into a State Condition Use nor End not given it of God nor any Reason Cause Motive End Necessity of it on the other hand taken away weakned or impaired is a matter of great importance Some make our Obedience the works of Faith our Works the Matter or Cause of our Justification some the Condition of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ sâ—â—â— tâ—e Qualification of the person Justified on the one hand some exclude all the necessity of them and turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousness on the other To debate these Differences is not my present Business only I say on this and other Accounts the right stating of our Obedience is of great importance as to our walking with God 2. We do by no means assign the same Place Condition State and Use to the Obedience of Christ imputed to us and our Obedience performed to God If we did they were really inconsistent And therefore those who affirm that our Obedience is the Condition or Cause of our Justification do all of them deny the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto us The Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us as that on the account whereof we are Accepted and esteemed Râ—ghteous before God and are really so though not inherently We are as truly Righteous with the Obedience of Christ imputed to us as Adam was or could have been by a compleat Righteousness of his own performance So Rom. 5.18 By his Obedience we are made Righteous made so truly and so accepted as by the Disobedience of Adam we are truely made Trespassers and so accounted And this is that which the Apostle desires to be found in in opposition to his own Righteousness Phil. 3.9 But our own Obedience is not the Righteousness whereupon we are accepted and justified before God although it be acceptable to God that we should abound therein And this Distinction the Apostle doth evidently deliver and confirm so as nothing can be more clearly revealed Eph. 2.8 9 10. For by Grace we are saved through Faith and this not of our selves It is the Gift of God Not of works lest any Man should boast For we are his workmanship Created in Christ Jesus unto Good Works which God hath prepared that we should walk in them We are saved or Justified for that it is whereof the Apostle treats by Grace through Faith which receives Jesus Christ and his Obedience not of Works lest any Man should Boast but what Works are they which the Apostle intends The Works of Believers as in the very beginning of the next words is manifest for we are we Believers with our Obedience and our Works of whom I speak yea but what need then of Works need still there is We are the Workmanship c. Two things the Apostle intimates in these words 1. A Reason why we cannot be saved by Works Namely because we do them not in or by our own strength which is necessary we should do if we will be saved by them or Justified by them but this is not so saith the Apostle for We are the Workmanship of God c. all our Works are wrought in us by full and effectual undeserved Grace 2. An Assertion of the Ncessity of good Works notwithstanding that we are not saved by them and that is that God has Ordained that we shall walk in them which is a sufficient Ground of our Obedience whatever be the Use of it If you will say then what are the true and proper Gospel-Grounds Reasons Uses and Motives of our Obedience whence the Necessity thereof may be demonstrated and our Souls be stirred up to abound and be fruitful therein I say they are so many and ly so deep in the Mystery of the Gospel and Dispensation of Grace spread themselves so throughout the whole Revelation of the Will of God unto us that to handle them fully and distinctly and to give them their due weight is a thing that I cannot engage in lest I should be turned aside from what I principally intend I shall only give you some brief heads of what might at large be insisted on 1. Our universal Obedience and good Works are indispensibly Necessary from the Soveraign Appointment and Will of God Father Son and Holy Ghost 1. In General This is the Will of God even our Sanctification or Holiness 1 Thes. 4.3 This is that which God Wills which he requires of us that we be Holy that we be Obedient that we do his Will as the Angels do in Heaven The Equity Necessity Profit and Advantage of this ground of our Obedience might at large be insisted on And were there no more this might suffice alone If it be the Will of God it is our Duty 1. The Father hath Ordained or appointed it It is the Will of the Father Ephes. â— 10 The Father is spoken of Personally Christ being mentioned as Mediator 2. The Son hath ordained and appointed it as Mediator John 15.16 I have Ordained you that you should bring forth Fruit of Obedience and that it should remain And 3. The Holy Ghost appoints and Ordains Believers to Works of Obedience and Holiness and to work Holiness in others so in particular Acts 13.2 He appoints and designs Men to the great Work of Obedience in preaching the Gospel and in sinning Men sin against him 2. Our Holiness our Obedience Work of Righteousness is one Eminent and Especial End of the peculiar Dispensation of Father Son and Spirit in the Business of Exalting the Glory of God in our Salvation of the Electing Love of the Father the purchasing Love of the Son and the Operative Love of the Spirit 1. It is a peculiar End of the Electing Love of the Father Ephes. 1.4 He hath chosen us that we should be Holy unblameable So Isa. 4.3 4. His aim and design in choosing of us was that we should be Holy and unblameable before him in Love This he is to accomplish and will bring about in them that are his He chooses us to Salvation through the Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth 2 Thes. 2.12 This the Father designed as the first and immediate End of Electing Love And proposes the consideration of that Love as a Motive to Holiness 1 John 4.8 9 10. 2. It is so also of the Exceeding Love of the Son whereof the Testimonies are innumerable I shall give but one or two Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good Works This was his Aim his Design in giving himself for us as Ephes. 5.26 27. Christ Loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might Sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word that he might present it to himself a Glorious Church not having spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be Holy and without blemish 2 Cor. 5.15 Rom. 6.5 3. It is the very work of the
Christ these are they that I own whom you so despised and abhorred and see their Works following them this and that they have done when you wallowed in your Abominations Math. 25.42 43. 2. The Conversion of others 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that wherein they speak against you as Evil Doers beholding your good works they may Glorify God in the day of Visitation Mat. 5.17 Even Revilers Persecutors Evil speakers have been overcome by the Constant holy walking of Professors and when their Day of Visitation hath come have Glorified God on that Account 1 Pet. 3.1 2. 3. The Benefit of all Partly in keeping of Judgments from the Residue of Men as ten good Men would have preserved Sodom Partly by their real Communication of Good to them with whom they have to do in their Generation Holiness makes a man a Good Man Useful to all and others eat of the Fruits of the Spirit that he brings forth continually 4. It is Necessary in respect of the State and Condition of Justified Persons and that whether you consider their Relative State of acceptation or their State of Sanctification 1. They are Accepted and received into Friendship with an Holy God a God of Purer Eys than to behold Iniquity who hates every unclean thing And is it not Necessary that they should be Holy who are admitted into his Presence walk in his Sight yea lie in his Bosom should they not with all Diligence cleanse themselves from all Pollution of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the fear of the Lord. 2. In respect of Sanctification we have in us a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This New Creature is fed cherished nourished kept alive by the Fruits of Holiness to what End hath God given us New Hearts and New Creatures Is it that we should kill them stifle the Creature that is found in us in the Womb That we should give him to the Old Man to be devoured 5. It is necessary in respect of the proper place of Holiness in the New Covenant and that is twofold 1. Of the Means unto the End God hath appointed that Holiness shall be the Means the Way to that Eternal Life which as in it self and Originally is his Gift by Jesus Christ so with regard to his Constitution of our Obedience as the Means of attaining it is a reward and God in bestowing of it a Rewarder Though it be neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of our Justification yet it is the Way appointed of God for us to Walk in for the obtaining of Salvation And therefore he that hath hope of Eternal Life purifies himself as He is pure and none shall ever come to that End who walketh not in the Way for without Holiness it is impossible to see God 2. It is a Testimony and Pledge of Adoption a sign and Evidence of Grace that is of Acceptation with God And 3. The whole Expression of our Thankfulness Now there is not one of all these Causes and Reasons of the Necessity the indispensible necessity of our Obedience good Works and Personal Righteousness but would require a more large Discourse to unfold and explain than I have allotted to the Proposal of them all And innumerable others there are of the same import that I cannot name He that upon these Accounts doth not think Universal Holiness and Obedience to be of indispensible necessity unless also it be exalted into the Room of the Obedience and Righteousness of Christ let him be filthy still I confess this whole Discourse proceedeth on the Supposition of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us for our Justification And herein I have as good Company as the Prelacy and whole Church of England can afford Sundry from among them having written large Discourses in its Confirmation and the rest having till of late approved of it in others I wish this Man or any of his Companions in Design would undertake the answering of Bishop Downham on this Subject No Man ever carried this Matter higher than Luther nor did he in all his writings more positively and plainly contend for it than in his Comment on the Epistle to the Galatians Yet was that Book translated into English by the Approbation of the then Bishop of London who also prefixed himself a Commendatory Epistle unto it The judgment of Hooker we have heard before But what need I mention in particular any of the rest of those Great and Learned Names who have made famous the profession of the Church of England by their writings throughout the World Had this Man in their days treated this Doctrine with his present scoffing Petulancy he had scarce been Rector of St. George Buttolph-Lane much less filled with such hopes and expectations of future Advancements as it is not impossible that he is now possessed with upon his memorable Atchievments But on this supposition I do first appeal to the Judgment of the Church of England it self as to the Truth of the Doctrine delivered in my Discourse and the Principles which this Man proceedeth on in his Exceptions against it 2. Though it be but a part of a Popular Discourse and never intended for Scholastick Accuracy yet as to the Assertions contained in it I challenge this Author to take and allow the ordinary usual sence of the Words with the open Design of them and to answer them when he can And. 3. In the mean time I appeal unto every indifferent Reader whether the mere perusal of this whole Passage do not cast this Man's Futilous Cavils out of all Consideration so that I shall content my self with very few Remarques upon them First upon my asserting the necessity of Good Works he adds A very suspicious Word which methinks these Men should be afraid to name And why so We do acknowledge that we do not seek for Righteousness by the Works of the Law We design not our Personal Justification by them nor to merit Life or Salvation but betake our selves unto what even Bellarmine himself came to at Last as the safest Retreat namely the Merits and Righteousness of Christ. But for Attendance unto them Performance of them and fruitfulness in them we are not afraid nor ashamed at any Time to enter into Judgment with them by whom we are traduc'd And as I have nothing to say unto this Author who is known unto me only by that Portraicture and Character which he hath given of himself in this Book which I could have wished for his own sake had been drawn with a mixture of more Lines of Truth and Modesty so I know there are not a few who in the Course of a Vain Worldly Conversation whilst there is scarce a Back or Belly of a Disciple of Christ that blesseth God upon the account of their Bounty or Charity the Footsteps of Levity Vanity Scurrility and Prophaneness being moreover left upon all the Paths of their haunt are wont to declaim about Holiness
of Grace towards all men at all times under each Covenant whether he will or no. But this it is to be a happy Disputant all things succeed well with such Persons which they undertake And as to the Manner of the Operation of Grace how far Grace it self may be said to be Omnipotent and in its Operations irresistible I have fully declared there where he may oppose and refute it if he have any Mind thereunto His present Attempt against it in those words that God governs Reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason is so weak in this Case and impertinent that it deserves no Consideration For all the Operations of Divine Grace are suited unto the Rational Constitution of our Beings neither was ever man so wild as to fancy any of them such as are inconsistent with or do offer force unto the Faculties of our Souls in their Operations Yea that which elevates aids and assists our Rational Faculties in their Operations on and towards their proper Objects which is the work of Efficacious Grace is the principal Preservative of their Power and Liberty and can be no way to their Prejudice And we do moreover acknowledge that those Proposals which are made in the Gospel unto our Reason are eminently suited to excite and prevail with it unto its proper Use and Exercise in complyance with them Hence although the Habit of Faith or Power of Believing be wrought in us by the Holy Ghost yet the Word of the Gospel is the Cause and Means of all its Acts and the whole Obedience which it produceth But if by governing Reasonable Creatures by the Principle of Reason he intends that God deals no otherwise by his Grace with the Souls of men but only by proposing Objective Arguments and Motives unto a Complyance with his Will without internal Aids and Assistances of Grace it is a gross piece of Peâ—â—gianisme destructive of the Gospel sufficiently confuted elsewhere and he may explain himself as he pleaseth His proceed is to transcribe some other Passages taken out of my Book here and there in whose repetition he inserts some impertinent Exceptions But the design of the whole is to state a Controversie as he calls it between us and them or those whom he calleth They and We whoever they be And this upon the Occasion of my mentioning the fulness of Grace Life and Righteousness that is in Christ he doth in these Words pag. 215. They say that these are the Personal Graces of Christ as Mediator which are inherent in him and must be derived from his Person we say they signifie the Perfection and Excellency of his Religion as being the most perfect and compleat Declaration of the Will of God and the most powerfull Method of the Divine Wisdom for the reforming of the World as it prescribeâ— the only Righteousness which is 〈◊〉 â—ble to God and directs us in the only way to Life and Immortality I shall not absolutely accept of the Terms of this Controversie as to the state of it on our part proposed by him and yet I shall not much vary from them We say therefore that Jesus Christ being full of all Grace Excellencies and Perfections he communicates them unto us in that Degree as is necessary for us and in proportion unto his abundant Charity and Goodness towards us And we Christians as his Body or fellow Members of his Humane Nature receive Grace and Mercy flowing from him to us This state of the Controversie on our side I suppose he will not refuse nor the terms of it but will own them to be ours though he will not it may be allow some of them to be Proper or Convenient And that he may know who his They are who are at this End of the Difference he may be pleased to take notice that these words are the whole and intire Paraphrase of D r. Hammond on Joh. 1.16 the first Testimony he â—â—â—â—rtakes to answer And when this Author hath replyed to Mr. Hooker D r. Jackson and Him and such other Pillars of the Church of England as concurre with them it will be time enough for me to consider how I shall defend my self against him Or if he will take the Controversie on our part in Terms more directly Expressive of my Mind It is the Person of Christ is the Fountain of all Grace to the Church as he well observes my Judgement to be and that from him all Grace and Mercy is derived unto us And then I do maintain that the They whom he opposeth are not onely the Church of England but the whole Catholick Church in all Ages Who the We are on the other hand who reject this Assertion and believe that all the Testimonies concerning the fulness of Grace in Christ and the Communication thereof unto us do only declare the Excellency of his Religion is not easie to be conjectured For unless it be the People of Racow I know not who are his Associates And let him but name three Divines of any Reputation in the Church of England since the Reformation who have given the least Countenance unto his Assertions Negative or Positive and I will acknowledge that he hath better Associates in his Profession than as yet I believe he hath But that Jesus Christ himself God and Man in one Person the Mediator between God and Man is not a Fountain of Grace and Mercy to his Church that there is no real internal Grace communicated by him or derived from him unto his Mystical Body that the Fulness which is in him or said to be in him of Grace and Truth of unsearchable Riches of Grace c. is nothing but the Doctrine which he taught as the most compleat and perfect Declaration of the Will of God are Opinions that cannot be divulged under pretence of Authority without the most pernicious scandal to the present Church of England And if this be the Mans Religion that this is all the Fulness we receive from Christ A perfect Revelation of the Divine Will concerning the Salvation of Mankind which contains so many excellent Promises that it may well be called Grace and prescribes such a plain and simple Religion so agreeable to the natural Notions of Good and Evil that it may well be called Truth that complying with its Doctrine or yielding Obedience unto its Precepts and believing the Promises which it gives in our own strength without any real Aid Assistance or Communication of internal saving Grace from the Person of Jesus Christ is our Righteousness before God whereon and for which we are Justified I know as well as he whence it came and perhaps better than he whither it will go The remaining Discourse of this Chapter consisteth of two parts First an Attempt to disprove any Communication of real internal Grace from the Lord Christ unto Believers for their Sanctification Secondly an Endeavour to refute the Imputation of his Righteousness unto us for our Justification In the first he contends that all the Fulness