righteous and then judgeth them so the elect being in themselves liable to the accusation and condemnation of the law to be just and righteous by faith in Jesus Christ through the imputation of his own justice to the praise of his power and the eternal salvation of their souls Which description of justification is utterly false and shews how farre he and those from whom he borrowed it are out of the way and how ignorant they are in fundamentals even one of the main grounds of their salvation which description he notwithstanding goes about to explicate by the causes as follows saying Now for the causes of justification first they are especially the efficient secondly material thirdly the formal fourthly final Why would he have any more then four causes of an effect I fear in this business he must content himself with fewer for the effecting and producing of the justification at which he aims But each of these aforesaid saith he must be considered two wayes first actively in respect of him that justifies us and secondly passively in respect of the man who is justified first the principal cause of our justification actively considered is God freely purposing to send his Son to be made man to work righteousness for men But God justified men in the Old Testament by the Spirit of his Son Isa 50.8 and 5.3 11. where he cites 1 Pet. 1.10 Gal. 4.4 Then to wit in the fulness of time God sending his Son made of a woman made under the law then revealing his Son unto us by the preaching of the Gospel and perswading us to believe the same and lay hold on the Son of God by the operation of the blessed Spirit and then accounting unto us the obedience of his Son for our righteousness In all which he is gone out of Gods road or way of justification and from the truth of the Gospel for though God so sent his Son made of a woman and made under the law yet it was not to justifie us by active obedience unto the law as we have said And this he did saith he to shew that he is the beginning the middle and the end of our justification and to prove this the Lord himself saith Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins and the Apostle plainly saith Rom. 8.33 as he hath it page 77. It is God that justifies and the very Pharisees that rejected Christ most impiously professed this most truly that none can forgive sins but God onely And so saith Gregorie It is meet that he should be the giver of grace that was the author of nature Greg. in Psal paeniten pithily saith It is his office to absolve the guilty by whose justice he is made guilty But who questions any of all this Again the impulsive cause that moved God to do all this for man we find saith he to be two-fold first internal secondly external the first is the meer grace and free mercy of God towards men and this because he would be merciful to man Because we can ascribe no other cause of Gods will which is the cause of all things to wit in their first creation but onely this quia voluit because he would But in acts of providence especially in the punishment of sin there may be an external cause found in the creature And therefore Saint Paul saith he attributeth our redemption to the riches of his grace Ephes 6.7 Rom. 3.24 Titus 3.4 5. where he saith that after the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards men appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Whereby you see the Apostle maketh the kindness love and mercy of God to be the efficient principal cause or motive that moved God to send Christ to be the means of our salvation Nor is this denied at any hand but if the Vindicator had taken in one verse more of Titus 3. he might have easily seen that regeneration before described and justification is all one work and thing for it follows there that being justified by his grace in the work aforesaid we might be made heirs according so the hope of eternal life But he goes on thus And Augustine Homil. de Nat. Gratia saith that it is the ineffable grace of God that a man guilty of sin yea and say we polluted with sin should be justified from fin And especially against the Pelagian heresie who magnified nature to villifie and almost nullifie grace he saith that the grace of God whereby infants and men of years are saved is not procured by deserts but tendred freely without merits and so Anselm in Rom. 11. that because all men are shut up under sin the salvation of men cometh not in or by the merits of men but in the morcy of God The second impulsive cause is Christ saith he God and man who purchased by his merits that we should be justified in the sight of God Which thing hath been justly questioned for God might out of his free mercy and grace justisie us without any such merits and though the death of Christ wants not its inestimable price and merits yet we are not justified in Pauls sense thereby and much lesse by his active obedience but only by his Spirit But he gives us a reason for what he had said out of Isai 53.5 because the chastisement of our offences was laid upon him and that by his stripes we might be healed But here we would aske the Vindicator and his friends these questions first whether Isaiah speaks of a chastisement that was past or yet to come for certain it is that Christ was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 17.8 Secondly if it was a preterit suffering whether it was not Christs inward and voluntary death for us and in us when vve first became actual sinners according to Rom. 5.6 For when we were yet without strength according to the time Christ died for the ungodly and Gal. 3.1 Oh foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified in you Jam. 5.6 Ye have condemned and killed the just one and he doth not resist you See Rev. 1.7 and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him even so Amen And if so what peace was that which was procured for us by that his suffering and death was it not a time and space of repentance for otherwise we as also our first parents had immediately been sent to hell Fourthly what those stripes of Christ are by which we are healed are they his personal sufferings alone inward or outward upon the cross or are they his like sufferings when we suffer with him or for him dying unto all sin
3. idem Serm. de fide lum nat God hath justified us using thereto no works of ours such as we work of our selves but onely requiring faith in Christ so say we also and without faith no man obtaineth life But I am able to shew saith he page 74. that a faithful man hath lived and obtained the kingdome of heaven without works Do it then and give Saint James the lie who saith chap. 2.14 What doth it profit my brethren though a man saith that he hath faith and have no works can that faith save him So the thief saith he did onely believe and was justified But was not his reproving of his fellow-thief the condemnation of himself and his partner in those evils and the accepting of his punishment the justifying of Gods justice and the clearing of Christ as innocent the owning of him for his Lord and his prayer for mercy besides all his former repentance which as we have shewed was both possible and probable was all this we say as no workes and fruits of his faith we may justly question whether the Vindicator hath ever shewed such fruits of his repentance and evidences of a true faith howbeit you see he makes much of this thief alledging him again and again as if he would fulfil the proverb Similis simili c. And Basil quoth he de humilitate saith This is to glory in the Lord when a man doth not boast of his own righteousness but acknowledgeth himself destitute of righteousness and justified onely by the faith of Jesus Christ Who doth not so yet do we not relie upon a false and meer imagined righteousness in Christ as the Vindicator doth Thirdly the material cause of our justification passively considered saith he or the persons to whom justification belongs these are rather subjects and objects then a material cause are those sheep of Christ that are known of him of whom no doubt a great part are fully justified already and he known to them that hear his voice and follow him whom he predestinated to life and elected before the foundation of the world Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom he did prodestinate them he also called and whom he called those he justified in a sanctifying way and whom he justified he glorified And Rodolph saith he in Levit lib. 17. cap. 2. That the blood of the High Priest was the High priest wont to be slain then was the expiation of the sin of all believers and so Christ hath taken away not onely the original sin but also all actual sins in respect of the guilt punishment and dominion of sin but not in respect of the corruption and pollution of sin which still remaineth in the best Saints But this Rodolphus is not a good Agricola for so Christ who came to perfect or present his Church holy and without blemish before God should have the worst thing and that which of all other is most hateful to God namely the pollution of sin to be left behind which to say is blasphemy against him And besides this saith he out of Haymo in Rom. 5. He hath given unto them everlasting life and to none other doth justification belong saith he and the reasons may be these All those that be justified in full shall be glorified for whom he justified them he glorified Rom. 8.30 But all men shall not be glorified because the kingdome of heaven shall be given but onely unto them for whom it is prepared Matth. 20.23 Secondly but that Text speaketh of sitting at Christs right hand or left Christ is called Jesus for that he should save his people from their sins that is none at all fully according to his doctrine Matth. 1.21 But though all men are his people jure creationis saith he that is by right of creation yet all men are not his people jure donationis given him to be redeemed from their sins and corruptions for of them thou gavest me I have lost none yes the Son of perdition John 17.12 And ye believe not faith Christ because ye are not of my sheep Joh. 10.26 therefore he shall not justifie all men thereby to save them from their sins But whose fault is that Christs or theirs for he invites all that are weary and heavy laden to come unto him Matth. 11.28 29. and Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and whosoever will let him take of the waters of life freely Yea though no man can come unto Christ unless the Father which sent me draw him and those he will raise up at the last day John 6.44 yet who is it that the Father doth not draw first to himself if he will come and after to his Son to be justified and saved by him Hosea 11.3 4. I taught Ephraim also to go taking them by their armes but they knew not that I healed them I drew them with the cords of a man even with the bonds of love and I was to them as they that tooke off the yoke and I laid meat before them See Job 33.29 30. so all these things worketh God oftentimes with man to bring back his soul from the pit to be enlightned with the light of the living and chap. 36.10 11. He openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity if they obey and serve him they shall spend their dayes in prosperity and their years in pleasure but if they obey not they shall perish by the sword and they shall die without knowledge And Christ who tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 saith of the Jews and might do it of others also whom he and his Father draweth John 9.40 and ye will not come unto me that ye may have life but men are in a special manner given unto Christ by the Father when they are first converted by him and after brought to believe on the Son for salvation from all their spiritual enemies John 6.37 46. Thirdly the formal cause of our justification passively considered saith he page 75. is the particular application of the righteousness of Christ which in his sense is monstrum informe unto every saithful soul But is this application an act or passion wherein two things are to be considered saith he first that faith must apply unto us all the benefits that Christ hath effected for us Is the work done to our hands is he to effect nothing in us for our justification Secondly that every man in particular must apply these things unto himself if he desires to be deluded as he is for the first saith he this is one of the manifest differences betwixt the faith of Gods elect of which he knows little or nothing and the faith of Devils and wicked men that the godly do apply unto themselves all the benefits of Christ Or rather do apply themselves to the seeking of the same according to the promises and the other know them but have not true grace to apply them But what are
sure we shall be no longer accounted innovators by him nor his opposite doctrine be esteemed orthodox But now at length he comes to the second branch of his second position which as he saith hath these two parts to be considered First that no man can be justified by the works of the Law Secondly that we are only justified by the righteousnesse of Christ Both which are true and suit well with what we speak if rightly understood And concerning the first he saith he hath cleared it before but he hath obscured it rather by bringing the works of the Spirit under the works of the law as he will do it again by and by And here he tels us that the Apostle Paul reasons admirably and plainly to this point Rom. 11.5 6. saying If salvation be of grace it is no more of works for else grace were no more grace and if it be of works it is no more of grace for else works were no more works So that it is evident say we that the works that are here recited are not works of grace but works before without and against grace But salvation saith he is by grace for by grace are we saved though faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Ephes 2. And our Saviour tels us plainly that when we have done our best we are unprofitable servants And such a servant will he be for the Church and his doctrine also unto which he pretends And reason it self saith he drawn from the Scripture doth sufficiently prove that we cannot be justified by our works for if any works justifie us saith he they must be done either before or after justification but no works before our justification can justifie us saith he page 61. because an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit and these works not being done in faith must needs be sin for whatsoever is not of faith is sin and without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.5 6. Thus he goes about to maintain that which is true in it self with false grounds as we have shewed before whereupon St. Paul saith quoth he that all men before they be engrafted into Christ which as yet he is not are servants of sin farre from righteousness and bring forth no other fruits but such as deserve shame and death Which is all as false as the other for Cornelius was not as yet grafted into Christ when the Angel commanded him to send for Peter and yet he brought forth many good fruits Acts 10.1 2. as we shewed before Secondly saith he Reason it self tels us that our works done after grace cannot be the cause of grace Yes they may be some cause or means to procure a subsequent grace for how can that which cometh after be the cause of that which went before for the cause must precede the effect and so Augustine tels us that good works do not go before him that is to be justified which is not true in every behalf as we have shewed but they do follow him that is already justified and therefore they can be no more the cause of justification then good fruits are the cause of the goodness of a tree and that place of the Apostle saith he which I cited before proves it Rom. 3.20 by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified But there are good works which follow converting and sanctifying grace which yet may precede the great work of justification and nevertheless are no works of the law against which Paul disputes in this controversie For first saith he Paul tels us verse 9. that all both Jews and Gentiles are under sin because all are transgressors of the law true and therefore all the world must be guilty before God and can no way be justified by pretending innocency and righteousness in keeping the law true likewise Secondly he shews the reason why no flesh can be justified by the law because the law convinceth of sin for by the law cometh knowledge of sin But what he addeth in the next place is partly false and wholly impertinent but the law saith he convinceth them that are under grace some of them it doth who therefore had need to seek the justification which yet they want of sin and who have the greatest measure of grace this is ungraciously spoken to be sinners Phil. 3.9 But that Text speaks of Paul's first conversion to Christ not of his last and best estate Therefore saith he but by a non sequitur they that do the works of the law by the help of grace cannot be justified by the Law yes in one sense they may because the law is with them and not against them Gal. 5.23 because the law sheweth them likewise to be sinners by which words he contradicts himself as well though not as great as those are who endeavour to keep the law without the help of grace with which he is better acquainted then with the other way of keeping it and therefore saith he the Apostle concludeth thus that we are justified by the righteousness of God without the law as ye may in his sense see Rom. 3. from verse 20. But whereas he adds his own subinference thereunto saying therefore we are not justified by any righteousness of the law done either by the help of grace or without the help of grace that is neither the Apostles doctrine nor true in it self and the reason which he yields for his said assertion is devoid of reason saying for he that obeyeth the law howsoever he doth it by the help of grace or by his own strength yet he hath the same righteousness Which we say is false because those two differ as much as weakness and strength as flesh and spirit and as that which is natural from that which is spiritual yea as heaven and earth from each other Yet saith he fondly the righteousness of the Law because of the different manner of obtaining it altereth not the thing But the Apostle saith he sheweth a great deal of difference between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith so he might as to matter manner and measure for Moses described saith he the righteousness of the Law that the man which doth those things however he doth them by his own strength or some other help if he doth them shall live by them But this is a false gloss of his upon Moses for so there shall be no difference between the righteousness of the law required by Moses and the deeds of the foregoing Testament and the righteousness of faith in the nevv Testament Rom. 10.5 But the righteousness of faith speaketh in this wise If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shall be saved vers 6 9. And therefore saith he because the Apostle opposeth doing of the law and believing in Christ and not the doing of
they wise men or fools that believe every vain word and doctrine of men which hath no ground in the Scripture Prov. 14.15 The simple believeth every word but the prudent take heed to their going for so saith Augustine saith he and Peter Lumbard lib. 3. Senten distnct 23. That there is a great difference between him that doth believe Christ and him that doth believe in Christ for the Devils believe Jesus to be Christ but they believe not in Christ And may not some believe amils in Christ as he doth Because saith he it is one thing to believe God another thing to believe there is a God and another thing to believe in God yea and another thing to believe lies To believe God as he saith is to believe that he speaks the truth in the Scriptures and to believe God is to believe a God is But to believe in God is to believe with love and loving him to go unto him and to cleave unto him to be made one with him to dwel in him and have him dwel in us Whence it will follow that the Vindicator never yet believed rightly in God And this is that faith by which a sinful man is instrumentally justified in Gods way and not his and is both found and accounted righteous in Gods sight And hath not the faith of the Devil the father of lies the contrary effect hereunto For the second saith he we must understand that this applicaof faith or of Christ through faith must be particularly applied what must the application be applied by every man unto himself if he desires to be led hood-winked by the nose and that in a most special manner even he Because a general faith no nor a phanatick faith such as his is is not thought justifying faith for Paul testifieth that Agrippa did believe the Prophets Acts 26.17 18. and yet Agrippa confesseth he was no Christian And herein he was the honester man then in words to confess him and inworks to deny him as some Vindicators do And a natural man saith he by the force of Reason may be reduced to believe and acknowledge a God and that this God is powerful just and true and therefore brought to a general perswasion of the truth of things to be believed and yet all this faith no nor his own to boot is not sufficient to justifie us because true justifying faith is no natural quality nor phanatical notion but a supernatural gift of God as the Apostle teacheth Ephes 2.8 Phil. 1.29 howbeit it were no hard thing to prove that some of the heathen understood Gods work of justification better then the Vindicator witness that of Catullus the poet Omnia fanda nefanda malo permista furore Justificam nobis mentem avertêre Deorum Things good and bad mixt with a fury blind Have turn'd away Gods just just making-mind or justifying mind And therefore the general faith of the Scriptures saith the Vindicator is not sufficient to make us Christians but as we read the Saints of God do apply the promises of salvation unto themselves or rather themselves unto the promises to seek them in a right way as David saith to wit among experimental deliverances God is my rock and my redeemer and Job 19.25 I know that my redeemer liveth and Mary after that Christ was formed in her my soul rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luk. 1.47 and Thomas saith my Lord and my God Joh. 21. and Paul Gal. 2.20 who loved me and gave himself for me But what promises be or are contained in these Texts so must saith he every Christian that looks for salvation apply we say lay hold of in particular the grace and favour of God unto himself and his faith instrumentally justifies or may be a help unto him the sinner what without seeking of justifying and cleansing grace Lastly the final cause of our justification passively considered or the effect of it rather is peace of conscience in this life and the atonement a new expression but let it pass of eternal happiness in the life to come the first whereof saith he is attained by two special things first by an assured perswasion that all our sins are forgiven But may not some have a false perswasion in this kind so being justified by faith that is in a sanctifying and a purgative way from all our sins which we have committed we have peace towards God through Jesus Christ for ootherwise namely in his Son our justification is but a dream Secondly saith he by an unwearied study to strive against the stream which in his sense of impossibility is truly and properly spoken of our own natural corruption and why not against all temptations also and to keep a constant course which he denyed heretofore to be possible in the ways of godlinesse for Christ saith he gave himself for us to die for us and not by his Spirit to redeeme us from all iniquity and did bear our sins on his body upon the tree But for what end that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousnesse 1 Pet. 2.24 or as Zachary saith Luk. 1.74 75. And so St. Augustine saith that Christ died for the wicked not that they should remain wicked but that they being justified through faith should be converted from their wickednesse and bring forth the fruits of holinesse because as St. Augustine saith also grace justifieth that we should live justly But here the Vindicator is so blind that he brings Augustine against himselfe for he takes the word justification as we do for purging away of sin and making of man just holy and good by way of sanctification which is an usual acception of the word among the Fathers The second end of our justification saith he is the eternal blessednesse which shall be attained hereafter when Christ shall say unto all his justified Saints made just and merciful by his sanctifying spirit Come ye blessed of my Father c. Mat. 25.34 And so much saith he for all the causes of our justification actively and passively considered Wherein he hath given us non causas mutilas pro veris false causes for true especially instead of the formall and material causes not much unsuitable to his deceitful justification but the efficient and final causes are for the most part applicable to the true work of justication And this saith he I hope may suffice but it must be among such as are blind or are willing to be deluded for the proof of the truth of this last branch of the second position that we are only justified by the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ Which point being rightly understood hath been and shall be better confirmed by us I shall end saith he with that of our Saviour Joh. 12.48 The word which I have spoken shall judge you in the last day Yea and judgeth and convinceth the Vindicator already to be a blind guide a stranger to the faith of Gods elect and no other Apostle then a veterator or impostor
the true Church of Christ rending it with divisions and contentions for the sins cause to maintain that sin will remain in the best Saints as long as they live And thus rending the true Church by maintaining such division Joh. Tendring doth verifie another Anagram of his name Hot in rending Some men are fervent that no sin remain Some are more hot its being to maintain Those with tongue John Tendring's hot in rending These for his Saints hotter in defending You see his name suites with his Anagram Hence sins abetter he may say I am Hence sinners Champion you may call his name To plead for sin hence John doth take no shame Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes Prov. 26.15 A Confutation of the two subsequent Positions 1. That sinne will remain in the best Saints as long as they live in houses of clay 2. That it is impossible for the best Saints to obey the Law of God perfectly in this life HAving paraphrased the Vindicators preface and demonstrated the same paraphrase to be apt and genuine in a Relative sense to the Vindicators positions we come next to speake of the said positions laid down in the Pamphlet it selfe which is so full of digressions and perverted Texts of Scripture of Tautologies contradictions nonsense and other absurdities besides the error and impiety of his propositions that we doubted not but in a short time quin mole sua rueret but that it would ruinate it selfe Yet lest the Princock by our silence should grow proud of his borrowed feathers and others either be misled or confirmed in their error by what he hath written we thought good to put forth this short answer wherein we follow him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to discover his errors howbeit the Reader must not expect the formall word Answer in our replies to this vindication for this we usually doe either by the adversitive word but or the interposition of a pasenthesis a connter-question or limitation in the close or some such like opposition and qualification to correct what he saith which when we have done in an anasceuastical and confutatory way we will cataâ—scustically establish what we have undertaken to maintain But first let us take a view of the positions themselves the first of which is this as he hath stared it That sin will have a being in the best of men so long as their souls have a being in the houses of clay Whence these absurdities will follow First that sin comes originally from Jehovah in that it is said to have a being for nothing is said to have a being of essence or existence but what first comes from the Being of beings Jehovah himselfe Secondly he here makes sin to be a supreme if not an almighty commander in that he saith sin will have such a being Thirdly herein he makes little difference between grown men and babes in Christ for sin saith he will have a being in the best of them till death Fourthly he doth not here exempt Christ himselfe as he was man Fifthly he makes our bodies or houses of clay to be the proper domicil and seat of sin and then neither Adam in his innocency nor Christ as man were free from sin for both dwelt originally in houses of clay The second position is this That no man can by grace in this life perform such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same or to be thereby justified otherwise then by Christ of Orace given From whence you may observe these things likewise First that this man whose name Iohn imports the grace of God is called so per Antiphrasin for he is an enemy to and with Herod an imprisoner of the grace of God Secondly he questions not what men do de facto but what men can do in this life with the utmost helpe of grace Thirdly he makes the Law simply unlawfull because it is impossible as he saith to observe it both to nature and grace Fourthly he doth not here reserve a place of possibility for Christ himselfe as man to fulfill it Fifthly it appears here that the Vindex is a great lover of forbidden fruit for whereas Doctor Drayton told him at the first that he would not in this controversie have any thing to do with the worke of justification this man will needs bring in that by hook or by crook Sixthly that he is yet caught in the same snare which he laid for another for he tacitly saith that we cannot be justified by such a perfect obedience to the Law of God otherwise then by Christ of grace given and so say we yea if he grants us this he yields the other question also for he that can be justified by such a fulfilling of the Law through the grace of Christ hath no sin unsubdued left in him And if he runs into so many absurdities as he lancheth forth what will he doe when he comes into the maine His first and grand impertinency is this that he spends the first ten pages in a Common-place about sin wherein he is so intangled that he can scarcely find the way out again of which take this short account Pag. 1. He tells us that to the intent his ensuing discourse may be proper profitable for the informing of the weak establishing them in the faith of the truth which next after the glory of God which is not much glorified by our continuance in sin which is that he pleads for and the advancement of the truth which he directly here represseth is the onely thing here by him intended he shal observe this method there following But ere we come to that what difference is there betwixt the establishment of men in the faith of the truth the advancement of the truth which he makes two distinct things But what is his intended method First saith he I shall define what sin is in the generall which he may the better doe because of his long acquaintance with it which by his calculation of his age was twenty foure yeares before his Mother bare him and perhaps some years before her birth also Secondly he will shew what the first sin was Thirdly what were the causes of it Fourthly the effects of it Thus he loves still to ramble about from his right station And lastly what original sin is But what difference is there between the first sin and original sin which here he makes two things He tells us here also that the Hebrew word translated sin signifies properly misdoing or missing of the marke as if the Hebrews had not many words to denote sin though he can name none of them This learned Linguist tels us page 26. that the Apostle doth usually distinguish betwixt peccatum and crimen as if the Apostles writ unto the Churches in Latine Pag. 66. he shews also what a Logician he is making the efficient and formall causes of justification to be passive as well as active And
See Rom. 6.8 For if we be dead with him we believe that we shall live with him and chap. 8.13 and if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified with him See 2 Cor. 1.4 5 6. 2 Tim. 2.11 12. 1 Pet. 4.1 2 3. This condition of conformity to Christs sufferings whether inward of which the Vindicator and his party say nothing or outward upon the crosse is not once thought of though there is no other way left us in Christ to obtain salvation Mat. 16.24 25. Pag. 68. he tels us but falsly that the material cause of our justification actually considered is Jesus Christ No it is the person to be justified and the benefits which we have by Christ saith he are two especially First redemption Secondly propitiation But those two say we will prove but one in the end First for redemption saith he it is a word borrowed from the use of war and why not from other civil and judicial acts and it signifies freedom from captivity And thus Christ is our deliverance but how First from the wrath of God see his method he sets that in the first place which should come last because saith he he is our reconciliation And is not that a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 which blood say we is the promised spirit for and signified by blood in the old Testament and not the blood of his crosse as he and others dream see Heb. 9.14 and 10.39 and 13.20 21. 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 1 Joh. 1.7 9. Rev. 7.14 and 12.11 Secondly saith he we are freed from the tyranny and dominion of sin because that obeying from the heart the form of doctrine unto which we are delivered that is the Gospel of Christ we are made free from sin and are become the servants of Christ which is our righteousnesse Rom. 6.18 Is this obedience then our righteousnesse sure he means nothing lesse though he speaks truer herein then he is aware of But he will have Christs external obedience to be our righteousnesse and none other Thirdly we are freed saith he from the punishment of our sins because it s against justice the punishment should be inflicted when the sin is pardoned for sin being the cause of punishment it must needs follow that sublatâ causâ which he elsewhere saith cannot be taken away in this life the cause being defaced or rather removed the effect should be absolved But against this he saith it may be objected That the sins of the elect are pardoned and yet they are afflicted continually and as the Prophet saith Psalm 73.13 they are chastised every morning and therefore how can it be that he should for give the guilt of their sins and yet as the Prophet speaks Psalm 99.8 he should punish their inventions But there are no sins pardoned say we till they be wholly left Unto which said objection he answers That the miseries of men before the pardon of sin are the punishments of sin but the affliction of the Saints after the remission of their sin are not to be reputed penalties of Gods anger but exercises of his servants and arguments of his love for as many as I love I rebuke and chasten saith Christ Rev. 3.19 so also Heb. 12.5 and that for a double end First for our salvation that we should not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11.30 Secondly and subordinately for our sanctification that we may be made partakers of his holinesse But what difference is there between Gods holinesse and our positive salvation is not eternal life a participation in full of Gods holinesse Psalm 17 13. I shall be satisfied when I shall awake with thy likenesse But God punisheth those sins with temporal plagues in his servants for their humiliation and amendment and for a warning unto others which he pardoneth as to the world to come 2 Sam. 12.13 14. and before the pardon of sin men are chastised in love to their souls as well as afterwards Psalm 94.12 Pro. 3.11 12. and Heb. 12.6 7. As for Propitiation he tels us page 68 69. that it is a reconciling us to God through the blood to wit the blood of his Spirit and it is saith he the accomplishment of that which was signified by the Mercy-seat Exod. 30. But the Mercy-seat or Propitiatorie did represent Christ in the Spirit and in his second or spiritual coming in the power of his resurrection when the two tables of the Law are written upon our hearts and the face and aspect of God and the soul looks towards each other like the two Cherubims through Christ the everlasting propitiation and Priest And that which the Vindicator speaks there confirms it for first as God gave his oracles unto the Prophets he should have said unto the Priests also out of the Mercy-seat so he did yea doth reveal his will unto us his Priests and Ministers by Jesus Christ not without us only but especially within us 1 Joh. 2.27 Joh. 1.17 Secondly as God was said to dwell between the Cherubims which covered the Mercy-seat so in Christ the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelleth bodily or really Coloss 2.9 And thereby as God was made propitious and favourable unto his people to assist and bless them by the blood which the High-Priest sprinkled before the Mercy-seat so saith he he is pacified and reconciled unto us and procured to inrich us with spiritual blessings through the blood of Jesus Christ Coloss 1.18 Which is true of both bloods that of his Spirit and that of his cross yea of the blood of sin also which we must shed in conformity to the death and bloodshed of Christ But this last parallel is not apt but forced Again he saith the grounds of those benefits or the meritorious cause thereof is the most absolute and perfect obedience which our Saviour Christ performed unto his Father for our sakes and is to be considered first actively then passively first the active obedience of Christ is a most perfect performance of Gods Law even to the utmost tittle thereof touching which we must consider-first that although Christ as man fulfilled the Law for himself that in both natures he might be an holy High Priest to offer sacrifice unto God yet as mediator as God and man he became subject to the Law and did fully and perfectly execute the same for us But how doth he prove that for Christ saith he is not only our redemption by that ransome which he paid for our sins but he is also the perfection of the Law unto salvation most true but not in his sense unto every one that believeth And there he three things saith he that prove the necessity thereof to be performed for us what are they first the justice of God that will not justifie the wicked to wit while they remain such in deed and will Prov. 17.15 but such as are just and righteous either by a proper
or imputed righteousnesse yet he justifieth the ungodly that turn from their ungodlinesse and that both by a proper and an imputed righteousnesse as we have shewed Secondly by the office of a mediator that was to undergo for us or rather to do for us whatsoever was required of us to be done But may not this be done as well within us by Christs grace and cooperation for us yea vvith much more piety and justice every man being created to a personal obedience tovvards God and his Lavv. Thirdly 〈◊〉 a recuperation or recovery of happiness vvhich could not be attained without perfect righteousnesse because the death of Christ as he saith freeth us from erernal death to wit when we are dead with him unto sin and the obedience of Christ that within us only brings us to eternal or everlasting life All which you must take upon his word and credit for he knows not how to prove it And therefore we say quoth he that Christ was born for us not only auferre peccata to take away the sins of the world to wit by sanctification by his voluntary suffering of the most bitter death of the cross but that only takes away the guilt and shews us how in order thereunto we should sacrifice flay and consume all our sins but adferre justitiam to bring righteousnesse unto us but how by his plenary obedience within us not without us to the most holy Law of God Which is yet unproved And therefore those Scriptures saith he that do ascribe our falvation unto Christs death which none do are not to be taken exclusively or as denying the active obedience of Christ to be imputed unto us but Synecdochically for the accomplishment of the whole obedience of Christ that was to be performed for us But none such was to be performed for us or upon our score as we have often affirmed nor can the contrary be proved out of the holy Scriptures And with this affirmation of his saith he agree the main and major part for his tooth and dyet as aforesaid of all orthodox he should have said heterodox Divines and most of the Fathers To wit since Calvins days Secondly saith he the passive obedience of Christ is all the sufferings of Christ both in life and death for our sins Yes and much more also in our inward man for us while we went on in our rebellion against God of which he never thinks because the justice of God required that we should never be freed from death without a just punishment in Christ like death also laid upon our selves or on some other for us both which we grant And therefore saith he the prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah should be wounded yea had been so as we said before for your trausgressions and bruised for our iniquities chap. 53.5 And Daniel saith that he should be cut off but not for himselfe Daniel 9.26 and St. Peter saith should hear our sins in his our body on the cross but for what end that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousnesse and then it follows by whose stripes or fellow-sufferings ye are healed 1 Pet. 2.14 and St. John saith Rev. 1.15 that he washed us him and his fellow-Apostles and Saints who were throughly clensed from sin in his own blood or Spirit Rev. 1.5 And here we must observe saith he that this obedience of Christ is of sufficient merit to satisfie for all sins and for those that were repented of and left more especially by reason of the dignity of the person that did obey or suffer for the hypostatical union of the Manhood of Christ with the Godhead makes the obedience of Christ to be of inestimable value or price Act. 20.18 True but that Te◠speaks of the blood of Christs Spirit for with that also is the Church of God purchased or redeemed from among men Rev. 14.3 4. Thirdly the formall cause saith he of our justification actively considered is a free imputation of Christs actual righteousnesse we say the inhesive whereby the merit of Christs obedience is applied unto all beleevers that is the accounting of us just and righteous for the merits of that obedience which Christ effected for us saith he pag. 71. But this is more formally then truly spoken for as we saith he apply unto our selves the righteousnesse of Christ and make the same our own by faith and acceptation he should have said by meer imagination so God himselfe saith he applieth it unto us by imputation according to his putation and accepts us for righreous for the righteousnesse of Christ which we have not and this imputation of righteousnesse saith he is a work of grace which God never spake or thought of not of nature a communicating of another righteousnesse and not a conferring of any real therein saith he truly or habitual righteousness upon us But without such a real or habitual one righteousness shall no man that hath polluted himself be justified or saved And this is a sweet exchange saith Justine Martyr if he belie him not or mistake not his sense in Epist ad Diog. that one should be sin for many and that the iniquity of many should be covered yea blotted out say we with the righteousness of one to wit his internal righteousness or that the justice or kindness of one should make many that are and were injust to be reputed yea to be just to omit that most of the Fathers which he had read speak to this purpose Frier Tarrus saith in serm de Dom. Advent Christ hath made all partakers of his justice and merits so say we that they might be able to stand in his sight and sustain the judoment of God see 1 John 4.17 18. often before alledged by us Because saith he there is no mortal man living whose righteousness to wit his own can be sufficient to obtain eternal salvation But if the Frier meant it as the Vindicator doth we hope the Vindicator will turn Frier also But saith the Vindicator Christs righteousness is made ours not because it is infused or translated into us Oh take heed of that for it would drive out sin too soon to abide habitually in us but because it is imputed and reputed unto us rather by him and his party then God as if it were theirs when it is not whom God doth acquit from sin and actually count just for the justice of Jesus Christ And therefore the force of our justification however I easily beleeve it is not any habitual sanctity subjectively remaining in us but the righteousness of Christ of which in his sense there is no mention in the Scriptures freely imputed unto us and so though it be without us and they without it yet it is made ours by right of giving if he knew by whose gift The Apostle saith he remarkably in Rom. 4.6 7. joyneth both the imputation of righteousness and the remission of sins together as the two special means to make us happy And so do we
but not in his way which will never make any happy Blessed is the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works to wit his own works before and without grace And blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin but purge it away by his grace and Spirit But this righteousness of Christ thus imputed to us saith he page 72 must be considered in a three-fold respect first in respect of the truth of our imputed righteousness which is wholly a fancy and so we say that we are as truly righteous before God as Christ himself Beware of blasphemy whorson Phanatick because we are righteous with the same righteousness with which he is righteous The clean contrary way Secondly in respect of the quantity But so we deny that it is in the same measure he might truly have said in any measure for in him it is in its fulness and in its largest measure but in us it is onely received so far forth as it serveth to justifie any particular believer he should have said dreamer that is not at all Thirdly in respect of the quality And so we say that this is not in the same manner in us as it is in him which is true enough for he is righteous actually we imputatively or passively rather he subjectively we relatively in him and by him that is not at all but by meer relation or tradition and our fond credulity And so saith he in these two last respects we cannot be said to be equally righteous with Christ no nor with the least real Christian who seeks the true righteousness by Christ though we be righteous with the very righteousness of Christ to wit as Laodicea was Rev. 3.17 18. he perfectly righteous we righteous by reason of our imputation and inchoative righteousness Which last if he have any is the best string for his bow by reason the other is a broken one Again saith he Christ is called holy and sin and yet is said to know no sin and to be made sin so likewise are we said to be just and sinful just in him or rather just out by the imputation and application of his justice without any conversion from sin and sinful in our selves by the inbred corruptions of our own flesh which is brought in by our personal fall as we said before Lastly the final cause of our justification actively considered is the glory of God which he acquired unto himself by the wonderful mixture of his justice and mercy towards men justice and mercy also that he would have his own Son die to make satisfaction for our sins yea suffered to procure us some respite of repentance and returning as said before rather then our sins should esape unpunished or we forthwith perish eternally and mercy that he would have the righteousness of his Son be imputed no derived unto his servants rather then we poor sinners should perish for or in our sins But if he have no better skill in compounding his own medicines then he hath made here in this jumble of justice and mercy he is a Physician of no value And thus much saith he page 73. of the causes of justification actively considered in respect of God now in the second place we must consider the causes of our justification passively in respect of man and first the efficient cause passively considered is wholly instrumental and it is two-fold external which is the preaching of the word and the administration of the Sacraments these are the chief outward instruments which God useth for the application of Chrsts supposed righteousness for the imagined justification of his servants and therefore the Gospel is called the word of life Acts 5.15 16. and the ministry of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 and the Sacraments are called the seal of the righteousness of faith and our Saviour saith of the preachers of the Gospel whose sins ye remit or put away they are remitted But are the word and Sacraments passive or active instruments doth not the Apostle say that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 Is the man infatuated Secondly the internal instrument whereby we apprehend he should say seek the grace of justification is onely faith in Jesus Christ But that is false for by prayer also we both seek and comprehend the same But Christ is set forth saith he to be a reconciliation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.15 John 1.12 which place he wrests from its native sense Gal. 3.24 and therefore the righteousness of Christ but not in his sense is called the righteousness of faith and we are said to receive Christ by faith and to receive the promise of the Spirit which is the purging blood of Christ by faith Secondly saith he faith is the onely instrument he should have said the main yet no passive instrument as he would have it whereby we are justified before God The Scriptures saith he are plain and plentiful in this point Is 45.21 25. Ezek. 20.44 Hab. 2.4 Rom. 3.24 26. Gal. 1.8 Acts 13.39 But the first of these if rightly looked into cuts the throat of justification for righteousness and strength are joyned together which must intimate the inward and powerful righteousness of God and this it justifies the man Is 45.24 25. where the words runne thus Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength even unto him shall men come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified or made just and shall glory Yea that place in Hab. 2.4 shews that he whose soul is lifted up with any knowledge or hope of a false righteousness is not upright in him but the just who is such by any measure of inherent righteousness shall live the full life of righteousness by faith As for Acts 13.39 40. we have spoken of that already And so saith he doth the Apostle in many other places inculcate the same truth as Gal. 4.5 24. and our Saviour saith Joh. 3.14 15. What doth he say there for the Vindicator cites no words namely thus much that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness that Israel reflecting upon their serpentine sins and rebellion might repent and not die even so must the son of man as crucified both in us and for us Gal. 3.1 be lifted up and set forth before us that whosoever believeth on him as a pattern herein as well as a reconciler through faith follows him unto the like death should not perish but have eternal life that is saith he by his false gloss be justified and so be saved onely by believing in him A short and easie way to be saved if it were true as those Israelites that were bitten by the fiery serpents Num. 21.9 were healed and saved alone by looking up to the brazen serpent The Fathers also saith he are plain and pregnant herein of whom more anon Chrysost in Rom. cap.
me so we are justified by faith in Christ Gal. 2.16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Christ Thirdly as we are sanctified by the Spirit of Christ so we are justified by that Spirit 1 Cor. 6.11 But now ye are washed but now ye are sanctified but now ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Fourthly as sanctification is taken for a washing away of sin so is justification also Ibid. 1 Cor. 6.11 And such were some of you but now ye are washed but now ye are sanctified but now ye are justified Acts 13.39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Fifthly sanctification is taken for a positive or infused holiness or righteousness whereby the contrary unrighteousness is purged out 1 Thes 4.3 For this is the will of God even your sanctification and chap. 5.23 Now the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly So is justification used for an inherent holiness and righteousness Isaiah 45.24 25. Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength even unto him shall men come and all that be in censed against him shall be ashamed for in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified in way of inherent righteousness and strength communicated unto them as was said in the former verse and shall glory Sixthly as this sanctification is gradually attained so is justification also Rev. 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still but he that is justified let him be justified still and he that is sanctified let him be sanctified still that is more and more where justification and sanctification are used for an inhesive holiness or righteousness as was said before Seventhly as sanctification is communicated and given to make us obedient unto the law that it may be fulfilled by us so is justification also Rom. 8.4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledg of God or through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Eighthly as forgiveness of sins follows sanctification as an individual companion of those sins that are purged away by it Acts 26.18 that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me so that remission of sins is not justification but an effect or concomitant of the same Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who shall condemn So did our Church believe and did pray for children and persons to be baptized saying Almighty and immortal God the aid of all that need c. We call upon thee for these infants that they coming to thy holy baptism may receive remission of their sins by spiritual regeneration Ninthly whereas our Saviour makes the new birth absolutely necessary to salvation John 3.3 Verily I say unto you that unless ye be born again ye cannot see the kingdome of God so Saint Paul leaves out sanctification in order of causes unless sanctification and justification be all one Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called those he justified and whom he justified them he also glorified And so doth our Church in the 39. Article speak of sanctification under justification or else leaves it out as needless which were impiety in us to think which is yet more clear out of the thirteenth Article thus intituled ' Of works before justification The words of the article are these Works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ neither do they make us meet to receive grace Tenthly every grace and vertue of God whereby we perform obedience to Gods law is called a justification and all the graces of the Saints are named as so many particular justifications Rev. 19.8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linnen clean and white for the white linnen is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or justifications of Saints Hence it is that Basil Psal 118. according to his account 119. upon vers 2. he cals the commandements justification as those which are to justifie or make just those that observe them rightly so before Psal 119.7 the law c. Eleventhly by doing and fulfilling of the law which we do accomplish by the grace and Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.4 we become fully justified before God Rom. 2.13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified Lastly as we are sanctified by the blood that is the Spirit of Christ Heb. 10.29 Of how much forer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified an unholy thing and done despite to the Spirit of grace So we are justified by the same blood Rom. 5.9 How much more being justified by his blood shall we be saved from wrath through him Hence it is also that the Apostle speaking of the love of Christ to him and his fellow-Apostles and Saints saith who hath loved us and washed us in his own blood and made us Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.5 6. where Saint John speaks of the work of justification See 1 Pet. 2.9 10. compared with Exod. 19.5 6. Concerning which work of justification by Christs internal righteousness take these few testimonies of the Fathers following instead of many more which might be alledged Justin Martyr in quaest ad Orthodoxos before cited But what is the universal righteousness of the law To love God above himself and his neighbour as himself which is not impossible to those men that apply themselves thereunto Wherefore the Apostle did not therefore say that no flesh should be justified by the works of the law because we cannot perform impossible things but because we will not do possible things Cyprian serm 6. de oratione Domini speaking of the Publican that went away rather justified then the Pharisee saith he by his humiliation deserved to be sanctified c. Where he makes sanctification and justification to be one and the same thing Hieron in lib. 1. dialog advers Pelag. That a man is not condemned for that which he hath not but is justified for what he hath Ambrose lib. 6. exam cap. c. I pray thee answer whether justification seem to conferred upon thee according to the mind But thou canst not doubt seeing justice or righteousness from whence justification hath its derivation but that it belongs unto the mind and not unto the body Epiphanius doth not onely make righteousness and goodness to