saying To us a Child is borne and to us a Son is given Thirdly as he denies the satisfaction of Christ to be imputed to us so he denies the imputation of our sinnes to Christ and that very closely and cunningly under colour of that challenge which Christ made to the Iewes which of you can convince me of sinne For our Saviour speakes of sinne committed by himselfe and such aspersion none can say upon him But all our iniquities GOD laid upon him and he bare all our sinnes Esa. 53. And was made sinne for us 2 Cor. 5 21. and to cast this aspersion of all our sinnes on him is a sure foundation of the peace and safety of the Church In the second proposition hee doth most notoriously aequivocate and play the Hypocrite First in that he seemes to acknowledg the sacrifice of Christ to be an attonement and satisfaction for the world and a propitiatory sacrifice for the sinne of it Secondly in that he denyeth his Lord and Master Socinus and calles the Spirit which wrought in him a Spirit of error whereas indeed he himselfe is lead by the same Spirit and doth deny Christ to be the propitiatory sacrifice for our sinnes as far as Socinus ever did For in a propitiatory sacrifice offered to purge sinne and to make attonement there were three necessary requisits First the thing offered must be of his owne proper goods for whom it was offered so the Law required and therefore David durst not offer for his sinne that which was not his owne Purchased with his money 2. Sam. 24 24. Secondly the owner whose expiatory sacrifice it was did lay his hand upon the head of the Beast which was to be offered and thereby in a type imposed all his sinne and guilt upon it so that it became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his guilt Levit 5 6. and Exod. 30.10 and did beare upon it all his sins Lev. 16.22 Thirdly this sacrifice offered up by the Priest in that manner which GOD praescribed in the Law GOD accepted as a propitiation for him it was set on his skore and covered his sinne as the Hebrew words signifie Levit. 1.4 He who denies any one of these overthrowes the sacrifice of attonement Now this dissembler doth with Socinus deny all these things in Christs offering of himselfe a sacrifice of attonement to purge sinne First he denies the true reall Spirituall union betweene Christ and the persons pardoned and justified by which Christ and they are made one body and hee is their head and they his members For if he and the faithfull be one then all his goods are theirs and their debts are his and his satisfaction and righteousnesse is theirs and is set on their skore which he denyeth and altogether opposeth and so denyes their interest and propriety in Christ and their union with him as his Master Wotton did in expresse word In his Essayes of Justification Secondly he also denieth that the sinnes of the faithfull were layd on Christ and imputed to him and in this he chargeth GOD with notorious injustice who laid the punishments of all our sinnes on Christ without the sinnes For he saith that Christ bare the punishmeÌ„ts though hee had no share in our sinnes by any imputation Thirdly he denyeth that the sacrifice of Christs suffering and obedience offered up by him is imputed to us set on our skore and accepted for us And thus in the doctrine of Christs sanitisfaction and attonement he declares himselfe a true disciple of Socinus lead by the same spirit of error and of the same opinion though in words he denyes it And what he here seemes to grant is no more but what all Socinians yeeld unto In the third proposition viz. that Christ is the sole and entire miraculous cause of every mans justification c. Hee doth aequivocate and delude the simple and while hee deceives them hee is deceived himselfe as the Apostle saith of wicked seducers 2 Tim. 3 13. For if he doth understand his owne words that Christ is the sole meritorious cause of every mans justification that is justified by GOD he must needs grant that Christs satisfaction made to GODS justice and his perfect righteousnesse as it is meritorious and of great value in it selfe so it is appropriated communicated imputed to him that is it is made actually meritorious for him and makes him worthy to be counted righteous and to be iustified for his words signify so much though hee is in his purpose and meaning as contrary as darknesse is to light for he meanes no more but that Christ meritted for himselfe that GOD should gratifie and honour him with the justification of those that believe in him so hee explaines himselfe in the last words It is certaine that a thing may be merritorious in it selfe for the worth of it but it cannot be meritorious to any particular person till it be appropriated to him and set on his skore Wotton his Master this point being proved to his face with undeniable arguments was driven to disclaime the word merit denyed Christs meritting for the faithfull and rejected it as a thing not named in Scripture in his Essayes of Justification Besides this deceiving of himselfâ— and misconceiving of his owne words I find here much absurdity First in that he is wavering and not setled in his Iudgment for in many places he holds faith to be the righteousnesse of a man justified and here he calles absolvtion from sinne and condemnation the righteousnesse which is given to every man in his justification I grant that in a man iustified there is no righteousnesse inhaerent but his cleanenesse from guilt of all sinnes both of commission and omission and in this sense Calvin Luther and others say that all the righteousnesse in a man iustified is the remission of his sinnes that is his cleanenesse from the guilt of them but this is not the righteousnesse which iustifieth him and which is communicated to him to make him cleane and to worke this cleannesse from the guilt of his sin that is the righteousnesse inhaerent in Christ which makes him cleane and puts him in a stare of righteousnesse before GOD but this profound Doctor with that stamp and superscription of rationall authority which hee conceiveth to be set on him hath not yet searched into the deep things oâ— GOD. Secondly he is most absurd in imagining that Christ hath purchased favour and honour witâ— GOD that he might iustifie theâ—… that believe in him by Procuring that faith in a proper sense should be accepted for righteousnesse For Christ as he was GOD man was infinitely of himselfe in favour and honour with GOD and humbled himselfe onely for us and in our behalfe fulfilled the Law not to purchace honour and favour to himselfe nor to make himselfe worthy to be gratified and honored by GOD as hee affirmeth Thus wee see his absurdities and his deceiving of himselfe The fourth
they bid their owne workes of the Law adiew and do no more dreame of iustification by them Secondly that GOD for the cure of their weak consciences tells them in the Gospell that if they beleeve in Christ this beleeving shall bee as good as a perfect compleat righteousnesse by this hee would make GOD a pure Socinian one who takes the Crowne from Christ and the righteousnes from GOD and man and sets it on the head of mans Faith which in the best beleevers and even in Abraham himselfe was mingled with much doubting and many infirmities In a word though all Orthodox Divines doe according to the Scriptures acknowledge that upon a mans beleeving truly in Christ GOD doth impute to him the perfect and compleat righteousnes of Christ which is made his before he can truly apply it by Faith Yet it can never enter into the heart of a true Christian but his soule will abhorre to thinke that any mans beleeving should bee to him as good as perfect compleat righteousnes or that GOD should accept it in stead of perfect righteousnesse and rather then the righteousnes of Christ GOD and man who is made unto us of GOD righteousnes 1 Cor. 1.30 and in whom we are found to have the righteousnes of GOD by faith Philip. 3.9 To conclude this passage let me adde this as a foule absurdity For if hee speake by experience that conscience leads men naturally to thinke that there can be no iustification without righteousnesse which is a perfect fulfilling of the Law Which I confesse my conscience and my reason tell mee and GODS word teacheth mee plainely Then what is become of his conscience who contrary to all truth and reason and the common conscience of all men will teach iustification without any true righteousnesse at all either of Christ or our owne and will crowne mans weak Faith with the Crown of righteousnesse which onely belongs to Christ and his perfect obedience Socinianisme SO that now the state and drift of the question is not either First whether Faith without an object or as separated from Christ bee imputed for righteousnesse for such a Faith doubtles in the point of justification was never dreamt of by any man that kept his 〈◊〉 company men may as well fancy a living man without a soulâ— or a wise man without his witts as a Faith without an object much lesse was such a Faith conceived by any man to bee imputed for righteousnesse Christianisme IN the fourth part or passage he first propounds five foolish quaeres which he denieth to concerne the state of the question Secondly he propounds a sixt quaere and that in plaine and precise termes hee affirmes I will first particularly answere the 5. quaeres and after lay downe the â—iâ—t at large and addresse my selfe to the confutation of his discourse upon it And first whereas he pronounceth him a mad man who dreames of faith without Christ the object or thinks that faith which believes not in Christ should be imputed for righteousnesse Here I must be bold to put him in mind that thus he dreames in the next Chapter where he boldly affirmes and by divers arguments laboureth to prove that the Faith of Abraham which was imputed to him for righteousnes was not a beleeving in Christ neither was Christ and his righteousnes the object of it And therefore by his owne confession and his owne wordes hee doth there play the mad man and keepes not his wits company but his fancy runs wild while he strives to prove that Abrahams Faith imputed to him for righteousnesse was not a beleeving in Christ. The second Quaere NEither is it any part of the intent of the question to enquire whether Faith bee the meritorious cause of a mans justification For both they that affirme and they that deny the imputation of Faith for righteousnes deny the meritoriousnes of Faith every way how ever it is true that they thaâ— would seeme most to disclaime it and cast it further from them doe yet in some of their most beloved tenets draw very neare unto it as will afterwards appeare Answer HEre behold either grosse ignorance or wilfull lying against knowledge and conscience For all the learned know that Faith and beleeving are held by the Church of Rome to be a principall part of mans righteousnesse and workes which GOD imputes and accounts meritorious of justification and of eternall life ex condigno Yea he himselfe in the passage next before hath plainely affirmed that Faith to him that beleeveth as Abraham did is as good as perfect and compleat righteousnes which if it be true then Faith must needs be as perfect and compleat righteousnesse is the meritorious cause of justification And therefore that which he here saith is verified in himselfe though he would seeme most to disclaime the merit of Faith and to cast it furthest from him yet in some of his most beloved tenets hee drawes very neare to it yea hee embraceth it with his heart in his whole discourse the maine drift whereof is to exalt Faith into the place of Christs most meritorious righteousnesse and to put the Crowne upon it For what can be imagined more meritorious of justification then that which GOD in a proper sense judgeth and counteth for righteousnes and for which he doth justifie men and counts them righteous The third Quaere NEither is it the question whether faith be the formall cause of justification that is whether GOD doth justifie a man with his faith as a Painter makes a wall white with whitenes or as a Master makes his Scholler learned with knowledge or learning conveyed into him for both parties make the forme of justification to be somewhat really different from Faith which is the genuine tenet of Arminius Answer THis quere is very ridiculous for to imagine a quality or act in man to be the formall cause of justification which is GODS act is the fancy of a distempered braine and the conceit of a mad man His exposition of his quaere shews his want of Logicall skill For the whitenesse wherewith the Painter makes a wall white is a forme introduced into the wall it is not the formall cause of his action of painting and so learning produced in a scholler is forma docti the forme of a Scholler as hee is made learned not the formall cause of his masters teaching surely his expounding of his quaere by such dissonant similitudes sheweth that hee had need of a Master to teach him some better knowledg and learning and to set on him some better stamp and superscription of rationall authority His phrase of learning conveyed is somewhat improper for learning is not conveyed into a Scholer but produced and begotten in him Let him not therefore condemne tropes of speech seeing he himselfe can and doth often speak tropically and improperly But to come home to his quaere If by justification hee meanes imputative justification in which GOD justifies a man by imputing
righteousnesse to him and man is justified by believing that GOD counts him righteous in Christ then wee deny not that faith in some respect is the formall cause of justification For in this justification taken passively as it is mans receiving by faith that which GOD imputes to him that is as it is a mans believing that God reckons him among the righteous and counts him to be in the state of a justified person so his actuall faith and believing is the forme of his justification But take Justification according to his owne opinion for GODS imputeing faith in a proper sense for righteousnesse Then is faith that somewhat by which a man stands in the state of a person Justified before GOD even his formall righteousnesse or that at least which is in stead of formall righteousnes Thus he is every way taken and entangled in his owne words Lastly what that is which hee saith is the genuine tenet of Arminius hee doth not expresse whether it be that faith is really different or not different from the forme of Justification for his words are included in a parenthesis which might very well be left out onely this I know that Arminius professeth this to be his genuine tenet That faith is imputed to the beleever for righteousnes sensu proprio non mâ—tonymico in a proper sense without a trope In Epist. ad Hippolitum de Collibus If elsewhere hee alters his tenet and writes otherwise It is but the common disease the vertigo and giddinesse of the Socinian faction to doe as here their fellow disciple doth in this his hovering and wavering discourse that is to say and gainesay affirme and deny the same things through the inconstancy of their windy braines and mindes unsetled The 4 Quaere NOr yet doth the question make any quaere at all whether Christ be the sole meritorious cause of justification of a sinner for both they that goe on the right hand of the question and they that goe on the left hand are knit together in the same mind and iudgment concerning this Answere WHosoever denyeth such a Spirituall union communion between Christ and the penitent and believing sinner iustified as doth make Christs righteousnesse and satisfaction to become his ransome and righteousnesse and to be imputed by GOD to him and to make him accepted by GOD as one cleane from the guilt of sinne and righteous in his sight This man denyeth Christ to be the meritorious cause of the Justification of a sinner For till Christ with his satisfaction be communicated and appropriated to the faithfull yea till his righteousnes be so made theirs and set on their skore that they have a right and interest in it Christ is no more meritorious of Justification to them then hee is to Infidels and reprobates for it is as impossible for Christ to be actually meritorious of Justification to any man who hath not an interest in him as for one mans money to ransom another who is a captive upon whose skore it was never set noâ— so much interest therein given to him that it is paid for him and accounted for his ransome 5 Quaere NEither doth the question as it is here propounded intâ—nd any dispute at all whether the active obedience of Christ falling in with the passive and considered in coniunction with it be that whereby Christ merited the Justification of sinners or that which GOD hath a principall respect and recourse unto in the Justification of sinners for this also is acknowledged on both sides at least by the greater partie of both Answere BVt while he denyes GODS communicating and imputeing Christs whole obedience hee denies the merit of them in our Justification and when hee affirmes that faith and not Christs righteousnesse is the thing imputed for righteousnesse to iustification he denies Christs obedience active and passive to be that which GOD hath a principall respect and recourse unto in the iustification of sinners and therefore here he contradicts himselfe and saith untruely that all sides hold the merit of Christs whole obedience when in his Doctrine he utterly overthrowes it The 6 Quaere which he alloweth and affirmeth BUt lastly the question in plaine tearmes is this whether the faith of him that truly beleeves in Christ or whether the righteousnesse of Christ himselfe that is that obedience that Christ performed to the morall Law consisting of all those severall and particular acts of righteousnesse wherein he obeyed in the letter and propriety of it bee that which GOD imputes to a beleever for righteousnesse in his justification so that he that beleeves is not righteous onely by account or by GODS gracious reputing and accepting of him for such but is rigidly literally and peremptorily righteous constituted and made as perfectly and compleatly and legally righteous as Christ himselfe no difference at all betweene them quoad veritatem but onely quoad modum the justified every whit as righteous as the iustifier both righteous with the selfesame individuall righteousnes onely this difference betweene one and the other the iustified weares iâ— as put upon him by another by imputation the iustifier weares it as put upon him by himselfe or by inherency That the Scriptures no where countenance any such imputation of the righteousnes of Christ I trust the spirit of truth directing and assisting to make manifest in the sequele of this discourse and to give good measure of truth to the Reader heaped up by testimonies from the Scripture pressed downe by the weight of many arguments demonstrations running over with the cleare approbation of many Authors learned and sound and every way greater then exception Multa fidem promissa levant Answere TO this question laid downe in plaine and precise termes I answer First that to move this question except with purpose to discover and oppose Socinus and his followers who affirme it and stand for imputation of faith in a proper sense for righteousnes is not to be tolerated among true Christians but to dispute for that damned errour which takes the Crowne from the all-sufficient righteousnes of Christ and sets on the head of mans weake faith is most hereticall impudency as in my whole answere I shall prove aboundantly Secondly his absurd expounding of Justification by Christs righteousnes imputed and how in this question the righteousnes of Christ and the iustifying of men by it are to be understood is a notable point either of calumny in slandering our doctrine and reporting it corruptly or of subtilty that when his opinion is proved to be blasphemous hee may have some starting holes through which hee may shift away and make an escape pleading that hee mistooke our Doctrine of being righteous by Christs righteousnesse imputed and ignorantly did oppose it First no man standing for the imputation of Christs righteousnes doth affirme that every particular act of Christ which hee performed was necessary to make up a perfect and sufficient righteousnes but that his righteousnesse containes in it all his acts
their owne consciences by the inward testimony of his spirit and the inward sense and experience of inward grace and outwardly in this life before men and publiquely in the last judgements by their good workes which are evidences of their faith and of their union and communion with Iesus Christ and of their regeneration by his spirit and adoption unto GOD in him First GOD the father is the primary efficient cause of our justification Rom. 3.26.30 and 4.5 and 8.33 Secondly the inward moving cause is GODS owne free grace favour and love Rom. 3.24 Tit. 3.7 The outward moving or impulsive cause is Christs mediation Isa 53.11 Iohn 1â— 21 1 John 2.2 The instrumentall cause is Christ the mediatour communicating his whole obedience to us when by the spirit which GOD sheds on us through him wee are made one body with him 1 Cor. 12.13 Tit. 3.6 The meanes by which wee come to bee justified are either principall viz. the lively operation of the spirit spirituall union with Christ the pure and holy humanity of Christ or lesse principall the word and ministery thereof the Sacraments faith and the like as appeares Rom. 3.25.28 and 10.14 Gal. 3.8 Heb. 9.14 1 Iohn 1. â— Dan. 12.3 The materiall cause that is the righteousnesse it selfe by which they are justified that is made counted and declared to be righteous is Christs perfect righteousnes obedience and satisfaction which he GOD and man performed in our nature in the state of humiliation Rom. 3.24.25 Rom. 5.19 and 8.4 The formall cause of justification is that communion between Christ and us and that reciprocall imputation of our sinnes to Christ and of his righteousnes and full satisfaction to us which communion ariseth and floweth from the spirit which GOD sheds on us through Christ which spirit dwelling in us in some measure so as he dwelleth in the man Christ from whom hee is derived to us doth make us one spirituall body with Christ and works in us faith and all holy graces affections by which we adhere and cleave to Christ and apply and inioy his righteousnes so that it is our formall righteousnes not inherently but imputatively and by spirituall communion for it is that which doth constitute and make us righteous Rom. 5.17 18 19. and 8.4 and â—0 4 and 2 Cor. 5.21 The immediate fruit and benefit of our iustification is the state of righteousnes and of cleanenesse from the guilt of sinne and acceptation with GOD Rom. 3.25 and 4.2 also peace with GOD Rom. 5.1 The end and use of our iustification is the satisfaction and declaration of GODS iustice in that he iustifieth us by the full satisfaction of Christ and not otherwise neither by it till he communicates it to us and makes it ours Also the manifestation of his mercy free grace and bounty in that he would give his sonne to become man and to make satisfaction to the full when no other could bee found able to satisfie for us neither could his iustice by any other meanes be satisfied also in that hee would give us his spirit to unite us to his sonne and to bring us to a true communion of his righteousnes and to worke faith in us by which we receive and enioy Christ with all his benefits Rom. 3.24.26 Tit. 3.4 Ephes. 1.6.12 The contrary Doctrine of Socinus and his faction THough they grant that GOD is the chiefe efficient cause and his free grace mercy and love the inward moving cause yet they erre in the impulsive and instrumentall cause and make Christ and his righteousnes no otherwise meritorious but by procuring that GOD should count faith in a proper sense for righteousnes to them that beleeve neither any other way an instrument of iustification but by bringing faith to this honour to be accepted for or in stead of righteousnes Secondly they deny all causality of Christs righteousnes in justification except onely by way of efficiency whereas indeed and in truth it is the matter about which justification is exercised for what is justification but the communicating of that righteousnes to men and the imputing of it and declaring of them to be thereby righteous the very name of justification signifies so much and what is the forme of a justified man as he is righteous but righteousnes to imagine a righteous and justified man without righteousnes is as if one should dreame of a living man without life or soule Thirdly they deny the principall ground of justification to wit spirituall union and communion with Christ which cannot stand without imputation of Christs righteousnes for communion and union doe necessarily bring with them imputation If wee have communion of Christs satisfaction and righteousnesse GOD must needs judge and count them to be ours for his judgement is according to truth And faith which is an inferiour and subordinate meanes they set up in the place of Christs righteousnes Fourthly as they deny the materiall cause of iustification by reiecting Christs righteousnes from being the proper matter about which it is exercised so also the forme or formall cause even the mutuall communion and reciprocall imputation of our sinnes to Christ and Christs satisfaction and righteousnes to us whereby it is made our formall righteousnes not inherently but spiritually and imputatively for they acknowledge no formality but inherency Fiftly they deny the immediate fruit and benefit of justification to wit that state of righteousnes cleannesse from the guilt of sinne and acceptation with GOD wherein the justified are firmely established before GOD and stand in his sight which is the chiefe honour and prerogative of GODS Saints and their greatest comfort in all their afflictions and temptations Lastly they take away the true end and use of justification to wit the revelation of GODS infinite justice mercy bounty and free grace for they overthrow his infinite justice while they teach that GOD by his soveraign power puts his justice to silence and without Christs full satisfaction made to it for us and made ours by communion and imputation doth accept our weake faith in stead of it and makes himselfe as countable for it in all rewardes as hee would doe for the perfect fulfilling of the Law by our selves or by Christ in our stead They extenuate and vilifie GODS mercy bounty and free grace by setting up faith in stead of Christs perfect righteousnes and making it the condition of the new covenant For whatsoever is given or promised to us upon a condition to be on our part performed is not a gift of free grace and bounty And when justice may bee turned out of doores without a compleat satisfaction there is nothing left for mercy wherein to shew the power of it The infinite mercy of GOD doth appeare in this that when his infinite iustice required that wee should all be damned without a full satisfaction which none could make but the sonne of GOD in our nature and that performed for us and made ours Hee would give his onely sonne
of obedience none denyeth For suppose our Saviour by reason of imprisonment or some other restraint and impediment had beene hindered from doing divers of those workes of mercy charity and piety which hee did performe being at liberty this had not diminished his righteousnes so long as he had a ready will to doe good upon all occasions and did good workes when liberty and opportunity served Secondly none of our Divines doe thinke or write that Christs righteousnes imputed and communicated to beleevers doth make them rigidly literally and peremptorily righteous constituted and made us perfectly compleatly and legally righteous as Christ himselfe for though they are iustifiâ—d by the Communion of Christs satisfaction and have so much interest in it as to make them truely righteous yet they have it not as Christ hath it performed legally by himselfe in his owne person neither have they power to give the Spirit whereby they may communicate it to others to justifie them to make them righteous The Wife is endowed with her Husbands honours and riches and made honourable and rich but she is not endowed with her Husbands Lordship and dominion over them so far that she may give them away at her pleasure but onely posseseth them in him and with him for her owne use And so it is betweene Christ and the faithfull he is righteous rigidly and legally according to the letter of the Law They are righteous Evangelically by the Communion of his righteousnes that is originally righteous as the head in a naturall body is sensitive and hath sense and motion in it as the root and fountaine They are righteous by Communion from him and possesse his righteousnes as all the rest of the members in a living body possesse life by derivation from the heart not in the same degree as the heart doth to communicate it to others but every one so far as to be a living member Therefore all that hee here saith is but subtilty calumny and falsehood neither Scriptures nor any sound and learned Authors will minister arguments or demonstrations to him to prove any thing contrary to our Doctrine concerning the imputation of Christs righteousnes for iustification The more he strives to wrest and abuse testimonies of Scripture and learned Authors the more evident demonstrations will he give of his wickednesse and wilfull contending against GODS sacred truth Socinianisme GIve me leave here to mention that by the way which prevents many mistakes yea and offences too in reading the writings of many later Divines especially of other Churches touching this point of Justification If we take the phrase of imputing Christs righteousnes unproperly and out of the usuall and formall signification of it as Luther and Calvin and other Divines of the reformed Churches sometimes doe in their writings viz For the giving out and bestowing as it were the righteousnes of Christ in the returne of it that is in the priviledges blessings and benefits that are procured and purchased by it for men So a beleever may be said to be justified by the righteousnes of Christ imputed But then the meaning can be no more but this A beleever is justified by the imputation of Christs righteousnes That is GOD justifies a beleever for Christs righteousnes sake and not for any righteousnes of his owne Such an imputation of the righteousnes of Christ as this is is no wayes denyed or once questioned And thus such passages as those in Calvin GOD freely justifies us by imputing the obedience of Christ unto us Instit. 1. c. 3.11 and againe a man is not righteous in himselfe but because the righteousnes of Christ is communicated or imparted to him by imputation these and such like expressions in this Author are to be interpreted by such passages as these which are frequent in the same Author Christ by his obedience procured and merited for us grace and favour with GOD the Father and againe Instit. 1.2.17 and againe 1.3 c. 11.12 Christ by his obedience procured or purchased righteousnes for us And againe in Gal. 3.6 All such expressions as these import the same thing that wee are justified by the grace of GOD that Christ is our righteousnesse and that righteousnes was procured for us by the death and resurrection of Christ. By all which passages and many more of like importment that might be produced out of the same Author it s fully evident that where he mentions any imputation of the righteousnes of Christs in justification the meaning is onely this that the righteousnes of Christ is onely the meritorious cause of our justification and hee hath procured and purchased this for us at GODS hand that upon our beleeving we should bee accounted righteous by him or which is but the same that our faith should be imputed for righteousnes to us To which purpose hee speakes more significantly and expressely in the place last mentioned Gal. 3.6 men not having righteousnes lodged in them they obtaine it by imputation which imputation he thus explicates and interprets Because GOD doth impute or account their faith unto them for righteousnes Divers like passages might be drawne together out of other Authors which must be seasoned with the same salt of interpretation to bee made savorie and meet for spirituall nourishment In the Homilies of our Church there are severall passages that mention the imputation of Christs righteousnes in justification for the genuine sense whereof if wee consult with the 11. article of Religion which is concerning justification and is framed with all possible exactnes this way that so few words are capable of that will lead us directly to the same interpretation of them Wee are accounted righteous before GOD saith our Article onely for the merit of our LORD and Saviour Iesus Christ by faith and not for our owne workes or deservings Where it s to be observed that we are not said to bee constituted or made righteous before GOD in justification but onely that we are accounted or reputed such 2. It s not said that wee are accounted righteous with the righteousnes nor yet with the merit of Christ but onely wee are accounted righteous before GOD onely for the merit of our LORD Christ by faith The merit of Christ or of his righteousnes hath so farre prevailed with GOD on our behalfe that by our faith we shall bee accounted righteous before him which is in effect the same truth wee maintaine viz. that GOD for Christs sake or for Christs merits sake doth impute our faith for righteousnes unto us And thus Musculus expresseth himselfe roundly Faith is accounted for righteousnes for Christs sake And againe Loc. com de justifica This faith ought to be esteemed of us as that which GOD purposeth for Christs sake to impute for righteousnes to those that beleeve in him So Luther also ad Gal. 3.6 GOD for Christs sake accounts this imperfect faith for perfect righteousnes And Chamier calls remission of sinnes the righteousnes which is imputed to us
against the invincible rocke of the holy Scriptures and seekes to turne them like a rowling stone against a barke they rowle and rebound back and tumbling upon him grind him to powder· For if hee had ten thousand instances of Scripture wherein the fruite and benefit which men receive are signified by the names of the things which are the causes and meanes of them yet still it will appeare that the fruite is not received except men have first an interest and propriety in the causes and meanes of it And thus you see his fift part or passage proved to bee a rotten heap of stinking lyes absurdities and grosse errors Socinianisme WHerefore to draw towards the close of this first Chapter and withall to give a little more light that it may bee seene to the bottome cleerely both what wee affirme and what we deny in the question propounded First when we affirme the faith of him that beleeveth to be imputed for righteousnes The meaning is not either 1o. That it should be imputed in respect of any thing it hath from a man himselfe or as it is a mans owne act nor yet in respect of any thing it hath from GOD himselfe or from the spirit of GOD producing raising of it in the soule though it be true it requires the lighting downe of the mighty arme of GOD upon the soule to raise it Neither 3 o is it imputed for righteousnes in respect of the object or as or because it layeth hold upon Christ or his righteousnes though it be also true that that faith that is imputed for righteousnes must of necessity lay hold upon Christ and no other faith is cable of this imputation besides because if faith should justifie or be imputed as it layes hold upon Christ it should justifie out of the inhaerent dignity worth of it and by vertue of that which is naturall and intrinsecall to it there being nothing that can be conceived more naturall and essentiall to faith then to lay hold upon Christ this is the very life and soul of it and that which gives it its specificall being and subsistence Therefore to make the object of faith as such the precise and formall ground of its imputation is to make hast into the midst of Samaria whilest men are confident they are travailing towards Dotha◠It s the giving of the right hand of felowship to the Romish justification which makes faith the meritorious cause of it in part But lastly when with the Scriptures we affirme that faith is imputed for righteousnesse our meaning is simply and plainely this that as GOD in the first covenant of workes required an absolute and through obedience to the whole Law with continuance in all things for every mans justification which perfect obedience had it beene performed had beene a perfect righteousnesse to the performer and so would have justified him So now in the new covenant of grace GOD requires nothing of any man for his justification but onely faith in his Sonne which faith shal be as availeable effectuall to him for his justification as a perfect righteousnes should have beene under the first covenant this is that which is meant when faith is said to bee imputed for righteousnes which is nothing but that which is taught generally by Divines both ancient and moderne Sic decretum dicit a Deo ut cessante lege solam fidem gratia Dei posceret ad salutem Ambrosius In Rom. 4. that is that the Apostle saying that to him that beleeveth his faith is imputed for righteousnes affirmeth that GOD hath decreed that the Law ceasing the grace of GOD will require of men onely faith for salvation and again upon Chap. 9. of the same Epistle Sola fides posita est ad salutem onely Faith is appointed to salvation Calvin writing upon Rom. 10.8 hath wordes of the same importance and somewhat more cleare and full ex hac distinctionis nota colligimus sicut lex opera exigit Evangelium nihil aliud postulas nisi ut fidem afferrent homines ad recipiendam Dei gratiam that is from this distinction we gather that as the Law exacted workes so the Gospell requires nothing else but that men bring faith to receive the grace of GOD. If GOD requires faith in the Gospell for that same end for which he requireth workes or perfect righteousnes in the law it necessarily followes that he shall impute this faith for that righteousnes that is accept from men upon the same termes and bee countable unto them the same favours rewards and priviledges upon it that should have beene given unto men in regard of that righteousnes had it beene performed or fulfilled otherwise he should require it for such an end or upon such tearmes as hee would refuse to make good unto it when the creature hath exhibited and tendered it unto him To require it for righteousnes or in stead of righteousnes and not to accept it for righteousnesse when it is brought to him should bee as apparant a breach of Covenant with GOD as it would be in a rich creditour that should compound and agree with his poore debtors for 1. in the pound or the like but when they brought the mony to him should refuse to take it upon any such tearmes or to discharge them of their debt and give them out their bonds Christianisme IN this last part or passage which is a meere confusion and distraction of wordes hee gives more then a little light that his Socinian heresie in this point of justification maintained with much non sense may bee seene to the bottome cleerely First hee takes upon him to shew that faith is imputed and how it is imputed Secondly hee strives to shew that Christs righteousnes is not imputed The first is in the wordes before recited The second followes hereafter First I will sift his wordes already rehearsed And after proceed to the second The summe of his speech last recited may be reduced into a Syllogisme of non sense without forme mood or figure The proposition and assumption whereof are contradictory And the conclusion damned Socinian heresie so that here I may say with the Poet. Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici His proposition runnes thus Faith is neither imputed for righteousnes in respect of any thing which it receives from man the proper subject of it nor as it is mans act who useth it and performes the acts of beleeving nor in respect of any thing which it hath from GOD or his spirit in the production of it nor in respect of the object Christ and his righteousnes nor in respect of the life and soule of it which gives to it the specificall being and subsistence to wit the application of Christ and laying hold on him The Assumption BVt faith is imputed to men and is counted and accepted as sufficiently for justification and upon the same tearmes under the Gospell as perfect righteousnes of workes and of obedience to the whole Law
which he beleeved to wit Christ promised for righteousnes and salvation was that which by GOD was upon Abrahams beleeving counted to him for righteousnes It was not his faith simply considered in it selfe but his faith embracing Christ promised and possessing him with his righteousnes and satisfaction which was reckned to him for righteousnes and as to him so to every one that beleeveth his faith is counted to him for righteousnes For all true beleevers who by faith lay hold on Christ the promised seed of Abraham and beleeve GOD to be their shield and exceeding great reward in him they are by one spirit baptised into one spirituall body with Christ united to him their spirituall head and made his lively members and sensible partakers of his perfect obedience righteousnes and full satisfaction for redemption remission of sinnes justification and perfect salvation and need not any more to seeke the reward of blessednes by the righteousnes of their owne workes performed according to the tenour of the Law by every man in his owne person but in the LORD Iesus Christ who is Iehovah Zid-kenu the LORD our righteousnes Ier. 23.6 and the end and fulfilling of the Law for righteousnes to every one that beleeveth Rom. 10.4 they have perfect righteousnes And in him GOD is become their reward and the lot and portion of their inheritance Psal. 16.5 And that gracious and free favour which GOD shewed to Abraham when hee beleeved in Christ promised and firmely without staggering applyed to himselfe the blessing promised being fully perswaded that GOD who of his free grace promised was by his power able to performe though by the course of nature and by reason of the deadnesse of Sara's wombe he himselfe seemed to bee and indeed was uncapable of that blessing The same hee will shew to all true beleevers who are Abrahams faithfull seed and children of promise that is as hee reckoned Abrahams faith for righteousnes so hee will count their faith to them for righteousnes that is he will accept and account them for righteous persons as indeed they are not for any workes of their owne nor by any righteousnesse performed according to the letter of the law in their owne persons but by the righteousnes which is through the faith of Christ and is called the righteousnes of faith because it is the righteousnes of Christ GOD and man given to them of GOD and of them apprehended and applyed by faith For being thus justified by faith and having communion with Christ of his full satisfaction and righteousnes GOD whose judgement is according to truth doth certainely judge and count them as truly they are righteous in his sight becomes in Christ their shield and exceeding great reward This is the Orthodox exposition of the Apostles wordes in this Chapter generally received by all both ancient and moderne Divines famous for learning and godlinesse The corrupt and hereticall exposition of the Apostles words made by Socinus and maintained by his followers the Arminians and other fanaticall Sectaries THey of the Socinian faction doe generally hold and obstinately affirme that Abrahams beleeving and his faith taken in a proper literall sense without any trope is here said by the Apostle to be counted to Abraham for righteousnes in stead of all righteousnes which either Abraham himselfe was by the Law bound to performe in his owne person or any surety could performe for him And in like manner to every one that beleeveth his faith is in a proper sense said to bee counted for righteousnes even his faith by it selfe and not the righteousnes of Christ with it This is their exposition And upon these wordes of the Apostle thus falsly and corruptly interpreted they build all their hereticall opinions and doctrines concerning justification of the faithfull before GOD namely these following First that faith as it is in every beleever even as it is inherent in him and is his owne faith and beleeving is the onely thing which GOD of his grace and mercy and out of his absolute soveraigne power and dominion is pleased to ordaine appoint and account for all the righteousnes which a man shall have for his justification though in truth and according to Law and the rule of justice it is not righteousnes being weak oftentimes and full of imperfections Secondly that the Spirit of GOD in these wordes of the Apostle did not intend or meane any communion of the righteousnes and perfect obedience performed by Christ to the Law as our surety and in our stead nor imputation of that righteousnes to every true beleever for justification nor GODS accepting of the faithfull for righteous by that righteousnes communicated to them and of them applyed possessed and enjoyed by faith By faith and believing they do not understand that applying faith which is a gift and worke of GODS Spirit in the elect regenerate and sanctified by which they do believe and are perswaded that they are in Christ and Christ is their head and they as lively members of his mysticall body have communion of all his benefits even of his full satisfaction and perfect righteousnes for justification and full remission of all their sinnes But by faith and believing they understand onely a confidence in GOD that hee will performe his promises made in Christ and an assent unto his word that it is true The tenour of which word and promises they conceive to be this That Christ in his pure unspotted humane nature hath by his righteousnesse suffering and obedience unto death meritted such high favour with GOD that GOD in honour to him is pleased to accept and account the faith of them that believe in him and rest on him for their Saviour for perfect righteousnesse and requires no other righteousnesse to constitute and make them in any sort formally righteous in their justification When they acknowledge that the perfect righteousnesse and satisfaction of Christ is the meritorious cause of our justification they do not meane that they are communicated to us and so apprehended and possessed of us by faith that we are thereby indeed and in GODS account righteous before GOD and justified or that they deserve and are worthy that GOD should so account us for them But their mind and meaning is that Christ by his righteousnesse hath merited that GOD for his sake and in favour to him should account faith to us for righteousnesse without either our owne workes of the Law or Christs righteousnesse imputed to us and made ours by communion And when they say that faith is imputed for righteousnes as an instrument they doe not meane as the instrument or spirituall hand applying Christ his righteousnes to bee after a sort the formall righteousnesse of the believer but that faith as it is the instrument by which the believer doth believe that Christ hath purchased this favour that his believing should be the only thing accounted to him for righteousnes so onely and no other way GOD reckons to him
with him then are our sinnes made his by communion and in him satisfied and his righteousnes and satisfaction is made ours and we thereby are pardoned and iustified by it as it is made ours and is not the righteousnes of a stranger nor of one who is another so different from us but that he and we are one spirituall body and all his benefits are ours and we have an interest in them and possesse them and enioy them so far as every one hath need of them As this argument tends to overthrow our union with Christ so A. Wotton in a manuscript of essayes doth professe that our union with Christ is onely metaphoricall Secondly they argue that the righteousnes of Christ cannot be sufficient for the elect nor counted to them for all righteousnesse which is in effect a denying of Christ to be GOD and man in one person for if they acknowledg him to be GOD they must needs hold that his righteousnes and fulfilling of the Law is of more worth and value then if all men in the world had fulfilled the Law in their owne persons without failing in one point Thirdly they argue that if Christ his righteousnes and satisfaction be so made ours and imputed to us that the Law may be said to be fulfilled in us we may said to have satisfied GODS iustice in him our head and by him our surety then is there no place left for pardon and free forgivenesse of our sinnes for pardon and satisfaction are contrary By which they overthrow the Doctrine of redemption and of Christs satisfaction for us and deny Christ to be our redeemer and to have paid our ransome and made a full satisfaction to the justice of GOD for our sinnes contrary to the Scriptures and the judgement and beliefe of all Christian Divines who teach that Christ hath paid our ransome is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our redeemer And though GODS justice exacted of Christ our surety a full ransome and did not abate him the least farthing of our debt yet we are freely pardoned and have free forgivenesse and are freely iustified by GODS grace because hee did freely give his owne son to satisfy fulfill the Law for us doth freely by his grace and the free gift of his spirit unite us to Christ and make us partakers of his satisfaction imputing his satisfaction freely to us doth for it freely forgive our sinnes and justifie us Fourthly while they argue that faith in a proper sense is all the righteousnes which the faithfull have for justification and yet faith is not any formall righteousnes by their owne confession yea they deny that any formall righteousnes is required in justification hereby they deny the Saints justified to be righteous contrary to the Scriptures which call them the righteous and the generation of the righteous Psal. 1.6 and 14.5 and the righteous nation Isa. 26.2 and in many other places which title GODS spirit would never give to them if they were not formally righteous by righteousnes communicated to them after a spirituall heavenly manner For to hold as they doe that men are justified and counted righteous without any formall righteousnes which doth constitute and give being to a righteous and justified man as he is righteous and justified is a monstrous opinion contrary to reason Fiftly while they deny that the faithfull are constituted and made formally righteous by the obedience of Christ communicated and imputed to them which the Apostle in expresse wordes doth affirme Rom. 5.19 and 8.4 and Rom. 10.4 they in heate of argument fall into the Pelagian heresie and are forced to deny that Adams sinne and disobedience is communicated and imputed to his posterity so as that they are formally sinners by it And rather then they will yeeld that infants which dye before they commit actuall transgression in their owne persons are punished with death because they are guilty of Adams sinne they doe blasphemously affirme that GOD being offended and moved to wrath by the sinnes of parents will out of the magnificence of his judgement and rage of his iustice destroy innocent babes with their sinfull parents for terrour to others which is contrary to GODS word and Law which teach that children shal not dye for the sinnes of their parents unlesse they bee partakers with them either by communion and imputation or by imitation and approbation Whereas they bring for instance that the children of Korah were destroyed with their father though they were innocent and not partakers in the sinne herein they contradict the Scriptures which expressely affirme that the children of Korah dyed not numb 26.11 For they undoubtedly upon Moses his threatning of sudden destruction fled from their fathers tents and escaped and onely they perished who would not be admonished by Moses to separate themselves from the congregation of Korah but adhering to him were partakers of his conspiracy and sinne of rebellion Sixtly when they to colour their heresie proclayme Christs righteousnes to bee the meritorious cause of iustification and yet deny communion and imputation of it to true beleevers what is this but to hold that Christs righteousnes is meritorious to them who have no interest in it which being granted it will follow That Christs righteousnes doth merit for infidels and damned reprobates and doth as much for the justifying of them as it doth to justifie the Elect and faithfull For true reason can conceive no cause why Christ doth merit more or conferre more to the justification of the elect and faithfull by his righteousnesse then hee doth to Infidels and reprobates but onely this that he communicates it to the elect gives them a proper interest in it and makes them truely partakers of it so that it is imputed to them and made their meritorious ransome this while these men deny they deny Christs righteousnes to merit any more for the faithfull then for damned reprobates And thus their bent is to set up Pelagian and Arminian free will and to make this the onely difference betweene them that are justified and them that are damned that whereas both alike have equall share in Christs merits and Christ hath merited as much for the one as the other and given as much grace for iustification the one having power of free will doth use it and will beleeve and so is iustified by his faith imputed for righteousnes the other will not use the universall grace given to him nor beleeve which he might doe if he would and therefore is damned which is a most horrible and abominable Doctrine and hereticall opinion Lastly they argue that as in the first Covenant GOD required workes of the Law performed by every man in his owne person and this was the condition which man was to performe for iustification and eternall life and so that Covenant was not free but conditionall So in the new Covenant GOD requires faith