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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	formal_a	inherent_a	justification_n	2,595	5	10.5390	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49801	Theo-politica, or, A body of divinity containing the rules of the special government of God, according to which, he orders the immortal and intellectual creatures, angels, and men, to their final and eternal estate : being a method of those saving truths, which are contained in the Canon of the Holy Scripture, and abridged in those words of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which were the ground and foundation of those apostolical creeds and forms of confessions, related by the ancients, and, in particular, by Irenæus, and Tertullian / by George Lawson ...	Lawson, George, d. 1678.	1659 (1659)	Wing L712; ESTC R17886	441,775	362

Spiritual as opposed to Temporal For otherwise Bodily punishments which we call Temporal may by continuance be Eternal To pass by therefore these Temporal Penalties one Spiritual Punishment and the greatest is the want and loss of the Holy Spirit to be a continual and constant Principle and cause of Sanctification This Spirit was given Man in the day of his Creation and was taken away from Adam and in him from all his Posterity by the judgment of God and a Sentence yet in power and force and to continue to the end of the World The Law indeed of Works is ab●ogated but it was in force at that very time when the Sentence was passed and upon the Promise of Christ the Law was abrogated as a Law of Works but the Sentence remained in force still Concerning the sanctifying Spirit we may observe and consider 1 That the loss and so the want of it is a punishment 2 This punishment lying upon every Man before this Spirit be restored presupposeth a guilt 3 This punishment and guilt is never taken away till this Spirit be restored 4 This Spirit may be testored for preparation of a sinner for justification or in and after to continue as a constant cause of Sanctification Or as others express it for perpetual Habitation to prevent the Dominion of Sin and Damnation for time to come It doth not prevent all sin and so the contracting of new guilt nor is given in that measure to us and this is the reason why your estate of Justification is not perfect at the first 5 God never justifies any man with that justification whereof Paul speaks in the Epistle to the Romans and Galatians and elsewhere but in justifying them He gave them instantly this Spirit as the Spirit of Christ to be in them a constant cause of Regeneration and Sanctification and therefore that Justification is not without some Execution 6 Consider this restoring of the Spirit as the removal of a Punishment and the loss and want of the Spirit as a Punishment it must needs be essentially included in Justification and Remission of Sin For that which 1 Takes away the Punishment of sin And 2 The Guilt and Obligation unto Punishment is properly remission of sin If the Punishment as a Punishment should remain so far as it doth remain it doth invincibly prove that the guilt is not taken away so far and in that respect If any distinguish of the Sentence and Execution and make the one the cause the other the effect I will not quarrel about words Onely I will demand Whether it 's not better to say in this particular judgment of God that the Sentence and Execution are really the same and differ onely in respect or at most in degree 7 The active sanctification of this Spirit taken in it self either habitually or actually and as inherent in us can in no wise be Justification or any Branch of Justification as Justification is a remission of sins For God gave this Spirit to Angels He gave it to Adam in the day of Creation and this Spirit did sanctifie and now doth sanctifie the blessed Angels yet this Sanctification is not re●mission But consider remission of sin as a removal of punishment as punishment whether of sense or loss deserved by sin and the loss of the Spirit and the blindness perversness and slavery under the power of Sathan following necessarily upon the taking away and denying the Spirit by a just Judgment as a Penalty then this restoring of the Spirit must needs put on another Notion as it hath another Nature This restoring of the Spirit is so necessary that a bare Sentence without it can give a man no comfort nay Heaven without it is no Heaven or place of Bliss and abode But lest I may be thought to agree with the Doctrine of the Councel of Trent or at least come too near it Let us consider what they say Their Doctrine Sess. 6. Cap. 7. is this That Justification is not onely remission of sins but also the sanctification and renovation of the Inner-Man by the susception of Grace and Gifts whereby or whereupon a man of unjust is made just and of an Enemy a Friend that he may be an Heir according to the hope of Eternal Life And afterwards The onely formal cause of Justification is the Righteousness of God not whereby he is just but whereby He makes us just They mean inherently just Thus far they Now let 's examine Whether there be any Agreement between the former Doctrine and this And 1 I grant with all our Divines that Justification and Sanctification go always inseparably together and this they of Rome know well enough to have been always the constant Doctrine of the Reformed Churches 2 They say that Justification is not onely remission of sins but Sanctification I say it 's onely remission 3 They assert that this Sanctification and Renovation is by voluntary Susception and so understand this Sanctification passively as formally inherent I make neither Sanctification active nor much less passive as considered in themselves to be justification nor any part of justification 4 They make the formal cause of Justification to be this Sanctification I utterly disclaim this I had said before that Sanctification in it self is no remission and is in Angels without any such thing and do affirm that this Sanctification as they understand it is no part of that justification which the Gospel speaks of and that the restoring of the sanctifying Spirit for Renovation as an act of God as Judge for to remove a punishment as a punishment and the obligation thereunto is properly remission And here I cannot but much wonder what these Tridentine Divines did understand by Remission For if the formal cause of Justification be Sanctification and inherent Righteousness as they make it so to be I find no place nor need of any place for remission Yet first they make it a part of Justification distinct from Sanctification It 's neither final nor efficient nor meritorious nor material neither by their own words can it enter the formal That this Sanctification considered in it self especially Passive and inherent cannot be Justification is evident For 1 Sanctification thus understood is not properly any act of God as a Judge much less a Sentence passed upon a guilty Wretch 2 That justification of Believers in this life whereof the Scripture speaks doth leave the party chargeable with no sin is perfect and bears out the severity of God's Justice before His Throne This our inherent Righteousness in this life can never do both because we are guilty before and also it 's imperfect 3 A man may be sanctifyed and that perfectly so as to prevent all sin for time to come and yet the party may remain guilty and liable to Eternal Death for the guilt of former sins committed before this Sanctification and not remitted by it Some make remission two-fold Remissio Culpae Remissio Poenae 1. Of Sin 2. Of

the Scriptures make evident by Doctrine Threatnings Examples Eating the Forbidden Fruit was not the Personal Sin of any of Adam's Posterity and yet they all are punished for it For by one Man sin entred into the World and by sin Death and Death passed over all men c. Josuah and the Princes of the Congregation of Israel swear unto the Gibeonites not to put them to death Saul 450 years and more afterwards slays them and so violates that Oath For this sin of that King Israel●●●ers ●●●ers three years Famine and this sin is not expiated nor the Judgment turn'd away 〈◊〉 7. of Saul's Son long after were given to the Gibeonites and hanged up unto the Lord. Saul sins Israel suffers Famine and 7 of Saul's Sons are slain and this by the direction of God declaring the Perjury of Saul to be the cause of Israels●●sfering ●●sfering Achan commits Sacriledge not onely He but his Sons and Daughters are stoned to death for it But I shall have occasion hereafter to say something more of this Particular The Socinians in opposing this truth deny plain Scriptures and charge God with injustice by consequence and whilest they deny Christ's Sufferings to be Punishments lest they should make God unjust they charge Him with injustice For if it be unjust to punish Christ being innocent for the sinnes of others for whom He voluntarily suffered according to the Appointment and Command of His Heavenly Father much more unjust it must needs be to afflict him and that so grievously without any cause at all or demerit of others And whereas they say That though some may suffer for the sins of others when they are sinful themselves and not otherwise they do but trifle For if one may justly be punished for the sin of another whereof he is not guilty then an innocent person may justly suffer for another who is guilty This was the case of Israel when David sinned He out of Pride numbers the People God is offended herewith and punisheth for this sin and that with death 70000 of his Subjects The King sins the People suffer and they suffer death for the Kings sin whereof they were not guilty as appears by those words of David's Repentance But these sheep what have they done 2 Sam. 24. 17. That is I not they have sinned They are innocent in this particular By all this we may understand how and how far Christ's Sacrifice is communicable to us How we come to be actuall Partakers of these Benefits shall be shewed hereafter Before I proceed § VIII I will take occasion to examine the Extent of Christ's Death Whether He died for all men and so Redemption be universal as some use to speak or no. 1. That Christ dyed for all in some sense must needs be granted because the Scripture expresly affirms it For by the Righteousness of One the free gift came upon All Men to justification of life Rom. 5. 18. And if One died for all then were all dead 2. That onely Believers actually enjoy the Benefit of this Death unto Salvation is as clear also 3. Neither God's love in giving Christ nor Christ's love dying for Man do exclude any as love 4. The benefit of Salvation is communicable to all upon certain tearms expressed in the Covenant which yet limits the actual benefit of Remission and Eternal Li●e by prescribing a qualification in the Parties to be saved by Christ's death 5. The Qualification is such that it excludes no man as a man or a sinful man but as impenitent and not believing at least So that it may truly be said that by Christ's Sacrifice all men are save-able some way though all shall not be saved And if any become not save-able it 's upon some demerit and speciall cause antecedent The immediate Effects called Satisfaction and Merit both signified by the word Propitiation make God propitious and in that respect man in a capacity of Salvation or save-able and do not precisely exclude or include any But Justification Reconciliation Adoption Glorification are so simi●ed by God's Promise that they formally and immediately belong to none but Believers This Question is needless if men would content themselves with the plain and simple truth of the Scriptures and rather use all means to believe then dispùte For if I once sinc●rely believe I may be sure I have a right unto those Benefits If I believe not I can have no com●ort in this blessed and most meritorious Sacrifice There is another question and the same unprofitably handled Whether the Propitiation which includes both satisfaction and merit be to be ascribed to the active or passive obedience of Christ as their distinction and expression proposeth it For solution whereof it s to be observed 1. That both his active personal perfect and perpetual obedience which by reason of his humane nature assumed and subjection unto God was due and also that obedience unto the great and transcendent command of suffering the death of the Crosse both concur as causes of Remission and justification 2. The Scriptures usually ascribe it to the Blood Death and Sacrifice of Christ and never to the personall active obedience of Christ to the Morall law 3. That yet this active obedience is necessary because without it he could not have offered that great sacrifice of himself without spot unto God and if it had not been without spot it could not have been Propitiatory and effectuall for expiation 4. That if Christ as our surety had performed for us perfect and perpetual obedience so that we might have been judged to have perfectly and fully kept the law by him then no sin could have been chargeable upon us and the death of Christ had been needlesse and superfluous 5. Christs propitiation frees the Believer not onely from the obligation unto punishment of sense but of losse and procured for him not onely deliverance from evil deserved but the enjoyment of all good necessary to our full happinesse Therefore there is no ground of Scripture for that opinion That the death of Christ and his sufferings free us from punishment and by his active obedience imputed to us we are made righteous and the heyres of life 6. If Christ was bound to perform perfect and perpetuall obedience for us and he also performed it for us then we are freed not onely from sin but obedience too and this obedience as distinct and seperate from obedience unto death may be pleaded for justification of life and will be suffi●ient to carry the cause For the tenour of the law was this Do this and Live And if man do this by himself or surety so as that the law-giver and supreme Judge accept it the Law can require no more It could not bind to perfect obedience and to punishment too There never was any such law made by God or just men Before I conclude this particular concerning the extent of Christs merit propitiation I thought good to inform the Reader that as the

subject § VI and makes the subject capable of the reward according to the eternall and unchangeable Laws of God-Redeemer It doth not justify but makes us justifiable To justify must be an act of the Judge To believe is the duty of the Subject To the duty man is bound by the command to render the reward God is bound by his promise But faith doth not only make him capacable and a fit subject to receive justification but upon it by vertue of the promise made in the blood of Christ the party thus as thus believing hath a right unto it The foundation of this right or the title which is sometimes taken for the right sometimes for the foundation of this right is faith but not faith as a duty performed or such a duty in particular but as it is specified and made a condition in the grant and promise made for Christs sake For a donation essentially includes the Donour the Donee and the Consideration if there be any as if it be nudum pactum there is none In this Grant God is Donour sinfull man believing the Donee the Consideration is the blood of Christ. If Christ have made no purchase there is nothing to be granted If He have purchased and there be no grant there is no conveyance If Christ hath purchased and God hath granted and yet the Donee be not specifyed it 's no grant no donation But in this donation man is the Donee and is specifyed as a Believer Yet the party doth not only believe but in and by the power of this faith doth confesse pray vow and Christ an Advocate in Heaven doth plead The Devil accuseth chargeth the sinner desires justice to be done upon the guilty wretch For why should he himself be guilty being condemned and punished and man being guilty as he is go unpunished Here Christ comes in confesseth his client guilty in himself yet just another way and though he deserve to be punished yet by law he ought not to be punished He Pleads three things 1. His own propitiation made 2. Gods promise as part of his Law 3. His clients unfeigned faith By this plea the charge of the Devil is make void the cause of his client made good and the judge effectually moved to pardon This pleading and intercession of Christ is necessary not onely because God ordained and required it but also because our prayer and pleading is very imperfect and His perfect And happy is he that hath such a Counsellour and Advocate in Heaven who is ever ready day and night before his Fathers Throne taking care of the cause of all his Clients pleading GRATIS without any Fee and ever carrying the cause Yet a sinner may be justifiable and yet not instantly actually justifyed For the sentence may be delayed for a certain time But this is the comfort of a true believer that the sentence will certainly be passed in Gods due time which in his wisdome he knoweth to be best Thus you have heard 1. Who is the Judge § VII 2. Who is the party judged Now 3. It 's high time to say something of the judiciall act which is the principall thing But before I proceed to unfold the nature of it I must digresse a little and examine the different opinions of men in this point For some question whether it be a sentence properly or no and if it be a sentence properly when and where it 's passed and if it be passed whether it be a bare sentence without any execution or with some execution 1. That t is a sentence most will grant but some distinguish of Sententia Legis and Sententia judicis The one is not the other is properly a sentence and this no doubt is an act of judgment not of Legislation For if it be an act of Legislation it 's then onely promise and that looks at none in particular but all in generall to whom the promise is made and presupposeth a duty to be performed But justification presupposeth a particular person a particular cause a duty performed and the performance as already past is pleaded and the Judge sollicited to passe judgment accordingly But let it be a sentence and that properly and of the Judge as it is When and where is it passed For passed if properly a sentence it must be For it 's not a sentence as conceived in the breast of the Judge but as judicially pronounced It 's not Sententia mere concepta sed prolata some wayes declared Whether for the time is it passed in eternity before time or in time For the place whether is it passed in man or out of man If out of man whether in Heauen or in Earth If on Earth whether by God and Man If by God whether by the promise of the Law that whosoever believeth is not condemned or some other thing If by man whether by the Minister or the Church binding or loosing so on earth as to be bound and loosed in Heaven If it be whether it be an act of conscience or the blessed spirit If the spirit whether it be by inspiration and enthusiasm or by some real operation Thus the wit of man forsaking the rule of Gods word will wander and ignorance joyned with curiosity will start many doubts puzzle a clear truth infinitely multiply questions not so much for edification as destruction and distraction 1. The sentence was not passed in eternity and onely manifested in time for if it were passed then and onely manifested now it might from hence be argued that the world was created from eternity and so is eternall and the glorious work of creation in the beginning had only been a manifestation of that which was from everlasting And how absurd if not blasphemous must such a fancy be It is tr●e that as God before the foundation of the World did decree all things to be done in time so he decreed to passe this sentence But the decree it self without the issuing out and exercise of an almighty executive power is no sentence In eternity before time no man was created no sin committed no Saviour promised no law published no duty of faith performed no person conven●ed no promise pleaded and therefore no sinner believing justified 2. For the place 1. It 's not passed in Heaven and only there for no Scripture saith so neither is there any meanes discovered how the poor guilty sinner should know whether it be past or no and if past when and so till it be known to be passed and that certainly the believer must alwayes be in doubt The cause indeed is pleaded in Heaven by the great High Priest and his plea is effectual But that the sentence is always passed presently upon the cause pleaded cannot be proved It 's true that if a man doth certainly know his faith and the sincerity thereof he may certainly know his right unto justification and so he knows his cause to be good in Law He is justified in law-title that is he

is justifiable by Law But whether this be all the justification the Scripture speaks of especially the Writings of the Apostles shall be considered hereafter 3. It cannot be the sentence only of the Church or Minister because they do not alwayes judge and absolve Clave non errante infallibly and so one may be absolved on Earth and not in Heaven or in Heaven and not on Earth either in foro interiori aut ext●riori as many use to expresse themselves It 's true that when it is exactly agreeable to Gods rule then it 's ratified in Heaven that is by Christ and manifested so to be by the execution For Gods sentence is not a bare word or distinct sound in the Aire 4. It 's not the sentence of the conscience For conscience is neither the supreme judge nor infallible 5. That it 's not pronounced by inspiration or enthusiasm as the words are ordinarily taken will easily be granted 6. Whether it be signified to the soul in man by some real operation with some execution is more disputable That it is signified by some real operation of the spirit with execution seems very probable if not very certain But let others judge when they have considered these places following The justified by faith have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom also they have accesse by faith into his grace wherein they stand and rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God c. And the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the holy Ghost which is given them Rom. 5. 1. 2 5. Believers in Christ by the spirit mortifie the lusts of the flesh and are led moved acted by this spirit have received the spirit of Adoption whereby they cry Abba Father This spirit witnesseth to their spirit that they are the Sons of God having the first fruits of the spirit they groan within themselves waiting for the Adoption the Redemption of their body Rom. 8. 13 14 15 16 23. Now he that stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1. 21. 22. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren 1 Ioh. 3. 14. God will give him that overcommeth a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it Rev. 2. 17. 1. All these places with many more speak not onely of Believers but Believers justified and in this life 2. All these places either expresly or by consequence speak of the Spirit of God and of this Spirit in us and the effects of this Spirit in particular persons 3. The Effects are Divine and such as onely God can produce 4. These Effects are the shedding of the love of God that is the Manifestation the evident and abundant manifestation of God's special love accepting us to Eternal Life the Sanctification of the Spirit and enabling them to mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh and acting them to Obedience Adoption whereby call upon God as a Father their Father and giving them boldness and confidence to approach the Throne of Grace testifying inwardly testifying in them and to them that they in particular are the Sons of God and Heirs of Glory giving them assurance of Eternal Glory as giving the first-fruits thereof being a Seal and Earnest of the same making them know and certainly know that they are passed from Death to Life and that God is in them and they in God and that God abides in them and they abide in God 5. All these signifie and declare and that evidently that there is a great change wrought in them both for disposition and condition For disposition they are regenerate and sanctified For condition they are in the state of Life not of Death of Salvation not of Damnation and neither of these can be without Justification actual And this change is the more evident because the Spirit abides in them constantly as a constant Spring of Sanctification and unspeakable consolation and joy 6. Therefore God by this Spirit in them by these Effects and real operations speaks plainly with some execution that particular persons in this life are justifyed not merely by the Promise of the Law but the Sentence of the great Judge God's Word is not like man's word which is a bare sound but it 's a Word with power It 's like the Word of Creation saying Let there be Light and there was Light like the Word of Christ to the man of the Palsie Arise take up thy bed and walk and presently the thing is done Health and Strength is given He takes up his bed and walks and so his sins were forgiven and the remission was signified by a real operation and word of power And certainly there is no greater Evidence of sin past forgiven then power given to subdue sin for the time to come and after fear sorrow and trouble of men sweet peace joy and Heavenly Consolation 〈…〉 this Word which the Spirit speaks within is the very same Word with 〈…〉 Word which the Spirit speaks without us in the Scripture Yet with this difference that there it is a Promise made to all Believers in general here a Word with performance unto particular Believers The Word is not the Sentence of the Conscience The Witness of the Spirit is not the Witness of Conscience The Sentence of the Spirit is infallible the Sentence of the Conscience is fallible The Spirit is the Supream Judge by which God so justifies as no man can condemn the Conscience is an inferiour and subordinate Judge and the Sentence thereof may be revoked and made void The Spirit speaks with power and produceth Divine Effects and in the very Soul and such as neither Man nor Angels can produce These or like Effects the Conscience cannot reach If any say or ask How can God pass this Sentence but by the Conscience It 's answered That such men seem to be ignorant what the Conscience is and what the Sentence of it is what the different Sentences of the Conscience before and after Justification be The Sentence of the Spirit is a principle but that of the Conscience a conclusion And the Spirit must speak by these real Effects before Conscience can certainly conclude Justification to be past or the state of Justification to be present But this Point will receive some further Light § VIII after that we understand what this Judicial Act of Justification is Yet here ye must know that the act of Justification is one thing and the state of the party justified is another and they must be distinguished as cause and effect The general nature of it is that it is not the Promise of the Law nor the convention of the party to be judged nor the discussion of the cause but it 's a Sentence Yet because there 's a Sentence against a party and a Sentence for

him the one whereof is called Absolution the other Condemnation it 's that of Absolution called Justification and therefore it 's opposed to Condemnation Rom. 5. 16. Rom. 8. 1 33 34. This Sentence follows Christ's Intercession which is opposed to the Devil's Accusation The party sentenced is a sinner guilty and unjust and so condemnable by the Law of Works yet believing in Christ and so justifiable by the Law of Grace This Sentence is not like the Sentence of Man which many times being onely in words is antecedent unto and separated from the Execution which sometimes follows sometimes fails but it 's pronounced by God with power and is always executed and many times if not always joyned if not the same with execution as the Sentence of Phineas was This Sentence doth not take away sin so as to make it no sin or that which was done not to be done neither doth it take away the desert of sinne committed neither doth it abrogate the Law or relax and abate the power of it either in the Prohibition or the Commination Neither doth it prevent the guilt of sin nor the shame sorrow fear hatred which follow upon sin and go before Judgment But the proper act thereof is known by the effect which is a freedom of the sinner from the guilt of sin wherewith he is chargeable and for which he is condemnable and punishable For the end of it it is not to destroy the sinner but to remove the sin in the consequents thereof so that it be not his ruine Yet ye must observe 1. That to take away the guilt is to take away the condemnation and the punishment too For there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ c. Rom. 8. 1. 2. Though guilt cannot be taken away by prevention but removal yet condemnation and punishment may be taken away both by removal and prevention For if the Sentence of Condemnation be past and the Punishment already inflicted then there is no way to take them away but by removal which is by nulling the Sentence and taking off ●he Punishment Thus the Sentence passed upon Adam and all his is revoke 〈…〉 Justification in Christ and the Punishment removed 3 Freedom from Obligation may be total or partial if it be total the puishment is totally prevented or removed if partial it is not 4 If any punishment lie still upon the party justifyed the Obligation is not wholly taken away for if it were the punishment would be unjust for where there is no guilt there can be no just punishment 5 He that is totally freed from the punishment is totally freed from the guilt and obligation 6 That Believer which is justifyed by God is freed from the Eternal Punishment by way of prevention though not wholly from either Temporal or Spiritual punishments For the state of the justifyed is inconsistent with the Obligation unto Eternal Death whether it be in privative loss or positive torment Otherwise the Apostles arguing from justification to conclude freedom from Condemnation and a certain right unto Eternal Glory was invalid 7 Justifyed persons once entred into the state of Justification may sin and contract new guilt and by the same means they obtained mercy at the first they must seek freedom from new-ly contracted guilt and use the means to secure and evidence their Title to Eternal Glory Yet this new guilt is not a total intercision of Justification or putting them wholly out of the state of Justification to make their condition such as it was before they believed For whilest there is the Root and Habit of justifying Faith in them they have a remote and virtual though not an immediate actual right unto the reward And if God put His fear into their inward parts so as they shall never depart from him Jer. 32. 40. Then certainly He by that Promise is bound to preserve and revive that Faith and not suffer it to be totally lost in it self or to be finally unprofitable That Promise is of the same nature with the former in Chapter 31 33 34. But something of this hereafter 8 There never was any man justified by God but he was instantly put in the state of Justification But this cannot be done without some execution and in this respect though we may distinguish between the Sentence and Execution yet we must not separate them For though the final Judgment be so described Math. 25. from the 31. unto the end of the Chapter as that the Sentence of Eternal Reward is represented as pronounced first and after that the Sentence of punishment and both before the Execution Yet 1. Any man may easily understand that the final Judgment is described there after the manner of Humane Judgments and in some sort parabolically 2. In other places we find the Judgment and Execution the same 3. Neither is it evident from that very place that the Sentence and Execution were separate For though the Sentence be related before as separate from the Execution yet it doth not follow that because it is so in the relation therefore it shall be so indeed For the very saying Go ye cursed c. might be the very casting of the wicked into Hell 4 Suppose it should be so yet it doth not follow that it shall be so in our Justification in this life That the Sentence and the Execution may be considered under distinct Notions I do not deny The Scripture doth sometime so represent them 9 Though the state of Justification be begun Simul Semel yet it 's not perfected but by degrees For all our life after our first entrance into that estate should be a continued Repentance and Faith every day renewed and exercised till we attain perfection 10 This state of Justification once begun doth not prevent all future guilt contracted by sins afterwards committed though it prevents such a guilt as lay upon us before we were first converted The reason hereof will be manifest hereafter Whether there be two parts of this Sentence the one remission of sin the other imputation of Christ's Righteousness shall be examined anon That we may understand the Nature of this Act of Justification more fully § IX we must 1 Remember that it 's a freedom from the guilt and obligation immediately and by consequence from the punishment 2 That it is an Act of the Supream Judge who so justifies that no one can condemn and is passed upon the intercession of Christ who so pleads that none can lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect For who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect for whom Christ not onely dyed but role again and ascended into Heaven to make intercession for them there It 's God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Rom. 8. 33 34. 3 We must consider the punishments whereunto the sinner to be justified is liable as either justly suffering them or bound in strict Justice to suffer them 4 These punishments are Temporal or