heart Acts 15.9 Therefore it is not love it self or the purity of the heart but something that inclineth and disposeth to love and purity and surely before we can love and obey God there must be an apprehension of his goodness faithfulness readiness to accept and reward which must incline the heart to it We cannot love and serve him 〈◊〉 we neither know him nor his Mind concerning us nor have any confidence in his good wilâ— towards us And this is Faith which we may thus describe Faith is a hearty and practical assent to all divine truth so as to believe the Histories fear the Threatnings trust in the I remises and expect the fulfilling of Prediction which proceed from God All this is easily gathered out of the 11. Heb. where the Apostle having spoken in the end of the 10th Chapter of believing to the saving of the Soul subjoynâ— this description of Faith v. 1. viz. That it is the substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things not seen which subsistence and evidence things yet suture have only in God's Word and Man's real belief of it things hoped for properly respect the Promises things not seen the History of things past as the belief of the Creation v. 2. and the Prediction of things to come as Noah by Faith feared the Deluge v. 7. and all the Patriarchs died in faith or expectation of the coming of Christ v. 13. Now that Faith hath several acts and causeth several affections as hope trust fear in the soul is because it hath several objects things to be desired things to be feared and things to be hoped for which is common to it with other graces which have their several acts and affections towards several objects or the same objects severally conâ—dered That special act of Faith which reâ—â—ects Promises or affection immediately â—owing from Faith without which it is not â—ompleat in Scripture is called by several â—ames rouling resting leaning relying upon God flying to him for resuge hiding our â—â—lves under him putting of our selves under â—he Shadow of his Wings which and the like â—re Metaphors from the Body and when we â—eak properly of the acts of the Soul are best â—prest by believing or trusting in the Promises which the Protestants express by fiduâ—a affiance or fiducial recumbence which is â—â—so the Scripture term of putting our hope and confidence in God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pervasion and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full assurance of â—is Promise Now Faith justifieth a Sinner â—ot in its whole Latitude for so it believeth â—eer Histories as well as practical things and â—e Threatnings as well as the Promises and â—â—useth fear as well as hope But a Sinner cannot be reconciled unto God by fearing his Wrath and Judgment though fearing may â—cite him to look after mercy in the Promise â—or by believing the History of things past as â—â—e Creation and Floud or the Prediction of â—â—ings to come as the Resurrection and day 〈◊〉 Judgment though these things may set forth God's veracity and confirm the Truth of his promise and may excite fear and diligence 〈◊〉 seeking after mercy As trusting in the promises of particular mercies and deliverances is the means of obtaining those mercies as the promises are made to such faith or 〈◊〉 Isa 26.3.4 Thou shalt keep him in perse peace whose mind is stayed on thee because trusteth in thee The promises of deliverant go before and this is added as the means procure the accomplishment of them viz. That they should trust in God so in like mâ—ner the general promise of Pardon and Justfication is made to believing or trusting in and faith gives right to it and is the means having it performed to us Faith then justiâ—â— as it obtains mercy Heb. 11.33 Saintâ— Faith obtained Promises viz. a performan of them and in the Gospel frequently 〈◊〉 Faith hath saved thee and thy Faith hath mâ— thee whole c. As Faith obtains these mercies neither as an act of obedience not the cause or root of obedience but only trusting in the Power and Faithfulness of Gâ—engaged by the particular promises so aâ— Faith justifieth a Sinner by trusting in 〈◊〉 Grace and Mercy of God through Jeâ— Christ expressed in the general Promise of 〈◊〉 Gospel He that believeth shall be saved 〈◊〉 the like We do not contend about the aâ— ception of faith in this proposition We aâ—â— justified by saith whether it be taken objectively only as some think i. e. we are justified by Christ believed on or relatively 〈◊〉 are justified by faith as apprehending the mercy of God promised through Christ and 〈◊〉 by any works of our own it cometh all one at last The Mercy of God is the câ—â—sa proegomena the moving cause of our Justification the righteonsness of Christ wrought for us the meritorious cause procuring our acceptance with God and also the material or formal cause being the very thing for which God accepts us to life The Promise in the Gospel is the external moral or legal means whereby God conveys Justification and this Righteousness having promised 〈◊〉 to them that believe and faith is an internal means on mans part to apply Christ's Righteousness for his Justification by trusting him promising of it and that partly natural is faith is an act or habit or act properly conversant about a promise and partly moâ—al as God hath appointed our faith in the promise of Justification to be a means of obtaining it and this is all that Divines mean by saying Faith justifys as an instrument or intrumentally and when they call it the mouth and the hand of the soul viz. That Man is Justified by the Righteousness of Christ which Justification is proposed and promised in the Gospel to all that will accept it and trust in it which is believing so that Faith it self is â—ot the matter or righteousness which doth Justifie us under the Gospel instead of our Obedience under the Law but it is the means whereby through the Promise of the Gospel Christs Righteousness is imputed or applied to us by and for which we are justified Object It is no better than a cavil which is objected If Faith justifys as an instrument whose instrument is it Gods or Mans if Mans then he justifys himself if Gods then Man doth nothing in the business of Justification which is Antinomian For Answ The like may be asked of all instruments Natural or Moral Our Food whose instrument is it to nourish us If Gods then we need not eat if ours then we nourish our selves The Word and Sacraments are instruments of grace if they are our instruments then we work grace in our selves iâ— Gods then we need do nothing all these and the like are instruments of Gods appointing to be used by us to the right use of which he hath promised a blessing he hath commanded us to take food and
Argument 4. We are justifyed by Christ as Priest p. 24. Prophet and King conjunctly and not by any of these alone much less by his Humiliation and Obedience alone then according to the Opponents own Principles who argue from the distinct interest of the several parts of the Objects to the distinct interest of the several acts of Faith we are justified by believing in Christ as Priest Prophet and King Answ Faith as a distinct habit hath no acts but practical assent to a revealed truth which in respect of the promise is called trust or affiance One habit hath but one sort of elicite acts though it may cause divers effects upon the will and affections according to the nature of divers objects therefore we do not argue from the distinct interest of several acts of Faith but from Faith as trusting in the Promise of Justification as the special object of the act that justifieth Again the Object of justifying Faith according to this Opinion must be the whole declared Will of Christ or the whole Gospel for that is it which we believe and obey and Obedience to it is the form or righteousness by and for which we are justifyed therefore those Terms of Christ's justifying in his whole Person and all his Offices or Faith justifying with respect to them are added in vain they being no more included in the nature of Justification or respected by Faith as justifying in this way than in ours The promise of life by Christ to believing only is as much founded upon his whole Person and all his Offices as if the promise were made to our Obedience to the whole Gospel But we deny the Antecedent let us hear the proof The Word Justification signifieth these 3 acts p. 24. 1st Condonation or constitutive Justification by the Law of grace or promise of the Gospel 2ly Absolution by sentence in judgment 3ly The execution of the former by actual liberation from penalty The two former are more properly called Justification As for the first I argue Christ doth as King and Benefactor on supposition of his antecedent Merits enact the Law of grace or promise by which we are justified Ergò As King and Benefactour he doth justifie us by condonation or constitution As the Father by a right of Creation was Rector of the new created World and so made the Covenant of Life that was then made so the Son and the Father by right of Redemption is Rector of the new redeemed World and so made the Law of grace that gives Christ and life to all that will believe c. Answ Christ as God the same in substance with the Father did together with him enact both the Covenants of Works and of Grace but as Mediator which only is to our purpose he did not enact the Covenant or Law of Grace and it is only said that he did and not proved It was God as God and in special the Father according to the order of the Three Persons that gave the Law of Works that was offended by sin that condemned sinners and therefore he only that could appoint a way whereby they should be saved and he only coul justifie him Christ as Mediator though God in Nature yet in Office was God's Servant Isa 53.11 Mat. 12 18. and his business was not to enact Laws or constitute a way for Man's Redemption but to work out and bring to pass that way which God purchased and to fulfil his Will in it Heb. 10.7 which he did first by satisfying the Law and purchasing Reconciliation as a Priest then by declaring as a Prophet that Pardon was to be had by believing in his Bloud and Lastly as a King yet ministerial under the Father by overpouring the hearts of Gods Elect to believe that God might justify them and then by sanctifying and ruling them by his Word and Spirit to bring them to life It belongeth to the Father to justifie constitutively i. e. to propose the way wherein Men should be justified and through believing to justifie them to the Mediator almost but ministerially to declare it to Men by authority from the Father but most properly to bring it to pass by the execution of all his Offices Rom. 8.33 34. It is God that justifies it is Christ that died rose and intercedeth p. 25. 2ly It is said Justification by sentence of judgment is undeniably by Christ as King for God hath appointed to judge the World by him Acts 17.31 c. Answ Christ in judging the World is but a ministerial King For God is the Supream Judg Heb. 12.23 however we deny what is here took for granted That the sentence of the General Judgment is a declaration of a sinners Justification from the guilt of sin It is only the adjudging of justified Believers to Glory in Heaven for their Obedience according to Gods Fatherly promise p. 25. 3ly It is said For the execution of the sentence by actual liberation there can be little doubt being after both the former Answ Christ is ministerial in this also for he calleth Believers to inherit the Kingdom as being the blessed of the Father and it being prepared for them from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Besides Glory in Heaven is a fruit of Adoption not of Justification immediately and Adoption is the act of the Father not of the Mediator And let it be observed That here all Justification is referred to Christ as King properly and immediately as was before said and he as Priest and Prophet did but make way for his justifying of us as King and therefore these offices are mentioned in the Question only for a shew that they acknowledge we are justifyed by his Bloud This is in effect confessed in the following words As the Teacher of the Church Christ doth not immediately justify but yet mediately he doth Ibid. and it is but mediately that he justifyeth by his Merits It is also said That Christ's granting the Promise or Act of Grace is the true natural p. 25. efficient instrumental Cause of Justification even the immediate Cause So then the whole Gospel as to be obeyed by us is the proper and immediate Instrument of our Justification and our obedience to the Gospel together with God's acceptance of it is the only internal Cause of Justification or the Righteousness for which we are justifyed and Christ's Merit and Righteousness and his Promulgation of the Gospel are but extrinsecal remote and preparatory Causes of it and these not absolutely necessary seeing these Authors do not deny but that God might have saved man without satisfaction and then it will follow if a man obey the Precepts of the Gospel and acknowledge Christ as Lord and King he may be saved although he believe only in a Glorified Saviour as the Jesuites preached to the people of China yea I understand not but a Socinian may be saved by obeying the Gospel though he deny the Merit of Christ having
so often repeating his Promises with all manner of confirmations protestations seals oaths examples of the greatest Sinner being forgiven 1 Tim. 1.16 17. Lastly There is no reason why God may not pardon a Sinner and promise him eternal life without interposing the conditions of his obedience so long as he immediately reveals to him That this eternal life consisteth in the love and enjoyment of himself and that holiness of heart and life shall and must be the way to it and doth immediately make the heart of the humbled sinner 〈◊〉 agree to it doth not God sufficiently provide for the Honour of his Holiness in this as in the very act of justifying he did chiefly respect the Honour of his Free Grace Argument 10. The condemning unbelief p. 38. which is the privation of the Faith by which we are justified is the non-believing in Christ as King Priest and Prophet Ergò The Faith by which we are justified is the believing in him as King Priest and Prophet Answ If the word only be put in as it ought viz. That the only condemning unbelief is the non-believing in Christ as King Priest and Prophet I deny the Antecedent But if only be not added the consequence is apparently false viz. This unbelief is one cause of condemnation therefore the contrary Faith is the sole cause of Salvation I suppose this will be admitted for the Scope of what follows is to shew that such a Faith is the only condition of Justification and then the opposite unbelief must be the only sin that damns without remedy that bars all Justification I say therefore directly to the Argument Non-believing in Christ as King Priest and Prophet as it is here taken for subjection to the whole Law of Christ or obedience to him is not the onely damning sin final despair of the Mercy of God in Christ will as certainly damn as final disobedience to Christ and contempt of him yea though there be a willingness to obey if they could have any hope of Mercy but despair is not the oppoâ—â—â—â— of obedience or of faith in Christ as King Priest and Prophet therefore that is not the only unbelief that damns Again If disobedience to Christ be the only damning sin then obedience is the only saving condition then a Socinian that obeys the Gospel Precepts and acknowledgeth Christ to be the Messiah King and Prophet of his Church may and must be saved though he deny his Priesthood and trust not at all in his Bloud For obedience respects not Christ's Priesthood at all though that be here mentioned for a shew Christ as a Priest reconciles us to God and intercedes for us the onely Grace that respects this is Faith or a trust in it for reconciliation and acceptance If therefore obedience be the only saving condition then that will save without a trust in the Bloud of Christ If it be said they make Faith and Obedience both to be the entire condition I answer Their Faith is nothing but Obedience as hath been abundantly proved and is largely insisted on under this Argument particularly from Joh. 3.36 where he that believeth not is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is sometimes rendred Disobedient hence it is in ferred That the only unbelief is disobedience and the only Faith is Obedience to the Gospel Nor is it possible to joyn Faith and Obedience in the justifying a Sinner in the usual acception of Faith for to trust in meer Mercy for reconciliation and life and to obey precepts that we may have life are things toto genere opposite utterly inconsistent nor can there be a trust in the Promise of Life in their Opinion till a man hath obeyed in some measure because the Promise is made to Obedience So trust in the Promise must follow the condition not be a part of it And thus much for these Arguments to all which I oppose this one Justification is the acquitting of a sinner from sin and guilt and the entitling him to life eternal But this is purchased fully and onely by the Obedience and Bloud of Christ the shedding and offering whereof is his Priestly Office only therefore Christ justifyeth onely as a Priest And Faith apprehending Justification must respect only the Priesthood of Christ I prove the Minor The Bloud of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 He loved and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud Rev. 1.5 When he had by himself purged our sins i. e. by the offering of himself he set down at the Right Hand of the Majesty in the Heaven Heb. 1.3 And the Apostle proves largely That Christ as a Highpriest offering his own Bloud in the Tabernacle of his own Body hath obtained eternal redemption for us that by this one offering he hath brought in remission of sins and for ever perfected them that are sanctified sprinkled with his Bloud as all things under the Law were cleansed by the sprinkling of bloud from Heb. 9.11 to ch 10. v. 18. And in this Christ was a more excellent Sacrifice than those under the Law that they did but typifye pardon and cleansing but his Sacrifice doth really cleanse the Conscience they cleansed from ceremonial pollutions as touching dead bodies c. and restored men to the Congregation but his Bloud cleanseth from dead works our own sins and maketh us really accepted that we may serve the living God Heb. 19.13 14. Now the Levitical Priests were Teachers and Rulers of the People some were Prophets as Jeremiah and Ezekiel some were Kings also as the Macchabees but they took away the sins of the People and reconciled them to God only as Priests by offering up Sacrifices for them so also Christ though he be a Prophet and King yet he maketh reconciliation for Sinners only as a Priest by offering himself in sacrifice to God for them Now the reason of the consequence is Faith that it obtain Justification must look to Christ under that notion or in that way only by which he hath purchased Justification therefore it must look to him only as a Priest or which is all one trust in the Promise of Reconciliation through the satisfaction and death of Christ and thus the Apostle concludes from the same Premises Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. Having therefore boldness to enter into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh and having a High-priest over the House of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water It is Faith in this High-Priest by which we draw nigh to God with boldness confidence of acceptance and then that makes us devote our selves sincerely to his Service FINIS
because we fulfil or obey the Command of believing in Christ Against this I thus argue 1. If Faith justify as a fulfilling the command of believing then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere Faith it self is our Righteousness and Christ's Righteousness hath only procur'd a Covenant of Faith by fulfilling whereof we should be justifyed as we should have been by fulfilling the Law of Works For in this Opinion Faith justifyeth as Obedience to the Command of believing and Obedience cannot be the Medium of applying Christ's Obedience for our Righteousness but is it self a righteousness according to the Law that requires it So then Faith must be our Righteousness now as perfect Obedience was under the Law and must justify as the Work of the Gospel 2ly Faith is the unfittest of all Graces to be the condition of life because it is only a trust in Free-Mercy and carries with it an acknowledgement of our unworthiness and nothingness and so bringeth nothing to God but a bare object of Mercy and Compassion All other graces bring some positive Honour to God together with a denyal of our selves and our inordinate desires to the Creatures but Faith bringeth nothing but a confession of Misery with a desire and hope of Mercy therefore is unfit to be our Righteousness and to come into the room of Perfect Obedience 3ly If Faith justify as a condition then Man hath a natural power to believe in Christ how else can Faith be required of him as a new condition of life after he had failed of life by the first condition of Obedience The Gospel by this Doctrine is a Law of Faith but a proper Law doth suppose power to obey in the subjects of it Quest Obj. Quest 9. Vid. Pelt Art 13. Paragr 2. This Arminius confesseth Deum non posse ullo modo fidem in Jesum Christum postulare ab homine lapso quam ex se habere non potest nisi aut dederit aut dare paratus sit gratiam sufficientem quâ credere possit si velit i. e. God cannot by any means require Fallen Man to believe which of himself he cannot do unless he hath given him or will be ready to give grace sufficient to believe if he will 4ly If Faith be the gift of special grace as is acknowledged by these I now deal with how can it be required of all that hear the Gospel seeing they have neither power of their own to believe nor a promise that Faith shall be given them If it be said that Faith is promised I ask is it promised on some other condition or absolutely If upon condition then we shall have conditions in infinitum unless we stop in something that is in Man's Power to do Ibid. p. 55. as Amyraldus well observeth Fides impetrata fuit non ut offeretur sub acceptandi conditione sed ut ipsa illa conditio esset per quam salus recipitur alioqui res abiret in infinitum nec ullus unquam esset terminus conditionum impetrandarum If absolutely either to all that hear the Gospel and so all should believe or to some only but no such promise can be produc'd that when the Gospel is preach'd to a people such and such shall have Faith given them But if it be said the Promise of Life in Christ is declared to all and God persuadeth whom he pleaseth to trust in it Is it not then better to say that Faith is only an instrument whereby God inableth Men to lay hold of the Promise â—o Justification than to offer violence to the nature of all proper Laws and the conditions of them by making Faith the condition required by a proper Law which Man hath not â—ower to perform nor is sure to have it given when he needeth it and I suppose no instance can be given of any such Law either Human or Divine that requireth a condition out of the power or beyond the ability of the subject before the Law was made and doth not certainly provide that ability for him any other way The Second Opinion is of those that affirm Obedience to be included in Faith and so Faith and Obedience to be the condition of life i. e. that we are required sincerely to believe and obey the Gospel Commands Histories and Promises to our lives end and for so doing we shall be justified and saved Faith in this Opinion is not an immediate trust in the Promise of life through Christ but a general belief of the truth of the Histories and Promises of the Gospel encouraging to obey the Precepts of it yea though there be 〈◊〉 particular persuasion that this man in particular shall be saved if he obey the Gospel 〈◊〉 yet this is not proper trust or affiance but a more practical assent to the general Promises and Doctrine of the Gospel a trust upon an uncertain condition is no more a truâ— and proper trust than a proposition depending on a future contingency is a proper oâ— certain proposition or hath determinate truth or falshood This is the Doctrine 〈◊〉 the Remonstrants as hath been shewed Chapâ— 5. We may also observe That though thâ— Opinion be commonly exprest by believing in or receiving Christ as our King and Prophet as well as Priest yet in truth it maketh Faith or the condition of the Gospel tâ— respect Christ only as a King immediately and as a Prophet and Priest accidentally and remotely For to prescribe Laws and Conditions of Life whereby men must be judged saved or condemned and then to judge them by those Laws and either justifie or condemn them for their obedience or disobedience to them are all Kingly Acts or Exercises of Kingly Power and these only are immediately respected by this Faith which is nothing else but obeying what Christ hath commanded upon belief of the truth of what he hath declared and promised to that Obedience and so is that for which men shall be judicially justified It is true Christ as a Prophet doth explain and teach his own Law but this is accidental to a Legislator and men must obey the teaching of Christ but obedience as such is not because he teacheth but because he that teacheth is also the Law maker and hath authority to command obedience Therefore Faith as obedience and so justifying doth not properly respect Christ as a Prophet nor doth it eye him as a Priest being not a trust in his satisfaction and Righteousness to be saved by it which was the main Exercise of his Priestly Office but an obedience to the New Law which Christ had made as a King and only had purchased as a Priest leave of the Father to make such a Law and that those that obeyed it should be saved The Priesthood therefore of Christ is but remotely respected in believing as the foundation of his Law and Promises annexed to it This Mr. Baxter confesseth in effect 1 Disput of Just P. 25. when he saith Christ's Merit is the remote moral cause of our
all the immediate proper causes of Justification both internal and external and wanting only the remote preparatory causes If obedience to the Gospel as the Law of Christ be that alone to which Justification is promised then unbelief of his Merit when a man is not convinced of the truth of it can no more damn him than the unbelief of any other History concerning Christ suppose his being born at Bethlem or living at Nazareth c. when a man is not sufficiently perswaded of them For these were necessary ex Hypothesi because God would have it so and Christ's Merit was no more by their confession nor was it impossible according to their Principles but Christ might have been a King and enacted this Law of Grace though he had not been a Priest and satisfied for Sin And thus we have the bottom of this Mystery Next it is proved that Christ justifyeth as a Prophet p. 25. because the Gospel is a Law that must be promulgated and expounded and a Doctrine that must be taught and pressed on Sinners till they receive it and believe that they may be justified and this Christ doth as a Teacher and Faith must accordingly respect him Answ Faith must believe and trust in the Promise of Life made in Christ and preached by Christ and revealed to the heart by his Spirit But what is this to prove that a professed subjection to the teaching of Christ must justify us as well as Faith and yet methinks he that teacheth That the Covenant of Grace is written in all men's hearts and is a Secondary Law of Nature teaching men that God will forgive them that serve him sincerely though they know not that it was to be brought about by the Mediatour should not make it necessary to Justification to believe That Christ in Person preached the Gospel We have here Scriptures multiplied to prove that Christ hath power to forgive sins which is an Act of a King Mat. 9.6 ch 11. v. 27 28. ch 28. v. 19 20 c. which we grant he hath Ministerially viz. To declare the Promise of Forgiveness and to pronounce Pardon For he received this Power of the Father It followeth therefore that we must trust in him to declare and pronounce us forgiven but it is for his own Righteousness not for our Obedience Argument 5. It is a necessary condition of our being baptized for the Remission of Sins p. 27. that we profess a Belief in more than Christ's Humiliation and Merits Ergò More is a necessary condition of our actual Remission Mat. 28.19 20. 1 Pet. 3.21 Act. 8.37 1st Answ Here is continually ignoratio Elenchi We do not say that Christ's Humiliation and Merits are the only object of justifying Faith excluding his Person or any of his Offices but that Faith as justifying doth trust only in the promise of Reconciliation through the Merit of Christ but that it doth also in subsequent distinct Acts trust in the Promises of Illumination and Sanctification and in Christ himself to work these in us as a Prophet and King and to obtain them for us by his Priestly Intercession but all by virtue of his Merit and satisfaction which as it is the foundation of the other Offices of Christ so Faith always respects it as the foundation of all other Blessings to be hoped for 2ly 2ly I deny that any thing is necessary to Baptism for remission of sins more than a trust in Christ or the promise of Reconciliaon through his Bloud Baptism is as Circumcision was a Seal of the righteousness of Faith Rom. 4.11 i. e. that we shall be forgiven through believing It is God's Seal to his Covenant or Promise which men are supposed to have a right to before they are baptized and so before they can promise obedience Believing in the whole Trinity and then believing Christ to be the Son of God proveth nothing but that the remission which Baptism sealeth is to be expected from the true God in opposition to the Heathen and Jewish false Gods or false Notions of God viz. That we are to trust in the Father to justify us through the Bloud of his Son who will bring us to eternal life by the Operation of his Spirit and that Jesus of Nazareth is this Son of God so to be trusted in Mat. 28.20 Men are first to be baptised being instructed in the Doctrine of Christ afterwards taught all his Commandments and thus the Apostles practised preaching through Christ the remission of sins and then baptising them that believe Acts 10. Acts 13. If a Promise of Obedience be the condition of Baptism then Infants are not to be baptised 1 Pet. 3.21 only sheweth that Baptism as an outward Sign will not profit without reallity in the heart in believing or trusting in Christ which will produce obedience The Covenants of Obedience which the Church annexed to Baptism are not annexed to it as conditions of obtaining Remission of Sins but as conditions of men's Admission into the Fellowship of the Church and those as evidences of the reality of their Faith in Christ Argument 6. The Apostles of Christ themselves before his death p. 28. were justifyed by believing in him as the Son of God and the Teacher and King of the Church yea perhaps without believing at all in his Death and Ransom thereby Ergò Answ If believing here mean as it ought the Apostles acknowledging Christ to be the Son of God King and Teacher of his Church and their giving themselves to obey him then I deny the Antecedent they were not hereby justifyed but by their trust in the Promises of Pardon and Reconciliation through the Messias whom they now knew to be Jesus Christ though they knew not the particular way how he was to reconcile them to God They were justifyed as Abraham and David and all the former Saints were and their Love and Obedience to Christ so far as they understood him was an effect of their Faith All the Proof is The Apostles were justified and they acknowledged loved obeyed Christ as King and Prophet and understood not that he was to die for them therefore this justifyed them Which is no Consequent Argument 7. The Satisfaction and Merits of Christ are not the only objects of the Sanctifying and Saving Acts of Faith p. 30. therefore not of Justifying 1st Answ Faith looketh only to the Satisfaction of Christ or rather to the Promise founded on that merit as the procuring cause for Sanctification and Perseverance viz. That as perfect Justification so perfect Sanctification is purchased for us by Christ But the Sanctifying Act must respect Christ's following applicatory Acts p. 31. and not the purchase of Sanctification only so the justifying act must respect Christ's following collation or application and not only his purchase of Justification Answ 1 This still changeth the Question which is Whether Faith in Christ as Prophet Priest and King i. e. Obedience as well as trust