much of the Texts alledged for Faith's Justifying seeing that those Texts expresly say That we are justified by Faith and that Faith is imputed unto us for Righteousness which the other Texts do not say of Obedience Ibid. 1. Did you never understand my meaning about Faith's justifying until now Nay you seem not yet to understand it Doth not Faith justifie at all if it only justifies Instrumentally and Relatively Is this so strange unto you that when we are said to be justified by Faith it is meant in respect of the Object viz. Christ and his Righteousness which is indeed that by which we are justified though it must be apprehended by Faith that we may be justified by it Where is now the totus mundâ—s Theologorum Reformatorum which sometime you spake of My acquaintance in this kind is not so great I think as yours yet I have before alledged many to this purpose I will here add one more a Man of note Dr. Prideaux Lect. 5. de Justif § 11 14 16. Justificamur inquit per justitiam Christi c. Atqui Fides ex parte nostrâ hanc justitiam sic a Deo imputatam apprehendit solummodo applicat quia neque Charitati vel spei vel alteri habitui hoc munus competat And again Justificat primò Deus Pater admittendo imputando 2. Deus Filius Satisfaciendo advocatum agendo 3. Spiritus Sanctus revelando obsignando 4. Fides apprehendendo applicando 5. Opera manifestando declarando And again Animadvertere potuit Bertius nos non proprtè justificationem fidei attribuere sed metalepticè quà tenus objecti actus propter arctam connexionem inter illum habitum usitatâ Scripturae phrasi in habitum transfertur 2. For Christ's Righteousness justifying formally or being the formal cause of Justification I have shewed in what sense some of our Divines do hold it and some reject it and that the difference is rather in words than in the thing it self 3. To me it seems no obscurity to say Faith or Believing doth justifie because Christ's Righteousness except it be apprehended by Faith is not available to Justification Is not this as much as Faith doth justifie Instrumentally or as apprehending Christs Righteousness by which we are justified The reason why Christ's Righteousness cannot justifie except it be apprehended by Faith is this That God doth require Faith of us Faith I say apprehending Christ and his Righteousness Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that so we may be justified God's Will is properly the Cause yet there is a congruity in the thing it self an aptitude you grant in the nature of Faith it is of an apprehensive Nature and its apprehending of Christ's Righteousness the Will of God still presupposed doth make this Righteousness ours even as a Gift becomes ours by our receiving of it If Davenant's words which I cited be not against you then nothing that I can say is against you For I cannot express my own mind as to that point more clearly and fully than he doth I will repeat his words again De Justit Habit. cap. 28. Nihil usitatius quà m causae applicanti illud tribuere quod propriè immediatè pertinet ad rem applicatam Quia igitur fides apprehendit applicat nobis justitiam Christi id fidei ipsi tribuitur quod reapse Christo debetur Is not this against you who say Append. p. 120. Faith is a Work and Act of ours and if Faith justifie as an apprehension of Christ it justifieth as a Work Do not these words of Devenant tell you that it is not Causa applicans but res applicata not Fides but Christus fide apprehensus that doth justifie Faith then is said to justifie yet not in respect of it self but in respect of its Object it is not properly Faith apprehending or the apprehension of Faith but Christ and his Righteousness apprehended by which we are justified Much hath been said before to this purpose If this be nothing against you I know not how in this particular to say any thing against you if it be against you surely it is nothing but what that Reverend Author saith in the words cited And mark I pray upon what occasion he brings in those words Bellarmine De Justif lib. 2. cap. 9. saith that Calvin from Rom. 4. Vbi dicitur fidem Abrahae imputatam esse id justitiam gathers nihil esse aliud nostram justitiam nempe quâ justificamur quà m fidem in Christum id est N. B. Christi justitiam Christi fide apprehensam Against this he objects Apostolus dicit ipsam fidem imputari ad justitiam fides autem non est justitia Christi c. To this Davenant answers Sed frivota est haec objectio Nam nihil usitatius quà m causae applicanti c. Your Objection is the very same in effect with Bellarmine's so that if Davenants words be any thing against Bellarmine they are as much against you And truly as you put off the words of Davenant so you might with the same ease have answered all my Animadversions and so you may all these Exceptions by saying That they are not against you It is a strange faculty that you seem to have of making any thing for you as when you bid see Calvin on Luk. 1. 6. and nothing against you as here in this place Ibid. When Mr. Manton speaketh of Faith Justifying as a Relative Act his words immediately before which I also cited shew his meaning viz. That Faith justifieth in its relation to Christ as it receiveth Christ so that not every Act relating unto Christ but that which doth so relate unto him as to receive him is that which justifieth but what I say of the Act justifying must always be understood in the sense before explained That Faith in respect of its apprehensive nature is more than Causa sine quâ non to me is clear it is Causa applicans as Davenant in the words even now cited doth call it 2. To contend much about Faith's Instrumentality I do not like I mean in respect of the word Instrumentality so that we agree in the matter yet as our best Divines have used the word I see not but it is convenient to be used 3. I grant that it is a material question Whether it be the receiving of Christ only as Priest that doth justifie for the confounding of Christ's Offices and of the Acts of Faith as Mr. Blake before cited saith well is not to be endured But I see no necessary dependance of this question upon the other viz. Whether Faith justifie as an Instrument a sole-working Instrument or as an Ordinance or Relative Action required on our parts which Mr. Manton said is all to the same issue and purpose and so I think it is 87. For the distinction of God's Will you might at first apprehend what I meant though perhaps my Expressions were not altogether so clear as afterward neither indeed do
having cited Acts 18. 26. Ephes 3. 17. Gal. 3. 14. he saith These Scriptures speak of Faith as the Souls Instrument to receive Christ Jesus c. See there much more to this purpose I will add to these one more viz. J. Goodwin who though in divers things he be cross and contrary to our Divines yet in this at least in words he doth comply with them professing to hold That Faith doth justifie instrumentally If the propriety of Words must always be strictly examined we shall scarce know how to speak It is well if we can find words whereby to express our selves so as that others may understand if they please what we mean All that our Divines mean when they speak of Faith justifying Instrumentally or as an Instrument I suppose is this and so much also they usually express That Faith doth not justifie absolutely or in respect of it self but Relatively in respect of its Object Christ and his Righteousness laid hold on and received by Faith Neither should you me-thinks strive about the word Receiving how it should be the Act of Faith It sufficeth That the Scripture makes Believing in Christ and Receiving of Christ one and the same John 1. 12. That which you say of our most famous Writers ordinarily laying the main stress of the Reformed Cause and Doctrine on a plain Error did deserve to have been either further manifested or quite concealed to me it seems very injurious both to our most famous Writers and also to the Reformed Cause and Doctrine My meaning is That Faith justifieth as it apprehendeth and receiveth Christ whom the Gospel doth give for Righteousness to such as receive him i. e. believe in him And thus our Divines frequently express themselves Luther Fides justificat quia apprehendit possidet illum thesaurum scil Christum presentem Loc. Com. Class 2. loc 19. ex tom 4. And again Fides non tanquam opus justificat sed ideò justificat quia apprehendit misericordiam in Christo exhibitam Ibid. ex tom 1. in Gen. So Calvin Quod objicit nempe Osiander vim justificandi non inesse fidei ex seipsâ sed quatenus Christum recipit libenter admitto Fides instrumentum est duntaxat percipiendae justitiae Thus also Hemingius Justificamur autem fide non quod fides ea res sit quâ justi sumus sed quia est Instrumentum quo Christum apprehendimus complectimur Davenant Hoc necessariò intelligendum est quatenus suum objectum apprehendit credenti applicat nempe Christum cum salutiferâ ejus justitiâ And again Quî igitur Fides apprehendit applicat nobis Christi justitiam id fidei ipsi tribuitur quod reapse Christo debetur Ames Dolor ac detestatio peccati non potest esse causa justificans quia non habet N. B. vim applicandi nobis justitiam Christi And again Apprehensio justificationis per veram fiduciam non est simpliciter per modum objecti sed per modum objecti N. B. nobis donati Quod enim Deus donaverit fidelibus Christum omnia cum eo Scriptura disertis verbis testatur Rom. 8. 32. Hic tamen observandum est accuratè loquendo apprehensionem Christi justitiae ejus esse fidem justificantem quia justificatio nostra exurgit ex apprehensione Christi apprehensio justificationis ut possessionis nostrae praesentis fructus est effectum apprehensionis prioris Pemble We deny that Faith justifies us as it is a Work c. It justifies us only as the Condition required of us and an Instrument of embracing Christ's Righteousness nor can the contrary be proved Mr. Ball When Justification and Life is said to be by Faith it is manifestly signified That Faith receiving the Promise doth receive Righteousness and Life freely promised Mr. Blake Faith as an Instrument receives Righteousness unto Justification Of the Coven chap. 12. pag. 82. If you agree with me as you say in this particular you will agree also with these whom I have cited for I agree with them their meaning and mine so far as I can discern is the same See also Mr. Ball of Faith Part 1. chap. 10. pag. 135. For the Twofold Righteousness which you make necessary unto Justification I think also I have said enough before But seeing that in the place on which I made the Animadversion you mention it as a Reason why Faith must justifie in a proper sense and not Christ's Righteousness only I cannot but observe how that acute and learned Man Mr. Pemble doth argue the quite contrary way viz. That Faith doth not justifie as taken properly because then we should be justified by a Two-fold Righteousness We are not justified saith he by two Righteousnesses existing in two divers Subjects But if we be justified by the Work of Faith we shall be justified partly by that Righteousness which is in us viz. of Faith and partly by the Righteousness of Christ without us And again We cannot be properly justified by both for our own Faith and Christ's obedience too For if we be perfectly just in God's sight for our own Faith what needs the imputation of Christ's Obedience to make us just If for Christ's Righteousness we be perfectly justified How can God account us perfectly just for our Faith 1. If you do not oppose the Literal sense of Scripture to Figurative I do not oppose you but grant that Faith doth justifie figuratively viz. as apprehending Christ by whom we are justified In these places saith Pemble where it is said Faith is imputed for Righteousness the Phrase is to be expounded Metonymice i. e. Christ's Righteousness believed on by Faith is imputed to the Believer for Righteousness A figurative sense may be a plain sense yet it is not a proper sense for surely Figurative and Proper are opposite one to the other Distinguendum est inquit Rivetus inter has phrases quae etsi in unum sensum conveniunt differunt nihilominùs in eo quòduna est figurata altera propâ—ia Figurata est Fides imputatur ad justitiam Propria est Justitia imputatur credenti Tum enim justitiae nomen ponitur directè pro eâ— justitia cujus intuitu Deus erga nos placatus est pro justis habet In primo autem Fidei tribuitur quod ejus non est proprè sumptae Nec enim est justitia nec justitiae loco habetur sed objectum ejus est justitia vera quae per fidem nobis imputatur ut pro nostra habeatur quam credendo amplexi sumus Haec si capere nolint aut veteratores Romani aut Novatores Sociniani sufficiat nobis Apostolos autores habere qui operibus nostris ergò fidei quâ opus omnem justitiae laudem detrahunt eamque in justitiâ quae sine operibus nobis imputatur constituunt That the sense by me and others put on Scripture is forced you affirm but
though their Condemnation by reason of the Gospel as of every Mercy neglected or abused will be the greater The Father as I have said before doth judg though by Christ see Acts 17. 31. And however I see not how you can conclude any thing to the purpose by this Argument If for every several Accusation there must be a several Righteousness then there will be need of infinite Righteousnesses seeing there may be infinite accusations But one Righteousness viz. that of Christ's Satisfaction for us will take off all Accusations brought against us else how doth the Apostle say Who shall lay any thing to the charge c. Rom. â— 33 34. Indeed the Promise is made upon condition of believing and therefore the not performing of the Condition debars from benefit of the Promise But this I conceive is not properly a new Accusation but only a making good of the former accusation we having nothing to shew why it should not stand in force against us Your self did well distinguish p. 22. betwixt a Condition as a Condition and a Condition as a Duty Now Faith as a Condition is required in the Gospel but as a Duty in the Law For the Law requires us in all things to obey God that is comprehended in the first Precept therefore it requires us to believe in Christ God commanding it Else not to believe were no sin for sin is a transgressiin of the Law 1 Joh. 3. 4. Now as Believing is a Duty so notbelieving doth afford matter of Accusation and cause of Condemnation But as Believing is a Condition so Not-believing doth only leave the Accusation otherwise made in force against us and for sin whereof we are accused and found guilty leaves us to condemnation Thus I think are those Texts to be understood John 3. 18. and ult Whereas you say That the Accusation may be three-fold truly in that manner it may be manifold But indeed the Accusation is but one and the same viz. that we are Non-credentes For Pagans do not so much as appear and Hypocrites Solifidians do but appear to be Believers For the several Sentences from whence you argue 1. You urged Joh. 5. 22. to prove that God Creator judgeth none 2. How are any freed from the Sentence of the first Law but by the benefit of the New Law therefore I see no ground for that which you seem to insinuate viz. That we must first be freed from the Sentence of one Law and then of another Indeed I do not see That the Gospel hath any Sentence of Condemnation distinct from the Law only it doth condemn Unbelievers in that it doth not free them from that condemnation which by the Law is due unto them That there is a sorer punishment as of a distinct kind than that Death threatned Gen. 3. you do not prove neither I presume can it be proved There are I grant several degrees of that Death yet all of the same kind viz. The loss of Heavenly Happiness and the enduring of Hell-Torment And if there must be a several Righteousness for every several degree of Punishment there must be more Righteousnesses than you either do or can assign I say as before I do not think this Thou art an Vnbeliever I speak of Unbelief as a not-performing of the Gospel-Condition to be a new Accusation but only a Plea why the former should stand good viz. that we are sinners and so to be condemned by the Law because the benefit of the Gospel which we lay claim to doth not belong unto us we not performing the condition to that end required of us Whereas you say We are devolved to the New Law before our Justification is compleat Are we not devolved to it for the very beginning of our Justification So again Christ's Satisfaction is imputed to us for Righteousness c. But the New Covenant gives the personal Interest Doth not the New Covenant give Christ also in whom we have interest I note these Passages because your meaning in them perhaps is such as I do not sufficiently understand I say still Here is no occasion properly of a new Accusation but only of a removens prohibens a taking away of that which would hinder the force of the former Accusation And so there is no new Righteousness of ours required unto Justification but only a Condition without which we cannot have interest in Christ's Righteousness that thereby we may be justified In your Aphorisms you speak only of a Two-fold Righteousness requisite unto Justification now you speak of a Two-fold Justification necessary to be attained But the Scripture speaks of Justification by Christ and Justification by Faith as of one and the same Justification Acts 13. 39. Rom. 5. 1. The Second Cause as you call it viz. Whether the Defendant have performed the condition of the New Covenant is indeed this Whether he have any thing truly to alledge why upon the former Accusation he should not be condemned And so he must be justified indeed by producing his Faith and so his sincere Obedience to testifie his Faith yet not as a new Righteousness of his own but only as intitling him to Christ's Righteousness as that whereby he must be justified Whereas you speak of a Three-fold Guilt viz. Reatus culpae 2. Reatus non-praestitae Conditionis 3. Reatus poena propter non praestitam conditionem 1. As Omne malum est vel Culpae vel Poena so omnis reatus seems to be so too 2. The not-performing of a Condition as a Condition brings no new guilt of Punishment if it did surely it were Culpa and so the second Member falls in with the first but only the loss of the Remedy or Reward promised upon the performing of that Condition though the not performing of the Condition as a Duty will bring a new guilt of Punishment 3. Therefore the Reatus peenae is not properly ob non praestitam Conditionem but ob culpam admissam which Reatus doth remain in force because the Condition required for the removing of it is not performed We must take heed of straining Law-terms too far in Matters of Devinity I see not how the firmness of my title to Christ's Righteous ness for Justification may properly be called my Righteousness whereby I am justified though the firmness of that title may be questioned and must be proved yet if it prove false it is not that properly which doth condemn I speak of the Meritorious Cause of Condemnation but sin committed against the Law is that which doth put into a state of Condemnation and for want of that Title there is nothing to free from Condemnation The Obligation unto Punishment is not dissolved by Satisfaction made by Christ as to Unbelievers because for want of Faith the Satisfaction of Christ is not imputed unto them 1. For that far greater Punishment which you speak of I have said enough
so If that were all that you bade see Calvin for truly you might soon cite Authors good store but as Martial speaks Dic aliquid de tribus capellis Shew that either Calvin of any Judicious Orthodox Divine doth hold such a Personal Righteousness as whereby we are justified both Calvin and all our eminent and approved VVriters that I know deny this Personal Righteousness to be available unto Justification Yea and so do some of chief account in the Church of Rome Contarenus a Cardinal to this purpose you may find cited by Amesius contra Bellar. Tom. 4. lib. 6. cap. 1. Thes 1. Pighius also a great Romish Champion is as clear and full for this as may be In illo inquit sc Christo justificamur non in nobis non nostrâ sed illius justitiâ quae nobis cum illo communicantibus imputatur Propriae justitiae inopes extranos in illo docemur justitiam quaerere Much more he hath to the same purpose and herein doth so fully agree with Protestants though about Faith as being that alone whereby the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us he dissents from them that Bellarmine having recited the Opinion of Protestants saith De Justif lib. 2. cap. 1. In eandem sententiam sive potius errorem incidit Albertus Pighius he adds also Et Authores Antididagmatis Coloniensis And for Pighius he saith further Bucerus in libro Concordiae in articulo de Justificatione fatetur Pighii sententiam non dissentire à Lutheranorum sententiâ quod attinet ad causam formalem Justificationes sed solùm quantum ad causam apprehensivum quam Lutherani solam fidem Pighius dilectionem potius quam fidem esse definit Here by the way observe That Bucer if Bellarmine did truly relate his Opinion though not his only made Christ's Righteousness imputed to us the formal Cause of Justification and Faith the only apprehensive Cause and that therefore he was far from making us to be justified by our Personal Righteousness from making Works concurrent with Faith unto Justification but that otherwise is evident enough by what hath been cited before out of him The truth of my Conclusion I think I may well conclude is firm and clear viz. That according to Calvin and so Bucer and all our famous Writers Personal Righteousness is not that whereby we are justified What colour you can have to except against this Conclusion to say it is merely my own is to me a wonder Ibid. Repentance and Love to Christ are not excluded from our first Justification yet have they no co-interest with Faith in Justifying Faith not Repentance or Love being Causa apprehensiva as Bucer and other Protestants do speak that which doth apprehend Christ's Righteousness by which so apprehended we are justified Neither is it denied that outward Works are requisite that we may continue justified here and be sententially solemnly and openly justified at the last Judgment yet it follows not that Justification as continued and consummated at Judgment is by Works as concurring with Faith unto Justification It is the Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith by which we are justified from first to last only this Faith being of a working Nature we cannot continue justified nor shall be i. e. declared to be justified at the last Judgment except we have Works to testifie and give proof that our Faith is lively as Mr. Ball before cited doth express it but thus also it will follow that Works being wholly wanting we never had a Justifying Faith nor were at all justified 86. 1. That the Qualification of Faith is part of the Condition of Justification so that Faith alone as apprehending Christ and his Righteousness is not the Condition or Instrumental Cause for I do not take Condition for Causa sine quâ non but for that which hath some causality in it you have not proved The Condition of our Justification is that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ this presupposeth a desire of him and inferreth a delight in him and submission to him yet it is only believing in him by which we are justified 2. Though the taking of Christ for King be as Essential to that Faith which justifieth as the taking of him for Priest yet not to Faith as it justifieth Of Fides quae and Fides quâ justificat as also of taking Christ for King and taking him for Priest I have said enough before 3. I mean that Faith only justifieth as it receives Christ as Priest thô that Faith which justifieth doth receive Christ as King also 4. If it be as you grant Christ's Satisfaction and not his Kingship or Sovereignty which justifieth meritoriously then as far as I am able to judg it is our apprehending of Christ's Satisfaction and not our submitting to his Sovereignty by which we are justified The Act of Justifying Faith as Justifying me-thinks can extend no further than to that Office of Christ in respect of which he justifieth or than as Christ is our Righteousness by which we are justified Christ as Advocate doth only justifie by pleading his Satisfaction for us and our interest in it and as Judg by declaring us to be justified by it and all this secundum foedus novum which is the ground of our Justification 5. I so confess Faith to be the Condition of Justification that nevertheless I hold it to justifie as apprehending Christ's Righteousness God having in that respect required Faith of us that we may be justified And herein as I have shewed before I have Mr. Ball and other Judicious Divines agreeing with me who call Faith a Condition of Justification and yet make it to justifie as it apprehendeth Christ and his Righteousness Ibid. My words clearly shew my meaning viz. That Justification as it is begun by Faith alone so it is continued so that Obedience hath no more influence into our Justification afterward than at first Justifying Faith at first is Obediential i. e. ready to bring forth the Fruit of Obedience and afterward as there is opportunity it doth actually bring forth the same yet both at first and afterward it is Faith and not Obedience by which we are justified Ibid. 1. I have also oft enough told you that you bring nothing of any force to prove Sentential Justification at Judgment a distinct kind of Justification or any more than a declaration and manifestation of our present Justification 2. For the Texts which you alledged you do not answer what I objected You alledged them to prove That we are justified compleatly and finally at the Last Judgment by perseverance in faithful Obedience I objected That they speak of Justification as it is here obtained and so make not for your purpose to this you say just nothing only you seem to say something to those words in the end of the Animadâ—â—rsion They shew who are justified not by what they are justified but that which you say is of small force For none can truly say as