this Idol It 's now in Vogue and puts on many various shapes I could reckon several but shall forbear the Schemes of them till afterwards I mention them now only to show Satan's Diligence in Obscuring and Perplexing this Case that is of greatest Concern to our Souls of any in this World or the World to come and should not we be as diligent in Searching out and Contending for this Faith once deliver'd to the Saints since it is a Title to so great an Estate our Charter for Heaven And yet for the weak Christian's Comfort I must say the Doctrine may be Fundamental that may have many Problematic Questions about it that the Ignorance Doubts or Errors in will be but as the Stubble and Hay upon a good Foundation Ill Management of our Plea at a Tribunal of Grace will not make us lose the Cause when uttermost diligence is given Once more under Correction I believe that serious Christian that holds Faith as the Instrument of Justification in his Profession and the other that earnestly Contends it bears the room of a Condition often have not the least difference in their Idea's or Thoughts when they plead their Cause in Prayer before God yet when Ministers inculcate in People's Ears they may yea ought to plead their good Works at the Day of Judgment as lately has been it will soon breed this Difference in Ignorant People's Minds and they who are Teachers of others ought to be better instructed themselves A 6th Help Because the Purity of this Doctrine of Justification from any Mixture of Man's Works or Merits with it is the greatest Blessing of the Reformation from Popery In England the Discipline was very little altered the Idolatry of Worshipping of Saints fell as a Consequent of this Doctrine that ascribes all Merit to Jesus Christ This Doctrine was the Everlasting Gospel Prophesy'd of Rev. 14.6 7. and was fulfill'd in the Preaching of Zuinglius and Luther and they who followed them they were the first of the Witnesses or Protestants God illuminated with this Doctrine and encourag'd them to bear their Testimony for it thorough all manner of Persecutions For the Gospel is the Doctrine of Christ's Righteousness his Righteousness is the Evangelical Righteousness Rom. 1.17 c. 3.20 21 22. c. 9.31 32. c. 10.3 and the Righteousness of Faith or by it it is the Test of a Protestant and Shibboleth of an Heretick It is says Luther Articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae and Augustine before him Ecclesia discernit justos ab injustis non Lege Operum sed Lege Fidei And there is great Reason for it it has such an Influence on all other Doctrinal and Practical Truths The Deity of Christ if not God no Value in the Satisfaction the Trinity if no distinct Persons no Mediator Original Sin for if all not lyable to Death guilty Sinners no need of his Righteousness c. There is no fear of relapsing into Popery by any Person on whose Heart this Doctrine is impress'd but there is ground to fear that Luther was a true Prophet who said Post mortem nostram hac Doctrina rursus obscurabitur As we would Value the faithfulness of our Ancestors who suffered Martyrdom for propagating this Doctrine to us it is the most precious Inheritance we enjoy as we would Value our own Souls for there is no escaping Wrath if we neglect so great a Salvation Heb. 3. as we Value the Sacred Revelations of God for this is the Marrow of it we would seriously set about this Study How shall I be Justified before God What doth Christ's Righteousness contribute to a Sinner's Salvation What Kindness has our Lord Jesus Christ for poor Sinners But I shall come to the Words which contains these two things 1. The Explicatory Repitition of the former Proposition that Abraham found nothing as to the Flesh for if Abraham was justified by Works 2. An Argument for the Proof of it because he had nothing to Glory in before God To begin with the first of these though the Proposition is Explicatory yet such is the Subtilty of Satan and his Diligence in filling the World with darkness of Error and reflecting his black Clouds upon the Light of Scripture that the Explication it self needs a Comment or rather a Defence The 1. Thing to be explain'd is the Signification of the Word it self Justifie Never was there Word of greater Moment or Concern for Justification is the Soul of Religion and Marrow of the Gospel without it nothing in the whole Scripture could Comfort a Sinner never was Word matter of greater Strife and Contention and yet never less Reason for it but the greatness of its influence for bringing Souls out of Satans Kingdom makes it Satans principal Butt and Aim the most of all other Disputations of Religion end in Criticism but this begins with it The 1st Question is between us and Papists with whom the Swinckfeldians take part that is Whether this Word Justifie in St. Pauls Epistles especially in this when it treats of our Righteousness the Ground of our Pardon before the Tribunal of God is to be taken in a Physical or a Forensick Sense Whether for sanctifying a Sinner and making an unjust Person just or for a judicial Absolving of a guilty accused Person from the charge brought against him The latter is the common Sence and Tessera of a Protestant and the former the Shiboleth of a Papist excepting Grotius and his Followers who in this and worse take part with Papists Therefore this shall be the first Assertion That it is a Justidiction not a Justification of a Moral or Politick and Relative not an absolute Nature 1. Arg. Tho' the Word it self is barbarous in the Latin Tongue and made by Divines for the most genuine near and faithful Translation of the Original Text yet the Latin will favour this Sence for Justifica mens deorum Catul Signifies their juridical Distributions of Rewards and Punishments and an Adopted Son is call'd justus filius from Jus Right and in English we use the Word Magnifie and Glorifie not for making but esteeming Great and Glorious The Hebrew with all its Oriental Daughters do far more Confirm this Sence for one of their Conjugations usually adds declaring to the Primitive Signification as Barar pure in Arabick the Conjugation Taphahalah makes it signifie he clear'd himself or justified himself juridically in the Heb. Tame polluted Levit. 13.12 signifies to pronounce Unclean which in this Word Zadak to Justifie holds almost always in all the six Oriental Languages in Hiphiâ— as to the Greek we find it about thirty six or thirty eight times in the New Testament always in this Sence declaring esteeming or judging Just the shortest Method of the Proof is by instances of these Texts that the Papists plead for and some Protestants are willing to yield that it often signifies Forensically the Papist themselves grant the Principal place is Revel 22.11 A Forensick Justification is not
capable of encrease Resp 1. In the Sence and Manifestation of it it is 2. Where Courts are subordinate it is he that is justified in one may go on to be justified in another 3. This Text speaks only of the Continuation of it and there is a considerable difference between the first Sentence of Justification and the Continuation in that State 4. Some Original Copies of considerable Authority reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which removes all pretence The next place to this in their Opinion is Dan. 12.3 And they that turn many to Righteousness the Original is they that justifie many Resp 1. Preachers do as much Justifie as they Sanctifie their Instruction and Authority hath equal Influence on both A third place 1 Cor. 6.11 The Objection may be thus obviated Tho' sanctifying and justifying be named together yet they may be distinct Blessings and not Explicatory one of another 2. Our Lord Jesus is the Author of the One and the Spirit of God the Author of the Other 3. The Blessed Spirit of God is also a Cause of Justification in his working Faith and Sealing a Pardon but for Scriptures that prove its Forensick Sence the Reader may look Deut. 25.1 2 Sam. 15.4 1 King 8.31 Job 13.18 Mat. 11.19 and 12.37 Luk. 7.29 and 10.29 and 16.15 and on this very Subject Rom. 2.13 and 8.33 which the Papists themselves grant Thus much for the first Argument from the Etymology and usual Acceptation of the Word from Sacred Writ to which may be added the Testimony of Fathers and Prophane Authors as Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homil. 15. to justifie is to declare Just the Greek Etymologist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justified that is judged Just Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to esteem just and most frequently in prophane Authors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Punish 2. Argument is from its contrary the contrary of making just is Sinning or Tempting to Sin but the Scripture shews us that the contrary of justifie is to condemn Deut. 25.1 Prov. 17.15 Luk. 18.14 Rom. 3.4 5. and 8.33 The usual Signification or Primitive Significations to which all others are reducible is the final result of a try'd Case to acquit or condemn treat as just or unjust upon an Antecedent judicial Tryal And Scripture uses the most favourable Signification to acquit the prophane Authors the other to Punish or Condemn from which we see no Word of the World so fit for our Justification is not properly so but a Pardon it is an Acquitment upon a Suffering or Satisfaction given Christ was properly justified we properly pardon'd but the nearness of Relation between Him and Believers the Reflection or Rebound his Justification has on our Pardon gives it the Name Christ was in some sence tho' different both condemn'd and justifi'd and so are we this makes the Word which signifies both so proper for our Justification is on a foregoing Condemnation 3. The Explicatory and Synonymous Expressions in Scripture shews it to be taken in a Forensick Sence as Remission of Sin Reconciliation with God not coming into Condemnation Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no Flesh be justified 4 The Description of it in Scripture as the result of a judiciary Process we read of the Judgment Psal 143.2 1. Job 9.3 How shall Man be Just with God if he will Contend with him 2. A Judge the Judge of all the Earth will do righteously 3. Of a Law 4. Of a Guilty Person Rom. 3.19 5. Of this Law drawn up into a Charge against a Man Colos 2.14 6. And Satan as an Accuser 7. Conscience as a Witness 8. There is a Tribunal of exact Justice and a Throne of Grace as a Superiour Chancery 9. There is Faiths Pleading at the Barr of the one and appealing from the other 10. Christ as an Advocate 1 John 2.2 11. His Righteousness the Plea and the Absolving Sentence pass'd upon that account Rom. 3.26 To declare his Righteousness that he may be just and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus 5. I shall only explain that one Rom. 5.18 Even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all men unto Justification of Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Righteousness of that one Christ as the Matter or Merit of our Justification is put in Opposition to the offence of that one Adam as the Matter or Demerit of our Condemnation so Justification as the absolving Sentence is put in Opposition to Condemnation for Holiness or Righteousness is not a proper opposite to Condemnation The laborious Gerard does not without cause say Sanctification is rather us'd for Justification than Justification for it for when the Priest did cleanse the Leper it was as much and more by Absolving and pronouncing clean than by any Physical Cure those Ceremonies could make on that Distemper Lev. 13.14 to which the New Testament alludes Heb. 10.10 By the which Will we are sanctified through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all The immediate Fruit of the Sacrifice was Atonement Peace and Pardon our Sanctification is the immediate Fruit of the Spirit Thus much for the Signification of the Word and general Nature of the thing I shall next propose several Heads and Helps for the more distinct Apprehension and particular Knowledge of this great Mistery 1. The Relation it stands in to the other Benefits and Fruits of Christs Death 2. What is to be reckoned for the Absolving Sentence 3. When it is that the Sinner is Absolved and Justified I shall leave other Questions to the 5th ver 1. There are four great Priviledges and Fruits of Christs Death that are of a Relative Nature and as many of an absolute and Physical kind for the first four There is this Justification Redemption Reconciliation and Adoption 1. For Redemption it is taken two ways in Scripture Either for the paying of the Price or the Applicaion of the purchased Priviledge to the Person In the first Sence it is the Foundation of all the other Priviledges for it puts on the Nature of the Ransom or whatever other Name it may put on by which these Priviledges are conveyed in Justice to us Rom. 3.24 Being Justified through the Redemption Colos 1.20 Having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross Gal. 4.5 To redeem that we might receive the Adoption Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity Eph. 1.14 Vntil the Redemption of the purchased Possession There Redemption is put for the Foundation of all these Priviledges being the common Term the Scripture uses to express the Sufferings and Death of Christ by in its use and ends by that he satisfied Divine Justice by that we were freed from Death and Hell and this Foundation being laid he became the Avenger of Blood as to Satan who had slain us and recovered the Captives from that
Law may meet with external Changes in its Administration either by Dispensation when positive only as the Ceremonial or an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abatement of the Rigor in Words but the Law the same that suffers the change 3. The Law may suffer some Change in particular Precepts which are its Integral Parts A Man is the same Man still thô he lose his Thumb Collective Bodies are capable of Increase or Decrease so Jus Collectum of Derogation Surrogation or Erogation but Abrogation or Obrogation alters the Essence and until the Moral Law is Abrogate we cannot expect one specifically distinct from it But the Opposition is perspicuous thus A Law that requires your Works a Law to be obey'd by you and a Law that requires your Faith a Law fulfill'd by another for you which you ought to believe and it thus Answers the Argument we are justified by most perfect Obedience but we perform'd it not it was Christ Fourthly It is manifest from the Context and Harmony of the Apostles Discourse he had all along join'd the Laws and the Works together which he excluded from Justification First The pure Natural Law among the Gentiles Secondly The manifold Mosaical now he tells us of a Righteousness and a Law that we may and must be justified by if at all is it reasonable or possible to separate these two Ver. 21 22. But now the Righteousness of God is manifested Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ If the one be the Righteousness of Christ the Mediator surely the other is the Law of it shall we separate the Righteousness of Faith and the Law of Faith The Text would not be a good Conclusion from what precedes without this that which he had prov'd was there is no Justification by the Deeds of the Law but only by the Righteousness of God Well says he if the Case be so Where is your Boasting it is excluded He draws his Conclusion Triumphing over them How By the Law of Faith You are justifi'd by the Righteousness of God you are justifi'd in a way that excludes Boasting the Law of Faith excludes Boasting and the Righteousness of God justifies you do not then these two Coincide the one as the Work the other as the Command if it were another Law requiring a new kind of Obedience and Righteousness distinct from what he had spoken of he had drawn a Conclusion without any Premises There are two things should have been enlarged on First To prove that this Righteousness is the Righteousness of Christ as Mediator The Second Whether or not this Law of Faith referrs to the Righteousness as the Rule of it or the Faith by which it is applied Both which I must deferr to some proper Verses in the fourth Chapter only at present as to the first that 2 Pet. 1.1 may perswade any unprejudic'd Person Thorough the Rsghteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ As to the second our Confession of Faith says We are not justifi'd by Faith or that is not imputed to us it self as an Act nor any other Evangelical Obedience But this is to be treated in ver 3. Fifthly This Law is a Law we can be justifi'd by and it is before prov'd that we cannot be by any Law requiring Obedience of us Sixthly The difficulties that attend the Explication of it by Socinians Arminians aliis melioris notae who say this Law is the Law of Christ the Mediator not as made under it but as a Law-giver requiring Faith and Repentance of us as the Condition of an Interest in his Merits and Justification by them I say the difficulties that attend it render it the less credible 1. This Gospel-law or Law of Faith must be a perfect Law requiring Faith in Perfection Repentance in Perfection and so other Evangelical Obedience Mr. Bull in his Examination who is Zealous for this New Law and who as Mr. Pitcarn one of his many Adversaries says is of the greatest Acumen of the kind he not only owns it but proves it from Christs own Words Mat. 5.48 when he was Promulgating his Law Be ye perfect as my Father in Heaven is perfect 2 Pet. 3.18 Grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ On which he thus Acutely Comments The Commands of growth have no Bounds nor Limits until we come to the Unity of the Faith and the Knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the Measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ and it is a certain Truth that there is no Duty in the Gospel wherein Gods Law only requires sincere and not perfect Obedience Patience should have its perfect Work and that 's a special part of Evangelical Obedience Either the Gospel Law or Law of Faith must require Perfection of Obedience in these Duties or some other Divine Law else God would become an Indulger of Sin by Law if it be by another Law viz. the Moral that he requires perfect Obedience and by this sincere only then these two Laws differ but in Degree not in Specie or Kind because both require the same Duties or Works and so this Gospel Law would be no Distinct Law but only the Measure of sincere Obedience would receive a new use which we own it has to wit to be an Index and Mark of our Justification tho' we cannot own that use of its giving Right but to proceed a distinct Law they must hold or quit their Cause or this Foundation of it for the Text sets the Law of Faith down as an opposite Law to that of Works and that they hold 1. Then if it be a perfect Law requiring perfect Obedience there is no possibility of Justification in this Life Poppius the Arminian grants the Conclusion that our Obedience must be consummate before our Assurance and others distinguish between a Compleat and Partial Justification the former is not they say until the day of Judgment But this is not all the difficulty for it 's the adding a Load to a Burden Is this Gospel to a Man that is unable to perform the least part of the Moral Law to tell him that God or the Mediator requires perfect Obedience to it for the Future and another too Or is this Gospel to say you shall perish Aeternally and have the Fire of Hell seven times heated if you obey not this Gospel It s indeed a Conditional Hell but it 's more dreadful than the Law-Hell and the Condition is more impossible because we have less Power to shun this difficulty of two perfect Laws Mr. Bull owns no other perfect Law but this Gospel-Law since Man fell but by shunning one difficulty he falls into two as great 1. Then the Moral Law is abrogated beside the falsness of the Doctrine it self for it is impossible that should cease to be our Duty to love God with all our Heart and Soul what Advantage brings Christs Death To abrogate one perfct Law and
Tyrannical Conqueror 2. Redemption is put for the Application of the Priviledge bought by this Price to the Person As when a Slave in Algiers has not only attained Money to be paid to his Patron but he himself is actually returned home and therefore in Scripture it is seldom or ever used for the Application of any one of the Priviledges apart but for the compleat Consummation of all of them in Glory Luke 21.28 The day of Judgment is called the day of our Redemption and also Ephes 4.30 Grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby you are sealed to the day of Redemption Because all the Priviledge purchased by that Price doth not so much as commence till then There is a beginning of Redemption from Guilt before in Justification and a Redemption from Enmity before in Reconciliation and from Sin before its Pollution and Dominion but they are not compleated nor a Glorification from Death and Mortality so much as begun So much for the Relation between Justification and Redemption The third Relative Priviledg is Reconciliation and that is of two kinds too either 1. As it puts on the Nature and form of an Inward Affection For we cannot conceive of God positively but under some humane resemblance thus it is rather a reconcileableness and belongs to the Love of good Will a Willingness that mutal Communion and Fellowship should be again renewed and that distance by which we are undone no more continue Gods becoming our Councel from Eternity some improperly calls this a Justification but Council praecedes the Tryal Justification follows and his so early Intimations of his kind Purposes and his giving his Son to be a Peace-Maker tho' the pulling down of the Partition Wall cost his Blood Reconciliation taken thus is the Foundation of Redemption and all built upon it These two viz. Love of God and Gift of his Son differ as a Natural and Artificial Foundation the natural Rock and the first laid Stone this Love and Reconcileableness is the very Nature of God or an immediate result from it on the Position of such an Object for God is Love and Love made him communicate of the fulness of his Being to nothing and he is a faithful Creator to protect and provide for what he brings forth Love makes him so 2. Reconciliation is taken for the Agreement of Minds Amos 3.3 Can two walk together and not be agreed Two Persons who once were of one Mind and of one Heart they had the same designs and ends mutually engaged in Amity and now this Temper and Condition after a miserable misunderstanding is again renewed as Davids bowels yearned after Absalom he was reconcileable but Communion was not renewed until he had lived a considerable time in Jerusalem So Pharaoh's Butler when he is again restored to his wonted Place Thus Reconciliation is the very same with Justification The divorced Woman is again reconciled to her Husband in the same State of Fellowship through the Covenant of Grace that she was before breach of the Covenant of Works as Justification is a restoring a Man to his former State before the Charge or Suspition of guilt so Reconciliation is a restoring to that State we were in before Enmity they have both the same blessed Author God the Father Son and Holy Ghost they have both the same moving Cause Goodness and Love breaking forth in Grace and Mercy from Eternity God became Mans Council in this Trial wherein he is justified and that Council was a Council of Peace they have the same meriting Foundation Christs Redemption they commence both at one and the same time Guilt and Enmity falls at once The one Simile only helps to illustrate wherein the other may become defective for all the Transactions between Men and Men have their Exceptions and Dissimilitudes when they are brought to represent the Case between God and us The one represents the Case as friendly made up without going to Law the other represents a fair Trial the one represents it as a private Case the other represents it as a publick Crime pardoned Authority being appeased by a Satisfaction By the one Guilt is removed by the other Enmity the one teaches that the other is not to be wire-drawn for finding of something in it answerable to all the parts of the Simile The fourth is Adoption which is of the same Relative Nature with the former and has the same Causes and Means of Conveyance and commences at one and the same time but yet seem to differ in these things 1. Adoption comprehends a greater Blessing Justification gives Life but Adoption gives an Inheritance Justification makes us free Subjects but Adoption makes us Sons Justification puts us in Adam's Condition but Adoption gives a right to Adam's Expectation for Adam's Marriage from its very Original seems to be a Type of our Communion and Fellowship with Christ Gen. 2.24 They shall be one Flesh Eph. 5.32 it is said to be a great Mystery Vid. Dr. T. Goodwin 2. Justification of a Sinner is a Sublapsarian Blessing but Predestination to Adoption is an Antilapsarian Blessing design'd for Man before he fell Eph. 1.5 3. Justification is a Mean Adoption is an End Tit. 3.7 That being Justified by his Grace we should be made Heirs according to the Hope of Eternal Life and so in this Chapter it is treated of from the 13th Verse as posteriour to Justification 4. Justification is a more immediate Effect of Christ's Death Adoption more mediate it is by Justification that the blessed Line of Divine designs that was broken by Sin is again tyed God designed a perpetual ascending Line of Blessings to his Creatures but from Sin to Justification is a Parenthesis in this Line John 12.24 Christ compares himself to a Corn of Wheat that dyes that it may bring forth fruit so Psal 45. Christ dyed and was Anointed to the Office of a Mediator that he might recover those who were design'd his Fellows and Companions from their Forfeiture of it and Unfitness for it Hence it is call'd a Purchas'd Possession Eph. 1.14 by reason that is Purchas'd without which we could not enjoy it We can have no Priviledge without Life 5. The one seems to require a more Noble and Heavenly Temper of Spirit correspondent to it Regeneration answers the one but the Spirit of Adoption which is a higher degree answers the other The Regenerate Man may be under a Spirit of Bondage but they who have received the Spirit of Adoption are more free from that slavish Temper Rom. 8.14 Heb. 11.16 their Desires are fix'd upon and more proportion'd to their Estate 6. The one is ascribed more to the Death of Christ the other to his Life We are Justified by his Blood Saved by his Life Rom. 5.9 By Authority he forgives sins but by his Intercession he prays for the Priviledges of Adoption But whatever dictinction there may be there is no Separation which is frequent among Men who have their Life often spar'd without restoring their
Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith So where-ever there is place for Works as the Condition of our Justification there is place for some boasting but the Scripture every where stops Man's mouth Rom. 3.19 That every mouth may be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God And it ascribes all the Glory to him Psal 115.1 Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truths sake Eph. 1.6 To the praise of the Glory of his Grace 7. All kind of Works affords some Plea and pleading is a Glorying for it is a standing upon our own defence and this is another way of addressing God than either the Example of the Saints or the Rules of Holy Writ teach us Petition and Confession Deprecation and Lamentation with Praise and Thanksgiving on the Receipt of Mercies are the only ways we are taught to approach God The lowest kind of pleading is one of these four First By way of Comparison as when a Man can say I must have either done that or worse either to have neglected a Parent or a Wife either to have fled or suffered the Army to be cut off there was no room for this Excuse in Adam's Sin Secondly Relation when we throw the fault upon them that accuse us this did but aggravate Adam's Crime and add to the Sin when he said The Woman whom thou gavest me Thirdly When we remove the Evil of the Fact upon some other Person as Eve did the eating of the Apple upon the Serpent and Adam upon Eve Lastly A Purgation when we acknowledge the Fact but diminish it thrô some necessary Circumstances or Ignorance We do not find any of these ways usual or acceptable at the Throne of Grace but rather an aggravating of our own Guilt like Poreus when he was Converted from the Pelagian Error to the Catholick Truth What I shall first condemn in my self I know not wherein to excuse my self I know not Petition or Deprecation says the Learned Vossius out of Cicero is no pleading except for a Person whose former Actions have highly merited and therefore it becomes not a Court of Justice as Cicero for Ligarius before Caesar O Caesar I have brought many Pleas and that before thee when in Court where thy Honour and Authority was concerned but never as now when privately and before a Parent then I pleaded the Crime is a Fiction the Witnesses are false he never did it he never thought it But now O Father he has erred he has fallen he will never do the like But a Justifying Defence must be made before Authority Juridical I shall conclude this with Answering some Objections briefly that are brought as Arguments to prove that since no Works are excluded but what affords occasion of Glorying then some Works may have room for an Interest in our Justification For instance 1. God may freely first give Grace to work give Faith and Repentance and then justifie us for the Exercise of them whereof we cannot Glory because the Grace is receiv'd and they are the Fruits of Grace 2. God gives a Gracious Law a New Law the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 that excludes Glorying and therefore we may be justified by the Works thereof 3. These Works come not in as the Meriting Cause of Justification but as the Condition of it Resp. In general this Contrivance of the Method of Justification is such a Fruit of Divine Wisdom that it is the special Glory thereof and therefore there is no wonder that the feeble Beam of our Light cannot show us the depth of it or pierce into all the Harmonies and Connexions of it's parts or their mutual Relations and Influence and consequently no wonder Divines do not agree about such things and the Disagreement ought to be born with Meekness Patience and mutual Endeavour to instruct one another I profess my self a Seeker and a Learner in many of these mysterious Points and I am never satisfied with a Sermon except I receive some Edification to my Understanding by it And if Divisions and bitter Language unbecoming Christians Scholars or Men were not the sad Fruits of these Disputants not the Disputes they ought to be encourag'd I bless God for the Sparks I have already receiv'd from them and I hope to receive more and that my Heart is as much united in Love to both Parties as ever and I am as much at a Loss as the poor Children when ask'd whether they Love Father or Mother best But in particular I shall begin with the first Objection Resp. 1. It is inconsistent with what I have before prov'd viz. that the Gift of absolute and distinguishing Grace the Spirit a New Heart c. that beside its absolute and sanctifying Vertue it is of a Relative Nature both to signifie and entitle as the Ring in Marriage or other Earnests and entitling Symbols Phil. Melanct. in his Annotat. on this Epistle in Comparison of which Luther says that Jerom and Origens Commentaries are but Merae nugae Ineptiae says Deus solus Justificat transfundens in nos Spiritum suum p. 17. We must either reckon him a Papist who was the first Protestant this Book I have is Printed 1522. or else say that Gift was the Sentence or its declarative Sign Mr. Baxter says When a Person is Converted the Angels rejoyce and therefore have some Notification of it and they who know our Conversion cannot be ignorant of our Justification which they cannot know without some Divine Manifestation A second part of the express'd or declar'd Sentence of our Justification he says is the illustration of our Minds with the Holy Spirit althò often obscure I think there is great Reason to unite these two in one thus The Angels who are so well acquainted with our Minds and the Language of Divine Operations know our Justification from the ruling of the Spirit in us after such a special manner Eph. 1.17 Who is the earnest of our Inheritance and so the Earnest of total and Compleat Pardon Now if Absolute Grace bear the Nature of a Title or Sentence the Exercise cannot be the Cause tho' it may be the Condition that is orderly Connexion for tho' it procure it 's own Confent it is not receiv'd except complyed with and yielded to Our Confession of Faith says We are not justifyjd until the Holy Spirit apply Christ to us and confirms it from Tit. 3.6 7. which Text seems to shew a greater Connexion between them than that of Time By the renewing of the Holy Ghost that being justified c. Resp. 2. All Glorying of boasting is not excluded by this half-workers should receive half-wages and half Credit Now when Grace is exercised the Work is ours Believing Repenting c. Tho' this is not Pelagian it is Popish Suppose a Man have a broken Arm or Leg and do some great or Heroick Act after it's Cur'd he will not ascribe the Glory of the