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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26862	Aphorismes of justification, with their explication annexed wherein also is opened the nature of the covenants, satisfaction, righteousnesse, faith, works, &c. : published especially for the use of the church of Kederminster in Worcestershire / by their unworthy teacher Ri. Baxter.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1655 (1655)	Wing B1186; ESTC R38720	166,773	360

believeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Mark 16. 16. Iohn 3. 15 16 17 18 36. 5. 24. 6. 35 40 47. 7. 38. 11. 25 26. 12. 46. Acts 10. 43. Rom. 3. 26. 4. 5. 5. 1. 10. 4. 10. 1 Iohn 5. 10. Mark 1. 15. 6. 12. Luke 13. 3. 5. 24. 47. Acts 5. 31. 11. 18. 20. 21. 2. 38. 3. 19. 8. 22. 26. 20. Rev. 2. 5 16. Heb 6. 1. 2 Pet. 3. 9. EXPLICATION 1 CHrists Satisfaction to the Law goes before the new Covenant though not in regard of its payment which was in the fulness of time yet in regard of the undertaking acceptance and efficacy There could be no treating on new terms till the old obligation were satisfied and suspended I account them not worth the confuting who tell us That Christ is the only party conditioned with and that the new Covenant as to us hath no conditions so Salt marsh c. The place they alledg for this assertion in that Ier. 31. 31 32 33. cited in Heb. 8. 8 9 10. which place containeth not the full Tenor of the whole new Covenant But either it is called the new Covenant because it expresseth the nature of the benefits of the new Covenant as they are offered on Gods part without mentioning mans conditions that being not pertinent to the business the prophet had in hand or else it speaketh only of what God will do for his elect in giving them the first Grace and enabling them to perform the conditions of the new Covenant and in that sence may be called a new Covenant also as I have shewed before pag. 7. 8. Though properly it be a prediction and belong only to Gods Will of Purpose and not to his legislative Will But those men erroneously think that nothing is a condition but what is to be performed by our own strength But if they will believe Scripture the places before alledged will prove that the new Covenant hath conditions on our part as well as the old 2 Some benefit from Christ the condemned did here receive as the delay of their condemnation and many more mercies though they turn them all into greater judgments But of this more when we treat of generall Redemption THESIS XV. THough Christ hath sufficiently satisfied the Law yet is it not his Will or the Will of the Father that any man should be justified or saved thereby who hath not some ground in himself of personall and particular right and claim thereto nor that any should be justified by the blood only as shed or offered except it be also received and applyed so that no man by the meer Satisfaction made is freed from the Law or curse of the first violated Covenant absolutely but conditionally only EXPLICATION I Have shewed before p. 57. 58. c. That Christ intended not to remove all our misery as soon as he dyed nor as soon as we believed I am now to shew That he doth not justifie by the shedding of his blood immediately without somewhat of man intervening to give him a legall title thereto All the Scriptures alledged pag. 79. prove this We are therefore said to be justified by faith Let all the Antinomians shew but one Scripture which speaks of Justification from eternity I know God hath decreed to justifie his people from eternity and so he hath to sanctifie them too but both of them are done in time Justification being no more an imminent act in God then Sanctification as I shall shew afterward The Blood of Christ then is sufficient in fuo genere but not in omni genere sufficient for its own work but not for every work There are severall other necessaries to justifie and save quibus positis which being supposed the Blood of Christ will be effectuall Not that it receives its efficacy from these nor that these do add any thing at all to its worth or value no more then the Cabinet to the Jewel or the applying hand to the medicine or the offenders-acceptation to the pardon of his Prince yet without this acceptation and application this blood will not be effectuall to justifie us For as Grotius Cum unusquisque actui ex suâ voluntate pendenti legem possit imponere sicut id quod pure debetur novari potest sub conditione ita etiam possunt is qui solvit pro alio is qui rei alterius pro alterâ solutionem admittit pacisci ut aut statim sequatur remissio aut in diem item aut pure aut sub conditione Fuit autem Christi satisfacientis dei satisfactione in admittentis hic animus ac voluntas hoc denique pactam foedus non ut deus statim ipso perpessionis Christi tempore paenas remitteret sed ut tum demum id fieret cum homo vera in Christum fide ad deum conversus supplex veniam precaretur accedente etiam Christi apud deum advocatione sive intercessione Non obstat hic ergo satisfactio quo minus sequi possit remissio satisfactio enim nonjam sustulerat debitum sed hoc egerat ut propter ipsam debitum aliquando tolleretur Grot. de satis cap. 6. So that as Austin he that made us without us will not save us without us He never maketh a relative change where he doth not also make a reall Gods Decree gives no man a legall title to the benefit decreed him seeing purpose and promise are so different A legall title we must have before we can be justified and there must be somewhat in our selves to prove that title or else all men should have equall right THESIS XVI THe obeying of a Law and persorming the conditions of a Covenant or satisfying for disobedience or non-performance is our Righteousness in reference to that Law and Covenant EXPLICATION IF we understand not what Righteousnes is we may dispute long enough about Justification to little purpose you must know therefore that Righteousness is no proper reall Being but a Modus Entis the Modification of a Being The subject of it is 1. An Action 2. Or a Person An Action is the primary subject and so the Disposition and the Person secondary as being therefore righteous because his disposition and actions are so Righteousness is the conformity of Dispositions and Actions and consequently the person to the Rule prescribed It is not a being distinct therefore from the Dispositions and Actions but their just and well being This finition is onely of the Creatures Righteousness God is the Primum Iustum and so the Rule of Righteousness to the Creature and hath no Rule but himself for the measuring of his Actions Yet his Essence is too far above us remote and unknown to be this Rule to the Creature therefore hath he given us his Laws which flow from his perfection and they are the immediate Rule of our Dispositions and Actions and so of our

none in this life For even when we do perform the Condition yet still the Discharge remains conditional till we have quite finished our performance For it is not one instantaneous Act of beleeving which shall quite discharge us but a continued Faith No longer are we discharged then we are Beleevers And where the condition is not performed the Law is still in force and shall be executed upon the offender himself I speak nothing in all this of the directive use of the Moral Law to Beleevers But how far the Law is yet in force even as it is a Covenant of Works because an utter Repeal of it in this sence is so commonly but inconsiderately asserted That it is no further overthrown no not to Beleevers then is here explained I now come to prove THESIS XIII IF this were not so but that Christ had abrogated the first Covenant then it would follow 1. That no sin but that of Adam and final Vnbelief is so much as threatned with death or that death is explicitely that is by any Law due to it or deserved by it For what the Law in force doth not threaten that is not explicitely deserved or due by Law 2. It would follow That Christ dyed not to prevent or remove the wrath and curse so deserved or due to us for any but Adams sin nor to pardon our sins at all but only to prevent our desert of wrath and curse and consequently to prevent our need of pardon 3. It would follow That against eternal wrath at the day of Iudgment we must not plead the pardon of any sin but the first but our own non-desert of that wrath because of the repeal of that Law before the sin was committed All which consequences seem to me unsufferable which cannot be avoyded if the Law be repealed EXPLICATION WHen God the absolute Soveraign of the World shall but command though he expresly threaten no punishment to the disobedient yet implicitely it may be said to be due that is the offence in it self considered deserveth some punishment in the generall for the Law of Nature containeth some generall Threatenings as well as Precepts as I shewed before Whether this Dueness of punishment which I call implicite do arise from the nature of the offence only or also because of this generall threat in the Law of Nature I will not dispute But God dealeth with his Creature by way of legall government and keepeth not their deserved punishment from their knowledge no more then their duty it being almost as necessary to be known for our incitement as the Precept for our direction Gods laws are perfect laws fitted to the attainment of all their ends And by these laws doth he rule the world and according to them doth he dispose of his rewards and punishments So that we need not fear that which is not threatened And in this sence it is that I say That what no law in force doth threaten that sin doth not explicitely deserve Not so deserve as that we need to fear the suffering of it And upon this ground the three fore-mentioned consequences must needs follow For the new Covenant threateneth not Death to any sin but final unbelief or at least to no sin without final unbelief And therefore if the old Covenant be abrogated then no law threateneth it And consequently 1 Our Sin doth not deserve it in the sence expressed Nor Christ prevent the wrath deserved but only the desert of wrath 3. And therefore not properly doth he pardon any such sin as you will see after when I come to open the nature of pardon 4 We may plead our non deserving of death for our discharge at judgment 5. And further then Christ in satisfying did not bear the punishment due to any sin but Adams first For that which is not threatened to us was not executed on him This is a clear but an intolerable consequence 6. Scripture plainly teacheth That all men even the Elect are under the Law till they beleeve enter into the Covenant of the Gospel Therefore it is said Ioh. 3. 18. He that beleeveth not is condemned already And the wrath of God abideth on him ver 26. And we are said to beleeve for Remission of sins Acts 2. 38. Mark 1. 4. Luk. 24. 47. Act. 10. 43. 3. 19. Which shew that sin is not before remitted and consequently the Law not repealed but suspended and left to the dispose of the Redeemer Else how could the Redeemed be by nature the children of wrath Ehp. 2. 3. The circumcised are debters to the whole Law Gal. 5. 3 4. and Christ is become of none effect to them But they that are led by the Spirit are not under the law and against such there is no law Gal. 5. 18 23. The Scripture hath concluded all under Sin and so far under the Law no doubt that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that beleeve Gal. 3. 22. We are under the Law when Christ doth redeem us Gal. 4. 5. See also Iam. 2. 9 10. 1 Tim. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 56. Gal. 3. 19 20 21. Therefore our deliverance is conditionally from the curse of the Law viz. if we will obey the Gospel And this deliverance together with the abrogation of the Ceremonial Law is it which is so oft mentioned as a priviledge of beleevers and an effect of the blood of Christ which deliverance from the curse is yet more full when we perform form the Conditions of our freedom And then we are said to be dead to the Law Rom. 7. 4. And the Obligation to punishment dead as to us ver 6. But not the Law void or dead in it self 7 Lastly All the Scriptures and Arguments pag. 60. 61. which prove That afflictions are punishments do prove also that the Law is not repealed For no man can suffer for breaking a repealed Law nor by the threats of a repealed Law yet I know that this Covenant of Works continueth not to the same ends and uses as before nor is it so to be preached or used We must neither take that Covenant as a way to life as if now we must get salvation by our fulfilling its condition nor must we look on its curse as lying on us remedilesly THESIS XIV 1 THe Tenor of the new Covenant is this That Christ having made sufficient satisfaction to the Law Whosoever will repent and believe in him to the end shall be justified through that Satisfaction from all that the Law did charge upon them and be moreover advanced to far greater Priviledges and Glory then they fell from But whosoever fulfilleth not these conditions shall 2 have no more benefit from the blood of Christ then what they here received and abused but must answer the charge of the Law themselves and for their neglect of Christ must also suffer a far greater condemnation Or briefly Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life but he that

all inferiour ends are nothing and all meanes do lose their nature and become uselesse and so the soul of the most gracious man shall be no fitter to attain and prosecute its end and do no more thereto then a beast or a stone This consequence is undeniable 9. Nay consider whether you do not make all the graces of the Spirit except love joy and thankfulnesse to be almost vain and the blessed supernaturall work of the spirit upon us to be a uselesse labour doth not God onely create in nature but also new create by grace in us such things as Desire Care Fear Zeal Courage Diligence Watchfulnesse c. and may we not use them Surely if we may not use them for Heaven then for nothing And I cannot believe that God will at so dear a rate plant in us a heavenly nature and these heavenly Graces and then make it our sinne to use them for Heaven and that while we are here in the way where we have such need of them 10. But especially I would have you throughly consider to what end God did fill his word so with Precepts Prohibitions Promises conditionall and Threats Doth not almost all the Scripture for the doctrinall part consist of these And are not Precepts to put us on to dutie And hath not every duty its end even for our selves And can it be any other then the obtaining of the fruition of God in Heaven so what end have the prohibition else And what are the conditionall promises for but to stirre us up to believe and to performe the conditions that so we may enjoy the promised good And why are the Threatnings but with the fear of the evill threatned to deterre us from the sinne and to the dutie What think you is the reason that God doth so commonly Promise Heaven and threaten Hell if it be unlawfull for us to labour for Heaven and to escape Hell Do you not hereby insinuate an accusation of vanity at least against God and his Lawes Nay the very essence of the Covenants doth consist in all these parts conjunct And will you also overthrow the very essentiall parts of the Law or Covenant by making it unlawfull for us to admit their proper use To quote the particular places for this would be needlesse and endlesse 11 Methinks you should be so farre from questioning the lawfulnesse of labouring for Heaven that you should rather think you have almost nothing else to labour for Gods glory and your salvation not disjunct but conjunct are all the businesse you have to look after What do you live for Why have you all the mercies of your life Is it onely that you may be thankfull for life and mercie Or that you might also improve them to some further advantage I hope for all your question that you make it the greatest labour of your life to seek for assurance and obtainment of your eternall happinesse in God 12. And once more let me intreat you to consider whether there be any hope of that mans salvation who shall reduce this your doctrine into his practise I abhorre censoriousnesse but I desire it may be considered because it is a matter of such unspeakable importance For surely if this Doctrine practised will not stand with salvation it is time for you and all men to abhorre it And indeed this is it that maketh me say so much against it because it hath a holy pretence and is very plausible to the inconsiderate but yet is no better then damnable if it be practised I say if practised because the opinion as such is not so for I believe many a godly man doth erre as foully as this But it is possible for a man by reading and argument to be drawn to entertain some opinions in his brain not onely consequently but directly contrary to the practice of his heart and life and yet himself to continue that practice Even as a wicked man may entertain those truths into his brain in speculation which directly to contradict his continued practice Now it being the practice here that is of absolute necessity to salvation and not the opinion I doubt not but such that erre onely in this opinion not reducing it into practice may be saved But if practised I cannot see but it will certainly damne For search the Scriptures impartially and consider whether seeking Heaven be not necessarie to the obtaining of it And whether those that seek not and labour not for it be not shut out View over the places which I quoted you before and then judge Must not all that will have life come to Christ that they may have it Iohn 5. 39 40 And must not they strive to enter in at the straight gate and lay violent hands on the Kingdome of Heaven And lay up for themselves a treasure in heaven and seek the Kingdome of God and his Righteousnesse in the first place Matth. 6. 33. And presse on that we may attain the Resurrection Philip. 3. 14. And lay up a good foundation against the time to come doing good works and lay hold on eternall life 1 Timoth. 6. 12 18 19. And work out our salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. And do his commandments that we may have right to the Tree of Life and enter in by the gates into the City Rev. 22. 14. And make friends of the unrighteous Mammon that they may receive us into everlasting habitations See also Rev. 2. 7 10 11 13 14 16 17 19. 23. 26 27 28 29. and 3. 2 3 4 5 8. 10 11 12 13 15 16 20 21 22. See also Mat. 18. 8 9. Iohn 5. 29. Act 2. 28 1 Tim. 4 8. Iam. 1 12. 1 Pet. 3. 10. Rom. 2. 7. 1 Tim. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 4. 18. Mat. 5. 12. 6. 1. 19. 21. Luk. 10. 20. Phil. 1. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 9. Heb. 2. 3. 2 Tim. 2. 10. 1 Thes. 5. 8 9. Act. 16. 17. Yea we are commanded to fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell even under that consideration to fear him Luke 12. 5. And to fear lest a promise being left us of entring into rest we should come short of it Heb. 4. 1. And what is that but to fear the losse of Heaven or to fear Hell Prov. 15. 24. Mar. 3. 29 16. 16. Mat. 5. 25. Rom. 11. 21 44. 1 Cor. 10. 12. Heb. 12. 15 16 Iames 5. 9 12. But I must stop for if I should quote all Scriptures that prove this I should transcribe a great part of the Bible Consider then if even many that seek to enter shall not be able whether they are like to enter that never seek And if the righteous be scarcely saved what shall become of them that thought it unlawfull to labour for salvation 13. Lastlie how is it that you do not see that by this Doctrine you condemne not all the Saints onelie but even the Lord himself Did not Paul therefore keep under his bodie and