〈◊〉 I Paul have written it with my own hand that he would answer for both and pay back a valuable consideration if required Hereby was he obliged in his own person to make satisfaction unto Philemon but yet he was to do it for Onesimus and not for himself Whatever Obedience therefore was due from the Lord Christ as to his Humane Nature whilest in the form of a servant either as a Man or as an Israelite seeing he was so not necessarily by the necessity of nature for himself but by voluntary condescension and stipulation for us for us it was and not for himself 5. The Lord Christ in his Obedience was not a private but a publick person He obeyed as he was the Surety of the Covenant as the Mediator between God and Man This I suppose will not be denied He can by no imagination be considered out of that capacity But what a publick person doth as a publick person that is as a Representative of others and an undertaker for them whatever may be his own concernment therein he doth it not for himself but for others And if others were not concerned therein if it were not for them what he doth would be of no use or signification Yea it implies a contradiction that any one should do any thing as a publick person and do it for himself only He who is a publick person may do that wherein he alone is concerned but he cannot do so as he is a publick person Wherefore as Socinus and those that follow him would have Christ to have offered for himself which is to make him a Mediator for himself his offering being a Mediatory act which is both foolish and impious so to affirm his Mediatory Obedience his Obedience as a publick person to have been for himself and not for others hath but little less of impiety in it 6. It is granted That the Lord Christ having an Humane Nature which was a Creature it was impossible but that it should be subject unto the Law of Creation For there is a Relation that doth necessarily arise from and depend upon the Beings of a Creator and a Creature Every rational Creature is eternally obliged from the Nature of God and its Relation thereunto to love him obey him depend upon him submit unto him and to make him its End Blessedness and Reward But the Law of Creation thus considered doth not respect the World and this life only but the future state of Heaven and Eternity also And this Law the Humane Nature of Christ is subject unto in Heaven and Glory and cannot but be so whilest it is a Creature and not God that is whilest it hath its own Being Nor do any Men fancy such a transfusion of divine properties into the Humane Nature of Christ as that it should be self-subsisting and in it self absolutely immense for this would openly destroy it Yet none will say that he is now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law in the sense intended by the Apostle But the Law in the sense described the Humane Nature of Christ was subject unto on its own account whilest he was in this World And this is sufficient to answer the Objection of Socinus mentioned at the entrance of this Discourse namely That if the Lord Christ were not obliged unto Obedience for himself then might he if he would neglect the whole Law or infringe it For besides that it is a foolish imagination concerning that holy thing which was hypostatically united unto the Son of God and thereby rendered incapable of any deviation from the Divine Will the eternal indispensible Law of Love Adherence and Dependance on God under which the Humane Nature of Christ was and is as a Creature gives sufficient security against such Suppositions But there is another consideration of the Law of God namely as it is imposed on Creatures by especial dispensation for some time and for some certain end with some Considerations Rules and Orders that belong not essentially unto the Law as before described This is the nature of the Written Law of God which the Lord Christ was made under not necessarily as a Creature but by especial dispensation For the Law under this consideration is presented unto us as such not absolutely and eternally but whilest we are in this World and that with this especial end that by Obedience thereunto we may obtain the reward of Eternal Life And it is evident that the Obligation of the Law under this consideration ceaseth when we come to the injoyment of that Reward It obligeth us no more formally by its command Do this and live when the life promised is injoyed In this sense the Lord Christ was not made subject unto the Law for himself nor did yield obedience unto it for himself For he was not obliged unto it by virtue of his created condition Upon the first instant of the Vnion of his natures being holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners he might notwithstanding the Law that he was made subject unto have been stated in Glory For he that was the object of all Divine Worship needed not any new Obedience to procure for him a state of Blessedness And had he naturally meerly by virtue of his being a Creature been subject unto the Law in this sense he must have been so eternally which he is not For those things which depend solely on the Natures of God and the Creature are eternal and immutable Wherefore as the Law in this sense was given unto us not absolutely but with respect unto a future state and reward so the Lord Christ did voluntarily subject himself unto it for us and his Obedience thereunto was for us and not for himself These things added unto what I have formerly written on this subject whereunto nothing hath been opposed but a few impertinent cavils are sufficient to discharge the first part of that charge laid down before concerning the impossibility of the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto us which indeed is equal unto the Impossibility of the Imputation of the Disobedience of Adam unto us whereby the Apostle tells us That we were all made sinners The second part of the Objection or Charge against the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto us is That it is useless unto the persons that are to be justified For whereas they have in their Justification the pardon of all their sins they are thereby righteous and have a right or title unto Life and Blessedness For he who is so pardoned as not to be esteemed guilty of any sin of omission or commission wants nothing that is requisite thereunto For he is supposed to have done all that he ought and to have omitted nothing required of him in a way of duty Hereby he becomes not unrighteous and to be not unrighteous is the same as to be righteous As he that is not dead is alive Neither is there nor can there be any middle state between Death and life Wherefore
acquit the sinner upon his tryal But pardon on a juridical tryal on what consideration soever it be granted gives no right nor title unto any favor benefit or priviledge but only meer deliverance It is one thing to be acquitted before the Throne of a King of Crimes laid unto the charge of any Man which may be done by clemency or on other considerations another to be made his Son by Adoption and Heir unto his Kingdom And these things are represented unto us in the Scripture as distinct and depending on distinct causes So are they in the Vision concerning Joshua the High Priest Zech. 3.4 5 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him saying Take away the filthy garments from him And unto him he said Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will cloath thee with change of rayment And I said Let them set a fair Miter upon his Head so they set a fair Miter on his Head and cloathed him with garments It hath been generally granted That we have here a Representation of the Justification of a sinner before God And the taking away of filthy garments is expounded by the passing away of iniquity When a Mans filthy garments are taken away he is no more defiled with them but he is not thereby cloathed This is an additional grace and favor thereunto namely to be cloathed with change of garments And what this rayment is is declared Isa. 61.10 He hath cloathed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of Righteousness which the Apostle alludes unto Phil. 3.9 Wherefore these things are distinct namely the taking away of the filthy garments and the cloathing of us with change of rayment or the pardon of sin and the robe of Righteousness by the one are we freed from Condemnation by the other have we right unto Salvation And the same is in like manner represented Ezek. 16.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. This place I had formerly urged to this purpose about Communion with God p. 187. which Mr. Hotch in his usual manner attempts to answer And to omit his reviling expressions with the crude unproved assertion of his own conceits his answer is That by the change of rayment mentioned in the Prophet our own personal righteousness is intended For he acknowledgeth that our Justification before God is here represented And so also he expounds the place produced in the confirmation of the Exposition given Isai. 61.10 where this change of rayment is called The garments of Salvation and the robe of Righteousness and thereon affirms That our Righteousness it self before God is our Personal Righteousness p. 203. That is in our Justification before him which is the only thing in question To all which Presumptions I shall oppose only the testimony of the same Prophet which he may consider at his leisure and which at one time or other he will subscribe unto Chap. 64.6 We are all as an unclean thing and all our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags He who can make garments of Salvation and robes of Righteousness of these filthy rags hath a skill in composing Spiritual Vestments that I am not acquainted withal What remains in the Chapter wherein this Answer is given unto that testimony of the Scripture I shall take no notice of it being after his accustomed manner only a perverse wresting of my words unto such a sense as may seem to countenance him in casting a reproach upon my self and others There is therefore no force in the comparing of these things unto life and death natural which are immediately opposed So that he who is not dead is alive and he who is alive is not dead there being no distinct state between that of life and death For these things being of different natures the comparison between them is no way argumentative Though it may be so in things natural it is otherwise in things Moral and Political where a proper Representation of Justification may be taken as it is forensick If it were so that there is no difference between being acquitted of a crime at the Bar of a Judge and a Right unto a Kingdom nor different state between these things it would prove that there is no intermediate estate between being pardoned and having a Right unto the Heavenly Inheritance But this is a fond imagination It is true That Right unto Eternal Life doth succeed unto freedom from the guilt of Eternal Death That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified But it doth not so do out of a necessity in the nature of the things themselves but only in the free constitution of God Believers have the pardon of sin and an immediate Right and Title unto the favor of God the Adoption of Sons and Eternal Life But there is another state in the nature of the things themselves and this might have been so actually had it so seemed good unto God For who sees not that there is a Status or Conditio Personae wherein he is neither under the guilt of Condemnation nor hath an immediate Right and Title unto Glory in the way of Inheritance God might have pardoned Men all their sins past and placed them in a state and condition of seeking Righteousness for the future by the Works of the Law that so they might have lived For this would answer the original state of Adam But God hath not done so true but whereas he might have done so it is evident that the disposal of Men into this state and condition of Right unto Life and Salvation doth not depend on nor proceed from the pardon of sin but hath another cause which is the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us as he fulfilled the Law for us And in truth this is the opinion of the most of our Adversaries in this cause For they do contend that over and above the remission of sin which some of them say is absolute without any respect unto the merit or satisfaction of Christ others refer it unto them they all contend that there is moreover a Righteousness of Works required unto our Justification only they say this is our own incomplete imperfect Righteousness imputed unto us as if it were perfect that is for what it is not and not the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us for what it is From what hath been discoursed it is evident that unto our Justification before God is required Not only that we be freed from the damnatory sentence of the Law which we are by the pardon of sin but moreover that the Righteousness of the Law be fulfilled in us or that we have a Righteousness answering the Obedience that the Law requires whereon our acceptance with God through the riches of his Grace and our Title unto the heavenly Inheritance do depend This we have not in and of our selves nor can attain unto as hath been proved Wherefore the perfect Obedience and
denying or palliating of them lyeth the foundation of all mis-belief about the Grace of God Pelagianism in its first Root and all its present Branches is resolved thereinto For not apprehending the dread of our Original Apostacy from God nor the consequents of it in the universal Depravation of our Nature they disown any necessity either of the Satisfaction of Christ or the Efficacy of Divine Grace for our Recovery or Restauration So upon the matter the principal Ends of the Mission both of the Son of God and of the Holy Spirit are renounced which issues in the denial of the Deity of the one and the Personality of the other The Fall which we had being not great and the Disease contracted thereby being easily curable and there being little or no evil in these things which are now unavoidable unto our nature it is no great matter to be freed or justified from all by a meer act of Favour on our own Endeavours nor is the Efficacious Grace of God any way needful unto our Sanctification and Obedience as these men suppose Where these or the like conceits are admitted and the minds of men by them kept off from a due apprehension of the State and Guilt of sin and their Consciences from being affected with the terrour of the Lord and curse of the Law thereon Justification is a notion to be dealt withall pleasantly or subtilly as men see occasion And hence arise the Differences about it at present I mean those which are really such and not meerly the different ways whereby Learned men express their thoughts and apprehensions concerning it By some the Imputation of the actual Apostasie and Transgression of Adam the head of our nature whereby his sin became the sin of the world is utterly denied Hereby both the ground the Apostle proceedeth on in evincing the necessity of our Justification or our being made Righteous by the Obedience of another and all the Arguments brought in the Confirmation of the Doctrine of it in the fifth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans are evaded and overthrown Socinus de Servator par 4. cap. 6. confesseth that place to give great countenance unto the Doctrine of Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. And therefore he sets himself to oppose with sundry Artifices the Imputation of the sin of Adam unto his natural posterity For he perceived well enough that upon the Admission thereof the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto his spiritual seed would unavoidably follow according unto the Tenour of the Apostles Discourse Some deny the Depravation and Corruption of our Nature which ensued on our Apostasie from God and the loss of his Image Or if they do not absolutely deny it yet they so extenuate it as to render it a matter of no great concern unto us Some Disease and Distemper of the Soul they will acknowledge arising from the disorder of our Affections whereby we are apt to receive in such vitious habits and customs as are in practice in the world And as the Guilt hereof is not much so the danger of it is not great And as for any spiritual filth or stain of our nature that is in it it is clear washed away from all by Baptism That Deformity of Soul which came upon us in the loss of the Image of God wherein the Beauty and Harmony of all our faculties in all their Actings in order unto their utmost End did consist That Enmity unto God even in the mind which ensued thereon that Darkness which our Understandings were clouded yea blinded withall the Spiritual Death which passed on the whole Soul and total Alienation from the life of God that Impotency unto Good that Inclination unto Evil that Deceitfulness of sin that Power and Efficacy of corrupt Lusts which the Scripture and Experience so fully charge on the state of lost Nature are rejected as empty Notions or Fables No wonder if such Persons look upon Imputed Righteousness as the shadow of a Dream who esteem those things which evidence its necessity to be but fond imaginations And small hope is there to bring such men to value the Righteousness of Christ as imputed to them who are so unacquainted with their own unrighteousness inherent in them Until men know themselves better they will care very little to know Christ at all Against such as these the Doctrine of Justification may be defended as we are obliged to contend for the Faith once delivered unto the Saints and as the mouths of Gainsayers are to be stopped But to endeavour their satisfaction in it whilst they are under the power of such apprehensions is a vain Attempt As our Saviour said unto them unto whom he had declared the necessity of Regeneration if I have told you Earthly things and you believe not how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things so may we say if men will not believe those things whereof it would be marvellous but that the Reason of it is known that they have not an undeniable Evidence and Experience in themselves how can they believe those Heavenly mysteries which respect a supposition of that within themselves which they will not acknowledge Hence some are so far from any concernment in a perfect Righteousness to be imputed unto them as that they boast of a perfection in themselves So did the Pelagians of old glory of a sinless perfection in the sight of God even when they were convinced of sinful miscarriages in the sight of men as they are charged by Hierom lib. 2. Dialog and by Austin lib. 2. contra Julian cap. 8. Such persons are not Subjecta capacia auditionis Evangelicae Whilst men have no sense in their own Hearts and Consciences of the spiritual disorder of their Souls of the secret continual actings of sin with deceit and violence obstructing all that is good promoting all that is evil defiling all that is done by them through the lusting of the Flesh against the Spirit as contrary unto it though no outward perpetration of sin nor actual omission of Duty do ensue thereon who are not engaged in a constant watchful conflict against the first motions of sin unto whom they are not the greatest burden and sorrow in this life causing them to cry out for deliverance from them who can despise those who make acknowledgments in their confession unto God of their sense of these things with the Guilt wherewith they are accompanied will with an assured confidence reject and contemn what is offered about Justification through the Obedience and Righteousness of Christ imputed to us For no man will be so fond as to be solicitous of a Righteousness that is not his own who hath at home in a readiness that which is his own which will serve his turn It is therefore the ignorance of these things alone that can delude men into an apprehension of their Justification before God by their own personal Righteousness For if they were acquainted with them
the Work of the Devil by the suffering of the seed of the woman is proposed as the only Relief for sinners and only means of the Recovery of the favour of God It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Gen. 3.15 Abraham believed in the Lord and he counted it unto him for Righteousness Gen. 15.6 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the Head of the live Goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their Transgressions in all their sins putting them on the head of the Goat and the Goat shall bear upon him all their Iniquities unto a Land not inhabited Lev. 16.21 22. I will go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy Righteousness even of thine only Psal. 71.16 If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquity O Lord who shall stand but there is forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared Psal. 130.3 4. Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal. 143.2 Behold he put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly how much less on them that dwell in houses of Clay whose foundation is in the dust Job 4.18 19. Fury is not in me who would set the Briers and Thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burn them together Or let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace with me Isa. 27.4 5. Surely shall one say in the Lord have I Righteousness and strength in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and Glory Isa. 45.24 25. All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquity of us all By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their Iniquities Isa. 53.6 11. For this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 But we are all as an unclean thing and all our Righteousnesses are as filthy raggs Isa. 64.6 He shall finish the Transgression and make an End of sin and make Reconciliation for Iniquity and bring in Everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 Vnto as many as received him he gave power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his name Joh. 1.12 For as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life chap. 3.14 15. see ver 16 17 18. Be it known therefore unto you Men and Brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of Sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.38 39. That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith that is in me chap. 26.18 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare at this time his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Where then is Boasting it is excluded by what Law of Works nay but by the Law of Faith Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Rom. 3.24 25 26 27 28. For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to Glory but not before God For what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for Righteousness now to him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness Even as David also describeth the Blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without works saying Blessed are those whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin Rom. 4.2 3 4 5 6 7 8. But not as the offence so also is the free Gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the Grace of God and the Gift by Grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many And not as it was by one that sinned so is the Gift for the judgment was by one to Condemnation but the free Gift is of many offences unto Justification For if by one mans offence Death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men unto condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all men unto Justification of life For as by one mans Disobedience many were made sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made righteous chap 5. 15 16 17 18 19. There is therefore no condemnation unto them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit For the Law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and what the Law could not do in that it 's weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us chap. 8. 1 2 3 4. For Christ is the End of the Law for Righteousness unto every one that believeth chap. 10.4 And if by Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace but if it be of Works then it is no more Grace otherwise Works is no more Works chap. 11.6 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Knowing that a man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Gal. 2.16 But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God is evident For the just shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us chap. 3.11 12 13. For by Grace ye are saved through
the principal cause of all the Oppositions that are made unto it and all the Depravations of it that the Church is pestered withall Hence are the wits of men so fertile in Sophistical Cavils against it so ready to load it with seeming absurdities and I know not what unsuitableness unto their wonderous rational conceptions And no Objection can be made against it be it never so trivial but it is highly applauded by those who look on that Introduction of the mystery of Grace which is above their natural conceptions as unintelligible folly 2. That the necessary Relation of these things one unto the other namely of Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ and the necessity of our Personal Obedience will not be clearly understood nor duely improved but by and in the exercise of the Wisdom of Faith This we grant also and let who will make what advantage they can of this concession True Faith hath that spiritual Light in it or accompanying of it as that it is able to receive it and to conduct the Soul unto Obedience by it Wherefore reserving the particular consideration hereof unto its proper place I say in general 1. That this Relation is evident unto that spiritual Wisdom whereby we are enabled doctrinally and practically to comprehend the Harmony of the mystery of God and the consistency of all the parts of it one with another 2. That it is made evident by the Scripture wherein both these things Justification through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ and the Necessity of our Personal Obedience are plainly asserted and declared And we defie that Rule of the Socinians that seeing these things are inconsistent in their apprehension or unto their Reason therefore we must say that one of them is not taught in the Scripture For whatever it may appear unto their Reason it doth not so to ours and we have at least as Good Reason to trust unto our own Reason as unto theirs Yet we absolutely acquiesce in neither but in the Authority of God in the Scripture rejoycing only in this that we can set our seal unto his Revelations by our own Experience For 3. It is fully evident in the gracious conduct which the minds of them that believe are under even that of the Spirit of Truth and Grace and the Inclinations of that new Principle of the Divine Life whereby they are acted For although from the Remainders of Sin and Darkness that are in them Temptations may arise unto a continuation in sin because Grace hath abounded yet are their minds so formed and framed by the Doctrine of this Grace and the Grace of this Doctrine that the abounding of Grace herein is the principal motive unto their abounding in Holiness as we shall see afterwards And this we aver to be the spring of all those Objections which the Adversaries of this Doctrine do continually endeavour to entangle it withall As 1 If the Passive Righteousness as it is commonly called that is his Death and Suffering be imputed unto us there is no need nor can it be that his Active Righteousness or the Obedience of his Life should be imputed unto us and so on the contrary for both together are inconsistent 2 That if all sin be pardoned there is no need of the Righteousness and so on the contrary if the Righteousness of Christ be imputed unto us there is no room for or need of the pardon of sin 3 If we believe the pardon of our sins then are our sins pardoned before we believe or we are bound to believe that which is not so 4 If the Righteousness of Christ be imputed unto us then are we esteemed to have done and suffered what indeed we never did nor suffered and it is true that if we are esteemed our selves to have done it Imputation is overthrown 5 If Christs Righteousness be imputed unto us then are we as Righteous as was Christ himself 6 If our sins were imputed unto Christ then was he thought to have sinned and was a sinner subjectively 7 If Good Works be excluded from any interest in our Justification before God then are they of no use unto our Salvation 8 That it is ridiculous to think that where there is no sin there is not all the Righteousness that can be required 9 That Righteousness imputed is only a putative or imaginary Righteousness c. Now although all these and the like Objections however subtilly managed as Socinus boasts that he had used more then ordinary subtilty in this cause in quo si subtilius aliquanto quanto opus esse videretur quaedam a nobis disputata sunt De servat par 4. cap. 4. are capable of plain and clear solutions and we shall avoid the examination of none of them yet at present I shall only say that all the shades which they cast on the minds of men do vanish and disappear before the Light of express Scripture Testimonies and the Experience of them that do believe where there is a due comprehension of the mystery of Grace in any tolerable measure Seventhly There are some common prejudices that are usually pleaded against the Doctrine of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ which because they will not orderly fall under a particular consideration in our progress may be briefly examined in these general previous considerations 1. It is usually urged against it that this Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ is no where mentioned expresly in the Scripture This is the first Objection of Bellarmine against it Hactenus saith he nullum omnino locum invenire potuerunt ubi legeretur Christi Justitiam nobis imputari ad justitiam vel nos justos esse per Christi Justitiam nobis imputatam De Justificat lib. 2. cap. 7. An Objection doubtless unreasonably and immodestly urged by men of his perswasion For not only do they make profession of their whole Faith or their belief of all things in matters of Religion in Terms and Expressions no where used in the Scripture but believe many things also as they say with Faith divine not at all revealed or contained in the Scripture but drained by them out of the Traditions of the Church I do not therefore understand how such persons can modestly manage this as an Objection against any Doctrine that the Terms wherein some do express it are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 found in the Scripture just in that order of one word after another as by them they are used For this Rule may be much enlarged and yet be kept strait enough to exclude the principal concerns of their Church out of the confines of Christianity nor can I apprehend much more Equity in others who reflect with severity on this expression of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ as unscriptural as if those who make use thereof were criminal in no small degree when themselves immediately in the Declaration of their own judgment make use of such Terms Distinctions
Accuracy and Skill but are negligent in the exercise of it as their own Duty Wherefore some things shall be briefly spoken of in this matter to declare my own apprehensions concerning the things mentioned without the least design to contradict or oppose the conceptions of others 2. There hath been a Controversie more directly stated among some Learned Divines of the reformed Churches for the Lutherans are unanimous on the one side about the Righteousness of Christ that is said to be imputed unto us For some would have this to be only his suffering of Death and the satisfaction which he made for sin thereby and others include therein the Obedience of his life also The occasion original and progress of this controversie the persons by whom it hath been managed with the writings wherein it is so and the various ways that have been endeavoured for its Reconciliation are sufficiently known unto all who have enquired into these things Neither shall I immix my self herein in the way of controversie or in opposition unto others though I shall freely declare my own Judgement in it so far as the consideration of the Righteousness of Christ under this distinction is inseparable from the substance of the Truth it self which I plead for 3. Some Difference there hath been also whether the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us or the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ may be said to be the formal cause of our Justification before God wherein there appears some variety of Expression among Learned men who have handled this subject in the way of controversie with the Papists The true Occasion of the Differences about this Expression hath been this and no other Those of the Roman Church do constantly assert that the Righteousness whereby we are Righteous before God is the formal cause of our Justification And this Righteousness they say is our own inherent Personal Righteousness and not the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us Wherefore they treat of this whole controversie namely what is the Righteousness on the account whereof we are accepted with God or justified under the name of the formal cause of Justification which is the subject of the second Book of Bellarmine concerning Justification In opposition unto them some Protestants contending that the Righteousness wherewith we are esteemed Righteous before God and accepted with him is the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us and not our own inherent imperfect Personal Righteousness they have done it under this enquiry namely what is the formal cause of our Justification which some have said to be the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ some the Righteousness of Christ imputed But what they designed herein was not to resolve this Controversie into a Philosophical enquiry about the nature of a formal cause but only to prove that that truly belonged unto the Righteousness of Christ in our Justification which the Papists ascribed unto our own under that name That there is an habitual infused habit of Grace which is the formal cause of our personal inherent Righteousness they grant But they all deny that God pardons our sins and justifies our persons with respect unto this Righteousness as the formal cause thereof Nay they deny that in the Justification of a sinner there either is or can be any inherent formal cause of it And what they mean by a formal cause in our Justification is only that which gives the denomination unto the subject as the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ doth to a person that he is justified Wherefore notwithstanding the differences that have been among some in the various expression of their conceptions the substance of the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches is by them agreed upon and retained entire For they all agree that God justifieth no sinner absolveth him not from Guilt nor declareth him Righteous so as to have a Title unto the Heavenly Inheritance but with respect unto a true and perfect Righteousness as also that this Righteousness is truly the Righteousness of him that is so justified That this Righteousness becometh ours by Gods free Grace and Donation the way on our part whereby we come to be really and effectually interested therein being Faith alone And that this is the perfect Obedience or Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us In these things as they shall be afterwards distinctly explained is contained the whole of that Truth whose Explanation and Confirmation is the Design of the ensuing Discourse And because those by whom this Doctrine in the substance of it is of late impugned derive more from the Socinians then the Papists and make a nearer approach unto their principles I shall chiefly insist on the examination of those Original Authors by whom their notions were first coined and whose weapons they make use of in their defence Eighthly To close these previous Discourses it is worthy our consideration what weight was laid on this Doctrine of Justification at the first Reformation and what Influence it had into the whole work thereof However the minds of men may be changed as unto sundry Doctrines of Faith among us yet none can justly own the name of Protestant but he must highly value the first Reformation And they cannot well do otherwise whose present even temporal Advantages are resolved thereinto However I intend none but such as own an especial presence and Guidance of God with them who were eminently and successfully employed therein Such persons cannot but grant that their Faith in this matter and the concurrence of their Thoughts about its Importance are worthy consideration Now it is known that the Doctrine of Justification gave the first occasion to the whole work of Reformation and was the main hinge whereon it turned This those mentioned declared to be Articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae and that the vindication thereof alone deserved all the pains that was taken in the whole endeavour of Reformation But things are now and that by virtue of their Doctrine herein much changed in the World though it be not so understood or acknowledged In general no small Benefit redounded unto the World by the Reformation even among them by whom it was not nor is received though many bluster with contrary pretensions For all the Evils which have accidentally ensued thereon arising most of them from the corrupt Passions and Interests of them by whom it hath been opposed are usually ascribed unto it and all the Light Liberty and Benefit of the Minds of men which it hath introduced are ascribed unto other causes But this may be signally observed with respect unto the Doctrine of Justification with the causes and effects of its Discovery and Vindication For the first Reformers found their own and the Consciences of other men so immersed in darkness so pressed and harrassed with fears terrours and disquietments under the power of it and so destitute of any steady Guidance into the ways of peace with God as that with all diligence like persons sensible
only by works of Righteousness which men did themselves in Obedience unto the Commands of God but also by the strict observance of many Inventions of what they called the Church with an Ascription of a strange Efficacy to the same Ends unto missatical Sacrifices Sacramentals Absolutions Pennances Pilgrimages and other the like Superstitions Hereby they observed that the Consciences of men were kept in perpetual disquietments perplexities fears and bondage exclusive of that Rest Assurance and Peace with God through the Blood of Christ which the Gospel proclaims and tenders And when the Leaders of the People in that Church had observed this that indeed the ways and means which they proposed and presented would never bring the Souls of men to Rest nor give them the least Assurance of the pardon of sins they made it a part of their Doctrine that the belief of the pardon of our own sins and Assurance of the Love of God in Christ were false and pernicious For what should they else do when they knew well enough that in their way and by their propositions they were not to be attained Hence the principal Controversie in this matter which the Reformed Divines had with those of the Church of Rome was this whether there be according unto and by the Gospel a state of Rest and assured Peace with God to be attained in this life And having all Advantages imaginable for the proof hereof from the very nature use and end of the Gospel from the Grace Love and Design of God in Christ from the Efficacy of his Mediation in his Oblation and Intercession they assigned these things to be the especial Object of Justifying Faith and that Faith it self to be a fiduciary Trust in the especial Grace and Mercy of God through the blood of Christ as proposed in the Promises of the Gospel That is they directed the Souls of men to seek for peace with God the pardon of sin and a Right unto the Heavenly Inheritance by placing their sole Trust and Confidence in the mercy of God by Christ alone But yet withall I never read any of them I know not what others have done who affirmed that every true and sincere Believer always had a full Assurance of the Especial Love of God in Christ or of the pardon of his own sins though they plead that this the Scripture requires of them in a way of Duty and that this they ought to aim at the Attainment of And these things I shall leave as I find them unto the use of the Church For I shall not contend with any about the way and manner of expressing the Truth where the substance of it is retained That which in these things is aimed at is the Advancement and Glory of the Grace of God in Christ with the conduct of the Souls of men unto Rest and Peace with him Where this is attained or aimed at and that in the way of Truth for the substance of it variety of Apprehensions and Expressions concerning the same things may tend unto the useful exercise of the Faith and Edification of the Church Wherefore neither opposing nor rejecting what hath been delivered by others as their Judgments herein I shall propose my own thoughts concerning it not without some hopes that they may tend to communicate Light in the knowledge of the thing it self enquired into and the Reconciliation of some differences about it amongst Learned and Holy men I say therefore That the Lord Jesus Christ himself as the Ordinance of God in his work of Mediation for the Recovery and Salvation of lost sinners and as unto that End proposed in the Promise of the Gospel is the adequate proper Object of Justifying Faith or of saving Faith in its Work and Duty with respect unto our Justification The Reason why I thus state the Object of Justifying Faith is because it compleatly answers all that is ascribed unto it in the Scripture and all that the nature of it doth require What belongs unto it as Faith in general is here supposed and what is peculiar unto it as Justifying is fully expressed And a few things will serve for the Explication of the Thesis which shall afterwards be confirmed 1. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is asserted to be the proper Object of Justifying Faith For so it is required in all those Testimonies of Scripture where that Faith is declared to be our believing in him on his name our receiving of him or looking unto him whereunto the Promise of Justification and Eternal Life is annexed whereof afterwards See Joh. 1.12 chap. 3.16 36. chap. 6.29 47. chap. 7.38 chap. 15.25 Act. 10.41 Act. 13.38 39. Act. 16.31 Act. 26.18 c. 2. He is not proposed as the Object of our Faith unto the Justification of Life absolutely but as the Ordinance of God even the Father unto that end who therefore also is the immediate Object of Faith as Justifying in what respects we shall declare immediately So Justification is frequently ascribed unto Faith as peculiarly acted on him Joh. 5.24 He that believeth on him that sent me hath Everlasting Life and shall not come into Judgment but is passed from Death into Life And herein is comprized that Grace Love and Favour of God which is the principal moving cause of our Justification Rom. 3.23 24. Add hereunto Joh. 6.29 and the Object of Faith is compleat This is the Work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent God the Father as sending and the Son as sent that is Jesus Christ in the work of his Mediation as the Ordinance of God for the Recovery and Salvation of lost sinners is the Object of our Faith See 1 Pet. 1.21 3. That he may be the Object of our Faith whose general nature consisteth in Assent and which is the Foundation of all its other Acts He is proposed in the promises of the Gospel which I therefore place as concurring unto its compleat Object Yet do I not herein consider the Promises meerly as peculiar divine Revelations in which sense they belong unto the formal Object of Faith but as they contain propose and exhibit Christ as the Ordinance of God and the Benefits of his Mediation unto them that do believe There is an especial Assent unto the Promises of the Gospel wherein some place the nature and essence of Justifying Faith or of Faith in its Work and Duty with respect unto our Justification And so they make the Promises of the Gospel to be the proper Object of it And it cannot be but that in the Actings of Justifying Faith there is a peculiar Assent unto them Howbeit this being only an Act of the mind neither the whole nature nor the whole work of Faith can consist therein Wherefore so far as the Promises concur to the compleat Object of Faith they are considered materially also namely as they contain propose and exhibit Christ unto Believers And in that sense are they frequently affirmed in the Scripture to be the
Object of our Faith unto the Justification of Life Act. 2.39 Act. 26.6 Rom. 4.16 20. chap. 15.8 Gal. 3.16 18. Heb. 4.1 chap. 6.13 chap. 8.6 chap. 10.36 4. The End for which the Lord Christ in the Work of his Mediation is the Ordinance of God and as such proposed in the Promises of the Gospel namely the Recovery and Salvation of lost sinners belongs unto the Object of Faith as Justifying Hence the forgiveness of sin and Eternal Life are proposed in the Scripture as things that are to be believed unto Justification or as the Object of our Faith Math. 9.2 Act. 2.38 39. chap. 5.31 chap. 26.18 Rom. 3.25 chap. 4.7 8. Col. 2.13 Tit. 1.2 c. And whereas the Just is to live by his Faith and every one is to believe for himself or make an Application of the things believed unto his own behoof some from hence have affirmed the pardon of our own sins and our own Salvation to be the proper Object of Faith and indeed it doth belong thereunto when in the way and order of God and the Gospel we can attain unto it 1. Cor. 15.3 4. Gal. 2.20 Ephes. 1.6 7. Wherefore asserting the Lord Jesus Christ in the Work of his Mediation to be the Object of Faith unto Justification I include therein the Grace of God which is the Cause the pardon of sin which is the Effect and the Promises of the Gospel which are the means of communicating Christ and the benefit of his Mediation unto us And all these things are so united so intermixed in their mutual Relations and Respects so concatenated in the purpose of God and the Declaration made of his Will in the Gospel as that the Believing of any one of them doth virtually include the belief of the rest And by whom any one of them is disbelieved they frustrate and make void all the rest and so Faith it self The due Consideration of these things solveth all the Difficulties that arise about the nature of Faith either from the Scripture or from the Experience of them that believe with respect unto its Object Many things in the Scripture are we said to believe with it and by it and that unto Justification But two things are hence evident 1 That no one of them can be asserted to be the compleat adequate Object of our Faith 2 That none of them are so absolutely but as they relate unto the Lord Christ as the Ordinance of God for our Justification and Salvation And this answereth the Experience of all that do truly believe For these things being united and made inseparable in the constitution of God all of them are virtually included in every one of them 1 Some fix their Faith and Trust principally on the Grace Love and Mercy of God especially they did so under the Old Testament before the clear Revelation of Christ and his Mediation So did the Psalmist Psal. 130.34 Psal. 33.18 19. And the Publican Luke 18.13 And these are in places of the Scripture innumerable proposed as the Causes of our Justification See Rom. 3.24 Ephes. 2.4 5 6 7 8. Tit. 3.5 6 7. But this they do not absolutely but with respect unto the Redemption that is in the Blood of Christ Dan. 9.17 Nor doth the Scripture any where propose them unto us but under that consideration See Rom. 3.24 25. Ephes. 1.6 7 8. For this is the cause way and means of the communication of that Grace Love and Mercy unto us 2 Some place and fix them principally on the Lord Christ his Mediation and the Benefits thereof This the Apostle Paul proposeth frequently unto us in his own Example See Gal. 2.20 Phil. 3.8 9 10. But this they do not absolutely but with respect unto the Grace and Love of God whence it is that they are given and communicated unto us Rom. 8.32 Joh. 3.16 Ephes. 1.6 7 8. Nor are they otherwise any where proposed unto us in the Scripture as the Object of our Faith unto Justification 3 Some in a peculiar manner fix their Souls in Believing on the Promises And this is exemplified in the Instance of Abraham Gen. 15.16 Rom. 4.20 And so are they proposed in the Scripture as the Object of our Faith Act. 2.39 Rom. 4.16 Heb. 4.1 2. chap. 6.12 13. But this they do not meerly as they are Divine Revelations but as they contain and propose unto us the Lord Christ and the Benefits of his Mediation from the Grace Love and Mercy of God Hence the Apostle disputes at large in his Epistle unto the Galatians That if Justification be any way but by the Promise both the Grace of God and the death of Christ are evacuated and made of none effect And the Reason is because the Promise is nothing but the way and means of the Communication of them unto us 4 Some fix their Faith on the things themselves which they aim at namely the pardon of sin and Eternal Life And these also in the Scripture are proposed unto us as the Object of our Faith or that which we are to believe unto Justification Psal. 130.4 Act. 26.18 Tit. 1.2 But this is to be done in its proper order especially as unto the Application of them unto our own Souls For we are no where required to believe them or our own Interest in them but as they are effects of Grace and Love of God through Christ and his Mediation proposed in the Promises of the Gospel Wherefore the Belief of them is included in the Belief of these and is in order of nature antecedent thereunto And the Belief of the forgiveness of sins and Eternal Life without the due Exercise of Faith in those Causes of them is but Presumption I have therefore given the entire Object of Faith as Justifying or in its Work and Duty with respect unto our Justification in compliance with the Testimonies of the Scripture and the Experience of them that believe Allowing therefore their proper place unto the Promises and unto the Effect of all in the pardon of sins and Eternal Life that which I shall farther confirm is That the Lord Christ in the Work of his Mediation as the Ordinance of God for the Recovery and Salvation of lost sinners is the proper adequate Object of Justifying Faith And the true nature of Evangelical Faith consisteth in the Respect of the Heart which we shall immediately describe unto the Love Grace and Wisdom of God with the Mediation of Christ in his Obedience with the Sacrifice Satisfaction and Attonement for sin which he made by his Blood These things are impiously opposed by some as inconsistent For the second Head of the Socinian Impiety is That the Grace of God and Satisfaction of Christ are opposite and inconsistent so as that if we allow of the one we must deny the other But as these things are so proposed in the Scripture as that without granting them both neither can be believed so Faith which respects them as subordinate namely the Mediation of
being supplied by some to comply with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ensues And this phrase of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is peculiar unto this Apostle being no where used in the New Testament nor it may be in any other Author but by him And he useth it expresly 1 Epist. 2.29 and Chap. 3.7 where those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do plainly contain what is here expressed 2 To be justified as the word is rendred by the vulgar let him be justified more as it must be rendred if the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be retained respects an act of God which neither in its beginning nor continuation is prescribed unto us as a duty nor is capable of increase in degrees as we shall shew afterwards 3 Men are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 generally from inherent Righteousness and if the Apostle had intended Justification in this place he would not have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All which things prefer the Complutensian Syriack and Arabick before the vulgar reading of this place If the vulgar reading be retained no more can be intended but that he who is Righteous should so proceed in working Righteousness as to secure his justified estate unto himself and to manifest it before God and the World Now whereas the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are used 36 times in the New Testament these are all the places whereunto any exception is put in against their Forensick signification And how ineffectual these exceptions are is evident unto any impartial Judge Some other Considerations may yet be made use of and pleaded to the same purpose Such is the opposition that is made between Justification and Condemnation So is it Isa. 50.8 9. Prov. 17.15 Rom. 5.16 18. Chap. 8.33 34. and in sundry other places as may be observed in the preceding enumeration of them Wherefore as Condemnation is not the infusing of an habit of wickedness into him that is condemned nor the making of him to be inherently wicked who was before Righteous but the passing a sentence upon a man with respect unto his wickedness no more is Justification the change of a person from inherent unrighteousness unto Righteousness by the infusion of a principle of Grace but a sentential Declaration of him to be Righteous Moreover the thing intended is frequently declared in the Scripture by other aequivalent terms which are absolutely exclusive of any such sense as the infusion of an habit of Righteousness So the Apostle expresseth it by the Imputation of Righteousness without Works Rom. 4.6 11. And calls it the Blessedness which we have by the pardon of sin and the covering of Iniquity in the same place So it is called Reconciliation with God Rom. 5.9 10. To be justified by the Blood of Christ is the same with being Reconciled by his Death Being now justified by his Blood we shall be saved from wrath by him For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life See 2 Cor. 5.20 21. Reconciliation is not the infusion of an habit of Grace but the effecting of peace and love by the removal of all enmity and causes of offence To save and Salvation are used to the same purpose He shall save his people from their sins Matth. 1.21 is the same with by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 That of Gal. 2.16 We have believed that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law is the same with Act. 15.11 But we believe that through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Ephes. 2.8 9. By Grace ye are saved through Faith and not of Works is so to be justified So it is expressed by pardon or the Remission of Sins which is the effect of it Rom. 4.5 6. By receiving the Atonement Chap. 5.11 not coming into Judgment or Condemnation Joh. 5.24 Blotting out sins and Iniquities Isa. 43.25 Psal. 51.9 Isa. 44.22 Jer. 18.23 Act. 3.19 Casting them into the bottom of the Sea Micah 7.19 and sundry other expressions of an alike importance The Apostle declaring it by its effects says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many shall be made Righteous Rom. 5.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who on a juridical Trial in open Court is absolved and declared Righteous And so it may be observed that all things concerning Justification are proposed in the Scripture under a juridical Scheme or Forensick Tryal and Sentence As 1 A judgment is supposed in it concerning which the Psalmist prays that it may not proceed on the terms of the Law Psal. 143.2 2 The Judge is God himself Isa. 50.7 8. Rom. 8.33 3 The Tribunal whereon God sits in Judgment is the Throne of Grace Heb. 4.16 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore vvill he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of Judgment Isa. 30.18 4 A Guilty person This is the Sinner who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so guilty of sin as to be obnoxious to the Judgment of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.19 Chap. 1.32 whose mouth is stopped by Conviction 5 Accusers are ready to propose and promote the charge against the guilty person These are the Law Joh. 5.45 and Conscience Rom. 2.15 and Sathan also Zach. 3.2 Rev. 12.10 6 The Charge is admitted and drawn up into an Hand-vvriting in form of Law and is laid before the Tribunal of the Judge in Bar to the Deliverance of the Offender Col. 2.14 7 A Plea is prepared in the Gospel for the guilty person And this is Grace through the Blood of Christ the Ransome paid the Atonement made the Eternal Righteousness brought in by the Surety of the Covenant Rom. 3.23 24 25. Dan. 9.24 Eph. 1.7 8 Hereunto alone the Sinner betakes himself renouncing all other Apologies or defensatives whatever Psal. 130.2 3. Psal. 143.2 Job 9.2 3. Chap. 42.5 6 7. Luk. 18.13 Rom. 3.24 25. Chap. 5.11 16 17 18 19. Chap. 8.1 2 3. ver 32.33 Isa. 53.5 6. Heb. 9.13 14 15. Chap. 10.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. 1 Pet. 2.24 1 Joh. 1.7 Other Plea for a Sinner before God there is none He who knoweth God and himself will not provide or betake himself unto any other Nor will he as I suppose trust unto any other defence were he sure of all the Angels in Heaven to plead for him 9 To make this Plea effectual we have an Advocate with the Father and he pleads his own propitiation for us 1 Joh. 2.1 2. 10 The Sentence hereon is Absolution on the account of the Ransome Blood or Sacrifice and Righteousness of Christ with Acceptation into favour as persons approved of God Job
1 All our sins past present and to come were at once imputed unto and laid upon Jesus Christ in what sense we shall afterwards enquire He was wounded for our Transgressions He was bruised for our Iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath made to meet on Him the Iniquities of us all Isa. 53.6 7. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 The Assertions being indefinite without exception or limitation are equivalent unto Vniversals All our sins were on him he bare them All at once and therefore once died for all 2 He did therefore at once finish Transgression made an End of sin made Reconciliation for Iniquity and brought in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 At once he expiated all our sins for by himself he purged our sins and then sate down at the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 And we are sanctified or dedicated unto God through the offering of the Body of Christ once for all for by one Offering he hath perfected consummated compleated as unto their spiritual state them that are sanctified Heb. 10.10.14 He never will do more than he hath actually done already for the Expiation of all our sins from first to last for there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin I do not say that hereupon our Justification is compleat but only that the meritorious procuring cause of it was at once compleated and is never to be renewed or repeated any more All the enquiry is concerning the renewed Application of it unto our Souls and Consciences whether that be by Faith alone or by the works of Righteousness which we do 3 By our actual Believing with Justifying Faith believing on Christ or his Name we do receive him and thereby on our first Justification become the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 That is joynt heirs with Christ and heirs of God Rom. 8.17 Hereby we have a Right unto and an Interest in all the Benefits of his Mediation which is to be at once compleatly justified For in him we are compleat Col. 2.10 For by the Faith that is in him we do receive the forgiveness of sins and a lot or inheritance among all them that are sanctified Act. 26.18 being immediately justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the Law Act. 13.39 yea God thereon blesseth us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly things in Christ Ephes. 1.3 All these things are absolutely inseparable from our first believing in him and therefore our Justification is at once compleat In particular 4 On our Believing all our sins are forgiven He hath quickened you together with him having forgiven you all Trespasses Col. 2.13 14 15. For in him we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins according unto the riches of his Grace Ephes. 1.7 which one place obviates all the petulant exceptions of some against the consistency of the free Grace of God in the pardon of sins and the satisfaction of Christ in the procurement thereof 5 There is hereon nothing to be laid unto the charge of them that are so justified For he that believeth hath Everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death unto Life Joh. 5.24 And who shall lay any thing unto the charge of Gods Elect it is God that Justifieth it is Christ that died Rom. 8.33 34. and there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus ver 1. For being justified by Faith we have peace with God chap. 5.1 And 6 we have that Blessedness hereon whereof in this life we are capable Rom. 4.5 6. From all which it appears that our Justification is at once compleat And 7 it must be so or no man can be justified in this world For no time can be assigned nor measure of Obedience be limited whereon it may be supposed that any one comes to be Justified before God who is not so on his first Believing For the Scripture doth no where assign any such time or measure And to say that no man is compleatly justified in the sight of God in this life is at once to overthrow all that is taught in the Scriptures concerning Justification and therewithall all peace with God and comfort of Believers But a man acquitted upon his legal trial is at once discharged of all that the Law hath against him 2. Upon this compleat Justification Believers are obliged unto universal Obedience unto God The Law is not abolished but established by Faith It is neither abrogated nor dispensed withall by such an Interpretation as should take off its obligation in any thing that it requires nor as to the degree and manner wherein it requires it Nor is it possible it should be so For it is nothing but the Rule of that Obedience which the nature of God and man make necessary from the one to the other And that is an Antinomianism of the worst sort and most derogatory unto the Law of God which affirms it to be divested of its power to oblige unto perfect Obedience so as that what it is not so shall as it were in despight of the Law be accepted as if it were so unto the End for which the Law requires it There is no medium but that either the Law is utterly abolished and so there is no sin for where there is no Law there is no Transgression or it must be allowed to require the same Obedience that it did at its first Institution and unto the same degree Neither is it in the power of any man living to keep his Conscience from judging and condemning that whatever it be wherein he is convinced that he comes short of the perfection of the Law Wherefore 3. The Commanding Power of the Law in positive precepts and prohibitions which Justified Persons are subject unto doth make and constitute all their inconformities unto it to be no less truly and properly sins in their own nature than they would be if their persons were obnoxious unto the Curse of it This they are not nor can be for to be obnoxious unto the Curse of the Law and to be justified are contradictory but to be subject to the Commands of the Law and to be justified are not so But it is a subjection to the commanding power of the Law and not an obnoxiousness unto the Curse of the Law that constitutes the nature of sin in its Transgression Wherefore that compleat Justification which is at once though it dissolve the Obligation on the sinner unto punishment by the Curse of the Law yet doth it not annihilate the commanding Authority of the Law unto them that are justified that what is sin in others should not be so in them See Rom. 8.1.33 34. Hence in the first Justification of believing sinners all future sins are remitted as unto
God Wherefore the Covenant of Grace could not be procured by any means or cause but that which was the cause of this Covenant of the Mediator or of God the Father with the Son as undertaking the work of Mediation And as this is no where ascribed unto the Death of Christ in the Scripture so to assert it is contrary unto all spiritual Reason and Understanding Who can conceive that Christ by his death should procure the Agreement between God and him that he should dye 3. With respect unto the Declaration of it by especial Revelation This we may call Gods making or establishing of it if we please though making of the Covenant in Scripture is applied principally if not only unto its execution or actual Application unto Persons 2 Sam. 23.5 Jerem. 32.40 This Declaration of the Grace of God and the provision in the Covenant of the Mediator for the making of it effectual unto his Glory is most usually called the Covenant of Grace And this is twofold 1. In the way of a singular and absolute Promise so was it first declared unto and established with Adam and afterwards with Abraham The Promise is the Declaration of the Purpose of God before declared or the free Determination and Counsel of his Will as to his dealing with sinners on the supposition of the Fall and their forfeiture of their first Covenant state Hereof the Grace and Will of God was the only cause Heb. 8.8 And the Death of Christ could not be the means of its procurement For he himself and all that he was to do for us was the substance of that Promise And this Promise as it is declarative of the Purpose or Counsel of the Will of God for the Communication of Grace and Glory unto sinners in and by the mediation of Christ according to the Ways and on the Terms prepared and disposed in his Soveraign Wisdom and Pleasure is formally the New Covenant though something yet is to be added to compleat its Application unto us Now the substance of the first Promise wherein the whole Covenant of Grace was virtually comprized directly respected and expressed the giving of him for the Recovery of Mankind from sin and misery by his death Gen. 3.15 Wherefore if he and all the Benefits of his Mediation his Death and all the Effects of it be contained in the Promise of the Covenant that is in the Covenant it self then was not his death the procuring cause of that Covenant nor do we owe it thereunto 2. In the additional prescription of the way and means whereby it is the Will of God that we shall enter into a Covenant state with him or be interessed in the Benefits of it This being virtually comprized in the absolute Promise for every Promise of God doth tacitly require Faith and Obedience in us is expressed in other places by the way of the Condition required on our part This is not the Covenant but the Constitution of the Terms on our part whereon we are made Partakers of it Nor is the Constitution of these Terms an effect of the death of Christ or procured thereby It is a meer effect of the Soveraign Grace and Wisdom of God The things themselves as bestowed on us communicated unto us wrought in us by Grace are all of them effects of the death of Christ but the Constitution of them to be the Terms and Conditions of the Covenant is an Act of meer Soveraign Wisdom and Grace God so loved the world as to send his only begotten Son to dye not that Faith and Repentance might be the means of Salvation but that all his Elect might believe and that all that believe might not perish but have Life Everlasting But yet it is granted that the Constitution of these Terms of the Covenant doth respect the foederal Transaction between the Father and the Son wherein they were ordered to the praise of the Glory of Gods Grace and so although their constitution was not the procurement of his Death yet without respect unto it it had not been Wherefore the sole cause of Gods making the New Covenant was the same with that of giving Christ himself to be our Mediator namely the Purpose Counsel Goodness Grace and Love of God as it is every where expressed in the Scripture 4 thly The Covenant may be considered as unto the actual Application of the Grace Benefit and Priviledges of it unto any persons whereby they are made real partakers of them or are taken into Covenant with God And this alone in the Scripture is intended by Gods making a Covenant with any It is not a general Revelation or Declaration of the Terms and Nature of the Covenant which some call an universal conditional Covenant on what Grounds they know best seeing the very formal nature of making a Covenant with any includes the actual Acceptation of it and Participation of the Benefits of it by them but a Communication of the Grace of it accompanied with a prescription of Obedience that is Gods making his Covenant with any as all Instances of it in the Scripture do declare It may be therefore enquired what respect the Covenant of Grace hath unto the Death of Christ or what Influence it hath thereunto I answer supposing what is spoken of his being a surety thereof it hath a threefold respect thereunto 1. In that the Covenant as the Grace and Glory of it were prepared in the Counsel of God as the Terms of it was fixed in the Covenant of the Mediator and as it was declared in the Promise was confirmed ratified and made irrevocable thereby This our Apostle insists upon at large Heb. 9.15 16 17 18 19 20. And he compares his Blood in his Death and Sacrifice of himself unto the Sacrifices and their Blood whereby the Old Covenant was confirmed purified dedicated or established ver 18 19. Now these Sacrifices did not procure that Covenant or prevail with God to enter into it but only ratified and confirmed it and this was done in the New Covenant by the Blood of Christ. 2. He thereby underwent and performed all that which in the Righteousness and Wisdom of God was required that the Effects Fruits Benefits and Grace intended designed and prepared in the New Covenant might be effectually accomplished and communicated unto sinners Hence although he procured not the Covenant for us by his death yet he was in his Person Mediation Life and Death the only cause and means whereby the whole Grace of the Covenant is made effectual unto us For 3. All the Benefits of it were procured by him that is all the Grace Mercy Priviledges and Glory that God hath prepared in the Counsel of his Will that were fixed as unto the way of this communication in the Covenant of the Mediator and proposed in the Promises of it are purchased merited and procured by his Death and effectually communicated or applied unto all the Covenanters by virtue thereof with others of his Mediatory Acts. And this
is much more an eminent procuring of the New Covenant than what is pretended about the procurement of its Terms and Conditions For if he should have procured no more but this if we owe this only unto his Mediation that God would thereon or did grant and establish this Rule Law and Promise that whoever ever believed should be saved it were possible that no one should be saved thereby yea if he did no more considering our state and condition it was impossible that any one should so be To give the sum of these things it is inquired with respect unto which of these considerations of the new Covenant it is affirmed that it was procured by the Death of Christ. If it be said that it is with respect unto the actual communication of all the Grace and Glory prepared in the Covenant and proposed unto us in the Promises of it it is most true All the Grace and Glory promised in the Covenant was purchased for the Church by Jesus Christ. In this sense by his Death he procured the new Covenant This the whole Scripture from the Beginning of it in the first Promise unto the end of it doth bear witness unto For it is in him alone that God blesseth us with all spiritual Blessings in Heavenly things Let all the good things that are mentioned or promised in the Covenant expresly or by just consequence be summed up and it will be no hard matter to demonstrate concerning them all and that both joyntly and severally that they were all procured for us by the Obedience and Death of Christ. But this is not that which is intended For most of this Opinion do deny that the Grace of the Covenant in Conversion unto God the Remission of sins Sanctification Justification Adoption and the like are the effects or procurements of the Death of Christ. And they do on the other hand declare that it is Gods making of the Covenant which they do intend that is the contrivance of the terms and conditions of it with their proposal unto mankind for their Recovery But herein there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For 1. The Lord Christ himself and the whole work of his Mediation as the Ordinance of God for the Recovery and Salvation of lost Sinners is the first and principal promise of the Covenant So his Exhibition in the flesh his work of Mediation therein with our deliverance thereby was the subject of that first Promise which virtually contained this whole Covenant So he was of the Renovation of it unto Abraham when it was solemnly confirmed by the Oath of God Gal. 3.16 17. And Christ did not by his Death procure the promise of his Death nor of his Exhibition in the flesh or his coming into the World that he might dye 2. The making of this Covenant is every where in the Scripture ascribed as is also the sending of Christ himself to dye unto the Love Grace and Wisdom of God alone no where unto the Death of Christ as the actual Communication of all Grace and Glory are Let all the places be considered where either the giving of the Promise the sending of Christ or the making of the Covenant are mentioned either expresly or virtually and in none of them are they assigned unto any other cause but the Grace Love and Wisdom of God alone all to be made effectual unto us by the Mediation of Christ. 3. The assignation of the sole end of the Death of Christ to be the procurement of the new Covenant in the sense contended for doth indeed evacuate all the vertue of the Death of Christ and of the Covenant it self For 1 the Covenant which they intend is nothing but the Constitution and proposal of new Terms and Conditions for life and salvation unto all men Now whereas the acceptance and accomplishment of these conditions depend upon the Wills of men no way determined by effectual Grace it was possible that notwithstanding all Christ did by his Death yet no one Sinner might be saved thereby but that the whole end and design of God therein might be frustrate 2 Whereas the substantial advantage of these conditions lieth herein that God will now for the sake of Christ accept of an Obedience inferior unto that required in the Law and so as that the Grace of Christ doth not raise up all things unto a Conformity and compliance with the Holiness and Will of God declared therein but accommodate all things unto our present condition nothing can be invented more dishonourable to Christ and the Gospel For what doth it else but make Christ the Minister of sin in disanulling the Holiness that the Law requires or the Obligation of the Law unto it without any provision of what might answer or come into the Room of it but that which is incomparably less worthy Nor is it consistent with Divine Wisdom Goodness and Immutability to appoint unto mankind a Law of Obedience and cast them all under the severest penalty upon the Transgression of it when he could in Justice and Honour have given them such a Law of Obedience whose observance might consist with many failings and sins For if he have done that now he could have done so before which how far it reflects on the Glory of the Divine Properties might be easily manifested Neither doth this fond Imagination comply with those Testimonies of Scripture that the Lord Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it that he is the end of the Law and that by Faith the Law is not disanulled but established Lastly the Lord Christ was the Mediator and Surety of the new Covenant in and by whom it was ratified confirmed and established and therefore by him the Constitution of it was not procured For all the Acts of his Office belong unto that Mediation And it cannot be well apprehended how any Act of Mediation for the Establishment of the Covenant and rendring it effectual should procure it But to return from this Digression That wherein all the precedent causes of the Vnion between Christ and Believers whence they become one mystical person do center and whereby they are rendred a compleat foundation of the Imputation of their sins unto him and of his Righteousness unto them is the Communication of his Spirit the same Spirit that dwelleth in him unto them to abide in to animate and guide the whole mystical Body and all its Members But this hath of late been so much spoken unto as that I shall do no more but mention it On the considerations insisted on whereby the Lord Christ became one mystical Person with the Church or bare the Person of the Church in what he did as Mediator in the Holy Wise disposal of God as the Authour of the Law the supreme Rector or Governour of all mankind as unto their Temporal and Eternal concernments and by his own consent the sins of all the Elect were imputed unto him This having been the Faith and Language of the Church
Punishment threatened been immediately inflicted unto the utmost of what was contained in it this could have been no Question For Man had died immediately both temporally and eternally and been cast out of that state wherein alone he could stand in any relation unto the preceptive power of the Law He that is finally executed hath fulfilled the Law so as that he ows no more obedience unto it But 2. God in his Wisdom and Patience hath otherwise disposed of things Man is continued a Viator still in the way unto his end and not fully stated in his eternal and unchangeable condition wherein neither Promise nor Threatning Reward nor Punishment could be proposed unto him In this condition he falls under a twofold consideration 1. Of a guilty person and so is obliged unto the full punishment that the Law threatens This is not denied 2. Of a Man a Rational Creature of God not yet brought unto his Eternal End 3. In this state the Law is the only instrument and means of the continuance of the Relation between God and him Wherefore under this consideration it cannot but still oblige him unto Obedience unless we shall say that by his sin he hath exempted himself from the Government of God Wherefore it is by the Law that the Rule and Government of God over Men is continued whilest they are in statu Viatorum For every Disobedience every Transgression of its Rule and Order as to its commanding Power casteth us afresh and further under its Power of obliging unto Punishment Neither can these things be otherwise neither can any Man living not the worst of Men chuse but judge himself whilest he is in this World obliged to give Obedience unto the Law of God according to the notices that he hath of it by the light of nature or otherwise A wicked servant that is punished for his fault if it be with such a punishment as yet continues his Being and his state of servitude is not by his Punishment freed from an Obligation unto Duty according unto the Rule of it Yea his Obligation unto Duty with respect unto that crime for which he was punished is not dissolved until his punishment be capital and so put an end unto his state Wherefore seeing that by the pardon of sin we are freed only from the Obligation unto Punishment there is moreover required unto our Justification an Obedience unto what the Law requireth And this greatly strengthneth the Argument in whose Vindication we are ingaged for we being sinners we were obnoxious both unto the Command and Curse of the Law Both must be answered or we cannot be justified And as the Lord Christ could not by his most perfect Obedience satisfie the Curse of the Law dying thou shalt die so by the utmost of his suffering he could not fulfil the command of the Law Do this and live Passion as Passion is not Obedience though there may be Obedience in suffering as there was in that of Christ unto the height Wherefore as we plead that the Death of Christ is imputed unto us for our Justification so we deny that it is imputed unto us for our Righteousness For by the Imputation of the Sufferings of Christ our sins are remitted or pardoned and we are delivered from the Curse of the Law which he underwent But we are not thence esteemed just or righteous which we cannot be without respect unto the fulfilling of the Commands of the Law or the Obedience by it required The whole matter is excellently expressed by Grotius in the words before alledged Cum duo nobis peperisse Christum dixerimus impunitatem praemium illud satisfactioni hoc merito Christi distincte tribuit vetus Ecclesia Satisfactio consistit in meritorum translatione meritum in perfectissimae obedientiae pro nobis praestitae imputatione 3. The Objection mentioned proceeds also on this Supposition That pardon of sin gives title unto Eternal Blessedness in the injoyment of God For Justification doth so and according to the Authors of this opinion no other Righteousness is required thereunto but pardon of sin That Justification doth give Right and Title unto Adoption Acceptation with God and the Heavenly Inheritance I suppose will not be denied and it hath been proved already Pardon of sin depends solely on the death or suffering of Christ In whom we have Redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Ephes. 1.7 But suffering for Punishment gives Right and Title unto nothing only satisfies for something nor doth it deserve any Reward It is no where said Suffer this and live but Do this and live These things I confess are inseparably connected in the Ordinance Appointment and Covenant of God Whosoever hath his sins pardoned is accepted with God hath Right unto Eternal Blessedness These things are inseparable but they are not one and the same And by reason of their inseparable Relation are they so put together by the Apostle Rom. 4.6 7 8. Even as David also describeth the Blessedness of the Man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin It is the Imputation of Righteousness that gives Right unto Blessedness but pardon of sin is inseparable from it and an effect of it both being opposed unto Justification by Works or an Internal Righteousness of our own But it is one thing to be freed from being liable unto Eternal Death and another to have Right and Title unto a Blessed and Eternal Life It is one thing to be redeemed from under the Law that is the Curse of it another to receive the Adoption of Sons One thing to be freed from the Curse another to have the Blessing of Abraham come upon us as the Apostle distinguisheth these things Gal. 3.13 14. 4.4 5 And so doth our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance a Lot and Right to the Inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by Faith that is in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we have by Faith in Christ is only a dismission of sin from being pleadable unto our condemnation on which account there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus But a Right and Title unto Glory or the Heavenly Inheritance it giveth not Can it be supposed that all the great and glorious effects of present Grace and future Blessedness should follow necessarily on and be the effect of meer pardon of sin Can we not be pardoned but we must thereby of necessity be made Sons Heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ Pardon of sin is in God with respect unto the sinner a free gratuitous Act Forgiveness of sin through the riches of his Grace But with respect unto the satisfaction of Christ it is an Act in Judgment For on the consideration thereof as imputed unto him doth God absolve and
Righteousness of Christ is imputed unto us or in the sight of God we can never be Justified Nor are the cavilling Objections of the Socinians and those that follow them of any force against the Truth herein They tell us that the Righteousness of Christ can be imputed but unto one if unto any For who can suppose that the same Righteousness of One should become the Righteousness of many even of all that believe Besides he performed not all the Duties that are required of us in all our Relations he being never placed in them These things I say are both foolish and impious destructive unto the whole Gospel For all things here depend on the Ordination of God It is his Ordinance that as through the offence of One many are dead so his Grace and the Gift of Grace through one man Christ Jesus hath abounded unto many and as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all men unto Condemnation so by the Righteousness of One the free Gift came upon all unto the Righteousness of life and by the Obedience of One many are made Righteous as the Apostle argues Rom. 5. For God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.3 4. For he was the End of the Law the whole End of it for Righteousness unto them that do believe Chap. 10.4 This is the Appointment of the Wisdom Righteousness and Grace of God that the whole Righteousness and Obedience of Christ should be accepted as our compleat Righteousness before him imputed unto us by his Grace and applied unto us or made ours through believing and consequently unto all that believe And if the actual Sin of Adam be imputed unto us all who derive our Nature from him unto Condemnation though he sinned not in our Circumstances and Relations is it strange that the actual Obedience of Christ should be imputed unto them who derive a Spiritual Nature from him unto the Justification of life Besides both the Satisfaction and Obedience of Christ as relating unto his person were in some sense infinite that is of an infinite Value and so cannot be considered in Parts as though one Part of it were imputed unto one and another unto another but the whole is imputed unto every one that doth believe And if the Israelites could say that David was worth ten thousand of them 2 Sam. 21.3 we may well allow the Lord Christ and so what he did and suffered to be more than us all and all that we can do and suffer There are also sundry other mistakes that concur unto that part of the Charge against the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us which we have now considered I say of his Righteousness for the Apostle in this case useth those two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness and Obedience as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same signification Rom. 5.18 19. such are those that Remission of Sin and Justification are the same or that Justification consisteth only in the Remission of Sin that Faith it self as our Act and Duty being it is the Condition of the Covenant is imputed unto us for Righteousness or that we have a personal inherent Righteousness of our own that one way or other is our Righteousness before God unto Justification either a Condition it is or a Disposition unto it or hath a congruity in deserving the Grace of Justification or a down-right merit of Condignity thereof For all these are but various expressions of the same thing according unto the Variety of the Conceptions of the Minds of men about it But they have been all considered and removed in our precedent Discourses To close this Argument and our Vindication of it and therewithal to obviate an Objection I do acknowledg that our Blessedness and life eternal is in the Scripture oftimes ascribed unto the death of Christ But it is so 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the principal Cause of the whole and as that without which no imputation of Obedience could have justified us for the Penalty of the Law was indispensibly to be undergone 2. It is so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not exclusively unto all Obedience whereof mention is made in other Places but as that whereunto it is inseparably conjoyned Christus in vita passivam habuit actionem in morte passionem activam sustinuit dum salutem operaretur in medio terrae Bernard And so it is also ascribed unto his Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with respect unto Evidence and Manifestation But the Death of Christ exclusively as unto his Obedience is no where asserted as the Cause of eternal life comprizing that exceeding Weight of Glory wherewith it is accompanied Hitherto we have treated of and Vindicated the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ unto us as the Truth of it was deduced from the preceding Argument about the Obligation of the Law of Creation I shall now briefly confirm it with other Reasons and Testimonies 1. That which Christ the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant did do in Obedience unto God in the discharge and Performance of his Office that he did for us and that is imputed unto us This hath been proved already and it hath too great an Evidence of Truth to be denied He was born to us given to us Isa. 9.6 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.3 4. Whatever is spoken of the Grace Love and Purpose of God in sending or giving his Son or of the Love Grace and Condescention of the Son in coming and undertaking of the Work of Redemption designed unto him or of the Office it self of a Mediator or Surety gives Testimony unto this Assertion Yea it is the Fundamental Principle of the Gospel and of the Faith of all that truly believe As for those by whom the Divine Person and Satisfaction of Christ are denied whereby they evert the whole Work of his Mediation we do not at present consider them Wherefore what he so did is to be enquired into And 1. The Lord Christ our Mediator and Surety was in his Humane Nature made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law Gal. 4.1 That he was not so for himself by the necessity of his Condition we have proved before It was therefore for us But as made under the Law he yielded Obedience unto it this therefore was for us and is imputed unto us The exception of the Socinians that it is the Judicial Law only that is intended is too frivolous to be insisted on For he was made under that Law whose Curse we are delivered from And if we are delivered only from the Curse of the Law of Moses wherein they contend that there
application of them unto all that do believe which may be justly pleaded unto the same purpose with those passages of the Context which we have insisted on But if every Testimony should be pleaded which the Holy Ghost hath given unto this Truth there would be no end of writing One thing more I shall observe and put an end unto our discourse on this Chapter Vers. 6 7 8. The Apostle pursues his Argument to prove the freedom of our Justification by Faith without respect unto Works through the Imputation of Righteousness in the instance of pardon of Sin which essentially belongeth thereunto And this he doth by the Testimony of the Psalmist who placeth the blessedness of a man in the Remission of Sins His design is not thereby to declare the full nature of Justification which he had done before but only to prove the freedom of it from any respect unto Works in the instance of that essential part of it Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works which was the only thing he designed to prove by this Testimony saying Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven He describes their blessedness by it not that their whole blessedness doth consist therein but this concurs unto it wherein no respect can possibly be had unto any Works whatever And he may justly from hence describe the blessedness of a man in that the Imputation of Righteousness and the Non-Tmputation of Sin both which the Apostle mentioneth distinctly wherein his whole blessedness as unto justification doth consist are inseparable And because Remission of Sin is the first part of Justification and the principal part of it and hath the Imputation of Righteousness always accompanying it the blessedness of a man may be well described thereby Yea whereas all Spiritual Blessings go together in Christ Eph. 1.3 A mans blessedness may be described by any of them But yet the Imputation of Righteousness and the Remission of Sin are not the same no more than Righteousness imputed and Sin remitted are the same Nor doth the Apostle propose them as the same but mentioneth them distinctly both being equally necessary unto our compleat Justification as hath been proved Chap. 5. Vers. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. Wherefore as by one man Sin entred into the world and death by Sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned For until the Law Sin was in the world But Sin is not imputed when there is no Law Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression who is the figure of him that was to come But not as the offence so also is the free gift For if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by Grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift For the Judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all men to condemnation Even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto Justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made Sinners So by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Moreover the Law entred that the offence might abound But where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound That as Sin hath reigned unto death even so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The Apostle Chap. 3.27 affirms That in this matter of Justification all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or boasting is excluded But here in the Verse foregoing he grants a boasting or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And not only so but we also glory in God he excludes boasting in our selves because there is nothing in us to procure or promote our own Justification He allows it us in God because of the eminency and excellency of the way and means of our Justification which in his Grace he hath provided And the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or boasting in God here allowed us hath a peculiar respect unto what the Apostle had in prospect further to discourse of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not only so includes what he had principally treated of before concerning our Justification so far as it consists in the pardon of sin For although he doth suppose yea and mention the imputation of Righteousness also unto us yet principally he declares our Justification by the pardon of sin and our freedom from condemnation whereby all boasting in our selves is excluded But here he designs a further progress as unto that whereon our glorying in God on a right and title freely given us unto eternal life doth depend And this is the Imputation of the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ unto the Justification of life or the reign of Grace through Righteousness unto eternal Life Great complaints have been made by some concerning the obscurity of the discourse of the Apostle in this place by reason of sundry Ellipses Antapodota Hyperbata and other Figures of Speech which either are or are feigned to be therein Howbeit I cannot but think that if Men acquainted with the common principles of Christian Religion and sensible in themselves of the nature and guilt of our original apostasie from God would without prejudice read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this place of the Scripture they will grant that the design of the Apostle is to prove that as the sin of Adam was imputed unto all Men unto condemnation so the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ is imputed unto all that believe unto the Justification of life The sum of it is given by Theodoret Dial. 3. Vide quomodo quae Christi sunt cum iis quae sunt Adami conferantur cum morbo medicina cum vulnere emplastrum cum Peccato justitia cum execratione benedictio cum condemnatione remissio cum transgressione obedientia cum morte vita cum inferis regnum Christus cum Adam homo cum homine The differences that are among Interpreters about the Exposition of these words relate unto the use of some Particles Prepositions and the dependance of one passage upon another on none of which the confirmation of the truth pleaded for doth depend But the plain design of the Apostle and his express Propositions are such as if Men could but acquiesce in them might put an end unto this controversie Socinus acknowledgeth that this place of Scripture doth give as he speaks the greatest occasion unto our opinion in this matter For he cannot deny but at least a great appearance of what we
in as much because Only we must say that here is a reason given Why Death passed on all Men in as much as all have sinned that is in that sin whereby death entred into the World It is true Death by vertue of the original constitution of the Law is due unto every sin when ever it is committed But the present inquiry is how Death passed at once on all Men how they came liable and obnoxious unto it upon its first entrance by the actual sin of Adam which cannot be by their own actual sin Yea the Apostle in the next Verses affirms That death passed on them also who never sinned actually or as Adam did whose sin was actual And if the actual sins of Men in imitation of Adams sin were intended then should Men be made liable to Death before they had sinned For Death upon its first entrance into the World passed on all Men before any one Man had actually sinned but Adam only But that Men should be liable unto Death which is nothing but the punishment of sin when they have not sinned is an open contradiction For although God by his sovereign Power might inflict Death on an innocent Creature yet that an innocent Creature should be guilty of death is impossible For to be guilty of death is to have sinned Wherefore this expression In as much as all have sinned expressing the desert and guilt of death then when sin and death first entred into the World no sin can be intended in it but the sin of Adam and our interest therein Eramus enim omnes ille unus homo And this can be no otherwise but by the imputation of the guilt of that sin unto us For the act of Adam not being ours inherently and subjectively we cannot be concerned in its Effect but by the imputation of its guilt For the communication of that unto us which is not inherent in us is that which we intend by imputation This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the intended collation which I have insisted the longer on because the Apostle lays in it the foundation of all that he afterwards infers and asserts in in the whole comparison And here some say there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his discourse that is he layeth down the Proposition on the part of Adam but doth not shew what answereth to it on the contrary in Christ. And Origen gives the reason of the silence of the Apostle herein namely Lest what is to be said therein should be abused by any unto sloth and negligence For whereas he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as which is a note of similitude By one Man sin entred into the World and Death by sin so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reddition should be So by one Righteousness entred into the World and Life by Righteousness This he acknowledgeth to be the genuine filling up of the comparison but was not expressed by the Apostle Lest Men should abuse it unto negligence or security supposing that to be done already which should be done afterwards But as this plainly contradicts and everts most of what he further asserts in the Exposition of the place so the Apostle concealed not any Truth upon such considerations And as he plainly expresseth that which is here intimated Ver. 19. So he shews how foolish and wicked any such imaginations are as suppose that any countenance is given hereby unto any to indulge themselves in their sins Some grant therefore that the Apostle doth conceal the Expression of what is ascribed unto Christ in opposition unto what he had affirmed of Adam and his sin unto Ver. 19. But the truth is it is sufficiently included in the close of Ver. 14. where he affirms of Adam that in those things whereof he treats He was the Figure of him that was to come For the way and manner whereby he introduced Righteousness and Life and communicated them unto Men answered the way and manner whereby Adam introduced sin and death which passed on all the World Adam being the Figure of Christ look how it was with him with respect unto his Natural Posterity as unto sin and death so it is with the Lord Christ the Second Adam and his Spiritual Posterity with respect unto Righteousness and Life Hence we argue If the actual sin of Adam was so imputed unto all his posterity as to be accounted their own sin unto condemnation then is the actual obedience of Christ the Second Adam imputed unto all his Spiritual Seed that is unto all Believers unto Justification I shall not here further press this Argument because the ground of it will occur unto us afterwards The two next Verses containing an Objection and an Answer returned unto them wherein we have no immediate concernment I shall pass by Vers. 15 16. The Apostle proceeds to explain his Comparison in those things wherein there is a dissimilitude between the comparates But not as the offence so is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the Grace of God and the gift by Grace by one Man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many The opposition is between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the one hand and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the other between which a dissimilitude is asserted not as unto their opposite effects of Death and Life but only as unto the degrees of their efficacy with respect unto those effects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the offence the fall the sin the transgression that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the disobedience of one Ver. 19. Hence the first sin of Adam is generally called the fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is opposed hereunto is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Donum Donum gratuitum Beneficium id quod Deus gratificatur that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is immediately explained The grace of God and the free gift by grace through Jesus Christ. Wherefore although this word in the next verse doth precisely signifie the Righteousness of Christ yet here it comprehends all the causes of our Justification in opposition unto the fall of Adam and the entrance of sin thereby The consequent and effect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the offence the fall is that many be dead No more is here intended by many but only that the effects of that one offence were not confined unto one And if we inquire who or how many those many are the Apostle tells us that they are all Men universally that is all the posterity of Adam By this one offence because they all sinned therein they are all dead that is rendered obnoxious and liable unto death as the punishment due unto that one offence And hence also it appears how vain it is to wrest those words of Ver. 12. In as much as all have sinned unto any other sin but the first sin in Adam seeing it is given as the reason why death passed on them it being here plainly affirmed That they
are dead or that death passed on them by that one offence The efficacy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the free gift opposed hereunto is expressed as that which abounded much more Besides the thing it self asserted which is plain and evident the Apostle seems to me to argue the equity of our Justification by Grace through the obedience of Christ by comparing it with the condemnation that befel us by the sin and disobedience of Adam For if it were just meet and equal that all Men should be made subject unto condemnation for the sin of Adam it is much more so that those who believe should be justified by the obedience of Christ through the grace and free donation of God But wherein in particular the gift by Grace abounded unto many above the efficacy of the fall to condemn he declares afterwards And that whereby we are freed from condemnation more eminently then we are made obnoxious unto it by the fall and sin of Adam by that alone we are justified before God But this is by the grace of God and the gift by Grace through Jesus Christ alone which we plead for Ver. 16. Another difference between the comparates is expressed or rather the instance is given in particular of the dissimilitude asserted in general before And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By one that sinned is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one sin one offence the one sin of that one Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we render judgment Most Interpreters do it by reatus guilt or crimen which is derived from it So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judicium is used in the Hebrew for guilt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jere. 26.11 The judgment of death is to this Man this Man is guilty of death hath deserved to die First therefore there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin the fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one Man that sinned it was his actual sin alone Thence followed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reatus guilt this was common unto all In and by that one sin guilt came upon all And the end hereof that which it rendered Men obnoxious unto is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemnation guilt unto condemnation and this guilt unto condemnation which came upon all was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one person or sin This is the order of things on the part of Adam 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one sin 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the guilt that thereon insued unto all 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the condemnation which that guilt deserved And their Antitheta or Opposites in the Second Adam are 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the free donation of God 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gift of Grace it self or the Righteousness of Christ. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justification of Life But yet though the Apostle doth thus distinguish these things to illustrate his comparison and opposition yet that which he intends by them all is the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ as he declares Ver. 18 19. This in the matter of our Justification he 1. calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with respect unto the free gratuitous grant of it by Grace of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with respect unto us who receive it A free gift it is unto us and 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with respect unto its effect of making us righteous Whereas therefore by the sin of Adam imputed unto them guilt came on all men unto condemnation we must inquire wherein the free gift was otherwise Not as by one that sinned so was the gift And it was so in two things For 1. Condemnation came upon all by one offence But being under the guilt of that one offence we contract the guilt of many more innumerable Wherefore if the free gift had respect only unto that one offence and intended it self no further we could not be delivered wherefore it is said to be of many offences that is of all our sins and trespasses whatever 2. Adam and all his posterity in him were in a state of acceptation with God and placed in a way of obtaining eternal life and blessedness wherein God himself would have been their reward In this estate by the entrance of sin they lost the favor of God and incurred the guilt of death or condemnation for they are the same But they lost not an immediate right and title unto life and blessedness For this they had not nor could have before the course of obedience prescribed unto them was accomplished That therefore which came upon all by the one offence was the loss of Gods favor in the approbation of their present state and the judgment or guilt of death and condemnation But an immediate right unto eternal life by that one sin was not lost The free gift is not so For as by it we are freed not only from one sin but from all our sins so also by it we have a right and title unto eternal life For therein Grace reigns through Righteousness unto eternal life Ver. 22. The same truth is further explained and confirmed Ver. 17. For if by one Mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. The design of the Apostle having been sufficiently manifested in our observations on the former Verses I shall from this only observe those things which more immediately concern our present subject And 1. it is worth observation with what variety of expressions the Apostle sets forth the Grace of God in the Justification of Believers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing is omitted that may any way express the freedom sufficiency and efficacy of Grace unto that end And although these terms seem some of them to be coincident in their signification and to be used by him promiscuously yet do they every one include something that is peculiar and all of them set forth the whole work of Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to me to be used in this Argument for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the foundation of a cause in tryal the matter pleaded whereon the person tried is to be acquitted and justified And this is the Righteousness of Christ of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a free donation is exclusive of all desert and conditions on our part who do receive it And it is that whereby we are freed from condemnation and have a right unto the Justification of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the free grace and favor of God which is the original or efficient cause of our Justification as was declared Chap. 3.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath been explained before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the abundance of
come upon them unto condemnation no otherwise can they be rendered obnoxious unto death and judgment on the account thereof For we have evinced that by death and condemnation in this disputation of the Apostle the whole punishment due unto sin is intended This therefore is plain and evident on that hand In answer hereunto the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one as to the causality of Justification is opposed unto the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the other as unto its causality unto or of condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the Righteousness of one That is the Righteousness that is pleadable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto Justification For that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Righteousness pleaded for Justification By this say our Translators the free gift came upon all repeating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the foregoing Verse as they had done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before on the other hand The Syriack Translation renders the words without the aid of any supplement Therefore as by the sin of one condemnation was unto all men so by the Righteousness of one Justification unto life shall be unto all Men. And the sense of the words is so made plain without the supply of any other word into the Text. But whereas in the original the words are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so in the later clause somewhat from his own foregoing words is to be supplied to answer the intention of the Apostle And this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratiosa donatio the free grant of Righteousness or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the free gift of Righteousness unto Justification The Righteousness of one Christ Jesus is freely granted unto all Believers to the Justification of life For the all Men here mentioned are described by and limited unto them that receive the abundance of Grace and the gift of Righteousness by Christ Ver. 17. Some vainly pretend from hence a general grant of righteousness and life unto all men whereof the greatest part are never made partakers then which nothing can be more opposite nor contradictory unto the Apostles design Men are not made guilty of condemnation from the Sin of Adam by such a Divine constitution as that they may or on some conditions may not be obnoxious thereunto Every one so soon as he actually exists and by vertue thereof is a descendant from the first Adam is actually in his own person liable thereunto and the wrath of God abideth on him And no more are intended on the other side but those only who by their relation through Faith unto the Lord Christ the second Adam are actually interessed in the Justification of life Neither is the controversie about the universality of Redemption by the Death of Christ herein concerned For those by whom it is asserted do not affirm that it is thence necessary that the free gift unto the Justification of life should come on all for that they know it doth not do And of a provision of Righteousness and life for men in case they do believe although it be true yet nothing is spoken in this place Only the certain Justificatin of them that believe and the way of it is declared Nor will the Analogy of the Comparison here insisted on admit of any such interpretation For the all on the one hand are all and only those who derive their being from Adam by natural propagation If any man might be supposed not to do so he would not be concerned in his Sin or Fall And so really it was with the man Christ Jesus And those on the other hand are only those who derive a spiritual life from Christ. Suppose a man not to do so and he is no way interessed in the Righteousness of the one unto the Justification of life Our Argument from the words is this As the Sin of one that came on all unto condemnation was the Sin of the first Adam imputed unto them so the Righteousness of the one unto the Justification of life that comes on all Believers is the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto them And what can be more clearly affirmed or more evidently confirmed than this is by the Apostle I know not Yet is it more plainly expressed v. 19. For as by one mans Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous This is well explained by Cyrillus Alexandrinus in Joan. Lib. 11. Cap. 25. Quemadmodum praevaricatione primi hominis ut in primitiis generis nostri morti addicti fuimus eodem modo per obedientiam justitiam Christi in quantum seipsum legi subjecit quamvis legis author esset benedictio vivificatio quae per spiritum est ad totam nostram penetravit naturam And by Leo. Epist. 12. ad Juvenalem Vt autem reparet omnium vitam recepit omnium causam ut sicut per unius reatum omnes facti fuerunt peccatores ita per unius innocentiam omnes fierent innocentes inde in homines manaret justitia ubi est humana suscepta natura That which he before called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he now expresseth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disobedience and Obedience The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Adam or his Disobedience was his actual transgression of the Law of God Hereby saith the Apostle many were made Sinners Sinners in such a sense as to be obnoxious unto Death and Condemnation For liable unto Death they could not be made unless they were first made Sinners or guilty And this they could not be but that they are esteemed to have sinned in him whereon the guilt of his Sin was imputed unto them This therefore he affirms namely that the actual sin of Adam was so the sin of all men as that they were made sinners thereby obnoxious unto Death and Condemnation That which he opposeth hereunto is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Obedience of one that is of Jesus Christ. And this was the Actual Obedience that he yielded unto the whole Law of God For as the Disobedience of Adam was his actual Transgression of the whole Law so the Obedience of Christ was his actual accomplishment or fulfilling of the whole Law This the Antithesis doth require Hereby many are made Righteous How By the Imputation of that Obedience unto them For so and no otherwise are men made Sinners by the Imputation of the Disobedience of Adam And this is that which gives us a right and title unto eternal life as the Apostle declares vers 21. That as Sin reigned unto death so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto eternal life This Righteousness is no other but the Obedience of one that is of Christ as it is called vers 18. And it is said to come upon us that is to be imputed unto us For blessed is the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness And hereby we have not only deliverance from
that Death and Condemnation whereunto we were liable by the Sin of Adam but the Pardon of many Offences that is of all our Personal Sins and a right unto life eternal through the Grace of God for we are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus And these things are thus plainly and fully delivered by the Apostle unto whose sense and expressions also so far as may be it is our Duty to accommodate ours What is offered in opposition hereunto is so made up of Exceptions and Evasions perplexed Disputes and leadeth us so far off from the plain words of the Scripture that the Conscience of a convinced Sinner knows not what to fix upon to give it rest and saisfaction nor what it is that is to be believed unto Justification Piscator in his Scholia on this Chapter and elsewhere insisteth much on a specious Argument against the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto our Justification But it proceedeth evidently on an open mistake and false supposition as well as it is contradictory unto the plain words of the Text. It is true which he observes and proves that our Redemption Reconciliation Pardon of Sin and Justifiation are often ascribed unto the Death and Blood of Christ in a signal manner The reasons of it have partly been intimated before and a further account of them shall be given immediately But it doth not thence follow that the Obedience of his life wherein he fulfilled the whole Law being made under it for us is excluded from any causality therein or is not imputed unto us But in opposition thereunto he thus argueth Si obedientia vitae Christi nobis ad justitiam imputaretur non fuit opus Christum pro nobis mori mori enim necesse fuit pro nobis injustis 1 Pet. 3.18 Quod si ergo justi effecti sumus per vitam illius causa nulla relicta fuit cur pro nobis moreretur quia justitia Dei non patitur ut puniat justos At punivit nos in Christo seu quod idem valet punivit Christum pro nobis loco nostri posteaquam ille sancte vixisset ut certum est è Scriptura Ergo non sumus justi effecti per sanctam vitam Christi Item Christus mortuus est ut justitiam illam Dei nobis acquireret 2 Cor. 5.21 Non igitur illam acquisiverat ante mortem But this whole Argument I say proceeds upon an evident mistake For it supposeth such an order of things as that the Obedience of Christ or his Righteousness in fulfilling the Law is first imputed unto us and then the Righteousness of his death is afterwards to take place or to be imputed unto us which on that supposition he says would be of no use But no such order or Divine constitution is pleaded or pretended in our Justification It is true the life of Christ and his Obedience unto the Law did precede his Sufferings and undergoing the curse thereof neither could it otherwise be For this order of these things between themselves was made necessary from the Law of Nature But it doth not thence follow that it must be observed in the Imputation or Application of them unto us For this is an effect of Soveraign Wisdom and Grace not respecting the natural order of Christs Obedience and Suffering but the moral order of the things whereunto they are appointed And although we need not assert nor do I so do different acts of the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto the Justification of life or a right and title unto life eternal and of the suffering of Christ unto the pardon of our Sins and freedom from condemnation but by both we have both according unto the Ordinance of God that Christ may be all in all Yet as unto the effects themselves in the Method of Gods bringing Sinners unto the Justification of life the application of the Death of Christ unto them unto the pardon of Sin and freedom from Condemnation is in order of Nature and in the exercise of Faith antecedent unto the application of his Obedience unto us for a right and title unto life eternal The state of the person to be justified is a state of Sin and wrath wherein he is liable unto Death and Condemnation This is that which a convinced Sinner is sensible of and which alone in the first place he seeks for deliverance from What shall we do to be saved This in the first place is presented unto him in the Doctrine and Promise of the Gospel which is the Rule and Instrument of its application And this is the death of Christ. Without this no actual Righteousness imputed unto him not the Obedience of Christ himself will give him relief For he is sensible that he hath sinned and thereby come short of the glory of God and under the Sentence condemnatory of the Law Until he receives a deliverance from hence it to no purpose to propose that unto him which should give him right unto life eternal But upon a supposition hereof he is no less concern'd in what shall yet further give him title thereunto that he may reign in life through Righteousness Herein I say in its order Conscience is no less concern'd than in deliverance from Condemnation And this order is expressed in the declaration of the Fruit and Effects of the Mediation of Christ. Dan. 9.24 To make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting Righteousness Neither is there any force in the Objection against it that actually the Obedience of Christ did precede his Suffering For the Method of their application is not prescribed thereby And the state of Sinners to be justified with the nature of their Justification requires it should be otherwise as God also hath ordained But because the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ were concomitant from first to last both equally belonging unto his state of Exinanition and cannot in any act or instance be separated but only in notion or imagination seeing he suffered in all his Obedience and obeyed in all his Suffering Heb. 5.8 And neither part of our Justification in freedom from Condemnation and right unto life eternal can be supposed to be or exist without the other according unto the Ordinance and constitution of God the whole effect is jointly to be ascribed unto the whole Mediation of Christ so far as he acted towards God in our behalf wherein he fulfilled the whole Law both as to the penalty exacted of Sinners and the Righteousness it requires unto life as an eternl reward And there are many reasons why our Justification is in the Scripture by the way of Eminency ascribed unto the death and blood-shedding of Christ. For 1. The Grace and Love of God the principal efficient cause of our Justification are therein made most eminent and conspicuous For this is most frequently in the Scripture proposed unto us as the highest instance and undeniable demonstration of Divine Love
and Grace And this is that which principally we are to consider in our Justification the glory of them being the end of God therein He made us accepted in the Beloved to the praise of the glory of his Grace Ephes. 1.6 Wherefore this being the fountain spring and sole cause both of the Obedience of Christ and of the Imputation thereof unto us with the pardon of Sin and Righteousness thereby it is every where in the Scripture proposed as the prime object of our Faith in our Justification and opposed directly unto all our own Works whatever The whole of Gods design herein is that Grace may reign through Righteousness unto eternal life Whereas therefore this is made most evident and conspicuous in the Death of Christ our Justification is in a peculiar manner assigned thereunto 2. The love of Christ himself and his Grace are peculiarly exalted in our Justification that all men may honour the Son even as they honour the Father Frequently are they expressed unto this purpose 2 Cor. 8.9 Gal. 2.20 Phil. 3.6 7. Rev. 1.5 6. And those also are most eminently exalted in his death so as that all the effects and fruits of them are ascribed thereunto in a peculiar manner As nothing is more ordinary than among many things that concur to the same effect to ascribe it unto that which is most eminent among them especially if it cannot be conceived as separated from the rest 3. This is the clearest Testimony that what the Lord Christ did and suffered was for us and not for himself For without the consideration hereof all the Obedience which he yielded unto the Law might be looked on as due only on his own account and himself to have been such a Saviour as the Socinians imagine who should do all with us from God and nothing with God for us But the suffering of the curse of the Law by him who was not only an innocent man but also the Son of God openly testifies that what he did and suffered was for us and not for himself It is no wonder therefore if our Faith as unto Justification be in the first place and principally directed unto his Death and Blood-shedding 4. All the Obedience of Christ had still respect unto the Sacrifice of himself which was to ensue wherein it received its accomplishment and whereon its efficacy unto our Justification did depend For as no Imputation of actual Obedience would justifie Sinners from the condemnation that was passed on them for the Sin of Adam so although the Obedience of Christ was not a meer preparation or qualification of his person for his Suffering yet its efficacy unto our Justification did depend on his Suffering that was to ensue when his Soul was made an offering for Sin 5. As was before observed Reconciliation and the Pardon of Sin through the Blood of Christ do directly in the first place respect our relief from the state and condition whereinto we were cast by the Sin of Adam in the loss of the favour of God and liableness unto Death this therefore is that which principally and in the first place a lost convinced Sinner such as Christ calls unto himself doth look after And therefore Justification is eminently and frequently proposed as the effect of the Bloodshedding and Death of Christ which are the direct cause of our Reconciliation and Pardon of Sin But yet from none of these considerations doth it follow that the Obedience of the one man Christ Jesus is not imputed unto us whereby Grace might reign through Righteousness unto eternal life The same Truth is fully asserted and confirmed Chap. 8. v. 1 2 3 4. But this place hath been of late so explained and so vindicated by another in his learned and Judicious Exposition of it namely Dr. Jacombe as that nothing remains of weight to be added unto what hath been pleaded and argued by him Part. 1. vers 4. pag. 587. and onwards And indeed the answers which he subjoyns to the Arguments whereby he confirms the Truth to the most usual and important objections against the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ are sufficient to give just Satisfaction unto the minds of unprejudiced unengaged persons I shall therefore pass over this Testimony as that which hath been so lately pleaded and vindicated and not press the same things it may be as is not unusual unto their disadvantage Chap. 10. Vers. 3 4. For they the Jews who had a zeal for God but not according to knowledg being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the Righteousness of God For Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness unto every one that believeth What is here determined the Apostle enters upon the Proposition and declaration of Chap. 9. vers 30. And because what he had to propose was somewhat strange and unsuited unto the common apprehensions of men he introduceth it with that prefatory Interrogation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he useth on the like occasions Chap. 3.5 Chap. 6.1 Chap. 7.7 Chap. 9.14 What shall we then say that is is there in this matter unrighteousness with God as vers 14. or what shall we say unto these things or this is that which is to be said herein That which hereon he asserts is that the Gentiles which followed not after Righteousness have attained unto Righteousness even the Righteousness which is of Faith But Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness hath not attained unto the Law of Righteousness that is unto Righteousness it self before God Nothing seems to be more contrary unto reason than what is here made manifest by the event The Gentiles who lived in Sin and Pleasures not once endeavouring to attain unto any Righteousness before God yet attained unto it upon the Preaching of the Gospel Israel on the other hand which followed after Righteousness diligently in all the Works of the Law and Duties of Obedience unto God thereby came short of it attained not unto it All Preparations all Dispositions all merit as unto Righteousness and Justification are excluded from the Gentiles For in all of them there is more or less a following after Righteousness which is denied of them all Only by Faith in him who justifieth the ungodly they attain Righteousness or they attained the Righteousness of Faith For to attain Righteousness by Faith and to attain the Righteousness which is of Faith are the same Wherefore all things that are comprized any way in following after Righteousness such as are all our Duties and Works are excluded from any influence into our Justification And this is expressed to declare the Sovereignty and freedom of the Grace of God herein Namely that we are justified freely by his Grace and that on our part all boasting is excluded Let men pretend what they will and dispute what they please those who attain unto Righteousness and Justification before God when they follow not after Righteousness they