dependent on him and still upheld by him and used under him § 7. Though some would have more Power ascribed to Nature and others appropriate more to Grace yet in this it is no Controversie How much is to be ascribed to God For both Nature and Grace and the Powers of both are totally from God But all the question is Which way God giveth it to man § 8. In general we should be most cautious 1. That we disparage not any Power or Endowment which is God's own Work whether natural or gracious 2. That we give not too much to any Work that is proper to Man § 9. Natural Power of Vital Action Intellection and Volition is supposed by God as Lawgiver in his Subjects that is that we are Men. § 10. Every act of Knowledge Faith Repentance Love and Obedience is done by our natural Powers or Faculties and none without them § 11. The word Moral Power signifieth 1. Sometimes a Power to moral actions and so natural Power in Man is also moral in some degree 2. Sometimes a Holy Disposition especially in the Will to such holy moral actions which is the Rectitude of our natural Powers or the Health of them in a saving degree or sort and is the Gift of Grace since Sin departed 3. Most frequently I use the words for such a degree of God's helping or healing Influx or Grace as is short of a Habit for promptitude and facility but yet puts the soul in such a disposition by which Man can do the Act and it may come to pass without more Grace whether it do or not which the Dominicans call Sufficient Grace and I rather call Necessary Grace 4. Sometimes it is meant as causa moralis for that which is Power Reputatively § 12. Power hath several degrees some can act easily yea is hardly restrained some can act with difficulty yet constantly some difficultly and very rarely some can act but the Impediments are so great and its weakness such as that it never will do what it can And these we call a moral Impotency as being reputative impotency in these three last degrees § 13. Sin hath debilituted Man's very natural Vivacity and Activity to things spiritual and also darkened and undisposed his Understanding to them but especially disâ—ffected him and perverted his will with an indisposition averseness and enmity to God And none of these are cured but by the Grace of Christ quickening or strengthening and awakening illuminating and converting the Soul Of which more after in due place § 14. Adam had Power to have stood when he fell God took no power from him nor let out such a Temptation as he could not resist But Sin entered at his Will and corrupted it before he lost his Power § 15. There is therefore in 〈…〉 such a thing as a true Power to do more good and less evil than we do § 16. And there was such a Power in Adam's Will by which he could have willed what he did not â—ill and by which he could have rejected the Temptation And this without any other Grace than that which he then had and used not § 17. Otherwise all the sin of Adam and the World would be resolved into the necessitating Will and Work of God and so all Faith would be subverted § 18. Therefore Man's Will was such a Faculty as could be a causa prima of the moral modification or specification of its own Acts Not a causa prima simpliciter but thus secundum quid For else God must be the causa prima of Sin which is the ill modification of that Act. § 19. I know that to Nature the Reasonings of our late Infidels to prove That every Act of the Will is as truly necessitated as the motions of a Clock do seem plansible and hard â—o answer because it seemeth strange that in any mode of Action Man should be a first Cause of it and that a Creatures Act should have no superiour Cause in any mode But on the other side the Evidence is cogent 1. That God is able to make a self-determining Power that can thus do For it is no contradiction 2. That it is congruous that below the happy Race of confirmed Spirits there should be a Race of such undetermined free Agents left much to their own self-determining Power 3. And Experience perswadeth us de facto that so it is 4. And they that deny it must unavoidably make God the prime Cause of all Sin in a higher degree than it is or can be ascribed to Satan And is all this with the rejection of Christianity more eligible than the Concession that God can and doth make a Creature with such self-determining Free-will as can as a first Cause of its modified act sin without God's Predetermination And by his help could forbear Sin when he doth not The Contest is Whether GOD or Man shall be counted the causa prima of Sin we say Man is the first Cause and GOD is none at all Some say God must be the causa prima of all that can have a Cause in it and rather than deny him the Honour which is given to Satan they will deny Christianity and deny him to be holy and to be GOD. § 20. GOD made this natural Free-will that Man might be a governable Creature fit to be morally ruled by Laws and rational Motives and as part of God's Image on Man CHAP. X. Of Original Sin § 1. BY one man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all in that all have sinned § 2. We were not in Adam distinct Persons really for our Persons then existed not and therefore did not inexist § 3. God doth not repute us to have been what we were not for he judgeth truly and is not mistaken Therefore he judged not Peter and Iohn to have been those Persons in Adam then nor Adam's person the same with theirs § 4. Therefore we were not then when he sinned persons guilty in Adam for Non existentis non sunt accidentia § 5. We were Seminally or Virtually in Adam when he sinned Which is but that he had that Virtus generativa from which we naturally sprang in time But to be Virtually in him is Not to be personally in him but Potentially it being as to Existence terminus diminuens § 6. As soon as we were Persons we were Persons derived by Generation from Adam Therefore with our Persons we derived Guilt and Pravity For he could beget no better than himself § 7. When Adam sinned his whole Person was guilty and no part innocent Therefore his very Semen prolificum had its part in the guilt according to its Capacity And though it was not a guilty Person it was a part of a guilty Person and a part that was the Semen personae so that when that Semen became a pâ—rson Cain it became a guilty person the guilt following the subject according to its Capacity And so downward by Propagation
capable of performing at that time though viciously indisposed it being only natural disability and not moral vicious unwillingness that hindereth Obligation But though not to do all that we can be peccare yet it is not to sin unto Death or Damnation if he perform so much as is made by Christ the Condition of life In short 1. Before mans sin he was under the proper Law and Covenant of Innocency which made perfect personal Innocency the Condition of life 2. Immediately after sinning before the Promise man was not under any Promise of life on condition of Innocency nor yet under the Command of being innocent nor of seeking and hoping for life on that Condition For upon the Impossibility these ceased without a Repeal cessante capacitate subditi But man was then under no Covenant or premiant Law But under 1. The Command of perfect Obedience for the future 2. The Obligation to Punishment not peremptory but due for every sin unless it should be pardoned on due satisfaction These two Obligations man was under between the Fall and the Promise 3. But next sinful condemned man with his said Obligation was delivered into the hands of the Redeemer who now continueth the said Law of lapsed Nature making perfect Obedience de futuro due or Death for sin in primo instanti but adding the Remedying Law of Grace giving Christ Pardon and Life to penitent Believers § 36. The Question What Punishment is due to Venial sin must be resolved from the sence of the Law that obligeth us And the Question is not what Punishment would have been due to the smallest sin if the Covenant of Innocency had continued but what is due to it by the Law of Redeemed Nature and of Grace which is in force § 37. There is a three-fold Dueness or Desert here considerable without distinguishing of which many such Questions cannot be answered 1. A Dueness of natural Congruity without any Remedy which the Law gave or took notice of So Death was due for every sin by the Law of Innocency as I think 2. A Dueness of natural Congruity with an affixed Remedy which hindereth the guilt from being compleat and fixed And such is the Dueness of punishment to the least real sin by the Law of Redeemed Nature to which the Law of Grace is annexed giving a Conditional Pardon to all the World for the Merits of the Redeemer As if God said Thy sin in strict Iustice is worthy of death but I will forgive thee if thou repent and believe in Christ. Here is so much Dueness as needeth pardon but it is virtually conditionally pardoned as soon as committed and so it is not a plenary Obligation to punishment 3. A Remediless Dueness or Guilt by natural Congruity and peremptory determination of the Law-giver And such was the Guilt of temporal death for sin against the Law of Innocency at least the eating of the forbidden Fruit for so far it is not forgiven and the Guilt of perpetual misery to impenitent Unbelievers and ungodly Ones that so die § 38. By this it appeareth that sins of meer Infirmity consistent with sincere Faith Repentance and Holiness in the second sence deserve punishment not all alike but according to the degree of the Offence But not in the first sence or the last § 39. Accordingly a great Question must be determined Whether the sins of the Faithful deserve any more than a temporal Chastisement And whether they may pray for pardon of perpetual punishment or need any such pardon Ans. The sins of the Godly deserve everlasting punishment in the second Sence or Degree of Desert or Dueness which is so far as to need a Saviour and Pardon and so as they must pray for and receive that pardon But not in the first or third Sence § 40. It is the Law of Christ or of Grace which is norma officit judicii and by which we must be judged at the last day § 41. It is of great importance in the Controversies of Justification to know whether or how far we shall be judged by the Law of Innocency or whether only by the Law of Grace He that is judged by the Law of Innocency must be justified by personal perfect perpetual Obedience not by anothers or be condemned But he that is judged by the Law of Grace must be justified by Christ's Merits and Sacrifice or Righteousness as purchasing his Grant of a Pardon and life or Right to Impunity and Glory given by the Covenant of Grace conditionally with his own performance of that Condition CHAP. XIII Of the Universality and Sufficiency of Grace § 1. IT was not only the Nature of the Elect but of all Mankind that Christ assumed in his Incarnation § 2. It was not to Adam only as the Father of the Elect but as the common Father of Mankind lapsed that God made the Promise or conditional Law or Covenant of Grace Gen. 3. 15. And so renewed it with Noah § 3. It was not the sin of the Elect only but of all Mankind that were the occasion of Christ's sufferings called by some An assumed meritorious Cause because by his consent they were loco Causae meritoriae § 4. It is not to the Elect only but for all the World as to the Tenor of it that Christ hath purchased and given a conditional Pardon of sin and a conditional Donation of Life eternal in the Covenant of Grace both of the first and second Edition That is the conditional Grant is Universal Whoever believeth shall be saved Though the Promulgation of it may have many stops § 5. It is not to the Elect only but to All that Christ hath commanded his Ministers to proclaim this Law or Covenant and offer the Benefits and require their Consent as far as the said Ministers are able § 6. It is not only to the Elect but to all Mankind that many Mercies procured by pardoning and reconciling Grace are actually given which were forfeited or not due by reason of sin against the Law of Innocency § 7. These Mercies given to all Mankind after sin and contrary to desert are not given by Gods Mercy alone without respect to the Blood and Merits of Christ But his Blood and Merits are the Cause of them as truly as of the greater Mercies of the Elect. And they that say That God doth give all these Mercies without a Saviour's Merits as the Cause prepare the way for Infidels to inferr That then he might have done so by the Mercies of the Elect. § 8. All these actual Mercies given to mankind contrary to Merit are a degree of Promulgation of the Law of Grace telling all the World That God doth not now rule and judge them meerly by the Law of Innocency but upon Terms of Mercy as is aforesaid § 9. Hereby it is signified to all the World that God is as he proclaimed his Name to Moses Exod. 34. 5 6 7. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and
he sinned if he performed not one Act of Love and Obedience to his Maker This Fancy I dismiss § 17. Others say That if he had overcome one Temptation he should have been confirmed but I find no Promise or Proof of it in Nature nor in Scripture and I suppose they feign not a secret conditional Will of God § 18. Though it be agreed on by most Protestants That Adam had been an Heir of Death and Hell if he committed the least Sin even an idle thought or word though he had not eaten the forbidden Fruit and so that the Law of Nature made Hell the due punishment of the least Sin and doth so still if it be not pardoned yet the Law of Nature in our lapsed state is herein somewhat dark and the Scripture not so clear for it as some imagine But thus much methinks Nature it self still speaketh § 19. 1. That the least sin deserveth some degree of Punishment 2. That God hath various degrees of Punishment suited to the degrees of Sin 3. That the least Sin hath a tendency to more and that still to more till Man be utterly miserable And that both in its own Nature and in the forfeiture of some measure of God's Grace or Help 4. That if you suppose that vain thought or word to consist still with true Love to God God could not immediately hate and damn that Soul that so loved him But if that Person perish it must be by that idle thought or word producing worse till it had turned his love from God to the Creature 5. That antecedently to Gods undertaking to be the Ruler of Man no doubt but as an absolute Owner he might have taken away all that he gave him even his Life and Being without any fault in Man for he may do as he list with his own And therefore he might have done the same for the smallest fault which he might have done without it And therefore he might have inflicted any Pain which to Man is not worse than Annihilation for ever But whether his three forementioned Acts 1. Antecedently placing Man as he did 2. Making him such Duty as he made him 3. And such Inclination to better do not imply that God would not punish him unless he sinned and then but according to the degree of his Sin I leave to Consideration § 20. But whether God must and whether he might punish the least Sin with Hell are different questions Whether by the Law of Nature he must do it or be unjust and so a vain thought was not pardonable by or under that Law and so Adam was an Heir of Hell when his thought first failed before he did eat or consent to eat the forbidden Fruit are questions which I cannot resolve from Nature and are to me more difficult in Scripture than to wiser men § 21. The supernatural part of the Law is known to us only by Scripture but perhaps the Fathers before the Flood might know more of it by Tradition than God hath thought meet to write for our times § 22. The preceptive part was the not eating the forbidden Fruit and consequently the overcoming all Temptations thereto The Law of Matrimony and the Sabbath also are partly supernatural called Positive § 23. The Penalty is called Death which signifieth Undoing and Misery But whether it was only temporal Death or also Hell Divines are not agreed They that are for the former seem chiefly drawn to it by comparing the Law with the Iudgment and Execution thinking it indecent to say that God fulfilled not his Threatning but dispensed with it And therefore seeing Temporal Death only is in the Sentence and Execution they think that no more was meant And consequently that Christ did not by Redemption prevent the sentence and execution of that Death but only when it was fulfilled deliver us from continuance under it by a Resurrection § 24. But I would have such remember 1. That the Soul was made naturally immortal that is not tending to Annihilation unless God should against Nature or settled Course annihilate it And if it were not annihilated it must be in some state good or bad If it was to be penally annihilated Christ prevented that And such an annihilation is as little desirable as a tolerable degree of Pain 2. And that God's Law determining directly but de debito poenae what should be Man's due and not absolutely and peremptorily then de eventu God reserved to himself a pardoning Power so it were done upon valuable Considerations more fully glorifying him and his Government and Law than Man's Destraction would have done And thus to dispense with his Law is no dishonour to God § 25. It is the Wrath to come that Christ delivereth us from and Hell and the Power of Satan that he redeemed us from Therefore it seemeth that it was no less that our Sin deserved And spiritual death is contained in Sin and Apostacy it self § 26. What the Reward was to be besides what I said before from Nature it is not easie to gather out of Scripture nor to find there any plainer a Promise of Life but in both I think it is certainly implied § 27. It is ordinary to say That the Condition of Adam's Confirmation was That he should have eaten first of the Tree of Life But to find that among the Commands much less the Condition with a Promise of Confirmation requireth more discerning than I have notwithstanding the words Lest he eat and live c. from which they gather it § 28. How far this Law is yet in force is also difficultly disputed In brief 1. The general Command of perfect Love and Obedience for the future and the Commands of the unalterable Duties of Nature are still so far in force as to oblige us 2. But whether sub poena mortis is the doubt Punishment is due either absolutely and statedly and so it maketh it due only to the Impenitent and Unbelievers Or only in primo instanti inceptively with an annexed Remedy And so every Sin maketh Punishment so far due to the Faithful as that they have need of the Grace of Christ and the new Covenant to pardon it 3. But the premiant part of the Law of Innocency from whence it is named a Covenant is now truly null Which maketh our Divines say That the Law of Nature which they call moral bindeth as a Rule of Duty but the Covenant ceaseth § 29. This was not done by GOD but Man who ceased to be a capable Subject of that Covenant Promise or Reward And so the Condition Innocency or perfect Obedience being become naturally impossible we must not feign God to say to Sinners On condition you be no Sinners you shall live But Cessante capacitate subditi cessat promissio conditionalis transit in sententiam But of the Cessation of the Law and Covenant of Innocency see more after Sect. 5 § 32 c. § 30. They pervert this Covenant by their unproved Fictions who
was under before Christ's Incarnation And 2. whether Christ repealed it to them § 17. 1st And it is proved That on God's part the said Law of Grace continued And man's Disobedience could not here nullifie the Law as it did that of Innocency Because it was a Law that allowed Repentance till the time of Death So that when they sinned never so much they were still obliged by it to repent that they might be saved Their Rebellion deprived them of the Benefit but did not end the Law nor rendered them uncapable of its Obligation God made Adam and after him the Heads of Families his Priests He had then publick Worship natural and instituted sacrificing and the distinction of clean and unclean Beasts Sabbath and Marriage as well as calling on the Name of the Lord are expressed As the Covenant to Noah was the same with that to Adam with some small Addition so no doubt were the Precepts of Noah As the Canaaniâ—es sacrificed so their marrying in the prohibited Degrees is called one of their Abominations It 's very probable that not only the Decalogue in sence but also all or most of the particular Mosaical Precepts which are but the Instances Explications and Applications of those Generals were given before the Flood and some more which even the Nations Traditions kept some remembrance of though not named particularly in the Text. § 18. And it was not God's Covenant of Peculiarity with Abraham and the Iews that ended it to the rest of the World as I before proved § 19. So that though there be difficulty in opening the Terms of the Law of Grace as it stood to all Mankind besides the Iews there is no difficulty to prove that it did indeed so continue § 20. And that Christ hath not repealed or nullified that Law of Grace to the World that never have the Gospel which they were under before his coming is evident 1. Because he came for the Benefit and not the Destruction of the World to make their Condition better and not worse But had he nullified that Law of Grace to all the World and given them no better in its stead save to a few he had come directly by himself to take away their Mercies and make them miserable For it is certain that though the Apostles Commission was to preach the Gospel to all Nations and every Creature yet it is comparatively but a small part of the World that ever heard it or had the means to know and believe in Christ. And all the rest were under a Law of Grace before and therefore are so still 2. And â—â— Christ repealed that Law by which Act did he do it Not by making a better Edition for that could not have any such Effect to them that never did or could know of that Edition And there is no other Repeal to be found in Scripture 3. And if the Law of Grace be nullified to all the World that hear not the Gospel are they since under any Law of God or none if none they are either no Men or damned Men for they are no governed Subjects If they are under any what is it The Law of Innocency I have proved it is not And the GOSPEL or second Edition of the Law of Grace it is not For that cannot oblige where it never is promulgate It being a supernatural Revelation can extend to none to whom it is not directly or indirectly sent Therefore it is evident that Christ leaveth such under that Law which he found them under § 21. What this Law to the World containeth having before opened Chap. 12. § 3. I shall not repeat it but only here add 1. It is certain that though this Law make perfect Obedience for the future to be a Duty to them and us yet not to be the Condition of Salvation but that it doth hereto accept sincerity 2. That it maketh not the particular Articles of our present Creed about Christ's person Birth Life Death Resurrection heavenly Intercession in our Nature necessary to their Salvation For before Christ's Coming no Jewish Believers could believe That this Iesus in his demonstrable Person is the Christ but that Christ should come And after he had long taught them and pronounced them blessed the Disciples knew not that he must die rise ascend intercedâ— in Heaven come again c. 3. It is certain that all that the Prophets had any way foretold of Christ to the Iews was not of absolute necessity to Salvation to the Iews themselves to be understood much less to the World that never heard it For Christ proved out of the Prophets That he was to die and rise and so to be glorified when yet the Apostles had not understood it till that time And the Jewish Believers had very dark if not erroneous Notions of the person of the Messiah to come And to believe that he should be of Abraham's Sâ—ed as it was part of Abraham's Covenant of Peculiarity so it seemeth to be necessary only to such as were under or knew that Covenant and not to all § 22. And it is certain that when the Messiah was come they were not bound to believe that he was yet to come though they knew not of his coming because it was then an Untruth § 23. The proclaimed Name of God Exod. 24. with Psal. 19. Prov. 1. Act. 10. and 14. and 17. Rom. 1. and 2. Heb. 6. 11. do seem to be the Expositions of the true Sence and Tenour of that Law of Grace Gen. 3. 15. which the World before Christ's coming was under and yet is where the Gospel cannot be had § 24. The Texts that say He that believeth not shall be damned plainly refer to such as hear the Word to be believed and speak of the Unbelief of what is revealed and not of what is unrevealed § 25. Rom. 10. saith no more but that no man can believe in Christ without the Revelation of him by preaching or declaring and that no man that heareth can be saved without believing in him nor no man saved at all without that Faith which the Law that he is under maketh necessary to Salvation But if all were damned that believed not that this Iesus is personally the Christ all before his Incarnation must be damned But if not all before then the same thing was never made necessary after to all that could not possibly hear of it § 26. The same I say of Ioh. 14. 6. No man cometh to the Father but by me 1. No man is reconciled to God and pardoned and hath right to life in all Ages of the World but for the sake of the meritorious Sacrifice and Righteousness of Christ as promised Gen. 3. 1. before and performed after But this was the part of God and our Redeemer which he promised in his part of the Covenant and performed For God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing to them their sins so far forgiving them as to make an Act
extend to the Justification must extend to if perfect § 41. But no man is perfectly and absolutely just or justifiable For instance 1. If we be accused to have sinned we cannot be justified directly against this Accusation but must plead guilty by Confession For factum non potest fieri infectum and that Fact will for ever be culpable Adam did sin will for ever be a true assertion The Guilt of fact or fault is never done away in it self that it was really a fault and that we really did it will be an everlasting Truth Of which more afterward § 41. 2. If the Accusation be That in Adam we deserved Death it must be confessed Yea temporal Death and correcting Punishments are not only deserved but inflicted and not pardoned nor we justifiable herein § 42. 3. If the Accusation be that we deserved to have Abatements of Grace With-holdings of the Spirit and abatement of what Glory we might else have had all this must be confessed § 43. 4. Yea if it be said That our Sin primo instanti deserved Hell it must be confessed and against all this there is no direct Justification § 44. But against these Accusations we must be justified 1. If it be said that we are of Right to be damned or have no Right to Heaven but to Hell this must be denied And we must be justified by these several Causes 1. Because God's Iustice and the Ends of the violated Law are satisfied by Christ and by his Righteousness a free Gift of Pardon and Life are merited for us 2. And this free donation is the Law that we are to be judged by which giveth us Christ to be our Head and Pardon and Life with him § 45. 2. If it be said That we are Unbelievers impenitent or unholy and did not fulfill the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace we must deny it and be justified against this by our Faith Repentance and Holiness it self or else we must be condemned and perish for nothing else will do it § 46. And seeing it will be the work of the day to judge men as performers or non-performers of the said Conditions of the Law of Grace therefore it is that the Scripture speaketh so much of inherent or performed Righteousness and of Christ's judging men according to their works that is their works which are the performance of that Condition § 47. To be judged according to our Works is to be justified or condemned according to our Works For to be judged is the genus and to be justified or condemned are the species Iudging is justifying or condemning § 48. While all are agreed that all men shall be justified or condemned according to their Works it is unreasonable to quarrel at that height that many do about the syllable BY whether men be justified and condemned by their works as if according to them and by them had a different sence when as to judicial justification the sence is the very same though as to the making of men just the sence may differ § 49. We are commonly agreed that no man is justified by Works in any of these following sences 1. No man is justified either constitutively or judiciarily by his Works done according to the Law of Innocency that is by perfect personal Obedience and Love because we have it not 2. No man is justified constitutively or judiciarily by his Works done according to the Mosaical Iewish Law as such 3. Much less by any Works of his own or other mens invention which he accounteth good and are not so 4. No man is justified by any Works set in opposition to or competition or co-ordination with Christ but only in subordination to him and his Righteousness by which we are redeemed and for which we are all first conditionally pardoned and justified by the Law of Grace 5. No man could be justified by his Gospel-Obedience or his Faith if he were to be judged by the Law of Innocency as not redeemed 6. No man's Faith or Obedience will justifie him in Judgment against this accusation Thou art a Sinner or this Thy sin deserved Death Nor as one that hath fulfilled all the preceptive part of the law of Christ. 7. No Works do justifie us as meriting Life of God in proper commutative Justice 8. No man is justified by Tasks of working as contradistinct from believing and trusting on Free Grace or by external works without Christ's Spirit and spiritual Evangelical Duties 9. No good Work or Act of Man was a Condition of God's giving us a Redeemer or giving us a conditional justifying Law of Grace 10. Man's true Faith and Repentance is not before the Grace which worketh it and therefore is no Condition of that Grace 11. Man's antecedent common Works while he is impenitent merit not properly the special Grace which causeth Faith and Repentance 12. We have no Works that are acceptable to God but what are the fruits of his Spirit and Grace § 50. And on the other side we are agreed 1. That we are justified by the Works of Christ as the Meritorious Cause of our Justification 2. That the Justification purchased and given us by Christ is given us by a Law or Covenant of Grace which giveth as God's Instrument Right to Impunity and to Life to all true penitent Believers And therefore he that is justified according to this Law of Grace from the charge of Impenitence and Unbelief must be justified by his Repentance and Faith materially as being the Righteousness in question as is aforesaid 3. That without Holiness none shall see God And if any be accused as unholy and on that account no Member of Christ or Child of God or Heir of Heaven his Holiness must be the matter of his Justification 4. That though our Faith Repentance and Holiness be no universal absolute Righteousness yet they are that on which the judiciary Scrutiny must pass and which will be the question of the great day on which our Life or Death will depend as on the Condition or moral Qualification of the Receiver 5. That in this sence all men shall be judged by Justification or Condemnation according to their Works or what they have done that is as they have performed or not performed the Conditions of that Law of Grace which they were under as aforesaid 6. That therefore they that will be justified at last must trust in Christ that redeemed them and be careful to perform the Conditions of his Law of Grace and both must concurr 7. That that which is the Righteousness which must justifie us in Judgment is the same that must now constitute us just 8. That when our Right to Salvation is the thing in question to be judged that which justifieth our Right to Salvation justifieth the Person as to that Right and so far the same thing is the Condition of our Right to Salvation and to our Justification 9. And if any with Augustine will mean by Iustification God 's making us such
Believers or consent to the Covenant of Grace if at age 3. These penitent Believers sins are pardoned virtually before they are committed supposing them but Sins of Insirmity but this is properly no Pardon nor so to be called because it is but the position of those things which will cause Pardon hereafter To be only virtual is not to exist but to be in causis But it is too grosly inferred hence by some That it is not God then that actually justifieth but Man that performeth the Condition as if the Condition which is but a suspension of the Donation and the performance a removal of the suspending Cause were the donative Efficient and so the Receiver were the Giver As if he that opened the window were the Sun or efficient Cause of the Light or he that lets off a Crossbow by removing the Stop were the spring that effecteth the motion of the Arrow § 62. Neither Pardon nor Justification are perfect before death For there are some correcting Punishments to be yet born some Sins not fully destroyed some Grace yet wanting more Sins to be forgiven more Conditions thereof to be performed The final and executive Pardon and Justification are only perfect CHAP. XXII Of the Imputation of Righteousness § 1. THE great Contentions that have been about this Point tell us how needfull it is to distinguish between real and verbal Controversies The opening of the Doctrine of Redemption before Chap. XI hath done most that is needful to the solution of this Case we are commonly agreed in these following Points § 2. 1. That no man hath a Righteousness of his own performance by which he could be justified were he to be judged by the Law of Innocency that is all are Sinners and deserve everlasting Death § 3. 2. That Jesus the Mediator undertook to fulfil all the Law which God the Father gave him even the Law of Nature the Law of Moses and that which was proper to himself that thereby God's Wisdom Goodness Truth Justice and Mercy might be glorified and the ends of God's Government be better attained than by the Destruction of the sinful World and all this he performed in our Nature and suffered for us in our stead and was the second Adam or Root to Believers § 4. 3. That for this as the meritorious Cause God hath given him power over all Flesh that he might give eternal Life to as many as are drawn to him by the Father and given him Joh. 17. 2. He is Lord of all and all power in Heaven and Earth is given him Matth. 28. 19. and he is made Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1. 22 23. Rom. 14. 9 And for these his Merits a Covenant or Law of Grace is made to sinful Man by which all his sins are freely pardoned and Right to Impunity and Life is freely given him if he will accept it and penitently turn to God § 5. 4. Whenever a man is pardoned and justified or hath Right to Life this Law of Grace doth it as God's donative Instrument And whoever is so pardoned and justified it is for and by these Merits of Christ's Righteousness § 6. 5. But Christ doth initially pardon and justifie none by this Covenant but penitent Believers and therefore hath made it our Duty to repent and believe that we may be forgiven and have right to life as the Condition without which his donative and condonative Act shall be suspended § 7. 6. God never judgeth falsely but knoweth all things to be what they are And therefore he reputeth Christ's meritorious Righteousness and Sacrifice to be the meritorious Cause of all mens Justification who are justified and of the conditional Pardon of all the World 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20. and as sufficient and effectual to the assigned ends as our own personal righteousness or suffering would have been and more though it be not so ours as that of our own performance would have been nor so immediately give us our Right to Impunity and Life but mediately by the Covenant § 8. 7. And as God reputeth Christ's Righteousness to be the prime meritorious Cause for which we are justified by the Law of Grace as afore-said so he truly reputeth our own Faith and Repentance or Covenant-consent to be our moral Qualification for the gift and our Holiness and Perseverance to be our moral Qualification for final Iustification and Glory which Qualification being the matter of the Command of the Law of Grace and the Condition of its Promise is so far our righteousness indeed and oft so called in the Scripture as is aforesaid § 9. 8. Therefore God may in this Sence be truly said both to impute righteousness to us and to impute Christ's righteousness to us and to impute our Faith for righteousness to us in several respects § 10. Thus much being commonly agreed on should quiet the Minds of Divines that are not wise and righteous overmuch and it beseemeth us not to make our arbitrary Words and Notions about the Doctrine of our Peace with God to be Engines to break the Church's Peace seeing Angels preached to us this great Truth That Christ came into the World for GLORY to God in the highest and for PEACE on Earth and for GOOD-WILL or LOVE from God to Man or mutual complaâ—ency and his Servants should not turn his Gospel into matter of strife § 11. That which we are yet disagreed about is the Names and Notions following As 1. What is meant by the Phrase of Imputing in several Texts of Scripture as Rom. 4. 11. That righteousness might be imputed or reckoned to them also Ans. The words seem to me to have no difficulty but what men by wrangling put into them To have righteousness impuâ—ed to them is to be reputed judged or accounted as righteous Men and so used the cause being not in the Phrasâ— it self but fore-described § 12. So what is meant Rom. 4. 6. by imputing righteousness without works Ans. Plainly reputing or judging a man righteous without the works which Paul there meaneth § 13. So what is meant by Not imputing sin Psal. 32. 2. 2 Cor. 5. 19. Rom. 5. 13. Lev. 7. 18. 1 Sam. 22. 15. 2 Sam. 19. 19. Rom. 4. 8 Ans. Not-judging a man as a Sinner guilty of punishment not charging his sin upon him in Judgment which is as 2 Sam. 19. 19. c. because he is not truly guilty or as Rom. 4. 8. c. because he is forgiven § 14. 2. What is meant by imputing our Faith to us for righteousness But of that more purposely anon § 15. 3. Whether imputing Christ's righteousness to us be a Scripture-phrase Ans. Not that I can find § 16. 4. Whether it be a fit or lawful Phrase and whether in so great matters departing from Scripture-phrase and pretending it necessary so to do be not adding to God's Word or the cause of Corruptions and Divisions in the Church and an intimation that we can speak better than the