made our selves unable so much as to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 But our Adversaries have and doe further object That a regenerate man hath sufficientia principia rectae operationis sufficient causes and means of well doing as knowledge to understand what is good will to desire what is good and power to effect what is good his soul being enlightned sanctified and assisted by Gods Spirit therefore he may doe what is good and all what God commands I answer That we grant a regenerate man to be enabled to doe good but how farre enabled Surely not perfectly for our knowledge is but in part obscured with ignorance our will is distempered with many turbulent affections and our power hindred to doe many good things we would doe by many lustfull temptations And therefore these principia operationis being not perfecta principia our actions cannot be perfect which proceed from them Who can tell saith David how oft he offendeth Cleanse thou me from my secret sinnes You see Gods Saints have secret sinnes I may have many sinnes and fail in many things which no man knoweth of nor my self but only known to God I may sin and not know mine own sin yet God seeth the same We cannot judge mens hearts for we know not our own it is Gods preroagative to search and try the Reines Jer. 17.9.1 John 3.20 And it is our duty to pray with Nehemiah 13.12 Accept my obedience but pardon mine iniquity That chosen vessell was compelled to say this although he knew nothing by himself yet he knew that thereby he could not be justified And this I hope may suffice for the cleering the first Branch of the second Position That no man can perform such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same or by his obedience thereunto be justified before God And for further confirmation of the truth thereof I dare appeale to any mans conscience if he be not too arrogant how upon the confirmation of Gods strict Judgement and his own manifold infirmities he dares justifie himself in any one act against God And I doubt not but the proudest heart would soon tremble and the boldest face would blush and be ashamed and affraid to have his best works even his prayers scan'd according to the strictnesse of Gods Law or the rigor of Gods Justice And of the adversaries to this truth I require this one thing That they will either produce a man and prove it That hath ever performed in his own person such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same Or else let them acknowledge their error with shame and forbear opposing the truth and disturbing the peace of Gods Church Lest by persisting in their malicious wickednesse their sinne become unpardonable I shall pray for them as for my self that the Lord would be pleased to convince us of the errors of our waies humble us in the sense of our sinnes and be mercifull to our poor Souls Come we now to the second Branch of the second Position which hath in it 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 And first of the first In part I have cleered it before but for further confirmation The Apostle Paul reasons admirably and plainly in this point saying Rom. 15.6 If Salvation be of Grace it is no more of works for else were Grace no more Grace And if it be of works it is no more of Grace for else works were no more works But Salvation is of Grace for by Grace yee are saved through Faith and that not of your selves It is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Eph. 2.8 And our Saviour tells us plainly that when we have done our best We are but unprofitable Servants Ergo Salvations is not of works Again Reason it self drawn from the Scriptures doth sufficiently prove that we cannot be justified by our works For if any works doe justifie us they must be done either before or after justification But First no works done before the Grace of justification can justifie us Because evill trees cannot bring forth good fruit and being not done of Faith they must needs be sinne for whatsoever is not done of Faith is sinne and without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 Whereupon Saint Paul saith That all men before they be ingrafted into Christ by Grace are the Servants of sinne farre from righteousnesse and bringing forth nothing but fruits deserving shame and death Rom. 6.20 Secondly Our works done after Grace Reason it self sheweth That they cannot be the cause of Grace for how can that which commeth after be any cause of that which goeth before The cause must precede the effect And so August tells us That good works doe not goe before him that is to be justified but doe follow him that is already justified And therefore as good fruits cannot be the cause of the goodnesse of the tree so good works cannot be the cause of justification And that place of the Apostle which I cited before Rom. 3.20 makes it cleer By the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified For first in the 9. ver he tells us That both Jews and Gentiles are under sinne because all are transgressors of the Law Therefore all the world must be guilty before God and can no wayes be justified by pretending innocency in keeping the Law Secondly He sheweth the Reason why no flesh can be justified by the Law because the Law convinceth us of sinne for by the Law commeth the knowledge of sinne But the Law convinceth them that are under Grace and which hath the greatest measure of Grace to be sinners Phil. 3.9 Therefore they that doe the works of the Law by the help of Grace cannot be justified by the Law because the Law sheweth them likewise to be sinners as well though not as great as they that endeavour to keep the Law without the help of Grace And therefore the Apostle concludeth That we are all justified by the righteousnesse of God without the Law as you may see in Rom. 3. from 2. ver therefore not by any righteousnesse of the Law done either by the help of Grace or without Grace For he that obeyeth the Law how ever he doth it with the help of Grace or his own strength yet he hath the same righteousnesse The righteousnesse of the Law because the different manner of obteining it altereth not the nature of the thing But the Apostle sheweth a great difference betwixt the righteousness of the Law and the righteousness of Faith For Moses describeth the righteousnesse which is of the Law That the man which doth these things however he doth them by his own strength or some other help if he doth them he shall live by them Rom. 10.5 But the righteousnesse of Faith speaketh on
for he is righteous actually we imputatively he subjectively we relatively in him and unto him And so in these two last respects we cannot be said to be equally righteous with Christ though we be righteous with the very righteousnesse of Christ He perfectly righteous we righteous by reason of our imputative and inchoative righteousnesse Again as Christ is called holy and sinne and is said to know no sinne and to be made sinne We must thus understand it Holy in himself and sinne in us not by infusion of our sinnes into his most sacred person but by the imputation of our sinnes and the acceptation of the guilt and punishment thereof upon himself So likewise we are said to be just and sinfull just in him by the imputation and application of his justice and sinfull in our selves by the inbred corruption of our own flesh Lastly The finall cause of our justification actively considered is the glory of God which he acquired unto himself by that wonderfull composition of his Justice and Mercy towards men Justice that he would have his own Sonne to dye to make satisfaction for our sinnes rather than our sinnes should escape unpunished And Mercy that he would have the righteousnesse of his Sonne to be imputed unto his Servants rather than we poor slaves should be destroyed for our sinnes And thus much briefly of the causes of our 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 of our justification passively considered is wholly Instrumentall and it is two fold First Externall 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 Christs righteousnesse for the justification of his Servants and therefore the Gospell is called the word of life Acts 5.10 13 16. And the Ministery of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 And the Sacraments are called the Seals of the righteousnesse of Faith And our Saviour saith of the Preachers of the Gospell That whose sinnes they remit they are remitted c. Mat. 18.18 Secondly The Internall Instrument whereby we apprehend the Grace of justification is only Faith in Jesus Christ For Christ is set forth to be our reconciliation through Faith in his Blood Rom. 3.25 John 1.12 Gal. 3 24. And therefore the righteousnesse of Christ is called the righteousnesse of Faith and we are said to receive Christ by Faith and to receive the promise of the Spirit by Faith Secondly Faith is the only Instrument whereby we are justified before God the Scriptures are plain and plentifull in this point Es 45.24 25. Ezek. 20 44. Hab. 2.4 Rom. 3.24 26. Gal. 3.8 Acts 13.39 And so in many other places the Apostle doth inculcat the same truth as Gal. 4 5 24. and our Saviour saith John 3.14 15. That is be justified and so be saved only by believing in him as those Israelites that were bitten by those fiery Serpents Numb 21.9 were healed and so saved alive only by looking up to the brazen Serpent The Fathers also are plain and pregnant herein Chrysost in Rom. cap. 3. idem Serm. de fide luce nat Saith God hath justified us using thereto no works of ours but only requiring faith in Christ And without Faith no man obteined life But I am able to shew that a faithfull man hath lived and obteined the Kingdome of Heaven without works so the Thief did only believe and was justified And Basil in Serm. de humilitate saith This is to glory in the Lord when a man doth not boast of his own righteousnesse but doth acknowledge himself destitute of righteousnesse and justified only by faith of Jesus Christ Thirdly the material cause of our justification passively considered or the persons to whom justification doe belong are these sheep of Christ that are known of him and he known to them who hear his voice and follow him c. Whom he predestinated unto life and elected to be justified before the foundation of the World Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them also he justified And Rodolph in Levit. lib. 17. chap. 2. saith That the blood of the High-Priest was the expiation of the sinnes of all Believers and so Christ he hath taken away from the Elect not only originall sinne but also all actuall sins that is in respect of the guilt and punishment and dominion of sinne but not in respect of the corruption and pollution of sin which still remaineth in the best Saints And hath likewise given to them everlasting life saith Haymo in Rom. cap. 5. and to none else doth justification appertain and the Reasons may be these All those that are justified shall be glorified For whom he justifieth them he glorifieth Rom. 8.30 but all men shall not be glorified because the Kingdome of Heaven shall be given but only unto them for whom it is prepared Mat. 20.23 Secondly Because Christ is called Jesus for that he should save his people from their sins Mat. 1.21 But though all men are his people jure creationis by right of creation yet all men are not his people jure donationis given him to be redeemed For of them thou gavest me I lost none John 17.12 And ye belive not saith Christ because ye are not of my Sheep John 10.26 therefore he shall not justifie all men thereby to save them from their sinnes Thirdly The formal cause of our Justification passively considered is the particular application of the righteousnesse of Christ unto every faithfull soul where these two things are to be considered First That Faith must apply unto us all the benefits that Christ hath effected for us Secondly That every man in particular must apply those things to himself For the first This is one of the manifest differences betwixt the faith of Gods Elect and the faith of Devils and wicked men That the godly doe apply all the benefits of Christ unto themselves and the other know them but have not the grace to apply them for so saith Augustine and Peter Lumbard lib 3. sent dist 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 Because it is one thing to believe God another thing to believe that there is a God and another thing to believe in God For to believe God is to believe that he speaks the truth in Scriptures and to believe God is to believe that God is But to believe in God is to believe with love and by loving him to goe unto him and to cleave unto him to be made one with him to dwell in him and he in us and this is that faith by which a sinfull man is instrumentally justified and accounted righteous in Gods sight For the second We must understand that this application of Faith or of Christ through Faith must be particularly applied by every man unto himself and that in a most speciall manner Because a generall Faith is not the right justifying Faith For St. Paul testifieth that Agrippa did believe the Prophets Acts 26.27.28 And yet Agrippa confesseth that he was no Christian And a naturall man by the force of reason may be induced to acknowledge a God and that this God is powerfull just and true and therefore to a generall perswasion of the truth of such things as are to be believed And yet all this faith is not sufficient to justifie us Because the true justifying Faith is no natural quality but a supernatural gift of God as the Apostle teacheth Eph. 2.8 Phil. 1.29 and therefore the generall faith of the Scriptures is not sufficient to make us Christians but as we read the Saints of God doe apply the promises of Salvation unto themselves as David saith God is my Rock and my Redeemer and Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth and Mary saith My Soul rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luke 1.47 and I homas saith My Lord and my God John 21. and Paul Galat. 2.20 Christ loved me and gave himself for me So must every Christian that looks for salvation apply in particlar the grace and favour of God to himself and this faith instrumentally justifieth the sinner Lastly The finall cause of our Justification passively considered is peace of Conscience in this life and the attonement of eternal happinesse in the life to come The first is attained unto by two especiall things First by an assured perswasion that all our sinnes are forgiven us So being justified by Faith that is from all the sinnes that we have committed we have peace towards God through Jesus Christ Secondly by an unwearied study to strive against the stream of our own natural corruptions and to keep a constant course in the waies of godlinesse For Christ gave himself for us and did bear our sinnes in his body upon the tree that we being dead to sinne should live unto righteousnesse 1 Pet 2.24 or as Zanch. saith 1 Luke 74.75 and so St. August 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. August saith also grace justifieth that we might live justly The second end of our Justification is That the eternall blessednesse which shall be attained hereafter when Christ shall say unto all his justified Saints Come ye blessed c. Matthew 25.34 And so much for all the Causes of our Justification actively and passively considered And I hope this may suffice for the proof of the truth of this last Branch of the second Position That we are only justified by the righteousnesse of Christ I shall end with that of our Saviour John 12.48 The word that I have spoken the same shall judge you in the last day I pray God to enable us all to hold the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and that we may renounce all those Doctrines that sets up any thing of man to the abasing of Christ And that we may imbrace those Doctrines that abases man and exalts the Lord according to that of the Psalmist Not unto us Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory c. Psalme 115 1. FINIS
this we answer we must distinguish of the Major The Parents indeed convey not to their posterity that which by nature they have not But they are freed from the guilt of sinne not by nature but by grace and benefit of Christ wherefore Parents derive unto their posterity not righteousness which is freely imputed but unrighteousness unto which themselves by nature are subject And the cause why they derive their guilt unto them and not their righteousness is this Because their posterity is not born of them according to grace but according to nature Neither is grace and justification tyed to carnal propagation but to the most free election of God as Rom. 9. Esau and Jacob. Again the death of Infants prove they have sinne because God being most just inflicts not this punishment but for sin stipendium peccati mors Death went over all men for as much as all men have sinned Although Infants doe neither good nor evill nor offend not after the similitude of Adams transgression yet they have sinne in them for which death reigneth over them They want not the faculty of will though in act they will not sin yet they will it by inclination and corrupt inclinations are sinnes Rom. 7.7 I had not known lust to be sinne unlesse the Law had said thou shalt not lust And thus saith Ireneus and Chrysostome Adams sinne was no personal offence in uno universi Adam stood at the root of all mankinde His sinne was his hand writing by which he made all his posterity debtors unto God even for that sinne though themselves should have sinned no more Secondly They say concupiscence without consenting to it is no sinne and to maintain this error they bring Thomas Aquinas who saith the first motion of the lust of Adultery is not sinne because it is an imperfect act but if consent be given to it then it is a perfect act and is sinne So Coster in his little Enchiridion affirmeth that concupiscence proceeds from sin and tendeth unto sinne but is not sinne and this he labours to expresse by this similitude He that heares saith he another man speaking filthy language and consents not to it but rather is angry at it and reproves it sinneth not but merits a greater reward Even so when our concupiscence sends out any sinfull motion if we consent not we sinne not And the Fathers of that Councell of Trent which have as many Curses as Canons have decreed in this manner Concupiscence which sometimes the Apostle called sin the holy Synod declares that the Catholique Church did never understand it to be called sinne as it is truly and properly sinne in the Regenerate But because it commeth from sinne and inclineth to sinne But for answer We say that the Apostle in 7. Rom. towards the latter end condemneth concupiscence for sinne even when consent is not given unto it For he protests of himself that he resisted these motions of sin but was oftentimes sore against his will captivated by them He condemnes them as evill albeit he gave no consent unto them For the Law doth not only condemn sinne in the branch but also in the root There shall not be in thee any evil thought against the Lord thy God Resp I will lay you down a reason to confirm this truth Consent in its own nature is a thing indifferent If that whereunto I consent be good my consent is good but if it be evill my consent is evill If the first motion of sinne be not an evill in it self as they say then it is not an evill thing to consent unto For that which is not evill in it self by my consenting cannot become evill It is not then the consent following that makes the preceding motion to be evill but it is the preceding evill motion that makes the subsequent consent evill Now as for Coster his similitude it makes plainly against himself For it is true indeed that he who heareth evill spoken and reproves it is worthy of praise But it is also true that he who spake the evill hath sinned Even so albeit we doe well when we consent not to the motions of concupiscence in us Yet concupiscence is not the lesse to be condemned because it hath sent out into the eare of our Soul the voyce of a filthy deslre which is not agreeable to Gods most holy Law And of this Judgement with us are also the ancient Fathers Aug. Ser. de temp 45. When I lust saith he albeit I consont not to my lust yet that is done in me which I will not and which also the Law will not And again thy desire should in such sort be unto God that there should not be in thee at all so much as concupiscence which hath need of resistance for thou resistest and by not consenting thou overcomest but it were better not to have an enemy than to overcome him With him agrees also Bernard That kinde of sinne saith he which so often troubles us I mean Concupiscence and evill desires may and should be repressed by the Grace of God so that it reigns not in us and that we give not our Members weapons of unrighteousnesse to sin and that way there is no damnation to them who are in Christ yet it is not cast out but in death From all which it is evident that the motions of Concupiscence are evill and sinfull even when they are repressed and no consent given unto them The Pelagians denyed Concupiscence to be sinne but the Law saith the contrary Thou shalt not covet and Rous. 7.7 Paul saith I know no sinne but by the Law c. The Pelagians were condemned in many Councells summoned and gathered together for confutation of Pelagius and Celestius their heresies about the year 420. and sometime after as in the Milevitan Councell the fifth Councell of Carthage and the Councell of Palestina in the East I shall lay you down one or two of their main Objections Ob. Naturall things are not sin Concupiscence which is a propension to those things which are forbidden by the Law is a naturall thing therefore it is no sinne Sol. There is a fallacy in the Accident in the Minor for inordinate Concupiscence was not before the fall but happened unto our nature after the fall So then it is naturall not of it self but by Accident to wit in as much as since the fall it is born and bred with us As it is naturall that is an evill accident inseparably cleaving to a nature good in it self Secondly there are severall termes in the Syllogisme by reason of the ambiguitie of the word naturall for in the Major it signifieth a good thing created of God in nature to wit mans Appetite before the fall which was not contrary to the Law and Will of God In the Minor it signifieth a thing which we have not by Creation but which we have purchased unto us after the fall Rep. But say they An affection or appetite even in nature now corrupted
Doctor give me leave as a Brother though unworthy to give you this Christian Animadversion Call to mind whose doctrine it is which you stand up for and who they have been that have still done the same Pelagius Bellarmine c. I doubt not of your acquaintance with the many more But how cleerly this is against the Fathers of our Church and some of their owne Doctors I know you cannot be ignorant as Augustine Gregory Lactantius Ierome Bernard Anselme and all Moderne Divines except Bellarmines Fraternity I am sorry that Doctor Drayton should be contrary minded but they and we are all men I shall pray to God to discover our Errors and that in the end God may have glory his Church reap benefit and Christian brotherly love may be increased betwixt Doctor Drayton and his unworthy fellow labourer in the Lords Vineyard John Tendring 30. March 1657. Doctor Drayton 's second Letter To his honoured Friend Doctor Tendring These Reverend Sir I Did not desire to alter the State of the Questions nor have I either wittingly or willingly done it All errors in doctrine must come from hell and not from heaven Therefore if I prove the doctrines erroneous which I reproved you will I hope no longer quarrell the expression You say your doctrines are plaine and that you desire in the sincerity of your heart the glory of God and the good of souls neither of which can consist with the continuance of sinne in our mortall bodies nor doe I carry on any interest but what directly tends to the designe which you pretend to ayme at You further say you are not ignorant from whence our doctrines come but to that I crave leave to question for I am sure it came from heaven if the Prophets and Apostles had theirs to come from thence Nor who they are who have endeavoured to carry it on in this nation who doubtlesse were the best men that ever were in this or any other nation But I will with you take up Gamaliels counsell and conclusion si sit à Deo Good Sir forbeare the aspersions of the truth with the obloquies that have been cast upon any that have held it forth For the first Question I see no difference betwixt your first stating of it which I sent unto you in your own words and your last I shall therefore admit it in these new expressions That sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their souls have a being in these houses of Clay For the second I expressed my selfe again and again in the words which I sent unto you as all impartiall and understanding Auditors will attest But I will take it in your owne words so far as they are plaine viz. That you deny that any man by grace can in this life performe such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same I mentioned nothing concerning the work of Satisfaction nor shall that come into dispute unlesse by necessary consequence I thank you for your good advise I shall next after Scriptures avouch no other Authors but the Fathers of the Church and perhaps some of our owne Modern Divines of the best note and concluding with a note of your own prayer rest March 3. A servant and lover of the truth that is according to godlinesse and your Fellow-servant in Christ THO DRAYTON I pray you let me heare in a line or two whether we are now agreed upon the stating of the questions Doctor Tendring's Answer to Doctor Drayton's second Letter Reverend Doctor As the Questions are now stated I agree to them and doe hereby joyne Issue I require your Rejoynder and let it be at your pleasure whether I shall begin or you So I rest Yours in the Lord Iohn Tendring Send your Answer by this Bearer Doctor Drayton's Third Letter For his much honoured Friend Doctor Tendring These SIR I Am very glad that we are thus far agreed viz. about the state of the Questions I hope we shall goe on in the same correspondency if you please to begin because you are perhaps at better leisure and so will send one or both of the Questions with your respective Confirmation to Mr. Parker you shall soone after God willing receive mine who in the interim and I hope ad interitum shall remaine Your loving friend to serve you in the Lord Tho Drayton The Positions be these Posit 1 THat Sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their Soules have a being in these houses of clay Posit 2 That no man by grace can in this life performe such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same or to be thereby justified otherwise then in and through Christ of grace given NOw to the end that the er suing Discourse may be proper and profitable for the informing the judgments of the weak and for the establishing them in the faith of the truth which next to the glory of God and the advancement of his truth is the onely thing intended I shall observe this method First I shall define what Sin in generall is Secondly what the first sin waâ— Thirdly the causes of the first sinne Fourthly the effects thereof And lastly what Originall Sin is And so I shall proceed to confirmation of the first position And first of the first what Sin in generall is The word in Hebrew which is traâ—slâ—ted sinne signifi th properly misdoing or missing of the mark or way as in Judg. 20.6 it is said that the men of Benjamin could sling a stone at an nares breadth and not sin that is not misse And in Prov. 19.2 it is said that he that is hasty with his foot sinneth that is misseth or swerveth In Religion Gods Law is our mark or way from which when we swerve we sin and therefore Sin is defined to be the transgression of the Law as in 1 John 3.4 or whatsoever is repugnant to the Law that is a defect or inclination or action repugnant to the Law of God Which is the generall nature of sinne Or defect is this generall nature and inclinations or actions or rather the matter of sin The difference and formall essence of sin is as I said a repugnancy with the Law The property which eleaveth fast unto it is the guilt of the creature offending that is to say the binding of the creature to temporall and eternall punishments which is done according to the order of Gods Justice And hence it is that we commonly say there is a double formality or two-fold nature of sin Repugnancy with the Law and guilt Or that there are two respects of which the former is a comparison or dissimilitude with the Law the other an ordaining to punishment In the second place the fall or first sin of man was the disobedience of our first Parents Adam and Eve in Paradise or the eating of the apple and sruit forbidden Gen. 2.16 17. This Commandment of God
due to you for your sinnes in the name of the Lord Jesus that is for the merits and righteousnesse of Jesus Christ But some may here object and say The Righteousnesse is Christs and how can a man be justified by the justice of another I answer As sinne is ours by propagation so righteousnesse is ours by imputatiou and as Adam derived sinne by nature to our condemnation so Christ brought life by his obedience to our justification So if many be made sinners by the disobedience of one man Then how much more shall many be made righteous by the obedience of one man especially seeing the nature of Christ was farr more divine than the nature of Adam and thee fore more powerfull in ability to work this effect to justifie us than Adam's was to condemn us And in 1 Joh. 5.11 12. That eternall life which God giveth us that is that righteousnesse whereby he bringeth us to eternall life is in his Sonne And this the Apostle doth most excellently shew unto us when he saith that God made Christ to be sinne for us and as in the place before cited 2 Cor. 5.20 For as our sinnes were made the sinnes of Christ not by alteration of them inhesively into his own person but by assumption of them imputatively to make satisfaction for them as fully and as truly as if they had been his own inherent sinnes Even so the righteousnesse of Christ is as truly made ours by imputation as if we had most perfectly fullfilled the Law by our own actuall operation And therefore justification is a gracious and judiciall action of God whereby he judgeth 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 Justice to the praise of his glorious power and the eternall salvation of their souls Now for the Canses of justification they are especially first Efficient secondly Materiall thirdly Formall fourthly Finall and each one of these must be considered two wayes first Actively in respect of him that justifies us secondly Passively in respect of Man that is justified First The principall efficient Cause of this our justification actively considered is God freely purposing to send his sonne to be made man to work righteousnesse for men 1 Pet. 1.10 Gal 4 4. then in the fulnesse of time sending his son made of a woman made under the Law then revealing his son to us by the preaching of the Gospell and perswading us to believe the same and to lay hold on the sonne of God by the operation of his blessed Spirit and then accounting to us the obedience of his son for our righteousnesse To shew that he is the beginning the middle the end of our justification And to prove this the Lord himself saith Isay 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sinnes And the Apostle plainly saith Rom. 8.33 It is God that justifieth And the very Scribes that rejected Christ most impiously professed this most truly that none can forgive sinnes but God only And so Gregory saith It is meet that he should be the giver of Grace which was the author of nature Gregory in Psal poenitent pithily saith It is his office to absolve the guilty by whose justice he is made guilty Again The impulsive Cause that moved God to doe all this for man wee finde to be two fold first Internall secondly Eternall The first is The meer Grace and free Mercy of God towards man and that because he would be mercifull unto man Because we can ascribe none other Cause of Gods Will which is the cause of all things but only this Quia voluit because it pleased him And therefore St. Paul attributeth our Redemption to the Riches of hâ—â— Grace 1. Eph. 6 7. Rom. 3.24 and so likewise in 3. Tit. 4. he saith that after the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed in us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Whereby you see the Apostle maketh the Kindenesse and Love and Mercy of God to be the first efficient principal Cause or Motive that moved God to send Christ to be the means to save us And St. Aug. in Psal 30. Idoe de nat grat saith That it is the ineffable grace of God that a man guilty of sin should be justified from sin And especialy against the Pelagian Heresie that magnified nature to vilifie and almost to nullifie Grace He saith That the grace of God whereby Infants and men of years are saved is not procured by deserts but tendered freely without merits And so Anselmus in Rom. 12. saith That because all men are shut up under sin the Salvation of man commeth not in the Merits of men but in the Mercy of God The second is Christ God and Man which purchased by his Merits that we should be justified in the sight of God because the chastisement of our peace was laidupon him that we by his stripes might be healed Isay 55.5 Secondly The material Cause of our justification actively considered is Jesus Christ And the benefits we have by Christ are especially two First Redemption Secondly Propitiation First Redemption is a word borrowed from the use of warres and it signifieth freedome from captivity And thus Christ is our deliverance First From the wrath of God Because he is our reconciliation unto God through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Secondly From the Tyranny and Dominion of sinne Because That obeying from the heart the form of Doctrine which is delivered us that is the Gospell of Christ we are made free from sin and are become the servants of Christ which is our Righteousness Rom. 6 18 Thirdly From the punishment of sinne Because it is against Justice that the punishment should be inflicted when the sinne is pardoned For sinne being the cause of punishment it must needs follow that sublata causa c. the cause being defaced the effect must be abolished Object But against this it may be objected That the sinnes of the Elect are pardoned and yet they are continually afflicted and as the Prophet saith Psal 73.13 Chastised every morning And therefore how can it be that albeit he forgiveth the guilt of their sinnes yet as the Prophet saith Psal 99.8 he punisheth their inventions Sol. I answer That the miseries of men before the pardon of sinne are the punishments of sinne but the afflictions of the Saints after the remission of their sinnes are not to be reputed penalties from Gods anger but exercises of his Servants and arguments of his love For as many as I love I rebuke and chasten Rev. 3.19 Heb. 12.6 c. And that for a double end First principally for our Salvation that wee may
not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.32 Secondly Subordinately for our Sanctification That we may be partakers of his holinesse Heb. 12.10 Secondly Propitiation is a reconciling us to God through the blood of Christ and it is the accomplishment of that which was typified by the Mercy-Seat Exodus chap. 30. For first As God gave his Oracles unto the people out of the Mercy Seat so he did reveal his will unto us by Jesus Christ John 1.17 Secondly As God was said to dwell between the Cherubims which covered the Mercy-Seat so in Christ the fullnesse of the Godhead dwelleth bodily Coloss 2.9 And thirdly As God was made propitious and favourable to his people to assist them and blesse them by the blood which the High Priest sprinkled before the Mercy Seat so is God pacified and reconciled unto us and procured to enrich us with spirituall blessings through the blood of Jesus Christ Col. 1.18 Again The ground of those benefits or meritorious cause thereof is the most perfect and absolute obedience which our Saviour Christ performed unto his Father for our sakes and is to be considered first actively secondly 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 a 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 For Christ is not only our redemption by that ransome which he paid for our sinnes but he is also the perfection of the Law unto Salvation unto every one that believeth And there be three things that prove the necessity hereof to be performed for us First The Justice of God that will not justifie the wicked Pro 17 15. Exod. 20.5 but such as are just and righteous either by a proper or imputed rigteousnesse Secondly The Office of a Mediator that was to undergoe for us whatsoever was required of us to be done Thirdly Our recuperation or recovery of happinesse which could not be obteined without perfect righteousness because the death of Christ freeth us from eternall death and the obedience of Christ brings us to everlasting life And therfore we say That Christ was born for us not only auferre peccata to take away the sin of the World by his voluntary suffering the most bitter death of the Crosse But afferre Justitia to bring righteousnesse to us by his plenary obedience to the most holy Law of God And therefore those Scriptures that doe ascribe our whole Salvation unto the virtue of Christs death are not to be taken exclusively or denying the active obedience of Christ to be imputed unto us But Synechdochically for the accomplishment of the whole obedience of Christ that was to be performed for us and with this agrees the major and melior part of all orthodox Divines and most of the Fathers Secondly The passive obedience of Christ is all the sufferings of Christ both in life and death for our sinnes because the justice of God required that we should never be freed from death without a just punishment laid upon our selves or upon some other for us And therefore the Prophet Isay prophecied That the Messias should be broken for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities Esay 5.35 And Daniel saith He should be cut off but not for himsef Dan. 9.26 And St. Peter saith He did bear our sinnes in his own body on the Crosse 1 Pet. 2.24 and St. John saith Rev. 15. That he washed us from our sinnes in his own blood And here we must observe that this obedience of Christ is of sufficient merit to satisfie for all sinnes by reason of the dignity of the person that did obey for the hypostaticall union of the Manhood of Christ with his Godhead makes the obedience of Christ to be of unvaluable value Acts 20.28 Thirdly The formall cause of our justification actively considered is the free imputation of Christs actuall righteousnesse whereby the merits of Christs obedience is applyed unto all believers that is the accompting of us as just and righteous for the merrits of that obedience which Christ hath effected for us For as we apply unto our selves the righteousnesse of Christ and make the same our own by Faith and acceptation So God himself applyeth it unto us by imputation and accepteth us for righteous for the righteousnesse of Christ And this imputation of righteousnesse is a work of Grace not of nature a communicating of anothers righteousnesse unto us and not a conferring of any reall or habituall righteousnesse upon us And this is a sweet exchange saith Justin Martyr in Epist ad Diogen That one should be made sinne for many and the iniquity of many should be covered with the righteousnesse of one and that the justice of one should make many that are unjust to be reputed just To omit what most of the Fathers speaks to this purpose I shall only note one of their own Fryar Farrus Ser. 1. in Dom. 1. Advent where he saith Christ hath made all his partakers of his justice and merits that so they might be able to stand in the sight and to sustain the judgement of God Because saith he there is no mortall man living whose righteousnesse can be sufficient to attain unto eternall Salvation And therefore his righteousnesse is made ours not because it is infused or translated into us to abide habitually in us But because it is imputed and reputed unto us when God doth acquit from sinne and adjudge us just for the justice of Jesus Christ And therefore the force of our justification is not any habituall sanctity subjectively remaining in us But the righteousnesse of Christ freely imputed unto us and so though it be without us yet it is made ours by right of giving The Apostle remarkably in Rom. 4.6.7 joyneth both the imputation of righteousnesse and the remission of sinnes as the two speciall means to make us happy Blessed is the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without works And blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sinne But this righteousnesse of Christ imputed unto us must be considered in a three fold respect First In respect of the truth of our imputed righteousnesse And so we say that we are as truly righteous before God as Christ himself because we are righteous with the sime righteousnesse as he is righteous Secondly In respect of the quantity But so we deny that it is in the same measure in us as it is in him for in him it is in its fulnesse and largest measure but in us it is only received so farre forth as it serveth to justifie any particular Believer 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