being but Justification by Works let them but tell us how it justifieth I say not efficiently at all but only as a meer receptive qualification If they say as an Efficient Instrument they give it much more than I do and lay it on the Act or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere as they speak For what else is the Instrument I hope they mean not that Christ and his Righteousness is but the Instrument But of this more after I thought it meet to have recited many hundred Texts of Scripture which they directly contradict which good Men should rather believe than them But if the Reader will peruse my Confession he will find it there done already And I thought it necessary to commend the good Lives of many of them excepting the Schism and Vnrighteousness that Faction doth involve them in lest the Grosness of their Verbal Errours which come from unskilfulness in Words and Methods should tempt many to judge of the Men by their Words and Opinions and should harden the malignant to justifie all their hard Censures and Vsage of the Non-Conformists for their sakes And yet Mr. Crispe is one of my sharp Censurers for charitably excusing Men from lesser Errours than his own while he falsifyeth my Words about our difference with the Papists I have said oft and long agoe that
will end in their Damnation And so Conscience hath no just Accusation in Hell or here as for any sinning against Mercy nor do they owe God thanks for any XLVI Whereas God hath made through Christ a general Act of Grace or Gift of Christ Pardon and Life eternal to all the World on condition of fiducial Acceptance of it as a Free Gift and commanded the Offer of it to all and will doubly condemn the final Refuser and by this Gospel-gift as his Instrument pardoneth and justifieth the believing accepters These men deny the very being of this Gospel Act They deny it to be either Christ's Law or Covenant or Grant XLVII They hold that Christ in our stead did all that the Law bound us to do as if he had been a Husband a Father a Souldier c. XLVIII They say That Christs satisfaction by Sacrifice was the the sâ—lutio ejusdem the payment of the same debts of suffering that was due to us and not properly satisfaction which is Redditio aequivalentis or tantidem alias in dâ—biti as if he had suffered death Spiritual by loss of Holiness and the torments of Hell by an accusing Conscience and the hatred of God XLIX They say That by the Imputation of his Righteousness habitual and actual we are judged perfectly Just that is such as have no sin yet he suffered in our Person for our sins which we are reputed never to have L. They say That the Inherent and Active Righteousness which consisteth in our Faith Repentance Love and sincere Obedience wrought by Christ in us doth not Constitute us Righteous in Subordination to Christs meritorious Righteousness in any part or degree that is that it is Righteousness that in tantum maketh no man ever the more Righteous than if he had it not q.d. Albedâ— quae non fâ—cit album or Patâ—rnitas quae non constituit Patrem not distinguishng universal and particular Righteousness LI. They talk of Justification in meer ignorant confusion not knowing the various senses of the Word or the divers parts of the Work They deride that distinctions which no reason can deny they confound Justifying Efficiently Justifying Constitutively Justifying Virtually by the Gospel-Gift or Law of Grace Justifying by Eâ—iâ—eâ—ce Justifying by Witness Justifying by Plea and Advocate Justifying by Judicial Sentence and by Execution They set the Causes against each others as if it were a thing that had but one Cause when they meet with the word used for Senâ—e and Justification by decisive Judgment they Exclude all the included and supposed Acts that is making Men just Efficiently constitutive Matter and Form or Subject and Relation the Gospel Donation and Condonation and all such previous Acts And when they have done not knowing what they affirm or deny they only cry up the name of Christs Righteousness Imputed not knowing what Imputation is nor what sort of Cause Christs Righteousness is whether Efficient or Material or Formal by Constitution and and think its true Meritorious Causality is too little And in their description excluded sentential decisive Justification which they had denominated it to be making it to be only the Donation of Christs perfect Righteousness as in its Essence to be ours and so joyning the efficient and constitutive Causes yet leaving out the Instrumental Efficient which is the Gospel Donation or Covenant-Gift and calling Faith the instrumental Cause which is no Efficient Cause but a Moral Reception of the Free-Gift and a Moral Qualification as a Receptive Condition for our Title to the possession And whereas God never Judged a man Righteous till he had made him Righteous they say That to Justify is not to make Righteous but to judge Righteous and yet describe judging by making Yea and exclude the sentential Justification at the day of Judgment thinking that it is all perfectly at our first Justification Sentenced As if God the Father Christ as King or Prophet the Holy Ghost the Covenant of Grace Faith had no hand in our Justification but Christs Righteousness imputed only LII They talk much against being Justified by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere the Act of Faith and when they have done ignorantly are the maintainers of it against those that deny it For when we say that Faith doth not Justify us as that Phrase signifieth Efficiency but that we are only said to be Justified by it as signifying a Receptive Condition or Qualification they say that it Justifieth us as an Instrument which is an Efficient Cause And it is the very Act or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere or nothing which they call that Instrument And thus they make a War against themselves while they ignorantly accuse they know not what LIII They blindly take Paul by Works to mean all humane Acts when as 1. The whole scope of his disputing is against Justification by the Worâ—s which are set in opposition or competition with Justification by Christ and by Free Grace such as the Jews thought the keeping of Moses's Law was which is the Law that he doth all along speak of 2. And he expresly describeth the Works that he excluâ—eth to be those that are supposed to make the Reward to be of Debt for the value of the Work and not of Grace And do they know any Protestant that is either for Justification or Salvation by any such Works or for the being of any such 3. And is not Faith a humane Act And doth not Paul most plainly and frequently say we are Justified by it And did he call Faith Works LIV. But to answer this they erre as grosly saying that by Faith imputed for Righteousness and our being Justified by Faith is not meant the the Act or Habit of Faith but the Oâ—ject Christ's Righteousness not sticking hereby to turn all such Texts into worse than Nonsence Put Christ's Righteousness instead of the Word Faith in all those Texts and try how it will run And why is Faith named if it have no part in the Sense They say That it Justifieth not as a Work I say it Justifieth not efficiently at all much less as a Work in Paul's sense that maketh the Reward to be not of Grace but of Debt Nor doth it Justify as an Act in genere for then a quatenâ—s ad omne every Act would Justify nor yet as a meer good Act or Work For then every good Act would Justify as it doth But we are Justified by 1. This Faith in specie which is our Fiducial Reception of Christ. 2. And that as it is formally made by God the condition of our participiation of the Gift which is Christ and his Justifying Meritorious Righteousness Christ is not instead of Faith and Faith is not instead of Christ It is Christ believed in and received and not Christ without belief and reception And when they say That it is the Object and not the Act they multiply the Proclamations of their undistinguishing ignorance unskilfully pretending to distinguish For the Object Christ
20. it 's said The blood of God It s a sad case that partiality can so much prevail as that they that cry out of some doubtful words as damnable heresies do yet think it tolerable language to say that by Imputation of the very sin itself to Christ as his sin he was the greatest sinner the greatest Murderer Lyer Adulterer c. in the world I beseech you abstain from such words till you find them in the Scripture Christ never was reputed of God a sinner who did so much to shew his hatred of it Nor ever took our sin unto him any further than to suffer for it to expiate it And if this be the similitude by which we must understand how his Holiness and Righteousness is made ours it will make all very plain It is ours or imputed to us so far as to be reputed the true cause of our Justification Adoption Sanctification and Glory as our sin was the cause of his suffering and death Cont. 12. Doth not Christs righteousness cause our Sanctification in the same sort of causality as it causeth our Justification Ans The effects are divers but both from the same meritorious cause But it is more unapt to say that it is the material cause of our Sanctification than that it is the material cause of our righteousness Though it merit both Because our habitual and actual holiness hath a nearer material cause in itself which our pardon and meer adoption have not Cont. 13. When it is said that faith is imputed to us for righteousness is it faith indeed that is meant or Christs Righteousness believed on Ans A strange and bold question What occasion hath the Holy Ghost given us to raise such a suspicion that when it is so often said by him that Faith is imputed or accounted for righteousness men should make a doubt whether it be Faith indeed that he meaneth If it be not the context is so far from relieving our understandings that it contributeth to our unavoidable deceit or ignorance Read over the Texts and put but Christs Righteousness every where instead of the word Faith and see what a scandalous Paraphrase you will make The Scripture is not so audaciously to be Corrected It 's wiser to believe Gods Word than to contradict it on pretence of expounding it Obj. But it is said also that Righteousness is imputed And that must be either Christs Righteousness or our own But not our own therefore Christs Ans We are not now questioning whether Christs Righteousness be imputed to us Though it be not the Phrase of the Scripture I have shewed you that it is true in a sound sence But the question is Whether Faith be imputed for righteousness And what is the meaning of all such Texts To have righteousness imputed to us plainly signifieth to be Reckoned Accounted Reputed or Judged righteous And it 's strange that it must not be our own righteousness that is imputed or reckoned to us as our own If it were never so well proved that the very Habits and Acts of Christ are by Gift or Union made our own in themselves and not only as the causes of their effects yet still our own they would be and the righteousness given by them our own in order of nature before they are imputed accounted or reckoned to us as our own Some way that righteousness which is reckoned to constitute us righteous is surely made our own Psal 106.30 31. Phinehas's executing Judgment it is said to be accounted to him for righteousness And of Abrahams Justification God saith Because thou hast done this c. What man that ever read the Bible can doubt but that every man that will be saved must have a personal faith repentance and holiness which is called righteousness many hundred times in the Scripture besides the righteousness that was or is in Christ And will not God reckon him righteous that is righteous He that doth righteousness is righteous And shall it not be imputed to him if God account not a man a believer can he be justified and saved Christs Righteousness hath made Satisfaction for all our sins and for our unrighteousness as to the Law that doth condemn us But he made us not lawless but put us under a Law of Grace which saith He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned And must we not be judged by this Law and be justified or condemned as we keep or break it wonderful is the power of prejudice that any good men that read the Scripture can doubt whether Christ himself hath made us a Law of Grace according to which as performers or non-performers we must be justified as righteous in subordination to Christs Righteousness or else be condemned as neglecters of so great Salvation Is any thing plainer in all the Gospel Obj. But it is the Object and not the Act Christs Righteousness and not our Faith the Gold and not the Hand that taketh it that is our Riches and Righteousness Ans 1. No question but the Faith that we talk of is Faith in Christ even the Believing Receiving of a Saviour and his Grace freely given us And therefore Christs Righteousness is ever connoted when we talk of Faith For what is the very Specification of the Act but the Object But it is not the essence of Christ or his Righteousness that constituteth Faith but Christ in esse coâ—nito objectivo even as it is not the essence of Sin that constituteth Repentance but the notion of Sin in esse cognito as an Oâ—ject And there is no doubt but Christ is the Souls Riches which Faith receiveth But if the King by Law should restore all the Rebels in Ireland to their Estates and give them their Lives that lay down Arms and ask Mercy and accept it if it come to the Tryal whether they are Accepters or Refusers their Acceptance must be so far their justifying Righteousness though their Lives and Estates be their Treasure and the Kings Act be their Title to it Faith is reckoned or imputed to be that which by the Redeemer himself is required of the Sinner to make him partaker of Christ and his Benefits Reconciliation and Salvation and it is no other Righteousness Christs Righteousness is not imputed to us instead of our Faith and Repentance and sincere holiness which is made by himself the condition of Life As he died not for the Sins which we were never guilty of and are no sins so his Righteousness is not instead of that Righteousness which by his Grace we have but instead of that which we have not Not instead of our being penitent Believers and sanctified before we die but instead of that perfect innocency which we want Not that we are reputed perfect innocent obeyers because he was such but that our want of it shall not hinder our Justification or Adoption Grace or Glory Christ hath done all his part but he hath appointed us a necessary part
when yet sincerity of Obedience is necessary and those Acts if done have their place with the rest as means of Salvation so here But Saving Faith is denominated from the essential part The nature of Faith is in order of nature antecedent to its Office The nature of it in genere is to believe all that God saith The nature of it in specie is to believe in Christ and consent to his Covenant The integrity of it is to believe all that we find revealed The Office of it as the Means of Justification is to be the condition of the Justifying Covenant or Law That which some call the Instrumentality is the very nature of the Act the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere in specie Believing in Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere and that 's it that they call an Instrument of receiving him as such But the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere even in specie Faith in Christ doth not justifie quâ talis as that Faith but as it is that qualifying Condition which the Promise annexeth Justification to without which it would not have done it Had the Promise been absolute it had pardoned us before and without Faith The nature of the Act is like the metal of Gold or Silver and the tenor of the Justifying Covenant is as the Kings Stamp that maketh it currant Coin It is Faith in order of nature before it is the Justifying Condition The quâ justificans therefore should speak not a distinct Act from the other Acts of the Christian Faith as such but the relation of the same Acts to the benefit Omnis fidei actus qui justificat considerari potest quatenus justificat Contr. 19. Whether we are justified by the Law of Innocency saying Obey perfectly and live Ans This is one of the chief points of all our difference Some say that because Christ fulfilled it for us we are justified by that Law as fulfillers of it This is it that Mr. Anthony Wotton hath bestowed most of his Learned Treatise de Reconciliatione to confute The Law justified Christ but not us for it never said Thou or another for thee shalt obey Nor doth it know a Vicarius obedientiae aut poenae nor take Christs Person and ours for the same Therefore we are not justified by that Law but condemned by it And it cannot condemn and justifie the same man But we are justified by another Law Covenant or Promise by Christs fulfilling the Law of Innocency and making over to us the benefits Contr. 20. Whether by Works be meant Acts in general or â—nly such Acts as are adverse to Faith in Christ and make the reward to be of debt and not of grace Ans The last is the Apostles Exposition of them Christ saith we are justified by our words James by our works and all the Scripture that speaketh of Justification ascribeth it to some Acts It is according to our works And Faith is an Act yea many Acts. Obj. But it justifieth not as an Act but as an Instrument Ans That is not as an Act or good Act in genere but as this Act in specie viz. Believing on Christs Righteousness But that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere that is As this Act But it is not so unless you add As it is this congruous Act or Acts authorized by Gods Covenant to this Office So we will grant that no Act justifieth as an Act or as a good Act but as a congruous good Act appointed thereto As is said before To believe in God and in Christ as Christ and in the Promise of Salvation and to believe the evil of sin and the need of a Saviour and to desire him and be thankful for him and pray for pardon are not the works that Paul speaketh against but some belong to the Essence and some to the Integrity and Accidents of that Faith by which we are justified Yet a foolish person may contradict himself and hold his own Faith as well as his Love or Desire or Prayer to be meritorious as making the reward not of grace Such mad contradiction may suppose Faith to be the works which it denieth Cont. 21. Are any works of man meritorious Ans Not in point of Commutative Justice that giveth one thing for another to the commodity of each as in buying and selling 2. Nor yet in distributive Governing Justice as making any good due to us by the Law of Innocency or Works 3. But as God hath freely given us Christ and Life by a Law of Grace on condition of suitable acceptance and use so he that performeth this condition is called worthy and the contrary unworthy in the Gospel and did not men abuse it they might with all the ancient Chuâ—ches use the word merit in the same sense â—s 〈◊〉 As a good natured Child that humbly and thâ—nkfully taketh money or meat when his Father giâ—eth it him is said to deserve it of him better than he that scorneth it and him So â—ur merit is but of â—aternal â—overning Justice in the Kingdom of Love according to Gods Law of Grace in Christ Cont. 12. â—hâ—ther oâ—edience be a part of Faith or we aâ—e justifiâ—d by obedience Ans 1. To beliâ—ve in Christ at first is an act of obedience to God who commandeth us so to do But it is but Subjectiâ—n to Christ which that act includeth that is taking him for our Lord and Saviour to be obeyed which iâ— virtually all future obedience as its root but not actually 2. Actual obedience to Christ is not faith but the fruit of faith and part of our performâ—nce of the Covenant which we made with him and necessary to the câ—ntinuance of our â—ustification and to our Salvation as all the Scripture fully sheweth Cont. 23. Whether any 〈◊〉 bâ—â—â—cessâ—ry t◠〈◊〉 continuance or not losiâ—g our jusâ—ifâ—catioâ— than to 〈◊〉 bâ—ginning of it Ans Yes 1. More acts of the same faith 2. Praying for pardon 3 Forgiving others as Christ expresly tells us 4. Sincere Love and Obedience to Christ unto the end Cont. 24. Is Pardon and Justification perfect the first moment Ans No. 1. All the punishment is not yet taken off We have yet much penal want of Grace and the Spirits Operations and Communion with God 2. We have not right to the present removal of all the punishment 3. Many more sins hereafter must be pardoned 4. Much means is yet to be used for final Justification 5. That final Justification only is perfect Cont. 25 〈◊〉 nolle punire or non punire a pardoning of sin It 's Dr. Tâ—isses Controversy Ans Yes In some degree to a capable person that iâ— to a sinner But not to one that is no sinner 〈◊〉 before one hath a being Cont. 26. Is future sin pardoned before hand Ans Fuâ—ure sin is not sin and therefore not capabâ—e of pardon nor the person for it But it may be pardoned virtually though not actually A general grant of pardon may be
word It was strictest Justice as upon Christ It was perfect Justice as to the ends of Government But it was not strictest Justice as to us nor as strictest signifieth the strict fulfilling or executing of the threatning of the Law For it was not so executed but the sinner mercifully pardoned § 6. You note that Christ must take our guilt on him or else he could not take our punishment Ans 1. He took not the Reatum facti or the Reatum â—ulpae For 1. Our guilt was the accident of one Subject and that which Christ took of another Therefore the accidents were not the same 2. Else sin however taken in its reatus culpae would have made him culpable and formally a sinner and hateful to God and like to Satan Which he was not 2. He took upon him the Reatum poena seu obligationem ad â—oenam But not ours individually the same but one of his own instead of ours Christs guilt and ours were divers accidents of divers persons The obligations nor the Subjects were not the same Our obligation to punishment was an act of the Law which we broke So was not Christs That Law never bound him to punishment But his own voluntary undertaking and his Fathers imposition Our guilt was the occasion and reason of Christs assumed guilt As our punishment individually was not it that he suffered but his own punishment to prevent ours He suffered the just for the unjust to redeem us to God God tells us plainly that Christ suffered for our sins and was made sin that is a Curse or Sacrifice for sin for us that we might not suffer And cannot we receive this plain Gospel without spinning so many additional webs of our own Christs taking our guilt and puniâ—hment is no more but his voluntary suffering in our stead that we might be pardoned not by that suffering immediately but by his free donation in the Law of Grace in his time and on his terms § 7. You note that though we are justified by our own Faith Repentance and Obedience to the Gospel against the false charge of being unbelievers impenitent and ungodly Yet to be free from the curse of the Law and obtaining right to life it is Christs Righteousness that we must plead Ans Very true thus 1. It is only Christs Righteousness that we must plead as the Satisfying and meriting cause 2. It is only the free Donation of the New Covenant which we must plead as our Title or Fundamentum juris and conveying cause of right 3. It is our Faith and Repentance in various respects which we must plead as the conditio tituli praesâ—iâ—a which is the necessary moral receptive disposition of the Subject receiving These things are all very plain and sure § 8. You seem to doubt whether by the Law of Works Paul meant not the Law of Innocency And first you seem to mistake me as if I had said that he meant only the Ceremonial Law I say no such thing But the whole Law of Moses considered meerly as a law and by the Jews ill separated from Faith and Grace was an operous Yoak and of severe penalties to the transgressours and though it gave pardon for some faults it was not meerly for the task of sacrificing but for the great Sacrifice typified The Law as a Law doth only Command and threaten and promise life to them that do all things written but gave not grace to do it The Jews left out the true sence of the types and promise which intended the Messiah in whom it was that the promissory part of the Law was made and thought the very task of duty or works would procure their acceptance and pardon when they failed If you are not satisfied with this reason why Paul calleth it the Law of Works find out a better if you can But most certainly that is a great mistake that Moses and Paul describe the Law of Innocency It 's tedious to recite the proof 1. It 's enough that the Law of Innocency as a Covenant was before ceased cessante capacitate subditorum When all men had 2000 years been Originally and Actually sinners will you feign God with all that solemnity to make such a Law as this I know and you must know that no Son of Adam is Innocent And I make now a Law that if you â—re and will continue innocent you shall live Else you shall die This is too gross to be feigned of God 2. It is enough that when the Law was made they were all under actual mercy which was the grace of the new pardoned Covenant 3. Yea that the Covenant of Grace had so long before been made with all fallen mankind in Adam â—nd Noah and renewed to Abraham with speâ—ial promises And doth God now repeal or hide it 4. What need we more proof than so many Laws about Sacrificing and Confessing for forgiveness Which the Law of Innocency knew not And why else did God deliver the Law as a God of Redeeming mercy I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of Egypt proclaiming his name Exod. 34.6 7. The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin 6. Peruse all the Contexts in Pauâ— and you will be satisfied See Camero de triplice faedere which Dr. Bolton of Liberty was so taken with and magnifieth and Anthony Burges of the Law proving Moses Law to belong to a Covenant of Grace But I have more fully opened all thiâ— in my Methodus Theologiae No doubt but Pauls dâ—sputes have great difficulty but this much is very plain § 9. Your next question is about the nature of Faith whether if it be placed in the will and include consent it be not confounded with Love whose object is goodness I have answered this oft and largely in divers Books and therefore must here be excused from saying any more than this viz. 1. You must distinguish between Faith Physically taken and Faith morally taken 2. Between its formal act and its material I. Physically some one natural act constituted by one Object is called Faith But morally taken it comprehendeth divers Physical Acts both of the Intellect and Will And as it is Justifying and Saving it is so taken Yea morally it is sometime in Scripture taken largelier for our Christian Faith as God the Father Son and Holy Ghost the Promise Grace and Glory are all the constituting Objects of it in their truth and goodness and sometime more narrowly as altogether distinct from Hope and Love It is taken in the first sense when it is said to be the condition of Justification and Salvation And here what you said of the necessity of conjoyning the many similitudes which express Christs Office to us when but one of them in a Text is named the same must be said of Faith in Christ A Moral act which hath many Physical acts must be named by some one the rest being connoted or implied for it would be uncomely to name
them all in every mention of it Note also that the name is varied according to what is specially noted in the Object sometime Truth sometime Goodness So Christ saith The Father hath loved you because ye have loved me And Paul Grace be to all them that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity If any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha And Christ Luke 14.26 and Mat. 10. He that loveth any better than Christ cannot be his Disciple And to be a Disciple a Christian and a Believer are all one in Scripture But when it is the Goodness of another Object that is mentioned the Act is another thing I suppose you will confess that no Faith in Christ and the Promise justifieth us which doth not in that same instant include 1. A belief of the Goodness as well as the Truth of both 2. A willingness to receive Christ and Grace as good and a consent to the offer And if these must concur in the same instant as necessary Conditions of our Justification or Reception of Christ and Grace call them how you will and say Consent is an Effect of Faith or a part of it all 's one to me But I will say that Consent is an Effect of one Act of Faith strictly taken viz. Assent but a part of it taken for Justifying Saving Faith II. After many and long thoughts of this matter I think they that will pretend to exactness must say that Trust is the Formal Act of Faith as Trustiness or Fidelity is the Formal Object And that the Material Act is threefold Assent Consent and Practice and none of these no not Assent is the Formal Act. Both 〈◊〉 and Fides signifie Trust yea and Credere too And so Fides as it signifieth Fidelity and Fides as it signifieth Faith or Trust are the Formal Object and Act. I Assent to the Truth of the Gospel because I Trust the Veracity or Fidelity of the Author I Coâ—â—â—nt to the Covenant because I Trust the Revealer Offerer and Promiser I actually give up my self to Christ because I Trust him Mr. Pemble Vindicat. Grat. hath accurately opened this I have in my Aphorisms and oft said that a Christian should rather try his Faith by the Consenting act than the Trusting act because many a one cannot find that they can Trust Christ that yet find Consent But I explain this or recall it as not well spoken For indeed though it be Consent by which we may surely know our Interest in the Justifying Covenant specially when practically exprest yet Assâ—ance or Trust is the Formal Act of Faith and that Consent is but the Material For if we Trust not Christs Fidelity we can neither Assent Consent or Practiâ—e But when I spake as aforesaid I followed the sense of most complaining Christians who say They cannot Trust Christ meaning by Trust that Quieting of the mind which is but an effect of Trust Whereas at that time they take Christ to be Trusty and a suâ—â—â—cient Saviour but are hindered from the applying and quieting Effect by Ignorance or doubting of their own Trustiness and not of the Trusâ—iness of Christ If I be tedious in repeating again my old similitudes you must blame your self that are the câ—use Only one Physician can cure the Plague Sâ—me slander him as a deceiver He promiseth to câ—re all that will take him for their Physician and trust him Trusting or believing him here inâ—ludeth materially Believing his Word Consenting to be his Patienâ—s and coming to him for Physick A Prince in India buyeth the Irish Rebels that had forfeited their lives of the King that they may laâ— down Arms and go with him and become his Subjects He promiseth to every one of them a Lordship in India a safe Ship thither and pardon here some call him a Deceiver and distrust him He tells them if they Trust him he will perform all this Here Trust the Formal Act includeth as the Material Acts 1. Assenting to his Word as True 2. Consenting to his Offâ—r and Terms 3. Practically venturing to lay down Arms and go with him in the Ship and forsake their own Countrey Such is Faith in Christ when it is made the Condition of Justification and Life The Formal and Materiâ—l Acts together constitute Faith and not the Formal or one of the Material Assent alone Nor hath Bishop Downame well confuted Mr. Pemble about the Formal Act. In a word true and plâ—in Baptism our â—hristening best tells us the Essence of Justiâ—yinâ— Faith For that is the Sealing to us the â—uâ—â—â—fying Covenant that it may actually and solemnly deliver to us our part in Christ and riâ—ht to Pardon and Life which is given us on no lower terms than the Fiducial Assent Consent and Dedication professed by us essentially in Baptism § 10. Your next doubt is about the various Objects of Faith in exercise Gods Omnipotency Truth c. and the various uses of Faith accordingly This is the point which Mr. Lawson and I seemed somewhat to differ about And I have in my Treatise of Justification said so much of it that you shall now excuse me from any more than telling you that in Sanctification where one act really produceth one effect on our hearts and another act another effect each effect must be ascribed to its proper act But you must not think it is so in our Justification or Adoption where that which we receive is a RIGHT Jus impunitatis vitae which is not the Immediate Effect of our Act no nor any Effect of it at all but of Gods Donative Covenant of which our Faith is but a Condition and no Efficient Cause of our Right And therefore I doubt not still to say that we are thus justified as much by a Consenting to Christs Teaching and Sanctifying Grace as by Consenting to be justified by his Righteousness or by fiducial taking him for our Teacher Intercessor and King as taking him for a Satisfier and Meriter for us Indeed it is undivided Taking Christ as Christ that is the Justifying Condition John 1.10 11 12. 1 John 5.10 11 12. § 11. In the end you desire me to answer What Rightâ—ousness is meant Rom. 5. By the obedience of one many are made righteous Ans The meaning is By the Merit of Christs Active and Passive yea Habitual Righteousness also exalted in dignity by his Divine Perfection all faln Mankind is Conditionally pardoned and hath the gift of Life enacted in the Law or Covenant of Grace and all true Believers have by that Covenant actually given them a Right of Vnion with Christ and with him Pardon and Adoption or Right to Grace and Glory and have the Spirit of Holiness as the first fruits All this is included in that Righteousness § 12. Lastly you ask What Righteousness Faith is imputed to Whether that which is by Christs obedience and by Faith be the same and perfect or unperfect Ans Here also you may take the blame that I say things
is considerable 1. In esse reali in himself 2. Or in esse objectivo which is but in esse cognitâ— in Idea or Notion Christ in esse reali indeed Justifieth us by Dying for us and Meriting for us and doing that which Faith never did But Christ in esse objectivo or cognito and in our minds is the form of this Faith in specie it self and not to be Justified by the Act of Faith in Christ is not to be Justified by the Object as such for the Object essentially specifieth the Act thus illogycal heads confound Holy things LV. But these that must have the Oâ—jâ—ct of this Faith only to Justify exclude most essential parts of the Object it self The Baptismal Faith is not their Justifying Faith Belief in God the Father and in the Holy Ghost is none of it and so God the Father and the Holy Ghost are none of the Justifying Object when as it is essential to Christ as the Object to be one with the Father and sent by Him and to be his express Image and the way to Him c. And to be Conceived by the Holy Ghost and to be attested and to operate by him LVI Yea these undistinguishers are such dividers that they exclude most that is essential to Christ himself as Mediator from being the Object of their Justifying Faith It is not his Prophetical Office nor his Holy Example or Doctrine nor his Kingly Office either in Legislation or Judgment tho' it be as King that he Justifieth by Sentence and Execution It is not any part of his Priestly Office but his Righteousness habitual instead of habitual and original Righteousness active instead of our active Righteousness and passive instead of our punishment It is not his Priestly Intercession in Heaven nor his giving the Holy Ghost nor his Raising Judging or Glorifying us that are the Objects of this Faith LVII But yet they will fallaciously seem subtile by distinguishing and say that tho' none of these are the Objects of Fides qua Justificat Faith as Justifying yet they are the Objects of Fides quae Justificat of that Faith which Justifieth by another Act meer fallacy 1. Here they must take Faith for the Habit for if it were for the Act two divers Acts are not the same 2. How is that Habit quae Justificat when they say only Reception by its Instrumentality Justifieth and that 's only the Act 3. But qua Justificat fallaciously implyeth that Faith Efficiently Justifieth whereas it is only a Dispositio Moralis Receptiva as a Condition and they deny its constitutive Causality and that Fides qua Fides Justifieth at all and as a dispositive Condition it is a belief in much more than Christs Imputed Righteousness LVIII And these ill dividing men pretending to subtilty telling us that it is but one Act of Faith by which it justifieth are so far from being able to tell what that one Act is That it is enough to cast all their Disciples into despair if till they know it they must not know that they are justified LIX For they feign it to be one only Physical Act whereas in Moral Subjects an Act containeth many Physical Acts Faith in Christ is a Covenanting Act like a contract of Marriage or between Prince and Subjects or Captain and Soldiers which is many Physical Acts. LX. Hereupon they are at a loss in what faculty it is whether the Intellects Assent or the Wills Consent or Affiance or Practical Obedience and whether it be one Act only â—amâ—ro or only specie and what individuates an Act LXI And they unavoidably cast men upon their supposed justification by works while they seign all Acts save that one they know not what to be Works Yea many take every Act to be Works as is aforesaid As when they say that it is only resting on Christs Righteousnesâ— as made ours in it self by imputation they hereby make the Belief of the Godhead and of the truth of the Gospel and of the Life to come and Repentance and Confessions and Love to God and to Christ and Thankfulness and Prayer and Self-denial to be all works of the Law which Free Grace in this excludeth If Assent be that one Justifying Act then he that thinketh it is Consent or Hope or Trust or that denying his own Righteousness is any part of it is fallen from Grace by looking for Justification by Works LXII They do not only say that Grace is not free if it have any positive Condition but also if it have any negative Condition that is that if a pardon be offered a Traytor on Condition that he will not refuse it cast it in the fire and spit in the Face of him that offereth it or will not seek his Death this is no free pardon unless he may have leave to hate and stab the Prince that pardoneth him And here you see what these take for Works even such things as are neither Works nor Acts at all but meer nothings Not to resist oppose refuse dispise Grace not to believe the Devil and his agents that call Christ a deceiver and that deny God and the life to come I do not say that such meer negatives are all the condition of pardon and justification but these are included in the positive condition and yet to take any of these for any part of the condition is supposed to be to look for Justification by Works because all such conditions are taken for Works save one simple Act of Faith LXIII This is because they know not what a meer Condition is when they have laid Salvation on the denial of it when as it is no cause at all as such of the effects but as imposed it is a bar put to the effect till the Condition be performed as the Lawyers say Lex addita negotio quae doâ—â—â— praestetur eveâ—tum suspendat and as performed it is the removing of that impedâ—ment Opening the Windows or not shutting them is no cause of the Light nor opening our Eye-lids any cause of our seeing but a removing of that which hindereth the light It is a necessary disposition of the Receiver but no efficient cause of the effect and so is Faith to our Justification or Pardon And therefore note That whereas many Reforming Protestants write for the instrumentall Interest of Faith in our Justification I number not them with the forementioned subverters of the Gospel for by Instrumentality they mean no Efficiency but Receptivity unhappily using the name of an Instrument improperly and without due explâ—â—ation and as Dr. Twise tollerably calleth it Causam dispositivam subjecti recipientis so Dr. Kendal likeneth it to boys playing at ball or cat that make their hats the instruments to catch the ball or cat in This giveth them no efficiency so that they only miscarry by choosing an equivocal Name and placeing too much of the Controversie on that Name when there be proper words enough at hand and also in that they distinguish not duly between
Dyet and Rest and not to work or eat or sleep till the Spirit moveth them And God maketh use of Reason and Order in things Spiritual as well as in things Natural And the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets LXXVI They reprove us for perswading Unconverted Men to Pray because the Prayer of the Wicked is abominable and they â—â—ould stay till they have the Spirit of Prayer And is a Tavern or a Whore-house a sitter plâ—ce to get that Spirit than on their knees by Prayer when God himself saith To thee shall aâ—l flâ—sh câ—me seâ—k the Lord while he may â—e founâ— call upon him wâ—ile he is near Let the Wickâ—d â—â—â—sak his way c. wicked Prayers of wicked men that are but to quiet them in sin are abominable and no prayer of an Impenitent unbeliever hath any promise of certain success But Aâ—ab and Niâ—eve and millions of Sinners have found that there are some prayers of the unregenerate that are better than none Aâ—d do they think when we perswade them to Pray that we perswade them to continue Impenitent No it is but perswading them to Turn and Live For praying is a returniâ—â— motion and we say but as Peter Repent and Pray if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart may be forgâ—â—â—â— thee Not to exhort men to Pray is not to exhort them to desire Grace and true Conversion Common Grace and Natural Self-love have their desires which are not all in vain it s better to be near the Kingdom of God than to be dispisers of it God hath fixed the time of the Lord's day and the undisposed must not say we will not keep it till the Spirit move us As it is a dutâ— to Relieve the Poor so it is to Pray as soon as God commandeth it and none must say I will not Give or Pray till the Spirit move me but wait for more help of the Spirit in the way of duty LXXVII That because no man can come to Christ too soon therefore no man can too soon believe that he is Elect and Justified though he have no evidence to prove it and though he know not God or Christ or the Spirit or the Gospel LXXVIII That men are bound to Believe that Christ Believed for them and Repented for them and must no more question their Faith and Repentance than they must question Christ as Saltmarsh speaketh as if Christ had had Sin to repent of or a Saviour to save him from it and as if this were no Covenant-Condition required of our selves as necessary to our Justification They may next say Christ that is Holy for them shall be Saved in stead of them LXXIX That to Believe that we are Elect and Justified is fides Divina a Believing the word of God because his Spirit 's witness of it by inspiration is his word LXXX That nothing done by an unregenerate man by common Grace maketh him any fitter to Believe and be Converted that if he were without it because it is sin LXXXI That it is no Grace which is not unresistible and because we cannot Merit it we cannot resist and forfeit it LXXXII That Pardon and Justification being perfect the first Moment of our Faith therefore it is only one momentous Act of Faith only that Justifieth us and no Act of Faith it self Justifieth us after that hour This is held by the more moderate sort who say not that we are Justified before Faith LXXXIII That we must act from Lâ—â—â— but not â—or Life as if Natural Life were not to be used for Spiritual Life LXXXIV They hold That Sin being all past present and future Pardoned at first we must not ask Pardon any more but only the fuller Belief and Sense of Pardon LXXXV They hold that no Sin or declining of a Justified Person should ever make him doubt of his Justification LXXXVI They hold that the meaning of Rom. 8.28 is That all the sin that an Elect or Justified man committeth shall certainly work for his greater good when the Text speaketh but of Enemies and Sufferings and all the Providences of God As if it were the way of God's Wise and Holy Government so far to encourage men to sin as to assure all that love God beforehand that the more they sin the better it shall be for them whereas he hath filled the Scripture with so many terrible threatnings against Sin and Backsliding And as if â—o â—ustiâ—ied person by sin did ever gnow worâ—e than â—efore or love God lâ—â—â— or at all displeâ—se him Or it were for our good to be worse and love God less or displease him or lose aâ—y meâ—sures of Grace and Glory 〈◊〉 Title LXXXVII They take Justification in the Great day of Judâ—mâ—â—t to be none of our proper Justification by Faith because that was done before but a Declaâ—â—â—â—â—â— of â—â— As if Justification had but one degree and the word but one sence or any were persectâ—r Justification than that and a Deâ—isive Sentential Declaration were not the most eminent LXXXVIII Those that confess works of Obedience to Christ to be the Condition of Glorification yet deny it to be a Condition of Justification in Judgment when as to Justifie us in Judgment is to Justifie our right to Impurity and Glory and so the Condition must be the same LXXXIX Though God oft and plainly saith That all men shall be judged according to their works and according to what they have done in the Body good or evil and to judge is either by decisive sentence to Justifie or to Condemn or executively to Reward and Glorify on to Punish yet many that Confess that men shall be so Judged do deny that they shall be so Justified though Justifying be Judging XC Though the word According to their works do plainly signify The Cause to be then decided in order to the sentence of Salvation or Damnation and Christ Mat. 25. and elsewhere hath largely enumerated the parts of the Cause and call it Righteousness and that with a Caâ—â—al particle and though the Scripture mention our inherent and acted Righteousness in terms of the same signification above Six â—undred times and that as the thing that pleaseth God and that he loveth hateing the contrary telling us that the unrighteous shall not enter into Heaven c. Yet do they feign that all that Godliness which hath the promise of this Life and That to come and which God is said as a Righteous Judge to Reward and Crown is mentioned only as a sign of the Elect and Rightâ—ous and of Faith and not as the Cause to be then decided or as a Rewarded thing And for whom is this sâ—â—n so solemnly produced God knoweth us without Signs His Light in our Consciences will make us know our selves by Internal Perâ—eption And if it be to confute the Devil and his servants that slander us it is for want of Righteousness and not only for want of siâ—â—s of it that we are accused and it is more than
it self and so that to be Justified by the Object as such and not by that Faith it self is a notorious putid Contradiction or should I stand to prove that Faith it self is said by Paul to be Imputed for Righteousness in meer subordination to the meritorious Sacrifice and Righteousness of Christ and in conjunction with Free Pardon and Adoption purchased by Christ how needless a work is this made by the Text Sect. 12. 11. Should I stand to prove that Elect Infidels Atheists or wicked Men are not Justified while such save as God maketh them Just by Conversion Pardon all the Scripture tell us it is needless and that Eternal Electing to Justification is not Justifying nor yet Christs dying for us till He be given to us as well as for us Sect. 13. 12. Should I stand to prove that men shall be judged according to their Works and that God is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him and that Christ hath frequently promised Rewards and that the same Salvation which as to Value is no Debt but meerly a Free Gift of Grace through Christ is yet as to the Order of Conveyance given on Condition as a Reward that Fatherly Love may attain its ends by Saptential means and not only by Power Morally producing Moral Effects in conjunction with Love and Power and thus that the pardoning and saving Acts of the Covenant impose Conditions as receptive qualifications which yet are all the Effects of Grace the whole Scripture maketh this a needless task Sect. 14. 13. Should I prove the distinctness 1. Of the Law and Covenant of Innocency 2. And of the Law and Covenant of Mediation And 3. Of the Mediators Law and Covenant of Grace imposed on us and sealed in Sacraments and that the same is both a Law and Covenant and that the Covenant of Grace is the Instrumental Gift of Pardon and Justification How much of the Bible must I transcribe Sect. 15. The like I may say of most of the rest which I doubt I have been too large in proving in all the six or seven or eight Books before named I thought also to have distinctly answered thâ— Printed Pinners-Hall Lecture but he that cannâ—â— find it more than fully answered in the foresaid Books either never read them or Answers to such a man will be vain And I am sorry that the same hand in another Lecture elsewhere publisheth that That any are brought to believe in Jesus is as great a Miracle as the Resurrection of Christ from the dead p. 223. And after There is not a greater Instance of the Power of God in the whole World than this in bringing over the heart of a sinner to believe in Christ It grieveth my Soul to think what Scandals are thus given by good Men to Papists Infidels and prejudiced Scorners and what work they will make with it No doubt but Faith is a great and difficult Work and wrought by Almighty Power For God hath no other Power but Omnipotency omnis Dei Potentia est Omnipotentia quia Infinita Gods Power is his Essence But the Instances and Demonstrations of it are as various as the Effects Your Finger or Tongue moveth not but by Omnipotency But every Motion or Fly is not as great an Instance or Demonstration of Power as Faith is Nor Faith so great an Instance as the making of Angels Men Heaven and Earth Sun Moon and Stars their Natures Motion and Order Divines have hitherto taught that Power is eminently manifested in Creation and Natural Preservation tho' with Wisdom and Lâ—ve and Wisdom Eminently manifested in Government and Love in Glorifying tho' they were conjunct in each Man cannot work Miracles and that so great And I do not believe that God damneth all unbelievers as for want of an Act as great as the motion of the Sun or making the World And if it be a Miracle and as great a one as Christ's Resurrection How can any believer doubt at all Why was Christ's Resurrection Preached by the Apostles so much as the Proof of the Truth of Christianity and not the Faith of every believer Then we need not go far to prove the Christian Vâ—â—ity Every poor Boy or Woman that believeth hath the fullest Proof and as great and miraculous as Christ's Resurrection Why send we not Infidels and Doubters to this Miracle which is about them in all ages in thousands Over-doing is undoing And yet no doubt the Author saith truly that Faith in Christ is so hard a Work that he that never found it hard hath none or hath it but in the seed and yet unrooted or untryed But alas Infidels find it too hard to them To conclude Instead of the larger part of the Proof or Confutations which I intended 1. I shall with this Annex a brief Treatise resolving a multitude of Controversies about Justification which I have laid by about Fifteen Years 2. I refer you to the foresaid former perforformance of it 3. Were I not disabled by Pain and the approaches of Death I would be ready to Answer any sober rational Objector A Post-script Sect. 1. WHereas divers say they were drawn in to prenx their Names to this Drs. Book because they were told that the Errours were expunged Upon perusal I find that it is no such matter but in Vol. 3. Ser. 3 4. c. the Author rather more frequently inculcateth the worst of them viz. That sin cannot hurt any that are Elect or that Christ dyed for And that in 1. Joh. It is a powerful means to kâ—ep thâ—m from sinning to believe that if they sin it can do them no hurt Sect. 2. The Text drew him to use the Name of sinning I write to you that you sin not But did not the Contradiction of it to his Doctrine convince him while he read the Text against sinning judge whether he took not the thing to be impossible He saith Tho' such do Murder commit Adultery Blasphemy Idolatry or any such thing they are no Murderers Adulterers c. or Sinners because it is Christ's sin and not theirs and cannot be his and theirs too so that they may live in the Act but cannot sin Object But it was their sin once before it was Christs sin Answ No He saith that it was Christ's sin if not from Eternity at least above Sixteen Hundred Years before we were born And he that had no being could have no sin And Gods fore-knowledge of future sin maketh not sin Nay he could not fore-know that which would never be so that indeed Christ could not take our sin as his which was not ours nor ever would be at all And if he had yet I hope they will not say that now in Heaven he is the greatest sinner And so there neither was nor is any sin in us or Christ Sect. 3. But as he repeateth this Errour I will repeat my Lamentations and Warning to this tempted Sect. Hear it as Speculatoris Tubam the Watch-mans Trumpet that would
explaining in what sense Christs Righteousness is imputed to us and how not 3. And do they tell us with any agreement what Righteousness of Christ they call Imputed Some say only the Passive some also the Active Some also the habitual and some also the Divine Much less agree they to what Effects it is imputed and how far 4. Also the name of Faith is used without a due and true explication of their meaning One by Faith meaneth not Faith but Christs Righteousness Another calls it an Instrument and yet denieth it to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere that is the Act of Faith indeed as if any thing else was that instrument Another saith it is but one Physical act and not like contracting a Moral complication of many Physical Acts One saith it is but one Act and all other Acts of Faith he that looketh to be Justified by denieth the Doctrine of Grace or true Justification and so leave men to despair because they can never tell which that single is and how to escape the damning Doctrine of Justification by works One saith it is the Understandings assent Another that it is the Wills recumbency or trust One saith it is only Faith in Christ that Justifieth and not in God the Father or the Holy Ghost One saith it is only Faith in Christs Priestly Office and not in Christ as Prophet or King some say it is not Faith in his whole Priestly Office either his Intercession or Heavenly Priesthood but only in his Sacrifice and Obedience Another that it is only the trusting on his Imputed Righteousness Another that it is none of all these but only the belief that we are already Justified by Christ One saith we are Justified only at once by the first numerical Act of Faith and never by any after Act Another that an Act of the same Species continueth our Justification And this confusion is from the vain fantasy of men that will divide and mince and yet will not sufficiently distinguish and know not that by Faith is meant our becoming Christians and continuing such 5. So they talk loud against Works in the Case of Justification and know not what either Paul or James or Christ meaneth by works But they dream that Works and Acts are of the same signification As if every humane Act were that which Paul meaneth by works contrary to his express explication And so to be Justified by Faith must be to be Justified by Works One saith we will grant Justification by Faith if you take it aright to be a going wholly out of our selves and denying all our own righteousness and going to Christ and his Righteousness alone But is their chosen Metaphor of Going out and Going to an Act or no Act If an Act than it is works if they may be believed If no Act then their meaning is we confess that you are Justified by Believing if you do not believe You are Justified by Faith if Faith be nothing and by coming to Christ if you come not to him or it be nothing Such is the sence of these Confounders and Corrupters But these and many such mistakes are to be opened in their proper place That which I here intend is not a confutation of this or that writer but to give them a breviate of my own Judgment who will not read what I have largely written in many books long ago pretending that the length of the books is their reason and yet have not so much conscience as to suspend their censures no nor their back-biting false accusations of that which they have not leisure to understand or read They judge hard cases which they never digested by any answerable Study and Scruple not Judging and Slandering perâ—ons unheard Corrupting the Gospel and so excellent a Subject as the Doctrine of Grace and of the Office and Merits and Judgment of Christ and so of Christianity it self is a matter that conscience should more tenderly fear than wearing a Surplice or kneeling at the Sacrament or communicating with a Church that useth the Common-Prayers To think those unworthy of their Communion that use such Ceremonies or forms of prayer and at the same time to prophane so high a part of the name of God as is his Grace in Christ and his Justifying Governing and Saving works and this quoad verba by corrupting it even in Essentials and then to defame as erroneous those that are not as Ignorant and Erroneous as themselves and to foment malice and errour and Sects by such lying defamations This is a Nonconformity which I earnestly desire that no man that loveth Christ or Free grace or the Church or his own Soul may ever take for his duty or his honour or rashly as a sequacious admirer of any mistaken leader be ever guilty of What is straining at a Gnat and swallowing a Camel if this be not And of how ill a constitution is such a blind and partial conscience I shall here study brevity and first explain the Doctrine of Grace and Righteousness and Justification in some self-evident Propositions And next briefly resolve about fifty doubts or Controversies hereabout THE CONTENTS 1. THe nature of Justification explained Controv. I. Whether it be an Immanent Act in God and from Eternity Cont. II. Whether the Covenant of Grace be made only with Christ or with us also Cont. III Whether the Covenant of Grace have any condition required of us Cont. IV Whether our performance of the Condition efficiently justify us Cont. V. Whether we are justified by Christs righteousness imputed to us And whether the Scripture say we are Cont. VI. In what sense is Christs Righteousness imputed to us Cont. VII What Righteousness of Christ is it that is ours and imputed to us the Passive the Active the Habitual or the Divine or all Cont. VIII Whether Christs Righteousness be the Efficient Material or Formal cause of our Righteousness or Justification Cont. IX Whether the Vnion between Christ and believers be not so near as maketh them the same Subject and so the Accident of Christs righteousness to be ours in itself Cont. 10. Are we not so righteous by an Vnion with Christ as we are sinners by our Vnion with Adam Cont. XI Is not Christs Righteousness ours as our sins were his by imputation Cont. 12. Doth Christs Righteousness cause our Sanctification in the same sort of Causality as it causeth our Justification Cont XIII Is it faith itself that is said to be imputed to us for Righteousness or only Christs or Christs Righteousness Cont. XIV Whether Grace be Grace and free if it have any condition Cont. XV. Whether Repentance be any condition of Pardon and Justification and to affirm it do not equal it with Faith Cont. XVI Whether faith justify us as a meritorious cause or as a dispositive cause of receiving Justification or as a meer condition or an Instrumental cause Cont. XVII Is Justifying faith an act of the understanding or of the Will Cont.
a Moral Act or qualification required by the Law or Promise to which it annexeth and till it be performed suspendeth the event Natural or meerly contingent conditions that are not moral belong not to our enquiry As if it be a fair day to morrow If such a ship come safe home If I live so long c. Some define a condition here to be any Moral medium of obtaining a benefit ex pacto But 1. A Law hath its conditions and so hath a Donation or promise when there is no proper mutual pactum or Covenant 2. There are other Moral media ex pacto besides conditions as are all simple duties 3. But these definers cannot congruously deny the Gospel Covenant of grace to have conditions of our â—ustification and Salvation For none but an Infidel can congruously deny that Faith and Repentance are conditions of our Justification and Salvation if every Moral medium be a condition which is ex â—acto Is faith and is repentance no means And are they not required of us and do we not profess them at present and promise them for the future Sometimes the same thing is a moral cause and a Condition of the Event And sometimes it is a meer Condition and but sine quâ— non and no proper cause usually in Moral Conditions there is something in the Nature of the matter for the sake of which the Donor or Lawgiver maketh it necessary which is its aptitude as a means to some of his ends If Faith had no more fitness to be the condition of Justification than Vnbelief or hating God and if Godliness or Holiness had no more fitness to be the Condition of our Salvation than wickedness they would not have been deputed to this place Office and Honour Faith is no Condition of Gods making the promise He absoâ—utely made some Conditional promises and others only on conditions performed by Christ But it is the condition of our right to or possession of the thing promised or of the event Either the deniers of conditions deny all or but some If all then they deny that Christ performed any conditions If but some they deny either the name only or the thing also If the name only 1. Is it worth their Zeal and Contention 2. Are they not singular and singularity in the use of words tendeth to causless quarrels 3. Why do they not commend to us some better name for the same thing Grammar and common use hath taught us this Dr. Twisse hath found another oft and oft saying that Faith is a dispositive cause of Justification I dislike not his notion save that 1. It is too general there being more dispositive causes besides Conditions 2. That it is not Political enough as the Subject requireth or Civil 3. That it is in two words when one is better and 4. That the very terms Cause is liable to mistake For faith is no efficient cause of Justification principal nor instrumental We must not ascribe so much to it Nor is it a final cause nor the formal cause But it is as the Dr. speaketh Dispositio Subjecti recipientis Not a natural but Moral disposition Yet made such by Gods institution because the very nature of the act containeth a fitness to its receptive Office even as it is the believing acceptance of such a free and wonderful gift to such special ends and uses 2. But if it be not the Name only but the thing defined that is denied the Gospel is denied and that which is of necessity to Salvation is denied To deny faith to be necessary to Pardon Justification and Salvation as a moral means congruous in its nature and instituted of God is Infidelity or open prophaneness Nor can those be meet Preachers of the Gospel that deny it and oppose it Two ways Scripture sheweth that Justification and Salvation are given conditionally 1. By the plain Conditional Phrase and 2. By the conditional description in the mode of the promise To instance in a few Texts among a multitude Mar. 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Rom. 4.25 To whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead Rom. 10.9 10. For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shall be saved For with the heart man believeth to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Joh. 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his name Joh. 3.19.18 16. Joh 6. throughout Mat. 6.14.15 If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you But if ye forgive not c. Luk. 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Acts 10.35 In every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Acts 8.37 If thou believest with all thy heart thou maist i. e. Be baptized for the remission of sins But I have recited so many Texts of this sort in my Confession and other books that I will here forbear unnecessary recitals Mat. 5. alone may suffice and all the Texts that say Faith his imputed for or to righteousness and that we are justified by it Furthermore 1. If the Baptismal Covenant have no condition then none is to be prerequired in the person to be baptized nor his promise of any demanded But the consequent is false Else the baptism instituted by Christ and ever practised in the Church is false And here you see what a Baptism these men would make If they practice it according to this principle and how they would overthrow our Christianity and baptize Infidels The major is evident because where no condition is required of God or imposed there none should be required or imposed by the Minister And if so in Baptism why not also in Absolution and the Lords Supper 2. If the Promise of Pardon and Justification be Absolute without any condition then either to All men or but to some If to All then all are justified If but to some to whom If you say to the Elect no man knoweth them while they are unbelievers and so neither the Person nor the Minister can apply that Promise to any singular man If you say To Believers you grant Faith to be a necessary moral antecedent And if so whence can you imagine it to be such but Aptitudinallyâ— in the Nature of the Act receiving Christ which some call it's Instrumentality and Actually by Gods Institution in the Tenor of his Word Now this is 1. In the Tenor or Mode of the Precept and that maketh it a Duty 2. In the Tenor or Mode of the Promise and that maketh it it's Condition In what other respect do they exclusively feign it necessary Obj. As an Antecedent Ans That speaketh but the Order But what Antecedent is it
Obj. As a sign Ans Of what and why Is it as a sign of Election But Holiness the Love of God and man c. are signs of Election and yet not prerequisite to baptism and pardon And whence is it that this sign of Election is prerequisite but that Gods precept made it a duty and the promise a condition Grant it a sign the question is still of the reason of this signs necessity to Justification 3. If Signification be the thing necessary it must be either to God to the Sinner or to the Baptizer Not to God that needs no notice by signs and so it would follow that before God Elect Infidels are justified which is false as is oft proved And to the Minister it is not certainly known Nor may he baptize any meerly as Elect if he could know it by revelation before Faith Nor might such a person claim it Nor do believers usually at the very first know their Election It 's pity that any catechized person should be so ignorant as to deny so plain a Truth as it is that the Promise maketh Faith antecedently necessary to Justification under the form of an apt condition when no used phrase can speak the thing to us so intelligibly and truly as this doth Obj It is prerequisite as an Instrument Ans Of this I shall speak by it self anon By an Instrument I hope when considered they will not mean any proper efficient Instrument of Justification Though in exciting the acts of Sanctification in us it may be called our Instrument and Gods by us But justifying is wholly and only Gods Act and the Covenant as an Act of oblivion and Grace is his Instrumentâ— giving us our Right to impunity and Life in which our Constitutive Justification doth consist But they mean a Metaphorical Receiving Instrument and to â—eceive Christ is but the very essence of Faith which they call the Tò credere and so to be justified by Faith as it receiveâ—h Christ and as a receiving Instrument and as it is the Tò credere in specie are all one And all this is true if you ask but for what Natural aptitude God made Faith the Condition of Justification And it 's more aptly called by the foresaid Dr. Causa dispositiva and yet more aptly dispositio receptiva moralis necessary and successful aptitudinally in its Nature and Actually by the tenor of Gods Promise or Donation making it a Condition that is saying He that believeth shall be justified and saved and he that doth not shall be damned if God had not given Christ and Life by a Promise of this Tenor If thou believe thou shalt have Christ and Life it's aptitude would have had no use If the King by an Act of Oblivion say All Rebels and Malefactors that thankfully come and take out their pardon and lay down arms shall live and the rest shall be unpardonable Here 1. The Act of Oblivion is the pardoning Instrument and the receivers Title and fundamentum juris 2. The Reception is made a Condition by the Act being the modus donandi seu condonandi 3. Next this Condition is performed 4. And next the effect followeth from it's proper efficient causes e. g. suppose 1. The Kings Clemency 2. His Sons Intercession 3. The Act of Oblivions Instrumentality 4. The Offenders performing the Condition which doth but make him a capable Receiver of the Effect 5. And lastly the Ministers instrumental applicatory sealing delivering and investiture This is all plain to men that by prejudice fight not against the light And that the Promises of Salvation or Glory and perseverance have their Conditions I will not for shame and tediousness stand to prove to such as you Obj. But he that performeth a Condition may boast and ascribe somewhat to himself Ans. 1. I find many that thus argue the pronest of most Christians to boast of or to defend their honour and the honour of their party against any that would vilifie them and â—o ascribe something to them even to be the best sort of men 2. God boasteth of his Servants and ascribeth much to them viz. to have his Image the divine nature to be the Salt and Lights of the Earth his Jewels the Apple of his Eye c. He bids them turn themselves save themselves and work out their Salvation and keep themselves in his Love and continue in his Love c. 3. If saying that they believe and repent and give up themselves to God in Christ be culpable boasting then all that have been baptized on such a required profession have thereby sinned and all the Christian baptism hath been sin 4. No man is a Christian justified or can be saved that cannot so boast that he is not an Infidel but a Penitent Believer 5. Is it a matter of boasting that God commandeth when he commandeth us to repent and believe the Gospel If he freely pardon condemned Sinners for the sake of Christs Sacrifice Righteousness and Intercession on Condition that they do not finally refuse the gift but believingly accept it according to it's Nature and all this by his Grace is this matter of boasting May a pardoned Traytor boast of his Merit to the King if the Condition of his pardon be that he shall not refuse it and spit in the Kings face or continue a rebel Obj. Where all is of Grace and Faith it self given and promised by the Covenant there the Covenant is not Conditional Ans 1. As to the giving of Faith it well stands with Gods method both to Command it as a duty and to make it a Condition of his Promise and to give his Word and Spirit to cause us to perform it It is a fiction that these may not consist and he subverteth the Gospel that saith they do not consist 2. As to the Promise God indeed hath promised to Christ to give him a seed and to draw them to him c. But the Covenant made with particular men and sealed and solemnized in baptism doth not promise Faith and Repentance which are first given but prerequire them as the necessary qualification of the adult And this is the Covenant that we speak of 3. It is a Condition of Pardon Justification and Acceptance that we enquire of Therefore it is the Promise of these that we must mean Now I ask whether the Promise of Pardon and Justification be a Promise of Faith or whether it be not a Promise to pardon and justifie Believers only and their Seed and so prerequireth Faith Obj. But you call the many parts of one Covenant by the name of many Covenants Ans I hope we shall not be called in matters of Catechism to Metaphysical or Logical quibbles de Vnitate Individuatione Which is too hard for mens wits about things natural or moral That is one in some respect which is many in others There is some sort of Unity of all the Universe even of all Creatures And so there is of all Gods Laws and Covenants