Election Grace Gift Good-will Will Testament Covenant and Promise all which are Jural Words signifying the causes of our Justification 2. As by such words which do confirm or assure a Right as Seal Earnest for the holy Spirit is the Seal and Earnest of that inheritance whereto we are Justified as Liberty Freedom Communion Fellowship Propriety Gift Grace Inheritance Possession Glory all which and many more are the results and effects of our Justification 3. As by such words as are opposite to Justifying as injuring condemning outlawing reprobating As to be injured is against law to lose some right which by law was due and to be condemned is according to law to lose some right which by law was to be lost and to be outlawed is to lose all benefit of Law which the person in-lawed had so a Person justified is one who beyond and above all Law is made to have some right which before he had not or which by Law he could never have or one who by or according to Law is made to have and hold some right which by Law was due to him being inlawed And as condemnation and outlawing is the imputation of a present Sin to a future punishment So justification and inlawing is the imputation of a present right to a future blessing and imputation is a Genus to them both Seeing then injuring and condemning and outlawing are jural words therefore justifying acquitting and inlawing are jural words also 4. As by such words which are of affinity and nearness and subordinate to justifying and comprehended under it As Naturalizing Legitimating Manumizing Redeeming Pardoning Adopting and such like which are the several kinds of justifying which is the Genus to them all For Naturalizing is a justifying of an Alien born in a far Country by imputing to him the right of a Native or home-born As Legitimating is the Justifying of a Bastard by imputing the right of a lawful birth to him that was unlawfully born As Manumizing or Enfranchizing is the Justifying of a Villain or Bondman by imputing the right of freedom to him that was born a Slave As Emancipating is the Justifying of a Minor by giving right of Livery to him that was under Guardians As Ransoming or Redeeming is the Justifying of a Captive by imputing the right of Enlargement to him who before was a Prisoner As Pardoning is the Justifying of a Malefactor by imputing the right of indempnity to him who before was condemned As Adopting is the Justifying of a Son and Heir of another Family by imputing the right of a Son and Heir to him that hath no Son nor Heir of his own Family All these are justifying especially when an Alien a Bastard a Bondslave a Captive and more especially when a Rebel or Malefactor is made the Son and Heir of a Kingdom without any suit mediation or motive this is exceeding gracious because it passeth from one extream to another meerly upon the Donors kindness and pure love And such is our Justification as by this Treatise hath and will hereafter be demonstrated 5. As by words of Attribute whereby the justified ones are called in Scripture as Sons and Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ Thou art no more a Servant but a Son and an Heir of God through Christ Gal. 4.7 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Joynt-heirs with Christ As Fellow-Citizens and Domesticks of God Ro. 8.16 17. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and forreigners but Fellow-Citizens with the Saints Eph. 2.19 and of the houshold of God as the Lords Free-men For he that is called in the Lord being a Servant is the Lords Free-man This last word Free-man comprehends under it all the former For Freedom is the original and fundamental Right without which a Man is dead in Law and hath no Will nor capacity to sue for or possess any Right And these two words Free-man and Justified are adequate and reciprocal to denote the same Person A Free-man is a Person justified to have some right being absolutely opposed to a Bond-man who is a Person condemned to have no right at all and so to an Alien or Stranger and to a Bastard or Prisoner c. Hence the word Justified is put for Freed By Christ all that believe are justified i. e. freed from all those things Acts 13.39 from which we could not be justified or freed by the Law of Moses And sometimes is translated by the word Freed He that is dead is freed i. e. justified from sin Rom. 6.7 Justifying is not only a Jural word but a Curial word or Court word not of a Court contentious in which Jus dicitur in Suits by declaring the Law and pronouncing the Sentence according to Law as in England is done in the Courts of the Kings Bench and Common Pleas where the Judges represent the King for his Justice But rather of a Court of Grace and Favour ubi jus fit datur in Suits voluntary and where the Sentence is the Decree of the Supreme Judge in equity and love in which that right which was not in Being before is made to be according to the kindness and good will of the Prince wherein the iniquities and rigours of the Law are rectified according to conscience by the Praetor or Chancellor to the King and Pardons for offences are granted by the King and Patents for Honours Profits and Priviledges are bestow'd above and contrary to the Letter of the Law As in England in the Courts of Request and Chancery where the Persons president are not called Judges but by other Names as Masters of Requests and Chancellor and do represent the King for his Mercy and Grace Lastly Justifying is a Testamentary word of the same nature with Institution or ordaining of an Heir or the devising of a Legacy For whosoever in a Testament is instituted as an Heir or ordained a Legatary that Person is justified or made to have a right to that inheritance or Legacy The co-incidence of these two words is the more proper partly because Justification is a most gracious act proceeding from the free Grace of God spontaneously granted to those that never sought it nor none for them As commonly Institutions and Devices are made in Wills and Testaments especially ad pias causas which are and others should be acts of Mercy and meer Grace but chiefly because Justification is a Testamentary act of God arising from his last Will and Testament wherein all Believers are instituted and ordained his Heirs to the Inheritance of Eternal Blessedness By this Testamentary act of God in justifying Sinners it appears that as a Man is legally Righteous according to Law and morally Righteous above the Law and jurally Righteous as a proprietary and owner So God is much more eminently and transcendently righteous all these waies but not so properly legally because he is the maker of
due yea Grace gives much good when much evil is due The Law is inexorable and spares none but Grace is easie to be entreated and spares all For Grace is a priviledge above Law rather than extremely contrary to Law An act of Super-justice rather than contrary to Justice For Mercy rejoyceth and triumpheth over Justice as being the special and highest work of God in which he most delighteh This is the Trone of Grace this is the Mercy-Seat Throne of Grace the great Court of Requests and of Chancery Ubi Jus fit Jus datur where Rights are made and where Rights are bestowed whereas in other Courts of Law Rights are only declared Such Courts are much inferior Ubi Jus dicitur where Rights are declared upon Justice to those higher ones where they are created and granted upon Mercy and Bounty and God's Mercies are above all his Works 3. So God's Grace is opposed to Wrath in extremes Wrath. As Grace gives more good than is due by Law so Wrath gives more evil than is due by Law And this Wrath God executes by taking the Sword into his own hands and punishing our sins himself beyond the ordinary way of the Law as Kings by their Prerogatives may do by Wrath to execute Vengeance more than the bare Law calls for upon some extraordinary offences on some extraordinary occasions which they themselves can best judge of especially when the Inferior Judge is negligent of his duty in not inflicting the Punishment which the Law required and when sins have been done with a high hand in open defiance of Rule and Law to the endamagement of the Commonwealth Unto this Wrath God's Grace is extremely opposed For when Law and Anger were heavily against an obstinate Sinner and the Sword of both threatens to devour in an extraordinary way then steps in Mercy and stops the Flood-gate of Anger and saves the dying Soul from the Pit of Ruine which was ready to swallow him up because God sees remorse in him though he have been notoriously wicked yet it is the good will and pleasure of God for the Glory of his Grace to spare as a Father spareth his Son that serveth him to blot out iniquities transgressions and sins and to remember them no more but that they shall be as though they had never been and now that Soul shall live he shall not die SECTION I. Works 4. So God's Grace is opposed to Works which are the Merit of the Creature but this is the Grace of the Creatour Works deserve wages but Eternal life is the gift of God Grace dignifies a Person that deserves it not No man can deserve to be born of his Father or after he is born he cannot deserve to be made the Son and Heir of another man But the only cause of a Son is Love either by Nature or by Adoption and therefore the only cause to be made the Son of God is the Grace of God not the Works of Man Free Grace Such love of God is the Grace of God whereby the Receiver is honoured and profited and yet he never deserved it This is free Justification by Grace Ro. 3.24 of Faith and therefore not of Works that it might be by Grace only otherwise Grace were no more Grace and Works were no more Works This is the Riches of God's Grace whereby we are accepted in the Beloved The gift by Grace the kindness and good will of God This Grace of God is without Cause it is it self the supreme and high cause having no other Cause above or beyond it to actuate and move it Nor can any Works so much as concur with Grace because Grace is the sole Cause For if Salvation were of Works it should be of Debt and then it could not be of Grace They are inconsistent and contrary the one to the other Ro. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the Reward reckoned not of Grace but of Debt But if it be of Grace it is of Gift and then it cannot be of Works Ro. 11.6 And if of Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done Tit. 35. but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost By this Grace I a poor miserable Sinner attainted in the attainder of Adam's sin and born to temporal and eternal Miseries am looked upon with the eye of Mercy to be justified from all my Sin and Misery and to be invested with Holiness and Happiness And the farther Love and Grace of God to me is that all this should be done in a Testamentary way whereby I should be the more sure of it For such an Instrument as a Testament is requires all the favourable construction that can be imagined that it may take effect according to the best meaning of the Testator Rich Grace And still the Exceeding riches of his Grace appears that he did settle this his Testament by the Death of Christ who was his own and only Son whom he substituted to die in his stead For God could have setled his Testament by means less chargeable than was the precious Blood of his own Son but he could not to shew the abundance of his Love who so loved the World as that he sent his only begotten Son into the same and gave him over unto death that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And lastly all this is Grace for Grace that is freely and out of mere Grace and only for the Thanks of the Receiver SECTION II. I have enough then to uphold my Soul withal till I die Assurance and when I die to lie down with my Body in hope of a glorious Resurrection And after my death my Soul shall wait for it and at last it will come at which time my Saviour will come again and call me from the Regions and Receptacles of Rest to put my Soul and Body both into the full possession of the Inheritance to which I have a present Right by Faith in the New Testament of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Against this New Testament established by Jesus Christ the Jews did mightily stickle Jews loth to leave the Law Because the Old Testament was God's Testament written and God had made a solemn Testimony thereof on Mount Sinai where with terrible Lightning and Thunder and the shrill sound of the Trumpet and by the Fire and Smoak and the quaking of the Mountain and the voice of the Angel who represented God it was testified in the sight and hearing of all the People And also because this Law and Testament had a long prescription of fifteen hundred years together and in such cases men do use to struggle very hard and are loth to part with their so ancient Laws Customes and Priviledges especially concerning their Religion and Worship and a Change is commonly very
inheritance and who hath to do with it if an Earthly King or Parent do so And what is this or can be to an Heavenly Estate Esau being saved as well as Jacob brought up in the same Family and Principles of the Fear of God though for reasons best known to God he had not an equal share of an Estate of Land and Dignity in this World This is enough to satisfie if Men would not be willful for the true sense of that Paragraph Ro. 9.9 c. so much mistaken and misapplied in the world to the dishonour of God and the destruction of ignorant and tender minds And as this so those other controverted points of the Real presence Free will Prayers to Saints c. might easily be understood if Men would learn to observe the scope and Analogy of the Scriptures the standard and rule to try and settle all things by and the publick Interpretation of all doubts without a visible infallible Judg. After these Allegories let us return to the true Title of Justification by Grace Transition All Right of State Power Honour or Profit requires a Title much more the state of Eternal Salvation A means must be used or some act must be done for the reception of a Divine state else the Testamentary acts of God's Predestination or Institution may be ineffectual as they are to all that refuse despise reject Because all Testamentary acts do leave unto the Party instituted a liberty to accept of or refuse the Gift For a Testament is no Law to constrain much less a fate to necessitate but is the Grace or Good will of a Testator to offer and invite to acceptation A Title is the cause that makes a just Right and assures the party thereof and defends it to him against all opposers As Birth doth to an Inheritance Work to Wages Mony to a Purchase Acceptation to a Gift SECT XXXIII Works If then the true Title to our Justification by Faith be Grace then the wrong Title is Works So Grace excludeth Works for he that claimeth by one Title must exclude all the rest Therefore no works of the Law either in the Literal sense as delivered by Moses and understood by the Israelites or in the Spiritual sense as it was declared by Christ and is understood by the Faithful are of efficacy or virtue to create us a true Title to the Right of Eternal Blessedness Seeing then the true Title to Justification by Faith is Grace under the Gospel that of Works under the Law is to be relinquished as an act of God once propounded but ever ineffectual and now altogether expired and dead together with the Law it self that required it For we are dead to the Law Gal. 2.19 that being dead wherein we were held that we might live unto God For seeing God by Christ hath declared his New Will and Testament of the Gospel therefore his former Will of the Law though for a time it were good and useful is now utterly infringed cancelled and void For by the Works of the Law no Flesh living can be justified That is no mortal Man whose life is exactly scann'd by the Law shall by observance thereof be found so compleat as to have performed universal and perpetual obedience to every Precept in every sense thereof without failing The reasoning of this Point by the Apostle runs thus If a Man will be jurally justified by the works of the Law Gal. 2.16 i. e. If he will claim a right to Heaven by the Title of his works then he must be legally justified i. e. declared never to have offended the Law For supposing but not granting that the Law can justifie morally yet it cannot do this to any but to such as are upright every way in the sight of God for if a Man offend in any one Law he is guilty of all and the work of the Law is presently to condemn him without mercy imputing to him a Right to a future Curse Rom. 4.15 saying Cursed is every one that walketh not in all the Commandments of God to do them The Law worketh wrath and whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all i. e. is guilty of Death and of more he could not be guilty if he broke all because Death is a final punishment beyond which there can be no other there being no subject of punishment because the offender is not Now though in Mens Tribunals some may be legally justified as Paul might be Touching the righteousness of the Law blameless Phil. 3.6 yet was he not thereby justified in the sight and knowledg of God So Job was a perfect and upright Man before Men but not before God Luc. 1.6 So Zacharias and Elizabeth were said to be both Righteous before God walking in all the Commandments of God blameless yet truly before God no Man living save Jesus Christ ever was or ever will be legally justified i. e. sinless or blameless before Almighty God See Ro. 1 Ro. 2. Such are all Men shut up under sin by the Law Rom. 3.9 19. that every mouth may be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God because all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God Therefore all Men being and being declared sinners by Law Heaven can come no other way but to them that are made Righteous and declared so by promise The Scripture hath concluded all under sin Gal. 3.22 that the promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe The summe is this If a Man have right to Eternal Life by works jurally then he must by these works be declared upright legally before God But no Man living can be declared upright legally before God by his works and therefore works are a wrong Title to Justification which was the thing to be demonstrated Yet though works are no Title to acquire a Right yet they are a tenure to hold a Right that is acquired To be justified or to have righteousness imputed reckoned or accounted is to be absolved and quitted from sin and misery and to be intitled to holiness and happiness and all by Faith not Law v. Gal. 2.21 Gal. 3.18 Ro. 4.3 45. Reward may be of debt to the worker but it is properly and purely of Grace to the Promissary A promise creates a right and he to whom the promise of an inheritance is made by his acceptance thereof is a Person invested with right unto it 1. Therefore Justification is the Acquitting of the penitent Believer by a Judicial act of God's Grace in the Covenant of the Gospel through Christ Justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3.24 through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ 2. Therefore Justification is the Approving commending rewarding adjudging or giving right to holiness and happiness As to impute no sin is to forgive sin so to impute Righteousness is to adjudg to the high reward of Faith
we shall be saved from wrath c. Do we then make voyd the Law Rom. 8.32 through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law In all the letter and scope of Scriptures upon this point the form of our Justification appears to be the Imputation or Accounting of our Faith for our right or Justification to the rights promised Ro. 5.17 8. There is mention made of Abundance of Grace and of the gift of righteousness And that by the righteousness of one the free-gift came upon all Men unto justification of life And that by one Man's obedience many were made righteous Phil. 3.9 St. Paul also desires That he may be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith No Man is justified by the Law in the sight of God for the just shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the Man that doth them shall live in them Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us For it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith And the promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World Ro. 4.13 was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith SECT III. But in all those places or any other Christ's Righteousness I cannot find any imputation of Christ's Righteousness The Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness of God by Faith I find but no other By the Righteousness of Christ must be meant his personal obedience to the moral Law which cannot be made ours or translated to us or accounted to us and reckoned as ours for diverse and weighty reasons First because Christ's obedience was the obedience of a Mediator fitted exactly for such a Person and Office and no other A High Priest harmless undefiled separated from sinners c. Hebr. 7.26 one that makes all Men just and righteous and is made unto them righteousness sanctification and Redemption and is God our Righteousness That hath the Spirit of Righteousness without measure that is anointed above all his Fellows with that fulness from which we all receive Grace for grace whose Glory is the Glory of the only Begotten Son of God full of Grace and Truth and much more than the Tongue of Men or Angels can express Now for a Man to be clothed with the Robes of this Righteousness as they speak is to appear before God not in the habit of a righteous and justified Man but of the justifier of the Sons of Men whose righteousness is too excellent and glorious for our condition of a Mediator God and Man We are the better for his active and passive obedience for it is the cause of our Righteousness by Faith The Members partake of the benefit of the Head The Wife is endow'd by Marriage with all her Husband's goods but the virtue of the Head is not appropriated though communicated nor made over to the Members nor is the estate of the Husband past away or made over to his Wife The Endowment of the Wife is no formal cause nor ingredient of Marriage but a fruit or consequent thereof So our justification or our right to the Righteousness of Christ that is to his Rights and Priviledges accrues to us by our Marriage with Christ which is by Faith the formal cause thereof The Estate Wisdom and Righteousness is Christ's but the benefit of them and of all that is Christ's is ours as is the Wealth and Wisdom and Honour of the Husband to the Wife In a word Christ's Righteousness is that for which Faith is accounted to us for Righteousness Ergo the Personal righteousness of Christ himself is not accounted to us Secondly Because Personal moral virtues cannot be past over to others by act of Nature or Law as by Descent Donation Succession Cession Dereliction Degradation Deprivation or any other way or means Because they are inherent habits of the Mind and therefore inseparable from the Mind and if separable altogether inconveyable to the Mind of another by deed of gift Descent of Blood or any other conveyance whatsoever during life or after death But Jural Rights are of that nature as that they may be derived by act of Law not Nature from Parents to their Children from Predecessors to their Successors or Alienated from the Proprietary to any other Person not only to be reckoned but to be really his or theirs to whom the alienation reversion or derivation is made by any act or deed according unto Law to take place in life or after death Also some act of mine may be accounted for a right to my self as my labour for my wages my purchase for my Estate my Faith for my justification Thus Moral Righteousness is inseparable from the Person to which it doth belong and cannot be reckoned to another but Jural Rights are separable and may be accounted to another I may possibly be respected and saved for another's Virtue and Worth but his Virtue and Worth can no waies be made mine Virtue Learning Vice and Ignorance are habits and qualities which are a Man 's own without accounting but Riches and Honours we have as rights accounted unto us or else we cannot have or hold them My Health or Sickness of Body may be propagated to me and from me to another but not the Health or Sickness of my Soul Who can be healthy by another Man's health while he possesseth it Who can be sick by another Man's sickness while he possesseth it Who can be rich by another Man's riches while he enjoyeth them Who can be honourable by another Man's honour while he enjoyes it Who can be disgraced by another Man's disgrace while he suffereth it Who can be poor by another Man's poverty while he endures it Who can be learned by another Man's Learning while he hath it Who can be virtuous by another Man's virtues or vicious by another Man's vice These Virtues or Vices are really his who hath them not really mine whose they are not or how can these things in another be so much as reckoned or accounted to be mine I may be reckoned guilty of another Man's sin and so of his punishment by consenting or helping c. but not for his acting or suffering I cannot be reckoned virtuous by another Man's virtue or sinful by another Man's sin or miserable by another Man's misery If I have many virtues others may have as many virtues or more than I and I have no less than I have but if I have many rights to such or such things others can have no rights to the same things If they be taken away from me in part I have the less if in full I have none at all but others
promise by a solemn oath See Gen. 13.15 and Gen. 15.18 and Gen. 22.16 and Gen. 26.3 and Gen. 28.13 And they had farther an assurance of this right settled upon them by many miracles and tokens 1 Cor. 10.1 c. For they all were under the cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptized in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same Spiritual meat and did all drink the same Spiritual drink c. Hath any Christian a better right or a greater assurance to the Kingdom of Heaven than the Israelites had to the Kingdom of Canaan yet many of them by reason of their carnal sins of lust idolatry fornication and such like did never enter that inheritance but were overthrown and destroyed in the Wilderness for God in his wrath retracted by oath that promise which before by oath he had confirmed See Num. 14.23 and Psal 95.11 and Ez. 20.15 and Heb. 3.18 2. Now all these Judgments happened to them for our examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10.11 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall The mischief therefore that regularly follows upon our walking after the Flesh and committing of carnal sins is a Disherison or exclusion of us from the actual entrance and possession of that Heavenly inheritance whereto by Faith we had a right and title For although our good works are not sufficient enough to create us a title to that Inheritance yet our evil works are miscreant enough to defeat us of the title we had by Faith and to draw upon us a forfeiture of our former rights because our evil works argue us to be the Children of disobedience who will not be led and ruled by the Spirit of God they convict us of ungraciousness and unthankfulness for the Grace of God and condemn us to endure the wrath of God For although the Gospel be a Charter of Grace yet this is the Law of it against evil works because thereby we not only despair but we do despite to the Spirit of Grace which is an affront unto God who grants it and so justly we lose the benefit of the Grant through our own default Quod erat demonstrandum The CONTENTS Transition Works James 2.18 explained Works of Love TITLE VI. Of the Tenure of Justification MY state of Election requires a Tenure Transition For because the state of it is thus mutable therefore it requires a Tenure to preserve and hold it And because my state of Justification had a cause to create it so also it requires a cause to conserve it That which I have my Estate by is my Title by Gift or Birth or work or Purchase and that which I hold my Estate by is my Tenure or Homage by serviency Escuage or Soccage i. e. by Court-service War-service or Plough-service And because Estates are in this Life transitory and defeisable to come and go to be had and lost therefore when I have an Estate I must use the means to hold it otherwise I may make no benefit by it And this is necessary in all Estates to have a Title to get and a Tenure to keep or else no Estate would be permanent yea the whole World if it were not upheld by him that made it would eternally fall to ruin The Tenure of my Justification is works Therefore this assertion Works A Man is justified by works and not by Faith is as much the word of God as this assertion A Man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ and both are equally true 1. Faith is the Title of Right to my Justification 2. Works are the Tenure of this Right and Title till I am to possess the Inheritance which my Faith gave me Right and Title to The Reasons by which St. James proves this Justification by works are these 1. Because works keep Faith alive The act of Faith without them is of no effect though it did justifie to a right because without works following we can have no benefit of our Justification As a Bill or Bond or other specialty of Writing without a Seal or Hand is voi'd cancell'd to all intents and purposes contained in them So c. 2. Because Faith is by works made perfect it being alone a thing imperfect and ineffectual For in justifying it gives a Right and Title of Institution and Expectation claims Interest and Hope of a future inheritance which Right is escheatable and may be destroied but Faith seconded and animated by works 1 Pet. 1.4 finishes and compleats our Right to a fruition of the Inheritance seized upon invested in us and subject to no defeisance An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us Thus Abraham was justified by works when he had offer'd up Isaak his Son upon the Altar And Rahab was justified by works when she had received the Messengers and had sent them out another way Faith alone without works is like the Devil's faith who tremble without any hope or works And Faith without works is like the Body without the Soul But though my Tenure of Justification be works yet Faith is not excluded Not works alone nor Faith alone but both together do conserve the Title of my Justification which I had by Faith only And herein Faith hath the preeminence Faith without works doth justifie me to have my Right and Title but works without Faith do not justifie me to hold my Right and Title I say not works with Faith but thus Faith with works doth make me hold my Right Faith is the Principal and works are the Accessaries thereunto to animate enable and render Faith effectual to the possession of an Inheritance which that Faith gave right unto but could not bring to a full enjoyment without works And farther it is most certain that works do also justifie declaratively by manifesting that Faith to my self and to the World which did justifie me efficiently James 2.18 explained Shew me thy Faith without thy works and I will shew thee my Faith by my works ☞ Note here also That Paul by his assertion that a Man is not justified by the works of the Law but by Faith only opposeth the Judaizing Christians who were still operaries and rituaries of the Law thinking to be justified by them to the Evangelical Christians who were fiduciaries and spiritualists of the Gospel thinking to be justified by Faith only And that James opposeth the Gentilizing Christians who were still fiduciaries and libertines standing only for Faith and Freedom and neglecting and disgracing all works to them that were truly Evangelical that stood to their Faith and Liberty but admitted and honoured all good works also allowing therefore to the Verb justified these two senses of creating and conserving Justification it will follow That Faith only without works doth create
excitatum à mortuis ac proptereà verum esse quae Dei nomine sive praecipiendo sive promittendo nobis attulit Interim verum est iis qui à vitiis purgati sunt Deum condonare vetera crimina idque propter Christum qui id nobis obtinuit Neque enim Deus tenebatur ea condonare Nisi autem Deus nobis condonasset peccata non daret nobis donum illud Summum quod in hac vitâ hominibus contingere potest Spiritum nimirum Sanctum Id enim paterni amoris quidem summi certum est Testimonium Huc tendere quae dicit Paulus hunc ejus esse sensum tum ex vi vocum tum ex serie sermonis apertum nos in Annotatis nostris facturos confidimus Interim oro eos qui dubitant legant Graecos Chrysostomum OEcumenicum Theophylactum aut Latinos etiam Ambrosium Hieronymum reperient eos id sensisse quod dico Quid verò mirum est si Deus pro justitiâ suâ approbat eam Justitiam quam ipse in nobis fecit quae propterea Justitia Dei dicitur quaeque legalem illam omnem ex viribus humanis profectam multis modis superat Non enim potest non amare quod suum est Nec cum Deus ita per se ad se conversos spectat eos spectat ut peccatores quomodo scilicet ea vox in Scripturis sumitur sed ut à peccatis purgatos liberatos Et inde oritur laeta illa pax conscientiae quia talibus Deus ut jam diximus propter Christum promisit priorum criminum indulgentiam Neque verò directè apud Paulum opponuntur accusare justificare sicut neque directè opposita sunt que sequuntur damnare eos pro eis precari Sed fit haec oppositio per consequentiam quandam Isti qui nos apud humana Tribunalia accusant homines sunt miseri cum Deus sit is qui nos Justos videat ut justos amet Damnamur ad poenas sed à quibus nempe à Mortalibus At Christus immortalis is est qui perpetuo causam nostram Deo Patri commendat Tribunal Christi est Tribunal Dei Ibi ex quibus rebus simus judicandi dixit Christus Matth. 25.34 35. Paulo omnibus qui adventum Christi amarunt reddetur corona Justitiae nempe quia praeclarum certamen certarunt cursum perfecerunt fidem servarunt 2 Tim. 4.7 Novatiana causa huic non pertinet neque enim dicimus post Baptismum lapsis omnibus praeclusam à Deo veniam aut reditum ad Ecclesiam Hinc autem gloria omnis Justitiae quae in Christianis reperitur ad Deum Christum redit Fides enim Dei Donum per Christum non ex operibus sed ex vocante Et hoc est Justitiae semen fructus autem omnis censetur in semine Quà m facilis autem hîc sit reconciliatio si absint tricae Scholasticae alienus à pace animus ostendit Bucerus in Psalmum 2. Mr. Thornd l. 2. p. 248. I must here presume that this sense of the imputation of Christ's merits and therefore this intent of his death is meerly imaginary And the supposition whereupon it proceeds to wit that one Mans doings or sufferings may be personally and immediately imputed to another Mans account is utterly unreasonable And therefore must and do say That as it is sufficient so it is true that the sufferings of Christ are imputed unto us in the nature of a meritorious cause moving God to grant Mankind those terms of Reconcilement which the Gospel importeth Mr. Faringd 2. Vol. S. 20 p. 811. As the Philosophers agree there was a Chief-good and Happiness which Man might attain to but could not agree what it was so it hath fallen out with Christians They all consent that there is mercy with God that we may be saved They make remission of sins an Article of their Creed But then they rest not here but to the covering of their sins require a garment of Righteousness of their own thred and spinning to the blotting out of their sins some bloud and some virtue of their own and to the purging them out some infused habit of inherent Righteousness And so by their interpretations and additions and Glosses they leave this Article in a cloud than which the day it self is not clearer As Astronomers when a new Star appeareth in their Hemisphere dispute and altercate till that Star go out and remove it self out of their sight So have we disputed and talked Justification and remission of sins almost out of sight For there is nothing more plain and even without rub or difficulty nothing more open to the eye and yet nothing at which the quickest apprehensions have been more dazled It hath been the fault of Christians when the Truth lay in their way Justification to pass it by or leap over it and to follow some fancies and imaginations of their own Nor was this Doctrine only blemished by those monsters of Men who sate down and consulted and do deliberately give sentence against the Truth but received some blot and stain from their hands who were the stoutest Champions for it Who though they saw the Truth and did acknowledg it yet let that fall from their Pews which posterity after took up to obscure this Doctrine and would not rest content with that which is as much as we can desire and more than we can deserve remission of sins Hence it was that we were taught in the Schools That Justification is a change from a state of unrighteousness to a state of Righteousness That as in every motion there is a leaving of one Term to acquire another so in Justification there is expulsion of sin and infusion of Grace Which is most true in the concrete but not in the abstract in the justified Person but not in Justification which is an act of God alone From hence these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those unsavoury and undigested conclusions of the Church of Rome that to justifie a Sinner is not to pronounce but to make him just That the Formal cause of Justification is Inherent sanctity that our Righteousness before God consisteth not only in Remission of sins that we may redeem our sins as well as Christ we from temporal as he from eternal pain And then this Petition must run thus Forgive us our Trespasses that is make us so just that we may need no forgiveness Forgive us the breach of the law because we have kept the Law forgive us our sins for our good works Forgive me my intemperance for my often fasting my incontinency for my zeal my oppression for my alms my murther for the Abby and Hospital which I built my fraud my malice my oppression for the many Sermons I have heard A conceit which I fear findeth more room and friendly entertainment in those hearts which are soon hot at the very mention of Popery and Merit In
a word they say and unsay sometimes bring in remission of sins and sometimes their own satisfaction and so set St. Paul and their Church at such a distance that neither St. Peter himself nor all the Angels and Saints she prayeth to will be able to reconcile them and make his Gratis and their Merits meet in one It is true every good act doth justifie a man so far as it is good and God so far esteemeth them holy and good and taketh notice of his graces in his Children he registreth the patience of Job the zeal of Phineas and the devotion of David not a cup of cold water not a mite flung into the treasury but shall have its reward But yet all the works of the Saints in the world cannot satisfie for the breach of the Law for let it once be granted what cannot be denied that we are all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guilty and culpable before God that all have sinned and are come short of the glory of God then all that noise the Church of Rome hath filled the world with concerning Merits and Satisfaction and Inherent righteousness will vanish as a mist before the Sun and Justification and Remission of sins will appear in its brightness in that form and shape in which Christ first left it to his Church Bring in Abraham and Isaac and all the Patriarchs and Prophets and Apostles and deck them with all those vertues which made them glorious but yet they sinned Bring in the noble Army of Martyrs who shed their blood for Christ but yet they sinned They were stoned they were sawn asunder they were slain with the sword but yet they sinned and he that sinneth is presently the servant of sin obnoxious to it for ever and cannot be redeemed by his own blood because he sinned but by the blood of him in whom there was no sin to be found Justificatio Impii this one form of speech of Justifying a sinner doth plainly exclude the Law and the Works of it and may serve as an Axe or Hammer to beat down all their carved work and those Anticks which are fastned to the building which may perhaps take a wandring or gadding fancy but will never enter the heart of a man of understanding We do not find that beauty in their artificial and forced inventions that we do in the simple and native truth Neither are those effects which are as irradiations and resultances from forgiveness of sin so visible in their Justification by faith and works as in the free remission which is by faith alone The urging of our Merits is of no force to make our peace with God They may indeed make us gracious in his eyes after remission but have as much power to remove our sins as our breath hath to remove a mountain or put out the fire of hell For every sin is as Seneca speaketh of that of Alexander in killing Callisthenes Crimen aeternum an Eternal crime which no vertue of our own can redeem Let me add my passions to my actions my Imprisonment to my Alms let me suffer for Christ let me die for Christ But yet I have sinned We may observe those Justitiaries how their complexion altereth how their colour goeth and cometh how they are not the same Men in their Controversies and Commentaries that they are in their Devotions and Meditations Nothing but Merit in their ruff and jollity and nothing but Mercy on their Death-Beds nothing but the Bloud of Martyrs then and nothing but Christ's now nothing but their own satisfaction all their lives and nothing but Christ's at their last gaspe Before Magis honorificum it was more honourable to bring in something of our own towards the forgiveness of our sins but none for the uncertainty of our own Righteousness Because there is no harbour here Christ's Righteousness is called in with a Tutissimum est as the best shelter And here they will abide till the storm be overpast Id. ib S. 24. p. 870 c. Imputed Righteousness Some stand much upon imputed Righteousness and it is true which they say if they understood themselves And upon Christ's Righteousness imputed to us which might be true also if they did not interpret what they say For this in a pleasing phrase they call To appear in our Elder Brother's Robes and apparel that as Jacob did we may steal away the Blessing Thus the Adulterer may say I am chast with Christ's Chastity and if he please every wicked Person may say That with Christ he is crucified dead and buried And that though he did nothing yet he did it though he did ill yet he did well because Christ did it This Righteousness if they have no other doth but ill become them because it had no Artificer but the Fancy to make it For that Christ's Righteousness is thus imputed to any we do not read no not so much as that it is imputed though in some sense the phrase may be admitted Jerm For what is done cannot be undone no not by Omnipotency it self for it implyeth a contradiction Deo qui omnia potest hoc impossibile God who can do all things cannot restore a lost Virginity He may forgive it blot it out bury it not impute it account of it as if it had never been but a sin it was We read indeed that Faith was imputed to Abraham for Righteousness Ro. 4.3 And the Apostle interpreteth himself out of the 32. Psal Blessed is the Man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without work Gal. 3.6 2 Cor. 5.21 That is as followeth whose sins are forgiven to whom the Lord imputeth no sin And Abraham believed in God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness And we are made the Righteousness of God in him That is we are counted righteous for his sake And it is more than evident that it is one thing to say That Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us another that Faith is imputed for Righteousness or which is the very same our sins are not imputed to us Which two imputations of Faith for Righteousness and not-imputation of sin make up that which we call the Justification of a Sinner For therefore are our sins blotted out by the hand of God because we believe in Christ and Christ in God That place where we are told that Christ of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification is not such a Pillar of Christ's imputed Righteousness in that sense which they take it as they fancy'd when they first set it up For the sense of the Apostle is plain and can be no more than this That Christ by the will of God was the only cause of our Righteousness and Justification and that for his sake God will justifie and absolve us from all our sins will reckon or account us holy and just and wise Not that he who loved the error of his life is wise or he that hath been unjust is righteous in that wherein he was unjust or
evil to good a license and ability to do a mans own Will or rather a better will even the Will and pleasure of God This is a State of Grace an high noble and blessed condition transcending the proper nature and quality of man SECT V. Burden 1. Now the State from which a man is justified is the base condition of Spiritual Bondage and the miseries consequent thereunto This is the Terme of recesse or Terminus à quo from whence Iustification commenceth a great Burden A Burden vulgarly signifies a heavy weight but legally it signifies some Charge Penalty Disability or Service Hence Isaiah calls Gods Iudgments Burdens as the Burden of Babylon Egypt Damascus c. In all kingdomes there are Burdens as Infamy is a Burden of Disgrace restraining a man from all Honours and Offices as Outlary is a Burden restraining a man from the benefit of Law hindring a man from being Plaintiff and having audience in a Court of Iustice to be a Stranger and Alien is a Burden hindring a man from purchasing or possessing Lands of Inheritance In all families there are Burdens as Bastardy is a Burden of Disinheritance laid upon a child unlawfully begotten Slavery is a Burden of Bondage laid upon some servant hindring him from getting possessing or suing for any thing Divorce is a Burden of Expulsion laid upon a Wife disloial hindring her from the Society of bed and board and marrying to another man Thus in Abraham's family Ishmael sustained the Burden of Bastardy and Hagar the Burden of Slavery hence Sarah required of Abraham that he would disinherit Ishmael Gen. 21.10 and be divorced from Hagar Cast out this Bondwoman and her son for the son of the Bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the Freewoman 2. The state to which a man is Justified is the stately condition of spiritual freedome and the miseries consequent thereunto This is the Access or Terminus ad quem to which we are advanced As Bondage was Capitis Diminutio the lessening of the head or Degrading of a man So Freedome is the Capitis Exaltatio or the raising or lifting up the head of a man or advancing of a man Gen. 40.20 2 King 25.27 As the heads of Pharaohs cheif Butler and Baker were lifted up and Jehojakin's head was lifted up out of Prison by Evilmerodach King of Babylon This state of Divine Freedome drawes into it Forgiveness of sins Resurrection from the dead and Life everlasting Thus the Term or bound of Recess from which we are justified is some Burden and the Term or bound of Access to which we are justified is some Right A Right vulgarly is a thing which is true and good and honest but legally it is a thing which is due to have and to hold some benefit and good which the Law owes us and settles upon us This is opposed to some burden Penalty or Charge which signifies to have and to hold some sufferance or grievance which the Law owes us and settles upon us SECT VI. There are in the world many Corporations where diverse persons are united into one body And in these Corporations there are diverse Rights Corporation some of them are Burdens and some Benefits as in a Kingdom there are Rights of Liberty to be a free-man born or to be made free to be a Member of some Corporation to have suffrage or vote in Elections to be heir in a Family to succeed to the Inheritance and Honour to be a Judg to give Judgment and to do Justice The burdens contrary to these are Slavery that deprives a man of Liberty Banishment that deprives of some Corporation Bastardy that deprives a man of his family Infamy that deprives a man of Honour and Preferment For the true rule is though not kept in the world Portae dignitatum non patent infamibus Personis The Gates of Honour are fast shut against scandalous Persons In a Family there are diverse Rights as Matrimony a state of Right whereby the Husband and the Wife have Right to each others bodies The Wife hath not power or Right over her own body but the Husband 1 Cor. 7.4 and the Husband hath not power or Right over his own body but the Wife For each have given to other a power or Right over their bodies respectively Primogeniture is the Right to succeed to the Inheritance of the Father under the Law Cleanness was a State of Right to enter into the Congregation and to partake of the Sacrifice Ministery is a Right to preach the Word and apply the Sacraments The Husband and Wife are no more two but one Flesh more united than the Father and Son For for the cause of a Wife the Son shall leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they two shall be one Flesh they are partakers of all Rights together The good and evil of the Husband is the good and evil of the Wife and the good and evil of the Wife is the good and evil of the Husband his Honour and Wealth is hers and her Honour and Wealth is his if he suffers she suffers if he prosper she rejoyceth The King and his Subjects are one Body The Honour and Welfare of the King is the Honour and Welfare of the Subjects and the Honour and Welfare of the Subjects is the Honour and Welfare of the King his wrong is theirs and their wrong is his The Church is a Corporation in which Christ and his Subjects or Members are one Body they are Members of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5. Christ and the Faithful are more united than Man and Wife for Man and Wife are but one Flesh but Christ and the Faithful are one Spirit A man for Christ his sake must forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children and he that doth so shall receive an hundred fold and in the end everlasting life The honour of Christ is the honour of the Faithful and the honour of the Faithful is the honour of Christ and the welfare of one is the welfare of the other and è contra Christ is a Party in all the conditions of his Subjects Saul Saul why persecutest thou me All charity that is done to them is done to Christ In as much as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me and in as much as ye have not done it to one of these little ones ye have not done it to me Thus he whose Right is created that had none before is justified And he whose Right is restored that had Right but lost it is justified unto it again All restitution is justification all in-lawing is justification for thereby the Party outlawed is restored to the Benefit of the Law SECT VII Other Names There are other Names of the same thing or other Words whereby the nature of justification is farther illustrated 1. As by such words which do create or constitute a Right as