the promise They cannot possibly be plucked out of Christs hand without their own voluntary consent So the promise runs thus They shall not be plucked out of his hand but only in such a way as the same is possible to be done that is the words are absurd and signifie just nothing But if the promises made to Saints were thus conditional what are those made to Christ Hath not God said That Christ should have a seed nay and be satisfied in it Isa 53.10 11 Hath he not said nay sworn to Christ That his seed such as believers are should endure for ever that his throne a chief part of which is in their hearts should be as the Sun Psal 89.35 36 And are these promises conditional also It 's true that there was a condition on Christs part That he should obey and suffer for us but was there any on ours Must these promises run thus Christ shall have a seed and a throne if man will No the promises are absolute no mention at all is made of mans will But if the Graces of the Saints may fail so may these promises also Christ might have no seed at least no enduring one such as may satisfie him His throne at least that choice part of it which is in the hearts of the Saints may utterly fail and come to nothing If the matter be left to the Lottery of mans will How is God true to his Son Christ Possibly there might be no feed of new-creatures at all or if there were they might flie away from the birth in an utter apostacy Nay what if the event did hit right and answer the promise yet God is never the truer for that neither can we say that he fulfilled his promise in that event which was never secured by his grace but came to pass as it happened by the lucky hit of mans will To conclude Upon the whole matter it appears God hath taken believers into his own hand their Graces shall not fail because his Truth and Faithfulness cannot their standing is sure because his promises cannot fall to the ground To add no more We see here how we ought in all humility to give Grace its due and this we cannot do unless we give it all Non est devotionis dedisse prope totum Deo sed frandis retinuisse vel minimum saith Prosper To give Nine hundred ninety nine parts to Grace and reserve one only to mans will is more than true devotion will bear it 's just to give the whole unto God The Jewish Rabbins say That he who receives any good thing in this world without a benediction is a robber of God but the greatest sacriledg of all is when we own not the Grace of God in supernatural blessings which relate to the world to come Verè humiles totum Deo reddunt True humble souls render all to God Let us then acknowledg with Jacob We are less than the least of all his mercies We were naturally undone unclean creatures proper objects of wrath Why did God send his Son in the flesh to seek that which was lost wash us in a laver of his own blood and bring us into favour with him We might have been born in the dark places of the earth where Christ is not named where the Sun of Righteousness shines not in Pardons and Graces Why did God place us in a Region of Evangelical light and set Jesus Christ with all his beauties and treasures evidently before us Under the Gospel there are many blind eyes and hard hearts many poor souls dead and buried in a grave of sin Why did he open our eyes upon heavenly mysteries and melt our hearts into the Divine will Why did he raise us up out of our spiritual graves and quicken us unto a Divine life There is still corruption within and temptation without us Our Graces are weak and in themselves defectible creatures Why doth he supply us with fresh influences of grace and maintain the new-creature in us Why are we not swallowed up in temptations and corruptions but kept and preserved to the heavenly Kingdom Here we must glory in our God and cry out Grace Grace All the good we have is from that Fountain Thus St. Paul ascribes all to Grace I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I labour yet not I but the grace of God which was with me He acknowledges no I-ness but ascribes all his spiritual being and working to Grace I will shut up all with that of Bonaventure Furti reus est qui sibi aliquid retinet cum Deus dicat gloriam meam alteri non dabo He is guilty of Theft who retains any thing to himself when God hath said My glory I will not give to another All glory therefore be to him alone CHAP. XI Chap. 11 Touching Justification as to the Law Christ's Righteousness constitutes us Righteous A double imputation One to the proper Agent another to those in Conjunction the Conjunctions between Christ and us how Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us that it is not only the Meritorious but Material cause of our Justification this is proved from that phrase The Righteousness of God from the nature of Justification from the parallel of the two Adams from other phrases in Scripture from a pardon as not being the same with Justification from Christ's suffering in our stead the Objections against imputed Righteousness answered what justifies us as to the Gospel terms the Necessity and connexion of a twofold Righteousness how we are justified by Faith how Good Works are necessary A short Conclusion THERE remaineth yet behind one Eminent piece of Grace I mean Justification this in Luther is Articulus stantis cadentis Ecclesiae and in Chemnitius Arx propugnaculum Religionis Christianae a Sacred thing it is and difficult to explain the true measures of it cannot be taken from any thing but the holy Scripture where this Mystery is revealed Touching Justification there are three things considerable viz. First we are constituted righteous then esteemed or pronounced such and at last treated as such The first conferrs a righteousness upon us the second ownes and declares it the third gives us the consequent reward thereof The first we have in that phrase of Justifying the Ungodly Rom. 4.5 for that unless it were collative of a Righteousness would be the same abomination with the Justifying the Wicked Prov. 17.15 The second in that phrase of Justifying the Righteous Deut. 25.1 where the word Justifying is not effectionis sed aestimationis declarationis significativum the third is not so much a part of Justification as a consequent of it neither do I remember that it is called Justification in Scripture The first is the foundation of the other two unless a Man be constituted righteous God who is Truth it self cannot esteem or pronounce him such for that were for him to err which is impossible neither can he who is Sanctity it self treat him as such for an
unrighteous Person cannot possibly enter into the holy Heaven where Eternal Life is given to the Righteous The main Quaere in Justification is What it is that constitutes us righteous before God Righteousness relates to some Law we are under a double Law the one the Law of Nature or Creation which calls for perfect Obedience in every point The other the Law of Grace which accepts of sincerity we must if justified be made righteous to both these accordingly I shall discourse of both We are under the Moral Law of Nature this is immortalized by its own intrinsecal rectitude it so naturally results out of the Relation which Man stands in towards God that as long as God is God the Supream Truth and Goodness and Man Man a Creature endued with Reason and Will it cannot cease to be or to oblige it is not imaginable that such a thing as Reason should be unbound to look up to the original Truth from whence it came or that such a thing as Free-will should be unbound to embrace that infinite Good which made it this Law stands faster than the pillars of Heaven and Earth it hath a double Sanction a promise of Eternal Life upon perfect obedience and a threatning of eternal Death upon the least Transgression The promise though never abrogated by God could not of it self bud or bring forth Life a Sinner because a Sinner not being capable of perfect obedience could not have Life from that promise cessat materia There could be no person capable of the promised Life the Law was weak though not in it self yet through the Flesh the sin of Man Man sinned away the Promise but the Threatning he could not sin away nay by his sin he put himself under the Curse and Wrath of it Sin made him a fit object and fuel for these the case standing thus how or which way should a Sinner be justified as to the Law In a Sinner there was matter enough for the Treatning but more for the Promise Death might justly seize him but Life he was not payable of by vertue of that Law here infinite Wisdom found out that which no created Eye could spy out a way of Justification without abrogating the Law thus therefore it was contrived the Law being under the power of the Legislator was relaxed though not abrogated there may be a double notion of the Law either it may be taken as it is in it self in summo apice in its primordial rigor requiring perfect personal obedience from us and thus it doth not cannot justifie us there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an utter impossibility upon it Rom. 8.3 Righteousness could not come by the Law nay in this sense it worketh wrath it condemns and curses the Sinner or else it may be taken as it is by the great Legislator relaxed to admit of a satisfaction in our Sponsor Jesus Christ and thus it hath its end its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Righteousness which satisfied it in him thus it cannot condemn Believers a satisfied Law so far as it is satisfied hath nothing to say against them who partake of that satisfaction That of Learned Mr. Gataker is remarkable Justificatio nostri tum ab Evangelio tum à Lege pendet à Lege quatenùs eidem satisfit pro delictis adversùs eam admissis ab Evangelio quatenùs satisfactio non à nobis sed à Christo Vicariâ operâ pro nobis exhibetur The Gospel reveals such a Sponsor as hath satisfied the Law for us the Law being satisfied cannot condemn those who partake of that satisfaction It appears by this That Christ's Righteousness is that which constitutes us righteous as to the Law only here many worthy learned Divines are at a difference how it doth so doubtless it doth it in a way of Imputation but the mode of that Imputation is not agreed on Some say that Christ's Righteousness is the meritorious cause of our Justification and so imputed to us in the effects in that pardon which discharges us from the Law Others That it is it self in some sort imputed to us and so becomes the material cause of our Justification I take it our former Divines who disputed with the Papists about Imputed Righteousness are of the latter opinion Hence Bishop Davenant saith De Just hab fol. 364 373. that Ipsissima Christi obedientia nobis imputatur quasi esset nostra personalis The very obedience of Christ is imputed to us as if it were our personal Righteousness And again he saith that In se it is causa meritoria Justificationis but as it is apply'd to Believers Subit vicem causae formalis it is in the room of a formal cause 'T is true he saith That it is imputed to us ad aliquem effectum not that it is imputed only in the effect but that it is imputed in a measure and to some intents though not in the full latitude or as it is in Christ The Learned Professors of Leyden determine thus Mirum hîc videri non debet Christi Justitiam non meritoriae solùm sed materialis imò formalis causae rationem habere cum id diversimodè fiat nempe quâ illud est propter quod in quo sive ex quo per quod justificamur To quote no more If Christ's Righteousness be only a meritorious cause of Justification then our former Divines have striven in the dark the Controversies between them and the Papists in this point have been but a vain jangling no Papist ever denied that Christ merited Justification for us no Protestant should ask any more The Council of Trent laying down the causes of Justification saith Chistus suâ sanctissimâ Passione in ligno Crucis nobis Justificationem meruit pro nobis Deo Patri satisfecit Here our Divines should have acquiesced in silence but surely they thought there was somewhat more in it For my own part I conceive Christ's Righteousness is so far imputed to us as to be the matter of our Justification before I come to offer my Reasons I shall lay down several things tending to explain my meaning in this point First There is a double Imputation The one when a thing inherent or transient is imputed to the very Subject or Agent of it The other when it is imputed to those in conjunction with the Subject or Agent as being parts and portions of him The first Imputation is according to the course of Nature the second is according to some just constitution made touching the same the former is unquestionable the latter is that which is to be cleared that such an Imputation is possible and when it is done truth may appear by these Instances The primitive Righteousness of our Nature was only inherent in Adam Yet was it imputed to us we were by God esteemed as righteous in him else we are not fallen Creatures neither do we need any such thing as Regeneration Adam's sin was an act done by him yet
Imputatio non nititur fictitiâ aliquâ suppositione sed verâ participatione rei imputatae Imputation doth not stand upon any fictitious supposition but upon a true participation of the thing imputed These things being thus laid down I shall come directly to the point my Opinion is That the Righteousness of Christ is not meerly the meritorious cause of Justification but somwhat more neither is it meerly imputed to us in the Effects but it self as a satisfaction is so far imputed to us as to be the material cause of Justification as to the Law I think nothing can be more proper to justifie us as the Law than that which satisfied it I cannot tell how to suppose that one thing should satisfie the Law and another justifie against it And here I shall first lay down my Reasons and then answer the Objections made against my Opinion For Reasons I shall offer several things First I shall begin with that memorable phrase The Righteousness of God which cannot but be of great moment in this point some take it for the mercy of God and so it is sometimes taken in the Old Testament The Mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear him and his Righteousness unto Childrens Children Psal 103.17 where Mercy and Righteousness are one and the same but in the New Testament where this phrase often occurs it is never so taken the Righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel Rom. 1.17 Revealed that which before was only obscurely hinted was in the Gospel clearly opened but the Mercy of God was not only darkly hinted but openly proclaimed in very high and stately terms in the Old Testament An Instance we have of it Exod. 34.6 and 7. where the Titles of Mercy carry as much of Glory and Magnificence as any thing can do We are said to be made the Righteousness of God 2 Cor. 5.21 but never to be made his Mercy neither would be at all proper to say so Others take it for our Inherent Graces which are our Evangelical Righteousness but these though they come down from Heaven are never called the Righteousness nay on the contrary they are called our own as being inherent in us Hence we find Your Faith Rom. 1.8 your Love 2 Cor. 8.8 your Patience Luke 21.19 your Hope 1 Pet. 1.21 your Righteousness Matth. 5.20 that which in Scripture is called the Righteousness of God is not the same with that which is called our own there were our Inherent Graces imported in that phrase Faith which is a prime excellent Grace must have its share therein but the Righteousness of God is by Faith Rom. 3.22 Therefore it is not Faith the Righteousness of God is upon the Believer therefore it is not in him Others take it for Pardon but neither can this Interpretation stand The Jews were ignorant of God's Righteousness Rom. 10.3 but surely they were not ignorant that God was a God pardoning iniquity that Pardon which in the Old Testament is elegantly decyphered by Covering Blotting out Remembring no more Casting away sin is not in the New vailed in an Expreslion so obscure and improper for it as that of the Righteousness of God seems to be to that intent leaving these I take it that the Righteousness of God imports that of Christ and in this sence the phrase is as Glorious and Illustrious as it would be obscure and improper to denote Pardon The Righteousness of Christ is indeed the Righteousness of God it is the Righteousness of him who is God of him whose Blood is called the Blood of God it is a pure perfect Righteousness which can consist before the Tribunal of God which was by God ordained to make us Righteous This is it which being before but darkly hinted was in the Gospel manifestly revealed this is that which is upon the Believer as a rich Covering to hide his imperfections this is it which the Jews were ignorant of and submitted not unto the Apostle tells us That they submitted not to the Righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 and what that Righteousness is the next Verse expresses for Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth the Law hath its end in nothing but in his Righteousness which satisfied it But besides there is one place which in terminis calls the Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Christ to them who have obtained like precious Faith with us through the Righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.1 Observe it is not through the Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ as noting two Persons but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God and our Saviour as betokening one as Bishop Downham hath observed like that Tit. 2.13 The glorious Appearance of the great God and our Saviour where one Person is intended Thus far it appears that the Righteousness of God denotes the Righteousness of Christ That which remains is to enquire Whether the Righteousness of God never import any more than a meer meritorious cause 'T is true in that place 2 Pet. 1.1 it imports no more but in others it speaks further We are made the Righteousness of God 2 Cor. 5.21 The Righteousness of God is upon us Rom. 3.22 and as a paraphrase upon the Righteousness of God the Apostle tells us that Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to the Believer Rom. 10.4 Here I take it the Righteousness of Christ is set forth not only as a meritorious antecedent cause of Justification but as an Ingredient a material cause in it he that hath only the effect cannot be said to be made the Impetrating cause no more can we be said to be made the Righteousness of Christ if we only have the fruit of it not the thing it self That Righteousness as a meritorious cause may be said to be for us but not to be upon us unless by Imputation it be made ours Christ in respect of Merit only is no more for Righteousness which yet is the Emphasis of the Text than for sanctifying Graces these being as much merited as the other Christ is so far Righteousness as he is the end of the Law and that he is in the satisfaction it self not in Remission which is the effect of it the Satisfaction it self therefore is made ours in Justification It seems to me a great departure from the Text to say Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness that is for Pardon which is the Effect or for Impunity which is the Effect of the Effect Secondly It is utterly impossible that there should be a Justification without a Righteousness Constitutive Justification makes us Righteous Estimative or sentential Justification esteems or pronounces us such a Justification cannot be without a Righteousness nor can any thing be a Righteousness unless it answer the Law What then is our Righteousness as to the Law Faith answers the Gospel terms But what answers the Law Surely nothing under Heaven
can do it but Christ's Satisfaction The Quaere therefore is Whether that Satisfaction be our Righteousness in it self or only in its effects if in the effects only then something less than Christ's satisfaction viz. an effect is our Righteousness as to the Law and by consequence something less than that satisfies the Law I cannot imagine that one thing should satisfie the Law and another justifie against it one and the same satisfaction of Christ doth both There are but two sorts of Righteousness as to the Law the one a Righteousness in the idem a direct conformity to it the other a Righteousness in valor a full compensation or satissaction for the breaches of it a third cannot be found where there is neither such a conformity to the Law that all is done as it ought to be nor such a satisfaction to it that all that is done amiss is compensated there is no such thing as Righteousness a pardon or freedom from punishment there may be but a Righteousness there is not Because there is nothing done to the Law either by way of obedience or recompence and where nothing is done to the Law there cannot be a Righteousness Now a Sinner not being capable of a Righteousness of consormity his Righteousness must be that of a satisfaction or compensation not an effect of it but the thing it self no other thing can be a Sinners Righteousness It is observable in Scripture That Justification is so set forth that the Law is established in it Rom. 3.31 that its Righteousness is fulfilled Rom. 8.4 that it hath its end Rom. 10.4 And all this because in Christ's Satisfaction there is a full compensution made for sin such as comes in the room of a perfect conformity and supplies that defect of it which rises out of the suult committed This is done by the Satisfaction it self not by an effect of it Nothing less than it self could give the Law its end or establishment If that Satisfaction be our Righteousness not in it self but in its effects what is that effect Is it a Pardon that is God's act God's act may make or esteem us righteous but it is not the Righteousness it self it is a jus impunitatis that is not the Righteousness it self a Righteousness as to the Law must be either a perfect conformity or a satisfaction but a Jus impunitatis is neither of these as in Condemnation the Obligatio ad paenam is not the very culpa but a consequent of it So in Justification the Jus impunitatis is not the very Righteousness but a consequent of it A Jus impunitatis is opposite to the reatus paenae but a Satisfaction which is our true Righteousness is opposite to the reatus culpae as compensating the fault committed It remains therefore that Christ's Satisfaction is not in its effects but in it self our Righteousness which also further appears In that when we are to answer for our breaches of the Law our great Plea is to that no other than his Satisfaction Ostendo fide jussorem meum De Just hab 370. saith Bishop Davenant When the Law makes its demands against me I shew my Sponsor Christ who satisfied it Now if his Satisfaction be it self our Righteousness it must be made ours by Imputation for that which is not ours cannot be our Righteousness neither doth God who judgeth according to Truth esteem it such You will say Though it self be not ours yet it is that for which God doth justifie us To which I answer Though God justifie us for it yet unless it be ours it is no more our Righteousness than it is our Holiness when God sanctifies us for it no Man I think will call it our Holiness no more unless it be ours may we call it our Righteousness If it be ours by Imputation then it is more than a meritorious cause It is the very matter of our Justification neither can I tell how to think it less seeing a Sinner is capable of no other Righteousness as to the Law but a Satisfaction seeing so glorious a Satisfaction as that of Christ is is ushered into the World for that very end it is to me unimaginable that that Satisfaction should yet not be our Righteousness as to the Law but something less than it self should have the honour of it Thirdly Very momentous in this point is the collation of the two Adams Rom. 5. the first Adam was the Origen of Sin Christ the second Adam was the Origen of Righteousness and Life never were there in the World two such Heads as these uterque quod suumest cum suis communicat as the Learned Beza hath it Adam communicates Sin and Death to his Posterity Christs Righteousness and Life to his believing Seed in the parallel it is observable that Christ is as strong nay a stronger Head than Adam Adam was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Type of him that was to come and less then the Antitype who was more potent to rebuild the ruines of the fall than Adam was to make them Righteousness came as full from Christ as sin did from Adam nay more fully as the Apostle hints in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 15. and in the abundance and superabundance of Grace vers 17. 20. hence it appears that so far as Adam's sin was ours so far is Christ's Righteousness ours also Adam's sin was not ours in the full latitude as it was in him we did not eat the Fruit in our own persons we were not heads of Mankind we did not usher in Sin and Death upon the World no this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that one Adam neither was it ours in the effect only for then our innate pravity would be no sin as meerly proceeding from that first sin of Adam in which we participated not that in the Schools must needs be true peccatum habituale dicit essentialem ordinem ad praecedens actuale It s impossible that one should be a sinner habitually who in no sense was a sinner before hence that of St. Austin quoted by Dr. Ward Nulla foret hominis culpa st talis a Deo Creatus esset qualis nunc nascitur it remains therefore that Adam's sin it self is derived to each one of us pro ratione membri proportionably Christ's satisfaction is not ours in the full latitude as it was in him we satissied not God's Justice in our own Persons we were not Heads of the Church neither did we usher in Life and Righteousness into the World no it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that one Christ neither is it ours in the effect only for then the effect a thing less than the satisfaction it self should justifie or make us righteous against the Law which cannot be It remains therefore that it is it self derived upon each one of us pro mensurâ membri Again Adam's sin did first in order of Nature make us sinners by it self imputed and then by the inherent pravity consequent in like
a difference one believes not another on God's a difference he justifies one not another but Christ stands only as a common cause his Satisfaction is in communi and constitutes no one righteous more than another He is no more as it seems the end of the Law for Righteousness to the Believer than to the Unbeliever Now if this be as it is durus sermo then it remains that Christ's Righteousness is by particular imputation made over to Believers and so becomes the matter of their Justification accordingly the Apostle in Rom. the fifth speaks of it not as a common cause but as peculiarized to Believers such as receive Grace He doth not speak of what Christ merited for all but of what Christ as an Head communicates to his Members The scope of the parallel between the two Adams evinces this it being no other than this That both of them communicate to those who are in them The sum of all is Adam and Christ are set forth by the Apostle as two communicative Heads if Adam's sin be imputatively ours so is Christ's Righteousness also I should now pass on to another Reason But possibly some may object That there is a great difference between the two Heads We were seminally in Adam we receive an Humane Nature from him but we were not seminally in Christ we receive not a Nature from him therefore though Adam's sin be imputatively ours yet so is not Christ's Righteousness In answer to this I shall offer several things First We receive an Humane Nature from Adam but is this the only foundation of the Imputation of his sin to us No surely Then all the sins of our Progenitors should be as much imputed to us as the first sin of Adam was Which I cannot at all believe Adam was a moral Head of Holiness and Righteousness to all Mankind but since the fall no Man no not Adam himself was such the sin of Adam is universally imputed to all even to the most holy but so are not the sins of other Progenitors we were not therefore one with Adam only by a Natural union but by a Divine Constitution Secondly We receive an Human Nature from Adam and have we not a Divine Nature from Christ are we not called his Seed are we not begotten by his Spirit and Word were we not in a Spiritual sence seminally in his Blood and Merits how else should any such thing as the New Creature be produced in a lapsed Nature These things are as proper to make us Parts and Members of Christ as an Humane Nature is to make us Parts and Members of Adam therefore the communication of Righteousness from Christ must be as full and great as the communication of sin is from Adam Bishop Vsher tells us That we have a more strict conjunction in the Spirit with Christ then ever we had in Nature with Adam one and the same Spirit is in Christ and Believers but there is not one Soul in Adam and his Posterity the communication from Christ therefore if answerable to the Union must be as great nay greater than that from Adam Thirdly Adam was a Head both by Nature and by Constitution Sin unless in Conjunction with Nature could not pass from him to us neither could we without a Nature conveyed from him have been members of him It diâ— therefore appertain to his Headship to convey a Nature to us but Christ was an Head not by Nature But above it by Divine Constitution he was not to convey Naturals to us but super-naturals since the Fall Righteousness was not to pass to us in Conjunction with Nature Nature was to be from one Head and Righteousness from another we were to be made Members of Christ not by communication of Nature but of Grace it therefore did not appertain to his Headship to communicate Nature to us yet was his Headship as potent to convey Righteousness to us as Adam's was to convey sin the Divine Constitution made him such an Head that his Satisfaction might become ours for our Justification thus much touching this Argument drawn from the Headship of Christ Fourthly Those Scripture phrases of being purged sprinkled cleansed washed justifyed in the Blood of Christ notably import two things the one that Justification is in a signal manner attributed to Christ's Blood as Sanctification is to the Spirit the other that Christ's Blood justifies by way of Application but neither of these can stand if that Blood be only a meritorious cause not the first how can Justification be signally attributed to it when as a meritorious cause it no less impetrates Sanctification than Justification nothing singular is done by it in the one more than in the other not the second how can it justifie by Application when as a meritorious cause it operates only by impetration You will say Christ's Blood is applyed in the effect in a pardon I answer those Scripture phrases before quoted shew that the Blood it self is applyed to us how else is it said that we are purged cleansed sprinkled washed in it unless it be applyed to us the phrases how emphatical soever seem to be improper surely a satisfaction must in its own nature be a justifying matter against the Law next to an absolute conformity to the Law Nothing is or can be more justifying against it then a satisfaction when God hath provided a plenary satisfaction to justifie us how may we think that it is not it self applyed to us actually to justifie us or that something less than it self should do it the Scripture sets forth this Application on both hands on our part it is applyed by Faith We receiving the Atonement Rom. 5.11 and Christ being a propitiation through Faith in his Blood Rom. 3.25 and on God's part by Imputation we being made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 and the Righteousness of God being upon us Rom. 3.22 I cannot tell how to think that such an excellent justifying matter as Christ's Satisfaction is should be provided for us and yet not applyed to us according to the terms of the Gospel a pardon is as I take it upon the satisfaction not meerly made but applyed for it is given to Believers only if the satisfaction be it self applyed then that is our Righteousness against the Law if it be applyed in the effect that is in a pardon then the pardon is the very application and not a pardon upon a satisfaction applyed or if there be a pardon upon a satisfaction applyed there will be a pardon before a pardon a pardon in the application and a pardon upon it if the satisfaction be it self applyed then it may precede a pardon and a pardon may be upon it but if it be applyed only in the effect in a pardon then it cannot precede a pardon no more then a pardon can precede it self You will say a pardon is not upon a satisfaction applyed but is the very application To this I answer the Learned Mr. Gataker saith
p. 26. By it God acts like himself and doth all for his own glory p. 27. It imports an hatred of sin and love of holiness in man p. 27 28. In all these respects it was manifest in Christ p. 28 29 c. It was not indecent for God to come in the flesh and dye p. 29 30. The glory of God breaks forth therein p. 31 32. His hatred of sin and design to extirpate it p. 33 34 35. His love to holiness in doing so much to recover it and linking it with salvation p. 35 36 37 38. We should be followers of God therein p. 38 39 c. CHAP. IV. Gods Punitive Justice asserted from Scripture and Nature p. 42 43 44. It was necessary that there should be a Satisfaction for sin p. 45. Rectoral Justice required it p. 46 to 48. Vnless Christs sufferings were satisfactory no good account can be given of them p. 49 50. It 's not enough to say That he was an Example of Patience p. 50. That he confirmed the Covenant p. 51. That Gods immense love was manifested therein or that his Resurrection assured ours ibid. 52 53. Gods Justice appears in that He though of infinite Mercy inflicted those sufferings on Christ p. 54 55. In that Christ the Patient was Man the Son of God an holy innocent One p. 55 to 58. In that the sufferings of Christ were proportionable to the sinning-powers in man p. 59. To the Law p. 60 61. To the sin and sufferings of a World p. 61 62 63. The fruits of his sufferings as to Himself and as to us p. 64 65. The dreadfulness of sin in respect of the sufferings of Christ and the miserable end of impenitent sinners p. 65 66 c. CHAP. V. Gods Love and Mercy manifested in that he stood not upon the old terms as he might and in giving his Son for us p. 70 to 75. The Socinian objection That if God loved us he was not angry answered p. 76 77 78. The earliness and freeness of Gods love in giving his Son p. 79 80 81. The greatness of the gift p. 82. The manner how he was given p. 83 84 85. The persons for whom p. 85 86 87. The evils removed and the good procured by it p. 87 to 91. The excellent Evangelical terms built upon it p. 91. These are easie and sure p. 92 93 94. The Love and Mercy of God an excellent Motive to stir up our love towards God and man p. 95 96 97 c. CHAP. VI. The Power of God manifest in Christ p. 99 100. In his incarnation and conception p. 100 101 102. In his Miracles p. 103 104. These were true in the History p. 104 105 106. True in the nature of Miracles p. 107. They were numerous and great 108 109 110. They were suited to the Evangelical Design p. 111 112. Divine Power manifest in converting the World notwithstanding its deep corruption and the opposition of Potentates and Philosophers to the Gospel p. 113 to 124. The instruments mean that the power might be of God p. 124 125. The Gospel proposes super-rational Mysteries super-moral Virtues super-mundane rewards things so much above us that without a Divine power the proposal would have been fruitless p. 126 127. CHAP. VII The Truth of God manifested in Christ p. 133 134. The Promise of the Messiah p. 134. The Messiah is already come ibid. 135. Jesus is the true Messiah p. 136 137 138. All the other promises are built upon him 138 139. The truth of the Moral Law evidenced in him 139. The Mandatory part proved by his active Obedience The Minatory by his Sufferings p. 139 140 141. He is the substance of the Types and Sacrifices p. 142 143 144. Somewhat in him answers to them p. 144 145. And somewhat in him infinitely transcends them p. 146 to 149. The truth of Worship set forth in him p. 150. He unclogged it from Rituals opened the spiritual mode of it communicates Grace for it reveals the great Reward of Eternal Life p. 150 151 152. CHAP. VIII Gods Providence asserted from Scripture Philosophy and Reason 156 157 158. It hath a double act Conservative and Ordinative p. 159 160 161. Both are manifested in Christ p. 162. It was over Christ over his Genealogy Birth Life Death p. 162 163 164. Over the fruit of his Satisfaction in raising up a Church p. 165. It aimed at a Church directed the means and added the blessing p. 166 167. That opinion That Christ might have dyed and yet there might have been no Church is false p. 168 169 170. All other Providences reduced to those over Christ and the Church p. 171 to 176. Epicurus's Objection against Providence answered p. 176 177 178. Providence over free acts of men asserted and yet Liberty not destroyed p. 178 to 186. The objections touching the afflictions of good men and the event of sin solved p. 186 to 192 The Entity in sinful actions distinct from the Anomy the Order from the Ataxy p. 192 193 c. CHAP. IX The Doctrine of Original sin the great moment of it p. 202 to 205. Adam's sin imputed to us p. 206. The proof of it from Scripture p. 207 to 209. Adam's capacity p. 210. Adam's righteousness ibid. Objections answered p. 211 to 215. Our inherent pravity p. 216. The proof of it from Scripture p. 217 218. The experience of our hearts p. 219 to 221. The actual sins in the world p. 222 223. The doctrine of Original sin manifested from Christs extraordinary Conception p. 224 225. His Headship opposed to Adam's p. 226 from the institution of Baptism p. 227. The wickedness of the Jews in crucifying of Christ p. 228 229. The purchase of Regeneration and Salvation made by Christ p. 230 to 234. A short improvement of this Doctrine p. 235 236 c. CHAP. X. Touching Grace p. 239. The fountain of it Gods love ib. 240. The streams supernatural gifts p. 240 241. The center Heaven p. 242. It s freeness in that all perish not in the fall Original sin meriting death and Christ being a free gift p. 242 to 248. It s freeness in chusing a Church to God p. 248. Election not of all p. 249. No Legislative act but a singling out of some to life in an infallible way and meerly of Grace 250 to 259. It 's freeness in the external and internal Call p. 259 to 262. The distinction between the two Calls 263 to 269. The efficacy of Grace as to the Principles of Faith and other graces with the manner of their production p. 269 to 276. As to actual believing and willing with the proofs of it 276 to 285. As to perseverance in faith and holiness p. 285 286. The Habits of Grace desectible in themselves but not in their dependence p. 287 to 295. CHAP. XI Touching Justification as to the Law p. 325 to 327. Christs Righteousness constitutes us righteous p. 328. A double imputation One to the proper Agent another to those in
conjunction p. 329 330. The conjunctions between Christ and us p. 331 to 334. How Christs Righteousness is imputed to us p. 335 to 337. That it is not only the Meritorious but Material cause of our Justification 338. This is proved from that phrase The Righteousness of God ib. 339 340. From the nature of Justification p. 341 to 343. From the parallel of the two Adams 344 to 351. From other phrases in Scripture 351 to 357. From a pardon as not being the same with Justification 357 to 364. From Christs suffering in our stead 364 365. The Objections against imputed Righteousness answered 365 to 374. What justifies us as to the Gospel-terms 374 c. The necessity and connexion of a twofold Righteousness 375 to 381. How we are justified by Faith 381 382. How Good works are necessary 382 to 387. A short conclusion 387 388 c. CHAP. XII Touching an Holy Life 390 to 392. It is not from principles of Nature 393 394. It is the fruit of a renewed regenerated heart 395 to 401. It issues out of faith and love 401 to 407. It proceeds out of a pure intention towards the will and glory of God 407 to 414. It is humble and dependent upon the influences of Grace 414 to 421. It requires a sincere mortification of sin without any salvo or exception 421 to 427. It stands in an exercise of all Graces 427 428. It makes a man holy in ordinances alms prosperity adversity contracts calling 428 to 441. There is such an exercise of graces as causeth them to grow 441 to 447. The conclusion of the Chapter 447 to 449. CHAP. I. Chap 1 A short View of Gods All-sufficiency and condescension in revealing himself The various ways of Manifestation In the making of the World and Man After the fall in the moral Law and in types and shadows Lastly and above all in and by Jesus Christ GOD All-sufficient must needs be his own happiness he hath his Being from himself and his happiness is no other than his being radiant with all Excellencies and by intellectual and amatorious reflexions turning back into the fruition of it self His Understanding hath prospect enough in his own infinite Perfections his Will hath rest enough in his own infinite Goodness he needed not the pleasure of a World who hath an eternal Son in his bosom to joy in nor the breath of Angels or men who hath an eternal Spirit of his own he is the Great All comprizing all within himself nay unless he were so he could not be God Had he let out no beams of his glory or made no intelligent creatures to gather up and return them back to himself his happiness would have suffered no eclipse or diminution at all his Power would have been the same if it had folded up all the possible Worlds within its own arms and poured forth never an one into being to be a monument of it self His Wisdom the same if it had kept in all the orders and infinite harmonies lying in its bosom and set forth no such series and curious contexture of things as now are before our eyes His Goodness might have kept an eternal Sabbath in it self and never have come forth in those drops and models of Being which make up the Creation His Eternity stood not in need of any such thing as time or a succession of instants to measure its duration nor his Immensity of any such Temple as Heaven and Earth to dwell in and fill with his presence His Holiness wanted not such pictures of it self as are in Laws or Saints nor his Grace such a channel to run in as Covenants or Promises His Majesty would have made no abatement if it had had no train or host of creatures to wait upon it or no rational ones among them such as Angels and men to sound forth its praises in the upper or lower World Creature-praises though in the highest tune of Angels are but as silence to him as that Text may be read Psalm 65.1 Were he to be served according to his Greatness all the men in the World would not be enough to make a Priest nor all the other creatures enough to make a Sacrifice fit for him Is it any pleasure to him that thou art righteous saith Eliphaz Job 22.3 No doubt he takes pleasure in our righteousness but the complacence is without indigence and while he likes it he wants it not That such an infinite All-sufficient One should manifest himself must needs be an act of admirable supereffluent Goodness such as indeed could not be done without stooping down below his own Infinity that he might gratifie our weakness Those two Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports flesh or weakness and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to annunciate and declare good tidings are of a neer affinity In the mysterie of the Incarnation God came down into our flesh and in every other manifestation of himself he comes down as it were into the weakness of creatures or notions that we who cannot hear or understand the eternal Word in it self or enter the Light inaccessible might see him in reflexes and finite glasses such as we are able to bear Every manifestation imports condescension The World as fair and goodly a structure as it is is but instar puncti aut nihili like a little drop or small dust to him Creature-reason though a divine particle and more glorious than the Sun it self is but a little spark for the Infinite Light to shew himself in No words no not those in the purest Laws and richest Promises are able to reach him who as an Ancient hath it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essence Goodness Wisdom all in hyperbole in a transcendent excess above words or notions His Name is above every name nevertheless he humbles himself to appear to our minds in a Scripture-image nay to our very senses in the body of Nature that we might clasp the arms of Faith and Love about the holy beams and in their light and warmth ascend up to their great Original the Father of Lights and Mercies God hath manifested himself many ways He set up the material World that he though an invisible Spirit might render himself visible therein all the hosts of Creatures wear his colours Sensible things say the Platonists are but the types and resemblances of spiritual which are the primitive and archetypal Beings Every thing here below say the Jewish Cabalists hath some root above and all Worlds have the print and seal of God upon them Eternity shadows forth it self in time infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness pourtray out themselves upon finite things in such legible characters that as soon as we open our eyes upon them we see innumerable creatures pointing to the Creator and teaching that Wisdom which Archytas the Philosopher placed in the reduction of all things to one great Original Almighty Power hath printed it self upon the World nay upon every little particle of it
manner Christ's satisfaction doth first in order of Nature make us righteous by it self imputed and then by the sanctifying Graces communicated by vertue of it Now if Christs satisfaction be not it self communicated to us as Members of him then the Glory of his Headship seems to fail he is not so strong an Head as Adam Righteousness is not so amply communicated from Christ as sin is from Adam Adam communicates the sin it self to us but Christ communicates his Righteousness in the effects only if Christ only merited Justification the Glory of his Headship seems not to stand in it in Sanctification he as our Head communicates sanctifying Graces to us to be the matter of our Sanctification but in Justification he doth not communicate his satisfaction to us to be the matter of our Justification he merited Justification upon Gospel-terms before our Union with him What doth he after or more as our head in Justification his satisfaction not being communicated to us he seems not to be so compleat an Head in Justification as in Sanctification to make this Argument from Christ's Headship more clear it will not be amiss to consider some passages in that fifth Chapter to the Romans Wherefore as by one Man sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned verse 12. in this and the two following verses one part of the collation viz. That of Adam being laid down where is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 collationis or how is it to be supplyed some Divines think that it is quite omitted by the Apostle others conceive it to be couched in those words Who is the figure of him that was to come verse 14. but whether it be the one or the other surely there must be somewhat understood on Christ's part as correspondent to that of Adam who was a Type of him Piscator supplies it thus Plena comparatio sic habet quemadmodum per Adam peccatum introiit in omnes homines per peccatum mors eo quod in Adamo omnes peccarunt sic per Christum Justitia introiit in omnes credentes per Justitiam vita eo quod in Christo omnes credentes pro peccatis satisfecerunt he saith that all Believers satisfied in Christ I intend somewhat more in this point then I suppose he did Yet I would speak less in words then so I think the expression that we satisfied in him is not an expedient one though in Scripture nothing to me seems to sound more like an answer to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 12. then that Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5.15 though the Learned Camero saith De Eccles fol. 224. in Christi morte Ecclesiae est veluti satisfaciens Deo Yet I wave that expression for it seems to import as if Christ's satisfaction were in its full latitude imputed to us It is as much as I intend that we as Members of him do in a measure participate of his satisfaction so far that it is the matter of our Justification against the Law Adam's sin is is not communicated to us in the full latitude but so far as to make us sinners Christ's Satisfaction is not communicated to us in the full latitude but so far as to make us righteous But to go on to another passage in that Chapter As by one Man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Vers 19. In this famous Text those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as and so also are to be noted it is as much as to say as it was in the one case so it is in the other as Adam's sin was derived upon us so also is Christ's Righteousness if Adam's sin were in some measure communicated to us to make us sinners then Christ's Righteousness is in some measure comunicated to us to make us righteous we see what is the best way to judge how far Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us not by comparing the Imputation of our Sin to Christ and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to us but by comparing the Imputation of Adam's sin to us and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to us in that Text He was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 there is no as and so also as there is in the parallel of the two Adams though I think it hard to say that sin was Imputed to Christ only in the effects for unless our sin as it was fundamentum paenae was Imputed to him unless it was so far Imputed as to render his sufferings punishments his sufferings were not penal and if not penal sin was not at all imputed to him no not in the effect yet if sin was Imputed to him only in the effect it follows not that his Righteousness should be so only Imputed to us the Apostle saith not as he was made sin so we are made Righteousness there is no as and so in that Text as there is in the parallel of the Adam's there is a great disparity in the cases Sin was not imputed to Christ to constitute him a sinner but Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us to constitute us righteous Sin was imputed to Christ that it might be absorpt and swallowed up in his sweet-smelling Sacrifice but Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us that it may abide upon us as the matter of our Justification We see here in the point of Imputed Righteousness we must take our measures not from our sin imputed to Christ but from Adam's sin imputed to us Further The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 19. Verse emphatically points out the material cause of Justification Christ's Righteousness as a meritorious cause is an impulsive to God to constitute us righteous but to be an impulsive to constitute is not properly to constitute as a meritorious cause it impetrates that we shall be made righteous but by that Impetration it doth no more make us righteous than by the Impetration of sanctifying Graces it makes us holy notwithstanding these Impetrations we are not indeed holy without those Graces nor are we righteous without a Righteousness as a meritorious cause it was before Faith nay before the Covenant of Promise but then it constituted none righteous It was for all but it constitutes not all You will say As soon as a Man by Faith hath a capacity it constitutes him righteous How so It was a meritorious cause before Faith now it is no more at the first it procured that Men should be justified upon Gospel-terms and now what new or fresh act or energy hath it Indeed there is somewhat more on Man's part viz. Faith somewhat more on God's viz. Justifying the Believer But what is there more on Christ's the merit is as before one and the same and impetrates Justification on Gospel-terms for all on our part there is
Christ's Righteousness be imputed to us then God sees no sin is in us Ans God sees not sin in us with a vindictive Eye but with an intuitive one he doth nay he cannot but do so as long as there is omniscience in him and sin in us Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us as it is a Satisfaction and that supposes us to have been Sinners else what need could there be of a Satisfaction though the Law were satisfied in point of Justification yet still it demands duty in point of Sanctification though that Satisfaction take away the imperfection of our duties and Graces as to the guilt yet not as to the very being Object 7. If Christ's Righteousness be imputed to us there needs no new Obedience in order to Salvation Ans The Socinians object this against Christ's Satisfaction in which notion I take it that Christ's righteousness is imputed to us * Cont. Meis Fol. 138. Si jà m Deo plenè persolutum est quod ei à nobis plenè debebatur quid adhuc nos pietate bonis operibus maceremus jam nec Deus nos jure punire not ab aeternâ vitâ jure excludere potest so Schlictingius But Christ's Satisfafaction may very well stand with our obedience Christ satisfied the Law so far as that his righteousness imputed justifies us against the Law but not so far as that it should be our very sanctity and holiness for then of imputed it should become such as they are inherent which is impossible in this respect therefore the Law asks obedience from us every Believer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Under the Law to Christ as far under it as it is a rule to our life Nay Christ's righteousness is far from evacuating our obedience that it is the great foundation upon which the Holy Spirit the fountain of Holiness is communicated to us as it was under the Law in cleansing the Leper the holy Oyl was put upon the Atoning Blood Levit. 14.17 So it is under the Gospel in purifying us First the Blood of Christ is sprinkled on us by imputation and then the holy Unction the Divine spirit is poured out upon us were there no Atoning blood shed the Holy Spirit would not so much as touch upon fallen man were that Blood not applied to us the Holy Spirit would never dwell in us as a principle of obedience Object 8. Christs righteousness cannot be both the meritorious and material cause of Justification for then it should be both an external and internal cause thereof Which cannot be Ans We must not here take our measures from reason it was well said by one In Logicis ratio facit fidem in Theologicis fides facit rationem Evangelical mysteries though above the line of humane reason must be owned in Faith though the mode of them be inexplicable by us Christ's righteousness may be considered under a double respect either as it is offered up to God or as it is applied to men In the first respect it is common for all so far as to render them justifiable on Gospel terms In the second it is peculiarized to Believers In the first it founds the promises of justification by Christ's blood in the second it executes them and which is as easily conceiveable as the other in the first it is a meritorious cause of justification in the second a material Having answered these Objections which I look upon as most material I shall conclude as I began that Christ's righteousness as it is a Satisfaction is so far imputed to his believing members as to be the matter of their justification The Law in that point can ask no more of them than that satisfaction there is enough in that to answer for all their sins Thus far I have treated touching our righteousness as to the Law I now come to speak of our righteousness as to the Gospel Christ's righteousness answers as to the Law of works Faith answers as to the terms of the Gospel Do this or die was satisfied by Christ's righteousness Believe and live is answered by Faith Christus est impletio Legis Spirious est impletio Evangelii Now here I shall first shew the necessity of this two-fold righteousness and then the connexion which is between them 1. There is a necessity of this two-fold righteousness God at first made man a holy righteous creature and upon the fall he set to his hand a second time to lift up man out of the Chains of Sin and wrath into a state of Grace and Life eternal God as Creator gave man a Law of perfect obedience suited to his primitive nature and as it were interwoven with the principles of it God as Redeemer gave us a Law of Grace in which there is as much abatement and condescention to our faln estate as could comport with his own Holiness and Majesty In the former God stood upon the highest terms of perfect sinless obedience in the latter he comes down to the lowest terms imaginable He will justifie and save every one who by true Faith yields and resigns himself up to the conditions of the Gospel where there are distinct Laws there must be distinct righteousnesses to answer them That which comes up to the condescending terms of the Gospel falls much short of the high terms of the Law That which satisfies the Law is a thing of incomparably greater excellency than that which answers to the terms of the Gospel There are two distinct charges or accusations to be supposed the one that we are Sinners such as have broken the Law The other that we are Unbelievers such as have rejected the Gospel Here therefore must be distinct Plea's To the First the Plea is Christ's Satisfaction to discharge us from the Law To the Second the Plea is Faith which is the condition of the Gospel To the charge of final unbelief it is no Plea to say that Christ hath satisfied to the charge of being a sinner the Plea doth not consist in Faith it self but in its object viz. Christ's Satisfaction The righteousnesses themselves are of different natures as to the Law our righteousness is without us in the glorious Satisfaction of Christ made ours by a gracious imputation as to the Gospel our righteousness is within us in that Faith which complies with the Evangelical terms as to the Law our righteousness is not the idem but a satisfaction made for the breaches of it as to the Gospel our Faith is the very idem which the Gospel condition calls for It is of great concern in Justification to place these two righteousnesses in their proper Orbes if either of them be carried out of their own Sphear Religion is subverted As to the Law Christ's Satisfaction is our only righteousness it is true Faith receives the Atonement but neither Faith nor any other inherent Grace can here be our righteousness All these have their spots of imperfection how faltring is our Faith how cold our charity how much is
die and in that other which is a kind of Commentary upon it Cursed is he that continueth not in all things These Threatnings which were the sanction of that eternal Law touching which our Saviour assures us that one jot or tittle of it shall not pass away are not to be confounded with those conditional Threatnings which are extant in Scripture and were by God used to induce men unto repentance Now that Truth might be salved there was in Christs Sufferings a conjunction of a Satisfaction and a kind of execution of the Law Indeed an execution of it in the rigour or strict letter of it there was not neither could that be but upon the Sinner himself yet there was a kind of execution of it in an equitable sense in our Sponsor Jesus Christ his Satisfaction though it was not the idem the very same which the letter of the Law called for yet in infinite Wisdom it was accommodated to the terms of the Law as far as the decorum of his Sacred Person could admit of in the threatning there was Death and a Curse and both these were in the sufferings of Christ hence the Apostle saith That sin was so condemned in his flesh that the righteousness of the Law was fulfilled Rom. 8.3 4. It was in a sort executed in our Surety that in the same sufferings there might be a satisfaction to Justice and a compliance with Truth He that considers these Conjunctions will have cause to cry out with the Psalmist Mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other Psalm 85.10 5. That poor lapsed man with his blind eyes and hard heart utterly uncapable in himself of Heaven may be made meet for it there was in Christs sufferings a conjunction of Satisfaction and Merit Justice was compensated and Grace impetrated Indeed the Socinians blind with their own corrupt reason cannot see how these two should stand together ubi est satisfactlo ibi non est meritum Satisfactio est solutio debiti de jure meritum autem opus indebitum Soc. Satisfaction being the payment of a just debt and Merit the doing of an undue work To which I answer It is true that when one pays a finite sum for his own debt there is not there cannot be a merit in it but when Jesus Christ paid down sufferings of an infinite value for us there cannot but be an immense merit in them Infinity is an Ocean and may run over in effects as far as it pleases those sufferings had a kind of Infinity in them enough to pay divine Justice and over and above by a redundance of merit to purchase all grace for us Hence the Apostle saith That the Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ Tit. 3.6 Christ ascended up to Heaven in the glory of his Merits and from thence poured down the Holy Spirit on men that their blind eyes might be opened upon the mysteries of the Gospel and their hard hearts might be melted into repentance Thus a fair way is opened to make fal'n man capable of Eternal Life 6. Because the inward vital principles of Grace in men must needs flourish most when there is an outward excellent pattern of Holiness set before them there was therefore in Christs sufferings a conjunction of Merit and Example the Merit procured the principles of Grace and the Example by its divine beauty drew them out into imitation Vix fieri posse videtur ut unâ eâdem re satisfiat simul exemplum relinquatur Socin Prael cap. 20. Socinus thinks that a Satisfaction and an Example can very hardly meet together in the same thing the like scruple may be made touching Merit and Example and the very truth is Satisfaction and Merit are a Cup which we cannot drink of a Sea in which we cannot trace or follow our Saviour Nevertheless infinite Wisdom laid one plot under another and under inimitable Satisfaction and Merit couch'd an incomparable pattern of Holiness for us We may clearly see in him how we are to mortifie corruptions bear afflictions learn obedience by sufferings and obey unto the death In these he hath left us an Example that we might follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 Having seen the contrivance in these rare Conjunctions let us now consider how the Divine Wisdom set Ambushments for our spiritual Enemies I mean Sin Satan the World and Death all which are in a very admirable manner overcome by Jesus Christ Sin which meritoriously was the bloody crucifier of the Son of God was crucified together with him when he suffered it was in his flesh condemned as an accursed thing worthy to die no sooner are we in him by Faith but it loses its kingdom and by a divine Virtue from his Cross it droops and languishes away in us Satan the arch-enemy at Christs death seemed to be a Conqueror that God Incarnate should be slain by his hellish Instruments that the whole Church should die in its Head looks like a mighty Victory when the Head shall die what shall the Members do when the Sun the great Globe of Light in the spiritual World shall be turned into blood what should remain but that darkness which Satan hath the power of Upon the death of the Duke of Guise Henry the Third broke out thus Nunc demum Rex sum Now at last I am King Upon the death of our Saviour Satan might suppose himself absolute Prince in the lower World a greater Adam than the first being fallen no man can probably stand before him But here infinite Wisdom shews forth it self Satan is taken in his own snare by that very death of Christ which was procured by his own Agents is he utterly overthrown Christ upon the Cross did spoil Principalities and Powers and triumph over them in it Col. 2.15 The satisfaction in his sufferings paid off divine Justice and the Merit in them procured that divine Spirit which is able to bind and cast out Satan from the hearts of men The Cross was now turned into a triumphant Chariot and as an Ancient hath it there were two affixed to it Du◠in cruce affixi sunt Christus visibiliter sponte ad tempus diabolus invisibiliter invitus in perpetuum Orig. Christ visibly freely for a time the Devil invisibly coactively for ever that Cross was a final Victory over him He was overcome not by a man only but by a man suffering bleeding dying upon a Cross the Lord reigneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Cross as some of the Ancients read that 10th verse in the 96 Psalm through death he destroyed him that had the power of death that is the devil Heb. 2.14 The Devil was destroyed by Death his own weapon and overcome in that which he had the power of The wicked World at the death of Christ triumphed and insulted even to blasphemy He saved others himself he cannot save Matth. 27.42 as if all his miraculous power were now
nostram personam sustein our person in his sufferings there was a double commutaton his person was put in the room of our persons and his sufferings in the room of our sufferings he that satisfies for another must do it nomine debitoris he that pays in his own name cannot satisfie for another When our Saviour said to Peter That give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for me and thee Matth. 17.27 if Peter had paid it only in his own name he could not have satisfied for his Master In like manner if Christ had suffered only in his own Name he could not have satisfied for Peter or any other The Debt which he satisfied for was ours not his he stood as our Representative and satisfied for us he did not only suffer nostro bono that the profit might be ours but nostro loco that the Satisfaction it self might be ours nevertheless according to Divine Constitution that is that it might be ours not immediately but as soon as we become Members of him not according to the full latitude but according to the capacity of Members not to all intents but that it might be the matter of our Justification as to the Law Having laid down my Reasons I shall now proceed to answer the Objections made against Imputed Righteousness only here I must remember the Reader of one thing Let him not think that there are no Mysteries in our Religion as if all there were within the line of Humane Reason There are Super-rational Mysteries in Christ's person mortal and immortal temporal and eternal the Creature and the Creator do in an ineffable manner meet together in one Person and why may there not be such in Christ Mystical too The union between Christ and Believers is a great Mystery Ephes 5.32 and the communication of his Righteousness to them which ensues upon that union hath too much of Mystery in it to be measured by Humane Reason Proclus said well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why dost thou reproach Divine things with Humane Reasonings Reason is no competent Judge of such matters Object 1. An Accident cannot be removed from its ject Christ's Righteousness is an accident Ans An Accident cannot be removed from its Subject so as to have a novel inhesion but it may be transferred by a just Imputation I shall give two instances of this Adam's sin was imputed unto us if not then as I have before proved there can be no such thing as original sin the Doctrine of which hath been owned by the Church in all Ages Again our sin was imputed unto Christ else his sufferings could not be penal the Scripture is emphatical he was made Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all Esa 53.6 St. Austin saith that he was delictorum susceptor non commissor St. Jerom saith non de coelis attulit sed de nobis assumpsit if our sin was not at all imputed to him his sufferings could not be penal To clear this I shall first prove that Christs sufferings were penal in a proper sence and then that they could not be such without sin imputed First Christ's sufferings were penal in Scripture we find that our sins were born in his body and condemned in his flesh that he was wounded and bruised for them that he was made a curse for us all which speak penal sufferings If his sufferings were not penal how were they satisfactory a proper satisfaction can hardly be proved from an improper punishment How did he suffer in our stead If he did it was in a no-punishment which is all one as if Archelaus had reigned in the room of his Father in a No-kingdom what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or example was there in his sufferings to deterr us from sin There is no such thing in sufferings not penal what demonstration of Justice was there in them in sufferings not penal power may appear but justice cannot We see here his sufferings were penal but without sin imputed how could they be so Socinus who would not have them penal lest they should be satisfactory too saith that Christ died quia ita Deo ipsi visum est Deserv l. 3. cap. 9. because so it seemed good to God and him but would this make his sufferings penal no he intended no such thing neither will this do it God's meer Will may inflict sufferings but nothing but Justice can inflict punishment Justice unless moved inflicts it not neither is there any other mover but that of sin imputed Where no sin is imputed there it is as to punishment all one as if there were no sin and where there is no sin at all there can be no such thing as punishment We are therefore under a necessity to say that sin was in tantum so far imputed to Christ as to render his sufferings penal and withal we see an accident passing to another by imputation only here it will be objected that sin was only imputed to Christ in the effects but I take it this suffices not for the effect of sin is punishment and punishment cannot be where no sin is imputed a punishment without a why or a wherefore is a punishment for nothing that is it is no punishment and where there is no punishment sin is not so much as imputed in the effect So that if it be imputed in the effect it self must be so far imputed as to render the sufferings penal which makes good the instance Object 2. If Christ's Righteousness be indeed imputed to us then it is imputed in the full latitude we are reputed by God to have satisfied Divine Justice we are then imputatively our own Saviours and Redeemers Nay as Bellarmine saith Redemptores Salvatores Mundi Redeemers and Saviours of the World Ans If this Principle That all Imputation is in the full latitude be true I yeild up the cause for ever I am sure I am not my own Saviour or Redeemer I never satisfied Divine Justice for my sins but that this Principle is not true I shll endeavour to manifest Non-imputation and Imputation must needs have the same Rules to be governed by this I suppose must not be denied by those who say That the Non-imputation of sin is the Imputation of Rightousness Rom. 4.1 Sin is not imputed to Believers But how what totally and in every respect No surely still the culpa abides the sin will be a sin the Sinner a Sinner that is one who sinned but it is not imputed as to punishment If Sin may be Non-imputed in some respects then Righteousness may be imputed in a limited sence also if all Imputation be in the full latitude then there is no Imputation of a thing at all save only to the proper doer of it neither according to Principles of meer Nature nor according to Principles of Justice nor yet according to a Divine Constitution Not according to Principles of meer Nature according to these sin internal in the Will is