1 c. some name James the son of Alpheus the Brother of Christ and one of the 12 Apostles others James sirnamed Oblias or the Just of whom Jâ—sephus writeth the Author of it adhuc sub judice lis est Or that the matter method and if I may so speak spirit of this Epistle sounds not in one harmony with the rest parts or books of the new Testament but rather after the writings of the books under the old Covenant or after such as stuck still to the old Covenant as Philo Judaeus and others all which Mr. Baxter better knows to have been by many objected then I know how satisfactorily to answer it By these and other reasons some have expunged it from the Catalogue of Scriptures which are of divine inspiration and have reduced it into the kind and number of writings that are usually termed Ecclesiasticall in a good sense not disagreeing any where from the Canon yet not of that dignity as to be accepted as a part of the Canon it self I shall leave these things to be disputed by others and examine the testimonies which Mr. Baxter hence alleageth what and how far it makes for him as the authority of the holy Ghost himselfe Here it is remarkable that Mr. Baxter who followes the Jesuits every foot and inch in the interpreting of this and all other Scriptures from which he would with them set up justification by works like a man made all of zeal perks up to terrifie us from an interpretation contradictory to the text and from using apparent violence to it implying that all the Protestant Churches and Saints which have stood in the defence of the faith of Christ against the Papists now almost 200. years have dealt thus sacrilegiously in robbing this Text of its due sense And the Fryers and Jesuites alone good men have stood up as the fast friends of Christ to maintain this truth of Christ and the spirit and meaning of this Scripture against the violation of the sacrilegious hands of these hereticall Protestants And that himself is now at last stirred up by the Spirit that hath wrought so powerfully upon the Jesuits to vindicate and set forth the true meaning of this Text with the same fidelity and sincerity which they his Masters have used before him Therefore to excite all men to gaze on his ingenuity and sincerity and to admire him as the one alone man among Protestants raised up to undeceive all the Churches that have so long strayed from the holy mother Church he thus like wisedome it self uttereth his voice B. Pag. 297. I dare not teach the holy Ghost to speak nor force the Scripture nor raise an exposition so far from the plain importance of the words without apparent necessity but here is not the least necessity there being not the least inconvenience that I know of in affirming justification by works in the fore explained sense i. e. in the sense which Mr. Baxters sense and reason without any help of Scripture hath devised Men seldome are bold with Scripture in forcing it but they are first bold with conscience in forcing it as one M. Baxter who with onespell hath forced all the large and divine disputes of Paul about justification into a cherristone and hurld it at the feet of his St. Sense there to do homage or to be trampled into the dirt After this his protestation of his integrity zeal and tendernesse of conscience in interpreting Scriptures and the impression which he feels or feigns in his soul which the heretick Protestants have made by not expounding this Scripture in the same words which the Jesuits do Let us see with what tendernesse and fear himself in the next words speaketh of it B If it were but some one phrase dissonant from the ordinary language of Scripture I should not doubt but it must be reduced to the rest But when it is the very scope of a Chapter in plain and frequent expressions no whit dissonant from any other Scripture I think he that may so wrest it as to make it unsay what it saith may as well make him a Creed of his own let the Scriptuee say what it will to the contrary What is this but with the Papists to make the Scripture a nose of wax If St. James speak it so over and over that justification is by works and not by faith only I will see more cause before I deny it or say he means a working faith He that in all this can see one least spark of that professed sincerity which he protesteth in himself and requires in others worthier then himself let him make it out I can see nothing else but fraud doublenesse and falshood 1 When he sayeth that it is the very scope of a Chapter and not only some one phrase that here holds forth justification by works before God it is the same which he hath from Bellarmine Bel. lib. 1. de justif cap. 15. Scopus Jacobi saith he fuit demonstrare fidem veram atque Catholicam ad salutem sine operibus non sufficere c. i. e. The scope of James in his Chapter was to shew that a true and Catholick faith is not sufficient without works to salvation and with as much truth and fidelity doth this man speak it as did the other from whom he learned it This being no more the scope of this Chapter or of James in it then to deny the salvation which is by Christ and to set on men to seek it by the Law 2 That this phrase of justification by works in Mr. Baxters sense is no whit dissonant from any other Scripture whether he means difference in sound or difference in substance is as very a paradox as if he had said that contradictories are not dissonaÌ„t For if this doctrine after Mr. Baxters sense must stand as true doctrine and for the Gospell of Christ then must we cast away almost if not altogether all the other Scriptures of the new Testament as hereticall and limit our selves to this alone and to Mr. Baxters glosse in it to learn true righteousnesse and the way to life For how vain empty and audacious his annihilating of Pauls doctrine about justification with one breath is we shall see in its proper place and finde that he destroyes the genuine scope and meaning of that Apostle in many of his Epistles to sacrifice all to his imaginary scope of James in some few words here delivered 3 When he tels us of wresting and making a Creed c. he proclaims to the World that all the Protestant Churches which have constantly defended justification by faith without works i. e. by Christ Jesus apprehended by faith without concurrence of works c. have wrested and violated the Scripture set up a Creed of their own in despight of the Scriptures speaking to the contrary For what he cunningly and seemingly fastens upon one Mr. Pemble he layes to the charge of all the Protestant Churches there being not one
Christs undertaking c. The satisfaction was so virtually and effectually made by Christ and accepted by the Father as when it was actually accomplished First it seems there was such a Covenant For the Apostle tells us Rom. 5. 14. that Adam was a figure of him that was to come which is Christ And how a figure Doubtles not onely in this that as by him the one and first man sin and death by sin immediately came upon all men so by Christ righteousnes and by it life came upon all the elect But also in the manner of the agreement of the Type and Antitype together That as Adam representing all mankinde by his unfaithfullnes in breaking the Covenant brought sin and death upon all that he represented so Christ representing all the elect by his faithfullnes in performing the Covenant c. brought righteousnes and justification of life upon all the elect represented in him Yea the Holy Ghost in expresse words testifieth to such a Covenant In the volume of thy book it is written of me that I should do thy will O God saith he when he comes into the world i. e. it is testified in the word what Covenant hath passed betwixt thee and me c. Heb. 10. 5-10 yea and testifieth to the tenor of the Covenant his coming with a body to be offered in sacrifice this will of God he came to do And moreover he giveth witnes also to the faithfullnes of Christ in offering it Lo I come and to the efficacy of it upon all immediately for whom it was offered By the which will we are sanctified i. e. no more taken for sinners but Consecrated as holy to the Lord through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ibid. The same is implyed in that phrase which here termeth the offering of Christs body the doing of the Fathers will And elswhere obedience unto death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2. 8. Obedience and will presuppose Command and Covenant And the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one righteousnes or one act of righteousnes of Christ opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that one offence of Adam for so the phrase seems to me to hold out more grammatically than the offence of one and the righteousnes of one doth not obscurely argue that one righteousnes of Christ in fullfilling opposite to that one offence of Adam in once breaking the Covenant Rom. 5. 18. And that all this was covenanted to be done and accepted for and in the behalf of the elect and to them and none but them to be effectuallized is also evident from the Scriptures For he did the will of his Father in offering himself as was before shewed i. e. did according as it was agreed and covenanted between him and the Father dyed for them onely for whom he made prayers and intercessions But when his time was come to suffer he prayed intercedâ—d not for the world but for them onely whom the Father had given him out of the world Joh. 17. 6 9. Therefore for them onely he undertook to satisfie Therefore is it that he is said to lay down his life onely for his sheep not for the goats Joh. 10. 11. 15. For them whose names were written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13. 8. The rest things conteined in this position are granted by Mr. Br himselfe therefore need no proof here I have couched together many things in this to avoyd multiplicity of positions 2 That by force of this satisfaction so given and accepted for the sinns of the Elect according to the Tenor of this Covenant between the Father and the Son all the Elect of God were Justified in Christ from the very time of Christs undertaking to be their Justifier Therefore in the last alleaged Scripture their names are said to be written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Here though the book of life which is elswhere mentioned to be Gods book will be taken by Mr. Br to be the book of Election yet this book of life of the lamb is to be understood for the book of Justification implying indeed the election of all that are written therein but primarily and in its direct sense comprehending the names of them that are justified by the bloud of the sacrificed Lamb of God And these are said to be written in Christs book that is registred in Christ and upon Christs account from the foundation of the world immediately upon Christs undertaking to satisfie for them Of him ye are in Christ saith the Apostle who of God is made unto us Wisdome Righteousnes Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. When was he so made unto us Mr. Br answereth not onely upon the payment but upon his undertaking to pay our debt Therefore is he said to be Jesus Christ yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. And that not onely in reference to them that lived in all ages of the world but in respect of us also that in all ages of the world he hath been and will be what now he is our Jesus our Christ But this position hath been before proved in the former Chapter in answer to Mr. Baxters 13 Thesis and its explication where I spake to his sixth Argument 3 The Ministeriall way of offering and convaying the benefits of Christs satisfaction into the souls and apprehensions of men now used under the Gospel according to the command of Christ is or at least sounds like an inferior Covenant subordinate and sub-servient to this between the Father and the Son whereof we have spoken Christ having now made full satisfaction to the Father invites all and brings in his elect to taste and enjoy by faith all the perfections which he hath merited and received into his hands for them It is confessed by Mr. B. Thes 8. That God is so fully pleased with the Sons undertaking of this busines of Mediation that he hath delivered all things into his hands and given him all power in heaven and in earth and made him Lord both of the dead and living And the Lord Jesus himself affirmeth that the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son i. e. the dispensation and ordering of all things in heaven and in earth And it is the opinion of great Divines that the Lord Christ in the old world before the Law and in all ages under the Law being that person of the Trinity which had undertaken to assume our nature unto him and in it to dye for the reconciling of us to God and entring from the beginning upon his power to set in order all things to this glorious end was he that conversed with the Patriarks and Prophets sometimes in an assumed body like a man sometimes invisibly making known the mystery of Redemption by himself to them and prescribing under what administrations he would have his Church
here in defining or describing righteousness denying it a positive and reall being herein puffing off all the Classicall Philosophers and Divines Philosophers for Aristotle affirmeth that all Philosophers call Righteousnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such an habit by which men are apt to practise just things and by which they act and will just things And to them he gives also his assent calling it further 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely a virtue but a perfect virtue citing and approving that Proverbial verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That all or every vertue is complexively or comprehensively in Righteousness Yea the most perfect virtue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and again it is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most excellent of virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a part of virtue but virtue in the whole So speakes he of Righteousness in the general and as in the next Chapters he distributes it into its specials he makes virtue the general of those several Righteousnesses In the same manner the choicest of all the learned and Orthodox Divines that I have met with make Righteousness thus taken in its largest sense to sound and to bee one and the same thing with virtue it self Some call it bonitatem probitatem integritatem goodnesse honesty and integrity others rectitudinem virtutis the uprightnesse or rectitude of Virtue defining its specials by Virtue when they assign the next and immediate genus by habitus when they assign the remote genus And are not Virtues and either naturall morall or infused Habits Positive and Reall Beings Must all other Philosophers and Divines vanish to nothing when Mr. Baxter comes with his Denominations Modifications or rather Noddifications Neverthelesse though we deny to him that Righteousnesse is but a bare Denomination or dead notion yet we grant to him that true righteousness both of Mens Actions and persons must relate to some rule What will follow hence B. This Rule when it is the law of Man and our actions suit thereto we are then Righteous before men True and yet latet anguis in herba under this truth there lurketh a fraudulent falshood Mr. Baxter hath his restrictions to promote but not to prevent a falshood The thing that he pretends to prove is That men are called Righteous in Scripture in reference to the New Covenant onely There he finds the word onely to make a falshood Here he cannot find it will not finde it for if it bee brought in place it will reprove him of falshood to all men Is it for mens actions suiting to the Lawes of men onely that they are called in Scripture righteous before men He would be so understood for if it be not onely for this if at all for their outward and appearing conformity to the Law of God they are called Righteous before or in the account of men his conclusion is destroyed by this prop which he brings to sustain it And yet he dares not to say onely for this they are called Righteous before men For he knoweth whole streames of Scriptures would bee brought â—o confute so bold an assertion But he proceedeth B. When this Rule is Gods Law it is either that of Workes or that of Grace In relation to the former there is none righteous no not one c. ut supra This and that which followeth is all sophisticall fallacious and catching First the distinction which he here maketh of the Law of God that it is either the Law of Works or Law of Grace is somewhat a strange phrase to chaste ears that desire to hear Scripture Doctrines delivered in Scripture termes that oppose Grace to the Law and are not wont to call it a Law Secondly it is contrary to Mr. Baxters doctrine and Gospel for howsoever he in words talketh of a two-fold Covenant of Works and of Grace to beguile such as desire to be beguiled yet really hee labours to bring all under a Covenant of Works making mans own righteousnesse the condition of both so altering the name but retaining the nature and power of the first Covenant still as I have before evinced from his disputes and himself will in the following part of his book discover more fully 3. There is an ambiguity in the word Rule he manifesteth not how farre his meaning therein in reference to the Law extendeth whether for a direction onely what is good and what is evill wherewith God will be served and what is it that offendeth him teaching us to perform the one and to shun the other Or whether also for a direction how far in what degrees the good is to be done and the evill shunned that we may bee justified and saved thereby Though we may without much difficulty smell his meaning herein yet because he reserveth it for another place clearly to expresse himselfe we also will reserve it for the same place to make him a full answer 4. He playeth his usuall game of equivocation in telling us that In relation to the former there is none righteous no not one This is not that which is concluded and nothing ought to be in the conclusion which is not also in the premises The conclusion as we have seen is that none is called righteous c. The proof here is that none is righteous These phrases much differ A man may be called righteous in reference to the rule of the Law though he be not absolutely righteous in every particular thereof to Justification and himself acknowledgeth that in many respects the Scripture calleth men righteous in reference to the Law of Works who notwithstanding shall never be justified by the Law of Works as a little before in this Explication we have seen Concerning the Righteousnesse which is by the Law I was blamelesse saith the Apostle Phil. 3. 6. And I have lived in all good Conscience unto this day Act. 23. 1. Lo even while Paul was yet a Saul a hater a persecuter of the Gospel Righteousnesse yet he is termed and called Righteous blamelesly Righteous conscientiously righteous in relation to the Law of Works Or when Judah saith of Tamar She is or Saul of David Thou art more righteous then I and Solomon of Joab Two men more righteous then himself Gen. 38. 26. 1 Sam. 24. 17. 1 Kings 2. 32. Were these here called Righteous in reference to the righteousness of the Gospell and not of the Law Or when the Lord by his Prophet calls them righteous which turned from their righteousnesse and perished in and for their wickednesse Ezek. 3. 20 21. and 18. 20 24 26. and 33. 12 13 18. was it an Evangelical or a legal Righteousnesse that gave them the denomination of Righteous persons When Isaiah calls all his all the peoples Righteousnes menstruous or filthy Raggeâ— and Paul his Righteousnesse Dung Isa 64. 6. Phi. 3. 9. yet both such as gave them the denomination of Righteous men Mr. Baxter himself will not say that these were the righteousness of the New Covenant I could
Law they understand sometimes the Decalogue or Law of the ten Commandments Sometimes the Law of Nature or naturall Righteousness imprinted in mans heart at his first creation Here taking it for granted that Mr. Baxter meaneth by the Morall Law the doctrine of the Law considered as a rule of Righteousness not as a Covenant of Works If 1. he mean by the Morall Law all Commandements both of naturall and positive right I deny the Morall Law so taken to be in the whole and in every part now in force If 2. he mean by it the Decalogue or Law of the tenne Commandements as it was given upon Mount Sinai in time so himself knoweth it to bee the judgement of many Divines that it bound the Nation of Israel alone was not at all given to the Gentiles doth not at all bind us that are not of the Naâ—ion of Israel otheâ—wise then it clears up to us the Law of Nature written in our hearts which dâ—th bind us or as the duties thereof are required of us in the New Testament by the Lord Christ whom we acknowledge to be our King See Zanchius Tom. 4. lib. 1. cap. 11. Thes 1. Where he fully handles and confirms this assertion adding moreover Sic etiam insignes Theologi omnes sentiunt i. e. All Divines of note aâ—e of this judgement Withall that there are some things contained in some of the ten Commandements not pertaining to the jus naturae save in their genus and that somewhat remote I know Mr. Baxter will not deny and if I thought any else would question it it were easie to be demonstrated But if he mean by the Morall Law the Law of Nature as aforesaid as it is written in the heart yea as it is further illustrated either by the book of the Creatures or by the Decalogue as it is epitomized in Tables of stone and explained and amplified in both Testaments so I grant the Moral Law to be still in force viz. as a directive of Moral obedience still What Mr. Baxter addeth viz. to what ends and in what sense the Gospel continueth that law and commandeth perfect obedience thereto is a question not very easie is to me a strange speech in many respects For 1. I cannot see how the question can be difficult to him that will not Nodum in scirpo quaerere make the plaine wayes of God rugged by filling them up with bryars and thorns To the same most honourable ends and in the same sense is it continued for and in which it was first given I mean to the same ends in general though not in every far remote particular First to make his glory elucent in this Microcosm this choice peece of his Workmanship Man is the glory of God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 7. How but as he bears the image of God not onely in rule and dominion but also in wisdome holyness and righteousness to manage that authority and rule wherewith the grace of God hath invested him And this glory of God upon man is by so much the more conspicuous by how much the more perfectly he resembles God in wisdom righteousness and holyness Besides it was both given and continued to direct and enable man in some measure to render to God his Pepper-corn as Mr. Baxter terms it in testification of his homage and thankfulnesse both for the favours received and for the favours promised without the guidance of the Morall Law written without us yea within us also we should though our affections were never so sweetly sanctifyed for lack of sound illumination present God with wild grapes in stead of grapes with an abomination instead of due obedience and devotion And are not these ends as requisite in the state of mans Renovation as they were in the state of his innocency Yea further unpossible was it that Christ should not continue the Morall Law no lesse unpossible then it is for God to be unrighteous or not God He came to fulfill all righteousnesse not to destroy any one branch of naturall and essential righteousness The Morall Law is the image of God in which we may read the nature of God The rule and platform is in God himselfe originally this is but an extract from it and abstract of it Christ came to restore it not to quench it to set it up in man to perfection not to deface it by any diminution For so should he have abased the glory of his Father shining in his living image And lastly not to have commanded perfect but a maimed obedience thereto had been against the rule of righteousness which bids us to render to every one his due his whole due To God the things that pertain to God yea the whole that pertains to him All is but a Pepper-corn to a whole kingdome of Grace held and of glory expected from him and should not Christ require the payment of a Pepper-corn whole and entire without diminishing or dividing it But the truth is that the question is difficult to bee answered without crushing Mr. Baxters Gospel Justification by Works not in reference to Christs Gospel Justification by free Grace with it the Commandement of perfect obedience to the Morall Law sweetly cohereth The command of perfect obedience to the Morall Law as a condition of Justification leaves all men hopelesse of Justification sure to condemnation for ever Because none can perform the condition in this life But when we are justified freely by the blood of Christ and then by way of answering the grace of our Justifier with our reall thankfulness we are bidden to render our obedience more and more perfectly not slacking our endeavours untill we come to full perfection Though we attain it not in this present life yet our not attainment doth but encrease our self-abasement and make us feele that Christ is our all and we are nothing but doth in no wise destroy our Justification or lessen the joy of the Holy Ghost and peace of conscience which are bottomed only and wholly upon Christ and not upon our selves at all Now let us see how he will make the question difficult to us as it must be to him First saith he it is a question Whether Christ did first repeale that Law and then re-establish it to other ends So some think A meer windy question of such as delight to play with God in contempt as the Froggs with Jupiters Log. Where are those some thinkers No lesse rationally might they feign that the Lord Jesus pluckt down his Father Josephs house re-edified it to this other end that men might goe in and out no more at the doors but at the windows Mr. Baxter washeth his hands clean from having a finger in this pye Nay saith he I have proved already that it is not repealed at all even concerning the Covenant of Works it self i. e. That Christ is so farre from taking from us the perfect rule of righteousnesse that he however hee be called a Saviour yet hath left all
and actions the godly are called Righteous in Scripture and their faith and duties are said to pleas God viz. at they are related to the Covenant of grace i. e. as they are coÌ„ditions procuring our Justification by Christ as well as in regard of the imputed Righteousnes which he addeth but as a cypher bringing no proof for it but all seemingly for the former Aphor. Thes 18 19 20 22 and its explication p. 119. c. We are justified by works commanded This is the generall vote of all Popish writers none excepted in the Law yet as they make up not our Legall but our Evangelicall Righteousness not as they are done upon legall terms but as they are conditions of the New Covenant This is the chief substaÌ„ce of Mr Brs whole book and it is a poorer shift to elude the doctrine of Paul than is that of the Papists Love is an essentiall part of Justifying Faith not properly a fruit of of it Aph. p 266. When Faith therefore The common Tenet of Papists not love is said to justifie it is said so to work in its essentiall work of accepting by Love pa. 268. That both are necessary to salvation are concurrent in apprehending Christ is doubtless p. 271. Love doth truly receive Christ c. p. 224. The people are to understand that for them to take upon trust from their Teachers what they cannot yet reach to see in its own evidence is less absurd and more necessary that many This also is a known Tenet among the Papists do imagin Epistle to the reader in the last page save two These may suffice for a Taste by which the reader may judge whether Mr. Brs and the Papists Barrells are filled with the same Herring or not Should I proceed to Compare also his and their equivocations ambiguities mentall reservations together with their purposed and not unwary Contradictions when to say and deny the same thing in severall places as may severally make for their advantage But specially if I should go on to Compare them how they bring the same arguments to prove their severall assertions and the same distinctions and other shifts of Sophistry to elude the Scriptures and reasons which make against them I should procedere ad infinitum almost begin but finde no end In alleaging the words of the severall Authors something here and there hath perhaps been abbreviated some words standing as cyphers without waight in reference to the questions Controverted interserted to make up some orderly Connexion of the following with the foregoing particular cited But no where have I wittingly Committed any such alteration of the words as to alter in one Title the sense of the Writer as will be evident to all that will but take the pains to examine the citations with their authentique or books from which they are cited Neither is there any one thing alleaged in which the two parties Cohere but what hath been still Controverted between the Papists and Protestants Else would it be easie to produce a thousand particulars wherein the Pope and Luther themselves speak one and the same thing without opposition or difference If any where when Mr. Br and the Papists speak the same words yet Mr. Br means not punctually the same thing with the Papists in every such allegation I undertake to manifest that he is worse and delivers more self-exalting Grace-depressing doctrine than they Yet all this is too little to set forth the frame of Mr. Brs spirit he may take himself injured and left too obscure if he be but matched with the Papists and have no pre-eminence granted him before and above them in exalting mans righteousnes and nullifying the Grace of God in Christ That we may not rob him of the praise to which his ambition seems to aspire we will grant to him that the Papists are but the Pigmies and he the Giant that in the battell between Michael and the Dragon he hath superexcelled more deserved the Scarlet Hat Miter Crosier yea Triple Crown it sâ—lf than they that have and wear them if not by his Art yet at least by his daring boldnes in his undertakings This service therefore I shall do him to manifest not onely his equality with but also his exâ—perancy above many of the famous Champions of Rome That many of the brave Cardinals Bishops Jesuits and Fryars of the Church of Rome are Protestants in the poynt of Justification as compared with Mr. Br and that he sheweth himself in many particularâ— about this doctrine a Papist of a deeper dye than the more modest Papists yea than some of the most Jesuitized and Trentified Rabbi's among them This shall be the business of the next Chapter CHAP. XVII A comparing of Mr. Baxters Doctrine with the Doctrine of some of the more Modest and other more Trentified and Jesuitized Papists in which he is found more Antichristian than they Papists 1 IT is to be noted that the Scripture attributeth this imputation of Righteousness to no other thing but Faith 2 Faith hath not of it self any efficacy as it is our act to forgive and reconcile but all its vertue proceeds from its object namely Christ whose vertue and merit God hath disposed to apply to the sinner unto Justification by Faith on him 3 If it be enquired how the Law of Faith is distinguished by Paul against the Law of works even of morall works when Faith also is comprehended under the genus or kind of works for to beleeve is our work The solution is that to beleeve in him that justifieth the ungodly leaneth upon the Righteousnes of another to wit of God through Christ but other works do lean upon their own Righteousness every work is in or after it self good and makes him good that hath it 4 If Faith as it is a certain Act and of it self should procure Righteousness then were not Righteousness given freely God hath not used works to justifie as he hath used Faith that men should not boast attributing Righteousness to the vertue or merit of works 5 Faith is not counted to us for Righteousness as if it self were made our Righteousness but because it brings a Righteousness on man before God not as it is an act of man then Grace should be of works for to beleeve is a kind of work but of Gods will as he hath willed that Righteousness should be given to man by Faith and the vertue of Christ upon whom man beleeveth should be communicated to the beleever This is to count or impute Faith to Righteousness before God 6 Whereas we attain a twofold Righteousness by Faith an inherent Righteousness c. by which we become pertakers of Gods nature and the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us c. It remains to be enquired upon which of these we ought to lean or trust and to account our selves justified before God My judgment is that we are to rest to rest I say as upon a stable
of Justification by Christ doth not give them any part of the work of Christs righteousness For it belongeth to Christs righteousness by it self alone and to Christ by his Mediatory righteousness alone to perfect for ever the Justification and salvation of his redeemed ones Heb. 10. 14. And that without any accessary help of their own righteousness John 13. 10. But Mr. Br. so parteth justification between Christs righteousness and our righteousnesse as that he makes them equally concurrent to our salvation and justifying That Christs Righteousness without ours can no more profit us than ours without Christs yea makes Christs righteousness wholly unprofitable to every man till by the serving and deserving of each man it be purchased and made usefull to benefit him And so by making the efficacy of it the fruit of our Merit he dis-robes it of its honour and ornament derogating from it its all-sufficiency by it self to perfect us that he may arrogate to our righteousness what is stoln from his But how farr this doctrine of his derogates both from the grace of God and merits of Christ hath been oft discussed After all that hee hath said to the defacing of both here he wipes his mouth and saith it was never foul and will have his Reader conclude that when his face of Christ is spittled yet if it be from Mr. Brs. lips touched with a Cole from Bellarmine and Arminius it is a blessing of him This one truth I acknowledg implyed though not expressed in this Argument of Mr. Br. that he acknowledgeth himself to be the man that hath made obedience or works condition of the New Covenant or of justification by Christ In this I contradict him not It is of mans not of Gods making it 's a creature of his own not created by God at least not by God assigned to this use and end It being therefore not formed to his hand but a graven image the work of his own hand we leave him sith he will do it alone without us to persist in worshipping it CHAP. XXIII Whether the Reasons which hee bringeth prove him not to be a Legallist and Anti-gospeller HIS fifth endeavour is to vindicate his doctrine from being legall and Anti-Evangelicall That although it hold Beleevers not only under the bondage but also under the Curse of the Law in life and death till the day of Judgment Thes 9. pa. 65. p. 73. and else-where oft Though it makes works the condition of the New as well as of the Old Covenant though he maintains that Doe and Live is the voyce of the Gospel as well as of the Law Append. p. 81. Yet is he not a Pharisee or Legallist nor his doctrine ungospel-like It is purely Christian and full of sweet and ravishing Consolation to a Beleever not the least tangue of the Covenant of works but the odour and very marrow of the Covenant of grace in it It would be too long to set forth in his own words all the reasons that scatteringly throughout this Book of his hee bringeth to prove a probability and likelihood of truth in this his Paradox The sum of it is this B. 1. As to the bondage and Curse of the Law though they that are in Christ are under it in part yet they are not under it in the whole as all sinners under the Law wholly out of Christ For they are conditionally pardoned and justified as he frequently expresseth himself and so there is some ground of hope to take off the extreamity of despair And it is not the whole but some part of the Curse of the Law that lyeth upon them p. 65. Thes 9. Christs death hath suspended the RIGOROVS execution of the sentence of the Law that it doth not immediately fall upon his Redeemed ones p. 67. though they suffer after they are in Christ much of the Curse in execution of the threatning of the Law and that not without rigour yet is it not in its full rigour p. 69. And Christ which hath suspended the rigour of the Curse manageth that which lyeth on them to their good and advantage pag. 72. And is not this cordiall Gospel the balm of Gilead and the healing of Christs wings to a wounded soul The force of all this hath been examined already as else-where so most copiously in the Examination of his ninth Thesis and the explication thereof to which for the prevention of Tautologizing here I refer the Reader Only let him by the way consider with me how fitly these glosses of Mr. Br. do agree with many plain and evident Sriptures Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. i. e. saith M. Br. from the rigour of the Curse not from the Curse it self for it lyeth upon us still or from the Curse that it shall not follow us to heaven after the world is ended not but that untill the worlds end it shall torment us both dead and living There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. i. e. No condemnation in its full rigour but condemnation unto and the execution of the Curse they must bear untill the day of judgment and after that he knoweth not what will become of them Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sinns are covered Rom. 4. 7. i. e. in part blessed and in part cursed The blood of Christ purgeth from all sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. i. e. from all sin not from all the curse and vengeance due to any one of our sins are we delivered God for Christs sake hath forgiven you all your sins and trespasses Eph. 4. 32. Col. 2. 13. i. e. hath forgiven you the fault but not the curse and punishment By one offering Christ hath perfected for ever them that are sanctifird i. e. hath laid a ground to perfect them if he will in the next world not that he hath perfected them in point of Justification here The time past is put for a time to come and a certain for an uncertain time Heb. 10. 14. They that are once purged by sacrifice have no more conscience of sinn i. e. when they are wholly purged in heaven not while they are but in part purged upon earth Heb. 10. 2. Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Heb. 10. 17. i. e. no more as forgiven to spare them But as long as the Sun and Moon endure I will remember to pour out the Curse and vengeance for them Wee are justified by the blood and reconciled to the Father by the death of the Son Rom. 5. 9 10. That is we have right and title so to be reconciled and justified in another world if we lose it not by the way He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and with his stripes we are healed Isa 53. 5. i. e. So healed with his stripes that he shall wound us
Gospel Condition and necessary Antecedents to be really but a Cloke to hide his diminution of Christ and exaltation of sinfull man A Syrens song to draw poor souls to dash against the Rocks and be drowned in the gulph Why had he not made our works conjunctly vvith Christs satisfaction in his Thes 56. the procatarctick and meritorious cause of our Justification as well as he doth the satisfaction of Christ conjunctly with our Faith or obedience in the same Thesis the Causa ssne qua non thereof Had he so done could he have ascribed more to vvorks under the name of a Meritorious cause then he doth under the title of a poor improper Causa sine qua non But by so doing he should have shewed himself in the light when contrariwise he that doth evill hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Let now any of his Disciples produce I will not say one Arminian but one Socinian Papist yea or Jew that ascribes more to works then this man in derogation from Christ and Grace else let him cease to be a follower of him or openly and ingenuously profess that he followeth him as a Jew Papist or Socinian and consequently that he hath made not Mr. Br. but Mr Brs Masters his Master also in the doctrine of Justification And that in advancing self so high as to affirm he meriteth no less fully and properly then Christ himself hath or could have done For his merits are in order to Gods ordinate not naturall justice But to shew the vanity of his distinction here how carelesly he eludeth the holy Scriptures as meer shaddows and play-games the Apostle denyeth man in this or that or in any sense to be justified by works He saith not Not by works as the efficient or meritorious cause or as the Medium or Antecedent or Condition or Causa sine quâ— non lest any man should boast but positively and peremptorily not by Works as by Faith yea not by works in any acceptation upon any score and accompt Mr. Brs chippings therfore have no more force then a chip to make the Holy Ghost to unsay what he hath said And it is as good sense as if I should say Mans bread doth not apparrell him as it is the maker or matter or instrument or merit of his clothing but as it is the antecedent or medium or condition or Causa sine qua non of his apparrelling when contrariwise it doth not at all in any sense apparrell him CHAP. XXIV Mr. Baxters Sophism to prove that his Doctrine of Justification by Works doth not at all derogate from the Doctrine of Faith examined and found to be meer vanity BEcause the Scripture attributeth Justification to Faith without works and to Faith in opposition to works excluding works and requiring Faith alone to apprehend the Righteousnesse which is by Christ and denominating it the Righteousnesse of Faith Rom. 4. 11. The Righteousnesse which is of Faith Rom. 9. 30. 10. 6. in opposition to the Righteousnesse of works He easily seeth that he shall be excepted against for his antiscripturall doctrine in making Faith and works Concomitants in the same kind of causality and procurement of Justification Therefore he makes it his sixth task to vindicate this his doctrine from all derogation from Faith and from all unscripturall confounding of Faith and works together To prove himself as innocent in this as in all the rest he brings these Reasons B. Thes 62. 1 Because though he makes Works and Faith to be the Conditions of our Justification yet according to Scripture phrase Faith may be called the onely Condition of the New Covenant 1 Because it is the principall Condition and works but the lesse principall And so as a whole Countrey hath oft its name from the chief City so may the Conditions of this Covenant from Faith 2 Because all the rest are reducible to it Either being presupposed as necessary Antecedents or means or conteined in it as its parts properties or modifications or else implyed as its immediate products or necessary subservient means or consequents All without Book one of Mr Brs Mysticks that hath no one sound of Gods word patronizing or favouring it Witnesse Mr. Br. who neither in his Thesis nor in its Explication hath alledged one Scripture to make it good Is Pythagoras come among us in a new body speaking nothing but Parables and Paradoxes which vulgar capacities can no more comprehend then they can Plato's Idea's or Democritus his Atomes If so it shall be needfull for him to injoin upon his Schollars as he did of old five years dumbnesse or silence Els if the mouth of a very Asse should be open it would rebuke the madnesse of the Prophet for delivering things so contradictive to the word to himself and to reason 1 To the word and the Holy Ghost speaking by it who every where opposeth Faith and works as to Justification making them to exclude not to infer or imply either the other By faith therefore not at all by works not by works therefore by faith alone But this man puts them in a conjunction makes Faith and works together the Condition of our justification from thence to conclude that Faith is the onely Condition and justifieth alone So much a greater Artist is Mr. Br. then the Holy Ghost and so ambitious of the praise of wisedome that he thinks himself to be but a vulgar idiot if his wisdom be not stretched Nine whole words by measure beyond and above the wisedom of the Holy Ghost 2 Contradictive to himself For Aph. p. 300. He denyeth that which he calleth an idle Concomitacny of works with Faith that they onely stand by while Faith doth all and concludes that they act together with faith in the same kind of causality to procure Justification and so denyeth that we are justified by Faith onely Here contrariwise he denyeth all such co-working of works with Faith but that faith may be said to be the onely Condition and to justifie onely 3 Contradictive to reason also and yet this next to Condition he seems to honour as the greatest God it must be to the Goats and sheep of the mountains not to Christs sheep to men that have reason that Mr. Br. must deliver this doctrine That we are justified not by faith alone but by works also yet it stands nevertheles as a firm Maxim faith is the onely condition or justifieth alone If the lips were shut and sealed up yet reason would use a ventriloquy or force a way thorow the ears to reclaim against such an absurdity If I should so reason of Condemnation the contrary to Justification that when the blind lead the blind and both fall into the ditch when seducers pervert those that are made to be taken and destroyed and so all utterly perish and are damned That tho all are damned yet it is but the leader and seducer alone that is damned he for all that he hath